Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar

In the Columbia University library, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is approached by Lala Lajpat Rai to join his Home Rule League, but he declines, explaining that his studies in America are funded by a scholarship from Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda State. Unable to afford the full cost of study abroad, he sustains himself with part‑time work washing utensils.

By June 1915, he completes his M.A., majoring in economics along with sociology, history, philosophy, and anthropology, and he presents a thesis on Ancient Indian Commerce. In 1916, he finishes a second M.A. thesis, National Dividend of India — A Historic and Analytical Study, and in October he enrolls for Bar course at Gray’s Inn while also starting work on a doctoral thesis at the London School of Economics. In 1917, when the term of his Baroda scholarship ends, he is compelled to return to India with unfinished work, but is permitted to come back and finish within four years. He even sends his precious collection of books back on a steamer, only for it to be torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine.

Back in Baroda, Ambedkar works as a probationer in the Accountant General’s Office. He is awarded a stipend of 11.50 British pounds a month for three years, with a condition to serve Baroda for ten years after completing his studies. Yet upon arriving, he discovers that Hindu hotels will not allow him to stay because of his caste. A Parsi inn becomes his temporary refuge, but he must adopt a Parsi name to be accommodated. As he joins the new office as a senior officer (probationary), the peon refuses to hand him files and later, when he asks for a glass of water, the pot is declared off‑limits to him. The upper caste colleagues insist that his touch would pollute the water, and they tell him to bring his own. After a few days, Parsis discover he is not a Parsi, and on the eleventh day a group of angry Parsis, armed with sticks, arrive to drive him out. With nowhere to stay, he leaves Baroda and returns to Bombay to pursue work elsewhere.

In Bombay, Ambedkar applies for a professorship in political economy at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. On his first day, students mock him as an untouchable and possibly as someone lacking English, and in the staff room a professor named Trivedi insults him when he tries to drink water. After meeting Shri Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur, Ambedkar founds a newspaper, Mooknayak, in 1920. He also organizes a conference in Mangaon, Kolhapur, which Shri Shahu Maharaj attends, declaring in a prophetic vein: “You have found your saviour in Ambedkar and I am confident that he will break your shackles.”

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

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:37