Vikram Gopal June 30, 2016 Last Updated at 21:30 IST
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RIDDLES IN HINDUISM
The Annotated Critical Selection
B R Ambedkar
Navayana
272 pages; Rs 295
Navayana's latest anthology of B R Ambedkar's work, Riddles in Hinduism, is yet another reminder in these fraught times of the necessity to critically examine the basis of Hinduism.
The tone for this is set right in the beginning with Kancha Ilaiah's brilliant introduction. Mr Ilaiah explains that "No religion offers an elaborate justification as Hinduism does. It is this indefensible theoretical edifice that Ambedkar launches himself against in Riddles in Hinduism."
In this selection of riddles, Ambedkar attempts to expose the contradictions in the Hindu religion to help reform it. This is because, Mr Ilaiah says, "[Ambedkar] believed that the liberation of the Untouchables was contingent upon the liberation and humanisation of the Hindus."
In the first riddle, "The difficulty of knowing why one is a Hindu", Ambedkar lays out the essentials of his understanding of the religion. Here he identifies two crucial features. One, that Hinduism "shelters within its portals monotheists, pantheists and polytheists." Two, that there cannot be a Hindu who does not observe caste and a person who does not belong to a Hindu caste cannot be called a Hindu. Even here, though, there is no defining characteristic as Muslims and Christians too have castes, but they cannot for that reason be called Hindus.
In the subsequent chapters, Ambedkar finds nothing in the Vedas that is spiritually or morally uplifting. He says, "Neither the subject matter nor the contents of the Vedas justify the infallibility with which they have been invested."
Then there is the puzzle of vegetarianism. Ambedkar cites various texts to show the sanctity that the practice of eating meat enjoyed. Of course, this section of the book is bound to embarrass some because the Vedas did in fact allow the consumption of beef, even by Brahmins.
Then there is the inconsistency of the books on the origin of castes. While some books laid out the basis of the four castes, others say there are only two. "This chaos seems to be the result of concoction of the theory of chaturvarna, which the Brahmins quietly smuggled into the Rig Veda, contrary to established traditions," Ambedkar says.
Riddles is also an attack against the process of knowledge production that has been prevalent in India, even after Ambedkar's time. In a recent article in the Economic and Political Weekly, "How egalitarian is Indian Sociology?", sociologist Vivek Kumar has argued that the upper caste domination of the discipline has resulted in scholars putting forward the theory of a "Hindu social order".
This has influenced views on Indian history in the 100 years since people started pursuing studies in sociology in Indian. They accepted a long continuing tradition of Hinduism without considering the changes that have taken place in it. And they formulated these theories even when Ambedkar was alive, disregarding his attempts to show these very changes and the reason they were made.
The preface highlights why this is so. The nascent Indian state failed to secure Ambedkar's works in the same way as that of other leaders of pre-Independence India. In fact, the preface recounts the tragic tale of Ambedkar's papers being left out in the driveway of his house by the owners when his wife was away. It was only in 1976, 20 years after Ambedkar's death, that the state government of Maharashtra started publishing his works, titled Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, which runs into 21 volumes. This, too, was the result of a petition filed by a Dalit writer in the Bombay High Court asking for the publication of Ambedkar's works.
Reading Riddles it is easy to understand why this would be the case. This book, like Ambedkar's other writings, is not a comfortable read for Hindus because it is a searing criticism of everything Hindus hold dear. In fact, the editors inform us in a footnote in the "Riddle of Rama and Krishna" that the chapter caused much controversy when it was published in 1987. There was even a public burning of the volume that contained this riddle, and rioting by the Shiv Sena.
However, in these times when Hindutva is the ruling ideology of the nation, the impact of Ambedkar's writing will be felt not just by Hindus, but also the Left parties. This is because even as they are now grappling with the real present danger of Hindutva, they have never completely rejected Hindusim. Dalit scholar Chittibabu Padavala says in his article "Towards a Dalit Marxist manifesto" on the website Raiot, "For us, Hindutva is more honest and authentic version of Hinduism. It represents the extension of what old Hinduism does to Dalits round-the-clock in all walks of life to new victims: Christians and Muslims."
Credit must go to Navayana for publishing this book, along with Against the Madness of Manu and Annihilation of Caste, for making the upper caste elite engage with Ambedkar despite its repeated attempts to consciously ignore such thoughts. They have had the unenviable task of selecting 10 riddles from a list of 24. There is also the added treat of a fantastic appendix by Unnamati Syama Sundar on how cartoonists have depicted Ambedkar.
