Ambedkar Jayanti: Why Annihilation of Caste is a must read for Hindus even now
The book holds a mirror to the Hindu society.
Born a Dalit, formerly classified as 'untouchable' and placed at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste stratification, Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar suffered discrimination throughout his life. After returning to India in 1936, the civil rights leader, often recognised as the architect of the Indian Constitution, in his most scholarly yet neglected political writing Annihilation of Caste denounced Hinduism and its caste system.
Originally conceived as a speech for Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal, an organisation of caste Hindu social reformers, it was later published by Ambedkar himself, for the organisation refused to allow him to give his speech in the original form.
Annihilation of Caste is an account of the belief that social reform has to take precedence over political and religious reform, providing instances of the tyranny practised by upper-caste Hindus on the untouchable community of India.
Talking about social reform, Ambedkar highlights the need to reconstruct the Hindu society, break the caste system, and urges Hindus to admit that one caste is not fit to rule another caste.
In this influential address, Ambedkar calls out the fallacy of socialists. He doesn't reject socialism, but believes that the proletariat of India can never unite to bring about a socialist revolution and welcome economic reform. On no front will they unite as the feeling of equality, fraternity and justice can never be achieved till the time caste system prevails.
Speaking about freedom, he says the division of labour is not a division based on choice, and by not permitting the readjustment of occupations, caste becomes a monster, causing unemployment. The talk of equality stands as a fiction in Hindu society where there is no morality and rationality and excommunication is the punishment for dissent.
The book argues that Hindus do not possess consciousness of kind, rather they only possess consciousness of caste and hence the history of Hinduism has been the history of defeat and darkness. No amount of sense of duty has enabled a Hindu to overcome his duty of preserving caste, which has resulted into justification of the savage state of aborigines.
Ambedkar also states that Hindus are least worthy of respect among all religions as the Brahmins endeavoured to keep the entire race in darkness. Hindus who take pride in not being a missionary religion have to realise that Hinduism is just a collection of castes, and to find a place for the convert in Hindu social life is a huge problem. Where to place the convert, in what caste?
Calling Chaturvarna absurd, Ambedkar says that Varna system, which has been made to safeguard people, curbs the paramount requirements of self-preservation by denying a shudra physical (freedom of military), political (against suffering) and moral (education) rights. The shudras are ill-treated by tryavarnas (brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas). The Hindus who defend the caste system saying it exists in all religions, need to know that in Hinduism, each caste has a religious sanction rather than just be a social construct.
And alienating people of other castes is considered Dharma (evidenced with scriptures).
What did Ambedkar offer as solutions to abolish the caste system?
He offered two:
1) Inter-caste marriages
2) Destruction of religious scriptures.
Ambedkar believed that Hindus against inter-caste marriages, with the aim to protect the purity and sacredness of their blood, in reality oppose it because they fear that they might lose their social and political power over people of the other castes graded below them.
He said the shastras, including Vedas and Puranas, which promote social injustice, should be destroyed. He criticised scriptures which clearly state that in any situation, the rules laid out by them have to be followed, even if the act is immoral and evil.
Mahatma Gandhi, appreciating this address in his newspaper Harijan, said that Ambedkar picked out the texts of doubtful authenticity and chose the worst specimen to judge Hinduism rather than the best. Ambedkar rebutted Gandhi, saying the role of the worst specimen including the shastras as divine authority cannot be discarded. He wrote that Gandhi neglected the object of his thesis and is afraid that if he opposed caste system, he will lose his place in politics.
Ambedkar substantially pointed out that a Hindu's loyalty is restricted only to his caste. Virtue and morality is caste-ridden, with no sympathy for the deserving or appreciation of the meritorious.
In the present socio-political context, there have been incidents where appreciation exists for those who precede the deserving and meritorious, privileged because of their lower gradation in the caste system.
Ironically, Ambedkar makes it confusing when he says that law should be enforced against every one transgressing his varna. Here he asks people to disassociate varna from caste, but gives no conformity of the liberty to choose one's profession.
The pamphlet is an impactful reminiscence as Indian electoral processes have often used society's deep-rooted caste and power dynamics to capitalise vote banks.
The approach of the book is a ‘direct address to the readers’ as the text was originally a speech. The book provides an insight into the excerpts of world history, scientific reasoning and abundant quoting of religious scriptures.
Every Indian must read this book as it is not just thought-provoking, but also an undaunted attempt at holding the mirror to the Hindu society.