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| Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: The Maker of Modern India — A representative image. |
File Information
| Document Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: The Maker of Modern India |
| Article Credit | Year: 2016, (Pubd in: ResearchGate) |
| Author | Dr. Desh Raj Sirswal (Assistant Professor (Philosophy), P. G. Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh) |
| Subject | An edited collection of essays on B. R. Ambedkar's social philosophy, with emphasis on human dignity, caste oppression, social justice, education, democracy, and religious conversion to Buddhism. |
| Category | Edited volume |
| Institution | Centre for Positive Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies (CPPIS), Milestone Education Society (Regd.) |
| Country of Publication | India |
| Main Topics | Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, human dignity, caste system, social justice, education and emancipation, democracy and rights, untouchability, Buddhism and conversion |
| Number of Pages | 93 |
| Language | English |
| File Type | |
| File Size | 859.2 KB |
Summary Note of this Document
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar: The Maker of Modern India
This edited volume collects twelve papers on Dr. B. R. Ambedkar as a thinker of social reform, dignity, and democratic change in modern India. The essays return repeatedly to his critique of caste hierarchy, untouchability, and the denial of social and legal equality to Dalits and other oppressed groups. Several chapters stress human dignity as the core of Ambedkar's political and moral vision, arguing that caste society produces exclusion in law, public life, work, education, and religion. Other contributions focus on his ideas about egalitarian society, social justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, and the need for political participation by marginalized communities. Education is presented as a major instrument of emancipation, while Ambedkar's social philosophy is also linked to temple entry, representation, and democratic rights. One essay discusses his understanding of human and social change through the concepts of Samatagrahi and Samata Samaj, and another traces his religious thought, especially his move toward Buddhism as an alternative to caste-based social order. The book is explicitly framed as a commemorative scholarly collection on Ambedkar's legacy and its relevance to contemporary India.
Core Themes
- human dignity and self-respect
- annihilation of caste
- social justice and equality
- education as emancipation
- democracy and political rights
Keywords
About Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 as the fourteenth and youngest child of an army Subedar in Mhow. Born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable, Bhimrao faced many hardships at school. He had to sit on a gunny sack that he brought from home. He was not allowed to touch the water vessel or cup, so he could drink water only when the school peon was present to pour it for him. He later described this experience with the words, “No peon, no water.” His mother died when he was very young, and he had a difficult childhood. However, he was the only one of his siblings to pass his examinations and continue to high school, becoming the first person from his community to attend Elphinstone College. With a scholarship from the Maharaja of Baroda, he went on to study at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He earned doctorates in economics and trained as a barrister at Gray’s Inn. According to the account supplied for this biography, his books were lost when his ship was torpedoed during the First World War.
Despite his education, Ambedkar continued to face prejudice. When he returned to India, he was required to work in Baroda but had to leave the position because of discrimination. His business providing investment consultancy failed when clients learned that he belonged to a community considered untouchable. While working as a professor in Mumbai, his colleagues objected to the idea of him sharing a water jug with his students. These experiences helped spur his activism. He established newspapers to give a voice to marginalized people. He led the Mahad Satyagraha, asserting Dalits’ right to collect water from a public tank, and publicly burned the Manusmriti in 1927. In 1932, he negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi. Although it involved a difficult compromise, the pact provided reserved seats in legislatures for the Depressed Classes. Ambedkar was outspoken in public life but private by nature. His wife Ramabai died in 1935, and he filled his home in Bombay with a large personal library reported to contain more than 50,000 books. He declared, “I am born a Hindu, but I will not die as one.”
During the period of Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to become India’s first Law Minister. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee that prepared the Constitution of India, which abolished the practice of untouchability and established civil liberties and constitutional safeguards, including reservations for historically oppressed communities. He acknowledged the contribution of other constitutional experts, including B. N. Rau, who had prepared an earlier draft. Because of his poor health, including diabetes, Ambedkar married Savita, a doctor who cared for him. In October 1956, he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur along with a vast gathering of followers, commonly estimated at around half a million. He died in his sleep just weeks later, shortly after completing his final major work, The Buddha and His Dhamma. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. His message, “Educate, agitate, organise,” continues to inspire people seeking equality and social justice.
Complete Ambedkar Research Collection
Download the entire collection of Ambedkar research PDFs available on HISTORY MARG