Brahmin adaptability is a survival strategy, not a virtue, in Ambedkar’s critique

Evidence

When Ambedkar says a Brahmin can be a priest to a pir, he is referring to the adaptability of the Brahmin which helps him survive any challenge. Elaborating on this in a sharper way in his critique of the Congress and Gandhi, he says (BAWS 9, 195): “I am quite aware that there are some protagonists of Hinduism who say that Hinduism is a very adaptable religion, that it can adjust itself to everything and absorb anything. I do not think many people would regard such a capacity in a religion as a virtue to be proud of just as no one would think highly of a child because it has developed the capacity to eat dung, and digest it. But that is another matter. It is quite true that Hinduism can adjust itself. The best example of its adjustability is the literary production called Allahupanishad which the Brahmins of the time of Akbar produced to give a place to his Din-e-llahi within Hinduism and to recognise it as the Seventh system of Hindu philosophy.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1285

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: The Allahupanishad example connects to Mughal-era religious accommodation and later Sikh-caste debates.