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VU Research Portal Faith on the Anvil of Justice: Dr. Ambedkar's Response to Religions in India Daniel, M. 2013 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Daniel, M. (2013). Faith on the Anvil of Justice: Dr. Ambedkar's Response to Religions in India. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Faith on the Anvil of Justice: Dr. Ambedkar’s Response to Religions in India 1 ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. F.A. van der Duyn Schouten, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid op donderdag 13 juni 2013 om 9.45 uur in de forumzaal van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Monodeep Daniel geboren te Ranchi, India 2 promotoren: prof.dr. H.M. Vroom prof.dr. L. Fernando 3 Restore Us Our Selfhood “Imploring, begging and depending on the kindness of others will not restore to us the selfhood that we have been robbed of. We have to regain it on our own strength. It is true that the path of protest we have advocated is a difficult one, but our untouchable brethren should not let themselves be cowed down by the fear that the touchables will retaliate against their act of protest. We have to show our determination in our resolve”. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar . Bahishkrit Bharat, May 20, 1927 cited by M.S. Gore in ‘The Social Context of an Ideology’. Reclamation of the Human Personality “With justice on our side I don’t see how we can lose our battle. The battle for me is a matter full of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or sordid in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of the human personality which has been surpressed and mutilated. My final words of advice to you is educate, agitate and organize, have faith in yourselves and never lose hope.” Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. (Report of Depressed Classes Conference, Nagpur Session, July 1942 in Writings and Speeches Vol. 17.3, p. 276) 4 Dedicated to professor Hendrik M. Vroom my guide and a gentle friend and Stanley J. Daniel my father who saw the beginnings but tragically not the end of this book. 5 Foreword Dr. B.R. Ambedkar assessed the religions in India on the anvil of justice. Through this exercise he not only aimed to bring out their worth but also to reform or reconstruct them if necessary to make them useful for forging a just society. That he regarded this seriously is evident in his sizeable writings on the subject of religion and social reform. The standard of English in these writings reveals Dr. Ambedkar to be a person of caliber of his times. Indeed his excellent academic achievement was well known. In this capacity he has not only contributed to the intellectual deposit of the world, but has equally contributed to construct the modern and secular State of India. Therefore, whatever he wrote and whatever he did has to be taken seriously. Here the temptation to delve more deeply into his life especially after the British parliament had passed the Government of India Act in 1935 must be admitted. Attempt in that direction would have verged on producing a biography. But the purpose of this study was not to do this; instead it is to cut out his basic ideas from the thick woods of his writings which he wrote in the course of his very active life as a statesman. I have highlighted the dilemmas which confronted him as he intellectually responded to the political leaders of his times especially Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The contours of these were shaped by his specific ideas of religion and society in the interest of those affected by untouchability. In his search for a religion best suited for Dalits, Dr. Ambedkar found that religions, far from being united, were totally disarrayed in guiding whose interest were they to protect. Clearly Dr. Ambedkar was in dilemma. Obviously it was very complicated to resolve multi-faceted conflicts within religion. These were in forms of collective advantage vis-à-vis individual’s interest and collision between a group’s interests versus society’s advantage. In the sections below we will discuss Dr. Ambedkar’s predicament. My aim is not to undertake a survey of Dr. Ambedkar’s writings, but to get through with his line of thinking and his basic insights into religions and society. Having done so I think i t would be very interesting to reread his biography. But that is beyond the range of this study. However, t he applications of such findings have a scope to influence various fields of human interest. If this would help people to re-read their scriptures, literature and epics, to critically engage with culture and to understand the ever changing political configurations, to write and comment, to preach and teach, to promote civil liberty and peace, and to engage in inter-religious dialogue, I believe the purpose of this work would be achieved. I am most thankful to prof. Hendrik M. Vroom my guide at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. I am also grateful to prof. Leonard Fernando, S.J., my 6 guide in India at the Vidya Jyoti College of Theology, Delhi; prof. (habil.) James Massey, the founding director of Centre for Dalit Studies, New Delhi; dr. Victor van Bijlert and dr. Henry Jansen who endorsed the title of this book. I must acknowledge the generosity of my religious fraternity, the Brotherhood of the Ascended Christ , Delhi, to allow me to devote the necessary time out of my work to undertake this study in the Brotherhood House library. The invitation of Canon George I. Kovoor, the principal of the Trinity College, Bristol (U.K.) as a Commonwealth Fellow to the Centre for World Christianity of this college was a privilege. It helped me to do my work unhindered and use the college library for which I am grateful. The Revd Ian C. Weathrall O.B.E., the Head of the Brotherhood in Delhi, for sharing his memories of Dr. Ambedkar and providing me with several relevant books. Monodeep Daniel 7 Contents Preface Chapter I: Introduction: Dr. Ambedkar in Search Of Religion - 13 1. Who was Dr. Ambedkar? - 14 2. Dr. Ambedkar’s Response to Religions - 18 3. The Indian Social Context - 20 4. Relevance of Dr. Ambedkar’s Perspective - 23 5. Religion, Society and Selfhood - 25 6. Aim and Contents of this Study - 28 Chapter II: Dr. Ambedkar’s Dilemmas with Religion - 33 1. Introduction - 33 2. Dilemma with Norms - 34 2.1 Between Life and Right - 36 2.2 Between Personal and Collective Interest - 38 2.3 Between Justice and Utility - 40 3. Dilemma with Alternatives - 44 3.1 Resistance to Reorder Society - 44 3.2 Disinterest to Reconstruct Society - 46 4. Transcending the Dilemmas: Ambedkar’s Four Basic Principles - 47 4.1 By Focusing on the Purpose of Religion - 48 4.2 By Developing a Method to Assess Religion - 52 4.3 By Determining Moral Norms to Test Religion - 53 4.4 By Accepting the Religion of Principles - 55 5. Conclusion - 60 Chapter III: Response to Primal Religion - 62 1. Introduction - 62 2. Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes : avarnas and savarnas - 64 3. Worldview of Primal Religion - 65 3.1 Ensuring Riddance of Defilement - 67 3.2 Assuring Insulation from Contamination - 67 4. Relevance of Rituals in Primal Religion - 68 4.1 The Occasion of Rituals - 69 4.2 The Performance of Rituals - 70 5. Assessing Indigenous Primal Religion - 71 5.1 Land: A Cause for Social Mobility - 72 5.2 Blood-descent: A Basis for Social Stratification - 73 8 5.3 Animals: Root of Internecine Conflict - 74 6. Conclusion - 76 Chapter IV: Response to Hindus - 78 1. Introduction - 78 2. Hurdle for a Great Religion - 78 2.1 In Maharaja’s City - 79 2.2 In Maharaja’s Service - 79 2.3 In Mahatma’s Presence - 80 3. Exploring the Basis - 80 3.1 Scripture - 81 3.2 Doctrine - 85 3.3 Philosophy - 93 4. Unveiling Reasons - 94 4.1 Manu’s Laws - 94 4.2 Dharma - 97 5. Reforming Seeds Inherent in Hinduism - 101 5.1 Clearing the Stage - 102 5.2 Constructing the New Dharma - 103 5.3 Philosophy for the New Dharma - 104 6. Conclusion - 104 Chapter V: Response to Muslims - 107 1. Introduction - 107 2. Islam: A Force to Reckon with - 107 2.1 Its Stupendous Global Spread - 108 2.2 A Solid Oak in India - 110 3.