How did the Manusmriti bind Friedrich Nietzsche and B.R. Ambedkar in a tangle? How and why do they come to radically different conclusions about the Manusmriti? While Nietzsche bestowed glowing praise on this text in 1895, Ambedkar consigned a copy of it to flames in 1927. In The Ambedkar–Nietzsche Provocations: The Genius of the Chandala and the Gospel of the Superman, author Ankit Kawade, recipient of the Navayana Dalit History Fellowship, comes to terms with these contradictions. Here’s an edited excerpt from the Introduction, where Kawade explains how and why he came to yoke the two contrarian thinkers.
During my time as an undergraduate in Pune from 2013 to 2016, I often walked past a plush duplex house named “Manusmruti”. This homage to the ancient Brahmanic lawbook, Manusmriti or Manavadharmasastra, was unusual. The owner named on the plaque was a high-caste Hindu woman. What may have caused her to name her house after a 2000-year-old text notorious for its derogatory treatment of women and non-Brahmins?
The disparaging views expressed in the Manusmriti about a large section of humanity are no longer a secret. In November 2022, Tamil Nadu’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, an anti-caste political party from southern India, distributed 100,000 copies of a 32-page booklet containing excerpts from the Manusmriti for free. Thol. Thirumavalavan, the...
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