Page 25 - SocialHarmony

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Revolutionary Social Reformer 29

sati and jowhar, that society itself gave birth to a personality,
who said that the tradition of a lady climbing onto a burning
pyre may have been a matter of pride in the past, but this
tradition had no place in today’s day and age. The burning of
widows in today’s society would be considered a stigma.
Practically, this fight has not been fought by any one not
belonging to this Dharma, but has been fought by people born
in this society, those who glorified Hindutva, believed in
Hindutva, were wedded to Hindutva and were born as Hindus.
In this dark age of slavery, even untouchability and class
inequalities entered the society as grave deformities.
Unfortunately, it got religious support. The saints and mahants
started approving untouchability and class inequalities. What
must have been the state of the society? When this evil was at
its peak, in this atmosphere, a Narsinhao in a Nagar Brahmin
family, a Mohandas in a Gandhi family, a Thakkar Bapa, in some
corner of Hindustan, a Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami
Vivekananda and Swami Shraddhananada were born, who
within a period of 300-400 years dedicated their entire lives to
remove this stigma of untouchability from the society. These
people, in the face of stark opposition from society, continued
to fight against its evils. It is the speciality of the Hindu society
that it could give birth to Gandhi, Vivekananda and Narasimha.

At a time when untouchability was at its peak, the son of a
Nagar Brahmin, Narsinhao, smashed the evil of untouchability
by singing bhajans in the colony of untouchables in Junagadh.
This is a big contribution of Gujarat. Even though he was born
in a Nagar Brahmin family, considered a high Brahmin caste,
Narshinao broke all the evil traditions of the society and raised
his head. He embarked upon in the society with a resolve to
remove the evil of untouchability. Mahatma Gandhi, a son of a
bania, took great pride in calling himself a Harijan. Whether it
was Bhimrao or Narsinhao, whether it was Mahatma Gandhi
or Sardar Patel, Swami Vivekananda or Swami Dayananda
Saraswati, they were pearls of the same string. They tried to
create an atmosphere which would worry about the future. We
have a joint responsibility towards thinking about tomorrow’s