For An Informed Ambedkar Age
(This reply was included as Appendix II in the second edition of Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar‘s ‘Annihilation of Caste’) I appreciate greatly the honour done me by the Mahatma in taking notice in his Harijan of the speech on Caste which I had prepared for the Jat Pat Todak Mandal. From a perusal …
(From ‘Religious Riddles’ in Part I of the book ‘Riddles in Hinduism’ by Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar) There is hardly any Hindu who does not regard the Vedas as the most sacred Book of his religion. And yet ask any Hindu what is the origin of the Vedas and it would be difficult …
(From ‘Religious Riddles‘ in Part I of the book ‘Riddles in Hinduism‘ by Babasaheb Dr. B. R. Ambedkar) India is a congeries of communities. There are in it Parsis, Christians, Mohammedans and Hindus. The basis of these communities is not racial. It is of course religious. This is a superficial view. What is interesting to …
Speech delivered by Dr. Ambedkar to the Bombay Presidency Mahar Conference, 31st May 1936, Bombay. Translated from the Marathi by Vasant W. Moon. The typescript of the translation, with handwritten emendations, was presented by the translator to Eleanor Zelliot on 25 January 1988, and has been contributed by her for this website. Edited by Frances W. …
Transcribed by: Prakash Holayar, Chamarajanagar Dr Ambedkar was extensively interviewed by the BBC radio in New Delhi in 1955 on a range of topics including his memories of Gandhi, Round Table Conferences, Poona Pact and how political independence was obtained. A portion of the interview related to the famous Poona Pact, transcribed (as faithfully as …
(On 20th March, 1927, Babasaheb Ambedkar launched a Satyagraha at Mahad for the right to draw water from the Chawdar Tank. This excerpt from his ‘Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability’ describes the agitation) The movement of the Untouchables against the injustice of the Hindu Social Order has a long history behind it, especially in Maharashtra. …
“Hinduism is not a religion; it is a disease.” One of the few men who have risen from the malodorous sink which is below the lowest caste of India is Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, No. 1 Untouchable. This plump, cheery, bespectacled man of no caste, whose very shadow would outrage high-caste Hindus, managed to get …
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability: Social(Chapter V) THE CURSE OF CASTE As I have said in the first Essay there cannot be a caste in the single number. Caste can exist only in the plural number. Caste to be real can exist only by disintegrating a group. The genius of caste is to divide and …
Essays on Untouchables and Untouchability: Social(ChapterIV) TOUCHABLES V/S UNTOUCHABLES I A relationship of touchables against untouchables may cause surprize. Such a surprize will not be altogether without reason. The touchables are not one uniform body of people. They are themselves divided into innumerable castes. Each Hindu is conscious of the caste to which he …