A   journey   to   columbia  University 

At the age of 22 B.R. ambedkar went to columbia university( in new york)  on a scholarship given by sajirao gaikawad. What is Columbia university? first question is this in everyone mind then I have the answer of this question you just have to read my post and you will get every information about Columbia university and DR. B.R. Ambedkar.
 If we talk about DR. B.R. Ambedkar then he went to this great university in new York in 1910 at the age of 22 because of scholarship by king Gaikawad of Baroda. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. In this university DR. B.R. Ambedkar did his best and gain knowledge to be a barrister in the past time there was a great respect for the barrister post in India. The University is one of the world's most important centres  of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields . And in Columbia university professors and teachers also were very happy to see a student who studied like a bibliophile. Because DR. B.R. Ambedkar was best in studies even in Columbia university. DR. B.R. Ambedkar always respected the professors and teachers in the university and he gain respect and knowledge from the professors and teachers because he was a good student who studies with his all potential. Columbia's Morning side Heights campus is located at Broadway and 116th Street in Manhattan. The Medical Centre is located at West 168th Street and Broadway, immediately southeast of the George Washington Bridge in northern Manhattan. The Manhattanville Campus Built on the existing street grid north from 125th Street. Ambedkar graduated from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay, and studied economics at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, receiving doctorates in 1927 and 1923 respectively and was among a handful of Indian students to have done so at either institution in the 1920s.

it is one of the best university in new York and it is one of the best university in world. it was founded as King's College by royal charter of King George II of England in 1754.  So now you can think how great teaching is in this university. It is the oldest institution in new York and fifth oldest in united states. The University offers an outstanding and comprehensive array of academic programs. These include three undergraduate schools, thirteen graduate and professional schools, a world-renowned medical centre, four affiliated colleges and seminaries, twenty-five libraries, and more than one hundred research centers and institutes.

He was the best student in Columbia university also. There is a image of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.



He did his higher studies in Columbia university and did his study of economics there. He did PhD in this university and he was loved by all professors and teachers and there were no discrimination on the basis of caste but if I say no this means not that there is not even a small discrimination. there is discrimination but not like in India so he studied with his all potential and did his best and be a symbol of knowledge  he has given us three sentences( sangathit raho ,  sangharsh karo, shikshit raho) live together, do struggle, be educated.

  He was a great person not in India but even in Columbia university he came in India in 1917 and launched three struggles to enter in temples in India and went back to Columbia university. The biography of Bheemrao Ambedkar is now teaching in Columbia university. He was announced as best scholar in Columbia university. from this instances you can get the answer how laborious he was in study.

         

         Dr.   Ambedkar   and   Columbia   University

When you will see  the east corner of the great lehman  social science library you see a great person or the father of Indian constitution and the doctor and saint`s sculpture  which was facing towards you in the Columbia university. When you see in eyes of that person you will see the person is also looking into your eyes and he is admiring you and you admire him. The great lehman social science library , designed like a “ship of state”, and part of the SIPA and Law School complex (–both designed by Max Abramovitz and Wallace Harrison— the latter is known for leading an international team of architects on the design of  the United Nations Headquarters in NYC, and the former for designing the Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center –) the Lehman Social Sciences Library opened in the early 70s, and is often jokingly referred to by students as “the NASA Headquarters” or even  “the bunker from the cold war”.

 

 

I think  that many people still don’t know who was dr. ambedkar and if you don’t know then  it is not a big query you just have to go to my post about dr amedkar and you will see that he  was a a Dalit, an Indian jurist, economist, politician, activist and social reformer, who systematically campaigned against social discrimination towards women, workers, but most notably, towards the Dalits, and forcefully argued against the caste system in Hindu society.

He was the severe critic of Indian practices like  sati, poojaa paath, or many  other practices which was oppressive towards any caste, gender or person. The bronze bust in Columbia university, sculpted by Vinay Brahmesh Wagh of Bombay, was presented by the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organizations, UK to the Southern Asian Institute of Columbia University on October 24, 1991, and then the marble pedestal on which the statue now rests was donated by the Society of the Ambedkarites of New York and New Jersey, and placed in Lehman Library in 1995.   

On 14 th april 2016 many foreigners and many persons visit to see the statue of dr. b.r. ambedkar because it is in lehman social science library and 14th apil is celebrated as ambedkar jayanti in india and may be that sometimes in Columbia university this day is celebrated as a great scholar declared by Columbia university I mean dr ambedkar`s birthday and he was a great scholar in the world declared by Columbia university.  Ambedkar majored in Economics, and took many courses in sociology, history, philosophy, as well as anthropology. In 1915, he submitted an M. A. thesis entitled: The Administration and Finance of the East India Company. (He is believed to have begun an M. A. thesis entitled Ancient Indian Commerce earlier. That thesis is unavailable at the RBML but it is reprinted in volume 12 of Ambedkar’s collected writings). By the time he left Columbia in 1916 Ambedkar had begun research for his doctoral thesis entitled: “National Dividend of India–A Historic and Analytical Study. About this thesis, Ambedkar writes to his mentor Prof. Seligman, with whom he forged a long and friendly correspondence, even after he left Columbia:  “My dear Prof. Seligman, Having lost my manuscript of the original thesis when the steamer was torpedoed on my way back to India in 1917 I have written out a new thesis… […from the letter of Feb. 16, 1922, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University’. In 1920, Ambedkar writes: “My dear Prof. Seligman, You will probably be surprised to see me back in London. I am on my way to New York but I am halting in London for about two years to finish a piece or two of research work which I have undertaken. Of course I long to be with you again for it was when I was thrown into academic life by reason of my being a professor at the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics in Bombay, that I realized the huge debt of gratitude I owe to the Political Science Faculty of the Columbia University in general and to you in particular.” B. R. Ambedkar, London, 3/8/20” , (Source: letter of August 3, 1920, Seligman papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, cited in Pritchard’s website ).  Ambedkar would join the London School of Economics for a few years and submit a thesis there, but then, he would eventually come back to Columbia, to submit a Ph.D. thesis in Economics, in 1925 under the mentorship of his dear friend Prof. Seligman, entitled: The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India: A Study in the Provincial Decentralization of Imperial Finance.  (It should be noted here that the thesis was first published in 1923 and again in 1925, this time with a Foreword by Edwin Seligman, by the publishers P. S. King and Son).  

    If it is Seligman he stayed in touch with and corresponded throughout, the person who most influenced his thought and shaped his political, philosophical and ethical outlook, was Dewey. For many thinkers, the links between Dewey and  Ambedkar’s ethical and philosophical thinking are obvious.  Ambedkar deeply admired Dewey and repeatedly acknowledged his debt to Dewey, calling him “his teacher”.  Ambedkar’s thought was deeply etched by John Dewey’s ideas of education as linked to experience, as practical and contextual, and the ideas of freedom and equality as essentially tied with the ideals of justice and of fraternity, a concept he would go on to apply to the Indian context, and to his pointed criticism of the caste system. Echoing many ideas propagated by Dewey, Ambedkar writes in the Annhilation of Caste:

 

On 14th april in india many people organizes stall and rallies in each and every district of india this day is celebrated as a festival on many people`s houses. Peoples lit the candles infront of his pictures in their houses and lit the candles on their roofs and bursts the fire crackers in night and organizes parties.

In Columbia university this sculpture is placed to motivate the scholars of Columbia university and make them also a great and a nice person which will be known by the world. And I think many of the scientists and economists and architects and engineers and many great person which are know keep doing their jobs if went from this university are doing a great work and making their name in the world. Because in lehman social science there is a great person`s sculpture and this also motivates them to do their work with all potential and do their best like dr ambedkar a great scholar that may be the reason why Columbia university is known in the world by us because there were many peoples like ambedkar   who motivates all scholars. After struggling to overcome prejudice as a Dalit, and gain an education, Ambedkar passed the BA examination at the University of Bombay in 1912, and took a short lived administrative position before venturing to New York on a scholarship. it is here that much of his political thought took form, mostly, as many argue, under the influence of John Dewey.

Years later, Dr. Ambedkar writes: ‘The best friends I have had in life were some of my classmates at Columbia and my great professors, John Dewey, James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman, and James Harvey Robinson.'” (Source: “‘Untouchables’ Represented by Ambedkar, ’15AM, ’28PhD,” Columbia Alumni News, Dec. 19, 1930, page 12.)



 The evidence of great scholar in Columbia university

                                                                      THANK YOU VERY MUCH