Dr. Ambedkar and Dharma Ratna Yami
Dr Ambedkar's stay at ‘ Yami House’ Kathmandu -
Even the world Buddhist Conference was a war zone for Dr. Ambedkar, who had earned fame by popularizing the term ‘Dalit’ as an identity of self-respect for the “untouchables”. He had agreed to participate in the Kathmandu conference at the request of his colleagues, as he was physically unwell. Even amid his illness, he had set off to travel to Nepal along with his doctor, Dr.Malvankar, who was taking care of him. He and his team flew from Patna for Kathmandu on 14 November 1956. Also in his group were his wife, Dr.Savita Ambedkar; M.B.Chitnis, Principal of Milind Mahavidyalaya in Aurangabad; and B.H. Varel. He needed company and assistance of others when descending from the airport by holding to other’s arms. His health did not improve at all during his stay in Kathmandu.
Accommodation for Dr. Ambedkar in Kathmandu was managed by M.Jyoti of Kolkata. M.Jyoti might be ManiharshaJyoti (Kansakar), the renowned merchant from Nepal, who used to trade from Kolkata at that time and was also a Buddhist activist. Dr. Ambedkar was lodged at “Yami house” where a practical battle was fought against caste hierarchy and untouchability. His stay in Bhurankhel at the house of Dharma RatnaYami( Tuladhar ) and Heera Devi Yami, who themselves were strong opponents of caste system and untouchability was historic. During Nepal visits, Rahul Sakrityayan used to stay in the house of Dharma Ratna Yami, who also was a fighter for democratic movement, a former deputy minister and a writer. Probably the two scholars stayed together. Dr. Ambedkar had brought some manuscripts for his editing work during his stay in Kathmandu. The manuscripts were related to his yet incomplete book and his articles. After writing the great book The Buddha and His Dhamma, he was working on Buddha and Marx and Revolution and Counterrevolution in Ancient India. His writing and editing continued amid the travel, stress, and illness. The ideas expressed at the Conference were a reflection of and postscript to these works.
Visit to Pashupati Nath
Senior citizens of Kathmandu and son of one of the Bhattas of those days Mr. Poorna Bhadra Adiga (Published io Monday, July 25, 2022 Kathamandu Post, Nepal ) recall very interesting story about this visit of Dr. Ambedkar in Kathmandu. During his visit, he had also planed to visit Pashupati Nath temple. This news brought big shock among main conservative Bhattas of Pashupati Nath and Hindu communities of Nepal. Hindus from India was cordially welcomed and blessed in Pashupati Nath. However, everyone knew in Kathmandu, the fact that Dr. Ambedkar was a Chamar and this word is called Sarki (untouchable ) in Nepal. Hindus in Kathmandu were questening "How could a Hindu religious lord, THE POOJARIs, allow Sarki to visit the temple premises?. Dr. Ambedkar was a known ‘Chamar’, the equivalent of Nepal’s Sarki. How could a devout Hindu allow a ‘Chamar’ inside the temple premises?". The Hindu hard-core insisted that once a Chamar, always a Chamar, and Pashupati cannot be abandoned to be soiled by the feet of a Chamar.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Tankapasad Acharya, had written to Dr. Ambedkar to cancel his plan to visit Pashupati Nath. This piece of information burst the bubble of religious convention in Mul Bhatta Baje’s household. . It was Dharma Ratna Yami who had mobilized local people and protested against this movement of Nepal government, hardcore Hindu public and Pojari Bhatta of Pashupati Nath banning the Dr. Ambedkar's visit inside the temple.
The signboard outside “Entrance for Hindus only” can still be seen outside the main entrances to the temple. Today, with thousands of people visiting the temple every day, one has to look like a Christian (‘White’) or a Muslim (‘beard with mustache shaven off’) or some foreigner with dubious looking non-Hindu characteristic to be questioned at the entrance. Buddhists, looking like Buddhists or otherwise, are allowed in though. So are Sikhs. Access was more stringent.
In those days, even among the Hindus, different strata within the Hindu caste system, had different limits of access. Kusles and Damais (ceremonial musicians and tailors) were not allowed to climb up the marble steps leading to the four silver plated gates of the sanctum. Kasahis (butchers) could access only up to the Kirtimukh Bhairab idol (where they would slaughter one male buffalo and one goat every full moon evening) just inside the southern outer entrance next to Chausatthi. Podes and Chyames (toilet cleaners, and excrement and dead animal transporters) were to remain limited to outer periphery. Sarkis (cobblers, dead cow scavengers) were to remain beyond all limits. This system worked because there were numerous enforcers among the ‘eligibles’ and the ‘non-eligibles’ complied religiously. The visitors to the temple were not too many, most of them being regular devotees. The Chief Priest (Mul Bhatta) and Chief Administrator (Rawal), was the chief enforcer of the credo.
Consultations with the Bada Gurujyu and the Palace took place. A discrete message was sent to the then government of TP Acharya, urging the government to cancel the visit of Ambedkar and his entourage to Pashupatinath. What about the Government? Concerned authority sought appointment with PM Tanka Prasad Acharya. He evaded the request. It is for T P Acharya and his government to take up the matter, since it is them that extended the invitation to Dr. Ambedkar and fixed the tour.
The mul Bhatta Gen. Madhav said: “I have run around from pillar to post. I feel I am pilloried. Being a Priest with daily duties at the temple, how can I fight with the establishment?”. Guruji was advised to stand by his convictions and to keep standing by Sanatana Dharma. We the people need to defend the Temple and all that it means to us, even if it comes to blood shedding. A Kshatriis a descendant of fearless head choppers. Gurujee should stand just inside the main Western Gate in his priestly uniform as he would be in the process of worshipping the Idol. A Kshatriis will stand just outside of the Gate with a loaded pistol in his hand and a Khukuri in his waistband. He should be prepared to shoot the moment those invaders cross a line that they will demarcate. He will mobilize all the people of this holy Pashupata Kshetra and they will be their army, ready to spill blood if it comes to that. They will have to force open the Western Gate over their dead bodies. Those invaders will hide their tails and scoot away. Gen. Madhav Shamsher knelt and begged to leave. His departing gait was upright and his face stern.
The locals around Devpatan were mostly Newars and Bahuns. They were united more behind the scene. Literally ‘behind’ because they left the frontline for the Chhetris and others that the Jersaheb would assemble. The sattal above the Bhajan Mandal to the north of the golden Bull and his son became the bivouac of Gen. Madhav and his aides. The rich Rana had compromised all his luxuries for the sake of defending the Hindu Dharma.
Word came that Dr. Ambedkar was equally determined to enter the Pashupati premise. It was said that he was no longer a Chamar, because he had taken up the Buddhist religion. By abandoning Hinduism, he was free from the chains of casteism.
The collapsible gate of steel grills at the Western Gate was then a recent installation, a novelty, and somewhat out of sync with the other age-old structural elements. It came with the renovation package ordered by King Mahendra. On that day, the vigil started at about 3 PM. The gate was un-collapsed, and locked from inside. Father, in his priestly robe including the Rudraksha Mala around his neck, and the Jhaari (a pot-bellied silver cup with a gold spout sticking out of the belly and curving upwards) with holy water in his right hand, and a pair of wooden sandals on his feet, took the prime position right behind the gate. Other priests and Brahmins lined up behind him. The space between the Gate and the rear of the kneeling papa Bull was almost packed with priests, Brahmins, Santa Mahantas, Yogis from Gorakhnath, Sadhus and the sundry.
In front of and outside the locked gate, facing the approach road, stood General Madhav Shamsher with a revolver in hand and a Khukuri in his waistband. He was wearing a pair of snow white Daura-Surwal, coffee-colored Ishta-kot, and a Dhaka Topi.
The crowd in front of him was swelling up by the dozens. There were hardly any women among them. Men in various layers of clothing were crowding in, some in an attire of festivity, some sans anything noticeable. Poor peasants, beggars, people with some kind of disability or other were there. I was one of the kids around, glued on to one of Father’s lieutenants.
To people it was a moment of great occasion. People could single out the name of Ambedkar when I heard Bhogya Prasad Shah or Hari Shreshtha, the newscasters on Radio Nepal, or Devaki Nandan Pandey or Indu Wahi over All India Radio. He who was Krishna in Delhi and Singha Durbar had become Kamsa in Devpatan. And a Kurukshetra battle was going to be waged soon, here, in front of my nose.
Minutes stretched into hours. Then there was a commotion. People squirmed and panted. A caravan of 5 cars and jeeps gurgled in and stopped at the tip of the access road near Dakshinamoorty temple at about 4PM. Among the people who alighted were five or six men in Bhikshu robes twirling a chain of chestnut brown beads. A man darkish and thickset was leading the small pack. He looked different from the others in feature, in body language, and in the fire in his eyes. He must be Ambedkar, for sure, I thought. The others looked like grown up lambs.
The crowds outside the gate raised slogans. The assembly inside the gate hollered Hara Hara Mahadev, Pashupati Nath ki Jay, Bhole Baba ki Jay, Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah. Words I was used to hearing. The yellow robed five moved forward slowly. Gen. Madhav Shamsher JBR muttered something. A man in grey tunic saluted the General, turned around on his heels and scurried towards the visitors. There he pointed to a line on the ground drawn by chalk. The line had escaped my notice until I saw him pointing at it. The visitors kept walking forward, albeit slowly. The man in grey ran back towards the General. The General whipped a command, raised the revolver, and cocked it. The emissary ran back to the invaders. They scrambled a few paces forward and stopped short of the Laxman Rekha. There they lingered. The leader of the pack turned toward his fellow Bhikhshus. They were already a few paces behind. ‘Gingerly’ is a word I experienced then but learnt much later. After an aeon, they turned back and turned their back towards Pashupatinath temple. After all, the battle between the ‘Army’ of Gen. Madhav and the Bhikshus ended in non-violence. However, the happy ending did not merit the cacophony that ensued once Ambedkar turned his back with dignity and grace.
Later that evening, some ungrateful zealot murmured, “Within the next four months Pashupatinath will punish the Sarki with Samhar for his blasphemy.” Dr. Ambedkar was already failing in health and passed away on 6 December, 1956. He was already ill while landing in Kathmandu airport.
The Rana-British autocracy ended in 1951. Under the Rana-British rule, between 1846 and 1951, access to education was confined to the higher castes and wealthier economic stratum of the population; the Ranas were opposed to giving education to the masses. In the early 1950s, the average literacy rate was 5 percent. Literacy among males was 10 percent, while female literacy was 1 percent. Only 1 child out of 100 children attended school.
General mass didn’t have access to newspapers then. They didn’t understand access to details about the contribution of Dr. Ambedkar in the region.
Large population of senior citizen of Nepal are uneducated because of the impact of under the Rana-British rule, between 1846 and 1951, banning access to education for general public.