This month, PARI’s Grindmill Songs Project has featured couplets on Babasaheb Ambedkar and caste issues to mark Dr. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on April 14. In the last of this batch, Radhabai Borhade of Savargaon sings 10 ovi on Phule, Buddha, education, unity, self-respect, and the message given by Bhimrao
Radhabai Borhade of Savargaon in Beed district sang the first five grindmill songs that were featured on PARI on April 5, 2017. These were part of a series of ovi throughout this month dedicated to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar on the occasion of his birth anniversary on April 14.
Those five songs were dedicated to Buddha, Bhimrao, dhamma , sangha and Ramabai Ambedkar (Babasaheb’s first wife).
This last instalment of the series features 10 couplets by Radhabai in the lead with her strong voice, while others join in.
In the first ovi , Radhabai sings her sixth dedication to Jyotiba (Phule), social reformer, writer, thinker, whose critical work on many fronts included his opposition to the caste system.
In the second verse, she sings the seventh dedication to the Buddhist flag of five colours (that represents Buddhism throughout the world) – the flag speaks of Buddhism to seven crore people (This is a reference to the around 70 million Dalits in India at the time, to whom Babasaheb introduced Buddhism as a way to reject caste-based oppression).
In the third song, Radhabai ardently urges everyone to walk forward on the path of emancipation and to never give up education even when confronted with poverty. In the fourth couplet, the singer tells people to give up fighting and prevent the breaking up of their united group, and to remember the teachings of the Buddha. In the fifth verse, she reminds us that Babasaheb has brought Buddhism to the people and we must follow the principles of the faith.
