Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition

by B.R. Ambedkar

Modern science has shown that the lumping together of individuals into a few sharply marked-off classes is a superficial view of man, not worthy of serious consideration. Consequently, the utilisation of the qualities of individuals is incompatible with their stratification by classes, since the qualities of individuals are so variable. Chaturvarnya must fail for the very reason for which Plato’s Republic must fail—namely, that it is not possible to pigeon men into holes according to class.93 That it is impossible to accurately classify people into four definite classes is proved by the fact that the original four classes have now become four thousand castes.