Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
No Hindu community, however low, will touch cow's flesh. On the other hand, there is no community which is really an Untouchable community which has not something to do with the dead cow. Some eat her flesh, some remove the skin, some manufacture articles out of her skin and bones.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the complex relationship between communities and the taboo surrounding cows in Hindu society.
B. R. Ambedkar's quote addresses the deep-seated social structures within Hindu communities, emphasizing that even the so-called 'Untouchables' engage with the dead cow in various ways, contradicting the notion of their complete separation from the higher status castes. It reveals the irony of social discrimination, as every group, regardless of their perceived purity or status, is connected to the life cycles of cows, thus questioning the foundations of caste-based untouchability.
Themes
CasteUntouchableSocietyHinduismDiscrimination
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the caste system in India, this quote can be used to illustrate the paradox of untouchability.
More from B. R. Ambedkar
All quotes →Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellow men.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Law and Order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.
B. R. AmbedkarRead
Similar quotes
Can there be in our age any peace that is not honorable, any war that is not dishonorable?
Charles SumnerRead
Insurrection. An unsuccessful revolution; disaffection's failure to substitute misrule for bad government.
Ambrose BierceRead
I would say any behavior that is not the status quo is interpreted as insanity, when, in fact, it might actually be enlightenment. Insanity is sorta in the eye of the beholder.
Chuck PalahniukRead
I was never an assimilationist. I always thought gays had some special mission.
Edmund WhiteRead
The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it.
Henry David ThoreauRead
The correct description is that we try every day to become more humble when we talk about divinity, we try to realize how little we know and how open minded we should be. It's self centered to think that human beings, as limited as we are, can describe divinity.
John TempletonRead