Abstract

The caste system has long been one of the most debated and defining structures of Indian society shaping social relations power dynamics economic structures and cultural identities for centuries. Two of the most influential intellectuals who engaged with the caste question in the twentieth century were Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Although they emerged from starkly different social backgrounds ideological trajectories and political commitments both thinkers addressed the caste system with remarkable depth and conviction. Their analyses reveal both striking divergences and surprising areas of unanimity. On the one hand Ambedkar critiqued caste as a system of structural inequality rooted in religious doctrine hierarchical oppression and social stagnation. On the other hand Savarkar condemned caste discrimination as a divisive cultural weakness but viewed caste primarily as a social formation that could be reformed redefined or subordinated to the greater unity of