Gandhi’s ideal Bhangi doctrine preserves the Brahmin-Bhangi distinction it claims to erase.

Evidence

The Brahmin’s duty is to look after the sanitation of the soul, the Bhangi’s that of the body of society … and yet our woebegone Indian society has branded the Bhangi as a social pariah, set him down at the bottom of the scale, held him fit only to receive kicks and abuse, a creature who must subsist on the leavings of the caste people and dwell on the dung heap. … If only we had given due recognition to the status of the Bhangi as equal to that of the Brahmin, our villages, no less their inhabitants would have looked a picture of cleanliness and order. I therefore make bold to state without any manner of hesitation or doubt that not till the invidious distinction between Brahmin and Bhangi is removed will our society enjoy health, prosperity and peace and be happy. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 412

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the ‘ideal laborer’ reform archetype, from Gandhi’s Bhangi to contemporary dignity-in-work discourse, as a way to preserve hierarchy while claiming reform.