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Dr.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956) |
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Dr. Ambedkar was born in the
military town
of Mhow in Madhya Pradesh; for much more on his background and work,
see
*the Ambedkar project at CU* |
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Sayaji Rao III, Gaekwar of Baroda,
who gave
Dr. Ambedkar the scholarship that enabled him to go to Columbia |
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A rare photo of Dr. Ambedkar from
his years
as a grad student at Columbia, 1913-16 |
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The raja of Kolhapur, an early and
most
valuable supporter of Ambedkar's work |
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Such an evocative photo-- amidst
his cherished
books, standing stiffly and reluctantly, forced to be garlanded, forced
to be photographed |
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Modern paintings of some of the
major events
in his life |
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Dr. Ambedkar helped to get
the Ashokan/Sanchi
(Buddhist) chakra, rather than the Gandhian spinning wheel, adopted as
the national symbol; and the lion capital too of course |
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When Dr. Ambedkar finally embraced
Buddhism,
for symbolic reasons he held his great conversion ceremony at Nagpur;
the
site is now marked by a *Sanchi*-like
stupa |
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Echoes of the Great Stupa at
Sanchi can
also be seen in his tomb, or "samadhi," in Bombay |
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Statues and other images of him
nowadays
appear all over the place: some examples collected by one modern scholar |
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In modern religious art, Dr.
Ambedkar is
often semi-merged with the Buddha |
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More modern images |
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Jabbar Patel's 1998 film was held
up by
the Government of India for years before finally being approved for
release |
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In his legacy: an emphasis on
self-help,
and education; and some Gandhian techniques too |
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