Periyar and Phule inverted Aryan racial theory to oppose Brahmins as foreigners.
Evidence
In fact, as seen in Roy’s introduction to this edition, even Gandhi, in his South Africa years, strongly believed in the British and India’s ruling classes both being ‘Aryan’. Ambedkar, however, also differs on this front from his predecessor and radical thinker Jotiba Phule and his contemporary fellow-traveller ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy Naicker (1879–1973) who turned the racial theory inside out, postulated a pre-Aryan golden age, and regarded the Brahmins as Aryans, and hence foreigners, who imposed the caste system upon the non-Brahmins who were seen as an indigenous race. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1069
Categorization
- XREF: This is central to the reader’s goal: the ideological lineages against caste — Phule and Periyar as predecessors to Ambedkar’s annihilation position. — connects to: Indian anticaste thinkers linked caste and racism over a century ago; Orientalism converted Muslim identity from a religion into a race. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161; Gobineau’s race theory translated caste decline into civilizational decay (+1 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1069
Broader Connections
- Indian anticaste thinkers linked caste and racism over a century ago
#exemplifies(0.70) - Orientalism converted Muslim identity from a religion into a race.
#complicates(0.40) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161