A Controversial Book Dealing With Revelations About Gandhi

This book actually deals with two figures.  It's called The Doctor and the Saint by  Arundhati Roy.  The "Saint" figure is Gandhi.  The other is Dr.  Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.  He will be referred to as Ambedkar for the remainder of this review.

 I got this book from the library, but it's the publisher that probably caused me to request it. I get e-mails from Haymarket Books.  Haymarket describes themselves on their website as a radical independent publisher.  Arundhati Roy surely does take a radical independent perspective on Gandhi.  I was overwhelmed by revelations.   This book caused me to totally re-evaluate him.                                    
                                  

The Doctor and the Saint  was originally written as an introduction to Ambedkar's book The Annihilation of Caste which was intended to be given as a speech.  The organization that invited Ambedkar to speak disinvited him after they read the advance copy.

My view of Hinduism had never focused on castes, but rather on the deities who are worshiped in Hindu temples.  I used to attend rituals at a Hindu  temple in the United States. I watched the priests bathe and dress the statues that were representations of the Gods.  I also heard the Hindu priests tell stories about the Gods before the rituals.  I thought that the Hinduism that I experienced was a wonderful religion.

Sometimes news happens that is relevant to the book that I'm writing about on this blog.  A  Canadian Sikh who was in favor of making part of India into an independent Sikh nation was murdered on 9/18 which is when I started this post. (Sikhism is a religion that began in the Punjab region of India in the 15th century. ) So this killing has impacted the relationship between Canada and India. Canada has stopped negotiating a trade deal with India.

In The Doctor and the Saint, it's stated that there is a belief that Hindus who convert to Sikhism are no longer part of the caste system.  It seems likely that the murdered Canadian Sikh who wanted to establish a Sikh nation on what is now the territory of India, was probably from India.  An independent Sikh nation where there are no castes would definitely be a magnet for Hindus of the "Untouchable" caste who would instantly want to become Sikhs.

The Doctor and the Saint did mainly focus on the impact of  Hinduism on the lowest status people known as "Untouchables".  The rampant prejudice, discrimination and violence against them would be regarded as offensive to all readers who believe in justice and human equality.  Gandhi's participation in Hindu attitudes  toward the Dalits who are called "Untouchables" for most of his life made him seem more like a fascist to me than a saint.  The author, Arundhati Roy, called Gandhi "the saint of the status quo".  Anyone who admires Gandhi, as I did before I read this book, should take The Doctor and the Saint's perspective on Gandhi into consideration.  This book deserves to be graded A.  I will give it five stars on Goodreads.