Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, No Other Indian Figure in the 20th Century Matached his Scholarly Orientation.

Great Scholar, Scholars & Humanitarians
POLITICS
Relevance of Ambedkar

From Editor's Column in the April 27, 1991, issue, assessing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's role in Indian politics, in his birth centenary year.
THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY

Dr B.R. Ambedkar. No other national figure in Indian politics in the 20th century matched his scholarly orientation.

IN the centenary year of his birth, Babasaheb Ambedkar stands taller than he ever did before – his role in the struggle for a modern, new India gaining steadily in weight, stature and centrality at the expense of various other outstanding national figures who were contemporaries and opponents in the great battles of the freedom movement era. This is essentially because the deep-seated and central problems spotlighted by his life, struggles, studies and experimentation in ideas remain alive and kicking while the big socio-political questions he raised about the state, well-being and future of India remain basically unanswered.
He was born Bhimrao on April 14, 1891, at Mhow in Central India in an austere and religious Mahar family with a military service background and considerable respect for education. In school (Satara and Bombay), college (Bombay), service under the Maharaja of Baroda (briefly in 1913 and again between July and November 1917) and study abroad (Columbia University, the London School of Economics, Gray’s Inn, the University of Bonn), he displayed a scholarly orientation, a commitment to the life of the mind and trained intellectual gifts that no other national figure in Indian politics could match over this century.

He benefited from opportunities which had just opened up, which none in his family (or, for that matter, in the recorded history of his people) had access to over the centuries; yet every one of his academic, intellectual and professional achievements was hard earned, in social battle, against entrenched oppression, discrimination and anti-human prejudice. By the time he was finished with his formal studies in the early 1920s, Dr Ambedkar had acquired qualifications that surpassed the M.A., Ph.D., M.Sc. (Econ), D.Sc. (Econ), Barrister-at-law he had added, by right, to his name and title; the young man had been through a real life educational experience which most people (including the most renowned scholars) do not manage to acquire in a lifetime.
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1st January, 1818: ‘The Battle of Bhima Koregaon’ in Maharashtra

Do Indians even know the true history of their own country and fellow men/woman, I doubt it. If the general population is so poorly informed, the Oppressed is no exception, they all are ignorant of what has happened in the past to the Nation of India. Read this great Dalit revolutionary freedom fighters story......!

Fight against Manusmriti - the story of a heroic battle of a small Dalit army in alliance with British against a larger army of Brahminic kingdom.

“If we wish to be free, we must fight. Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” – Patrick Henry (March, 1775)
Manusmriti, a collection of ancient Hindu laws stipulating a social order with caste hierarchy. This inhuman text is still considered holy by Hindu fundamentalists and the leaders of Hindu mutts

The history of India is nothing but the fight/struggle between untouchables and the so called upper castes. Historians who ought to be rationalist, have always misled the masses and never showed the true colors of Indian History. Hence, this battle has also been lost into history and no reference is found in any history book.
January 1st 1818, everyone around the world was busy in celebrating the ‘new year’, when everyone was in cheerful mood. But a small force of 500 untouchable soldiers were preparing themselves for battle. Who knows this battle was going to write the future of ‘Brahmin Peshwa Baji Rao-II’? It wasn’t just another battle; it was a battle for self respect, esteem, and against the supremacy of Manusmriti. This battle is important in history, as everyone knows that after this battle the rule of ‘Peshwa Rao’ ended.
In the early 19th century, the Maratha Empire led by Peshwa Baji Rao II was gradually diminishing due to internal dissents and setbacks in the previous Anglo-Maratha wars. Maharashtrian society under Peshwas had followed the nastiest kind of social discrimination wherein the lower strata of society such as untouchables were confined to stringent Brahmanical laws and subsequently their mobility and development were impaired. The untouchables had suffered the most in the 2000 year old caste system. But regimes like the Brahmincal Peshwas are the best examples where untouchables and the lower caste groups experienced horrendous and worst form of social humiliations to carry broom sticks on their backs and earthen pots hung on their necks wherein they released their spit.

This battle took place on January 1st, 1818, near the banks of Bhima River in Koregaon (north-west of Pune) between the small forces of ‘500 untouchables’ (Mahars) soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 1st regiment of ‘Bombay Native Light Infantry’ and Peshwa soldiers. ‘Bombay Native Light Infantry’ was headed by ‘Caption Francis Staunton’. Compared to the ‘500 untouchable soldiers’ Brahmin Peshwa Rao’s force was large in numbers - more than 20,000 horsemen and 8,000 infantry soldiers. After walking down more than 27 miles distance from Shirur to Bhima Koregaon without rest or reprieve, without food or water ‘500 untouchables’ fought so bravely for 12 hours and won the battle. The battle ended not only with victory over Peshwa but it become responsible for the end of ‘Peshwai’ in Maharashtra.

This battle had unusual significance for many reasons. First, the British army fought this battle with a minuscule army expecting the worst, especially after their experience of the Pune Regency. Secondly, the battle of Koregaon was one of the most important events which helped tear down the Peshwa Empire and subsequently the Peshwa had to abdicate. Thirdly and most importantly, it was an attempt by the untouchables of Maharashtra to break the shackles of the age-old caste order

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