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| Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Critique of Hinduism and the Caste System: A Struggle for Social Justice and Equality — A representative image. |
File Information
| Document Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Critique of Hinduism and the Caste System: A Struggle for Social Justice and Equality |
| Article Credit | International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI), ISSN: 2319 – 7722, Vol.: 13, Issue: 11, Year: 2024, (Pubd in: researchgate.net) |
| Author | G. Sravanthi (PhD Research Scholar, Dept of Philosophy, Osmania University.) Dr Ch. Vamseedhar (Head Department of Philosophy, Osmania University) |
| Subject | The article examines Ambedkar’s rejection of Hinduism as a basis for caste oppression and his argument that caste could only be challenged through legal, political, and religious transformation. It also discusses Gandhi, untouchability, Buddhism, and the continuing relevance of Ambedkar’s ideas for Dalit rights. |
| Category | Journal article |
| Institution | International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI) |
| Main Topics | Ambedkar’s critique of Hinduism, caste system and graded inequality, untouchability and Dalit oppression, Manusmriti, Vedas, and Brahmanism, Ambedkar versus Gandhi, Poona Pact of 1932, conversion to Buddhism, Article 17 and reservations |
| Number of Pages | 7 |
| Language | English |
| File Type | |
| File Size | 333.3 KB |
Summary Note of this Document
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Critique of Hinduism and the Caste System: A Struggle for Social Justice and Equality
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Critique of Hinduism and the Caste System studies Ambedkar’s attack on the religious and social foundations of caste in India. The article argues that Hindu scriptures, priestly authority, and inherited social rules sustained untouchability and made reform from within impossible. It places Ambedkar’s position against Gandhi’s reformist approach and uses that contrast to explain why Ambedkar pressed for abolition rather than adjustment of caste hierarchy. The discussion moves from the history of varna, jati, and endogamy to the political consequences of Ambedkar’s thought, including the Poona Pact, reservations, and Article 17 of the Constitution. Buddhism appears as more than a private faith: it is presented as a deliberate alternative to caste Hindu society and as the basis of Ambedkarite liberation. The article also links Ambedkar’s critique to later Dalit movements, affirmative action, education, and continuing caste violence. Its focus is historical, constitutional, and political at once, with repeated attention to equality, dignity, and social justice.
Core Themes
- religious justification of caste
- endogamy as the basis of caste continuity
- Ambedkar and Gandhi on untouchability
- constitutional safeguards and reservations
- Buddhism as social liberation
Keywords
About Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 as the fourteenth and youngest child of an army Subedar in Mhow. Born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable, Bhimrao faced many hardships at school. He had to sit on a gunny sack that he brought from home. He was not allowed to touch the water vessel or cup, so he could drink water only when the school peon was present to pour it for him. He later described this experience with the words, “No peon, no water.” His mother died when he was very young, and he had a difficult childhood. However, he was the only one of his siblings to pass his examinations and continue to high school, becoming the first person from his community to attend Elphinstone College. With a scholarship from the Maharaja of Baroda, he went on to study at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He earned doctorates in economics and trained as a barrister at Gray’s Inn. According to the account supplied for this biography, his books were lost when his ship was torpedoed during the First World War.
Despite his education, Ambedkar continued to face prejudice. When he returned to India, he was required to work in Baroda but had to leave the position because of discrimination. His business providing investment consultancy failed when clients learned that he belonged to a community considered untouchable. While working as a professor in Mumbai, his colleagues objected to the idea of him sharing a water jug with his students. These experiences helped spur his activism. He established newspapers to give a voice to marginalized people. He led the Mahad Satyagraha, asserting Dalits’ right to collect water from a public tank, and publicly burned the Manusmriti in 1927. In 1932, he negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi. Although it involved a difficult compromise, the pact provided reserved seats in legislatures for the Depressed Classes. Ambedkar was outspoken in public life but private by nature. His wife Ramabai died in 1935, and he filled his home in Bombay with a large personal library reported to contain more than 50,000 books. He declared, “I am born a Hindu, but I will not die as one.”
During the period of Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to become India’s first Law Minister. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee that prepared the Constitution of India, which abolished the practice of untouchability and established civil liberties and constitutional safeguards, including reservations for historically oppressed communities. He acknowledged the contribution of other constitutional experts, including B. N. Rau, who had prepared an earlier draft. Because of his poor health, including diabetes, Ambedkar married Savita, a doctor who cared for him. In October 1956, he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur along with a vast gathering of followers, commonly estimated at around half a million. He died in his sleep just weeks later, shortly after completing his final major work, The Buddha and His Dhamma. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. His message, “Educate, agitate, organise,” continues to inspire people seeking equality and social justice.
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