Indian Political Thinkers and Social Transformation: Buddha, Basavanna, Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar

Abstract

Indian political thought has mainly evolved through sustained engagement with social inequality rather than through abstract theorisation of the state. This paper examines the contributions of five major thinkers—Buddha, Basavanna, Jyotirao Phule, B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar—to traditions of social transformation in India. Spanning ancient, medieval and modern periods, these thinkers addressed the problem of caste as a central obstacle to social justice and democratic life. While their historical contexts and methods differed, they shared a common concern with dismantling hierarchies sustained through ritual authority, cultural domination and control over knowledge. The paper analyses their ideas through a comparative framework that focuses on ethical critique, rational intervention, institutional reform and cultural resistance. Buddha’s emphasis on moral conduct challenged birth-based hierarchy; Basavanna foregrounded the dignity of labour and collective deliberation; Phule exposed caste as a system of ideological and economic domination; Ambedkar translated social critique into constitutional and legal structures; and Periyar pursued cultural and rationalist mobilisation to dismantle internalised inequality. The study argues that these thinkers together form an indigenous anti-caste intellectual tradition that has significantly shaped India’s democratic imagination. Their ideas remain crucial for understanding contemporary debates on social justice, constitutional morality and the limits of formal political equality.