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B. R. Ambedkar

B. R. Ambedkar

1891 CE–1956 CE · Modern · Mhow (Madhya Pradesh)

1891–1956 CE

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, and social reformer, the principal architect of independent India's constitution, and the founder of the modern Indian Buddhist revival. Born into a Mahar family treated as 'untouchable,' he became one of India's most educated figures and devoted his life to dismantling caste oppression. Late in life he embraced Buddhism as an egalitarian alternative to caste society, and in October 1956 led a mass conversion at Nagpur that began the Navayana ('new vehicle') movement; his posthumously published 'The Buddha and His Dhamma' presents a rationalist, socially engaged reading of the teaching that reframes some traditional doctrines. His Buddhist legacy is historically significant and, in its reinterpretation of the tradition, also debated. He is thoroughly documented.

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Did you know?

  • India's constitution-drafter founded a modern Buddhist movement

    B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), who chaired the drafting committee of independent India's constitution and served as its first Law Minister, publicly embraced Buddhism at a mass ceremony in Nagpur on 14 October 1956, launching the movement later known as Navayana. He died 53 days later, on 6 December 1956, and his book 'The Buddha and His Dhamma' was published posthumously the following year.

    How we know

    Ambedkar (b. 14 Apr 1891, d. 6 Dec 1956) converted to Buddhism at Nagpur (Deekshabhoomi) on 14 Oct 1956; 'The Buddha and His Dhamma' published posthumously 1957.

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Mhow (Madhya Pradesh)

What they did here

DOCUMENTED: born Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar into a Mahar (Dalit) family in the military cantonment of Mhow in the Central Provinces (in present-day Madhya Pradesh).

About Mhow (Madhya Pradesh)

Mhow, a town in Madhya Pradesh, central India, was the birthplace, in 1891, of B. R. Ambedkar, the jurist and social reformer who led the drafting of the Indian constitution and, near the end of his life, publicly converted to Buddhism, founding the modern Navayana ('new vehicle') Buddhist movement among India's Dalits.

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with B. R. Ambedkar’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with B. R. Ambedkar’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

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