Annihilation of Caste

B. R. Ambedkar’s 1936 masterpiece, Annihilation of Caste, placed the question of India’s ‘untouchables’ at the heart of the struggle for national self-determination, sparking a fierce debate with Mahatma Gandhi that still resonates today. In her wide-ranging introduction, award-winning writer Arundhati Roy examines the persistence of caste in modern India, arguing that without a Dalit revolution, India will continue to be hobbled by systemic inequality.

‘Has to be read no Hindu who prizes his faith above life itself can afford to underrate the importance of this indictment’

M.K. GANDHI

‘What The Communist Manifesto is to the capitalist world, Annihilation of Caste is to caste India. Arundhati Roy’s introduction is expansive and excellent. S. Anand’s annotations have style and perfection’

ANAND TELTUMBDE author of The Persistence of Caste

‘A brilliant milestone … It marks, and indeed illuminates, the arrival of a terrain quite unlike the average landscape of scholarly publication’

SOUMYABRATA CHOUDHURY, Biblio

‘Roy’s essay is punchy, eye-opening and provocative … There is very little left of the saintly stature of the Mahatma once Roy is done with him’

THOMAS BLOM HANSEN, Director, Stanford’s Center for South Asia

‘A superb, high-grade critical edition’

MARTHA NUSSBAUM, New Rambler