Ambedkar-Philosophy of Hinduism

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AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM AND CONTEMPORARY CRITIQUES PROF. M. M. NINAN extension of the principle of the family. Both are governed by blood and heredity. Western scientists are busy trying to prove that heredity is an illusion and that milieu is everything. The... experience of many lands goes against the conclusions of these scientists; but even accepting their doctrine of milieu, it is easy to prove that milieu can be conserved and developed more through caste than through class.... As we all know, change comes very slowly in social life, and thus, as a matter of fact, caste has allowed new groupings to suit the changes in lives. But these changes are [as] quiet and easy as a change in the shape of the clouds. It is difficult to imagine a better harmonious human adjustment. Caste does not connote superiority or inferiority. It simply recognizes different outlooks and corresponding modes of life. But it is no use denying the fact that a sort of hierarchy has been evolved in the caste system, but it cannot be called the creation of the Brahmins. When all castes accept a common [religiously determined] goal of life, a hierarchy is inevitable, because all castes cannot realize the ideal in equal degree.4 [Citation 3] 1921: “I believe that if Hindu society has been able to stand, it is because it is founded on the caste system.... A community which can create the caste system must be said to possess unique power of organization.... “To destroy the caste system and adopt the Western European social system means that Hindus must give up the principle of hereditary occupation which is the soul of the caste system.... [The] hereditary principle is an eternal principle. To change it is to create disorder.... It will be a chaos if every day a Brahmin is to be changed into a Shudra [a member of a caste in the lowest varna] and a Shudra is to be changed into a Brahmin. The caste system is a natural order of society.... I am opposed to all those who are out to destroy the caste system.”5 [Citation 4] 1926: In accepting the fourfold division I am simply accepting the laws of Nature, taking for granted what is inherent in human nature and the law of heredity.... It is not possible in one birth entirely to undo the results of our past doings.6 In the mid-1920s he began to downplay the idea (set out at the end of Citation 2) that “a hierarchy is inevitable.” He would now say that no one should have a superior status merely by virtue of the caste he was born into: [Citation 5] 1925: For me there is no question of superiority or inferiority. A Brahmin who regards himself as a superior being born to look down upon the other castes is not a Brahmin. If he is first [in status] he is so by right of [spiritual] service.7 —and that performers of any and all good services all deserved the same status: [Citation 6] 1927: In [my] conception of the law of varna, no one is superior to any other.... A scavenger [e.g. a rubbish-collector or a latrine- or street-sweeper] has the same status as a Brahmin.8 [Citation 8] 1925: I have indeed said that varna is based on birth.... He who performs the duty of [for instance] a Brahmin will easily become one in the next incarnation. But a translation from one varna to 161
AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM AND CONTEMPORARY CRITIQUES PROF. M. M. NINAN another in the present incarnation must result in a great deal of fraud. The natural consequence must be the obliteration of varna. I have seen no reason to justify its destruction [Citation 9] 1925: There is no harm if a person belonging to one varna acquires the knowledge or science and art specialized in by persons belonging to other varnas. But as far as the way of earning his living is concerned, he must follow the occupation of the varna to which he belongs, which means he must follow the hereditary profession of his forefathers. The object of the varna system is to prevent competition and class struggle and class war. I believe in the varna system because it fixes the duties and occupations of persons.... Varna means the determination of a man’s occupation before he is born.... In the varna system no man has any liberty to choose his occupation.12 1930s 1b. Gandhi met Ambedkar during this period. The first meeting with Ambedkar, in Bombay in 1931, did not end cordially [Citation 10] 1931: I do not believe in caste in the modern sense. It is an excrescence and a handicap on progress. Nor do I believe in inequalities between human beings. We are all absolutely equal. But equality is of souls and not bodies.... We have to realize equality in the midst of this apparent inequality. Assumption of superiority by any person over any other is a sin against God and man. Thus caste, in so far as it connotes distinctions in status, is an evil. Citation 11] 1932: My own opinion is that the varna system has just now broken down. There is no true Brahmin or true Kshatriya or Vaishya. We are all Shudras, i.e. one varna. If this position is accepted, then the thing becomes easy. If this does not satisfy our vanity, then we are all Brahmins. Removal of Untouchability does mean root-andbranch destruction of the idea of superiority and inferiority. [Citation 12] 1933: Leave aside the talk of high and low. Suppose a carpenter gives up carpentry and takes up the work of cleaning lavatories. The Gita* would describe him as fallen from dharma [duty].... Similarly, if he tries to get instructed in the vedas [the most ancient Hindu scriptures], even then I would call him a carpenter who had fallen. We want to bring about harmony between dharma and karma.... But today the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra all want to become multi-millionaires. [Citation 13] 1932: Boys [between 9 and 16 years of age] should be taught their parents’ vocation in such a way that they will by their own choice obtain their livelihood by practicing the hereditary craft. This does not apply to the girls.... [From] 16 to 25..., every young person should have an education according to his or her wishes and circumstances.16 162
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M. M. NINAN
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AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM A
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sentiment. AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF
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ight and good. AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPH
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Page 117 and 118: AMBEDKAR'S PHILOSOPHY OF HINDUISM A
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Historical criticism AMBEDKAR'S PHI
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Caste and economics AMBEDKAR'S PHIL
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Prof. Madathilparampil Mammen Ninan
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Apostle Paul Architect and Builder
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