Babasaheb Ambedkar had two significant relationships in his life—first wife Ramabai, and second wife Dr. Savita Ambedkar.

Let’s begin with Ramabai. She and Ambedkar were married very young—he was 15, she was 9 (yeah, they had child marriage back then). But don’t get fooled by that age; their relationship was profound. She had a very poor upbringing and experienced most of her life in poverty. Babasaheb spent much of his time studying abroad, and when he was not there, she kept everything together—bringing up children, coping with bereavement (most of their children lost their lives in early years), and scraping through poverty. She never faltered in supporting him, even when they were staying in literally one-room chawls. He used to call her Rāmbai the soul of his strength. Tragically, she died in 1935, before she was able to see all that he went on to accomplish.

Later in life, in 1948, Ambedkar married again. His second wife was Dr. Savita Ambedkar (nee Sharada Kabir), an extremely well-educated woman—a doctor who assisted with caring for him when his health was failing. She was genuinely a badass herself. But she also received an awful lot of flak in the aftermath of his death. Some people criticized her for things, which was completely unjust, and it disrupted her reputation for a time. Eventually, most people (such as Ambedkarite movements) started acknowledging what she had done and respecting her properly.