Take a photo of a barcode or cover
nishant_reads_nothing 's review for:
Annihilation of Caste
by B.R. Ambedkar
"For every act of independent thinking puts some portion of an apparently stable world in peril."
Dr. Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste is a must read, and is chock-full of independent thinking. Though "The Doctor and the Saint" is interesting and gives some historical context, I would suggest reading Ambedkar's text on its own merit. Ambedkar posits that social reform must precede any sort of political reform, which the Congress party at the time was aching to enact disregarding pressing social factors. His distinction between a religion formed out of principles, and one out of rules is insightful. He draws on forms of caste that have existed across historical periods and religions. He compares them to the caste system in Hinduism, and proceeds to skillfully dismantle its cruel fallacies.
His ultimate conclusions regarding the Hindu religion are powerful. The only way to annihilate caste would be to discard the authority of the scriptures that also propound caste. This would allow us to build a religion on principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Although the necessity of a religion to form a state (or to give some sort of a foundation to a state) is something I don't necessarily agree with, the way Ambedkar formulates his ideas is inspiring as he talks mostly of principles, rather than rules.
There are many ideas I did not cover in this review. Overall, this is a short but immense read, which I recommend everyone to go through at least once.