Why did Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, chairman of the Drafting Committee of India’s Constitution, oppose Manavadharma Shastra or Manusmriti to the extent of publicly burning copies of one of the most controversial Dharmashastras?

Ambedkar was the most towering leader of the vast majority of Hindus who had been defined as untouchables or achoot by the Manusmriti, believed to be composed between 200 BCE and 200 CE. Describing the horrific living conditions of Dalits (derived from Pali Dalidda and Sanskrit Daridra, where it means ‘ground down’ or ‘broken’, as dal is), Ambedkar wrote in Annihilation of Caste: “Under the rule of the Peshwas in the Maratha country, the Untouchable was not allowed to use the public streets if a Hindu was coming along, lest he should pollute the Hindu by his shadow. The Untouchable was required to have a black thread either on his wrist or around his neck, as a sign or a mark to prevent the Hindus from getting themselves polluted by his touch by mistake.”

“In Poona, the capital of the Peshwa, the Untouchable was required to carry, strung from his waist, a broom to sweep away from behind himself the dust he trod on, lest a Hindu walking on the same dust should be polluted. In Poona, the Untouchable was required to carry an earthen pot hung around his neck wherever he went—for holding his spit, lest his spit falling on the earth should pollute a Hindu who might unknowingly happen to tread on it,” he wrote.

The Dharmashastras, among which the Manusmriti remains preeminent, clearly distinguishes between Shudras and the twice-born castes. They also prohibit Shudras from receiving knowledge, conducting Vedic sacrifices and wearing the Janeu or the sacred thread, the ritualistic symbols of the twice-born such as Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Dalits are denied entry into certain temples even now despite such acts of discrimination being........

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