Introspecting Aloud

Why convert

Powerful, well reasoned arguments made to the untouchables in 1936 by Dr. Ambedkar, persuading them to convert from Hinduism. Vitriol for die-hard Hindus, but a fascinating read. I should read up more about this man.

An excerpt,

A congenital idiot alone will say that one has to adhere to one’s religion because it is that of our ancestors. No sane man will accept such a proposition. Those who advocate such an argument, seem not to have read the history at all. The ancient Aryan religion was called Vedic religion. It has three distinct characteristic (features). Beef-eating, drinking and merry-making was part of the religion of the day. Thousands of people followed it in India and even now some people dream of going back to it. If the ancient religion alone is to be adhered to why did the people of India leave Hinduism and accept Buddhism? Why did they divorce themselves from the Vedic religion?… Thus this Hindu religion is not the religion of our ancestors, but it was a slavery forced upon them..

The description of Vedic religion sounds a bit new to me, especially the part about the beef eating. A little digging around showed me quite a few interesting post about that, none of them very authoritative mind you, but Dr. Ambedkar’s points were not too incorrect. This cooking site(?) gave a nice summary on beef eating in India over the ages. And this is an extract from an interview with Swami Vivekanada. That is surely more authentic!