Ambedkar built his indictment on inauthentic texts and degraded practitioners
Evidence
In my opinion the profound mistake that Dr Ambedkar has made in his address is to pick out the texts of doubtful authenticity and value, and the state of degraded Hindus who are no fit specimens of the faith they so woefully misrepresent. Judged by the standard applied by Dr Ambedkar every known living faith will probably fail. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1205
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- XREF: This is Gandhi’s rebuttal line against Ambedkar’s textual citations — the interpretive battle over which scriptures count.
Related
- Ambedkar planned to renounce Hinduism and reject its sacred texts in the address (similarity 0.84)
- Ambedkar alleged Gandhi deliberately wrote differently in Gujarati versus English. (similarity 0.83)
- Ambedkar described Hindus in eugenic language popular with European fascists (similarity 0.83)
- Ambedkar rejected any religion that sanctioned caste inequities (similarity 0.82)
- Ambedkar’s censors tried to excise his Vedic critiques and planned conversion from the lecture (similarity 0.82)
- Ambedkar demanded Hindus deny shastra authority, following Buddha and Nanak (similarity 0.82)
- Ambedkar, an Untouchable, dared to challenge a deified Gandhi (similarity 0.82)
- Ambedkar himself drew on eugenics language to describe Hindus (similarity 0.81)
- How scriptures are popularly understood, not their literal text, determines social effect (similarity 0.81)
- Ambedkar frames belief in the shastras and liberalism as contradictory (similarity 0.81)
- Scriptures provided actual sanction for caste-based inhuman conduct (similarity 0.81)
- Textual authenticity of scriptures is irrelevant to how the masses actually practice caste (similarity 0.80)
- Ambedkar proposes legally disestablishing all Hindu sacred texts bar one. (similarity 0.80)
- Ambedkar and Gandhi’s conflict remains irreconcilable and each is inseparable from the other’s story (similarity 0.80)
- A growing, non-finite canon means smriti texts cannot all be authentic (similarity 0.80)