Ambedkar, B. R.

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(1891–1956), Indian reformer and statesman. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji (Babasaheb) Ambedkar has two claims to fame. He was India's undisputed untouchable leader of the untouchables, creating a movement that has brought much progress to that religiously, socially, and economically oppressed group. He was also a statesman who often testified to government commissions and served as labor minister in the preindependence cabinet of India and as law minister in the first cabinet after 1947. His work as chair of the drafting committee for India's new constitution is honored today. His statue or portrait is visible in untouchabale homes and neighbors and in city centers all over India.

Born to an army schoolteacher, Ambedkar was one of the first untouchables to graduate from college. Aided by non-Brahman reformist princes, he then secured an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University in New York and a D.Sc. from the London School of Economics. He became a barrister from Grey's Inn. Returning to India, he immediately began newspapers, organized conferences for "The Depressed Classes," began work in education, pressed for the political rights of untouchables, taught at Government Law College, began a political party and a labor union, and, at first, conducted temple entry campaigns.

B. R. Ambedkar in 1950. (BETTMANN/CORBIS)

By the time of his death, he had established his third political party; converted to Buddhism along with millions of his followers; and created a network of educational institutions run by his People's Education Society, which in turn produced more innovations, including a new literary movement called Dalit (oppressed) sahitya.

Moon, Vasant, ed. (1979) Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches. Bombay, India: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra.

Zelliot, Eleanor. (1996) From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar Movement. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers and Distributors.