Sociologists’ attempts to classify Dalit movements have led them to believe that they belong to all the types, namely reformative, redemptive, and revolutionary. The anti-caste movement, which began in the 19th century under the inspiration of Jotiba Phule and was carried out in the 1920s by the non-Brahmin movements in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, later developed under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar, showcased characteristics of all these types. At its best, the movement was revolutionary in terms of society and redemptive in terms of individuals. In the partial context, the ‘post-Ambedkar Dalit movement’ continued to exhibit a revolutionary practice. It provided alternative ways of living, ranging from changes in behavior such as giving up eating beef to religious conversion. It focused on changes in the entire society, from the radical revolutionary goal of abolishing caste oppression and economic exploitation to the limited goals of providing scope for members of Scheduled Castes to achieve social mobility. However, on the whole, this movement has been a reformist movement. It mobilized along caste lines but only made half-hearted efforts to destroy caste. It attempted and achieved some real, though limited, societal changes with gains especially for the educated sections among Dalits. However, it failed to transform society sufficiently to raise the general mass from what remains among the most excruciating poverty in the world.