B. R. Ambedkar

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Marathi: डॉ. भीमराव रामजी आंबेडकर), or simply Babasaheb (Marathi: बाबासाहेब) was an Indian economist, rationalist-humanist philosopher, social activist and politician. Ambedkar was a prolific scholar and he held two doctorates in Economics — one each from Columbia University and London School of Economics. He was one of the first people to study and analyze Indian history from a rationalist perspective.POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF Dr. B. R. AMBEDKAR, The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 52, No. 3 (July - Sept., 1991), pp. 357-375 (19 pages) After deconverting from Hinduism in 1936, he led the atheist revolution in modern India along .The Relevance of BR Ambedkar in Modern India, Marginal RevolutionDR. B.R. AMBEDKAR HIS IDEAS ABOUT RELIGION AND CONVERSION TO BUDDHISM by Meena Bardia, The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 70, No. 3 (JULY - SEPT., 2009), pp. 737-749 (13 pages), Published By: Indian Political Science AssociationDr. B.R. Ambedkar: The Maker of Modern India (See last part for citations) He converted to Buddhism less than 2 months before his death.Why Ambedkar chose Buddhism over Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, The PrintAmbedkar, Buddhism and Democracy, The Wire Babasaheb is widely recognized for his research work covering law, economics, political science, history and religion. He is often mischaracterized as the “father of the Indian constitution”, even though the constitution was written by . In fact:
 He authored more than 15 books and numerous other publications based on original research work.
==Background==
Ambedkar was born into a () caste, and for this reason was treated as an untouchable. However, against all odds, he pursued higher education and obtained his doctoral degrees from and the . Following this, he returned to India but continued to face caste-based discrimination.Keer, Dhananjay (1995). Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission Popular Prakashan, India. p. 12-14. ISBN 81715423 Ambedkar built his rationalist thought and philosophy through careful and extensive reading. , a professor at Columbia University and noted pragmatist, formed a big impression on Ambedkar during the period of his studies there. In London, Ambedkar found another significant influence in Bertrand Russell, even though the two never met in person.Exploring the influence of Russell on Ambedkar, Forward Press
==Views on religion==
Being a self-professed atheist for the majority of his working life, Ambedkar viewed all religions, except for Buddhism, as inherently flawed and rigid. He argued that religion has always been in direct conflict with philosophy and the two have been "adversaries if not actual antagonists."http://drambedkar.co.in/wp-content/uploads/books/category1/3hinduismphilosophy.pdf Ambedkar observed that morality has never been an integral part of religion, as the fundamental concepts of religion are always ideas like God, soul, prayers, worship, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices.
Ambedkar believed that religion was made for humans, not humans for religion. Hence, any religion that refuses to incorporate within itself the ideas of reason and science as well as the fundamental tenets of liberty, equality, and fraternity is doomed to fail.
In 1956, Ambedkar finished his book The Buddha and His Dhamma following the addition of the chapters 'There is no god' and 'There is no soul'.Timeline of B.R. Ambedkar: 1950s, Columbia University Later that year, he accepted Buddhism along with thousands of Mahars and other Dalits as a protest against Hinduism. However, he had made up his mind decades in advance. In 1935, he had publicly vowed that he "will not die as a Hindu."Timeline of B.R. Ambedkar: 1930s, Columbia University In this book, and in two others that followed — Buddha or Karl Marx and Revolution and Counter-Revolution in India, Ambedkar proposed Buddhism as a religion without gods or prophets and without pseudoscientific ideas like soul [or ātmán (Sanskrit: आत्मन्)]. He made human beings the focus of his "religion" as compared to the usual suspects — God or soul. In particular, Ambedkar argued that unlike Krishna, Christ, or Muhammad, Buddha never made any claims to divinity.Ambedkar's rethinking of religion, Forward Press
===Views on Hinduism===
Ambedkar renounced Hinduism in 1956 because he concluded it was a repressive and inhumane system. He felt Hinduism was "a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity" and that it was "incompatible with democracy."Smothering with affection, Opinion Piece in The Hindu, by Ziya Us Salam, March 26, 2016. In his work What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, Ambedkar writes:
In 1916, Ambedkar presented one of the first papers on the topic of caste at Columbia University, USA.Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Developmentby B.R. Ambedkar, 1916 This paper entitled Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development investigated the origins as well as the functioning of caste and proposed that Hinduism was a pedantic system but, unlike any other religion, its laws were codified in the system of authority, namely the Brahmin (priestly) caste and the inherent hierarchy.Caste as Gang: Why Hindu Society is "Anit-Social" by Soumyabrata Choudhury, April 18, 2016 Ambedkar also noted in his now famous (undelivered) speech entitled Annihilation of Caste that the Hindu society existed merely as a collective of caste-based groups. Every Hindu's consciousness is limited to members of one's caste. Thus, selfishness is a distinct feature of the Hindu religion that prevents Hindus from trusting or helping one another without discrimination.http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/readings/aoc_print_2004.pdf
===Views on Islam===
Ambedkar criticized distinctions within Islam. He said:
===Views on Christianity===
Ambedkar saw Christianity to be incapable of fighting injustices. He said:
===Annihilation of Caste controversy===
In 1935, the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal (Marathi: जात-पाँत तोड़क मण्डल, "Society for the Breakup of the Caste System"), an anti-caste Hindu reformist organization invited B. R. Ambedkar presided over their annual conference in 1936 as he was a renowned scholar on the topic of caste in India.http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/02.Annihilation%20of%20Caste.htm However, when the organizers received the text of the speech Ambedkar had penned down (entitled Annihilation of Caste), they were shocked, as the ideas presented were in direct conflict with their conservative religious beliefs. Ambedkar had proposed that "the real method of breaking up the Caste System was… to destroy the religious notions upon which caste is founded." Despite their repeated demands, Ambedkar refused to tone down the text of his speech to make it palatable for upper-caste Hindu organizers and attendees. This eventually led to the cancellation of the annual conference entirely as the organizers did not approve of the President's views.http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/mmt/ambedkar/web/prologue.html Ambedkar subsequently published the speech as a book at his own expense. It is noteworthy that Ambedkar had already anticipated that his views on religion would not sit well in a conservative group.https://scroll.in/article/727548/may-15-it-was-79-years-ago-today-that-ambedkars-annihilation-of-caste-was-published The opening words of his speech were:
 
Following the publication of the speech, many Hindus took offence at the radical ideas proposed therein. Like many other of his conservative contemporaries, Gandhi too opposed these views and wrote in his weekly publication:https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/how-gandhi-made-ambedkar-a-villain-in-his-fight-to-be-the-real-representative-of-dalits/237642/https://thewire.in/history/mahatma-gandhi-jayanti-ambedkar-castehttps://www.jstor.org/stable/24713655
==Well-known publications==
*Annihilation of Caste (1936)
*Buddha And His Dhamma (1956)
*Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Ancient India
*Riddles in Hinduism
*The Problem of the Rupee: Its Origin and Its Solution
*The Untouchables: Who were they and why they became Untouchables
==External links==
*
*Ambedkar at Columbia University, a web page dedicated to the life and work of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
*The story of the Rationalist Movement in India Book review of Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India, Johannes Quack, Oxford University Press, New York, 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-981260-8; 978-0-19-981262-2
*An overview of rationalism in India
*Ambedkar's rethinking of Religion
*The collected works of Ambedkar
==Notes==
==References==
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