Published in 1936, ‘The Annihilation of caste’ is a scathing attack on the evil roots of caste system in India by Dr. Ambedkar. More than 80 years have passed since Dr. Ambedkar originally intended to deliver this speech, we got independence and 14 different prime ministers have run their governments. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. The caste system strengthened it’s roots by conquering political system. The entire architecture of Hindu society hinges on caste system. This book still rings as true as it was back then.
Damn, I should have read Dr. Ambedkar before. Why did everyone hide this little gem from me? Why wasn’t I introduced to this book in school? This is a prolific work, nothing short of a genius from the great man. Dr. Ambedkar is so precise in his words, his constructive criticism is very difficult to argue against. None other than the Mahatma tried to reply Dr. Ambedkar. If you read the reply of Ambedkar to Gandhi’s criticism, you would understand how shallow Gandhi’s arguments were.
The core theme of this book revolves around why Dr. Ambedkar thinks it is necessary to eradicate caste system once for all. You could become a doctor, an engineer or a person with renowned credentials in India, but people (even well-educated ones) will always look at your caste that you inherited by birth on which you had no choice. This discrimination is very difficult to understand for an outsider but it is carefully embedded into the fabric of society. Dr. Ambedkar argues that if Hinduism actively tried to eradicate these caste based prejudices and stigmas, the society would have been better. But, it didn’t. In fact, it did the opposite. Religion and caste with all it’s prejudices intertwined together that created a monster of discrimination and suppression.
I truly hope more people read the ideas of Dr. Ambedkar. His thoughts on societies, morals and religion go beyond Hinduism. Excellent read, goes into a list of highly recommend books.
Leave a Reply