Riddles in Hinduism by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar A Comprehensive Summary with A Rationale for Every Indian to Read This Work "The soul of India lives in its villages and its oppressed." — Dr. B. R. Ambedkar About the Author Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956) was one of the most towering intellectuals India has ever produced. Born into a Dalit (Mahar) family in British India, he overcame extreme social discrimination to earn doctorates from Columbia University (New York) and the London School of Economics. He was the principal architect of the Constitution of India, the country's first Law Minister, and a lifelong crusader for the rights of the oppressed. Riddles in Hinduism was written in the 1950s and was published posthumously. It represents Ambedkar's most thorough, scholarly, and unsparing examination of the foundations of Hinduism — its scriptures, its theology, its soci...
A n overview of B.R. Ambedkar’s Riddles in Hinduism , a critical examination of the internal contradictions found within Hindu scriptures and traditions. The concept of Hindu identity is characterized by a "religious chaos" that makes it nearly impossible for a practitioner to define their faith through a single unifying creed. Unlike other major religions with definite founders or singular scriptures, Hinduism shelters a complex congeries of monotheists, polytheists, and even those who worship tutelary deities of rocks and streams. A central pillar of this system is the authority of the Vedas , which the Brahmins declared to be infallible and Apaurusheya , asserting they were not created by man. To establish this, they utilized the logic of the Purva Mimansa , arguing that since sound is eternal and words are made of sound, the Vedas must be eternal and uncreated by any personal agency, whether human or divine. However, this supremacy was a historical shift; early Dh...