Annihilation Of Caste (Part VIII-X)

Part VIII

Caste prevents the uplift and incorporation of “The Aboriginal Tribes”

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The recent discussion about excluded and partially included areas has served to draw attention to the status of tribal tribes in India. Their number is about 13 lakhs.

  Apart from the question of whether their exclusion from the new constitution is justified or unjustified, the fact remains that these tribals remain in their primitive uncivilized state in a country claiming to be thousands of years old civilization.

  Not only are they uncivilized, but some of them commit acts that have led to them being classified as criminals.

Thirteen million people living in the middle of civilization are still in a savage situation and living the lives of hereditary criminals!! But Hindus were never ashamed of this. This is a phenomenon that is absolutely unmatched in my (babasaheb) opinion.

What is the reason for this embarrassing situation? Why has no effort been made to civilize these tribals and lead them to adopt a more dignified way of living? Hindus would probably attribute this savages condition of the tribals to innate stupidity. They will probably not accept that the tribals have remained savages because they did not make any effort to civilize them, to give them medical aid, to reform them, to make them good citizens.

Whatever the Christian missionary is doing for these tribals, are the Hindus also doing the same? Not in my (Babasaheb) opinion. To civilize the tribals means to make them your own, to live among them and to create sympathy, in short, to love them. How is it possible for a Hindu to do this? His whole life is made to save his caste. Caste is his precious asset which he must protect at all costs.

Caste is the real explanation as to why the Hindu has allowed the tribal people to live in a wild in the midst of their civilization without any sense of shame or remorse.

 The Hindu has not realized that these tribals are a source of potential danger. If these tribals remain, they will not do any harm to the Hindus. But if they were recaptured by non-Hindus and converted to their religions, they would rise in the ranks of the enemies of the Hindus. If this happens then the Hindu will have to thank themselves and their  caste system.

 

Part IX

The higher castes have conspired to keep “The Lower Castes Down”

Not only have the Hindus made no effort to civilize the tribal people, but the upper caste Hindus have deliberately prevented the lower castes from rising to their cultural level. I (Babasaheb) will give two examples, one of Sonar and the other of Pathare Prabhu. Both the communities are quite famous in Maharashtra.

Like the rest of the communities, who wanted to elevate their status, these two communities were trying to adopt some of the ways and habits of the Brahmins at one time. Sonar was styling themselves as divine brahmins wearing folded dhoti and used the word namaskar to greet. "Namaskar" and the way of wearing the dhoti were both special to the Brahmins.

 The Brahmins did not like this imitation. The Brahmins under the authority of the Peshwas successfully thwarted Sonar's attempt to adopt the methods of the Brahmins. He also obtained the chairmanship of the councils of the East India Company's settlement in Bombay to issue an injunction against the Somers living in Bombay.

Hindus criticize Muslims for spreading their religion using the sword. They also criticize Christianity on the basis of the Inquisition.

 But who is really better and more deserving of our respect – Muslims and Christians who embraced unwilling individuals as their own or Hindus who would not spread the light, who would try to keep others in the dark, who lost their intellectual and social heritage. Wouldn't agree to share with those who are ready and willing to make it their own?

 I (Babasaheb) have no hesitation in saying that if a Muslim has been cruel then a Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty.

Part X

Caste Prevents Hinduism From Being “A Missionary religion”

Whether or not Hinduism was a missionary religion has been a controversial issue. Some are of the opinion that it was never a missionary religion. Others believe it was. That Hinduism was once a missionary religion should be accepted. Had it not been a missionary religion, it could not have spread in India itself. And today it is not a missionary religion it is also a fact that must be accepted.

So the question is not whether Hinduism was a missionary religion or not. The real question is why Hinduism ceased to be a missionary religion? My answer is this. Hinduism ceased to be a missionary religion as the caste system grew among Hindus.

Caste is incompatible with conversion. The inclusion of beliefs and dogmas is not the only problem involved in conversion. Finding a place for conversion in the social life of the community is another and much more important problem that arises in relation to conversion.

The problem is where to put the convert, in which caste? This is a problem that baffles every Hindu wishing to convert someone to their religion. Unlike clubs, membership of a caste is not open to all. The law of caste restricts its membership to the person born in the caste. Castes are autonomous and there is no right anywhere to compel a caste to accept a new person in its social life.

Hindu society is a collection of castes and each caste being a close corporation has no place for converts. Thus it is caste that has prevented Hindus from expanding and assimilating other religious communities. Hinduism cannot be made a missionary religion as long as caste is there and purification would be both foolishness and futility.