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A review by thepavand
Riddles in Hinduism by B.R. Ambedkar, Kancha Ilaiah
3.0
The only works more retconned than Star Wars by Lucas are the sacred books of Hinduism. Thousands of generations of Brahmins have manipulated and modified, many cynically and some with noble intentions, the Vedas, smritis, shrutis, sutras, puranas, epics, brahmanas, etc. that it is difficult to invoke even one value as something Hinduism stands for without a contradiction evoked somewhere in all those books. Thence the riddles.
There's all kinds of weird stuff in there but Dr. Ambedkar's riddles are only those that were/are relevant to (then) contemporary Indian society. To be sure, the riddles as a work was unfinished and uncompiled by the time of his death. They were edited and published by the BAWS committee and now, in the edition I've read, a selected few were recompiled, edited and released with annotations.
The riddles were selected probably for their importance to counter the current Hindutva narrative in India. They all challenge some of the most deeply held beliefs of Hindus, although some more successfully than others. The first riddle included is the one of the difficulty in knowing whether one is Hindu or not- the concept of Hinduism is so nebulous that anywhere from 10% to 85% of Indian citizens are Hindus, based on your definition. Further riddles question the institutions of ahimsa, varnashrama, the yugas, and Rama and Krishna, from religious, social, and political perspectives. The specific riddles on varnashrama are most informatory while the ones on Rama and Krishna seem incomplete and inaccurate in places.
Navayana's annotations in the book, like their counterparts in Navayana's Annihilation of Caste, are often not useful. The first problem is that they are too numerous. They ruin the flow. No text needs annotations in every page, especially that of a writer as lucid as Dr. Ambedkar. Secondly, they are sometimes redundant or unnecessary. If Dr. Ambedkar quotes some Indophile author, I don't need to know the biography of that author and the origin of his interest in Vedas. I would Google if I felt the need to check them out.
Dr. Ambedkar's writing is as incisive and precise as in his other works and I wish he were able to finish all the riddles and compile them into a cogent and complete work. Buy partly due to fate and partly due to supreme negligence and barbarity of Indian government, we only have a partial work. Even then it is extremely informative and important and is worth more without Navayana's annotations.
There's all kinds of weird stuff in there but Dr. Ambedkar's riddles are only those that were/are relevant to (then) contemporary Indian society. To be sure, the riddles as a work was unfinished and uncompiled by the time of his death. They were edited and published by the BAWS committee and now, in the edition I've read, a selected few were recompiled, edited and released with annotations.
The riddles were selected probably for their importance to counter the current Hindutva narrative in India. They all challenge some of the most deeply held beliefs of Hindus, although some more successfully than others. The first riddle included is the one of the difficulty in knowing whether one is Hindu or not- the concept of Hinduism is so nebulous that anywhere from 10% to 85% of Indian citizens are Hindus, based on your definition. Further riddles question the institutions of ahimsa, varnashrama, the yugas, and Rama and Krishna, from religious, social, and political perspectives. The specific riddles on varnashrama are most informatory while the ones on Rama and Krishna seem incomplete and inaccurate in places.
Navayana's annotations in the book, like their counterparts in Navayana's Annihilation of Caste, are often not useful. The first problem is that they are too numerous. They ruin the flow. No text needs annotations in every page, especially that of a writer as lucid as Dr. Ambedkar. Secondly, they are sometimes redundant or unnecessary. If Dr. Ambedkar quotes some Indophile author, I don't need to know the biography of that author and the origin of his interest in Vedas. I would Google if I felt the need to check them out.
Dr. Ambedkar's writing is as incisive and precise as in his other works and I wish he were able to finish all the riddles and compile them into a cogent and complete work. Buy partly due to fate and partly due to supreme negligence and barbarity of Indian government, we only have a partial work. Even then it is extremely informative and important and is worth more without Navayana's annotations.