Who Is Sindhutai Sapkal

Sindhutai Sapkal was nine months pregnant when her abusive husband kicked her in the stomach in a fit of anger. He then dragged her out of their house in Wardha district, Maharashtra, and pushed her into the cow shed. So traumatized was the 20-year-old that she went into labor and passed out after giving birth. When she regained consciousness, Sindhutai realized she had to cut the umbilical cord herself since there was no one to help her. To do so, it required 16 blows from a stone she found in the cow shed. Although she was exhausted and still in pain, Sindhutai cradled her newborn daughter in her arms and walked a few kilometers to her native home hoping to find refuge. But here, too, she was turned away. 

Hungry and homeless, Sindhutai was forced to take shelter in a cremation ground. As she walked alongside the funeral pyres to find a safe place to rest, she stumbled upon wheat flour left behind by relatives for their loved ones. When darkness fell and there was no one around, Sindhutai collected the flour and baked roti (Indian bread) on the burning embers of the dying pyres to feed herself. When it became difficult to survive in this manner, she took to begging and singing devotional songs at temples and railway stations to keep her and her infant daughter alive.

One day she found a baby crying beside his dead mother on the railway platform. Deeply moved by his plight, Sindhutai took him under her wing, after the authorities refused to take him. Since then her life changed. She began sharing whatever she earned to feed abandoned and orphan children. As their numbers grew, Sindhutai began to beg more and more so that she could give the children a loving home and a good education. Over the last 50 years, Sindhutai has transformed the lives of over 1,400 orphans, many of whom are now doctors, academics and lawyers. Sindhutai has 282 sons-in-law, 48 daughters-in-law, and over 300 grandchildren.

“I cried a lot after I was thrown out. I also thought of ending my life many times when I was unable to cope. But the day I understood the mission of my life was to care for orphaned children, I stopped crying and started living for them. I’m 70 years old and still begging. The only difference is that I don’t beg for a living in front of temples any more. I give public talks and ask for money for my children. Only when I give a bhashan (talk) do they get rations. This is the way the orphanages run,” says the silver-haired Sindhutai.