Incarnations: India in 50 Lives

Bhimrao Ambedkar: Building Palaces on Dung Heaps


Listen Later

Professor Sunil Khilnani, from the King's India Institute, looks at the life of Bhimrao Ambedkar, champion of the community previously known as 'untouchables' whom he renamed as Dalits. Ambedkar, who was a Dalit himself and fought against caste discrimination. His face can be found on posters, paintings and coloured tiles in tens of millions of Dalit homes. To Indian schoolchildren, he is the man who wrote the country’s constitution; and to India’s politicians he is a public emblem of how far India has come in addressing the blight of caste. "Both readings simultaneously exaggerate and ghettoize Ambedkar’s contribution," says Professor Khilnani. "He was a sophisticated, long-sighted Constitutional collaborator whose interests extended past caste to the very structure and psychology of Indian democracy."

Producer: Mark Savage

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Incarnations: India in 50 LivesBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

66 ratings


More shows like Incarnations: India in 50 Lives

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,770 Listeners

The Archers by BBC Radio 4

The Archers

1,098 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,068 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,465 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,826 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,811 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,049 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

2,073 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,224 Listeners

The Bomb by BBC World Service

The Bomb

1,044 Listeners