B. R. Ambedkar#Economics

{{short description|Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer (1891–1956)}}

{{Redirect2|Babasaheb|Ambedkar|4=Babasaheb (title)|5=and|6=Ambedkar (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| image = Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Ambedkar in the 1950s

| office1 = Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
from Bombay State

| term_start1 = 3 April 1952

| term_end1 = 6 December 1956

| order = 1st

| office = Minister of Law and Justice

| term_start = 15 August 1947

| term_end = 6 October 1951

| primeminister = Jawaharlal Nehru

| parliamentarygroup =

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Charu Chandra Biswas

| order2 =

| office2 = Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee

| term_start2 = 29 August 1947

| term_end2 = 24 January 1950

| order3 =

| office3 = Member of the Constituent Assembly of India

| term_start3 = 9 December 1946

| term_end3 = 24 January 1950

| constituency3 = {{•}} Bengal Province (1946–47)
{{•}} Bombay Province (1947–50)

| office4 = Minister of Labour in Viceroy's Executive Council

| term_start4 = 22 July 1942

| term_end4 = 20 October 1946

| governor_general4 = The Marquess of Linlithgow
The Viscount Wavell

| predecessor4 = Feroz Khan Noon

{{Collapsed infobox section begin

| last = Yes

| Legislative positions

| titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| embed = Yes

| office5 = Leader of the Opposition in the Bombay Legislative Assembly

| term_start5 = 1937

| term_end5 = 1942

| office6 = Member of the Bombay Legislative Assembly

| term_start6 = 1937

| term_end6 = 1942

| constituency6 = Bombay City (Byculla and Parel) General Urban

| order7 =

| office7 = Member of the Bombay Legislative Council

| term_start7 = 1926

| term_end7 = 1937

}}

| pronunciation =

| birth_name = Bhiva Ramji Sakpal

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1891|4|14}}

| birth_place = Mhow, Central India Agency, British India

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1956|12|6|1891|4|14}}

| death_place = New Delhi, India

| resting_place = Chaitya Bhoomi

| resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|19|01|30|N|72|50|02|E|display=inline}}

| party = Independent Labour Party
Scheduled Castes Federation

| otherparty = Republican Party of India

| spouse = {{unbulleted list | {{marriage|Ramabai Ambedkar|1906|1935|end=died}} | {{marriage|Savita Ambedkar|1948}}}}

| children = Yashwant

| parents =

| mother =

| father =

| relatives = Ambedkar family

| profession = {{hlist|Jurist|economist|politician|social reformer|writer}}

| awards = Bharat Ratna
(1990, posthumous)

| signature = Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Signature.svg

| signature_alt =

| website =

| nickname = Babasaheb

| footnotes =

| education = {{nowrap|University of Mumbai (BA, MA)}}
{{nowrap|Columbia University (MA, PhD)}}
London School of Economics (MSc, DSc)

}}

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India and the first draft of Sir Benegal Narsing Rau.{{cite book|last=Duara|first=Juliette G.|title=Gender Justice and Proportionality in India: Comparative Perspectives|series=Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies|location=London and New York|publisher=Routledge|year=2018|isbn=978-1-138-70669-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1rU4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT101|quote=As the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly, B.N. Rau was the principal author of the first draft of India’s Constitution based on the deliberations of that Assembly and its various subcommittees. In all subsequent deliberations of the drafting committee “this draft constituted the basic document and its working paper”. B.N. Rau’s work as principal drafter placed him in a good position to address his concerns about the need for “special protection” for women. Thus, it is in the Text of the Draft Constitution dated October 1947 that the phrase about "special provision for women and children" makes its first appearance. }}{{cite book|last=Elangovan|first=Arvind|title=Norms and Politics: Sir Benegal Narsing Rau in the Making of the Indian Constitution, 1935–1950|location=Oxford, UK|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-949144-5|year=2019|pages=22–23|quote=In his role as Constitutional Adviser, Rau’s contributions consisted of not only advising the Constituent Assembly but also members of the Indian National Congress, and the All-India Muslim League. In the Constituent Assembly itself, Rau’s influence was substantive. Significantly, Rau produced the draft constitution, which the drafting committee chaired by B. R. Ambedkar went on to deliberate. Subsequently, Rau was involved in evaluating the comments received on the draft constitution and incorporating them before it was submitted to the Constituent Assembly in late 1948.}}{{cite book|last=Ewing|first=Cindy|editor1-last=Moses|editor1-first=A. Dirk|editor2-last=Duranti|editor2-first=Marco|editor3-last=Burke|editor3-first=Roland|chapter=Codifying Minority Rights: Postcolonial Constitutionalism in Burma, Ceylon, and India|title=Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the rise of Global Human Rights Politics|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-47935-6|year=2020|pages=179–206|quote= (p. 190) In order to protect both individual and group rights, India’s constitutional adviser B. N. Rau prepared a key brief that changed how nights were expressed and enumerated in the constitution. His September 1946 note on fundamental rights expounded on justiciability and the need to identify which rights would be enforceable in court. Justiciability thus became a way to bridge the gap between committee members who wanted to write in as many rights as possible and those who wanted a more narrow set of rights. Rau laid out a scheme to divide fundamental rights into two categories: legally enforceable and not enforceable, pointing to the Irish constitution as a model for framing “a distinction between two broad classes of rights,” referring to “certain rights which require positive action by the State and which can be guaranteed only so far as such action is practicable, while others merely require that the State shall abstain from prejudicial action.” The fundamental rights subcommittee debated Rau’s proposal in February 1947, with committee members K. M. Munshi and B. R. Ambedkar initially opposing splitting these rights. ... (p. 191) In March 1947, after the subcommittee concluded debate, the assembly agreed to the expansive bill of rights and divided fundamental rights into two sections based on Rau's original proposal. ... (pp. 192–193) In early April 1947, Rau completed the fundamental rights report. The constituent assembly convened for its third session later that month and each subcommittee presented its findings over a series of raucous debates. Patel presented the new draft bill of rights, which was adopted by the assembly on August 28, 1947. Observing these sessions at Constitution House was Chan Htoon, the Burmese constitutional adviser. Aung San tasked Chan Htoon with studying the constitutions of different countries and developing relationships with members of the Indian legal academy. Having developed a friendship with Rau, Chan Htoon discussed the draft constitution with Rau in the setting of the constituent assembly. The cross-border consultations between India and Burma led to the intertwining of their constitutional ideas, best exemplified by their provisions on individual rights and state duties.}}{{cite book|last=Prasse-Freeman|first=Elliott|title=Rights Refused: Grassroots Activism and State Violence in Myanmar|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9781503634725|year=2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lLNEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT332|quote=Cindy Ewing reveals that the statements in Burma’s constitution about citizen rights were imported wholesale from other sources—either India or Ireland (2020, 193). The section on fundamental rights copies word for word from the Advisory Committee of the Indian Constituent Assembly. This mimicry was not coincidental. Chan Htoon, the author of Burma’s constitution, “developed a friendship with [B. N.] Rau,” the author of India’s constitution, when visiting New Delhi “to observe [India’s] constitutional debates.” While there, “Rau reviewed Chan Htoon’s draft constitution and assisted in collecting materials for the Burmese constituent assembly. Rau ensured significant areas of commonality between the two constitutions” (Ewing 2020, 193).}}{{cite journal|title=Sir Benegal Narsing Rau Indian jurist |journal=Encyclopaedia Britannica|url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benegal-Narsing-Rau|quote=Sir Benegal Narsing Rau (born February 26, 1887, Karkala or Mangalore, Mysore [now Karnataka], India—died November 30, 1953, Zürich, Switzerland) was one of the foremost Indian jurists of his time. He helped draft the constitutions of Burma (Myanmar) in 1947 and India in 1950 }} Ambedkar served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He later renounced Hinduism, converted to Buddhism and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement.{{cite journal|title=B. R. Ambedkar Indian Political Leader|journal=Encyclopaedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bhimrao-Ramji-Ambedkar|quote=Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (born April 14, 1891, Mhow, India—died December 6, 1956, New Delhi) was a leader of the Dalits (Scheduled Castes; formerly called untouchables) and law minister of the government of India (1947–51). In 1947 Ambedkar became the law minister of the government of India. He took a leading part in the framing of the Indian constitution, outlawing discrimination against untouchables, and skillfully helped to steer it through the assembly; the adoption of the constitution on January 26, 1950, is today celebrated as Republic Day, a national holiday. He resigned in 1951, disappointed at his lack of influence in the government. In October 1956, in despair because of the perpetuation of untouchability in Hindu doctrine, he renounced Hinduism and became a Buddhist, together with about 200,000 fellow Dalits, at a ceremony in Nagpur.}}

After graduating from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay, Ambedkar studied economics at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, receiving doctorates in 1927 and 1923, respectively, and was among a handful of Indian students to have done so at either institution in the 1920s.{{citation|last=Krishnamurty|first=J.|title=Ambedkar's Educational Odyssey, 1913–1927|year=2020|journal=Journal of Social Inclusion Studies|pages=1–11|volume=5|issue=2|doi=10.1177/2394481119900074|publisher=SAGE|s2cid=212824611|quote=(p. 2) Ambedkar obtained his London DSc degree in 1923 for his thesis 'Problem of the Rupee' (University of London, 1926). However, he was not the first Indian to achieve this feat. Records of the London University clearly show that John Matthai and Pramathanath Bandyopadhyay (more popularly known as Pramathanath Banerjea) obtained their DSc degrees from the university in 1916. ... (p. 3) Turning to US doctorates, while Ambedkar was one of the early Indians to work for a PhD in the USA, he was awarded his degree by Columbia University only in 1927. The first Indian PhD in Economics in the USA was probably Rajani Kanta Das, a labour economist, who worked with Professor John Commons and was awarded the PhD degree by the University of Wisconsin in 1917.|issn = 2394-4811}} He also trained in the law at Gray's Inn, London. In his early career, he was an economist, professor, and lawyer. His later life was marked by his political activities; he became involved in campaigning and negotiations for partition, publishing journals, advocating political rights and social freedom for Dalits, and contributing to the establishment of the state of India. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism, initiating mass conversions of Dalits.{{Cite book |title=Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |date=2013 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691157863 |editor-last=Buswell |editor-first=Robert Jr |editor-link=Robert Buswell Jr. |location=Princeton, NJ |page=34 |editor-last2=Lopez |editor-first2=Donald S. Jr. |editor-link2=Donald S. Lopez, Jr.}}

In 1990, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was posthumously conferred on Ambedkar. The salutation Jai Bhim (lit. "Hail Bhim") used by followers honours him. He is also referred to by the honorific Babasaheb ({{respell|BAH|bə|}} {{respell|SAH|hayb}}), meaning "Respected Father".

Early life and education

Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in the town and military cantonment of Mhow (now officially known as Dr Ambedkar Nagar, Madhya Pradesh).{{Cite book |last=Jaffrelot |first=Christophe |title=Ambedkar and Untouchability: Fighting the Indian Caste System |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-231-13602-1 |location=New York |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIIJkaJo4z4C}} He was the 14th and last child of Ramji Maloji Sakpal, an army officer who held the rank of Subedar, and Bhimabai Sakpal, daughter of Laxman Murbadkar.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1890s.html |title=In the 1890s |last=Pritchett |first=Frances |format=PHP |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907040421/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1890s.html |archive-date=7 September 2006 |access-date=2 August 2006}} His family was of Marathi background from the town of Ambadawe (Mandangad taluka) in Ratnagiri district of modern-day Maharashtra. Ambedkar's ancestors had long worked for the army of the British East India Company, and his father served in the British Indian Army at the Mhow cantonment.{{Cite book |last=Ahuja |first=M. L. |title=Eminent Indians: administrators and political thinkers |publisher=Rupa |year=2007 |isbn=978-8129111074 |location=New Delhi |pages=1922–1923 |chapter=Babasaheb Ambedkar |access-date=17 July 2013 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRLLxV9_EWgC&pg=PA1922 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223004804/https://books.google.com/books?id=eRLLxV9_EWgC&pg=PA1922 |archive-date=23 December 2016 |url-status=live}}

Ambedkar was born into a Mahar (Dalit) caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic discrimination.{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357931/Mahar |title=Mahar |publisher=britannica.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130060042/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357931/Mahar |archive-date=30 November 2011 |access-date=12 January 2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}} Although they attended school, Ambedkar and other untouchable children were segregated and given little attention or help by teachers. They were not allowed to sit inside the class. When they needed to drink water, someone from a higher caste had to pour that water from a height as they were not allowed to touch either the water or the vessel that contained it. This task was usually performed for the young Ambedkar by the school peon, and if the peon was not available then he had to go without water; he described the situation later in his writings as "No peon, No Water".{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html |title=Waiting for a Visa |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |publisher=Columbia.edu |others=Frances Pritchett, translator |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624202609/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html |archive-date=24 June 2010 |access-date=17 July 2010}} He was required to sit on a gunny sack which he had to take home with him.{{Cite news |last=Kurian |first=Sangeeth |url=http://www.hindu.com/yw/2007/02/23/stories/2007022304300600.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103093853/http://www.hindu.com/yw/2007/02/23/stories/2007022304300600.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 November 2013 |work=The Hindu |date=23 February 2007 |title=Human rights education in schools}}

Ramji Sakpal retired in 1894 and the family moved to Satara two years later. Shortly after their move, Ambedkar's mother died. The children were cared for by their paternal aunt and lived in difficult circumstances. Three sons – Balaram, Anandrao and Bhimrao – and two daughters – Manjula and Tulasa – of the Ambedkars survived them. Of his brothers and sisters, only Ambedkar passed his examinations and went to high school. His original surname was Sakpal but his father registered his name as Ambadawekar in school, meaning he comes from his native village 'Ambadawe' in Ratnagiri district.{{cite web |url=http://www.loksatta.com/pune-news/about-name-of-ambadve-village-1227278/ |title=आंबडवे नाव योग्यच – खासदार अमर साबळे |date=14 April 2016 |access-date=20 August 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.loksatta.com/kgtocollege-news/international-standard-educational-complex-at-original-village-of-dr-babasaheb-ambedkar-446635/lite/ |title=डॉ. बाबासाहेब आंबेडकर यांचे मूळ गाव आंबवडे येथे आंतरराष्ट्रीय दर्जाचे शैक्षणिक संकुल |date=18 April 2014 |access-date=20 August 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/MAH-MUM-ambedkars-teacher-family-saving-memories-of-ambedkar-5489831-NOR.html |title=आंबेडकर गुरुजींचं कुटुंब जपतंय सामाजिक वसा, कुटुंबानं सांभाळल्या 'त्या' आठवणी }}{{cite web |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?263871 |title=Bhim, Eklavya |publisher=outlookindia.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100811223316/http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?263871 |archive-date=11 August 2010 |access-date=17 July 2010}} His Marathi Brahmin teacher, Krishnaji Keshav Ambedkar, changed his surname from 'Ambadawekar' to his own surname 'Ambedkar' in school records.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india-41891413 |title=आपने देखा आंबेडकर का जर्जर होता स्कूल? |date=7 November 2017 |website=BBC |publisher=BBC Hindi |access-date=20 August 2021 }}{{cite web |url=https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/MAH-MUM-ambedkars-teacher-family-saving-memories-of-ambedkar-5489831-NOR.html |title=आंबेडकर गुरुजींचं कुटुंब जपतंय सामाजिक वसा, कुटुंबानं सांभाळल्या 'त्या' आठवणी |last=Adshul |first=Ashok |date=26 December 2016 |website=Divyamarathi.com |publisher=Divya Marathi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528183041/https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/MAH-MUM-ambedkars-teacher-family-saving-memories-of-ambedkar-5489831-NOR.html |access-date=20 August 2021 |archive-date=28 May 2019 }}{{cite web |url=https://m.livehindustan.com/entertainment/story-jagannath-nivangune-dr-bhim-rao-ambedkar-teacher-krishna-keshav-ambedkar-gave-him-surname-3326331.html |title=डॉ. भीम राव आम्बेडकर को उनके गुरु कृष्ण केशव आम्बेडकर ने दिया था अपना सरनेम |last=Prasad |first=Kamta |date=4 July 2020 |website=LiveHindustan.com |publisher=Live Hindustan |access-date=20 August 2021 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2XLE22ZizYC&pg=PA96 |title=Socio-economic and Political Vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar |page=96 |author=S. N. Mishra |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=2010 |isbn=978-8180696749}}{{cite news |title=ऐसे हुआ डॉ आंबेडकर का नाम परिवर्तन... तकनीक से सशक्तीकरण का सपना होगा साकार |url=https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/india/dr-ambedkars-dream-of-social-and-economic-empowerment-through-technique-will-come-true-1681215 |publisher=NDTV |date=14 April 2017}}

= Education =

File:Young Ambedkar.gifIn 1897, Ambedkar's family moved to Mumbai where Ambedkar became the only untouchable enrolled at Elphinstone High School. In 1906, when he was about 15 years old, he married a nine-year-old girl, Ramabai. The match was arranged by the couple's parents, in accordance with prevailing custom at that time.{{cite book |last1=Keer |first1=Dhananjay |title=Dr. Ambedkar: life and mission. |date=1971 |publisher=Popular Prakashan. |location=Mumbai |isbn=81-7154-237-9 |page=20 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&pg=PP17}}

In 1907, he passed his matriculation examination and in the following year he entered Elphinstone College, which was affiliated to the University of Bombay, becoming, according to him, the first from his Mahar caste to do so. When he passed his English fourth standard examinations, the people of his community wanted to celebrate because they considered that he had reached "great heights" which he says was "hardly an occasion compared to the state of education in other communities". A public ceremony was evoked, to celebrate his success, by the community, and it was at this occasion that he was presented with a biography of the Buddha by Dada Keluskar, the author and a family friend.{{cite web |last=Pritchett |first=Frances |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1890s.html |title=In the 1890s |format=PHP |access-date=2 August 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907040421/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1890s.html |archive-date=7 September 2006 |url-status=live}}

By 1912, he obtained his degree in economics and political science from Bombay University, and prepared to take up employment with the Baroda state government. His wife had just moved his young family and started work when he had to quickly return to Mumbai to see his ailing father, who died on 2 February 1913.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1910s.html |title=In the 1910s |last=Pritchett |first=Frances |format=PHP |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123170145/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1910s.html |archive-date=23 November 2011 |access-date=5 January 2012}}

File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Columbia University.jpg, {{Circa|1916}}|left]]In 1913, at the age of 22, Ambedkar was awarded a Baroda State Scholarship of £11.50 (Sterling) per month for three years under a scheme established by Sayajirao Gaekwad III (Gaekwad of Baroda) that was designed to provide opportunities for postgraduate education at Columbia University in New York City. Soon after arriving there he settled in rooms at Livingston Hall with Naval Bhathena, a Parsi who was to be a lifelong friend. He passed his M.A. exam in June 1915, majoring in economics, and other subjects of Sociology, History, Philosophy and Anthropology. He presented a thesis, Ancient Indian Commerce. Ambedkar was influenced by John Dewey and his work on democracy.{{cite web |url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/VGJT8kkl9dGnqWpkgft9QM/Ambedkars-teacher.html |title=Ambedkar teacher |date=31 March 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403032535/http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/VGJT8kkl9dGnqWpkgft9QM/Ambedkars-teacher.html |archive-date=3 April 2016}}

In 1916, he completed his second master's thesis, National Dividend of India – A Historic and Analytical Study, for a second M.A.{{cite web |url=http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/bhimrao_ambedkar.html |title=Bhimrao Ambedkar |website=columbia.edu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210115211/http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/bhimrao_ambedkar.html |archive-date=10 February 2014}} On 9 May, he presented the paper Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development before a seminar conducted by the anthropologist Alexander Goldenweiser. Ambedkar received his Ph.D. degree in economics at Columbia in 1927.File:Dr. B. R. Ambedkar with his professors and friends from the London School of Economics and Political Science, 1916-17.jpgIn October 1916, he enrolled for the Bar course at Gray's Inn, and at the same time enrolled at the London School of Economics where he started working on a doctoral thesis. In June 1917, he returned to India because his scholarship from Baroda ended. His book collection was dispatched on a different ship from the one he was on, and that ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. He got permission to return to London to submit his thesis within four years. He returned at the first opportunity, and completed a master's degree in 1921. His thesis was on "The problem of the rupee: Its origin and its solution".{{cite web |url=http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rescuing-ambedkar-from-pure-dalitism-he-wouldve-been-indias-best-prime-minister-2195498.html |title=Rescuing Ambedkar from pure Dalitism: He would've been India's best Prime Minister |date=15 April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106214027/http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rescuing-ambedkar-from-pure-dalitism-he-wouldve-been-indias-best-prime-minister-2195498.html |archive-date=6 November 2015}} In 1923, he completed a D.Sc. in Economics which was awarded from University of London, and the same year he was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn.

Opposition to untouchability

File:Ambedkar Barrister.jpg

As Ambedkar was educated by the Princely State of Baroda, he was bound to serve it. He was appointed Military Secretary to the Gaikwad but had to quit in a short time. He described the incident in his autobiography, Waiting for a Visa.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html |title=Waiting for a Visa |last=Ambedkar |first=Dr. B.R. |website=columbia.edu |publisher=Columbia University |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624202609/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/txt_ambedkar_waiting.html |archive-date=24 June 2010 |access-date=15 April 2015}} Thereafter, he tried to find ways to make a living for his growing family. He worked as a private tutor, as an accountant, and established an investment consulting business, but it failed when his clients learned that he was an untouchable.{{Cite book |last=Keer |first=Dhananjay |title=Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=1971 |isbn=8171542379 |location=Mumbai |pages=37–38 |oclc=123913369 |orig-date=1954}} In 1918, he became professor of political economy in the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai. Although he was successful with the students, other professors objected to his sharing a drinking-water jug with them.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0rwiLKm3LGUC&q=ambedkar+discriminated+at+Sydenham+College+of+Comme&pg=PA84 |title=Buddhism and politics in twentieth-century Asia |date=2001 |publisher=Continuum International Group |isbn=978-0826451781 |editor-last=Harris |editor-first=Ian}}

Ambedkar had been invited to testify before the Southborough Committee, which was preparing the Government of India Act 1919. At this hearing, Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorates and reservations for untouchables and other religious communities.{{Cite book |last=Tejani |first=Shabnum |title=Indian secularism: a social and intellectual history, 1890–1950 |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0253220448 |location=Bloomington |pages=205–210 |chapter=From Untouchable to Hindu Gandhi, Ambedkar and Depressed class question 1932 |access-date=17 July 2013 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6xtrPKa59j4C&q=%22ambedkar%22+%22+Southborough+Committee%22&pg=PA205}} In 1920, he began the publication of the weekly Mooknayak (Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai with the help of Shahu of Kolhapur, that is, Shahu IV (1874–1922).{{Cite book |last=Jaffrelot |first=Christophe |title=Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=2005 |isbn=1850654492 |location=London |page=4}}

Ambedkar went on to work as a legal professional. In 1926, he successfully defended three non-Brahmin leaders who had accused the Brahmin community of ruining India and were then subsequently sued for libel. Dhananjay Keer notes, "The victory was resounding, both socially and individually, for the clients and the doctor".{{cite book | author=Dhananjay Keer | title=Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission | publisher=Popular Prakashan | year=1995 | isbn=978-81-7154-237-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC | pages=63–64}}

File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar being sworn in as independent India’s first Law Minister by President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru looks on May 8, 1950.jpg

While practising law in the Bombay High Court, he tried to promote education to untouchables and uplift them. His first organised attempt was his establishment of the central institution Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha, intended to promote education and socio-economic improvement, as well as the welfare of "outcastes", at the time referred to as depressed classes.{{cite web |url=http://www.ncdhr.org.in/ncdhr/general-info-misc-pages/dr-ambedkar |title=Dr. Ambedkar |publisher=National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008195805/http://www.ncdhr.org.in/ncdhr/general-info-misc-pages/dr-ambedkar |archive-date=8 October 2012 |access-date=12 January 2012}} For the defence of Dalit rights, he started many periodicals like Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat, and Equality Janta.{{Cite journal |last=Benjamin |first=Joseph |date=June 2009 |title=B. R. Ambedkar: An Indefatigable Defender of Human Rights |journal=Focus |location=Japan |publisher=Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA) |volume=56}}

He was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee to work with the all-European Simon Commission in 1925.{{Cite book |last1=Thorat |first1=Sukhadeo |title=B. R. Ambedkar:perspectives on social exclusion and inclusive policies |last2=Kumar |first2=Narender |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |location=New Delhi}} This commission had sparked great protests across India, and while its report was ignored by most Indians, Ambedkar himself wrote a separate set of recommendations for the future Constitution of India.{{Cite book |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |title=Writings and Speeches |publisher=Education Dept., Govt. of Maharashtra |year=1979 |volume=1}}

By 1927, Ambedkar had decided to launch active movements against untouchability. He began with public movements and marches to open up public drinking water resources. He also began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable community to draw water from the main water tank of the town.{{cite web |url=http://www.manase.org/en/maharashtra.php?mid=68&smid=23&pmid=1&id=857 |title=Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar |publisher=Maharashtra Navanirman Sena |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510041016/https://www.manase.org/en/maharashtra.php?mid=68&smid=23&pmid=1&id=857 |archive-date=10 May 2011 |access-date=26 December 2010}} In a conference in late 1927, Ambedkar publicly condemned the classic Hindu text, the Manusmriti (Laws of Manu), for ideologically justifying caste discrimination and "untouchability", and he ceremonially burned copies of the ancient text. On 25 December 1927, he led thousands of followers to burn copies of Manusmriti.{{cite web |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/The-Lies-Of-Manu/281937 |title=The Lies Of Manu |last=Kumar |first=Aishwary |website=outlookindia.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018233954/http://www.outlookindia.com/article/the-lies-of-manu/281937 |archive-date=18 October 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2815/stories/20110729281509500.htm |title=Annihilating caste |website=frontline.in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528172120/http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2815/stories/20110729281509500.htm |archive-date=28 May 2014}} Thus annually 25 December is celebrated as Manusmriti Dahan Din (Manusmriti Burning Day) by Ambedkarites and Dalits.{{cite web |url=http://kafila.org/2014/12/25/peace-on-earth-and-social-justice-christmas-greetings/ |title=Meanwhile, for Dalits and Ambedkarites in India, December 25th is Manusmriti Dahan Din, the day on which B R Ambedkar publicly and ceremoniously in 1927 |last=Menon |first=Nivedita |date=25 December 2014 |website=Kafila |access-date=21 October 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://iaws.org/wp-content/themes/pdf/newsletters/NLB035-2003.pdf |title=11. Manusmriti Dahan Day celebrated as Indian Women's Liberation Day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117031944/http://iaws.org/wp-content/themes/pdf/newsletters/NLB035-2003.pdf |archive-date=17 November 2015}}

In 1930, Ambedkar launched the Kalaram Temple movement after three months of preparation. About 15,000 volunteers assembled at Kalaram Temple satygraha making one of the greatest processions of Nashik. The procession was headed by a military band and a batch of scouts; women and men walked with discipline, order and determination to see the god for the first time. When they reached the gates, the gates were closed by Brahmin authorities.{{Cite book |last=Keer |first=Dhananjay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&q=%22kalaram+temple%22+%22ambedkar%22&pg=PA136 |title=Dr. Ambedkar: life and mission |publisher=Popular Prakashan Private Limited |year=1990 |isbn=8171542379 |edition=3rd |location=Bombay |pages=136–140}}

Poona Pact

File:M.R. Jayakar, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar at Yerwada jail, in Poona, on 24 September 1932, the day the Poona Pact was signed.jpg

In 1932, the British colonial government announced the formation of a separate electorate for "Depressed Classes" in the Communal Award. Mahatma Gandhi fiercely opposed a separate electorate for untouchables, saying he feared that such an arrangement would divide the Hindu community.{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/469892/Poona-Pact |title=Poona Pact – 1932 |website=Britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518073354/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/469892/Poona-Pact |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=29 April 2015}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/a-part-that-parted/281929 |title=Ambekar vs Gandhi: A Part That Parted |date=20 August 2012 |access-date=29 April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427033738/http://www.outlookindia.com/article/a-part-that-parted/281929 |archive-date=27 April 2015 |publisher=Outlook}}{{Cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Museum-to-showcase-Poona-Pact/articleshow/2400058.cms |title=Museum to showcase Poona Pact |date=25 September 2007 |access-date=29 April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017053453/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Museum-to-showcase-Poona-Pact/articleshow/2400058.cms |archive-date=17 October 2015 |work=The Times of India |quote=Read 8th Paragraph}} Gandhi protested by fasting while imprisoned in the Yerwada Central Jail of Poona. Following the fast, congressional politicians and activists such as Madan Mohan Malaviya and Palwankar Baloo organised joint meetings with Ambedkar and his supporters at Yerwada.{{Cite journal |last=Omvedt |first=Gail |year=2012 |title=A Part That Parted |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281929 |url-status=live |journal=Outlook India |publisher=The Outlook Group |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812003046/http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?281929 |archive-date=12 August 2012 |access-date=12 August 2012}} On 25 September 1932, the agreement, known as the Poona Pact was signed between Ambedkar (on behalf of the depressed classes among Hindus) and Madan Mohan Malaviya (on behalf of the other Hindus). The agreement gave reserved seats for the depressed classes in the Provisional legislatures within the general electorate. Due to the pact the depressed class received 148 seats in the legislature instead of the 71, as allocated in the Communal Award proposed earlier by the colonial government under Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. The text used the term "Depressed Classes" to denote Untouchables among Hindus who were later called Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the India Act 1935, and the later Indian Constitution of 1950.{{Cite news |url=http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/epic_fast.htm |title=Gandhi's Epic Fast |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112190032/http://mkgandhi.org/articles/epic_fast.htm |archive-date=12 November 2011}} In the Poona Pact, a unified electorate was in principle formed, but primary and secondary elections allowed Untouchables in practice to choose their own candidates.{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/00856408508723068 |title=Gandhi, Ambedkar and the Poona pact, 1932 |year=1985 |last1=Kumar |first1=Ravinder |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=8 |issue=1–2 |pages=87–101}}

Political career

File:Rajagriha, Bombay, February 1934. (L to R) Yashwant, BR Ambedkar, Ramabai, Laxmibai, Mukundrao, and Tobby.jpg

File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is addressing a seminar organized by the National Sports Club of India, New Delhi and Columbia University, USA on 30 October 1954 (cropped).jpg, 1954]]

In 1935, Ambedkar was appointed principal of the Government Law College, Bombay, a position he held for two years. He also served as the chairman of Governing body of Ramjas College, University of Delhi, after the death of its Founder Shri Rai Kedarnath.{{cite web |url=http://thecampusconnect.com/7-interesting-historical-facts-about-ramjas-college-university-of-delhi/ |title=7 Unknown Historical Facts About Ramjas College, University of Delhi | the Campus Connect |access-date=4 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530184924/http://thecampusconnect.com/7-interesting-historical-facts-about-ramjas-college-university-of-delhi/ |archive-date=30 May 2015 |url-status=usurped}} Settling in Bombay (today called Mumbai), Ambedkar oversaw the construction of a house, and stocked his personal library with more than 50,000 books.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1930s.html |title=In the 1930s |last=Pritchett |first=Frances |format=PHP |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906055230/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1930s.html |archive-date=6 September 2006 |access-date=2 August 2006}} His wife Ramabai died after a long illness the same year. It had been her long-standing wish to go on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur, but Ambedkar had refused to let her go, telling her that he would create a new Pandharpur for her instead of Hinduism's Pandharpur which treated them as untouchables. At the Yeola Conversion Conference on 13 October in Nasik, Ambedkar announced his intention to convert to a different religion and exhorted his followers to leave Hinduism. He would repeat his message at many public meetings across India.

In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11 and 3 seats respectively.{{Cite book |last=Jaffrelot |first=Christophe |title=Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=2005 |isbn=1850654492 |location=London |pages=76–77}}

Ambedkar published his book Annihilation of Caste on 15 May 1936.{{cite web |url=http://scroll.in/article/727548/may-15-it-was-79-years-ago-today-that-ambedkars-annihilation-of-caste-was-published |title=May 15: It was 79 years ago today that Ambedkar's 'Annihilation Of Caste' was published |date=15 May 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529175303/http://scroll.in/article/727548/may-15-it-was-79-years-ago-today-that-ambedkars-annihilation-of-caste-was-published |archive-date=29 May 2016}} It strongly criticised Hindu orthodox religious leaders and the caste system in general,{{Cite journal |last=Mungekar |first=Bhalchandra |date=16–29 July 2011 |title=Annihilating caste |url=http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2815/stories/20110729281509500.htm |url-status=live |journal=Frontline |volume=28 |issue=11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101224527/http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2815%2Fstories%2F20110729281509500.htm |archive-date=1 November 2013 |access-date=18 July 2013}}{{Cite journal |last=Naresh |first=Vatsal |date=2025 |title="Problems of an Other's Making": B. R. Ambedkar, Caste, and Majoritarian Domination |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/problems-of-an-others-making-b-r-ambedkar-caste-and-majoritarian-domination/D632E0142EC315F7700F5FA039F6BB32 |journal=American Political Science Review |pages=1–15 |language=en |doi=10.1017/S0003055424001126 |issn=0003-0554}} and included "a rebuke of Gandhi" on the subject.Deb, Siddhartha, [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/magazine/arundhati-roy-the-not-so-reluctant-renegade.html "Arundhati Roy, the Not-So-Reluctant Renegade"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706154739/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/magazine/arundhati-roy-the-not-so-reluctant-renegade.html |date=6 July 2017 }}, New York Times Magazine, 5 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014. Later, in a 1955 BBC interview, he accused Gandhi of writing in opposition of the caste system in English language papers while writing in support of it in Gujarati language papers.{{cite web |url=http://scroll.in/article/813771/a-for-ambedkar-as-gujarats-freedom-march-nears-tryst-an-assertive-dalit-culture-spreads |title=A for Ambedkar: As Gujarat's freedom march nears tryst, an assertive Dalit culture spreads |date=13 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916194115/http://scroll.in/article/813771/a-for-ambedkar-as-gujarats-freedom-march-nears-tryst-an-assertive-dalit-culture-spreads |archive-date=16 September 2016}} In his writings, Ambedkar also accused Jawaharlal Nehru of being "conscious of the fact that he is a Brahmin".{{cite book|title=The Essential Writings of B.R. Ambedkar|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|page=139|author=Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Valerian Rodrigues}}

During this time, Ambedkar also fought against the khoti system prevalent in Konkan, where khots, or government revenue collectors, regularly exploited farmers and tenants. In 1937, Ambedkar tabled a bill in the Bombay Legislative Assembly aimed at abolishing the khoti system by creating a direct relationship between government and farmers.{{Cite book |last=Wankhede |first=Deepak Mahadeo Rao |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QT2oec2u3oC&q=khoti |title=Geographical Thought of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar |date=2009 |publisher=Gautam Book Center |isbn=978-81-87733-88-1 |page=55 |language=en}}

Ambedkar served on the Defence Advisory Committee{{cite book |last1=Jaffrelot |first1=Christophe |title=Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste |year=2005 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |location=London |isbn=1850654492 |page=5}} and the Viceroy's Executive Council as minister of labour. Before the Day of Deliverance events, Ambedkar stated that he was interested in participating: "I read Mr. Jinnah's statement and I felt ashamed to have allowed him to steal a march over me and rob me of the language and the sentiment which I, more than Mr. Jinnah, was entitled to use." He went on to suggest that the communities he worked with were twenty times more oppressed by Congress policies than were Indian Muslims; he clarified that he was criticizing Congress, and not all Hindus.{{cite book |title=Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission |last=Keer |first=Dhananjay |year=2005 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |location=Mumbai |isbn=81-7154-237-9 |page=330 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC |access-date=4 December 2007}} Jinnah and Ambedkar jointly addressed the heavily attended Day of Deliverance event in Bhindi Bazaar, Bombay, where both expressed "fiery" criticisms of the Congress party, and according to one observer, suggested that Islam and Hinduism were irreconcilable.{{cite book |title=The Man Who Divided India: An Insight Into Jinnah's Leadership and Its Aftermath |last=Zakaria |first=Rafiq |year=2001 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |location=Mumbai |isbn=81-7154-892-X |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbM6622HXCcC |access-date=4 December 2007}}

After the Lahore resolution (1940) of the Muslim League demanding Pakistan, Ambedkar wrote a 400-page tract titled Thoughts on Pakistan, which analysed the concept of "Pakistan" in all its aspects. Ambedkar argued that the Hindus should concede Pakistan to the Muslims. He proposed that the provincial boundaries of Punjab and Bengal should be redrawn to separate the Muslim and non-Muslim majority parts. He thought the Muslims could have no objection to redrawing provincial boundaries. If they did, they did not quite "understand the nature of their own demand". Scholar Venkat Dhulipala states that Thoughts on Pakistan "rocked Indian politics for a decade". It determined the course of dialogue between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress, paving the way for the Partition of India.{{Citation |last=Sialkoti |first=Zulfiqar Ali |title=An Analytical Study of the Punjab Boundary Line Issue during the Last Two Decades of the British Raj until the Declaration of 3 June 1947 |url=http://www.nihcr.edu.pk/Latest_English_Journal/Pjhc%2035-2,%202014/4%20Punjab%20Boundary%20Line,%20Zulfiqar%20Ali.pdf |work=Pakistan Journal of History and Culture |volume=XXXV |issue=2 |year=2014 |pages=73–76}}{{Citation |last=Dhulipala |first=Venkat |title=Creating a New Medina |date=2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z6TBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-05212-3 |ref={{sfnref|Dhulipala, Creating a New Medina|2015}} |pages=124, 134, 142–144, 149}}

In his work Who Were the Shudras?, Ambedkar tried to explain the formation of untouchables. He saw Shudras and Ati Shudras who form the lowest caste in the ritual hierarchy of the caste system, as separate from Untouchables. Ambedkar oversaw the transformation of his political party into the Scheduled Castes Federation. It did not fare well in the 1946 provincial elections, but in Bengal, it managed to elect Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly of India by winning support from Congress legislators.

{{citation |first=Masayuki |last=Usuda |chapter=Pushed towards the partition: Jogendranath Mandal and the Constrained Namasudra Movement |editor=Hiroyuki Kotani |title=Caste System, Untouchability, and the Depressed |publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors |year=1997 |isbn=9788173042041 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEZuAAAAMAAJ |pages=253–254 |quote=Polling was taken on 18 July and the votes were counted on the following day. Ambedkar was found to be elected by the greatest majority.[157] This is dealt with as a mere episode as well as a matter of course in Ambedkar's biographies. Yet it had not come to pass without the dedicated canvassing of the educated youths of the Bengali Scheduled Castes. (p. 273) Those who actually voted for Ambedkar were the following six MLAs: (l) Jogen Mandal (Barisal), (2) Dwarikanath Baruri (Faridpur), (3) Gayanath Biswas (Tangail), (4) Nagendranarayan Ray (Rangpur), (5) Kshetranath Sinha (Rangpur), and (6) Mukunda Behari Mullick (Khulna).}}

{{citation |first1=Sekhar |last1=Bandyopadhyay |first2=Anasua Basu |last2=Ray Chaudhury |title=Caste and Partition in Bengal: The Story of Dalit Refugees, 1946-1961 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=9780192859723 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2NjEAAAQBAJ |quote=[Ambedkar] came to Calcutta in late June—early July and made a fervent appeal to the Congress [Scheduled Caste] legislators to gather enough courage to break the ranks and rectify the injustices inflicted by the Cabinet Mission and the Congress... While both [Radhanath Das] and [P. R. Thakur] were elected, [Jogendranath Mandal], through his initiative, ensured Ambedkar's victory, with five (four required) first preference votes.}}

Jagjivan Ram's wife Indrani Jagjivan Ram wrote in her memoir that Ambedkar persuaded her husband to ask Mahatma Gandhi for his inclusion in Nehru's cabinet in independent India. Initially, Jagjivan Ram consulted Vallabhbhai Patel before asking Gandhi to recommend Ambedkar to Nehru for inclusion in cabinet, adding that Ambedkar had "given up his antagonism to Congress and Gandhiji". Ambedkar was ultimately included as the law minister of India in the First Nehru ministry after Gandhi recommended his name to Nehru.{{cite book | author=Indrani Jagjivan Ram | title=Milestones: A Memoir | publisher=Penguin Books India | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-670-08187-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYCynd34aIwC&pg=PA122 | language=fr | page=122}}{{cite book | last=Haynes | first=Jeffrey | title=Peace, Politics, and Religion | publisher=MDPI | year=2020 | isbn=978-3-03936-664-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLgOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA83 | page=83}}

On 27 September 1951, Ambedkar resigned from Nehru's cabinet ministry after Hindu code bill was defeated in parliament.{{cite book | last1=Hande | first1=H.V. | last2=Ambedkar | first2=B.R. | title=Ambedkar & the Making of the Indian Constitution: A Tribute to Babasaheb B.R. Ambedkar | publisher=Macmillan Publishers India | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-230-63744-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dn5RAQAAIAAJ | page=18}}

Ambedkar contested in the Bombay North first Indian General Election of 1952, but lost to his former assistant and Congress Party candidate Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar. Ambedkar became a member of Rajya Sabha, probably an appointed member. He tried to enter Lok Sabha again in the by-election of 1954 from Bhandara, but he placed third (the Congress Party won). By the time of the second general election in 1957, Ambedkar had died.

Ambedkar also criticised Islamic practice in South Asia. While justifying the Partition of India, he condemned child marriage and the mistreatment of women in Muslim society.

{{blockquote|

No words can adequately express the great and many evils of polygamy and concubinage, and especially as a source of misery to a Muslim woman. Take the caste system. Everybody infers that Islam must be free from slavery and caste. [...] [While slavery existed], much of its support was derived from Islam and Islamic countries. While the prescriptions by the Prophet regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the Koran are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support to the abolition of this curse. But if slavery has gone, caste among Musalmans [Muslims] has remained.{{Cite book |last=Ambedkar |first=Bhimrao Ramji |title=Pakistan or the Partition of India |publisher=Thackers Publishers |edition=3rd |year=1946 |location=Bombay |pages=215–219 |chapter=Chapter X: Social Stagnation |access-date=2024-08-03 |oclc=809536353 |chapter-url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/410.html |via=Columbia.edu}}}}

India's Constitution

File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee, presenting the final draft of the Indian Constitution to Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 25 November, 1949.jpg

Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to serve as the Dominion of India's Law Minister; two weeks later, he was appointed Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution for the future Republic of India.

On 25 November 1949, Ambedkar in his concluding speech in constituent assembly said:{{cite book | last=Guha | first=R. | title=Makers of Modern India | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-674-72596-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6gvEAAAQBAJ | access-date=18 November 2022 | page=292}}

{{blockquote

|"The credit that is given to me does not really belong to me. It belongs partly to Sir B.N. Rau the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly who prepared a rough draft of the Constitution for the consideration of the Drafting Committee."{{cite web |title=Constituent Assembly Debates on November 25, 1949 |url=https://www.constitutionofindia.net/debates/25-nov-1949/#130298 |website=Constitution of India |access-date=31 December 2024}}

}}

Indian constitution guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability, and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar was one of the ministers who argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and won the Assembly's support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and Other Backward Class, a system akin to affirmative action. India's lawmakers hoped to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities and lack of opportunities for India's depressed classes through these measures.{{Cite journal |last=Sheth |first=D. L. |date=November 1987 |title=Reservations Policy Revisited |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=22 |issue=46 |pages=1957–1962 |jstor=4377730}} The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly.{{cite web |url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/introd.htm |title=Constitution of India |publisher=Ministry of Law and Justice of India |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022161409/http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/introd.htm |archive-date=22 October 2014 |access-date=10 October 2013}}

Steven Calabresi has voiced agreement with Martha C. Nussbaum's assessment of the Indian constitution as "Ambedkar's constitution," on account of the Supreme Court of India having evolved away from judicial restraint and legal positivism favored and successfully executed into the Constitution in 1950 by Jawaharlal Nehru and leaders of India's anti-colonial nationalist movement who held sway in the Constituent Assembly of India to an purposive approach by which the court rules today, whereby it is the final arbiter of the Constitution's meaning and its interpretations are binding on the executive and legislative branches of the government. Ambedkar had supported the purposive approach during the drafting of the constitution from 1947 to 1949 but his views were in a minority.{{cite book|last=Calabresi|first=Steven Gow|author-link=Steven Calabresi|chapter=The Union of India: Umpiring and Rights from Wrongs|title=The History and Growth of Judicial Review, Volume 1: The G-20 Common Law Countries and Israel|location=Oxford and New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021|isbn=9780190075798|doi=10.1093/oso/9780190075774.001.0001|pages=263–310|quote=(page 280) The National Congress Party moved very quickly from being an advocate of Indian independence into the position of governing the newly emerged democratic state. ... The Indian Constituent Assembly, ... spent three years amending the Government of India Act 1935 before putting it into effect as the Constitution of India, in 1950. (p 284) Professor Martha Nussbaum is thus quite right to say that India’s Constitution is Ambedkar’s Constitution because it has evolved in his direction and away from Nehru’s ideas over the last seven decades. (p. 297) "Framers of the Indian Constitution overwhelmingly expected and wanted the Indian courts to use the positivist, textual mode of interpretation then favored by British judges, and to defer to acts of Parliament. “The positivist model of judicial review was preferred by many leaders of the National Movement, including Prime Minister Nehru.” Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of the oppressed caste of untouchables, favored purposive interpretation over positivism, but his views on this point were in the minority... In its early years, the Supreme Court of India was a positivist and deferential institution ... By the 1980s, the Supreme Court of India had eschewed textual positivism of the kind Nehru had favored, and it adopted purposive interpretation of the kind Dr. Ambedkar had favored.}}

Ambedkar had openly shared his concern in the Constituent Assembly that country might lose both its Constitution and its democratic freedoms in the future. He believed that the lack of a strong democratic tradition, the widespread presence of ‘bhakti’ or political ‘hero worship’ and the large gap between the republican promises of the Constitution and socio-economic inequality, made this a distinct and ever-present possibility.{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Tripurdaman |title=Sixteen Stormy Days: The Story of the First Amendment of the Constitution of India |year=2020 |publisher=Penguin Random House India|isbn=9780670092871|page=19}}{{Cite web|title= Why BR Ambedkar's three warnings in his last speech to the Constituent Assembly resonate even today|url=https://scroll.in/article/802495/why-br-ambedkars-three-warnings-in-his-last-speech-to-the-constituent-assembly-resonate-even-today|date= 26 January 2016|access-date=24 January 2025}}{{Cite web |last=Dave |first=Dushyant |date=2023-04-14 |title=Babasaheb's warning: In politics, bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to dictatorship |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/balasaheb-ambedkar-politics-bhakti-hero-woship-disctatorship-8555203/ |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}

Ambedkar expressed his disapproval for the constitution in 1953 during a parliament session and said "People always keep on saying to me "Oh you are the maker of the constitution". My answer is I was a hack. What I was asked to do, I did much against my will." Ambedkar added that, "I am quite prepared to say that I shall be the first person to burn it out. I do not want it. It does not suit anybody."{{cite web | last=Dhamija | first=Bhanu | title=Ambedkar Jayanti 2018: Why BR Ambedkar Didn't Like India's Constitution? | website=TheQuint | date=13 April 2018 | url=https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/why-ambedkar-did-not-like-indian-constitution}}{{cite book | author=A.G. Noorani | title=Constitutional Questions and Citizens' Rights: An Omnibus comprising Constitutional Questions in India: The President, Parliament and the States and Citizens' Rights, Judges and State Accountability | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-19-908778-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIAyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT76 | page=76}}

Economics

Ambedkar was the first Indian to pursue a doctorate in economics abroad.{{Cite book |title=IEA Newsletter – The Indian Economic Association (IEA) |publisher=IEA publications |location=India |page=10 |chapter=Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Economic and Social Thoughts and Their Contemporary Relevance |chapter-url=http://indianeconomicassociation.com/download/newsletter2013.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016045757/http://indianeconomicassociation.com/download/newsletter2013.pdf |archive-date=16 October 2013 |url-status=live}} He argued that industrialisation and agricultural growth could enhance the Indian economy. He stressed investment in agriculture as the primary industry of India.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} Ambedkar advocated national economic and social development, stressing education, public hygiene, community health, residential facilities as the basic amenities.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2XLE22ZizYC&q=the+contribution+of+Ambedkar+on+post+war+economic+development+plan+ofaIndia&pg=PA173 |title=Socio-economic and political vision of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=2010 |isbn=978-8180696749 |editor-last=Mishra |editor-first=S.N. |location=New Delhi |pages=173–174}} His DSc thesis, The problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Solution (1923) examines the causes for the Rupee's fall in value. In this dissertation, he argued in favour of a gold standard in modified form, and was opposed to the gold-exchange standard favoured by Keynes in his treatise Indian Currency and Finance (1909), claiming it was less stable. He favoured the stoppage of all further coinage of the rupee and the minting of a gold coin, which he believed would fix currency rates and prices.{{Cite journal |last=Jadhav |first=Narendra |date=1991 |title=Neglected Economic Thought of Babasaheb Ambedkar |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=26 |issue=15 |pages=980–982 |jstor=4397927 |issn=0012-9976}}

He also analysed revenue in his PhD dissertation The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India. In this work, he analysed the various systems used by the British colonial government to manage finances in India.{{Cite news |last=Zelliot |first=Eleanor |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/graphics/txt_zelliot1991.html |title=Dr. Ambedkar and America |work=A talk at the Columbia University Ambedkar Centenary |access-date=15 October 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103155400/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/graphics/txt_zelliot1991.html |archive-date=3 November 2013 |year=1991}} His views on finance were that governments should ensure their expenditures have "faithfulness, wisdom and economy." "Faithfulness" meaning governments should use money as nearly as possible to the original intentions of spending the money in the first place. "Wisdom" meaning it should be used as well as possible for the public good, and "economy" meaning the funds should be used so that the maximum value can be extracted from them.{{Cite journal |last=Ambirajan |first=S. |date=1999 |title=Ambedkar's Contributions to Indian Economics |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=34 |issue=46/47 |pages=3280–3285 |jstor=4408623 |issn=0012-9976}}

Ambedkar opposed income tax for low-income groups. He contributed in Land Revenue Tax and excise duty policies to stabilise the economy.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} He played an important role in land reform and the state economic development.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} According to him, the caste system, due to its division of labourers and hierarchical nature, impedes movement of labour (higher castes would not do lower-caste occupations) and movement of capital (assuming investors would invest first in their own caste occupation). His theory of State Socialism had three points: state ownership of agricultural land, the maintenance of resources for production by the state, and a just distribution of these resources to the population. He emphasised a free economy with a stable Rupee which India has adopted recently.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} He advocated birth control to develop the Indian economy, and this has been adopted by Indian government as national policy for family planning. He emphasised equal rights for women for economic development.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

A number of Ambedkar's ideas reflected deep interest in Austrian school of economics. The ideas of Ambedkar were close to those of Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and William Graham Sumner. Ambedkar's theory of free banking was built on Menger's work and also on Gopal Krishna Gokhale's treatise on finance and money. Ambedkar's view about distinguishing differential quality of money was influenced by Menger's idea of sale-ability of money which is found in Menger's article 'On the Origin of Money'. Ambedkar's recommendations for free banking were ignored by both Royal Commission and Indian government.{{cite book | last=Barnett | first=V. | title=Routledge Handbook of the History of Global Economic Thought | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge International Handbooks | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-317-64412-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6BeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA329 | access-date=19 April 2023 | page=329}}

In his book, "The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India", Ambedkar wrote "a Central Government for the whole of India could not be said to possess knowledge and experience of all various conditions prevailing in different Provinces under it. It, therefore, necessarily becomes an authority less competent to deal with matters of provincial administration than the Provisional Governments.'

Ambedkar's views on agricultural land was that too much of it was idle, or that it was not being utilized properly. He believed there was an "ideal proportion" of production factors that would allow agricultural land to be used most productively. To this end, he saw the large portion of people who lived on agriculture at the time as a major problem. Therefore, he advocated industrialization of the economy to allow these agricultural labourers to be of more use elsewhere.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Ambedkar was of the view that there is a need to shift surplus labour from agricultural channels to non-agricultural channels.{{cite book |author1= Rainer Kattel |author2= J. A. Kregel |author3= Erik S. Reinert| title=Ragnar Nurkse (1907-2007): Classical Development Economics and Its Relevance for Today | publisher=Anthem Press | series=Anthem Other Canon Economics, Anthem Frontiers of Global Political Economy and Development Series | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-85728-396-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exR5Xod7VdsC&pg=PA316 | page=316}}

Ambedkar was trained as an economist, and was a professional economist until 1921, when he became a political leader. He wrote three books on economics:

Administration and Finance of the East India Company
The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India
The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution{{cite web |url=http://www.aygrt.net/publishArticles/651.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224125324/http://www.aygrt.net/publishArticles/651.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 February 2021 |title=अभिगमन तिथि |access-date=28 November 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://drnarendrajadhav.info/drnjadhav_web_files/Published%20papers/Dr%20Ambedkar%20Philosophy.pdf |title=Dr. B. R. AMBEDKAR |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228060022/http://drnarendrajadhav.info/drnjadhav_web_files/Published%20papers/Dr%20Ambedkar%20Philosophy.pdf |archive-date=28 February 2013 |access-date=28 November 2012}}

Marriage

File:Dr. B.R. Ambedkar with wife Dr. Savita Ambedkar in 1948.jpg in 1948]]

Ambedkar's first wife Ramabai died in 1935 after a long illness. After completing the draft of India's constitution in the late 1940s, he suffered from lack of sleep, had neuropathic pain in his legs, and was taking insulin and homoeopathic medicines. He went to Bombay for treatment, and there met Sharada Kabir, MBBS, whom he married on 15 April 1948, at his home in New Delhi. Doctors recommended a companion who was a good cook and was a medical practitioner to care for him.{{Cite book |last=Keer |first=Dhananjay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&pg=PA394 |title=Dr. Ambedkar: life and mission |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=2005 |isbn=81-7154-237-9 |location=Mumbai |pages=403–404 |access-date=13 June 2012 |orig-date=1954}} She adopted the name Savita Ambedkar and cared for him the rest of his life.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1940s.html |title=In the 1940s |last=Pritchett |first=Frances |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623190913/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1940s.html |archive-date=23 June 2012 |access-date=13 June 2012}} Savita Ambedkar, who was called also 'Mai', died on 29 May 2003, aged 93 in Mumbai.{{cite web |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/29mai.htm |title=Ambedkar's wife passes away |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210075024/http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/29mai.htm |archive-date=10 December 2016 |access-date=20 June 2017}}

Conversion to Buddhism

File: Dr. Ambedkar delivering speech during conversion.jpg

Ambedkar considered converting to Sikhism, which encouraged opposition to oppression and so appealed to leaders of scheduled castes. But after meeting with Sikh leaders, he concluded that he might get "second-rate" Sikh status.{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Stephen P. |date=May 1969 |title=The Untouchable Soldier: Caste, Politics, and the Indian Army |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=28 |issue=3 |page=460 |doi=10.2307/2943173 |jstor=2943173|s2cid=145769248 |doi-access=free }} {{subscription required}}

Instead, around 1950, he began devoting his attention to Buddhism and travelled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to attend a meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists.{{Cite book |last=Sangharakshita |title=Ambedkar and Buddhism |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=8120830237 |edition=1st South Asian |location=New Delhi |page=72 |chapter=Milestone on the Road to conversion |access-date=17 July 2013 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-b2EzNRxQIC&pg=PA72}} While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that when it was finished, he would formally convert to Buddhism.{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1950s.html |title=In the 1950s |last=Pritchett |first=Frances |format=PHP |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620200055/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1950s.html |archive-date=20 June 2006 |access-date=2 August 2006}} He twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time to attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon.{{Cite book |title=Rethinking Gandhi and Nonviolent Relationality: Global Perspectives |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-0415437400 |editor-last=Ganguly |editor-first=Debjani |series=Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia |volume=46 |location=London |page=257 |oclc=123912708 |editor-last2=Docker |editor-first2=John}} In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India.{{Cite book |last=Quack |first=Johannes |title=Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0199812608 |page=88 |oclc=704120510}} In 1956, he completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, which was published posthumously.

After meetings with the Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Hammalawa Saddhatissa,[https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2005/03/20/fea31.html Online edition of Sunday Observer – Features] . Sundayobserver.lk. Retrieved on 12 August 2012. Ambedkar organised a formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on 14 October 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk in the traditional manner, Ambedkar completed his own conversion, along with his wife. He then proceeded to convert some 500,000 of his supporters who were gathered around him.{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Monk-who-witnessed-Ambedkars-conversion-to-Buddhism/articleshow/46925826.cms |title=Monk who witnessed Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism |last=Sinha |first=Arunav |website=The Times of India |date=15 April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150417154149/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Monk-who-witnessed-Ambedkars-conversion-to-Buddhism/articleshow/46925826.cms |archive-date=17 April 2015}} He prescribed the 22 Vows for these converts, after the Three Jewels and Five Precepts. He then travelled to Kathmandu, Nepal to attend the Fourth World Buddhist Conference. His work on The Buddha or Karl Marx and "Revolution and counter-revolution in ancient India" remained incomplete.

Death

File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar as he passed away in his sleep at his residence 26, Alipore Road, New Delhi on 6 December 1956.jpg of B. R. Ambedkar]]

Since 1948, Ambedkar had diabetes. He remained in bed from June to October in 1954 due to medication side-effects and poor eyesight. His health worsened during 1955. Three days after completing his final manuscript The Buddha and His Dhamma, Ambedkar died in his sleep on 6 December 1956 at his home in Delhi.{{cite book | last=Shashi | first=S.S. | title=Encyclopaedia Indica: Great political personalities of Post Colonial Era-I | publisher=Anmol Publications | series=Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh | year=1996 | isbn=978-81-7041-859-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bf8vAQAAIAAJ | author-link=Shyam Singh Shashi | page=147}}

A Buddhist cremation was organised at Dadar Chowpatty beach on 7 December,{{Cite book |last=Sangharakshita |title=Ambedkar and Buddhism |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd |year=2006 |isbn=81-208-3023-7 |edition=1st South Asian |location=New Delhi |pages=162–163 |chapter=After Ambedkar |orig-date=1986}} attended by half a million grieving people.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNAI9F8IBOgC&q=%22mahar%22+%22Christianity%22&pg=PA16 |title=Religion and social conflict in South Asia |publisher=Brill |year=1976 |isbn=9004045104 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Bardwell L. |location=Leiden |page=16}} A conversion program was organised on 16 December 1956,{{Cite book |last=Kantowsky |first=Detlef |title=Buddhists in India today:descriptions, pictures, and documents |publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors |year=2003}} so that cremation attendees were also converted to Buddhism at the same place.

Ambedkar was survived by his second wife Savita Ambedkar (known as Maisaheb Ambedkar), who died in 2003,{{Cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2003/05/30/stories/2003053002081300.htm |title=President, PM condole Savita Ambedkar's death |date=30 May 2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119094932/http://www.hindu.com/2003/05/30/stories/2003053002081300.htm |archive-date=19 January 2012 |work=The Hindu}} and his son Yashwant Ambedkar (known as Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar), who died in 1977.{{Cite book |last=Kshīrasāgara |first=Rāmacandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wx218EFVU8MC&q=Bhaiyasaheb+Ambedkar&pg=PA163 |title=Dalit movement in India and its leaders, 1857–1956 |publisher=M D Publications pvt Ltd |year=1994 |isbn=978-8185880433 |location=New Delhi}} Savita and Yashwant carried on the socio-religious movement started by B. R. Ambedkar. Yashwant served as the 2nd President of the Buddhist Society of India (1957–1977) and a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (1960–1966).{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lV7pwDO_VGoC&q=Yashwant+Ambedkar&pg=PA171 |title=Modernisation of Buddhism: Contributions of Ambedkar and Dalai Lama XIV |isbn=978-8121208130 |last1=Karunyakara |first1=Lella |year=2002|publisher=Gyan Publishing House }}{{Cite book |title=Suryaputra Yashwantrao Ambedkar |last=Khobragade |first=Fulchand |publisher=Sanket Prakashan |year=2014 |location=Nagpur |page=41 |language=mr}} Ambedkar's elder grandson, Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, is the chief-adviser of the Buddhist Society of India,{{Cite news |url=http://www.maharashtrapoliticalparties.com/prakash-ambedkar.html |title=maharashtrapoliticalparties |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818081809/http://www.maharashtrapoliticalparties.com/prakash-ambedkar.html |archive-date=18 August 2012}} leads the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi{{cite web |url=https://www.lokmat.com/akola/finally-bharip-bms-merge-vanchit-bahujan-aaghadi/ |title=अखेर भारिप-बमसं 'वंचित'मध्ये विलीन! |date=9 November 2019 |website=Lokmat.com |publisher=Lokmat |access-date=20 August 2021 }}{{Cite news |url=http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok13/biodata/13MH19.htm |title=Biographical Sketch, Member of Parliament, 13th Lok Sabha |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520212637/http://www.parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok13/biodata/13MH19.htm |archive-date=20 May 2011 |publisher=parliamentofindia.nic.in}} and has served in both houses of the Indian Parliament. Ambedkar's younger grandson, Anandraj Ambedkar leads the Republican Sena (tran: The "Republican Army").{{cite news |title=Ambedkar grandson targets Buddhist caves |newspaper=The New Indian Express |location=Mumbai |pages= |language= |publisher=Express Publications |date=8 January 2012 |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2012/jan/08/ambedkar-grandson-targets-buddhist-caves-328171.html |access-date=20 August 2021}}

A number of unfinished typescripts and handwritten drafts were found among Ambedkar's notes and papers and gradually made available. Among these were Waiting for a Visa, which probably dates from 1935 to 1936 and is an autobiographical work, and the Untouchables, or the Children of India's Ghetto, which refers to the census of 1951.

A memorial for Ambedkar was established in his Delhi house at 26 Alipur Road. His birthdate known as Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti is observed as a public holiday in many Indian states. He was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1990.{{Cite news |url=http://ambedkarfoundation.nic.in/html/bharat.htm |title=Baba Saheb |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060505044856/http://ambedkarfoundation.nic.in/html/bharat.htm |archive-date=5 May 2006}}

On the anniversary of his birth and death, and on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din (14 October) at Nagpur, at least half a million people gather to pay homage to him at his memorial in Mumbai.{{Cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_tributes-paid-to-br-ambedkar-followers-throng-chaityabhoomi_1622263 |title=Homage to Dr Ambedkar: When all roads led to Chaityabhoomi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324024710/http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_tributes-paid-to-br-ambedkar-followers-throng-chaityabhoomi_1622263 |archive-date=24 March 2012}} Thousands of bookshops are set up, and books are sold. His message to his followers was "educate, agitate, organise!"{{Cite book |last=Ganguly |first=Debanji |title=Caste, Colonialism and Counter-Modernity:: notes on a postcolonial hermeneutics of caste |url=https://archive.org/details/castecolonialism00gang |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=0-415-34294-5 |location=Oxon |pages=[https://archive.org/details/castecolonialism00gang/page/n186 172]–173 |chapter=Buddha, bhakti and 'superstition': a post-secular reading of dalit conversion}}

Legacy

File:People paying tribute at the central statue of Bodhisattva Babasaheb Ambedkar in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, India.png in Aurangabad.]]

File:1 RUPEE DR. B.R AMBEDKAR CENTENARY 1990 COMMEMORATIVE COIN.jpg commemorative coin of India dedicated to B.R. Ambedkar]]

Ambedkar's legacy as a socio-political reformer had a deep effect on modern India.{{Cite book |last=Joshi |first=Barbara R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9CUItMT1zQC&pg=PA13 |title=Untouchable!: Voices of the Dalit Liberation Movement |publisher=Zed Books |year=1986 |isbn=978-0862324605 |pages=11–14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729072018/https://books.google.com/books?id=y9CUItMT1zQC&pg=PA13 |archive-date=29 July 2016 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=Keer |first=D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&pg=PA61 |title=Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=1990 |isbn=978-8171542376 |page=61 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730015400/https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&pg=PA61 |archive-date=30 July 2016 |url-status=live}} In post-Independence India, his socio-political thought is respected across the political spectrum. His initiatives have influenced various spheres of life and transformed the way India today looks at socio-economic policies, education and affirmative action through socio-economic and legal incentives. His reputation as a scholar led to his appointment as free India's first law minister, and chairman of the committee for drafting the constitution. He passionately believed in individual freedom and criticised caste society. His accusations of Hinduism as being the foundation of the caste system made him controversial and unpopular among Hindus.{{Cite book |last=Bayly |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA259 |title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780521798426 |page=259 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801081134/https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA259 |archive-date=1 August 2016 |url-status=live}} His conversion to Buddhism sparked a revival in interest in Buddhist philosophy in India and abroad.{{Cite book |last=Naik |first=C.D |title=Thoughts and philosophy of Doctor B.R. Ambedkar |publisher=Sarup & Sons |year=2003 |isbn=81-7625-418-5 |edition= |location=New Delhi |page=12 |chapter=Buddhist Developments in East and West Since 1950: An Outline of World Buddhism and Ambedkarism Today in Nutshell |oclc=53950941}}

Many public institutions are named in his honour, and the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur, otherwise known as Sonegaon Airport. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Ambedkar University Delhi is also named in his honour.{{cite web |date=23 May 2017 |title=सामाजिक न्याय विभागाचे पुरस्कार जाहीर |url=https://www.lokmat.com/maharashtra/announcing-award-social-justice-department/ |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=Lokmat |language=mr-IN}}

The Maharashtra government has acquired a house in London where Ambedkar lived during his days as a student in the 1920s. The house is expected to be converted into a museum-cum-memorial to Ambedkar.{{cite web |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/pm-inaugurates-ambedkar-memorial-in-london/article7878234.ece |title=PM inaugurates Ambedkar memorial in London |date=22 January 2018 |website=The Hindy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217110825/https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/pm-inaugurates-ambedkar-memorial-in-london/article7878234.ece |archive-date=17 December 2018 |access-date=17 December 2018}}

Ambedkar was voted "the Greatest Indian" since independence by a poll organised by History TV18 and CNN IBN, ahead of Patel and Nehru, in 2012. Nearly 20 million votes were cast.{{cite web |title=A Measure Of The Man {{!}} Outlook India Magazine |url=https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/a-measure-of-the-man/281949 |access-date=13 March 2021|website=Outlook India}} Due to his role in economics, Narendra Jadhav, a notable Indian economist,{{cite web |url=http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/history/index.php?about=narendra.htm |title=Member's Profile: Dr. Narendra Jadhav |publisher=Government of India |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023043604/http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/history/index.php?about=narendra.htm |archive-date=23 October 2013 |access-date=17 October 2013}} has said that Ambedkar was "the highest educated Indian economist of all times."{{Cite news |last=Pisharoty |first=Sangeeta Barooah |url=http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/words-that-were/article4750471.ece |title=Words that were |date=26 May 2013 |work=The Hindu |access-date=17 October 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017214648/http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/words-that-were/article4750471.ece |archive-date=17 October 2013}} Amartya Sen, said that Ambedkar is "father of my economics", and "he was highly controversial figure in his home country, though it was not the reality. His contribution in the field of economics is marvelous and will be remembered forever."{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhgBUgfrw0c |title=Face the People - FTP: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on economic growth, Indian politics |date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307090403/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhgBUgfrw0c |archive-date=7 March 2016 |work=YouTube |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://atrocitynews.com/2007/05/05/ambedkar-my-father-in-economics-dr-amartya-sen/ |title=Ambedkar my father in Economics: Dr Amartya Sen |work=Atrocity News |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903094347/http://atrocitynews.com/2007/05/05/ambedkar-my-father-in-economics-dr-amartya-sen/ |archive-date=3 September 2012}}

On 2 April 1967, an 3.66 metre (12 foot) tall bronze statue of Ambedkar was installed in the Parliament of India. The statue, sculpted by B.V. Wagh, was unveiled by the then President of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.{{cite web |title=Rajya Sabha - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar |url=https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/p8.asp |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=rajyasabha.nic.in|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705114556/http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/p8.asp|archive-date=5 July 2010 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Rajya Sabha - Photographs Of Parliament House Complex |url=https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/anx_view.asp |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=rajyasabha.nic.in|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627180207/http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/anx_view.asp|archive-date=27 June 2010 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Photo Gallery: Lok Sabha |url=http://164.100.47.193/Loksabha/PhotoGal/PhotoGallerySlider.aspx?GalID=8 |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=164.100.47.193}} On 12 April 1990, a portrait of B.R. Ambedkar is put in the Central Hall of Parliament House.{{cite web |title=Rajya Sabha |url=https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/dr_brambedkar.asp |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=rajyasabha.nic.in}}{{cite web |title=Photo Gallery: Lok Sabha |url=http://loksabhaph.nic.in/PhotoGal/PhotoGallerySlider.aspx?GalID=3&catdesc=central |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=loksabhaph.nic.in}}{{cite web |title=The Office of Speaker Lok Sabha |url=https://speakerloksabha.nic.in/event/EventDetails.asp?EventId=2471 |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=speakerloksabha.nic.in}} The portrait of Ambedkar, painted by Zeba Amrohawi, was unveiled by the then Prime Minister of India, V. P. Singh. Another portrait of Ambedkar is put in the Parliamentary Museum and archives of the Parliament House.{{cite web |title=Rajya Sabha - Portraits In The Parliamentary Museum And Archives |url=https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/index4.asp |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=rajyasabha.nic.in|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705114432/https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/index4.asp|archive-date=5 July 2010|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Rajya Sabha - Picture Gallery - Dr B. R. Ambedkar |url=https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/b_r_ambedkar_3.asp |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=rajyasabha.nic.in|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100711043321/http://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/picture_gallery/b_r_ambedkar_3.asp |archive-date=11 July 2010|url-status=dead}}

Ambedkar's legacy was not without criticism. Ambedkar has been criticised for his one-sided views on the issue of caste at the expense of cooperation with the larger nationalist movement.{{Cite journal |last=Menski |first=W. F. |title=The role of the judiciary in plural societies |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/neelan-tiruchelvam-and-radhika-coomaraswamy-ed-the-role-of-the-judiciary-in-plural-societies-xxi-193-pp-london-frances-pinter1987-2250/A6988B0550B88139E39AE44A8FC51818 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |date=February 1989 |publisher=Cambridge University |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=172–174 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00023600|s2cid=161754777 }} Ambedkar has been also criticised by some of his biographers over his neglect of organization-building.{{Cite book |last=Omvedt |first=Gail |title=Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=1994 |isbn=978-8132119838 |page=185}}

Ambedkar's political philosophy has given rise to a large number of political parties, publications and workers' unions that remain active across India, especially in Maharashtra. His promotion of Buddhism has rejuvenated interest in Buddhist philosophy among sections of population in India. Mass conversion ceremonies have been organised by human rights activists in modern times, emulating Ambedkar's Nagpur ceremony of 1956.{{Cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/28/stories/2007052806851200.htm |title=One lakh people convert to Buddhism |date=28 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829082828/http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/28/stories/2007052806851200.htm |archive-date=29 August 2010 |work=The Hindu}} Some Indian Buddhists regard him as a Bodhisattva, although he never claimed it himself.{{harvtxt|Michael|1999}}, p. 65, notes that "The concept of Ambedkar as a Bodhisattva or enlightened being who brings liberation to all backward classes is widespread among Buddhists." He also notes how Ambedkar's pictures are enshrined side-to-side in Buddhist Vihars and households in India|office=Labour Member in Viceroy's Executive Counciln Buddhist homes. Outside India, during the late 1990s, some Hungarian Romani people drew parallels between their own situation and that of the downtrodden people in India. Inspired by Ambedkar, they started to convert to Buddhism.{{Cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/11/22/stories/2009112250120300.htm |title=Magazine / Land & People: Ambedkar in Hungary |date=22 November 2009 |access-date=17 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417181130/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/11/22/stories/2009112250120300.htm |archive-date=17 April 2010 |location=Chennai |work=The Hindu}}

The Ambedkar Statue in Hyderabad is a statue of B. R. Ambedkar located in Hyderabad. The statue was designed by Ram V. Sutar. The foundation stone was laid in 2016, but the construction of the statue began in 2021. The statue was inaugurated on 14 April 2023, by K. Chandrashekhar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, on the 132nd Ambedkar Jayanti. Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar was the chief guest of the event. The statue is made up of over 360 tonnes of steel and 100 tonnes of bronze.{{Cite web |last=Janyala |first=Sreenivas |date=14 April 2023 |title=KCR unveils 125-ft tall bronze statue of Dr B R Ambedkar on his 132nd birth anniversary |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/hyderabad/ambedkar-statue-telangana-kcr-8555733/ |access-date=30 April 2023 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=14 April 2023 |title=125 feet Dr BR Ambedkar: Know trivia of Hyderabad's new monument |url=https://www.siasat.com/125-feet-dr-br-ambedkar-know-trivia-of-hyderabads-new-monument-2568077/ |access-date=30 April 2023 |website=The Siasat Daily |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=13 April 2023 |title=Stage set for inauguration of 125-ft Dr. B.R. Ambedkar statue today |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/stage-set-for-inauguration-of-125-ft-dr-br-ambedkar-statue-today/article66733490.ece |access-date=30 April 2023 |issn=0971-751X}}{{Cite news |last=Ali |first=Roushan |date=14 April 2023 |title=K Chandrasekhar Rao to unveil India's tallest Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad today |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/k-chandrasekhar-rao-to-unveil-indias-tallest-ambedkar-statue-in-hyderabad-today/articleshow/99476534.cms?from=mdr |access-date=30 April 2023 |issn=0971-8257}}{{Cite web |last=Jayachandran |first=Apoorva |title=Telangana CM KCR unveils 125-ft-tall Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/telangana-cm-kcr-unveil-125-feet-tall-br-ambedkar-statue-hyderabad-132-birth-anniversary-2359891-2023-04-14 |access-date=30 April 2023 |website=India Today |date=14 April 2023 |language=en}} On 19 January 2024, a 125 feet tall "Statue of Social Justice" of Ambedkar was installed in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, which stands on an 81 feet high platform.{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/cm-jagan-mohan-reddy-to-unveil-statue-of-social-justice-on-january-19/article67749316.ece | title=CM Jagan Mohan Reddy to unveil statue of social justice on January 19 | newspaper=The Hindu | date=17 January 2024 }} The Ambedkar statues in Hyderabad and Vijayawada are the fifth and fourth tallest statues in India respectively. In May 2026, a 450 feet tall "Statue of Equality" of Babasaheb Ambedkar will be ready at Indu Mill in Mumbai,{{cite web | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/ambedkar-memorial-project-mumbai-indu-mill-ready-by-may-2026-9055367/ | title=Ambedkar memorial project at Mumbai's Indu Mill to be ready by May 2026 | date=5 December 2023 }} which will be the second tallest statue in India and the third tallest in the world.{{cite web | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/ambedkar-memorial-project-mumbai-indu-mill-ready-by-may-2026-9055367/ | title=Ambedkar memorial project at Mumbai's Indu Mill to be ready by May 2026 | date=5 December 2023 }}

Views

=Religion=

File:47 Raika School - eating together (3384824242).jpg written on the blackboard honours Ambedkar.]]

Ambedkar said in 1935 that he was born a Hindu but would not die a Hindu. He viewed Hinduism as an "oppressive religion" and started to consider conversion to any other religion.{{cite book |author=Anupama P. Rao |title=Undoing Untouchability?: Violence, Democracy, and Discourses of State in Maharashtra, 1932–1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3MfAQAAMAAJ |year=1999 |publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=978-0-599-39817-7 |pages=49–74}} In Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar claims that the only lasting way a true casteless society could be achieved is through destroying the belief of the sanctity of the Shastras and denying their authority.{{Cite journal |last=Guru |first=Gopal |date=1991 |title=Appropriating Ambedkar |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=26 |issue=27/28 |pages=1697–1699 |jstor=4398126 |issn=0012-9976}} Ambedkar was critical of Hindu religious texts and epics and wrote a work titled Riddles in Hinduism during 1954–1955. The work was published posthumously by combining individual chapter manuscripts and resulted in mass demonstrations and counter demonstrations.{{cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mahishasura-debate-reveals-alternative-traditions/article8290538.ece |title=The Mahishasura debate: alternative traditions |access-date=1 August 2021 |date=28 February 2016 |work=The Hindu}}{{cite web |url=https://www.forwardpress.in/2019/06/pragmatist-riddles-in-ambedkars-riddles-in-hinduism/ |title=Pragmatist riddles in Ambedkar's 'Riddles in Hinduism' |first=Scott R. |last=Stroud |access-date=1 August 2021 |date=1 June 2019 |publisher=ForwardPress.in}}{{cite journal |last=Vaidyanathan |first=T. G. |title=Authority and Identity in India |journal=Daedalus |volume=118 |issue=4 |year=1989 |pages=147–169 |jstor=20025268}}

Ambedkar viewed Christianity to be incapable of fighting injustices. He wrote that "It is an incontrovertible fact that Christianity was not enough to end the slavery of the Negroes in the United States. A civil war was necessary to give the Negro the freedom which was denied to him by the Christians."{{cite book |title=For the Solution of the "Caste" Question, Buddha is Not Enough, Ambedkar is Not Enough Either, Marx is a Must |author=Ranganayakamma |page=404}}

Ambedkar criticized distinctions within Islam and described the religion as "a close corporation and the distinction that it makes between Muslims and non-Muslims is a very real, very positive and very alienating distinction".{{cite book |author1=Anupama Roy |author2=Michael Becker |title=Dimensions of Constitutional Democracy: India and Germany |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrzoDwAAQBAJ |date=1 June 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-9811538995 |page=120}}

He opposed conversions of depressed classes to convert to Islam or Christianity added that if they converted to Islam then "the danger of Muslim domination also becomes real" and if they converted to Christianity then it "will help to strengthen the hold of Britain on the country".{{cite book |author=Dhananjay Keer |title=Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&pg=PA280 |year=1971 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7154-237-6 |pages=280–}}

Initially, Ambedkar planned to convert to Sikhism but he rejected this idea after he discovered that British government would not guarantee the privileges accorded to the untouchables in reserved parliamentary seats.{{cite book |author=Geoffrey A. Oddie |title=Religion in South Asia: Religious Conversion and Revival Movements in South Asia in Medieval and Modern Times |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4MIoAAAAYAAJ |year=1991 |publisher=Manohar |isbn=978-81-85425-46-7 |page=198}}

On 16 October 1956, he converted to Buddhism just weeks before his death.{{cite book |author=Gauri Viswanathan |title=Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZuUXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA224| year=2021 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4348-0 |pages=224–}}

=Aryan invasion theory=

Ambedkar viewed the Shudras as Aryan and adamantly rejected the Aryan invasion theory, describing it as "so absurd that it ought to have been dead long ago" in his 1946 book Who Were the Shudras?.Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 50–51. {{ISBN|9780195169478}} Ambedkar viewed Shudras as originally having been "part of the Kshatriya Varna in the Indo-Aryan society", but became socially degraded after they inflicted many tyrannies on Brahmins.Bryant, Edwin. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. pp. 50.

Ambedkar disputed various hypotheses of the Aryan homeland being outside India, and concluded the Aryan homeland was India itself. According to Ambedkar, the Rig Veda says Aryans, Dāsa and Dasyus were competing religious groups, not different peoples.{{Cite journal |last=Sharma |first=Arvind |author-link=Arvind Sharma |date=2005 |title=Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on the Aryan Invasion and the Emergence of the Caste System in India |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=843–870 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfi081 |issn=0002-7189 |jstor=4139922}}

=Communism=

Ambedkar's views on Communism were expressed in two 1956 texts, "Buddha or Karl Marx" and "Buddhism and Communism".{{cite thesis |last=Kirby |first=Julian |date=2008 |title=Ambedkar and the Indian Communists: The Absence of Conciliation |type=MA thesis |publisher=University of Manitoba |url=https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/bitstream/handle/1993/3135/Ambedkar%20and%20the%20Indian%20Communists.pdf |access-date=7 December 2022 |hdl=1993/3135}} He accepted the Marxist theory that the privileged few's exploitation of the masses perpetuated poverty and its issues. However, he did not see this exploitation as purely economic, theorizing that the cultural aspects of exploitation are as bad or worse than economic exploitation. In addition, he did not see economic relationships as the only important aspect of human life. He also saw Communists as willing to resort to any means to achieve proletarian revolution, including violence, while he himself saw democratic and peaceful measures as the best option for change. Ambedkar also opposed the Marxist idea of controlling all the means of production and ending private ownership of property: seeing the latter measure as not able to fix the problems of society. In addition, rather than advocating for the eventual annihilation of the state as Marxism does, Ambedkar believed in a classless society, but also believed the state would exist as long as society and that it should be active in development. But in the 1950s, in an interview he gave to BBC, he accepted that the current liberal democratic system will collapse and the alternative, as he thinks, "is some kind of communism".{{cite web | last=Haq | first=Zia | title=Review: The Great March of Democracy edited by SY Quraishi | website=Hindustan Times | date=26 April 2019 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-the-great-march-of-democracy-edited-by-sy-quraishi/story-0YjMacMT2RauCCR41OkryM.html}}

In popular culture

Several films, plays, and other works have been based on the life and thoughts of Ambedkar.

Indian director Jabbar Patel made a documentary titled Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1991; he followed this with a full-length feature film Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in 2000 with Mammootty in the lead role.{{cite news |last=Kumar |first=Vivek |title=Resurgence of an icon |newspaper=Business Line |location= |pages= |language= |publisher=Kasturi & Sons |date=20 January 2018 |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/resurgence-of-an-icon/article8447300.ece }} This biopic was sponsored by the National Film Development Corporation of India and the government's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The film was released after a long and controversial gestation.{{Cite news |last=Viswanathan |first=S |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/article435886.ece |title=Ambedkar film: better late than never |date=24 May 2010 |work=The Hindu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110910142933/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/article435886.ece |archive-date=10 September 2011}}
Other Indian films on Ambedkar include: Balaka Ambedkar (1991) by Basavaraj Kestur, Dr. Ambedkar (1992) by Bharath Parepalli, and Yugpurush Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (1993).
David Blundell, professor of anthropology at UCLA and historical ethnographer, has established Arising Light – a series of films and events that are intended to stimulate interest and knowledge about the social conditions in India and the life of Ambedkar.{{Cite journal |last=Blundell |first=David |year=2006 |title=Arising Light: Making a Documentary Life History Motion Picture on Dr B. R. Ambedkar in India |url=http://journal.uwest.edu/index.php/hljhb/article/view/154 |url-status=dead |journal=Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism |volume=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106053707/http://journal.uwest.edu/index.php/hljhb/article/view/154 |archive-date=6 November 2013 |access-date=17 July 2013}}
In Samvidhaan,{{cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3562784/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |title=Samvidhaan: The Making of the Constitution of India (TV Mini-Series 2014) |last=Ramnara |date=5 March 2014 |website=IMDb |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527221343/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3562784/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |archive-date=27 May 2015}} a TV mini-series on the making of the Constitution of India directed by Shyam Benegal, the pivotal role of B. R. Ambedkar was played by Sachin Khedekar.
The play Ambedkar Aur Gandhi, directed by Arvind Gaur and written by Rajesh Kumar, tracks the two prominent personalities of its title.{{Cite news |last=Anima |first=P. |url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/07/17/stories/2009071750610300.htm |title=A spirited adventure |date=17 July 2009 |access-date=14 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102102157/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/07/17/stories/2009071750610300.htm |archive-date=2 January 2011 |location=Chennai |work=The Hindu}}
Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability is a graphic biography of Ambedkar created by Pardhan-Gond artists Durgabai Vyam and Subhash Vyam, and writers Srividya Natarajan and S. Anand. The book depicts the experiences of untouchability faced by Ambedkar from childhood to adulthood. CNN named it one of the top 5 political comic books.{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/19/graphic.novels/index.html |title=The top five political comic books |last=Calvi |first=Nuala |date=23 May 2011 |work=CNN|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130109004845/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/19/graphic.novels/index.html |archive-date=9 January 2013 |access-date=14 April 2013}}
The Ambedkar Memorial at Lucknow is dedicated in his memory. The chaitya consists of monuments showing his biography.{{cite web |url=http://www.up-tourism.com/destination/lucknow/other_attraction.htm |title=Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal |publisher=Department of Tourism, Government of UP, Uttar Pradesh |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719163239/http://www.up-tourism.com/destination/lucknow/other_attraction.htm |archive-date=19 July 2013 |access-date=17 July 2013 |quote=New Attractions}}{{cite web |url=http://in.remmers.com/fileadmin/remmers-in/references/india/IND_Lucknow_Ambedkar_Memorial.pdf |title=Ambedkar Memorial, Lucknow/India |publisher=Remmers India Pvt. Ltd |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102211326/http://in.remmers.com/fileadmin/remmers-in/references/india/IND_Lucknow_Ambedkar_Memorial.pdf |archive-date=2 November 2013 |access-date=17 July 2013 |quote=Brief Description}}
Jai Bhim slogan was given by the Dalit community in Delhi in his honour in 1946.{{cite web |last1=Tripathi |first1=Ashish |date=18 April 2016 |first2=Arunav |last2=Sinha |title=Chronologically 'Jai Bhim' is older than 'Jai Hind': Experts |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/chronologically-jai-bhim-is-older-than-jai-hind-experts/articleshow/51876821.cms |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}
Google commemorated Ambedkar's 124th birthday through a homepage doodle on 14 April 2015.{{cite web |url=http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vk66VJ12cmvzjaxJJbWrpz8bDWPaRTxC5Ta6SNvi5hlUXlJfm3cH-yKHwzHG9pk3vWIz5cvYE-6xMiHGE_7s91fy_aLVBJqxSNWpf_E |title= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414003026/http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vk66VJ12cmvzjaxJJbWrpz8bDWPaRTxC5Ta6SNvi5hlUXlJfm3cH-yKHwzHG9pk3vWIz5cvYE-6xMiHGE_7s91fy_aLVBJqxSNWpf_E |archive-date=14 April 2015 |access-date=14 April 2015}}{{Cite news |last=Gibbs |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/b-r-ambedkar-indian-social-reformer-and-politician-honoured-with-a-google-doodle-10174529.html |title=B. R. Ambedkar's 124th Birthday: Indian social reformer and politician honoured with a Google Doodle |date=14 April 2015 |access-date=14 April 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414000658/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/b-r-ambedkar-indian-social-reformer-and-politician-honoured-with-a-google-doodle-10174529.html |archive-date=14 April 2015 |work=The Independent}} The doodle was featured in India, Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Peru, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.{{cite web |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/google-tributes-doodle-to-b-r-ambedkar-for-125th-birth-anniversary/ |title=B R Ambedkar 124th birth anniversary: Google doodle changes in 7 countries as tribute |date=14 April 2015 |website=The Indian Express |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707224447/http://indianexpress.com/article/trending/google-tributes-doodle-to-b-r-ambedkar-for-125th-birth-anniversary/ |archive-date=7 July 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-google-doodle-marks-dr-br-ambedkar-s-124th-birth-anniversary-2077330 |title=Google's BR Ambedkar birth anniversary doodle on 7 other countries apart from India |date=14 April 2015 |website=dna |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707202543/http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-google-doodle-marks-dr-br-ambedkar-s-124th-birth-anniversary-2077330 |archive-date=7 July 2015}}{{Cite news |last=Nelson |first=Dean |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/11534732/B.R.-Ambedkar-a-hero-of-Indias-independence-movement-honoured-by-Google-Doodle.html |title=B.R. Ambedkar, a hero of India's independence movement, honoured by Google Doodle |date=14 April 2015 |work=The Telegraph |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105014345/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/google-doodle/11534732/B.R.-Ambedkar-a-hero-of-Indias-independence-movement-honoured-by-Google-Doodle.html |archive-date=5 January 2016}}
An Indian television show named Ek Mahanayak: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar portraying his life aired on &TV in 2019.{{cite web |url=https://theprint.in/features/a-new-tv-show-on-b-r-ambedkar-raises-questions-of-responsible-representation/331115/ |title=A new TV show on B.R. Ambedkar raises questions of responsible representation |first1=Fiza |last1=Jha |first2=Revathi |last2=Krishnan |date=6 December 2019 |website=ThePrint.in |publisher=The Print |access-date=20 August 2021 }}
Another show, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar - Mahamanvachi Gauravgatha, has aired in Marathi on Star Pravah from 2019.{{cite news |title=A new show based on the life of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar to go on-air soon |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/marathi/a-new-show-based-on-the-life-of-babasaheb-bhimrao-ambedkar-to-go-on-air-soon/articleshow/68023249.cms |access-date=13 March 2021 |website=The Times of India |date=16 February 2019 |language=en}}

Works

The Education Department, Government of Maharashtra (Mumbai) published the collection of Ambedkar's writings and speeches in different volumes.{{Cite book |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4080132M/Dr._Babasaheb_Ambedkar_writings_and_speeches. |title=Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, writings and speeches. |date=1979 |publisher=Education Dept., Govt. of Maharashtra |location=Bombay |ol=4080132M}} The list of Ambedkar's works include the following:

Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development and 11 Other Essays
The Annihilation of Caste, (1936)
Ambedkar in the Bombay Legislature, with the Simon Commission and at the Round Table Conferences, (1927–1939)
Philosophy of Hinduism; India and the Pre-requisites of Communism; Revolution and Counter-revolution; Buddha or Karl Marx
Riddles in Hinduism{{cite book |title=Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol 4 |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |author-link=B. R. Ambedkar |year=1987 |publisher=Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India

|location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-89059-77-4 |page= |pages= |url=https://www.mea.gov.in/Images/attach/amb/Volume_04.pdf |access-date=14 April 2023 |editor=Vasant Moon }} Contains "Riddles in Hinduism", the first publication of a hitherto unpublished work.

Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability
The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India
The Untouchables Who Were They And Why They Became Untouchables ?
Who Were the Shudras? (1946)
Pakistan or The Partition of India (1945),{{cite book |title=Pakistan Or The Partition Of India |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |author-link=B. R. Ambedkar |year=1946 |publisher=Thacker & Co. Ltd |location=Bombay |url=https://archive.org/details/pakistanorthepar035378mbp |access-date=3 August 2024 |edition=3rd |oclc=809536353 |page=[https://archive.org/details/pakistanorthepar035378mbp/page/n7/mode/2up copyright page] |via=Internet Archive}} originally published as Thoughts on Pakistan (1941){{cite book |title=Thoughts on Pakistan |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |author-link=B. R. Ambedkar |year=1941 |publisher=Thacker & Co. Ltd |location=Bombay |isbn= |url=https://archive.org/details/thoughtsonpakist035271mbp |page=[https://archive.org/details/thoughtsonpakist035271mbp/page/n5/mode/2up title and copyright page] |access-date=3 August 2024 |via=Internet Archive}}
What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables; Mr. Gandhi and the Emancipation of the Untouchables
Ambedkar as member of the Governor General's Executive Council, 1942–46
The Buddha and his Dhamma
Unpublished Writings; Ancient Indian Commerce; Notes on laws; Waiting for a Visa; Miscellaneous notes, etc.
Ambedkar as the principal architect of the Constitution of India
(2 parts) Dr. Ambedkar and The Hindu Code Bill
Ambedkar as Free India's First Law Minister and Member of Opposition in Indian Parliament (1947–1956)
The Pali Dictionary and The Pali Grammar{{cite book |title=Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol 16 |last=Ambedkar |first=B. R. |author-link=B. R. Ambedkar |year=1998 |publisher=Education Department, Government of Maharashtra |location=Mumbai |isbn= |pages=1, 437, 631 & 723 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.7636/page/n3/mode/2up |access-date=14 April 2023 |editor=Vasant Moon }} Contains "Dictionary of the Pali language" and "Pali Grammar".
Ambedkar and his Egalitarian Revolution – Struggle for Human Rights. Events starting from March 1927 to 17 November 1956 in the chronological order;
Ambedkar and his Egalitarian Revolution – Socio-political and religious activities. Events starting from November 1929 to 8 May 1956 in the chronological order;
Ambedkar and his Egalitarian Revolution – Speeches. (Events starting from 1 January to 20 November 1956 in the chronological order.)

References

External links

{{Sister project links

|wikt=no

|commons=Category:B. R. Ambedkar

|b=no

|n=no

|q=B. R. Ambedkar

|s=Author:Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

|v=no

|species=no

|d=Q231690

}}

[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42234642 Ambedkar: The man behind India's constitution], BBC News
[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/index.html Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Timeline Index and more work by him] at the Columbia University
[https://www.lse.ac.uk/library/whats-on/exhibitions/educate-agitate-organise Exhibition: "Educate. Agitate. Organise." Ambedkar and LSE], exhibition at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which includes Ambedkar's "student file."
[http://drambedkarwritings.gov.in/content/ Writings and Speeches of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar] in various languages at the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, Government of India
[http://www.ambedkar.org/ Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's related articles]
{{Gutenberg author|id=52301}}
[https://www.mea.gov.in/about-amb.htm 'Babasaheb' Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: Maker and conscience-keeper of modern India] at the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India