What’s your ism? Suniti Bhikkuni on caste, gender and Buddhism

What's your ism? is a podcast about ideas and ideologies that claim to liberate the world and somehow always fall short. TNM's Sudipto Mondal and his guests grapple with impressive sounding isms -- Marxism, Feminism, Ambedkarism, religious systems -- and their inherent contradictions. An attempt to understand academics, activists, politicians, artists, rebels and wannabe revolutionaries who are in search of grand unified theories to solve the problems of the world.

Season 1, Episode 3

Bhante Suniti Bhikkuni is the founder of India’s first order of ‘Bhikkunis’ or female monks, a small group of committed Ambedkarite Dalit women who are striving to carve out an identity for themselves within the larger anti-caste movement. She talks about the dilemmas of associating with men and identifying with what passes for Navayana or Ambedkarite Buddhism in the country. She also shared insights about the two main strains of Buddhism: Hinayana and Mahayana.