Mahad Satyagraha or Chavdar Tale Satyagraha was a satyagraha led by B. R. Ambedkar on 20 March 1927 to allow untouchables to use water in a public tank in Mahad (currently in Raigad district), Maharashtra, India. [1] The day (20 March) is observed as Social Empowerment day in India. [1]
By the Indian caste system, untouchables (Dalits) were segregated from the other Hindu castes. They were banned from using water bodies and roads which were used by other Hindu castes. In August 1923, Bombay Legislative Council passed a resolution that people from the depressed classes should be allowed to use places which were built and maintained by the government. [2] In January 1924, Mahad which was part of the Bombay Province passed the resolution in its municipal council to enforce the act. But it was failed to implement because of the protest from the savarna Hindus.
In 1927, Ambedkar decided to launch a satyagraha (nonviolent resistance) to assert their rights to use water in the public places.
Mahad, a town in Konkan, was selected for the event because it had a nucleus of support from 'caste hindus'. These included A.V.Chitre, an activist from the Marathi Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) community; G.N.Sahasrabudhe, a Chitpawan Brahmin of the Social Service League and Surendranath Tipnis, a CKP who was president of the Mahad municipality. [3]
Surendranath Tipnis, the president of the Mahad municipality declared its public spaces open to untouchables and invited Ambedkar to hold a meeting at Mahad in 1927. [4] After the meeting, they proceeded to the 'Chowder tank'. [5] Ambedkar drank water from the tank and thousands of untouchables followed him. [5] [4]
Ambedkar also made a statement addressing the Dalit women during the Satyagraha. He asked them to abandon all old customs that provided recognizable markers of untouchability and asked them to wear saris like high caste women. Before that time, the Dalit women were not allowed to drape saris completely. Immediately after Ambedkar's speech at Mahad, the dalit women readily decided to drape their saris like the higher caste women. 'Radical' upper caste women namely Lakshmibai Tipnis and Indirabia Chitre helped the Dalit women dress like 'upper caste women' by covering the legs of the dalit women down to their ankles. [6]
A riot broke out following a rumour that Ambedkar and his followers were planning to enter a Hindu temple in the town. And the caste Hindu argued that untouchables polluted the tank by taking water from it. To purify the tank cow-urine and cow-dung were used. 108 pots containing a mixture of these products were emptied into the tank while Brahmins recited mantras. The tank was then declared fit for upper caste hindu consumption. [2]
Ambedkar decided to hold the second conference in Mahad on 26–27 December 1927. But caste Hindus filed a case against him that tank as a private property. [7] He was not able to continue his satyagraha as the case was sub judice.
On 25 December ( Manusmriti Dahan Din ), Shastrabuddhe under the guidance of Ambedkar, burnt Manusmriti , a Hindu law book, as a protest. In December 1937, the Bombay High Court ruled that untouchables have the right to use water from the tank. [8] [9]
On 19 March 1940, Dr. Ambedkar arranged a rally and public conference in Mahad to recollect 14th Mahad Satyagraha Day as "Empowerment Day". On this day, Adv. Vishnu Narhari Khodke, as President of Mahad Municipal Corporation, arranged a function and honoured Dr. Ambedkar with a Letter of Honour (मानपत्र) for his "Chavdar tale Satyagraha" and "Manusmruti Dahan" and other movements in Mahad. [10]
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru, and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement after renouncing Hinduism.
The Neo Buddhist movement is a religious as well as a socio-political movement among Dalits in India which was started by B. R. Ambedkar. It radically re-interpreted Buddhism and created a new school of Buddhism called Navayana. The movement has sought to be a socially and politically engaged form of Buddhism.
Untouchability is the practice of ostracising a group of people regarded as 'untouchables', as ascribed in the Vedic Hindu literature to persons of "high caste" or to persons excluded from the caste system resulting in the segregation and persecutions from the people regarded as "higher" caste.
Dalit, also known as untouchable, is a name for people belonging to the lowest stratum castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a fifth varna, also known by the name of Panchama. Dalits now profess various religious beliefs, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam and various other belief systems. Scheduled Castes is the official term for Dalits as per the Constitution of India.
Mahar (महार) meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra" is an Indian community found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century. As of 2017 the Mahar caste was designated as a Scheduled Caste in 16 Indian states.
The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community came into prominence during the 18th century when the heirs of Peshwa from the Bhat family of Balaji Vishwanath became the de facto rulers of the Maratha empire. Until the 18th century, the Chitpavans were held in low esteem by the Deshastha, the older established Brahmin community of Maharashtra region who considered the Chitpavans as Parvenus or newcomers to the Brahmin class.
Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) is an ethno-religious caste of South Asia. Traditionally, the CKPs have the upanayana and have been granted the rights to study the vedas and perform vedic rituals along with the Brahmins. Ritually ranked very high, the caste may be considered socially proximate to the Maharashtrian Brahmin community. They have traditionally been an elite and literate but a numerically small community.
Mahad is a city in Raigad district situated in the North Konkan region of Maharashtra state, India. It is located 108.5 km (67.4 mi) from District's headquarter Alibag, and 167 km (104 mi) from Mumbai, the state capital of Maharashtra and economic capital of India, towards western coast. Mahad is home to Raigad Fort, the capital of Maratha Empire in Shivajis era and revolutionary Mahad Satyagraha launched by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar at Chavdar Tale in the wake of modern India.
Nandanar, also known as Tirunalaippovar and Tiru Nalai Povar Nayanar, was a Nayanar saint, who is venerated in the Hindu sect of Shaivism. He is the only Dalit ("untouchable") saint in the Nayanars. He is generally counted as the eighteenth in the list of 63 Nayanars. Like the other Nayanars, he was a devout devotee of the god Shiva.
Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, was an Indian social reformer. He campaigned against superstitions, untouchability, child marriage and dowry. He was also a prolific author.
Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development was a paper read by B. R. Ambedkar at an anthropological seminar of Alexander Goldenweiser in New York on 9 May 1916. It was later published in volume XLI of Indian Antiquary in May 1917. In the same year, Ambedkar was awarded a PhD degree by Columbia University on this topic. In 1979, the Education Department of the Government of Maharashtra (Bombay) published this article in the collection of Ambedkar's writings and speeches Volume 1; later, it was translated in many languages.
Urmila Pawar is an Indian writer and activist. She is a prominent figure in the dalit and feminist movements in India and her works, all of which are written in Marathi language, have often been hailed as a critique of social discrimination and the savarna exploitation by commentators and media outlets.
The Dhor, is a caste in India. Also known as Dohor,Kakkaya and Kankkya.Being traditionally a community associated with taking care of milk-producing animals and some kshatriya. They are considered to be part of the Hindu. The Dhor people are most likely to live either in India's Maharashtra or Karnataka states.
Bhimayana: Incidents in the Life of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is a graphic biography of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar published in 2011 by Navayana and was hailed by CNN as being among the top five political comic books. It was created by artists Durgabai Vyam, Subhash Vyam and writers Srividya Natarajan and S. Anand. It depicts the experiences of caste discrimination and resistance that Bhimrao Ambedkar recorded in his autobiographical illustrations, later compiled and edited in Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches by Vasant Moon under the title “Waiting for a Visa”. It is one of India's top selling graphic books.
Ramchandra Babaji More was a political leader and campaigner with a particular focus around the struggle against the Caste system in India and Class exploitation in the Indian subcontinent.
Gopal Baba Walangkar, also known as Gopal Krishna, is an early example of an activist working to release the untouchable people of India from their historic socio-economic oppression, and is generally considered to be the pioneer of that movement. He developed a racial theory to explain the oppression and also published the monthly journal Vital-Vidhvansak, targeted at the Brahmanical Orthodoxy.
Gangadhar Nilkanth Sahasrabuddhe was an Indian social activist from Maharashtra. He was born in a Marathi Chitpawan Brahmin family and belonged to the Social Service League. Along with other activists - Surendranath Tipnis, chairman of the Mahad Municipality and A.V. Chitre, he was instrumental in helping Babasaheb Ambedkar during the Mahad Satyagraha. During the satyagraha he burnt the book Manusmriti. Later, he went on to become the editor of Ambedkar's weekly 'Janata'.
Surendranath Tipnis was the president of the Mahad Municipality in the early 1900s and a social activist. He was born in a Marathi CKP family. Along with other progressive social activists of the time such as A.V. Chitre and the Chitpawan Brahmin G. N. Sahasrabudhe, he was instrumental in helping Babasaheb Ambedkar during the Mahad Satyagraha. He declared Mahad's public spaces open to untouchables and invited Ambedkar to hold a meeting at Mahad in 1927. Later, he went on to become an MLA in Ambedkar's Independent Labour Party. He was awarded the titles 'Dalitmitra'(friend of the dalits) and 'Nanasaheb'.
Baby Kamble, commonly known as Babytai Kamble, was an Indian activist and writer. She was born into an untouchable caste, Mahar, the largest untouchable community in Maharashtra. She was a well-known Dalit activist and writer who was inspired by B. R. Ambedkar, prominent dalit leader. Kamble and her family converted to Buddhism and remained lifelong practicing Buddhists. In her community, she came to be admired as a writer and was fondly called as Tai. She is widely remembered and loved by the Dalit community for her contributions of powerful literary and activist work. She is one of the earliest women writers from the untouchable communities whose distinctive reflexive style of feminist writing setting her apart from other Dalit writers and upper caste women writers who gaze was limited and reflexivity incarcerated in caste and masculinity.
Rao Bahadur Sitaram Keshav Bole, also known as Babasaheb Bole (1869―1961) was an Indian reformer, activist, barrister and politician from Bombay. He was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council, who was known for his contributions towards the upliftment of mill workers in Bombay and the Bhandari community. He was an associate of B. R. Ambedkar. He founded the Kitte Bhandari Aikyavardhak Mandali, founded in 1890. Rao Bahadur SK Bole Road in Dadar, Mumbai, is named after him. The British government conferred him the title of Rao Bahadur.