Annihilation of Caste is one of the most important, yet often neglected, works of political writing from India. Written in 1936 by B.R. Ambedkar, it is a bold denunciation of Hinduism and its caste system.

Ambedkar, a figure comparable to W.E.B. Du Bois, offers a scholarly critique of Hindu scriptures that sanction a rigidly hierarchical and unjust social system. The world's best-known Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi, publicly responded to this provocation, and the debate between them remains unresolved.

This edition is extensively annotated and includes an introduction by Arundhati Roy, titled "The Doctor and the Saint." Roy examines the persistence of caste in modern India and explores the enduring conflict between Ambedkar and Gandhi. She traces Gandhi's political career beginnings in South Africa, where his views on race, caste, and imperialism were shaped, and follows Ambedkar's rise as a major political figure.

Roy breathes new life into Ambedkar's anti-caste utopia, asserting that without a Dalit revolution, India will continue to be hindered by systemic inequality.