>SdkbBot at 02:11, 5 January 2022

2022-01-05T02:11:50Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Mangu Ram Mugowalia
|image =
|caption =
|office = [[Punjab Legislative Assembly|Member of Punjab Legislative Assembly]]
|primeminister =
|alongside =
|term_start = 21 March 1946
|term_end = 4 July 1947
|predecessor =
|successor =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1886|1|14|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Muggowal]], [[Hoshiarpur]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], [[British India]] (now [[India]])
|death_date = {{death date and age|1980|4|22|1886|1|14|df=y}}
|death_place =
|party = [[Unionist Party (Punjab)]] (1946–1947)
|otherparty = [[Ghadar Party]] (Before 1946)
|spouse =
|children =
|alma_mater =
}}

'''Mangu Ram''' (14 January 1886 – 22 April 1980), known popularly as '''Babu Mangu Ram Chaudhry''', was an Indian [[Indian Independence Movement|freedom fighter]], a politician from [[Punjab]] and one of the founder members of the [[Ghadar Party]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mulnivasiorganiser.bamcef.org/?p=331|title=Remembering Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia}}</ref>

In 1909, he immigrated to the [[United States]] and there became associated with the Ghadar Party. Upon his return to India in 1925, he became a leader of the low-[[Caste in India|caste]] people, organising them in opposition to the system of [[untouchability]] that oppressed them.<ref name="ram">{{cite journal |title=Untouchability in India with a Difference: Ad Dharm, Dalit Assertion, and Caste Conflicts in Punjab |first=Ronki |last=Ram |journal=Asian Survey |volume=44 |issue=6 |date=2004 |pages=895–912 |doi=10.1525/as.2004.44.6.895 |jstor=10.1525/as.2004.44.6.895 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Manguram Muggowal, a former Ghadar Party member, later joined the Dalit [the proper term for so-called untouchables] emancipation movement. | website=Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly | date=26 July 2013 | url=https://www.straight.com/news/404576/gurpreet-singh-bujha-singhs-sacrifice-proves-ghadar-struggle-didnt-end-indian-independence | accessdate=7 October 2015}}</ref> He was instrumental in the foundation of the [[Ad-Dharmi|Ad-Dharmi Movement]], an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for [[Dalit|Untouchables]]. He was elected to the [[Punjab Legislative Assembly]] in 1946 and in 1972 received recognition in the form of a pension and an award from [[Indira Gandhi]] for his work towards [[Independence of India|Indian independence]].<ref name="ram"/>

== Personal life ==
Mugowalia was born to Harman Dass and Atri in a [[Chamar]] family of [[Muggowal]] village, [[Hoshiarpur district]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], [[British India]].{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} His father Harman Dass left the traditional Chamar Caste occupation of Leathercraft. His mother Atri died when he was three. Harman Dass faced discrimination at every step of his life thus did not want his son to face the same problems and enrolled him in school for early education.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

==Education==
Initially Mangu Ram was taught by a village saint (Sadhu) till the age of seven. He attended schools in Mugowal area and [[Dehradun]]. In most of the schools Mangu ram was the only Dalit Student. He was forced to sit in back of the classroom, or even in separate room, and had to listen through the open door.
When he attended high school in Bajwara, he was forced to stay outside the building and had to listen to the classes through the windows.
Once when he came inside during a heavy hailstorm, the Brahman teacher beat him and put all the classroom furniture, which he had "polluted" by his presence, outside in the rain to be literally and ritually washed clean. Nonetheless, Mangu Ram was a good student, he came third in his class in primary school. While the other students were encouraged to become patwaris (village record-keeper) or to seek higher education, Mangu Ram was encouraged to leave school and help his father at a more proper "Chamar task".<ref name="Education">{{cite web|title=14th January in Dalit History – B’day of Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia – Founder of Ad-Dharmi Movement|url=https://drambedkarbooks.com/2015/01/14/14th-january-in-dalit-history-bday-of-babu-mangu-ram-mugowalia-founder-of-ad-dharmi-movement/|website=Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's Caravan|accessdate=20 May 2017|date=14 January 2015}}</ref>

==Ad-Dharmi movement==

<ref name="Ad Dharm Movement">{{cite web|title=Welcome to ambedkartimes.com|url=http://www.ambedkartimes.com/the_ad_dharam.htm|website=www.ambedkartimes.com|accessdate=20 May 2017}}</ref> In 1925, after returning from US, Babu Mangoo Ram started teaching in a primary school in his home village of Mugowal, A school which he named Ad Dharm School. It was the same school where Babu Mangu Ram first convened the meeting that formally launched the Ad Dharam Movement. The establishment of movement was to raise their voice against the society which put Dalits at bottom of the social structure. It was the glorious step by Dalits to attain the equality in caste laden society.
Through the Ad dharm Movement, babu Mangu Ram pioneered Dalit movement in North India.

He succeeded remarkably well in creating awareness and awakening among the people. His path was beset with difficulties, and he had to work against the odds and trying circumstances. The message brought by Babu Mangu Ram was new and inspiring. It was aimed at awakening the untouchables. The message called upon them to know and realize themselves as they had forgotten their true selves due to hostile influences in which they had been living for decades . It caught imagination and hearts of downtrodden people, soon Babu Mangu Ram became household name.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pawar|first1=Ishwar Das|title=My Struggle in Life|date=2015|publisher=Page Publishing Inc|location=New York|isbn=9781682131565|pages=250|edition=3rd}}</ref>

==Death==
Mangu Ram died on 22 April 1980.<ref name="ram"/>

==See also==
*[[Giani Ditt Singh]] (Sant Ditta Ram)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mugowalia, Mangu Ram}}
[[Category:1886 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Dalit leaders]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Punjab (British India)]]
[[Category:People from Hoshiarpur district]]

Mangu Ram Mugowalia - Revision history

>SdkbBot at 02:11, 5 January 2022