Jagan Bi Patel, a home-maker who had played host to B.R. Ambedkar during his visit to the district in 1927, died in Karoshi village in Belagavi district on Tuesday. She was a little over 108 and died of natural causes, her family sources said.
Jagan Bi, also called Munni Bai, had served food to Dr. Ambedkar at her native village of Aurwad in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra. As a 15-yearold girl, she had done her household chores and served tea and lunch to the national leader. The eminent lawyer had stayed in her parent’s house for a week, as he was fighting a civil case for her father. Dr. Ambedkar represented Mohammad Patel, Munni’s father, who had a long standing property dispute with members of the Dixit family in Narasimhawadi village near Chikkodi.
Munni settled in Karoshi after her marriage to a farmer in 1930. She used to relate stories of ‘Babasaheb’s visit to her paternal house and how he saved her father’s land by winning cases in Chikkodi and Mumbai in the 20s. She spoke of how her father and Dr. Ambedkar would sometimes walk to the court in Chikkodi. Her favourite episode was the incident when Dr. Ambedkar went to Nippani riding a horse.
She had become some sort of celebrity in Chikkodi after Kanshi Ram met her during a visit to Belagavi district in 1995. “She told Kanshi Ram that Dr A mbedkar fondly called her Munni,” said Rajeev Kamble, BSP leader from Chikkodi who was present during the meeting.
Her husband had died 30 years ago and she lived in Karoshi where her sons tilled land and sold farm produce. She spent her last years reciting and reading the Quran among women’s groups. She spoke Marathi and Urdu and entertained the village children by telling them stories.
Her final rites were conducted in Karoshi village on Wednesday.