VIII
The
recent discussion about the excluded and partially included areas has served to
draw attention to the position of what are called the aboriginal tribes in
India. They number about 13 million if not more. Apart from the questions
whether their exclusion from the new Constitution is proper or improper, the
fact still remains that these aborigines have remained in their primitive
uncivilized State in a land which boasts of a civilization thousands of years
old. Not only are they not civilized but some of them follow pursuits which
have led to their being classified as criminals. Thirteen millions of people
living in the midst of civilization are still in a savage state and are leading
the life of hereditary criminals! But the Hindus have never felt ashamed of it.
This is a phenomenon which in my view is quite unparalleled. What is the cause
of this shameful state of affairs? Why has no attempt been made to civilize
these aborigines and to lead them to take to a more honourable way of making a living?
The Hindus will probably seek to account for this savage state of the
aborigines by attributing to them congenital stupidity. They will probably not
admit that the aborigines have remained savages because they had made no effort
to civilize them, to give them medical aid, to reform them, to make them good
citizens. But supposing a Hindu wished to do what the Christian missionary is
doing for these aborigines, could he have done it? I submit not. Civilizing the
aborigines means adopting them as your own, living in their midst, and
cultivating fellow-feeling, in short loving them. How is it possible for a
Hindu to do this? His whole life is one anxious effort to preserve his caste.
Caste is his precious possession which he must save at any cost. He cannot
consent to lose it by establishing contact with the aborigines the remnants of
the hateful Anaryas of the Vedic days. Not that a Hindu could not be
taught the sense of duty to fallen humanity, but the trouble is that no amount
of sense of duty can enable him to overcome his duty to preserve his caste. Caste
is, therefore, the real explanation as to why the Hindu has let the savage
remain a savage in the midst of his civilization without blushing or without
feeling any sense of remorse or repentance. The Hindu has not realized that
these aborigines are a source of potential danger. If these savages remain
savages they may not do any harm to the Hindus. But if they are reclaimed by
non-Hindus and converted to their faiths they will swell the ranks of the
enemies of the Hindus. If this happens the Hindu will have to thank himself and
his Caste System.
IX
Not
only has the Hindu made no effort for the humanitarian cause of civilizing the
savages but the higher-caste Hindus have deliberately prevented the lower
castes who are within the pale of Hinduism from rising to the cultural level of
the higher castes. I will give two instances, one of the Sonars and the other
of the Pathare Prabhus. Both are communities quite well-known in Maharashtra.
Like the rest of the communities desiring to raise their status these two
communities were at one time endeavouring to adopt some of the ways and habits
of the Brahmins. The Sonars were styling themselves Daivadnya Brahmins and were
wearing their “dhotis” with folds on and using the word namaskar for
salutation. Both, the folded way of wearing the “dhoti” and the namaskar were
special to the Brahmins. The Brahmins did not like this imitation and this
attempt by Sonars to pass off as Brahmins. Under the authority of the Peshwas
the Brahmins successfully put down this attempt on the part of the Sonars to
adopt the ways of the Brahmins. They even got the President of the Councils of
the East India Company’s settlement in Bombay to issue a prohibitory order
against the Sonars residing in Bombay. At one time the Pathare Prabhus had
widow-remarriage as a custom of their caste. This custom of widow-remarriage
was later on looked upon as a mark of social inferiority by some members of the
caste especially because it was contrary to the custom prevalent among the
Brahmins. With the object of raising the status of their community some Pathare
Prabhus sought to stop this practice of widow-remarriage that was prevalent in
their caste. The community was divided into two camps, one for and the other
against the innovation. The Peshwas took the side of those in favour of
widow-remarriage and thus virtually prohibited the Pathare Prabhus from
following the ways of the Brahmins. The Hindus criticise the Mohammedans for
having spread their religion by the use of the sword. They also ridicule
Christianity on the score of the inquisition. But really speaking who is better
and more worthy of our respect—the Mohammedans and Christians who attempted to
thrust down the throats of unwilling persons what they regarded as necessary
for their salvation or the Hindu who would not spread the light, who would endeavour
to keep others in darkness, who would not consent to share his intellectual and
social inheritance with those who are ready and willing to make it a part of
their own make-up? I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has
been cruel the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty.
X
Whether
the Hindu religion was or was not a missionary religion has been a controversial
issue. Some hold the view that it was never a missionary religion. Others hold
that it was. That the Hindu religion was once a missionary religion must be
admitted. It could not have spread over the face of India, if it was not a
missionary religion. That today it is not a missionary religion is also a fact
which must be accepted. The question therefore is not whether or not the Hindu
religion was a missionary religion. The real question is why did the Hindu
religion cease to be a missionary religion? My answer is this. Hindu religion
ceased to be a missionary religion when the Caste System grew up among the
Hindus. Caste is inconsistent with conversion. Inculcation of beliefs and
dogmas is not the only problem that is involved in conversion. To find a place
for the convert in the social life of the community is another and a much more
important problem that arises in connection with conversion. That problem is
where to place the convert, in what caste? It is a problem which must baffle
every Hindu wishing to make aliens converts to his religion. Unlike the club
the membership of a caste is not open to all and sundry. The law of caste
confines its membership to person bom in the caste. Castes are autonomous and
there is no authority anywhere to compel a caste to admit a new-comer to its
social life. Hindu Society being a collection of castes and each caste being a
close corporation there is no place for a convert. Thus it is the caste which
has prevented the Hindus from expanding and from absorbing other religious
communities. So long as caste remain, Hindu religion cannot be made a
missionary religion and Shudhi will be both a folly and a futility.
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