Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Jayanti 2024 | Honoring his Legacy
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s journey of life
Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar was born on 14th April 1891 at Mhow Cantonment, Madhya Pradesh. He was 14th and last child of his parents Ramji Sakpal and Bhimabai Sakpal. His father was Subedar in Indian Army. Also his father was a follower of sant Kabir. His forefathers performed duties for the East India Company Army from the very beginning of its working in India.
He belonged to a Mahar family. Mahar caste is mostly found in the Maharashtra and its neighbouring areas. Previously Mahar was treated as untouchable caste similar to some other Hindu castes. The perception behind the word Mahar is “Maha-Ari” meaning of which is the great enemy that denotes an aggressive nature of the community.
When Bhim was 2 years old, Ramji Sakpal got retired from his service and after which his family settled at Satara. But soon he shifted to Koregaon for his job as a cashier, while the family was at Satara. At very young age Bhim’s mother died, after which his aunt started taking care of him and his elder brother. The schooling of Bhim and his elder brother was started at Satara. Because of dishonor attached to the caste they had to suffer inexpressible humiliation.
Even when they were thirsty they were not allowed to touch the tap like other students to quench their thirst. When they became thirsty, peon used to pour water from very uptop into their mouth, so that their unholy bodies would not touch the water jug and also no one else in their school was permitted to do such a common act for them. Later this painful routine was described by Bhim in his essay titled “No Peon, No Water”.
However, not every person in school was spiteful to him. One Brahmin teacher named Mahadev Ambedkar was very kind with him. Mahadev would also share his tiffin with Bhim. He was so much beloved of sir Mahadev that sir changed Bhim’s surname in school records from Ambavadekar to Ambedkar. In his starting school days Bhim was hardly serious about his studies, instead he would like to do gardening and nurturing cattle and goats.
In 1901, when there were summer vacations of Bhim and his elder brother their father invited them at Koregaon. They were very excited to go there because it was their first time to travel by train. They had to travel by train from Satara to Masur. From Masur to Koregaon it was 10 miles’ distance. Because of some unavoidable reasons their father couldn’t come to receive them at Masur. Therefore, they decided to go onwards by means of cart.
They tried hard to hire the cart but when cart owners came to know that they were Mahars, they refused the ride. At last, with the help of one station master one of cart owners got ready to go with them but with the conditions that he would not sit on cart instead they have to drive cart by themselves and he will walk behind the cart and also they will have to pay double the fare. They were not having any choice hence they agreed to the conditions.
In Middle of the way they decided to eat the food which they brought from their home for the journey, but they had to face again the same problem that no one was ready to give them drinking water. He knew very well that due to his caste he had to follow certain protocols but he had to face so much humiliation that forced him to think about untouchability.
When he was about 10 years old, his father decided to do second marriage. But Bhim was not ready to accept another woman as his mother. So he tried to run away from his home but he was not having enough money to do so. Thereafter, he decided that he can only become independent by studying hard and obtaining an attractive job. After this, he left all his truant habits and fully concentrated on his studies which not only changed his life but also brought likely changes for our nation.
In 1904, Bhim and his elder brother took admission in Elphinstone School due to their family shifted from Satara to Bombay. But there also the humiliation came in form that they were not allowed to take Sanskrit as second language and they had to take Persian. As Brahmin Sanskrit teacher was not ready to teach them language of Vedas. Then Bhim himself studied the Sanskrit to obtain the knowledge of Vedas and scriptures of Hindus.
When these brothers came in secondary school, the pension of Ramji Sakpal was not sufficient enough to pay the fees of both the sons. Anandrao, the elder brother of Bhim left his schooling for his younger brother, as Bhim was having very keen interest in studies. In 1907, Bhim Passed matriculation. However, the score was not so good but still it was an achievement for an untouchable. It was a pride moment for Mahar community to pass matriculation as there were very few matriculated amongst them. For this purpose, his father arranged a felicitation for him where a Marathi author and also a teacher named Arjun Keluskar was invited. On this occasion, he presented Bhim the biography of Buddha.
Soon after matriculation, Bhim got married with a 9 years old girl named Ramabai. In year 1912 the father of Bhim died. In 1912, Bhim completed his graduation from Bombay University in political science and economics and got employment by state government of Baroda. In 1913, Bhim was awarded a scholarship for three years for his post-graduation from Columbia University in New York city. In 1915, he got majored in History, Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology and Economics. In 1921, he completed his degree of Masters in which he wrote thesis on “The problem of the rupee- its origin and solution”. In 1923, Bhim completed his D. Sc. in Economics from University of London.
After this, Bhim returned to India, and founded Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha and started leading social movement Mahad Satyagraha in 1927. The key purpose of this Satyagraha is to request justice and equalities to access the common public resources for these castes of India. After this, he became nominated member of Bombay Legislative Council in the same year.
In 1928, Dr. Bhim gave his submissions on Constitutional reforms, in front of the Indian Statutory Commission which is also called as “Simon Commission”. There were three roundtable conferences occurred as a result of reports of Simon Commission during 1930-1932 in which Dr. Bhim was asked to make his submission.
In 1935, a book titled as “The Annihilation of Caste” was published by Dr. Bhim, which questioned on the belief of Hindus. In next year, he published another book titled “Who were the Shudras?”, which describes the formation of Untouchability. After independence of India, Bhim worked on Defence advisory committee board and also for viceroy’s executive council as a minister for labour. Bhim was the first chairman of drafting committee of Indian constitution. Not only this, but the India’s Finance committee was also established by Bhim. With his policies, India developed both socially and economically. Later he was appointed to Rajya Sabha.
In 1953, Dr. Bhim was awarded a Doctorate from Osmania University. He proved true, after 21 years of his declaration in Yeola (which was in 1935), that ‘I will not die as a Hindu’ On 14th October 1956, in a historic function in Nagpur, he adopted Buddhism and on 6th Dec 1956 peacefully died in his sleep. Dr. Bhim’s death anniversary is marked as Mahaparinirvan Diwas across the India. Mahaparinirvan is a Sanskrit word, meaning of which is ultimate liberation.
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