The Caravan

From BR Ambedkar’s chapter “Did the Hindus never eat beef?”, in The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables?

To the question whether the Hindus ever ate beef, every Touchable Hindu, whether he is a Brahmin or a non-Brahmin, will say “no, never”. In a certain sense, he is right. From times [sic], no Hindu has eaten beef. If this is all that the Touchable Hindu wants to convey by his answer there need be no quarrel over it. But when the learned Brahmins argue that the Hindus not only never ate beef but they always held the cow to be sacred and were always opposed

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Caravan

The Caravan2 min read
Editor’s Pick
ON 6 APRIL 1994, Hutu extremists in Rwanda began a genocidal campaign that killed more than eight hundred thousand people, most of whom belonged to the minority Tutsi community. Around 2 million Rwandans fled the country, and over three hundred thous
The Caravan10 min read
Weak Links
“We are just waiting for the Congress,” Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, said at a rally in Purnea district, on 25 February. Kumar, who represents the Janata Dal (United), was speaking at the first formal congregation of a new grand allianc
The Caravan65 min read
The Sangh’s Fixer
THE COUNTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT politicians and industrialists walked into a brightly lit hall in Chennai on 18 January 2015. Among them were the senior ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ravi Shankar Prasad, and t

Related