REMEMBERING DR. B.R AMBEDKAR

REMEMBERING DR. B.R AMBEDKAR

Rising steadily like a blooming and lustrous Lotus,

Passing through the rigorous Tests and Ordeals of litmus,

Shining like the blistering noon Sun, the Diwakar,

Emerged an effulgent Star, called Dr. B.R Ambedkar!

Once a prey, in school, to the bitter caste discrimination,

He incredibly became India’s first Minister of Education!

From the humblest background, a strict and rustic disciplinarian,

Became the Architect of India’s Constitution, an astute Parliamentarian!

The founder of a new universal Religion called ‘Humanism’,

Was bold enough to merrily and joyously embrace ‘Buddhism’!

An ardent worshipper of hard-work, and a devotee of honest labour,

Ultimately, proved himself his mettle as an inimitable ‘Trend Setter’!

May a ray of his enviable and embellishing enlightenment light my path,

May my life improve a little better, the ever felling and deteriorating Earth!

Let me, like him, not pay any emphasis on the unimportant mundane mirth,

Let me lead a pure and pious life like him so as to book a Heavenly Berth!

N.B: BR Ambedkar, fondly called Baba Saheb, was born in a Dalit family during the colonial era of India. He grew up seeing the atrocities meted out to the Dalits, who were treated as untouchables and were ostracised. He later campaigned against the social discrimination against the Dalits and became the force behind the Dalit Buddhist Movement in India. Nearly half a million Dalits joined him in this movement and got converted to Navayana Buddhism or Neo-Buddhism, a re-interpreteation of Buddhism by Dr Ambedkar. His book, The Buddha and His Dhamma is the holy book of Navayana

and Dalit Buddhists. He died on December 6, 1956.

Glossary:

Diwakar – in Sanskrit Sun

Effulgent – bright

Felling – collapsing

Astute – judicious

©Shankar D Mishra, 14.04.2019