Understanding Caste: From Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond

Born in Minneapolis, USA, Gail Omvedt is an Indian citizen. She has an MA and PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has been living in India since 1978, settled in Kasegaon Village in southern Maharashtra, with her husband, Bharat Patankar, and other members of an Indian joint family. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Among her numerous books focusing on social and economic issues are Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and Caste (2003), Dalits Visions (1995), Dalits and the Democratic Revolution (1994), Reinventing Revolution: New Social movements and the Socialist Tradition in India (1993) and Cultural Revolt in a Colonial Society: The Non-Brahman Movement in Maharashtra (1966). Of late, she has been involved in translations from the Marathi into English in collaboration with Bharat Patankar. If Gandhi was Bapu, the father of a society in which he tried to inject equality while maintaining the Hindu framework, Ambedkar was Baba to his people and the great liberator from that framework.