Gandhi defended caste as superior to class on grounds of blood and heredity

Evidence

Ambedkar here is referring to Gandhi’s piece dated 29 December 1920, where he argues why caste is better than class: “The beauty of the caste system is that it does not base itself upon distinctions of wealth-possessions. Money, as history has proved, is the greatest disruptive force in the world. Even the sacredness of family ties is not safe against the pollution of wealth, says Shankaracharya. Caste is but an extension of the principle of the family. Both are governed by blood and heredity … Caste does not connote superiority or inferiority. It simply recognises different outlooks and corresponding modes of life. But it is no use denying the fact that a sort of hierarchy has been evolved in the caste system, but it cannot be called the creation of the Brahmins” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1286

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: This is the direct foil to Ambedkar’s own position in AoC, essential primary material.

Related

• Gandhi defended caste as founded on an eternal hereditary principle (similarity 0.84)
• Radhakrishnan defended caste as affirming the diversity of human groups. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi’s varna doctrine collapses into caste despite his claims (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi’s caste views differed little from those of the Hindu right. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi defended caste as Indian society’s genius for self-organisation against oppression. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi consistently defended an idealized varna system all his life. (similarity 0.83)
• Gandhi explicitly endorsed the caste system as control in 1921 (similarity 0.83)
• Ambedkar and Gandhi’s conflict remains irreconcilable and each is inseparable from the other’s story (similarity 0.82)
• Ambedkar saw religion and caste as inseparable, unlike Gandhi (similarity 0.82)
• Ambedkar exposed the practical impossibility of Gandhi’s worth-based varna idea (similarity 0.82)
• Gandhi framed caste equality as equal dignity of complementary duties (similarity 0.82)
• Gandhi idealized traditional Indian poverty as morally superior to modernity (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi defends caste because opposing it would cost him political standing (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi’s caste views aligned closely with Hindu nationalist views (similarity 0.81)
• Gandhi idealized India’s unchanging past as morally superior civilization (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Gandhi defended caste as founded on an eternal hereditary principle #corroborates (0.95) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 51