Evening star., 1947-05-13

About fortnight ago, editorial writers
and commentators here in America waxed
lyric over press dispatch from India. The
story was that the Assembly now sitting to
write g. constitution for India had voted the
following clause @Untouchability in any form
is abolished and the imposition Of any dis
ability on that account shall be an o6ense."
That brief declaration represents an attempt
to do away with one of the most ancient and
deep-rooted systems of human inequality that
the world has ever known This is the Hindu
caste system, whereby more than 250,000,0o0
Indians are graded according to birth into q
series of categories ranging from the lordly
Brahmins to the "Untouchables Pariahs.
or people Of no-caste, whose very shadow Is
defling to their caste superiors and who are
condemned to rigid social segregation and
economic restriction to the lowest and most
revolving occupations. Since there are more
than 5O,00OO00 Of these Untouchables, they
constitute q tremendous problem
How did this stratification Of Hindu society
come about? The answer runs back more
than 5000 years to the Aryan invasion OF
india The Aryans. fair skinned people,
sought to perpetuate their ascendancy over
the dark skinned aborigines by system of
religious sanctions, known as caste. Orig
inally it was color line the ancient Sanskrit
word for caste being Varna, which means
color" The two upper castes were the
Brahnlins, or priests, and the Warriors. These
categories were monopolized by the Aryans
The lower castes fell to the aborigines. But
If any one broke caste rules, he was penalized
by the terrible punishment Of "outcasting." !"
He became a person Of no caste, with no
rights which even the lowest caste man need
respect The present Untouchables are the
descendants OF those unfortunates
Equality Under Mohammedanism.
This caste system has undoubtedly been
the main cause of Indias weakness. which has
made it the prey to a series OF foreign con-
querors 1t has certainly been the reason
why the Mohammedan invaders who came be-
fore the British have been able to convert
so large a proportion OF the population; be-
cause Islam is the most democratic OF all
religions, its motto being: "All believers are
brothers" :, That is why there are today
nearly 100 900 Moslems in India, mostly
descended from converts from Hinduism.
The modern nationalistic movement In India
Is mainly Hindu. It Is dominated by the
Brahmns and other high-caste elements and
is hostile not only to the present British rulers
but also to the Mohammedans. But there Is
one weakness in the Hindu bloc. This Is the
Untouchables. For them the British were
protectors Although the British made no
attempt to interfere with strictly religious
matters, they did safeguard the life and
property of the lowliest Pariah against the
Iordliest Brahmin-a tremendous change from
former days.
So. when the Brahmin- dominated national
ist movement arose. the Untouchables inevi-
tably asked themselves what their fate would
be in an India wherein impartial British rule
had been relaced by regime under high
caste direction and control. Fear OF future
exploitation at the hands of tyrannlcal
Brahmin ohgarchy led the Untouchables to
organize under capable leaders.
This political awakening Of India's 50,O0O,-
600 Untouchables spelled the emergence OF .