Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition (25 page)
Read Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition Online
Authors: B.R. Ambedkar
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Know truth as truth and untruth as untruth.—Buddha
He that will not reason is a bigot. He that cannot reason is a fool. He that dare not reason is a slave—H. Drummond
a
The speech prepared by me for the
Jat-Pat Todak Mandal
b
of Lahore has had an astonishingly warm reception from the Hindu public for whom it was primarily intended. The English edition of one thousand five hundred copies was exhausted within two months of its publication. It has been translated into Gujarati and Tamil. It is being translated into Marathi, Hindi, Punjabi and Malayalam. The demand for the English text still continues unabated. To satisfy this demand it has become necessary to issue a second edition. Considerations of history and effectiveness of
appeal have led me to retain the original form of the essay—namely, the speech form—although I was asked to recast it in the form of a direct narrative.
To this edition I have added two appendices. I have collected in Appendix I the two articles written by Mr Gandhi by way of review of my speech in the
Harijan
,
c
and his letter to Mr Sant Ram,
d
a member of the
Jat-Pat Todak Mandal.
e
In Appendix II, I have printed my views in reply to the articles of Mr Gandhi collected in Appendix I. Besides Mr Gandhi, many others have adversely criticised my views as expressed in my speech. But I have felt that in taking notice of such adverse comments, I should limit myself to Mr Gandhi. This I have done not because what he has said is so weighty as to deserve a reply, but because to many a Hindu he is an oracle, so great that when he opens his lips it is expected that the argument must close and no dog must bark.
But the world owes much to rebels who would dare to argue in the face of the pontiff and insist that he is not infallible. I do not care for the credit which every progressive society must give to its rebels. I shall be satisfied if I make the Hindus realise that they are the sick men of India, and that their sickness is causing danger to the health and happiness of other Indians.
B.R. A
MBEDKAR
The second edition of this essay appeared in 1937, and was exhausted within a very short period. A new edition has been in demand for a long time. It was my intention to recast the essay so as to incorporate into it another essay of mine called “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development,” which appeared in the issue of the
Indian Antiquary
journal for May 1917.
f
But as I could not find time, and as there is very little prospect of my being able to do so, and as the demand for it from the public is very insistent, I am content to let this be a mere reprint of the second edition.
I am glad to find that this essay has become so popular, and I hope that it will serve the purpose for which it was intended.
B.R. A
MBEDKAR
22, Prithviraj Road
New Delhi
1 December 1944
On 12 December 1935,
g
I received the following letter from Mr Sant Ram, the secretary of the
Jat-Pat Todak Mandal:
My dear Doctor Saheb,
Many thanks for your kind letter of the 5th December. I have released it for press without your permission for which I beg your pardon, as I saw no harm in giving it publicity. You are a great thinker, and it is my well-considered opinion that none else has studied the problem of caste so deeply as you have. I have always benefited myself and our Mandal from your ideas. I have explained and preached it in the
Kranti
h
many times and
I have even lectured on it in many conferences. I am now very anxious to read the exposition of your new formula—“It is not possible to break caste without annihilating the religious notions on which it, the caste system, is founded.” Please do explain it at length at your earliest convenience, so that we may take up the idea and emphasise it from press and platform. At present, it is not fully clear to me.
Our executive committee persists in having you as our president for our annual conference. We can change our dates to accommodate your convenience. Independent
Harijans
i
of
Punjab are very much desirous to meet you and discuss with you their plans. So if you kindly accept our request and come to Lahore to preside over the conference it will serve double purpose. We will invite
Harijan leaders of all shades of opinion and you will get an opportunity of giving your ideas to them.
The Mandal has deputed our assistant secretary, Mr Indra Singh, to meet you at Bombay in Xmas and discuss with you the whole situation with a view to persuade you to please accept our request.
