Caste cannot claim a eugenic origin because heredity laws were unknown to its founders

Evidence

This shows that caste has no scientific origin, and that those who are attempting to give it a eugenic basis are trying to support by science what is grossly unscientific. Even today, eugenics cannot become a practical possibility unless we have definite knowledge regarding the laws of heredity. Prof Bateson in his Mendel’s Principles of Heredity says, “There is nothing in the descent of the higher mental qualities to suggest that they follow any single system of transmission. It is likely that both they and the more marked developments of physical powers result rather from the coincidence of numerous factors than from the possession of any one genetic element.” To argue that the caste system was eugenic in its conception is to attribute to the forefathers of present-day Hindus a knowledge of heredity which even the modern scientists do not possess. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 869

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the eugenic rationale for caste in Bateson’s terms and dismantles it.
• XREF: connects to: Legitimate authority cannot rest on Adamic inheritance, only on a new foundation — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 5