POONA: At a function held in his honour by Mr. P.N. Rajabhoj, General Secretary of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Labour Member, Government of India, explaining his stand against “Vedas” and “Gita” said that he was not the first man to level such bitter criticism against these books, in fact there was no historical basis to show that the preachings of Vedas were accepted and their authority recognised even by Brahmins in olden times. The Buddhists never accepted those preachings and Buddhism gave the Vedas and the principle of “Varnashram” a most terrific blow.

Buddhism brought a big revolution in the human, social and political life of the country and the “Shudras”, who were made to occupy upto those times the most humiliating positions, rose even to become kings. The conflict between Buddhism and Brahminism continued for almost 2,000 years. Every religious book written in those times was also a political one and the “Bhagavat Gita” must, therefore, be considered also as such a political book.

He declared that these books which showered insults on the Depressed Classes and [consigned] them to such a humiliating [position] would never be held by them as their sacred and holy books.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2019