Sindhutai Sapkal also known as ‘Mai’ means mother in Marathi, was an Indian social worker who sacrificed her whole life to help others and entirely devoted herself to orphans. She was not only a mother to her children but a mother of 1000s of orphans too. It can’t be wrong to say, that even after so many betrayals, hard work, no money, no food, and shelter She fought all her life as a lone wolf.

So in this second part of our Unsung heroes series, we are continuing our journey by talking about a mother or warrior- Sindhutai Sapkal and her story, the story of survival that she lived between all our society’s customs and norms that will surely be left you tongue-tied.

A Brief View of Sindhutai’s Preadolescence

Sindhutai’s childhood was not like many others. She went through a lot of hate and pain since birth. She was born on 14th November 1948 just one year after India became independent. Her family belonged to a cattle grazing background in the Wardha district, Maharashtra.

As she was an unwanted child in her family, people used to call her ‘Chindi’ which means a torn cloth. They used to tease her by this name out of some pre-dominant stereotypes that exist for the girls, mostly in rural areas.

But, she was quite optimistic and dedicated to her studies. Her father supported her study despite all the odds but on the other hand, her mother opposed, possibly due to obsolete thinking that education is not meant for girls. That’s the reason she did her schooling till the 4th standard only. But her learning attitude never stopped her to become a good person.

As they belong to a very poor family and background, they could hardly arrange nutrition for their desolate breadbasket. That’s the reason their parent married her at the very early age of around 12 to a 30-year-old man, in the Wardha district of Maharashtra. You can imagine the situation that she married a man who is 20 years her senior.

A Different Phase Of Sindhutai’s Life

Even after marrying, Sindhutai’s life didn’t improve much. Till she turned twenty, she had given birth to 3 boys. Moreover, her warrior stance motivated her to fight against exploitation by the forest department and the landlord of the area. They mistreat the provincial women who work to make cow dung.

Things got more & more difficult in her life. Some nasty rumors made her life more miserable when she was 9 months pregnant at the age of 20, her husband beat her up so badly and left her to die in a cowshed.

However, God surely had different plans for her. After this incident, she successfully gave birth to a baby girl named ‘Mamta’ in a cow shelter near her house. She shared this story in a ted talk that, She breaks the umbilical cord by hitting 16 stones on it, in 16th hit the umbilical cord released from the child. That shows how brave-hearted a woman was she.

Sindhutai Sapkal
Artwork- Ridhi

She was all alone with her newborn baby, and for a single meal, she started singing and pleading on the railway stations and streets. Also, the cemeteries became her safe home in darkness and from thieves. Due to this, she had sometimes also been rumored as a ‘Ghost Lady’.

She said in an interview that “There was no single day when I didn’t cry. Every day was painful, and many a time I thought to end my life. But I didn’t because every time someone asks for help and I bound to help them”. Later she pledged to sacrifice her life to help others and do good deeds.

Sindhutai’s Journey To Adopt Thousands Of Orphans

In a battle to restrain, she found herself in chikhaladara, Amravati District in Maharashtra. Here, due to the Tiger Conservation project, 84 tribals were evacuated. Amidst the confusion, the officers impounded 130 cows of tribal women in which one of them died.

Therefore, Sindhutai decided to help the helpless people and fight for their rehabilitation. In this context, the forest department acknowledged her efforts and made alternative arrangements for them.

But she still was living a miserable life, begging on the streets and she also realized that there were many children abandoned by their parents on platforms and streets.

She shared in an interview that “I was continuously crying on the railway track with my daughter, complaining about my life to God, then there was a Baba “beggar” was also crying along with us. I asked the beggar about it, he replied he is on a death bed and kindly requested to give him a drop of water before his death. Sindhutai said- ‘I didn’t only give him water but also gave her ‘Roti’ (bread) to him, he had a meal and didn’t die, therefore I also canceled my suicide.’

That was the day Sindhutai never looked behind, she started helping others and she began adopting the newborns who were left abandoned. She rescued the first male boy from the railway track.

Later she adopted 16 more children and started taking care of all of them. Afterward, she opened an ashram at chikhaladara. Sometimes she found it hard in arranging money and food, so she also did begging for them too. Looking after these innocent children soon became a mission of her life.

Sindhutai’s Story Is the Inspiration For Us

Sindhutai Sapkal
Sindhutai Sapkal, Source: Wikimedia commons.

In a world where we always complain about each other and blame others for failure. She found her way through to become an Idol. When parents left their children abandoned she came out and nourish them, educated them.

Because Sindhutai always said, “education is the most important thing in the world but it makes sense only when your education can help others”.

We can’t measure her greatness by words, she never discriminated against orphans and her child. She sent her child to one of the organizations that also work for orphans. She adopted closely 2000 orphans and more than 1000 grandchildren. They called her “Mai” as the Mother of orphans.

As a result, the children from her orphanage are now successful lawyers, Doctors, engineering, and master in their fields.

She spoke to The Hindu – “I have over a thousand children, about 300 sons-in-law, and about 60 Daughters-in-law. I would like to adopt all the 20 lakhs, orphans, in society. But, I need the cooperation of every person to achieve this.”

Sindhutai’s Achievements & Legacy

Sindhutai Sapkal died of a heart attack in Pune, Maharashtra, on January 4, 2022, at the age of 73.

Sindhutai Sapkal

She received more than 270 national and international awards for her exemplary contribution to society including the Nari Shakti Award, India’s highest civilian award dedicated to women presented to her by The President of India”Shri Ramnath Kovind” in 2017. Dr. Pinnamaneni and Smt. Seetha Devi Foundation Award in 2019. Also, a Marathi film “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal” was made in 2010 as her biopic, which has covered all her life story and struggles as a mother. The film was selected for the 54th London Film Festival.

These organizations are still running –

  • Savitri Bai Phule Girls Hostel, which is her first NGO.
  • Sanmati Bal Niketan
  • Mama Bal Sadan
  • Gopika Gai Raksha Kendra, and many more.

Sindhutai also formed a cow shelter, Gopika Gai Rakshan Kendra to save old cows that are being sent to the slaughterhouses.

Running these shelter homes was surely difficult for her but she did find a way out, instead of taking financial help from anyone, she gave powerful and inspiring speeches in the form of sharing her life’s story.

Additionally, she was also the recipient of the Padma Shri Award 2021 for her immense work in social work. By receiving the award she told to Hindustan Times –

“I am overwhelmed after having the news of me being given the Padamshree Award. It will certainly help reduce the hunger of my children at the orphanage. All of them, who have till now, helped, supported, and stood behind me strongly – this award is dedicated to all of them. There was hunger in my belly, which I realized is there in all my children’s stomachs. So I shared my hunger with all and started the work for orphanage children. I remember my father while accepting this award”.

As we said in a previous blog, numerous heroes in our surroundings are lesser-known but their works are superior that we can’t even think. Like Sindhutai Sapkal, there are lots of people working selflessly.

Their motive is to spread happiness and help needy families. In the materialistic world where we are blaming God and others for our fault. Some humans exist who are giving hope and faith to the helpless and will continue to do. They are the people behind the breath of humanity.

I won’t debate whether God exists or not but there must be some divine power that exists which is giving us great human beings like Sindhutai Sapkal, who was not less than a God. So, our sincere thanks to Sindhutai Sapkal for her immense work in contributing her life to the welfare of others.

Do let us know about the Unsung heroes you know that are doing tremendous work in society. We’ll be glad to do more research about them and will write a tribute dedicated to them.

Our Mailing address- Namaskar@theblogera.com

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