By Gail Omvedt “SO MANY movements have failed. In Tamil Nadu there was a movement in the name of anti-Brahmanism under the leadership of Periyar. It attracted Dalits, but after 30 years of power, the Dalits understand that they are as badly-off – or worse-off – as they were under the Brahmans. Under Dravidian rule, …
The Buddha Teaches a Lesson on Forgiveness
The Buddha was sitting under a tree talking to his disciples when a man came and spit on his face. He wiped it off, and he asked the man, “What next? What do you want to say next?” The man was a little puzzled because he himself never expected that when you spit on somebody’s …
Pride, awkwardness, and a dangerous accident in Chalisgaon
Waiting for a Visa : by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar In the year 1934, some of my co-workers in the movement of the depressed classes expressed a desire to go on a sight-seeing tour, if I agreed to join them. I agreed. It was decided that our plan should at all events include a visit …
Buddha Teachings
Buddhism is a philosophy of life expounded by Gautama Buddha (“Buddha” means “enlightened one”), who lived and taught in northern Inda in the 6th Century B.C. The Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are aimed solely to liberate sentient beings …
Back from the west–and unable to find lodging in Baroda
Waiting for a Visa : by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar In 1916 I returned to India. I had been sent to America by His Highness the Maharaja of Baroda for higher education. I studied at Columbia University in New York from 1913 to 1917. In 1917 I came to London and joined the post-graduate department …
Biography of Mahatma Phule
Dr. Y.D. Phadke. This brief Life Sketch of Mahatma Jotirao Phule is written by the noted the scholar Dr.Y.D. Phadke. He is the editor of the ‘Collected Words of Mahatma Phule’ in Marathi. He is also an eminent scholar of Mahatma Phule and the Satyashodhak Movement. JOTIRAO GOVINDRAO PHULE occupies a unique position among the …
A childhood journey to Koregaon becomes a nightmare
Waiting for a Visa : by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Foreigners of course know of the existence of untouchability. But not being next door to it, so to say, they are unable to realise how oppressive it is in its actuality. It is difficult for them to understand how it is possible for a few …
Manusmruti Dahan Din
BY Dr. K. Jamanadas. Today is Christmas, 25th of December. It is celebrated all over the Christian world as the birth of Jesus Christ. But for the whole world of Dalits, it is an important day as “Manu Smruti Dahan Din“, as it was on this day in 1927 that Manusmruti was publicly burned by …
A Tribute to Babu Jagjivan Ram
roundtableindia ‘Today is 24th death anniversary of Babu Jagjeevan Ram. For many, both in the Dalit movement and outside it , Jagjeevan Ramji is a puzzle, a subject of intense debate/discussion. There are people and political parties who will claim he is the tallest Dalit leader, of equal stature, if not bigger, as Dr. Ambedkar …