1910s

*in the 1910's*

OFF TO COLUMBIA, AND ON TO LONDON

The great escape! At the age of 22, the young Ambedkar came to Columbia, and began to make the intellectual and personal connections that shaped the rest of his life. He experienced what it was to be free--for a time--from the stigma of untouchability.

==1912 == Bhimrao (*an early photo*) passed the B.A. Examination (special subjects: Economics and Politics) from Bombay University, and prepared to take up a position in the administration of Baroda State (*Imperial Gazetteer*; *Imperial Gazetteer map*). His oldest son, Yashwant, was born. (*Kadam*, p.71.)

==1913== He had barely begun at his new post when he learned by telegram that his father was gravely ill; he rushed home just in time for a last farewell. "It was February 2, 1913, the saddest day in Bhimrao Ambedkar's life." (*Keer*, p. 24.)

==1913== The Gaekwar of Baroda announced his plan to offer scholarships to send students for higher education at Columbia University. A scholarship of 11.50 British pounds a month, for three years, was awarded to the young Ambedkar. (*Kadam*, p.72.)

== "1913: Receives Baroda State Scholarship to join the Political Science Department of the Columbia University as a Post Graduate Student where he worked under Professors Seligman, Clark, Seager, Moore, Mitchell, Chadwick, Simkovitch, Giddings, Dewey and Goldenweiser." (Source: a curriculum vitae from the 1920's, preserved in the Columbia University archives, that was almost certainly prepared by Dr. Ambedkar himself.) NOTE: he was in fact admitted to the Graduate School in general (things were less compartmentalized in those days) and not formally to a "political science department."

==1913== Arriving in New York during the third week in July, Bhimrao was housed in Hartley Hall. But he didn't care for the food, and only stayed for a week. In August he moved from Hartley Hall to "Cosmopolitan Club" (554 West 114th Street) (*photo*; *New York Times article*), a housing club maintained by a group of Indian students. He finally settled in a dormitory, Livingston Hall (since renamed Wallach Hall) with his friend Naval Bhathena, a Parsi; the two remained friends for life. (*Keer*, pp. 26-27.)

==1914== In later years, he told his biographer about his early months in New York--how he had at first enjoyed the social side of campus life, but then one night made a firm resolve, and started studying in dead earnest...

==1914== Lala Lajpat Rai attempted to recruit the young student; Bhimrao, however, remained aloof...

== "'The best friends I have had in life,' Dr. Ambedkar says, 'were some of my classmates at Columbia and my great professors, John Dewey, James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman, and James Harvey Robinson.'" (Source: "'Untouchables' Represented by Ambedkar, '15AM, '28PhD," Columbia Alumni News, Dec. 19, 1930, page 12; from the Columbia University archives.)

==At Columbia: Prof. John Dewey: One of the major philosophers of education of the twentieth century, John Dewey (1859-1952), became one of the young Ambedkar's heroes. Writing in 1936, Ambedkar referred to the work of "Prof. John Dewey, who was my teacher and to whom I owe so much." (--*Annihilation of Caste, Section 25*). There is much evidence of Dr. Ambedkar's admiration for Dewey, including *the annotated books in his personal library*. Here is one modern scholar's view: *"The like-mindedness of Dewey and Ambedkar"*.

==At Columbia: Profs. Shotwell and Robinson: Another of the young Ambedkar's mentors, Prof. James Shotwell (1874-1965), was a Barnard historian who specialized in international relations, and a former student of Prof. James Harvey Robinson (1863-1936), Barnard's first historian-- who himself was another of the mentors named by Dr. Ambedkar.

==At Columbia: Prof. Edwin Seligman: A friend of Lala Lajpat Rai, the well-known economist Prof. Edwin R. A. Seligman (1861-1939) became a particularly sympathetic mentor to the young Ambedkar, who continued to correspond with him for years.

==At Columbia: coursework: During Ambedkar's time at Columbia he would sit for hours studying in *Low Library*; the rotunda then housed the main reading room. His *coursework* during his three years (including summers) at Columbia consisted of: 29 courses in economics, 11 in history, 6 in sociology, 5 in philosophy, 4 in anthropology, 3 in politics, and 1 each in elementary French and German. (Source: Office of the Registrar, Columbia University.) Rohini Shukla offers *an overview of his coursework at Columbia*.

== "[Parents] can mold the destiny of children, and if we but follow this principle, be sure that we shall soon see better days; and our progress will be greatly accelerated if male education is pursued side by side with female education, the fruits of which you can very well see verified in your own daughter," Ambedkar wrote from New York in a Marathi letter to a friend of his father. "Let your mission therefore be to educate and preach the idea of education to those at least who are near to and in close contact with you." (*Keer*, pp. 26-27.)

==1915== The young graduate student passed his M.A. exam in June, majoring in Economics, with Sociology, History, Philosophy, and Anthropology as other subjects of study; he presented a thesis, *"Ancient Indian Commerce"*. For his outstanding achievement, he was honored by students and professors of the Faculty of Arts at a special dinner. In 1916 he offered another M.A. thesis, "National Dividend of India--A Historic and Analytical Study"; it was this one that later became the nucleus of his Ph.D. dissertation. (*Keer*, p. 29.)

==1916== On May 9th, he read his paper *"Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis, and Development"* before a seminar conducted by the anthropologist Prof. Alexander Goldenweiser (1880-1940). Dr. Ambedkar was very proud of this paper. He promptly got it published in the Indian Antiquary (May 1917). As late as 1936 he wrote that only a shortage of time prevented him from reworking Annihilation of Caste so as to include in it this early seminar paper (Preface to the 3rd edition, Annihilation of Caste).

==1916: London== In June his ship reached London, where the police suspected him of being a revolutionary. "The police frisked all of Ambedkar's clothing, and minutely checked the insides of his shoes. After this entire ritual was done, the police were convinced, and they permitted Ambedkar to proceed." He was fortunately equipped with a letter of introduction from Prof. Henry Rogers Seager to Prof. Edwin Cannan, and another from Prof. Edwin Seligman to Sidney Webb. (*Khairmode*, I:88-89).

==1916: London== In October he was admitted to Gray's Inn for Law, and to the London School of Economics and Political Science for Economics, where he was allowed to start work on a doctoral thesis. He often worked in the British Library Reading Room. His thesis was eventually published as *"The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India"*.

==1917== Bhimrao's scholarship from Baroda ended, so that he was obliged to go back to India in June with his work unfinished; he was, however, given permission to return to London and finish it within four years. He sent his precious and much-loved collection of books back on a steamer--but it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. (*Keer*, p. 32.) He had an emotional reunion with his family.

==1917== He was appointed Military Secretary to the Gaikwar of Baroda; he had agreed to join the Baroda service as a condition of his scholarship. But this experience was not a happy one. Even to reach Baroda, he had to pay his own travel expenses; to meet these expenses he used the damages paid by Thomas Cook and Company for his torpedoed luggage. And when he arrived in Baroda, things went from bad to worse--

== "My five years of staying in Europe and America had completely wiped out of my mind any consciousness that I was an untouchable, and that an untouchable wherever he went in India was a problem to himself and to others. But when I came out of the station, my mind was considerably disturbed by a question, 'Where to go? Who will take me?'....[the story is continued in Part Two of Waiting for a Visa)

==1917== For the first time in its thirty-two-year history the Indian National Congress, meeting in Calcutta with Annie Besant as its President, adopted a resolution endorsing "the justice and righteousness of removing all disabilities imposed by custom upon the Depressed Classes." (*Kadam*, p.74.)

==1918== After the Baroda fiasco, he tried to find ways to make a living for his growing family. With the help of Parsi friends, he became a private tutor, and found some work as an accountant. He also started an investment consulting business, but it failed when his clients learned that he was an untouchable. (*Keer*, pp. 37-38.)

==1918== Finally he became Professor of Political Economy in the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Bombay. (This position came about through the recommendation of his London acquaintance, Lord Sydenham, former Governor of Bombay.) He was mostly successful with his students, but some of the other professors objected to his sharing the same drinking-water jug that they all used. (*Keer*, p. 39.)

==1918== In the new Journal of Indian Economics (1,1), he reviewed a book by Bertrand Russell: *"Mr Russell and the Reconstruction of Society"*. And in the new Journal of the Indian Economic Society (1,2-3) he published *"Small Holdings in India and Their Remedies"*.

==1919== He testified both orally and in writing before the Southborough Committee, which was investigating franchise matters in the light of the planned Montagu-Chelmsford reforms. He demanded separate electorates and reserved seats for the untouchables: "The real social divisions of India then are: (1) Touchable Hindus. (2) Untouchable Hindus. (3) Mohammedans. (4) Christians. (5) Parsees. (6) Jews." (--from the *transcript* of the proceedings, Jan. 27, 1919). Discussion: *Chandrabhan Prasad*; *Syed Amjad Ali*.

== Family affairs ==
One son, Yashwant, had been born in 1912 (*site*). "In the seven years between 1913 and 1920, Bhimrao had three children: two sons, Gangadhar and Ramesh, and one daughter, Indu. All three children died when a little over a year old." (*Khairmode*, I:108)
Ramabai, as a loyal wife, shared (though not always uncritically) in her husband's struggles. There were many sacrifices: "Seven or eight people in one room-- and Bhimrao's study in the other room...."

== on to the 1920's ==

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