Retired academic Govardhan Wankhede was seven years old when he witnessed an Ambedkarite Buddhist wedding in the family. Only a year earlier, on October 14, 1956, Wankhede’s relatives had been welcomed, along with lakhs of others, into the Buddhist fold by Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Wankhede, who originally hails from the village of Karala in the Amravati district of Maharashtra, vividly remembers the weeks following the mass conversion that took place in Nagpur.

Dr Ambedkar had advised the new converts to give up their traditional occupations and impressed upon them the importance of receiving an education. Samata Sainik Dal, a social organisation formed by Dr Ambedkar, was tasked with ensuring that people followed the instructions. But many didn’t need convincing. The Mahars, who did low manual work, including disposing of dead animals, and comprised a significant number of the converted population, took his advice to heart. “Overnight, we saw a revolution,” recalls Navi Mumbai-based Wankhede, a former professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. “People simply refused to do traditional work.” The revolt didn’t go down well with the upper caste.