Historical Figure
B. R. Ambedkar
d. 1956
Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer (1891–1956)
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Biography
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and politician 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. Ambedkar served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He later renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism, inspiring the Dalit Buddhist movement.
Timeline
The story of B. R. Ambedkar, told in moments.
Earned a doctorate from the London School of Economics. He was among the first Dalits to study abroad. Also held a doctorate from Columbia University. He'd worked as a Baroda state scholar to fund his education.
Appointed chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee for independent India. He wrote the framework for the world's longest national constitution, enshrining equality and abolishing untouchability.
Converted to Buddhism along with an estimated 600,000 followers in Nagpur. He rejected Hinduism as inseparable from caste. He called it "a matter of life and death."
In Their Own Words (20)
In Hinduism, conscience, reason, and independent thinking have no scope for development.
2010
Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that a class is not fit to rule another class.
2010
A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be servant of the society.
2010
History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vs vested interests have never been be known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.
2010
For a successful revolution, it is not enough that there is enough discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights.
2010
Artifacts (15)
the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.
, 1945, when he saw Charlie Parker perform for the first time. In a 1960 DownBeat magazine article, he recalled: "the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes." === 1945–1946:...
Beef, Brahmins, and Broken Men: An Annotated Critical Selection from The Untouchables
One of twentieth-century India’s great polymaths, statesmen, and militant philosophers of equality, B. R. Ambedkar spent his life battling Untouchability and instigating the end of the caste system....
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