Week 1- Pavitra Naidu


Annihilation of Caste

Ambedkar’s Annihilation of caste is one of the pioneering pieces of Dalit Movement. His stance on Hindutva and Chaturvarna and his blatant rejection of the Manusmriti resulted in shaking the foundation stone of Hinduism as a religion and exposing it as a structure that promotes suppression. Dr. Ambedkar focused his speech on giving illustrations of how the Dalits were deprived of education and freedom of occupation and how they were subjected to stigmatised manual labour, hence resulting in economic slavery, deprivation of basic rights and continuous social persecutions.

His description of the Hindu psyche that accepts Manusmriti as a divine law astounds most of us as we unfold what Manusmriti really is and view it as a text that dehumanises the Sudras and untouchables. He further explains how caste system destroys the concept of ethics and morality and how caste system killed public spirit and obliterated the sense of public charity in our society.

After, reading his speech and understanding his ideas on caste the idea of Inter-caste Marriage to end casteism doesn’t sound so radical. His idea is based on the premise of how women are treated in a predominantly hindu-society. By his submission of inter caste marriage he is directly targeting the ‘Brahminical Patriarchy’ which sustains itself through endogamous marriages. Such a system is ruthless to women for she is considered as gateways to a caste and hence has to be kept inside to prevent interactions with outer caste men. Hence, Dr Ambedkar’s ideals will not only annihilate caste but will also restore women of their freedom and dignity.

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