Savita Ambedkar Jayanti: 10 things you must know about Dr. BR Ambedkar’s second wife

Dr. Savita Ambedkar, also known as “Maisaheb” or simply “Mai”, is the second wife of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution. A doctor by profession, she was also actively involved in social activism along with her husband, especially anti-discrimination and Dalit upliftment movements. Dr. Savita lived under the shadow of Dr. BR Ambedkar all her life.

Celebrating the legacy of Savita Ambedkar – 10 facts

1. Dr. Savita’s original name was Sharda Kabir. He was born in 1909 in a Marathi Brahmin family in Ratnagiri district. His father was the Registrar of the Indian Medical Council.
2. Savita Ambedkar received her early education in Pune. After this, around 1937, he did MBBS from Grant Medical College, Mumbai.
3. She worked as the chief medical officer in a hospital in Gujarat. After a brief tenure in this post, she moved to Mumbai. Dr BR Ambedkar, who suffered from diabetes and blood pressure, was his patient.
4. Over a period of a year after their meeting, the two exchanged about 40–50 letters. Both of them got married on April 15, 1948 in New Delhi. This was 13 years after the death of Ambedkar’s first wife Ramabai.
5. After marriage with Dr. Ambedkar, she changed her name to Savita Ambedkar.
6. In an unpublished preface to his last book, The Buddha and His Dhamma, Dr BR Ambedkar credited him with extending his life by 8 to 10 years.
7. Dr. Savita actively advocated the Dalit-Buddhist movement, spoke at many conferences and public events and contributed to the cause.
8. He played an important role in establishing the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Museum and Memorial of the Symbiosis Society in Pune.
9. He began donating Dr. BR Ambedkar’s belongings for the construction of the museum in 1982, 26 years after his death.
10. Until 2001, Dr. Savita visited the museum every year on the birth and death anniversaries of Dr. Ambedkar.