Born into a middle-class, Saraswat Brahmin family, Dr Sharada Kabir met and got to know Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar when he was a patient riddled with life-threatening diseases, and
eventually married him on 15 April 1948, getting rechristened as Savita Ambedkar. From the day of their wedding to the day of Dr Ambedkar's death, 6 December 1956, she aided him in some of his greatest achievements drafting the Constitution of India, framing the Hindu Code Bill, writing some of his most celebrated books, including The Buddha and His Dhamma, and leading millions of Dalits into Buddhism. Following his death, she was hounded into obscurity by some of Dr Ambedkar's followers, who saw her as a threat to their political ambitions. She re-emerged into public life in 1970 and got back to working on the mission to which her husband had devoted his life the welfare of the Dalit community. Her autobiography, Dr Ambedkaranchya Sahavaasaat, was first published in Marathi in 1990.
This English translation, by Nadeem Khan, unearths a valuable and forgotten account, an intimate portrait of one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. A tenacious fighter, an outstanding scholar and an iconic leader, Dr B.R. Ambedkar was all that and more. Savita Ambedkar brings to light a different side of her husband: a man who wrote romantic letters, dictated what she should wear, whipped up delicious mutton curry, played the violin and even tried his hand at sculpting. This is a book that humanizes Ambedkar as no other book has done yet.