Mother Who Raised Over 1,000 Orphans, Sindhutai Sapkal Passes Away

Sindhutai Sapkal Passes Away: Padmashri awardee Sindhutai Sapkal passed away on January 4, due to a heart attack. The 73-year-old was known to have raised over a 1,000 orphan children.

Sindhutai, fondly known as "mother of orphans" grew amidst abject poverty and was abandoned by her husband, who was much older than her, while she was pregnant. Tai resorted to begging in order to raise her daughters, but eventually, she took numerous orphan and destitute children in her care.

Sindhutai had been struggling with ill health for the past few months. In November last year, she underwent a surgery for hernia following which her recovery had been very slow. As per the Managing Director of Galaxy Care Hospital (Pune) Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, "She had undergone a hernia surgery one and a half months ago and recovery was very slow. Today she died of a heart attack around 8 pm."

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Condoling her death, Prime Minister tweeted that Sindhutai Sapkal will be remembered for her noble service to society. "Due to her efforts, many children could lead a better quality of life. She also did a lot of work among marginalised communities. Pained by her demise. Condolences to her family and admirers. Om Shanti."

President of India Ramnath Kovind too paid tribute to "Mai" on social media, writing, "The life of Dr Sindhutai Sapkal was an inspiring saga of courage, dedication and service. She loved & served orphaned, tribals and marginalised people. Conferred with Padma Shri in 2021, she scripted her own story with incredible grit. Condolences to her family and followers."

Who was Sindhutai Sapkal?

Sindhutai was born on November 14, 1948 in Wardha, Maharashtra. She could only attain education till the fourth standard. At the age of 12, she was married to a 32-year-old man, following which she settled down in Navargaon area. It is said that her landlord spread rumours about her, following which her husband abandoned her, despite Sindhutai being pregnant.

After giving birth to her daughter Mamta, Sindhutai would sing in trains and beg in order to raise her child. Eventually, she was struck by the realisation that there were numerous young children in need of care and this led to the foundation of her orphanage. Sindhutai would often say that she had 207 sons-in-law and 36 daughters-in-law. She is also known to have worked for the rehabilitation of women.

She was felicitated with the Padma Shri award- India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 2021. In 2010, her story was adapted into a Marathi film titled Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, starring actor Tejaswini Pandit in the lead.