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No Laughing Matter: The Ambedkar Cartoons, 1932–1956 gathers a selection of historical cartoons featuring B. R. Ambedkar and argues that recurring ways of mocking him can reveal caste privilege and misogyny. Edited and selected by Unnamati Syama Sundar, the book is a political reading of those images—not a neutral, exhaustive history of Indian cartooning.
What the book contains
Published by Navayana, No Laughing Matter collects 122 cartoons featuring Ambedkar from 1932 to 1956, according to a 2019 Hindustan Times review. The selection is mostly cartoons from English-language publications. As Scroll.in’s review describes it, the book follows Ambedkar’s emergence as a Dalit leader, his work on the Constitution’s Drafting Commission and his time as law minister. Historical context and Sundar’s commentary accompany the images.
The Indian Express’s 2019 listing identifies the book as 408 pages. A 2025 review listing gives the paperback ISBN as 9788189059880 and a publication date of 20 May 2019; its listed Rs 599 price is historical, not a verified current price. The Indian Express and TheDaak provide those bibliographic details.
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How Sundar reads the cartoons
Sundar and the reviewers describe recurring caricatures that shrink Ambedkar, make him seem childish or feminized, sexually degrade him, or cast him as opportunistic or disloyal. Their argument is that such images should be read in the context of caste privilege and the political conflicts of the period. Scroll’s reviewer also points to misogyny as a recurring element, while Hindustan Times notes that some cartoons give other leaders greater stature or dignity than Ambedkar.
This is an interpretation of a selected corpus, not proof that every cartoonist shared the same intent or that every image works in the same way. A cartoon’s target, visual joke and political context need to be considered image by image. The collection’s commentary, as described in the reviews, places ridicule alongside issues such as Ambedkar’s opposition to Gandhi, constitutional work, the Hindu Code Bill, his resignation from cabinet and his decision to leave Hinduism for Buddhism.
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Why context matters to the joke
A cartoon can turn a serious political disagreement into a gag, but identifying the disagreement is essential to judging what the gag does. In an excerpt reproduced by Scroll, Sundar cautions that a cartoon about temple entry and Ambedkar’s place on the Viceroy’s Executive Council may not mean what a quick glance suggests. He says the intended comedy is uncertain, rather than claiming a settled explanation. That qualification is useful: the book’s argument invites scrutiny of visual choices without pretending that a reader can always recover an artist’s intention.
The 2012 NCERT cartoon controversy
The project grew out of renewed attention to a cartoon in an NCERT Class XI textbook: Jawaharlal Nehru holds a whip while Ambedkar rides a snail. Hindustan Times’s account of the controversy describes a dispute involving offence, caste, pedagogy and freedom of expression. The question is not only whether a cartoon should be permitted, but also who has power to shape public discourse and whose historical experience is marginalized when a joke enters a classroom.
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That context helps explain why Sundar’s book treats the cartoons as more than isolated examples of wit. It asks readers to consider the unequal social and political setting in which Ambedkar was represented and how caricature can reinforce or challenge that setting.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the book does not claim
Scroll’s review notes that the book does not set out to fill the broader academic gap in the study of cartoonists, nor does it provide an exhaustive index of archival cartoons. It gives comparatively little attention to cartoonists’ identities, careers and differing positions. Sundar describes the project as having a political imperative rather than an academic research agenda. The resulting scope is important: this is a committed interpretation of a selected set of images, not a comprehensive institutional history or complete archive of Indian political cartooning.
Readers looking for an archival catalogue or a full account of the cartoonists will need a different kind of work. Readers interested in how cartoons of Ambedkar may encode caste and gender politics will find the book’s central question: who gets to laugh, at whom, and under what social conditions?
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