By Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had been invited to deliver a speech at the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal’s (Society for the Break Up of Caste system) annual conference in the year of the 1936. Jat-Pat Todak Mandal was a Hindu anti-caste system group based in Lahore. It was moderate in its approach towards the evils of the caste system and were more concerned with activities such as mixed-caste dining. They hoped that such activities would eventually lead to inter-caste marriages. They hoped that people belonging to the lower castes would remain in the Hindu religion. Jat-Pat Todak Mandal believed that a fair reinterpretation of the Hindu texts would achieve that feat. They were attracted to, and could not look past the best version of their religion and were continually striving towards that without really sensing and understanding the core elements behind the persistent problems and issues.
“The Annihilation of Caste” was written as a speech in the form of an essay for this very event. For the purpose of printing and distribution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had sent the speech to the organisers of the conference. The organisers of the conference believed that the certain parts of the speech were unacceptable as it criticized the orthodox sect of the Hindu religion and went against the grain of the majority Brahmanical interests. They even conferred that the speech would prevent people from converting to Hinduism. As a result, they asked Dr. B. R. Ambedkar to do away with certain sections of the speech. He refused to change a single word. The conference was eventually cancelled as it was feared that the orthodox Hindu sect would cause havoc and violence at the event despite the withdrawal of Ambedkar’s invitation.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar subsequently printed 1500 copies of the speech with his own money on the 15th of May, 1936.
The book is of a critical nature and does not primarily focus on the sufferings, disparities, etc. that is suffered by the lower castes at the hands of the caste system. Instead, Dr. Ambedkar chose to vividly describe “how” people belonging to the lower castes were deprived of their basic human rights and subjugated into doing just physical forms of labour. Such disparities not only resulted in physical and mental slavery but also economic slavery. Subjected castes were set back generations in the context of social mobility and were and continue to be victims of social oppression.
It was Dr. Ambedkar’s belief that the ancient Hindu Dharmasashtras had legitimised the ill-treatment of various castes on the back of the caste system. He even went on to publicly burn a copy of the “Manusmriti”, an ancient Hindu text that openly brutalised the Shudras. This text posed a great barrier to any attempt at doing away with the caste system because it had been influencing the social environment and psyche across centuries. He did this during the historic Mahad Satyagraha in 1927, to secure the rights of “untouchables” to drink water from the Chawdar tank in Maharashtra.
Dr. Ambedkar makes the argument that social reform is necessary to achieve the desired political reform in the country. He states how the advocates for political reform gradually and eventually played an active role in the disintegration of the social conference. Mr. W.C. Bonnerji put a symbolic end to the debate of social and political reform and why social reform was not as necessary as political reform. However, Dr. Ambedkar makes the argument that Mr. Bonnerji’s speech did not necessarily mean that social reform had no effects on political reforms. He describes the plight of the “untouchables” during the Peshwa reign. He states how they were not allowed to use the same street as a Hindu. They had to have a physical marker in the form of a black thread that ensured that Hindus don’t come into contact with them. The “untouchables” in modern-day Pune had to tie an earther pot to their neck so that they would not pollute the earth with their spit.
He goes on to mention the mistreatment of the Balais at the hands of the Hindus. They were not even allowed to dress according to will. The Balais were prevented from drawing water from the village well and were also not allowed to let their herd of cattle graze. Dr. Ambedkar then asks the question, if the Hindu community cannot let their own countrymen enjoy the basic rights and benefits that they themselves enjoy, how could they be qualified enough to spearhead the political reform in the country.
Through the speech, Dr. Ambedkar highlights the importance of social reform to make desired headway in the fields of political and economic reform. He explains how the caste system serves as a division of labour but also serves to establish a division of labourers. This division was based not on ability and aptitude but instead on the social position of their predecessors in their lineage. The difference between the two is that while the former is voluntary and rewarded ability the latter, is forced and increases inefficiency on top of being unfair and hostile. In the process of enforcing the caste system the upper castes have made upper social mobility impossible by ensuring the hereditary transfer of labour and erasing any small chance of education and bearing arms. This prevented the “untouchables” from exercising any freedom of choice in the choosing of their occupation.
Socialists at the time wanted to use economic policies that had been relevantly successful in Europe, in India as well. They believed that economic reform could be the vital catalyst to jump start social and political reform. Economic reform superseded political and social reform in the opinion of the socialists. But Ambedkar argued that man is motivated by more than just economic power. Social position of an individual heavily influenced the resources that would be available to them. He gives an example of “sadhus” and “fakirs” and how they influenced the behaviour of millionaires. According to him, religion is the source of true power in India, and its history is a testament to that fact. The influence a priest had over the common population was greater than that of a government official.
Dr. Ambedkar did not reject socialism, but he did not believe that society could come together in the hope of bringing about a social revolution to bring about economic reform. He firmly believed that the notion of equality in the Hindu society was a farce and that there is no rationality and only repercussions for its dissent. Socialists had to address the elephant in the room; which was social reform. In the words of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar himself, “…., Caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.”
The preservation and continuation of the “pure bloods” was brought up as a defence of the caste system. However, it had been scientifically and categorically proven by men of science that such a thing as “pure bloods” did not exist. There had been an intermingling of all races at some point in the history of all human civilisation. Ambedkar termed this division as a complete “perversion of facts”. Instead, the caste system was a division, not of races but a social stratification of the same people in the context of blood and race. For those advocating for the caste system being a division of races, how could the division of sub-castes mean different races. The caste system had no scientific or logical backing. Put simply, it was a system of control devised by those controlling the seats of power.
In Annihilation of Caste, Dr. Ambedkar does not look at the caste system issue from an angle of charity, but instead chooses to engage a debate between the concepts of morality and rationality with respect to the caste issue. He argues that the Hindu society is only a mere collection of different castes. If that hadn’t been the case, there would have been a uniform cultural code that was followed across the Hindu community. But that is not the case and supporting such a claim would be just plain wrong. In a sense, the prevalence of such beliefs is what has prevented the unification of the Hindu society in terms of the bigger picture. He states the presence of the caste system prevented solidarity by keeping alive the memories of past feuds between castes.
Annihilation of caste forces people to recognise the systemic inequalities that have been deeply ingrained within the caste system. A movement of anti-caste social control was necessary. Dr. Ambedkar was also of the opinion that the ancient Hindu scriptures were just social laws and regulations that were disguised in the form of religion. He called for the destruction of such laws and hoped that people were prepared to rise against obsolete traditions and lay a second foundation to the Hindu society by annihilating the caste system. Unlike Gandhi, he did not believe that several problems pertaining to the caste system would be solved by merely getting rid of the stigma around untouchability.
He also wrote that the caste system had prevented Hinduism from being a missionary religion. Ambedkar states that beliefs and customs were not the issue but the caste system was as it wouldn’t be possible to determine the caste of a person that has recently converted. This is the case because according to the scriptures a persons’ caste was decided by birth, hence outrightly ruling out the scope for Hinduism having a missionary wing.
Ambedkar thought that there would be no traces of Hinduism left if one was to get rid of all the laws and scriptures that propagated a caste system that was based on the exploitation and subjugation of the “untouchables”. However, he also stated that putting an end to such atrocious laws did not mean the necessary end for Hinduism and instead could survive if it prioritised morality over traditional principles. He supported the belief that the religion should focus on the prevalence of morality and reasoned criticism (Kant, 1793).
Dr. Ambedkar portrayed the evils of the caste system through perspective of the Dalits. According to him, it was the caste system that aided in erasing the impact of ethics and morality within the community. “The Annihilation of Caste” reached its objective of reaching the conscious minds of those that belonged to the privileged classes of society. It is the issues of caste that been holding back the community and prevent real progress. The caste element has been a barrier to social inclusion and the forming of a truly national society. Ambedkar believed in a society that propagated true equality and liberty amongst all levels in society.
The caste system remains central to many elements of modern-day India. However, Dr. Ambedkar was able to pave a path for those people that dealt with issues surrounding the caste system. He helped people identify with the ideals of a just democracy, i.e., liberty, equality and fraternity. His works such as “the annihilation of caste” has helped in raising the level of caste consciousness and also aided in the political mobilization of problems with the caste system. His belief that the abolition of the caste system would help make India a more unified and strong nation still rings true after almost 85 years.
