Unpublished Preface to Buddha and his Dhamma: A book by Dr• Ambedkar

I was born in the community known in India as the "Untouchables." A question is always being asked of me "How I happened to take such high degrees of education?" Another question is being asked, ' Why I am a buddhist ?" This is the question which I feel that this  preface is the proper place to answer.

This is the way it happened .My father was very religious person and he brought me up under a strict religious discipline. Quite early in my carrier, I found certain contradictions in my father religious way of life. He was a 'kabirpanthi'. As such he did not believe in " Moortipuja"(idol Worship). He read the books of his panth. At the same time. he compelled me and my elder brother to read every day before going to bed, a  portion of the 'Ramayana and the Mahabharta' to my sisters and other persons who assembled at my father's house for hearing the 'katha'. This went for a long time number of years. I passed the fourth standard Examination. My community people wanted to celebrate the occasion by holding a public meeting to celebrate the occasion by holding a public meeting to celebrate the event. They went to my father to ask for his permission. My father refused such a thing because it would inflate the head of the boy. 'After all he has only passed an examination and done nothing . Those  who  wanted  to  celebrate  the  event  were  greatly disappointed .They however did not give way.

Dada Keluskar

They went to Dada Keluskar, a personal friend of my father and ask him to obtain his permission for holding a meeting for congratulation me . He agreed. After a little argumentation, my father yielded and the meeting was held. Dada Keluskar presided. He was a literacy person of his time. At the end of address he give me a gift , a copy of his book on the life of Buddha which he had written for Sayajirao Gaikwad of Baroda. I read the book with great interest and was moved it . 

I began to ask why my father did not introduce to us the Buddhist literature . After this , I was determined to ask my father this question. One day I did, I asked my father why he insisted upon our reading the Mahabharta and Ramayana which recounted the greatness of the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas and the degradation of the Sudras and the Untouchables. My father did not like the questions. He merely said, " You must not ask silly questions. You are only twelve. You must do as you are told"

 

Subedar Ramji sakpal ji 

My father was a ' Roman patriarch' and exercised most extensive 'patria protestas' over his children. I alone took a little liberty and was bold because my mother had died in childhood leaving me to the care of my aunt. So after some time I asked again the same question. This time my father had prepared himself for the reply. He said, the reason why i ask you to read the Mahabharta and the Ramayana is this. We belong to untouchable caste and you are likely to develop inferiority complex which is natural. The value of the Mahabharta and the Ramayana lies in removing this inferiority complex. See " Drona" and "Karuna". They were small men but to what heights they rose. Look at " Valmiki". He was koli but he became author of the Ramayana. It is for removing the  inferiority complex that I ask you to read the Mahabharta and the Ramayana".

I could see that there was some force in my father's arguments. But i was not satisfied. I told my father that I did not take like any of the figures in the Mahabharta. I said " I did not like Bhishma and Drona, nor Krishna. Bhishma and Drona were hypocrites. They said one thing and did quite and opposite. Krishna believed in fraud. His life is nothing but series of frauds, Equal dislike I have for Rama, Examine his conduct in Surupnakha episode, in the Vali-Sugriva  episode and beastly behavior towards Sita."

My father was silent and made no reply. He knew there was a revolt . This is how i turned to buddha. it was not with empty mind that i went to him at the early age. I had a back-ground and in reading the Buddhist lore I could always compare and contrast.

This is the origin of my interest in the Buddha and his Dhamma. The urge to write this book has a different origin. In 1951 the editor of the Mahabodhi Society's Journal of Calcutta asked me to write an article for the Vaisakha Number. In the article I argued that the Buddh'a religion was the only religion which a society awakened by science could accept and without which it would perish. I also pointed out  that in the modern world Buddhism was only religion which it must have, to save itself.

The Buddhism makes slow advance is due to the fact that its literature is so vast that no one can read it and it has no such thing as a Bible as the Christians have. On the publication of this article  I received so many calls , written and oral. to write such a book . It is in response to these calls that I have undertaken the task. 

How good it is I must leave it to readers to judge. As for myself, I claim no originality. I am only a compiler. All I hope is that the reader will like the presentation. I have made it simple and clear. 

I remained for me to express my gratitude to those who have been helpful to me .

Nanak chand Rattu 

I am grateful to Prakash and Rattu for the burden they have taken upon themselves to type out the manuscript. They have done  it several times. Their labor can hardly be repaid.

When I took up the task of composing the book , I was ill and am still ill. During these five years there were ups and downs. At some stage my condition had become so critical that doctors talked of me as a 'dying flame' is due to the medical skill of my wife and Dr. Malvankar.  I am immensely grateful. They alone have helped me to complete the work. 

I may mention that this one of the three books which will form a group for the proper understanding of Buddhism . The other two books are :

1) Buddha and Karl Marx

2) Revolution and counter-revolution in ancient India.

They are written out in parts. I hope to publish them soon.

15th March,1956.                     

Dr. B.R.AMBEDKAR