Communist historians strained to force ancient Hindu caste into a Marxist primitive-communism frame

Evidence

Years later, in 1949, Dange, who is still a revered figure in the communist pantheon, wrote a book, Marxism and Ancient Indian Culture: India from Primitive Communism to Slavery, in which he argued that ancient Hindu culture was a form of primitive communism in which “Brahman is the commune of Aryan man and yagnya [ritual fire sacrifice] is its means of production, the primitive commune with the collective mode of production.” D.D. Kosambi, the mathematician and Marxist historian, said in a review: “This is so wildly improbable as to plunge into the ridiculous.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 337

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the broader failure of orthodox Marxism to theorize caste, which Ambedkar argues against in the main text. — connects to: Marxist theory imported from Europe left Indian communists unequipped to analyze caste; Marxist theory made Indian communists blind to caste and dominated by Brahmins; Marxist class frameworks made Indian scholars blind to caste — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 42 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Marxist theory imported from Europe left Indian communists unequipped to analyze caste; Marxist theory made Indian communists blind to caste and dominated by Brahmins; Marxist class frameworks made Indian scholars blind to caste — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 42 (+1 more)