Introduction
Annihilation of Caste, written in 1936 is undoubtedly the best book on Caste in India. It is written by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar after having been done his Doctorate on the same subject titled, Castes in India their Mechanisms Genesis and Development. Having read hundreds of texts on the evolution, progress, propagation of Caste there can be no a better person than Ambedkar to understand Caste.
Annihilation of Caste is a write up actually meant to be delivered as a speech at the conference of Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal, an organization of Hindu Social Reformers. The annual conference was to be held at Lahore (now Pakistan). But Ambedkar couldn't deliver the said speech as the organizers cancelled his invitation after finding the content of the 'speech write up' objectionable (the speech was sent to the organizers in advance for their reference). Ambedkar then thought to convert this speech write up as a book, which took the shape of Annihilation of Caste.
The content of the book is so important that it needs to be read by every Indian irrespective of his/her caste affiliation, only to understand the social fabric of India - problems and solutions. Now the purpose of me writing this blog is to bring the summary/bullet points of the content of the book for the people who are not used to reading books.
Note: Content mentioned in //...// is added only to set the context. Though the following is the extract of the book, enough care is taken that the flow is not disturbed and when it is read the reader should be able to understand it as a whole.
Social Reform versus Political Reform
Whether Social Reform should precede Political Reform
Social Reform in India has few friends and many critics
I will draw upon the treatment of the untouchables for my facts.
Under the rule of Peshwas in the Maratha country,
- the untouchable was not allowed to use the public streets if a Hindu was coming along lest he should pollute the Hindu by his shadow
- The untouchable was required to have a black thread either on his wrist or in his neck as a sign or a mark to prevent the Hindus from getting themselves polluted by his touch through mistake.
- In Poona, the capital of the Peshwa, the untouchable was required to carry, strung from his waist, a broom to sweep away from behind the dust he treaded on lest a Hindu walking on the same should be polluted.
- In Poona, the untouchable was required to carry an earthen pot, hung in his neck wherever he went, for holding his spit lest his spit falling on earth should pollute a Hindu who might unknowingly happen to tread on it
The tyranny practiced by the Hindus upon Balais, an untouchable community in central India, which you will find a report in Times of India, 4th January 1928. It reported that high caste Hindus, viz. Kalotas, Rajputs and Brahmins including the Patels and Patwaris of around 20 villages of Indore informed Balais that if they wished to live among them they must conform to the following rules,
- Balais must not wear gold-laced bordered purgees and dhotis with coloured fancy borders
- In all Hindu marriages, Balais must play music
- Balai women must not wear gold or silver ornaments, fancy gowns or jackets
- Balais must render services without demanding remuneration and must accept whatever a Hindu is pleased to give ( //we call this as Vetti Chakiri in Telugu//)
- If the Balais do not agree to abide by these terms they must clear out of all the villages
The Balais refused to comply as a result they were not allowed to get water, were not allowed to let go their cattle to graze, prohibited from passing though land owned by Hindu.
The Balais submitted petitions to the Darbar against these persecutions; but as they could get no timely relief, Balais with their wives and children were obliged to abandon their homes in which their ancestors lived for generations and to migrate to adjoining states.
Having stated the facts let me now ask,
Are you fit for Political power even though you do not allow a large class of your own countrymen like the untouchables to use public school, to use public wells, to use public streets, to wear what apparels or ornaments they like, to eat any food they like?
Congressmen who repeat the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class
It is necessary to make a distinction between social reform in the sense of the reform of the Hindu Family and Social reform in the sense of the reorganization and reconstruction of the Hindu Society. The former has relation to widow remarriage, child marriage, etc., while the latter relates to the abolition of the Caste System
History bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious revolutions
- The religious reformation started by Luther was the precursor of the political emancipation of the European people.
- In England, Puritanism led to the establishment of political liberty. Puritanism founded the new world. It was puritanism that won the war of American Independence and Puritanism was a religious movement.
- Arabs became a political power they had undergone a thorough religious revolution started by the Prophet Mohammad.
- The political revolution led by Chandragupta was preceded by the religious and social revolution of Budha.
- The political revolution led by Shivaji was preceded by the religious and social revolution brought about by the Saints of Maharashtra.
- The political revolution led by Sikhs was preceded by the religious and social revolution led by the Guru Nanak.
On Socialist ideology vis-à-vis the Social reform
//Is Economic Reform enough to have a Social Reform?//
That, religion is the source of power is illustrated by the history of India where the priest holds a sway over the common man often greater than the magistrate.
Religion, Social Status, and Property are all sources of power and authority, which one man has, to control the liberty of another.
I would like to ask Socialists this: Can you have economic reform without first bringing about a reform of the social order?
Turn any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cant have political reform, you cant have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.
Caste system or Varna system is not only the division of labour but also the division of laboureres. And to further, it is a hierarchy in which the division of labourers are graded one above the other
//(can be used in the argument of Merit)//
This division of labour is not spontaneous, its not based on natural aptitude.
Social and individual efficiency requires us to develop the capacity of an individual to the point of competency to choose and to make his own career. This principle is violated in the caste system. //The merit// is a selection not on the bases of trained original capacities, but on that of the social status of the parents.
//From the above view point, the search for an answer to the question of Merit was in vogue for hundreds of years. No one bothered, to their convenience, to answer//
The division of labour brought by the Caste System is not a division based on choice.
On Hindu Society
Hindu Society is a myth. The name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the mohmmedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves. It does not occur in any Sanskrit work prior to the mohammedan invasion.
Hindu Society is a collection of castes.
Each caste not only dines among itself and marries among itself but each caste prescribes its own distinctive dress.
In every Hindu the consciousness that exists is the consciousness of caste.
Caste is Anti-Social
The literature of Hindus is full of caste genealogies in which an attempt is made to give a noble origin to one caste and an ignoble origin to other castes
The anti-social spirit is not confined to caste alone. It has gone deeper and has poisoned the mutual relations of the sub-castes as well.
Civilizing (//inclusiveness//) the aborigines means adopting them as your own, living in their midst, and cultivating fellow-feeling, in short loving them.
Who is better for the oppressed classes - Mohammadans or Caste Hindus?
I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty.
Was Hindu Religion a Missionary religion
Whether the Hindu religion was or was not a missionary religion has been a controversial issue. Some hold the view that it was never a missionary religion. Others hold that it was.
That the Hindu religion was once a missionary religion must be admitted. That today it is not a missionary religion is also a affect which must be accepted.
The real question is why did Hindu religion cease to be a missionary religion? My answer is this.
Hindu religion ceased to be a missionary religion when the Caste system grew up among the Hindus.
Caste is inconsistent with conversion
//On the other hand it is this caste which has become a prime reason for conventions into other religions. The oppressed classes want to escape from this clutches and baggage of caste//.)
Castes are autonomous and there is no authority anywhere to compel a caste to admit a new-comer to its social life. Hindu society being a collection of castes and each caste being a close corporation there is no place for a convert.
Caste as power of Group over Individuals
A caste is ever ready to take advantage of the helplessness of a man and insist upon complete conformity to its code in letter and in spirit.
The Ideal of Caste-less Society/ //How a society should be, according to Ambedkar//
I will turn to the constructive side of the problem. If you don't want caste, then what is your ideal society? is the question that is bound to be asked.
If you ask me, my ideal would be a society based on Liberty, Equality and Fraternity
There must be Social Endosmosis (//a free flow from lower status to higher status//)
Fraternity is another name for Democracy. Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen.
Liberty is not restricted to free movement, sense of right to life and limb. It should extend to the sense of right to property, tools and materials as being necessary for earning a living to keep the body in due state of health. Also the liberty to choose one's profession. Doing anything but for this is to perpetuate slavery.
The supporters of caste who would allow liberty in the sense of a right to life, limb and property would not readily consent to liberty in this sense, inasmuch as it involves liberty to choose one's profession. But this kind of liberty is to perpetuate slavery.
Equality was the slogan of French Revolution.
A man's power //ability: Merit// is dependent upon
1) Physical heredity,
2) Social inheritance or endowment in the form of parental care, education, accumulation of scientific knowledge, everything which enables them to be more efficient,
3) His own efforts
It is obvious that those individuals also in whose favor there is birth, education, family name, business connections and inherited wealth would be selected in the race. But selection under such circumstances would not be a selection of the able. It would be the selection of the privileged.
The society can get most out of the individuals by only making them equal as far as possible at the very start of the race
On Chaturvana
Chaturvarna pre-supposes that you can classify people into 4 definite classes. Is this possible?
In this respect the ideal of chaturvarna has a close affinity to the Platonic ideal. To Plato, men fell by nature into 3 categories,
1) Labouring and Trading classes
2) Defenders in War and guardians of internal peace
3) Law-givers.
The chief criticism against Plato is that his idea of lumping of individuals into a few classes is a very superficial view of man and his powers. Plato had no perception of the uniqueness of every individual...., of each individual forming a class of his own.
The criticism to which Plato's Republic is subject, is also the criticism which must apply to the system of Chaturvarna.
Chaturvarna must fail for the very reason for which Plato's Republic must fail.
Penal sanction (//Punishment//) for violating the the ideals of Chaturvanra are prescribed in Manu Smriti. The heavy sentences includes, cutting off the tongue or pouring of molten lead (//one loses the hearing ability), in the ears of Shudra who recites or hears the Veda.
There is no code of laws more infamous regarding social rights than the Laws of Manu.
But the defenders of Chaturvarna say,
Why should the Shudra need trouble to acquire wealth, when the 3 Varnas are there to support him?
Why need the Shudra bother to take to education, when there is the brahmin to whom he can go when the occasion for reading or writing arises?
Why need the Shudra worry to arm himself because there is the Kshatriya to protect him?
//In the same lines// the Shudra was not allowed to acquire wealth lest he should be independent of the 3 Varnas.
He was prohibited from acquiring knowledge lest he should keep a steady vigil regarding his interests.
He was prohibited from bearing arms lest he should have the means to rebel against their authority.
The question which troubled me is, why have the mass of people tolerated the social evils to which they have been subjected? There have been social revolutions in other countries of the world. Why have there not been social revolutions in India?
My answer is , the lower classes of Hindus have been completely disabled for direct action by the wretched system of Chaturvarna,
1) Shudras couldn't bear arms and without arms they couldn't rebel
2) They could receive no education. They couldn't think out or know the way to their salvation. By this they became reconciled to eternal servitude, which they accepted as their inescapable fate.
How to abolish Caste?
You cannot build anything on the foundations of Caste. You cannot build up a nation. you cannot build up morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.
There is a view that in the reform of caste, the first step to take, is to abolish sub castes. This view is based upon the supposition that there is a greater similarity in manners and status between sub-castes than there is between castes. I think this is an erroneous supposition.
Another plan of action for the abolition of caste is to begin with inter-caste dinners. This also, in my opinion, is an inadequate remedy.
I am convinced that the real remedy is inter-marriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin.
I agree, to an extent, with the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal's proposal - "the remedy for breaking caste is inter-marriage. Nothing else will serve as the solvent of caste."
//However// Abolition of Caste through the social reform from within is impossible on the following 2 counts,
1) In every country the intellectual class is the most influential class, if not the governing class. The intellectual class is the class which can foresee, advise and give lead. In no country does the mass of the people live the life of intelligent thought and action. It is largely imitative and follows the intellectual class. The entire destiny of a country depends upon its intellectual class.
And you may think it a pity that the intellectual class in India is simply another name for the Brahmin Caste.
When such intellectual class, which holds the rest of the community in its grip, is opposed to the reform of caste, the chances of success in a movement for the break up of the caste system appear to me very poor.
2) Caste system has two aspects. One, it divides men into separate communities. Second, it places these communities in a graded order one above the other in social status. Each caste takes its pride and its consolation in the fact that in the scale of castes it is above some other caste.
All are slaves of the Caste System. But all the slaves are not equal in status
Higher the grade of caste greater the number of rights and the lower the grade, lesser the number of rights.
Now this gradation, this scaling of castes, makes it impossible to organize a common front against the caste system.
Caste is the natural outcome of certain religious beliefs. To ask people to give up caste is to ask them to go contrary to their fundamental notions
The real remedy to abolish the Caste is to destroy the belief in the sanctity of the Shastras.
You must take the stand that Budha took. You must take the stand which Guru Nanak took. You must not only discard the Shastras, you must deny the authority, as did Budha and Nanak.
Is a Hindu free to follow his reason?
Manu has laid down 3 sanctions to which every Hindu must conform in the matter of his behavior,
1) Veda
2) Smriti
3) Sadachar
//except following the above// there is no place for reason to play its part
Where a matter is covered by the Veda or the Smriti, a Hindu cannot resort to rational thinking. He must abide by their directions.
Caste and Varna are matters, which are dealt with by the Vedas and the Smritis. So far as caste and Varna are concerned, not only the shastras do not permit the Hindu to use his reason in the decision of the question, but they have taken care to see that no occasion is left to examine in a rational way..
//Thus to break up Caste System//you have to apply the dynamite to the Vedas and the Shastras, which deny any part to reason...and morality. You must destroy the religion of the Shrutis and the Smritis.
//Hindusim// a Religion of Rules must be Destroyed
Some may not understand what I mean by destruction of Religion. Some find the idea revolting and some may find it revolutionary. Let me therefore explain my position.
Rules are practical, they are habitual ways of doing things according to prescription.
But Principles are intellectual, they are useful methods of judging things.
Religion must be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. the moment it degenerates into rules it ceases to be Religion, as it kills responsibility which is the essence of a truly religious act.
What is this Hindu Religion? Is it a set of principles or is it a code of rules?
Now the Hindu Religion as contained in the Vedas and Smritis, is nothing but a mass of sacrificial, social, political and sanitary rules and regulations, all mixed up.
Hindu Religion is nothing but multitude of commands and prohibitions.
Religion in the sense of spiritual principles, truly universal, applicable to all races, to all times, is not to be found in them.
Dharma means commands and prohibitions. The word Dharma as used in the Vedas in most cases means religious ordinances or rites.
I refuse to call this code of ordinances. as religion.
1) The first evil of such a code of ordinances is, it tends to deprive moral life of freedom.. and servile conformity to externally imposed rules
2) Under it, there is no loyalty to ideals, there is only conformity to commands
3) Laws, this code of ordinances contains are iniquitous - they are not the same for one class as for another. But this inequity is made perpetual in that they are prescribed to be the same for all generations.
I have, therefore, no hesitation in saying that such a religion must be destroyed and i say, there is nothing irreligious in working for the destruction of such a religion.
//If not the destruction, is there any scope// for Reform of the Hindu Religion
While I condemn a Religion of Rules, I must not be understood to hold the opinion that there is no necessity for a religion. on the contrary, I agree with Burkee when he says that, "True religion is the foundation of society..."
The following in my opinion should be //adopted// to reform the Hindu religion
1) There should be one and only one standard book of Hindu Religion, acceptable to all....This of course means that all other books such as Vedas, Shastras and Puranas must be cease to be sacred and authoritative.
2) It would be better if priesthood among Hindus was abolished. At least it must cease to be hereditary
3) A priest should be the servant of the state
4) You must discard the authority of the Shastras and destroy the religion of the Shastras
5) A new doctrine must be given to the Hindu Religion - a doctrine that will be in consonance with Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, in short, with Democracy
