CONTEMPT FOR BUDDHISTS AS THE ROOT OF UNTOUCHABILITY
Contempt for Buddhists as the root of untouchability
CONTEMPT FOR BUDDHISTS AS THE ROOT OF UNTOUCHABILITY
THE Census Reports for India published by the Census Commissioner at the interval of every ten years from1870 onwards contain a wealth of information nowhere else to be found regarding the social and religious lifeof the people of India. Before the Census of 1910 the Census Commissioner had a column called ‘Population byReligion’. Under this heading the population was shown (1) Muslims, (2) Hindus, (3) Christians, etc. TheCensus Report for the year 1910 marked a new departure from the prevailing practice. For the first time itdivided the Hindus under three separate categories, (i) Hindus, (ii) Animists and Tribal, and (iii) theDepressed Classes or Untouchables. This new classification has been continued ever since.
This departure from the practice of the previous Census Commissioners raises three questions. First is whatled the Commissioner for the Census of 1910 to introduce this new classification. The second is what was thecriteria adopted as a basis for this classification. The third is what are the reasons for the growth ofcertain practices which justify the division of Hindus into three separate categories mentioned above.
The answer to the first question will be found in the address presented in 1909 by the Muslim Communityunder leadership of H.H. The Aga Khan to the then Viceroy, Lord Minto, in which they asked for a separate andadequate representation for the Muslim community in the legislature, executive and the public services.
In the address there occurs the following passage:
"The Mohamedans of India number, according to the census taken in the year 1901 over sixty-two millionsor between one-fifth and one-fourth of the total population of His Majesty’s Indian dominions, and if areduction be made for the uncivilised portions of the community enumerated under the heads of animist andother minor religions, as well as for those classes who are ordinarily classified as Hindus but properlyspeaking are not Hindus at all, the proportion of Mohamedans to the Hindu Majority becomes much larger. Wetherefore desire to submit that under any system of representation extended or limited a community in itselfmore numerous than the entire population of any first class European power except Russia may justly lay claimto adequate recognition as an important factor in the State.
"We venture, indeed, with Your Excellency’s permission to go a step further, and urge that the positionaccorded to the Mohamedan community in any kind of representation direct or indirect, and in all other wayseffecting their status and influence should be commensurate, not merely with their numerical strength but alsowith their political importance and the value of the contribution which they make to the defence of theempire, and we also hope that Your Excellency will in this connection be pleased to give due consideration tothe position which they occupied in India a little more than hundred years ago and of which the traditionshave naturally not faded from their minds."
The portion italicised by me has a special significance. It was introduced in the address to suggest thatin comprising the numerical strength of the Muslims with that of the Hindus the population of the animists,tribals and the Untouchables should be excluded. The reason for this new classification of 'Hindus' adopted bythe Census Commissioner in 1910 lies in this demand of the Muslim community for separate representation onaugmented scale. At any rate this is how the Hindus understood this demand
Interesting as it is, the first question as to why the Census Commissioner made this departure in thesystem of classification is of less importance than the second question. What is important is to know thebasis adopted by the Census Commissioner for separating the different classes of Hindus into (1) those whowere hundred per cent Hindus and (2) those who were not.
The basis adopted by the Census Commissioner for separation is to be found in the circular issued by theCensus Commissioner in which he laid down certain tests for the purpose distinguishing these two classes.Among those who were not hundred percent Hindus were included castes and tribes which:
(1) Deny the supremacy of the Brahmins.
(2) Do not receive the Mantra from a Brahmin or other recognized Hindu Guru.
(3) Deny the authority of the Vedas.
(4) Do not worship the Hindu gods.
(5) Are not served by good Brahmins as family priests.
(6) Have no Brahmin priests at all.
(7) Are denied access to the interior of the Hindu temples.
(8) Cause pollution (a) by touch, or (b) within a certain distance.
(9) Bury their dead.
(10) Eat beef and do no reverence for the cow.
Out of these ten tests some divide the Hindus from the Animists and the Tribal. The rest divide the Hindusfrom the Untouchables. Those that divide the Untouchables from the Hindus are (2), (5), (6), (7), and (10). Itis with them that we are chiefly concerned.
For the sake of clarity it is better to divide these tests into parts and consider them separately. ThisChapter will be devoted only to the consideration of (2), (5), and (6).
The replies received by the Census Commissioner to questions embodied in tests (2), (5) and (6) reveal (a)that the Untouchables do not receive the Mantra from a Brahmin; (b) that the Untouchables are not served bygood Brahmin priests at all; and (c) that Untouchables have their own priests reared from themselves. On thesefacts the Census Commissioners of all Provinces are unanimous.
Of the three questions the third is the most important. Unfortunately the Census Commissioner did notrealise this. For in making his inquiries he failed to go to the root of the matter to find out: Why were theUntouchables not receiving the Mantra from the Brahmin? Why Brahmins did not serve the Untouchables as theirfamily priests? Why do the Untouchables prefer to have their own priests? It is the ‘why’ of these factswhich is more important than the existence of these facts. It is the ‘why’ of these facts which must beinvestigated. For the clue to the origin of Untouchability lies hidden behind it.
Before entering upon this investigation, it must be pointed out that the inquiries by the CensusCommissioner were in a sense one-sided. They showed that the Brahmins shunned the Untouchables. They did notbring to light the fact that the Untouchables also shunned the Brahmins. Nonetheless, it is a fact. People areso much accustomed to thinking that the Brahmin is the superior of the Untouchables and the Untouchableaccepts himself as his inferior; that this statement that the Untouchables look upon the Brahmin as an impureperson is sure to come to them as a matter of great surprise. The fact has however been noted by many writerswho have observed and examined the social customs of the Untouchables. To remove any doubt on the point,attention is drawn to the following extracts from their writings.
The fact was noticed by Abbe Dubois who says:
"Even to this day a Pariah is not allowed to pass a Brahmin Street in a village, though nobody canprevent, or prevents, his approaching or passing by a Brahmin's house in towns. The Pariahs, on their partwill under no circumstances, allow a Brahmin to pass through their paracherries (collection of Pariah huts) asthey firmly believe it will lead to their ruin."
Mr. Hemingsway, the Editor of the Gazetteer of the Tanjore District says:
"These casts (Parayan and Pallan or Chakkiliyan castes of Tanjore District) strongly object to theentrance of a Brahmin into their quarters believing that harm will result to them therefrom."
Speaking of the Holeyas of the Hasan District of Mysore, Captain J.S.F. Mackenzie says:
"Every village has its Holigiri as the quarters inhabited by the Holiars, formerly agrestic serfs, iscalled outside the village boundary hedge. This, I thought was because they were considered as impure race,whose touch carries defilement with it."
Such is the reason generally given by the Brahmins who refuse to receive anything directly from the handsof a Holiar, and yet the Brahmins consider great luck will wait upon them if they can manage to pass throughthe Holigiri without being molested. To this Holiars have a strong objection, and, should a Brahmin attempt toenter their quarters, they turn out in a body and slipper him, in former times, it is said, to death. Membersof the other castes may come as far as the door, but they must not enter the house, for that would bring theHoliar bad luck. If, by chance, a person happens to get in, the owner takes care to tear the intruder's cloth,tie up some salt in one corner of it, and turn him out. This is supposed to neutralise all the good luck whichmight have accrued to the trespasser, and avert any evil which ought to have befallen the owner of the house.
What is the explanation of this strange phenomenon? The explanation must of course fit in with thesituation as it stood at the start, i.e., when the Untouchables were not Untouchables but were only
This antipathy can be explained on one hypothesis. It is that the Broken Men were Buddhists. As such theydid not revere the Brahmins, did not employ them as their priests and regarded them as impure. The Brahmin onthe other hand disliked the Broken Men because they were Buddhists and preached against them contempt andhatred with the result that the Broken Men came to be regarded as Untouchables.
We have no direct evidence that the Broken Men were Buddhists. No evidence is as a matter of fact necessarywhen the majority of Hindus were Buddhists. We may take it that they were.
That there existed hatred and abhorrence against the Buddhists in the mind of the Hindus and that thisfeeling was created by the Brahmins is not without support.
Nilkant in his Prayaschit Mayukha a verse from Manu which says:
"If a person touches a Buddhist or a flower of Pachupat, Lokayata, Nastika and Mahapataki, he shallpurify himself by a bath."
The same doctrine is preached by Apararka in his Smriti. Vradha Harit goes further and declares entry intothe Buddhist Temple as sin requiring a purificatory bath for removing the impurity.
How widespread had become this spirit of hatred and contempt against the followers of Buddha can beobserved from the scenes depicted in Sanskrit dramas. The most striking illustration of this attitude towardsthe Buddhists is to be found in the Mricchakatika. In Act VII of that Drama the hero Charudatta and his friendMaitreya are shown waiting for Vasantasena in the park outside the city. She fails to turn up and Charudattadecides to leave the park. As they are leaving, they seethe Buddhist monk by name Samvahaka. On seeing him,Charudatta says:
"Friend Maitreya, I am anxious to meet Vasantsena ... Come, let us go. (After walking a little) Ah !here's aninauspicious sight, a Buddhist monk coming towards us. (After a little reflection) well, let him comethis way, we shall follow this other path. (Exit.)"
In Act VIII the monk is in the Park of Sakara, the King's brother-in-law, washing his clothes in a pool.Sakara accompanied by Vita turns up and threatens to kill the monk. The following conversation between them isrevealing:
"Sakara: Stay, you wicked monk.
Monk: Ah! Here’s the king’s brother-in-law! Because some monk has offended him, he now beats up anymonk he happens to met.
Sakara: Stay, I will now break your head as one breaks a radish in a tavern. (Beats him).
Vita: Friend, it is not proper to beat a monk who has put on the saffron-robes, being disgusted with theworld.
Monk: (Welcomes) Be pleased, lay brother.
Sakara: Friend, see. He is abusing me.
Vita: What does he say?
Sakara: He calls me lay brother (upasaka). Am I a barber?
Vita: Oh! He is really praising you as a devotee of the Buddha.
Sakara: Why has he come here?
Monk: To wash these clothes.
Sakara: Ah! you wicked monk. Even I myself do not bathe in this pool; I shall kill you with one stroke."
After a lot of beating, the monk is allowed to go. Here is a Buddhist monk in the midst of the Hindu crowd.He is shunned and avoided. The feeling of disgust against him is so great that the people even shun the roadthe monk is travelling. The feeling of repulsion is so intense that the entry of the Buddhist was enough tocause the exit of the Hindus. The Buddhist monk is on a par with the Brahmin. A Brahmin is immune from deathpenalty. He is even free from corporal punishment. But the Buddhist monk is beaten and assaulted withoutremorse, without compunction as though there was nothing wrong in it.
If we accept that the Broken Men were the followers of Buddhism and did not care to return to Brahmanismwhen it became triumphant over Buddhism as easily as other did, we have an explanation for both the questions.It explains why the Untouchables regard the Brahmins as inauspicious, do not employ them as their priest anddo not even allow them to enter into their quarters. It also explains why the Broken Men came to be regardedas Untouchables. The Broken Men hated the Brahmins because the Brahmins were the enemies of Buddhism and theBrahmins imposed untouchability upon the Broken Men because they would not leave Buddhism. On this reasoningit is possible to conclude that one of the roots of untouchability lies in the hatred and contempt which theBrahmins created against those who were Buddhist.
Can the hatred between Buddhism and Brahmanism be taken to be the sole cause why Broken Men becameUntouchables? Obviously, it cannot be. The hatred and contempt preached by the Brahmins was directed againstBuddhists in general and not against the Broken Men in particular. Since untouchability stuck to Broken Menonly, it is obvious that there was some additional circumstance which has played its part in fasteninguntouchability upon the Broken Men. What could that circumstance have been? We must next direct our effort inascertaining it.
(Excerpted from Chapter 9 of B.R. Ambedkar’s 1948 work The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why TheyBecame Untouchables? as reprinted in Volume 7 of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches,published by Government of Maharashtra 1990. Copyright: Secretary, Education Department, Government ofMaharashtra.)