From being the victim of social discrimination to father the Constitution, a remarkable journey of B R Ambedkar
Relive the extraordinary journey of Babasaheb Ambedkar.
B R Ambedkar was born on 14th April 1891 at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s father was a subedar in the Indian Army. After his father’s retirement, they moved to Satara. Shortly after moving to Satara, Bhimrao’s mother passed away. Four years later his father married again and shifted to Bombay, now Mumbai. In 1906, when Bhimrao turned 15 he married Ramabai, a 9-year-old girl.
Being born in Mahar Caste, considered as a lower caste or ‘untouchable’ by the Brahmins, Bhimrao faced social discrimination since early childhood. The trauma of discrimination haunted Bhimrao everywhere, from his schooling to becoming defense secretary, he faced humiliation for being an ‘untouchable’.
Education
B R Ambedkar cleared his matriculation in 1908 from Elphinstone High School. In 1908 he got an opportunity to study at Elphinstone College and completed his graduation in economics and political science from Bombay University in the year 1912. Ambedkar had got a scholarship of 25 rupees which he decided to spend on his higher education in the USA. To Pursue his education in economics he enrolled himself in the Columbian University and completed Master’s degree from there, after successfully submitting his thesis titles ‘Ancient Indian economy’.
In 1916, he enrolled in the London School of Economics and started working on his doctoral thesis titled “The problem of the rupee: Its origin and its solution”. With the help of the former Bombay Governor Lord Sydenham, Ambedkar became a professor of political economy at the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Bombay. In order to continue his further studies, he went to England in 1920 at his own expense. Ambedkar also spent a few months at the University of Bonn, Germany, to study economics. He received his Ph.D. degree in Economics in 1927. On 8 June 1927, he was awarded a Doctorate by the University of Columbia.
Movement against Social discrimination
Caste discrimination had impacted Ambedkar very deeply and after returning to India he started working on the social evil of caste discrimination. Ambedkar opined that there should be a separate electoral system for the Untouchables and other marginalized communities. He contemplated the idea of reservations for Dalits and other religious outcasts. Ambedkar started finding ways to aware people about the drawbacks of the prevailing social evils and started a newspaper by the name of ‘Mooknayaka’.
From Gray inn, he completed his bar degree and started his legal career. He applied his litigation skills in advocating cases of social discrimination. By 1927, Ambedkar launched full-fledged movements for Dalit rights. He demanded public drinking water sources open to all and right for all castes to enter temples. He openly condemned Hindu Scriptures advocating discrimination and arranged symbolic demonstrations to enter the Kalaram Temple in Nashik.
In 1932, the Poona Pact was signed between Dr Ambedkar and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, representative of the Hindu Brahmins relinquishing reservation of seats for the untouchable classes in the Provisional legislatures, within the general electorate.
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Father of Indian Constitution
Dr. B R Ambedkar was appointed as the chairman of the constitution drafting committee on Aug 29, 1947. He stressed on the construction of a virtual bridge between all classes of the society and was successful in receiving the support of the Assembly to introduce reservation for members of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe in education, government jobs and civil services.
Conversion to Buddhism
In 1950, Ambedkar travelled to Srilanka to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and Monks. After his return he decided to write a book on Buddhism and later converted to Buddhism. Many believe that seeing social discrimination and inequality in Hinduism attracted him towards Buddhism. On October 14, 1956, he organized a public ceremony and converted five lakhs of his supporters to Buddhism. The event was historic and the people converting to Buddhism from Hinduism was not for economic or any other gains but the unshakable faith on the leader.
Death
Ambedkar was suffering from many serious health problems including diabetes. He died on 6 December 1956 at his home in Delhi. As he has adopted Buddhism as his religious faith he was cremated in a Buddhist-style. There was a huge number of his supporters, followers and admirers present at the ceremony.
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