B R Ambedkar's challenge to the Puranic past

As one of the architects of the state newly liberated from British colonial rule, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's (1891–1956) thinking represents a departure from the near universal dichotomy of native tradition versus colonial modernity that Congress Party nationalists such as M K Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were tactically engaged in during the years preceding formal independence. This article examines Ambedkar's sociological interpretation of India's past which was designed to discover a new place for his Untouchable followers in Indian society. It asks whether a mechanistic understanding of the reasons why history is unavailing as an example of liberation or hope to the oppressed can ever successfully serve their interests and aspirations.