B. R. Ambedkar

B. R. Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer, and principal architect of India’s Constitution. He fought caste discrimination and founded the Dalit Buddhist movement.

Mahatma Gandhi: An Indian nationalist leader who organized mass campaigns against British rule and advocated social reform. Their conflict over separate electorates for the Depressed Classes shaped negotiations at the 1932 Poona Pact.
Constitution of India: The supreme legal framework of the Republic of India, adopted in 1949 and effective from 1950. As chair of the Drafting Committee, Ambedkar helped shape its final text.
Mhow: A city in Madhya Pradesh, India, where B. R. Ambedkar was born in 1891. His birthplace anchors the early life that preceded his public campaigns.
Mahad Satyagraha: A 1927 campaign led by Ambedkar to secure Dalits’ access to water at the public Chavdar tank in Mahad. The campaign made equal access to public resources a visible test of caste reform.
Dalit: A self-designation used by many communities historically subjected to untouchability and caste oppression in South Asia. Ambedkar’s politics helped make Dalit identity a basis for collective assertion and rights.
Jyotirao Phule: A nineteenth-century Indian social reformer who challenged caste hierarchy and promoted education for oppressed communities. Ambedkar regarded Phule as a major predecessor in the struggle against caste oppression.
Article 17 of the Constitution of India: A constitutional provision abolishing untouchability and forbidding its practice in any form. It gave constitutional force to a central aim of Ambedkar’s campaign against caste exclusion.
Mahar caste: A historically marginalized community concentrated in Maharashtra and neighboring regions of western India. Ambedkar was born into the Mahar community and encountered caste discrimination from childhood.
Burning of Manusmriti at Mahad: A 1927 protest in which Ambedkar’s followers publicly burned the Manusmriti as a rejection of caste hierarchy. The act expressed Ambedkar’s opposition to religious justifications for caste inequality.
Navayana: A modern Buddhist tradition associated with Ambedkar that emphasizes social equality and liberation from caste oppression. It gives religious form to the ethical and social vision behind his conversion.

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