Past Imperfect Episode 10: Ashok Gopal on the Life and Thought of B. R. Ambedkar

In B. R. Ambedkar, India possessed a phenomenal intellectual powerhouse. Drawing on ideas and thinkers from the subcontinent and around the world, he stirred India’s conscience, pointing to the devastating legacies of caste and untouchability while raising urgent questions about the viability of democracy in India. Ambedkar’s ideas could be unsettling and uncomfortable—and that is precisely why he remains so relevant today. In A Part Apart, Ashok Gopal has written the definitive English-language biography of Ambedkar, the product of fifteen years of close research and study. Gopal’s book charts the evolution of Ambedkar’s career and thought: from his engagement with Hindu social reform to his embrace of Buddhism as a religion truly compatible with social democracy.