Take a photo of a barcode or cover
asvajit 's review for:
Annihilation of Caste
by B.R. Ambedkar
This is the text of a talk that was never given. It was not given because when the proposed text was presented to the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal, a Hindu reformist organization the governing members of whom had invited the already-prominent Lawyer-politician Ambedkar to address them, it was rejected, no doubt because it advocated the complete dismantling and annihilation of the caste system. Inasmuch as the caste system is inextricably part and parcel of Hinduism, Ambedkar was in effect proposing the dismemberment of Hinduism itself. Those who detest the imposition of inequality and who champion equality of opportunity for all men and all women in all walks of life, regardless of the lineage of their descent will be deeply stirred and inspired by this outspoken, heartfelt cry for the pulverization of all that prevents and poisons liberty, equality and fraternity.
This book is as relevant today as when it was first published. Casteism is endemic in India, and is manifest in daily beatings, humiliations, rapes and murders. Those in doubt need only read the Indian newspapers and, increasingly, Western ones. The caste system allows high-caste Hindus such as Brahmins to lord it over their lower caste brethren, benefitting from what amounts to slave labour on a scale unimaginable and unparalleled in the West except perhaps by the Nazis towards the end of the World War II. The West is becoming increasingly familiar with casteism and its evils, and a book like Annihilation of Caste will serve for a long time to remind us of the need for the radical reform of Indian society and indeed, for all inhumanity that hides itself in the guise of 'religion'.
This book is as relevant today as when it was first published. Casteism is endemic in India, and is manifest in daily beatings, humiliations, rapes and murders. Those in doubt need only read the Indian newspapers and, increasingly, Western ones. The caste system allows high-caste Hindus such as Brahmins to lord it over their lower caste brethren, benefitting from what amounts to slave labour on a scale unimaginable and unparalleled in the West except perhaps by the Nazis towards the end of the World War II. The West is becoming increasingly familiar with casteism and its evils, and a book like Annihilation of Caste will serve for a long time to remind us of the need for the radical reform of Indian society and indeed, for all inhumanity that hides itself in the guise of 'religion'.