Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Untouchables

When I read the passage about untouchability in India I remembered a podcast I came across a while back in the summer about this same subject. Though a little dry, the podcast is extremely interesting and offers a new perspective on the untouchables and how they were viewed by Gandhi. The story in the podcast describes Gandhi as a supporter of keeping the caste system out of fear of destroying Hinduism. A man named Ambedkar is seen as the true untouchable hero and worked hard to demolish the caste system. Ambedkar gained support of Britain for his cause and as a result Gandhi began one of his famous fasts. Anyway, I think this is a worthwhile podcast to listen to even if it is 30ish minutes. I learned a lot.

National Geographic Magazine: "India's Untouchables"
http://podcastmedia.nationalgeographic.com/bestofngm/pc5_untouchables.mp3

1 comment:

Terry D said...

Thanks for linking this. I thought it was really interesting and helped me to understand more about the caste system and India.