He further shows how this “this code of ordinances” are as “iniquitous” as they are “perpetual”. For, Ambedkar does not stop with his thesis but ends this speech by presenting an alternative way forward for Hindus.įirst he says that “what the Hindus call religion is really law, or at best legalized class-ethics”. But the beauty of ‘Annihilation… ’ is that – despite its name – it is actually a text of creation. Gandhi, in his response to ‘Annihilation… ’ in ‘Harijan’ (also published here below) calls Ambedkar “a challenge to Hinduism”. He quotes the smritis to demonstrate how they go against reason and so: “Can you appeal to reason, and ask the Hindus to discard Caste as being contrary to reason?” After stating that “the entire destiny of a country depends upon its intellectual class”, he points to how “the intellectual class in India is simply another name for the Brahmin caste” and how “the existence of the intellectual class” is “bound up with one single caste”.
It would not have struck the chord it did, and continues to do, if it were not founded on rationale.
What follows – Ambedkar’s searing indictment of Hinduism as it is practised – is not mere fire and brimstone. Then he posits that for this to actually happen “the belief in the sanctity of the shastras” will have to be destroyed. He leads up to this by saying it is not “inter-dining” but “inter-marriage” which can serve as a “real remedy for breaking caste”. Through all of this Ambedkar builds up to his thesis: “the real key to destroying caste is rejection of the shastras”. Or that castes exist among Muslims, Sikhs and Christians as well (in refuting this, and in distinguishing the existence of castes in other religions with the way it does in Hinduism, Ambedkar also defines an “ideal society” and how “groups” within it may function). That the ‘higher’ varnas would support the ‘lower’ varnas (a system which, as Babasaheb puts it, “is neither fool-proof nor knave-proof”). Then he takes on arguments routinely put forward by defenders of caste and the varna system. In doing so, he likens this concept to the “Platonic ideal”, deconstructing and dismantling ideas from Plato’s ‘Republic’ as well. He begins by addressing and demolishing the Arya Samajists’ ‘Chaturvarnya’, a conception of a varna system based on “worth” instead of “birth”. Here is the second, most crucial part of the text, where Ambedkar actually gets into how caste can be annihilated. We recently carried the first part of ‘Annihilation of Caste’, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s groundbreaking speech – that was “prepared… but not delivered” – and which continues to raise the most fundamental questions for today’s Indians to resolve.