Caste disabled lower classes from revolution by denying them arms and education.
Evidence
Why have the mass of people tolerated the social evils to which they have been subjected? There have been social revolutions in other countries of the world. Why have there not been social revolutions in India, is a question that has incessantly troubled me. There is only one answer which I can give and it is that the lower classes of Hindus have been completely disabled for direct action on account of this wretched caste system. They could not bear arms, and without arms they could not rebel. They were all ploughmen—or rather condemned to be ploughmen—and they were never allowed to convert their ploughshares into swords. They had no bayonets, and therefore everyone who chose, could and did sit upon them. On account of the caste system, they could receive no education. They could not think out or know the way to their salvation. They were condemned to be lowly; and not knowing the way of escape, and not having the means of escape, they became reconciled to eternal servitude, which they accepted as their inescapable fate. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 303
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Connects to readers’ interest in why India lacked social revolutions, and to broader comparative revolutions literature (e.g., Skocpol) on peasants and capacity for revolt.
- DEEPTHINKING: A foundational causal explanation for caste’s persistence: it works by disabling the material and cognitive means of revolt, not merely by ideology.
Related
- Indians never revolted because caste disabled the lower classes from bearing arms (similarity 0.92)
- Indian socialism cannot function without first dismantling caste prejudice (similarity 0.80)
- A socialist state in India cannot function without tackling caste prejudice (similarity 0.78)
- Indian workers divided by caste cannot unite against the rich (similarity 0.78)