Ambedkar In The Times Of Hindutva | S. Anand
Five dalits are lynched by a Hindu mob. Their alleged crime: skinning a cow. The reporters and analysts who
express shock and outrage do not go beyond stating that the dalits were doing what they have been
traditionally doing: selling the dead cow's hide to make a living. There are few who want to explore the
historical relationship between the cow, the brahmin and the origins of untouchability.
The caste Hindu common sense is that eating beef is a taboo for the Hindus. The common sense also takes untouchability for granted, as something sanatan (permanent, eternal). For the Hindus, the cow is sacred. And what is daubed with sacredness is beyond the pale of argument. Then what about those who eat beef, the dalits? Are they Hindus? When did they start eating beef? Why did the brahmins for whom every day was probably a beef-steak day in the vedic period give up beef and meat altogether?
In 1948 Bhim Rao Ambedkar sought some serious answers to these and other questions, answers which have been neglected by the mainstream academia and intelligentsia. Here, we present the answers that Ambedkar sought in a context where at one end (Tamil Nadu) dalits today are being forced to eat shit and drink urine, and at another (Haryana) dalits are being forced to pay with their lives for doing what they have been condemned to do - eat the meat of the dead cow and use its skin for making leather products. Ambedkar In The Times Of Hindutva | S. Anand
The caste Hindu common sense is that eating beef is a taboo for the Hindus. The common sense also takes untouchability for granted, as something sanatan (permanent, eternal). For the Hindus, the cow is sacred. And what is daubed with sacredness is beyond the pale of argument. Then what about those who eat beef, the dalits? Are they Hindus? When did they start eating beef? Why did the brahmins for whom every day was probably a beef-steak day in the vedic period give up beef and meat altogether?
In 1948 Bhim Rao Ambedkar sought some serious answers to these and other questions, answers which have been neglected by the mainstream academia and intelligentsia. Here, we present the answers that Ambedkar sought in a context where at one end (Tamil Nadu) dalits today are being forced to eat shit and drink urine, and at another (Haryana) dalits are being forced to pay with their lives for doing what they have been condemned to do - eat the meat of the dead cow and use its skin for making leather products. Ambedkar In The Times Of Hindutva | S. Anand
No comments:
Post a Comment