A part apart : the life and thought of B.R. Ambedkar / Ashok Gopal.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 802-829) and index.

Mapping Ambedkar 8;
Abbreviations 11;
Chronology 19;
Preface 25;
Sources 30;
Translation and Terms 31;
Label Dynamics 32;
Acknowledgements 35;
Introduction: A Thinker in Politics 36;
Reading Ambedkar 41;
Texts, Missing and Found 52;
Piecing Together a Story 64;
1. Army Man's Son 69;
Military Mahars 69;
Precedents 80;
Religious Upbringing 83;
Boyhood in Sata ra 89;
Experience of Caste 92;
Schooling in Mumbai 94;
Ramabai 97;
2. From Mumbai to New York 103;
Sayajirao Gaekwad III 103;
'Dada' Keluskar 105;
Graduate 109;
Student at Columbia 113;
'Great Professors' 121;
Dewey's Shadow 125;
'Parallel Case' 136;
3. Early Academic Writings 141
The State and Minorities 320;
Castes in India 141;
Critic of British Rule 156;
Back to Mumbai, via London 161;
Small Holdings 162;
Himsa and Ahimsa 165;
Love for Money 168;
4. Entry into Public Life 170;
A Case for Reservation 177;
Shahu Maharaj 188;
Leader of the Voiceless 191
5. Birth of a Movement 201;
Student in London 202;
Lawyer in Mumbai 210;
Bahishkrut Hitakarini Sabha 215;
Gandhi's Sympathy 225;
Combined Forces 228;
6. Making of History 235;
March to Chavdar Tank 239;
Reaction 244;
Reframing Satyagraha 255;
7. Declaration of Rights 265;
Preparations 255;
Re imagining Hindu Society 274;
Cancellation of Satyagraha 283;
Unresolved Issues 285;
Visit to Raigad Fort 290;
Impact 293;
8. Legislator-Statesman 296;
In the Legislative Council 295;
Mahar Watan Bil 302;
Submissions to the Simon Commission 307;
Reservation in Public Services 311;
'No' to Separate Electorates 315;
The State and Minorities 320;
Starte Committee 324;
9. Challenges of Social Reform 326;
'Strength' of Hindu Society 325;
Samaj Samata Sangh 333;
Conversion as a Solution 340;
Vedic Rituals 343;
Reign of In equality 345;
Parvati Temple Satyagraha 349;
Temple Entry in Mumbai 357;
10. Need for Power 360;
Nashik Satyagraha 353;
National Spokesman 374;
Cold Farewell 383;
Constitution al Protection 389;
The Untouchables and Pax Britannia 395;
Making a Mark 399;
11. Clash with Gandhi 403;
Missing Information 403;
First Meeting 405;
Musings 411;
Batt le in London 414;
12. Pact 430;
Somersaults 431;
Fast unto Death 435;
Negotiations 441;
Final Act 452;
Differences 457;
13. Names and Numbers 460;
Definitional Problem 451;
From Mil lions to Fractions 470;
Socio-religious Definition 475;
Bureaucratic Creation 479;
14. Renunciation 483;
Towards Yeola 487;
In London 498;
Decision 501;
Yeola Conference 508 On Religion 510;
Annihilation of Caste 518;
Rejoinder to Gandhi 527;
15. Aftermath 532;
Offers and Counter-offers 540;
Sikhism 546;
Islam and Christianity 551;
Lasting Effects 555;
16. Left Turn 557 A New Party 557;
Elections 566;
Party in Action 573;
Away from the Communists 577;
Dual Roles 583;
AII~ of the British 585;
Demise of ILP 589;
17. Historian of His Times 592;
A People at Bay 595;
Verdict on Gandhi 601;
Thoughts on Pakistan 609;
Just War and Hero Worship 619;
18. Necessary Faith 631;
Antecedents 632;
Reinterpreting History 645;
Reinterpreting Religious Texts 650;
An 'Essential Remedy 660;
19. Principal Architect 663;
Endgame 666;
Parleys 669;
Making of the Constitution 672;
Exit 688;
20. Saddhamma 704;
A Religion for a New World 707;
Moral and Social Order 709;
'Threat' of Communism 714;
Promoting Buddhism 715;
The Buddha and His Dhamma 718;
Last Journey 731;
Postscript 748;
Notes 753;
Works Cited 802;
Index 830;
Vijay Surwade's part in A Part Apart 864.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) is perhaps the most iconised historical figure in India. Born into a caste deemed ‘unfit for human association’, he came to define what it means to be human. How and why did Ambedkar, who revered and cited the Gita till the 1930s, turn against Hinduism? What were his quarrels with Gandhi and Savarkar? Why did he come to see himself as Moses? How did the lessons learnt at Columbia University impact the struggle for water in Mahad in 1927 and the drafting of the Constitution of India in 1950? Having declared in 1935 that he will not die as a Hindu, why did Ambedkar toil on the Hindu Code Bill? What made him a votary of Western individualism and yet put faith in the collective ethical way of life suggested by Buddhism? Why is it wrong to see Ambedkar as an apologist for colonialism? From which streams of thought did Ambedkar brew his philosophies? Who were the thinkers he turned to in his library of fifty thousand books? What did this life of the mind cost him and his intimates? What of his first wife, Ramabai, while he was busy with the chalval?

A Part Apart is a rigorous effort at both asking questions and answering as many as one can about B.R. Ambedkar. Ashok Gopal undertakes a mission without parallel: reading the bulk of Ambedkar’s writings, speeches and letters in Marathi and English, and what Ambedkar himself would have read. This is the story of the unrelenting toil and struggle that went into the making of Ambedkar legend.