A Radical Comradeship: Periyar, Ambedkar and the Caste Question
Channel: Anekdhara
Date: 29/10/2023

This month's Anekdhara's webinar is on "A Radical Comradeship: Periyar, Ambedkar and the Caste Question". The question will be addressed by Ms. V. Geetha,  Independent scholar and Editorial Director, Tara Books. Abstract of the talk shared by the speaker is given below: 

A radical comradeship: Periyar, Ambedkar and the Caste Question

E V Ramasamy Periyar (1879-1973) and Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar (1891-1956)  were both committed to what the latter termed the 'annihilation of caste'. Periyar expounded his ideas in and through public addresses, and the editorials that he sometimes wrote for the weeklies he  edited. Dr Ambedkar's critique of caste and untouchability was expressed in a variety of contexts: in his writings, public addresses, speeches in legislature, well researched books and in the reports he submitted to colonial commissions set up to examine the extent and possibility of Indian self-government. 

While the tenor of their arguments was different, Periyar and Ambedkar held a set of views in common: these had to do with their faith in rationality and progress, their mistrust of Indian nationalism, their conviction that social reform was as important as self-rule and their commitment to radical equality, of classes, castes and genders. Both were watchful of and lifelong critics of what they termed 'Brahminism' as well. While Periyar was an atheist, Ambedkar held religion to be an important domain of human experience. In this sense, both paid attention to the place of faith in everyday life and sought to call attention to its productive as well as problematic aspects. 

In this talk, I will present their views in tandem, and take note of a rare public comradeship which, I argue, may be viewed as representing an important strand of modern political and social thought - anti-caste radicalism, which, as an intellectual tradition, may be traced to the early 19th century. 



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