Awakening

In 1919 Dr. Ambedkar was a young economics professor in Bombay (now Mumbai). Ten years later he was a lawyer, a newspaper founder, a member of the Bombay law-making council and the best-known leader of people whom Hindu society treated as “untouchable”. This chapter follows those ten years.

The people he spoke for were then called the “Depressed Classes”. They included communities such as his own Mahar community, whom caste rules kept away from public wells, temples and schools.

A professor speaks up (1919)

In 1919 the British were planning new elected councils for India. A committee led by Lord Southborough asked who should be allowed to vote. Dr. Ambedkar, then teaching at Sydenham College, sent a written statement and was questioned on 27 January 1919 BAWS Vol. 1, p. 243 (title page) Pritchett timeline, 1910s.

He argued that India’s sharpest division was between “touchable” and “untouchable” Hindus. He listed the “real social divisions of India” with these two groups at the top BAWS Vol. 1, p. 250. He asked that untouchables in the Bombay Presidency elect nine members of their own, through their own electorate, a voting list made up only of their community BAWS Vol. 1, pp. 258–261.

“One or two is only kind but neither just nor sufficient.”

— Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, on how many seats untouchables should have, evidence to the Southborough Committee (1919) BAWS Vol. 1, p. 263

Mooknayak: a voice for the voiceless (1920)

On 31 January 1920 he started a Marathi fortnightly paper called Mooknayak, “Leader of the Voiceless” Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, p. 41. Shahu Maharaj, ruler of Kolhapur and a supporter of lower-caste education, gave Rs 2,500 to help launch it Prabodhan Pol, Janata Weekly.

As a government professor, Dr. Ambedkar was not the official editor, but the paper was his voice Keer, p. 41. The popular paper Kesari refused even to print a paid advertisement for it. In the first issue he called India a home of inequality, a tower of many floors with no stairs, where people died on the floor they were born on Keer, p. 41.

Mangaon and Shahu Maharaj (1920)

In March 1920 he presided over a Depressed Classes conference at Mangaon, a village near Kolhapur Keer, p. 42 Round Table India. Shahu Maharaj attended and, according to Keer’s biography, said:

“You have found your saviour in Ambedkar. I am confident that he will break your shackles.”

— Shahu Maharaj at Mangaon, March 1920, as quoted by Keer from a 1933 account by S. N. Shivtarkar Keer, p. 42

The conference ended with a shared meal: the Maharaja and his officials ate with Dr. Ambedkar and the untouchable delegates, something caste custom forbade Keer, p. 42 Pritchett timeline, 1920s. In July 1920 Dr. Ambedkar went back to London to finish his studies (another chapter covers this).

A lawyer in Bombay (from 1923)

He got his licence to practise law in June 1923 Keer, p. 51. Many solicitors (lawyers who hand cases to barristers) would not work with him because of untouchability, so he took small cases outside the city at first Keer, p. 51.

His practice grew. In October 1926 he won a well-known libel case for three non-Brahmin leaders from Poona Keer, pp. 63–64. The Supreme Court of India lists his appearances in the Bombay High Court from 1926 onward Supreme Court of India, Ambedkar centenary pages.

The Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha and “Educate, Agitate, Organise” (1924)

On 20 July 1924 he founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha, roughly “Society for the Welfare of the Excluded” BAWS Vol. 17 Part II, p. 395. It aimed to open hostels, libraries and study circles, improve incomes and present grievances to the government BAWS Vol. 17 Part II, p. 396. On 4 January 1925 it opened a hostel in Sholapur for high-school students Keer, p. 62.

Where does the motto come from? The editors of the official Writings and Speeches (BAWS) say the Sabha adopted the vow “Educate, Agitate and Organize” at its founding BAWS Vol. 17 Part II, p. 395. Columbia University’s timeline agrees Pritchett timeline, 1920s. The Sabha’s printed rules, reproduced in the same volume, do not contain the words BAWS Vol. 17 Part II, pp. 396–406.

The famous closing line many people quote comes from a speech at Nagpur on 20 July 1942: “educate, agitate and organize, have faith in yourselves and never lose hope” BAWS Vol. 17 Part III, p. 276. He used the same three verbs in 1945 BAWS Vol. 1, Communal Deadlock. So the idea is linked to 1924, but the best-known wording is from 1942. The three words were also an older British socialist slogan from the 1880s UNISON.

In the Bombay Legislative Council (1926–1927)

The Governor of Bombay nominated him to the Bombay Legislative Council, the province’s law-making body Keer, p. 68. He was sworn in on 18 February 1927 BAWS Vol. 2, p. 1, footnote. In March 1928 he brought a bill on watans, hereditary village-servant posts held by many Mahar families. It would let them give up that service while keeping their land, and be paid in money instead of grain BAWS Vol. 2, pp. 72–73.

Mahad: the right to water (March 1927)

In 1923 the Bombay Council resolved that untouchables could use public wells and tanks. Mahad town opened its Chavdar Tank in 1924, but caste Hindus still stopped untouchables using it Supreme Court of India, Mahad Satyagraha.

On 19–20 March 1927 a Depressed Classes conference met at Mahad under Dr. Ambedkar BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 3. On 20 March they marched to the tank. “Dr. Ambedkar took water from the Tank and drank it,” and the crowd followed BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 6.

A false rumour spread that they would enter a temple. Gangs attacked the delegates and about 20 were badly hurt. Dr. Ambedkar asked his people not to hit back BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 7–10. Priests then “purified” the tank with 108 pots of cow dung, cow urine, milk and curd BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 12. Five attackers were later jailed for four months BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 8.

Bahishkrit Bharat (1927)

He needed a paper again. On 3 April 1927 he started the Marathi fortnightly Bahishkrit Bharat, “Excluded India” Keer, p. 80. It ran until 1929 Pritchett timeline, 1920s. On 26 June 1927 it called for volunteers for a new satyagraha (non-violent protest) at Mahad BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 12.

The burning of the Manusmriti (December 1927)

What is the Manusmriti? It is an ancient Sanskrit law book in verse, said to be the laws of a sage named Manu. Its teachings have shaped Hindu law and custom for about 2,000 years Patrick Olivelle, Manu’s Code of Law, Oxford University Press. It ranks people by birth into varnas (classes) and places the Shudras low, with few rights Forward Press. The 1927 conference cited its rule that molten lead be poured into the ears of a Shudra who listened to the Vedas, the holy texts Keer, p. 100. At Mahad Dr. Ambedkar warned that even if untouchability ended, his people would at best be treated as Shudras, and the smritis (law books like this one) gave Shudras almost no rights BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 23.

In August 1927 the Mahad municipality took back its 1924 decision BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 15. Caste Hindus then claimed in court that the tank was their private property. On 14 December 1927 a judge ordered Dr. Ambedkar and his colleagues to stay away from it until the case was decided BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 16.

The second conference met anyway on 25 December 1927, with about 15,000 people BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 20. He told them:

“We are resorting to this Satyagraha not because we believe that the water of this particular tank has any exceptional qualities, but to establish our natural rights as citizens and human beings.”

— Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Mahad, 25 December 1927, as reported in The Indian National Herald BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 22

That evening G. N. Sahasrabuddhe, a Brahmin colleague, read out passages of the Manusmriti about Shudras. The conference passed a resolution condemning the book and burned a copy BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 24–25. Keer says it was burned at nine that night on a pyre in a pit in front of the meeting tent Keer, p. 100. In 1938 Dr. Ambedkar explained why:

“The bonfire of Manusmriti was quite intentional. … We made a bonfire of it because we view it as a symbol of injustice under which we have been crushed across centuries.”

— Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, interview with T. V. Parvate, 1938 Keer, p. 106 BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 25

In the same interview he said not every part of the book was bad; the burning was a protest against what it stood for Keer, p. 106.

The next day 3,884 people signed up to defy the court order, but the Collector promised government support in court. On 27 December Dr. Ambedkar postponed the protest and led a peaceful procession round the tank instead BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 26–29.

Winning in court

On 23 February 1928 the same judge cancelled his order. He found the tank was public property and regretted “heaping one more wrong” on an injured community BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 36–38. The case went on for years. The Bombay High Court finally rejected the caste Hindus’ appeal on 17 March 1937 BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 43–44.

Equality groups: Samaj Samata Sangh, Samata and Samata Sainik Dal

In 1927 supporters from many castes formed the Samaj Samata Sangh (Social Equality League), with Dr. Ambedkar as chairman Ashok Gopal, A Part Apart, excerpt in The News Minute. It held dinners where people of different castes ate together, which caste rules forbade BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 41. Its paper Samata (“Equality”) ran from 29 June 1928 to March 1929, edited by Devrao Naik Gopal, The News Minute.

The Samata Sainik Dal (“Soldiers for Equality”) was a volunteer corps that taught discipline and protected meetings BAWS Vol. 17 Part II, p. 450. It is usually dated to 1927 Wikipedia, citing Shri Krishan (SAGE, 2005).

The Simon Commission (1928)

In 1928 a British commission under Sir John Simon came to review India’s government. The Congress boycotted it because it had no Indian members Pritchett timeline, 1920s. Dr. Ambedkar worked with it, and was chosen for the Bombay committee on 5 August 1928 Keer, p. 115.

At Poona on 23 October 1928 he told the commission:

“We claim reserved seats if accompanied by adult franchise.”

— Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, evidence to the Simon Commission, 23 October 1928 BAWS Vol. 2, p. 465

Adult franchise means every adult may vote. Without it, he said, he would ask for separate electorates. He asked for 22 of 140 seats in the Bombay Council BAWS Vol. 2, pp. 465–466. He disagreed with his colleagues and signed his own report on 17 May 1929 BAWS Vol. 2, p. 401.

Teaching and schooling (1928)

On 14 June 1928 he set up the Depressed Classes Education Society. In October the government agreed to fund five hostels for secondary-school students Keer, p. 123. From June 1928 he also taught at the Government Law College, Bombay Keer, p. 115. Some students boycotted his class because he worked with the Simon Commission Keer, p. 116.

By 1929 he had a newspaper, an organisation, a court victory in progress and a seat in the Council. The next chapter follows him to London.

Where sources disagree

• Mangaon dates. Keer gives 21 March 1920 Keer, p. 42; Round Table India gives 21–22 March Round Table India.
• Year of Mahad. Columbia’s timelines list the Mahad satyagraha under 1926 Pritchett timeline, 1920s. BAWS and the Supreme Court of India date the march to 20 March 1927 Supreme Court of India.
• Date of the Manusmriti burning. Columbia’s timelines say 24 December 1927 Columbia CCNMTL timeline. Newspaper reports in BAWS put it on 25 December BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 21–25.
• Crowd size at Mahad in March 1927. Keer says about 10,000; The Bombay Chronicle said over 2,500 BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, pp. 3, 9.
• Volunteers in December 1927. The Indian National Herald counted 3,884 sign-ups BAWS Vol. 17 Part I, p. 26; Keer says “over 4,000” Keer, p. 102.
• The motto. BAWS editors date “Educate, Agitate and Organize” to 1924, but the best-known wording is from 1942, and the Sabha’s printed rules do not include it (see above).
• The Sabha’s start. BAWS says founded 20 July 1924, but a 1931 appeal reprinted in the same volume says the “Depressed Classes Institute” (its English name) began in June 1925 BAWS Vol. 17 Part II, p. 407.
• Samata Sainik Dal. Online sources give 13 March or 19 March 1927. We could not confirm a day in a primary source.

Read more

• BAWS Vol. 17 Part I — police reports, court orders and newspaper reports on Mahad, pp. 3–50.
• BAWS Vol. 2 — his Council speeches and Simon Commission evidence.
• BAWS Vol. 1 — his 1919 Southborough evidence, pp. 243–278.
• Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission — the classic biography (1954).
• Frances Pritchett’s timeline, 1920s — Columbia University year-by-year summary.
• Supreme Court of India: Mahad Satyagraha — short legal timeline.