Chavdar Tank in Mahad (modern-day Maharashtra) on March 20, 1927 Or Water Satyagraha by Dr. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in his autobiographical essays titled ‘Waiting for a visa’ had described the horrors of untouchability practiced in his home state of Mahad (Now Maharashtra). ‘No peon, No Water’ for Mahars – vividly described Untouchables. Even Mahar School Children were not allowed to drink from the pot – but School Peon would pour water into their cupped hands from a height so that the vessel is not polluted by their touches. Same was experienced by Ambedkar at a station and he could not quench his thirst from the station public tap and he had to be at the mercy of a peon at the station who could pour water into his cupped hands so as to avoid pollution. Ambedkar went to Columbia and went to the London School of Economics. He read Law at Gray’s Inn. And then came Home and on March 20, 1927, he launched Water Satyagraha at Chavdar Tale, a public water tank just to have a drink along with his followers. Though the Mahad Municipality had passed ...