An Untouchable Against the Aryans: Some Reflections on Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s Perspective on The Savarna Theory of Caste

Abstract

The paper historicises the Savarna theory of caste with an aim to contextualise the critique of varna/caste system that B. R. Ambedkar developed in his undelivered address at the annual conference of the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal of Lahore in 1936. Contrary to the Savarna scholars, who had co-related caste, race and division of labour to portray varna/caste hierarchy as a democratic system, Ambedkar exposed its unjust and undemocratic character in his undelivered address, The Annihilation of Caste, and introduced the first major theoretical diversion from the existing Savarna theory that had hitherto dominated the colonial discourse on caste.