Remembering Sindhutai Sapkal, the saviour of orphans
The social reformer spent her life caring for orphans after experiencing trauma in her personal life
Sindhutai Sapkal, popularly known as ‘Anathanchi Yashoda’ (saviour of the orphaned), breathed her last at a private hospital in Pune on January 4 after suffering a heart attack. She was 74 and had been admitted to hospital for over a month following illness. She was buried near Pune.
Throughout her life, Sindhutai struggled against odds. She had differences with her parents, husband and later with community people, only to emerge stronger. She would travel a lot, meeting people from various strata of society with an aim to raise funds for her orphanage homes. She would accept almost every invitation to make a speech where she would narrate her life story so that people would donate for her noble cause.
Sindhutai was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2021. Apart from that, there are around 750 awards in her name. She would donate the award money to the four institutes she has established to take care of orphans. She has left behind 1,050 orphan children, who are like family.
Sindhutai was born on November 14, 1948 in Pimpri Meghe village in Wardha district of Maharashtra to Abhimanji Sathe, a cowherd. Being an unwanted child, she was nicknamed ‘Chindhi’ (torn piece of cloth). Abhimanji was keen on educating Sindhutai and would send her to school under the pretext of cattle grazing, where she would use ‘leaves of Bharadi Tree’ as a slate; the family could not afford a real slate due to financial constraints. Abject poverty, responsibilities and an early marriage forced Sindhutai to quit formal education after fourth grade.
At the age of 12, she was married to a 32-year-old man, Shrihari Sapkal, and had three sons. Her husband abandoned her when she was pregnant for the fourth time at the age of 20. She had put up a successful agitation against collection of dried cow dung, used as fuel, and its sale in collusion with forest officials without paying anything to the villagers. Her agitation brought the district collector to her village, who passed an order in her favour, which a landlord in her village did not like. He falsely told her husband that the child she was carrying was his. The furious husband thrashed Sindhutai, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy, and confined her in a cowshed.
Traumatised, Sindhutai spent a few days in the cowshed. She gave birth to a baby girl without any help from her family. Sindhutai took shelter in a crematorium with her baby, Mamata. Having a flair for singing, she would sing and beg to make ends meet. The experience marked the beginning of Sindhutai’s mission to care for orphans. Subsequently, she became “Mai” (mother) for them. Sindhutai would care for them till they grew up to take up jobs, get married and settle in life. Her institute in Pune district has its own building with facilities like a computer room, a big hall for cultural activities, solar system, study room and library.
A Marathi film, Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, directed by Anant Mahadevan and released in 2010, is a biopic inspired by the true story of Sindhutai Sapkal. The film was selected for world premiere at the 54th London Film Festival.