Provide a short summary of Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste and compare and

contrast with Gandhi's take on caste.

- RANJINI GHOSH

“cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ

tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhy akartāram avyayam”
Lord Krishna says the aforementioned lines to Arjuna in the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad
Gita, explaining to him that “Although I have created the four classes (varnas)-Brahmin,
Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra -according to innate properties and actions, know me the
immutable as a non-doer.” While one may wonder whether he has divided men into
categories by virtue of their birth, it has been interpreted to mean that he had in fact divided
actions. The Bhagavad Gita had purported a classification that had spirituality as its basis
however, with the passage of time and the ignorance of general public this distinction was
reduced to occupations thus making it a social classification. Caste has now become a source
of oppression that has subjugated people for years. This paper will explore Ambedkar and
Gandhi’s take on caste.
Ambedkar was invited by the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal to give a speech on caste. His views
seemed problematic to them and hence it was never delivered. The speech was later
published in 1936. He began by stating how regressive and oppressive caste is. He heavily
criticised the Manusmriti for its deplorable commentary on the shudras and the untouchables.
The text was heavily ingrained in the minds of the Hindus thus making any radical change
difficult. This also led to him burning the text in public. The Hindu Dharmashastras also
legitimised the chaturvanya which paved the way for continual oppression. He believed that
caste had no scientific basis, quoting from D.R. Bhandarkar's paper1 “Foreign Elements in the
Hindu Population” he proved that no caste was pure blooded and each of them had some
mixed-race evidences. Ethics and morality for him found no place in caste, 2 “The effect of
caste on the ethics of the Hindus is simply deplorable. Caste has killed public spirit. Caste has
destroyed the sense of public charity. Caste has made public opinion impossible. A Hindu's
public is his caste. His responsibility is to his caste. His loyalty is restricted only to his caste.
Virtue has become caste-ridden, and morality has become caste-bound.” This meant that
while ethical behaviour should be for the society at large, caste has reduced it to only certain
sections. One owes moral demeanour only to members of their caste instead of every member
of society. This allows for violence and injustice. Socialists and communists were also under
criticism by Ambedkar as they did not treat caste as a basic structural problem. He believed
that no revolution was possible if caste wasn’t dealt with as primary cause of social issues.
The remedy he proposed was inter-caste marriages. He said that if more people are allowed to
interact with other castes and form relations, it will slowly eradicate the thought process that
believes in the purity of castes. Shastras have long dictated Hindu minds and guided their
actions. The only way to get rid of caste superiority for him was to allow for inter-caste
dinners, inter-caste marriages etc.

1
Foreign Elements in the Hindu Population, Bhandarkar, D.R.
2
Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar, B.R., 1936
While Gandhi’s work with the harijans is widely known as a beacon of the upliftment of
caste, his views have however, been very diverse. He believed that untouchables arose as a
result of the decline of Hindu values. However, he did not believe in abolishing the caste
system. For him it was a predominant feature in the Hindu way of life. He wanted to reform
the caste system. When Ambedkar spoke for its annihilation, Gandhi spoke of reformation.
Ambedkar conceived of a movement where the depressed classes would work towards their
own empowerment, higher castes were not to participate in such a movement. Gandhi
however, wanted every member of society to work towards the upliftment of the depressed
classes. He believed that the caste system or what he referred to as a “social class”, is
something to which one is born into. One is born into a certain varna however, if one does not
behave in the manner in which a member of that varna ought to then they should be
considered as a member of another varna.
One can interpret the different approaches to the problem of oppressive caste as one that
ultimately comes down to the understanding of caste. Ambedkar considers caste as a social
evil whereas Gandhi considers it as a naturally occurring feature of Hindu society. He calls
for a complete annihilation while Gandhi speaks of reform. Thus, their different approaches
led to their different courses of action.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ANNIHILATION OF CASTE, B.R. AMBEDKAR, ARUNDHATI ROY
GANDHI AND HIS CRITICS, B.R. NANDA