Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar – författare

B.R. Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste is one of the most important, yet neglected, works of political writing from India. Written in 1936, it is an audacious denunciation of Hinduism and its caste system. It offers a scholarly critique of Hindu scriptures, scriptures that sanction a rigidly hierarchical and iniquitous social system. Arundhati Roy introduces this extensively annotated edition in "The Doctor and the Saint," examining the persistence of caste in modern India, and how the conflict between Ambedkar and Gandhi continues to resonate. Roy breathes new life into Ambedkar's anti-caste utopia, and says that without a Dalit revolution, India will continue to be hobbled by systemic inequality.

One of the most important, yet neglected, works of Indian political writing with an extensive introduction by the author of The God of Small Things

Excerpt: "It is alleged sometimes that India does not want gold coins. I feel considerable difficulty in believing that gold coins of suitable size would not be convenient in a country with the climate and other circumstances of India. The allegation is suspiciously like the old allegation that the “Englishman prefers gold coins to paper,” which had no other foundation than the fact that the law prohibited the issue of notes for less than £5 in England and Wales, while in Scotland, Ireland, and almost all other English-speaking countries notes for £1 or less were allowed and circulated freely. It seems much more likely that silver owes its position in India to the decision which the Company made before the system of standard gold and token silver was accidentally evolved in 1816 in England, and long before it was understood: and that the position has been maintained not because Indians dislike gold, but because Europeans like it so well that they cannot bear to part with any of it."

The volume, Who were the Shudras? by Ambedkar is one of the most popular sociological works on the Indian caste system. This is a study based on Ambedkar’s hypothesis on the formation of Shudra varna or caste in the chaturvarna (four classes) order in the Indian caste system. He explains of how the Shudra caste became so degraded. He gave his exposition about the Shudra based on the references taken from the ancient Sanskrit canons like Vedas, Epics like Mahabharata, etc.

This volume is Ambedkar’s criticism of the Indian nationalist leader M.K. Gandhi, and the grand old party of India, the Indian National Congress, for their position towards the untouchable community. He felt that both the party and Gandhi had underestimated the cause of the upliftment of untouchables. He also shared his personal experience where he was mistreated by his upper-caste peers despite having high educational credentials. Coming back from England, after achieving his double doctorate from the London School of Economics, he entered into main­stream politics by forming a party for untouchables, the Independent Labour Party. He relates his personal experiences and other factual shreds of evidence and arguments when he criticizes both the party and Gandhian politics for not widely representing the untouchables in mainstream politics.

Who Were The Shudras presents a bold and revisionist inquiry into one of the most fundamental questions of Indian social history: the origins and status of the Shudras within the Indo-Aryan social order. The book addresses two central questions, who the Shudras were, and how they came to occupy the position of the fourth Varna. Drawing on extensive research, it advances a series of striking conclusions. It argues that the Shudras were originally one of the Aryan communities of the Solar race, and that early Indo-Aryan society recognized only three Varnas, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. Far from being a separate category, the Shudras were initially part of the Kshatriya Varna.

The Buddha and His Dhamma was the final work of B. R. Ambedkar, published after his death. It offers a distinctive reinterpretation of Buddhist thought and literature, centring on Ambedkar’s vision of Buddhism as a path for social transformation, particularly for the liberation and upliftment of Dalits.

Annihilation of Caste is one of the most powerful and enduring critiques of the caste system ever written by B. R. Ambedkar. Originally composed in 1936 as a speech for an anti-caste conference in Lahore, it was never delivered, the organisers, finding its arguments too radical and uncompromising, withdrew their invitation.

The book examines not only the central question of the origin of untouchability but also engages with a wide range of related issues, many of which have been little understood or insufficiently addressed. Among the questions it investigates are: Why did the Untouchables live outside the village? How did beef-eating come to be associated with untouchability? Did Hindus always abstain from beef? Why did non-Brahmins abandon beef-eating? What led Brahmins to adopt vegetarianism?