Thomas Stephens was the first Englishman to reach India, at least by sea route. He sailed for India on a Portuguese ship as a Jesuit missionary on 4th April 1579 and landed at Goa six months later, on 24th october.
He was the first to raise his voice against Brahmans in Maharashtra in the 1870s
Phule through his book Ghulamagiri (1872) and his organization Satyashodhak Mandal, proclaimed the need to save the lower castes from the hypocritical Brahmans and their scriptures
His Satyashodhak Mandal contained both an elite based conservative trend and a genuine mass-based radicalism
The urban educated Marathas were his most ardent followers
EXAMIANS