I am probably not alone in first becoming familiar with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar through the 2023 biopic Origin, based on the life of Isabel Wilkerson as she writes the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. She visits India and the home, now a historical site, of Dr. Ambedkar, who championed the rights of the Dalit (“untouchable”) peoples, who are at the bottom of the caste system in India.
The Statue of Social Justice also known as the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Smriti Vanam (Memorial), is a 125-ft tall statue standing on an 81 feet tall base building located in Vijayawada in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The complex includes a museum, an outdoor theatre and indoor cinema, a convention center, a library with 10,000 books, a food court, fountains and a children’s play area. It was dedicated on January 19, 2024.
Ambedkar (1891-1956), known as the father of the Indian Constitution, dedicated his life to fighting the imbalances of society and unfair treatment that the lower caste received. He was often at loggerheads with Gandhi, who supported the caste system as necessary for the stability of society. Ambedkar, who had two doctorates in economics, was also skeptical of Gandhi’s emphasis on self-reliance and its accompanying philosophy of anti-industrialization as he felt this required a permanent underclass to do menial work in service of the elite classes. Ambedkar believed that the caste was hard wired into Hinduism, and thus converted to Buddhism. As a nod to his conversion, the pedestal of this statue is designed to look like a Kalachakra mandala in Buddhist architecture.
