Annihilation of Caste

A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society.—B.R. Ambedkar One of the most inflammatory writings of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, ‘Annihilation of Caste’ remains a strident indictment of the Indian society and its social stratification where the lowest segment was treated as untouchable. A lecture that was never permitted to be given because of its incendiary nature, ‘Annihilation of Caste’ was self-published and immediately became the eye of a storm. Radically against the Brahmanical caste system and Hinduism, it argued for a society based on equal opportunities for all. This volume posits Ambedkar’s views on caste vis-à-vis Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Harijans’, and presents the debate that the two luminaries engaged in. Read in this context, the book provides an overview of the problem of caste in India.