Shelia6340: added new article v1.

2026-03-13T05:20:22Z

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{{Notability|date=January 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Short description|Book authored by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule}}

{{Infobox book
| name = Shetkaryacha Asud
| title_orig = Marathi
| translator =
| image = 
| caption =
| author = [[Jyotirao Phule]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = India
| language = Marathi
| series =
| subject = [[Farmer]]'s dire situation in [[Bombay presidency]]
| genre = [[Non-fiction]]
| publisher =
| pub_date = 1881
| english_pub_date =
| media_type = Book
| pages =
| isbn =
| oclc =
| dewey =
| congress =
| preceded_by =
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}}

'''''Shetkaryacha Asud''''' ({{Translation|The Cultivator's Whipcord }}) is a book written by [[Jyotirao Phule]] in 1881, originally in Marathi,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/shetkaryaca-asud-the-whipcord-of-the-cultivators/ |title=Shetkaryaca Asud (The Whipcord of the Cultivators) |date=1881-03-13 |language=en}}</ref> describing the plight and poverty of Indian cultivators under exploitative social and economic conditions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWxXqEp4eQsC |title=Makers of Modern India |date=2011-03-31 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-05246-8 |pages=80–81 |language=en}}</ref> Mahatma Phule fearlessly advocated for impoverished peasants during a time of severe oppression by landlords and the administration. In this book, he boldly challenged the elite and the colonial authorities for their role in the exploitation of farmers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 March 2023 |title=Shetkaryacha Asud by Mahatma Phule |url=https://cmsadmin.amritmahotsav.nic.in/district-reopsitory-detail.htm?15273}}</ref>

The book gives a few of the numerous reasons connected with the religion and politics that had put the ''[[Shudra]]'' farmers in such a pitiable condition. It argues that a tyrannical religion, the dominance of [[Brahmin]] employees in government departments and the luxury-loving indolence of British administrators meant that the ''Shudra'' farmers were tormented and deceived.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

==Content==
The first chapter of Shetkaryacha Asud offers a scathing portrayal of the numerous festivals and life-cycle rituals observed by a 'good Hindu,' each of which, according to Phule, Brahmins exploited to claim gifts and food—"another Brahman feast of ghee and goodies." For Phule, Hinduism was not a true religion, and he described it with terms like "self-interested" (matlabi), "artificial" (krutrim), and "counterfeit" (banavati). In Phule’s view, finding a true religion was central to liberating the masses from the Brahmanic yoke.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Omvedt |first=Gail |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSF8b5hbyP0C |title=Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste |date=2003-08-18 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-9664-4 |pages=231–32 |language=en}}</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Mahatma Phule statue.JPG|thumb|Jyotiba Phule statue with inscription text taken from Shetkaryacha Asud]]

On October 2024, An 18-foot bronze statue of social reformers Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and [[Savitribai Phule]] was inaugurated in Nasik by then Chief Minister [[Eknath Shinde]] and other leaders. The memorial includes an inscription from Phule’s Shetkaryacha Asud book ;<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2024-10-02 |title=Phule statue: Temporary flex board up, Corporation to put up the entire poem in a few days |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maharashtra/phule-statue-temporary-flex-board-up-corporation-to-put-up-the-entire-poem-in-a-few-days/article68710220.ece |access-date=2025-01-30 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
{{quote| “Vidyevina mati geli. Mati vina niti geli. Niti vina gati geli. Gati vina vitta gele. Vittavina shudra khachle. Evdhe anartha eka avidyeni kele.”}}
which means;
{{quote |“Without knowledge, wisdom was lost, without wisdom righteousness was lost. Without righteousness, progress was lost. Without progress, wealth was lost. Without wealth, the Shudra suffered. So much disaster was caused by the lack of knowledge.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Omvedt |first=Gail |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSF8b5hbyP0C |title=Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste |date=2003-08-18 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-9664-4 |pages=231 |language=en}}</ref>}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Y1CDwAAQBAJ EDITED BY : Dr. NAGNATH KOTTAPALLE (marathi)]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=ptOwoAEACAAJ Cultivator's whipcord (english)]
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Works about farmers]]
[[Category:Marathi-language literature]]

{{India-book-stub}}
{{Maharashtra-stub}}

Shetkaryacha Asud - Revision history

Shelia6340: added new article v1.