The Mother of Many- Sindhutai Sapkal

HospiBuz Desk 

It is said that ‘God can’t be everywhere so he created mothers’. Mothers like Sindhutai are an embodiment of God on earth. She has been a mother of countless orphans from the last 40 years. The age of her children varies from 8-days old baby to 80 years old man. All her life struggles have been her stepping stones in becoming the mother of orphans.

Although she was an unwanted girl child, her father wanted to teach her, unlike her mother. But poverty and forced early marriage at the tender age of 12 made her drop out after passing the 4th grade. She was married to a man who was double her age. By the age of 20, she gave birth to 3 sons and was 9 months pregnant with the 4th child. She fought for her rights to be paid for collecting dried cow dung. She won but became a sting in the eyes of a strong man who felt humiliated by the hands of a poor woman.

He convinced her husband that the 4th child was illegitimate. Sindhutai was tormented and thrown in a cowshed by her husband. In a cowshed full of untied cows and great pain she gave birth to a baby girl. She snipped the umbilical cord by hitting it 16 times with a stone. Agony overpowered her life. She was left by her husband. Even her own mother refused to give her shelter. A 20-years old mother with a one-day-old daughter was now all alone. They were left on the mercy of destiny. Hungry and tired she took shelter in a crematory. Pangs of hunger forced her to keed the flour which was used for the last rituals of a dead body and cook it over the burning deceased.

At the tender age, when she herself was a girl, she became a begging mother of a newborn. Sindhutai’s never-ending agony brought her to the doors of death and she decided to commit suicide. She was sitting on the railway track but then she noticed her baby who looked like asking Sindhutai about her fault. She gave up suicide and decided to live life. She decided that she will struggle hard and never let others bear the pain that she bore. She started singing and begging. Whatever she earned from begging, she shared it with other beggers. She adopted orphans and helped them in every possible way. Life went on and she became a mother of a lot of orphans. She struggled hard to feed them and teach them.

Nothing is impossible if the person is determined. Till date, Sindhutai has adopted more than 1400 orphans. Today she has 250 sons-in-law and 50 daughters-in-law. She even forgave her husband and accepted him in her orphanage as her oldest child. Today she owns an orphanage in Manjari district, Pune. Most of her children are successful lawyers and lecturers in their life. Sindhutai has received more than 750 awards for her dedication and social work. She inspires us and teaches us the true meaning of humanity and kindness.

HospiBuz salutes her.