Who are the Untouchables and what is the origin of Untouchability? These are the main topics which it is sought to investigate and the results of which are contained in the following pages. Before launching upon the investigation it is necessary to deal with certain preliminary questions.
The first such question is : Are the Hindus the only people in the world who observe Untouchability?
The second is: If Untouchability is observed by Non-Hindus also how does untouchability among Hindus compare with Untouchability study has so far been attempted.
B.R Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) was a radical thinker, statesman, lawyer, editor of newspapers and many books, economist, jurist, philosopher, and founder of a school of Buddhism. Born into an ‘Untouchable’ Mahar family in Mhow in present-day Madhya Pradesh, he waged a relentless, lifelong struggle for the rights of Dalits. Having earned doctorates from both Columbia University and the London School of Economics, he went on to serve as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with half a million followers a few months before his death in 1956. Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political thinker best known for Why I Am Not a Hindu: A Sudra Critique of Hindutva Philosophy, Culture and Political Economy and Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution. Alex George, a philosophy graduate from Birkbeck College, London, is an editor with Navayana. S. Anand is the publisher of Navayana. He is the coauthor of Bhimayana, and has annotated the critical editions of B.R. Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste and Riddles in Hinduism.
B.R Ambedkar
Prabhat Prakashan