jyotirao phule was the shudras was dedicated to whom.
who were the shudras was dedicated to whom?
jyotirao phule
who were the shudras?





























who were the shudras? is a history book published by indian social reformer and polymath b. r. ambedkar in 1946. the book discusses the origin of the shudra varna. ambedkar dedicated the book to jyotirao phule (1827–1890).





























section::::subject of the book.





























in the book ambedkar, citing rigveda, mahabharata and other ancient vedic scriptures, estimates that the shudras were originally aryans. they were a part of the kshatriya varna. 





























ambedkar writes in the preface of the book,
who were the shudras?
""...such an inference is without any foundation, for the shudras of the indo-aryan society are absolutely different in race from the shudras of the hindu society. the shudras of the hindu society are not the racial descendants of the shudras of the indo-aryan society. this confusion has arisen because of the failure to realise that the meaning of the word 'shudras' in the indo-aryan society is quite different from the meaning it has in the hindu society. in the indo-aryans the word shudra was proper name of one single people. it was the name of a people who belonged to a particular race. the word shudra, as used in the hindu society, is not a proper name at all. it is an epithet for a low uncultured class of people. it is a general cognomen of a miscellaneous and heterogeneous collection of tribes and groups, who have nothing in common except that they happen to be on a lower plane of culture. it is wrong to call them by the name shudras. they have very little to do with their namesakes of the aryan society, who had offended the brahmins. it is a pity that these innocent and backward people of later days have been rolled up with the original shudras and subjected to the same penalties for which they had given no cause.""
who were the shudras?