Abstract
This chapter moves beyond a discussion of the conflicts and the incommensurability between Ambedkar and Gandhi’s contrary understandings of the self, community, justice, history and the ‘it’ so happened of itihaas. The chapter brings out insights about why it might be necessary to countenance the theoretical and practical possibilities for extending the understanding of suffering/duhkha from those born into the community which suffers to all those to whom such an experience is at the very least intelligible. Moving between the debate between Gandhi and Ambedkar, and the much later essays put together by Professor Guru and Professor Sarukkai (2012), this chapter will suggest that the possibilities of generosity lie both in the realm of theory and those of polity. In the context of theory, one can argue that it is necessary to make ideas about experience/reality available as theory which can be applied to understand experiences no matter to whom such experiences might (or might not) belong. In the context of polity, the chapter suggests that one can break out of the circle of suspicion only by locating something to trust. In this connection, it brings in arguments from Rabindranath Tagore as an ever present third in the debate between Ambedkar and Gandhi.
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Notes
- 1.
Gandhi 1888−1948, refers to the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. The volume concerned and the page numbers from which citations from Gandhi are drawn have been mentioned within parentheses. These have been mentioned to indicate the exact location of the quotation in the electronic edition of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi. However, for the purposes of reference, it may be noted that I have resourced these volumes from the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Volumes 1 to 98. New Delhi: Publications Division Government of India, 1999. Accessed online in May 2021 at https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/collected-works-of-mahatma-gandhi-volume-1-to-98.php.
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Puri, B. (2022). In Conclusion: Owners and Authors. Of Surplus, Generosity and Trust. In: The Ambedkar–Gandhi Debate. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8686-3_6
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