Chapter II

Indian Social System And The History of Atrocities

Contents

1. The Indian Social System

1.1 Inequality & Efforts to Reform

1.2 Religious chaos
1.3 Origin & spread of Untouchability
1.4 Formation & spread of caste
1.4.1 Views of Dr. Ambedkar
1.4.2 Views of Marc Galanter
1.4.3 Views of Mahatma Phule & Maharshi Shinde

1.5 The Ground reality

2. History of Atrocities
2.1 Experiences of Dr. Ambedkar
2.2 Experiences of others
2.3 Atrocities & Swaraj
2.4 The History Continued

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 1. The Indian Social System

The Indian social system is a mixture of various groups separated by

different provincialism, Languages, religions and above all about 7500 different
castes. Mr. G. S. Ghurye, in 1969 have estimated an approximate number of castes
in India as about 2000 to 3000. Marriot & Inden in their 'Caste System' have
estimated a number of castes as between 5000 to 15000. 1 The castes are again
divided into sub castes. For a long period, there was a strong feeling against the
inter-caste & inter-religious marriages. Even though there are some signs of
reduced orthodoxy in modern period, the casteist mentality still exists in the Indian
Society in general.

1.1 Inequality & Efforts to Reform

Before pre-independence period, some reform movements were emerged in

Indian Society. Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj, Ramakrishna
Mission, Theosophical Society, Social Conference etc. are some of the prominent
examples. These movements/associations attacked the orthodox ideologies in Hindu
social order. Even though they have condemned the inhuman practice of
untouchability, they were not against 'Chaturvarnya' system, which have divided the
people in four classes. Each of such class was called as a Varna and each varna was
trying to keep itself away from the another. The psychology of maintaining separate
existence was more strong in the Varnas like Brahmin, Kshatriya & Vaishya & also
in the Shudras. The higher the status in the social order, more was the mentality of
separation. Most of the social reformers in the earlier period, were came from
Brahmin or similar established castes. Even though they were the reformers, their
reforms were limited to the established class. They were not prepared to fight the
against the religious & caste inequality. They striven only for limited
improvements, especially in their own castes. Many of them were, though
expressing progressive ideas, do not dared to act according to their thoughts. For e.
g. Mr. M.G. Ranade was propagating ideas like the widow-remarriage; but when his

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own wife was dead & he went for another marriage, he hadn't chosen any widow to
marry with.

The next phase was the phase of Mahatma Phule, Chatrapati Shahu of
Kolhapur, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramaswami Periyar etc, who
came from the rest of the social groups. Dr. Ambedkar was born in the 'Mahar'
caste, which was at that time treated as an 'Untouchable' caste by the caste Hindus.
This caste was enlisted in the list of 'Scheduled Castes' from 1936. Due to the
efforts of these legends and especially due to the efforts of Dr. Ambedkar, who was
the 'Architect of Indian Constitution', the scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes &
other vulnerable sections of Indian society, have received some space in the Indian
social & political sphere. It is the orthodox & oppressive mindset of some of the
caste Hindus, which is still giving rise to the atrocities on Scheduled Castes &
Scheduled Tribes, in the post independent era.

1.2 Religious chaos

According to the old religious books, there were four major categories or
Verna’s called as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya & Shudra. According to various
scholars, there was one more category outside this Varna System, which was called
as 'Avarna'. It constituted the 'ex-untouchable' class. There are different opinions
about the origin and existence of these groups. The ninetieth Hymn of the Tenth
Mandala of the Rig Veda, known as the 'Purusha Sukta', says something about the
origin of the Varnas in old Indo-Aryan Social system. 2 It says that, the Brahmins are
born from the head of Brahma, Kshatriyas from his arms, Vaishyas from his thies
and Shudra from his feet. Even though this is a very meaningless thought, it was
advocated by the so called 'intellectuals' for thousands of years, in the Indo-Aryan
society. It was treated as true by the ignorant people in the caste based society for
thousands of years. The advocates of this thought continued to tell the people that
everything written in the 'Veda' and such other books, was true and was written by
the god himself. Because of the godly impression, such thoughts, even though being

20
totally meaningless, exerted a very strong and wrong impression on the social mind
of Indians. Dr. Ambedkar says that, “The social order prescribed by the Purusha
Sukta has never been questioned by anyone except Buddha. Even Buddha was not
able to shake it, for the simple reason that both after the fall of Buddhism and even
during the period of Buddhism, there were enough law-givers, who made it their
business not only to defend the ideal of the Purusha Sukta but to propagate it and to
elaborate it”.3

Dr. Ambedkar gives two examples, one from 'Apastamba Dharma Sutra' and
the second from the 'Vasishtha Dharma Sutra'. The Apastamba Dharma Sutra states
as follows- "There are four castes—Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras.
Among these, each preceding caste is superior by birth to the one following. All the
three castes (except the Shudras and wrong-doers), will be allowed to- 1. do their
initiation (Upanayan/wearing of the sacred thread), 2. study the Veda and 3. to
kindle the sacred fire (i.e. to perform sacrifice). This is repeated by 'Vasishtha
Dharma Sutra'. It says, "There are four castes(Varnas)- Brahmins, Kshatriyas,
Vaishyas and Shudras. Three castes viz. Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are
supposed to be twice-born castes.4

Most of the so called sacred books talk too much un-realistically for the
'Shudras'. According to Dr. Ambedkar, many other law-givers have in parrot-like
manner repeated the theme of the Purusha Sukta and have reiterated its sanctity. 5 Dr.
Ambedkar says that, Manu have done two things. At the first place, he enunciated
afresh the ideal of the Purusha Sukta as a part of divine injunction. In the second
place, going a step further, Manu enunciated that “Veda is the only and ultimate
sanction for Dharma”. Dr. Ambedkar writes, “Manu invested the social ideal of
Chaturvarnya contained in the Purusha Sukta, with a degree of divinity &
infallibility, which it did not have before!”6

Dr. Ambedkar summarises the laws, that were made against the Shudras by
the Brahmanic law-givers. These laws propagate7 -

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(1) That the Shudra was to take the last place in the social order.
(2) That the Shudra was impure and therefore no sacred act should be done within
his sight and within his hearing.
(3) That the Shudra is not to be respected in the same way as the other classes.
(4) That the life of a Shudra is of no value and anybody may kill him without
having to pay compensation and if at all, of small value as compared with that of
the Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya.
(5) That the Shudra must not acquire knowledge and it is a sin and a crime to give
him education.
(6) That a Shudra must not acquire property. A Brahmin can take his property at his
pleasure.
(7) That a Shudra cannot hold office under the State.
(8) That the duty and salvation of the Shudra lies in his serving the higher classes.
(9) That the higher Classes must not inter-marry with the Shudra. They can
however keep a Shudra woman as a concubine. But if the Shudra touches a woman
of the higher classes, he will be liable to dire punishment.
(10) That the Shudra is born in servility and must be kept in servility for ever.

1.3 Origin & spread of Untouchability

In the concluding paragraph of his another book "The untouchables : who

were they and why they became untouchables ?", Dr. B. R. Ambedkar writes- "We
can, therefore, say with some confidence that Untouchability was born some time
about 400 A.D. It is born out of the struggle for supremacy between Buddhism and
Brahmanism which has so completely molded the history of India and the study of
which is so woefully neglected by students of Indian history". 8 Dr. Ambedkar for
this, gives example of the description of a 'Chandal' girl, who was described as a
'Royal glory of the race of Trimaku', in the Bana's Kadambari. The author of the
Kadambari the Bana was a Brahmin. The Kadambari was written in approximately
during 600 A.D. Therefore, Dr. Ambedkar points out that by 600 A.D. The

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Chandalas had not come to be regarded as Untouchables. Dr. Ambedkar gives
another example of Chines Traveller Yuan Chwang, who came to India in 629 A.D.
He stayed in India for almost 16 years. While describing the cities & buildings in
India,Yuan Chwang have written that, the "Butchers, fishermen, public performers,
executioners, and scavengers have their habitations marked by a distinguishing
sign. They are forced to live outside the city and they sneak along on the left when
going about in the hamlets." Dr. Ambedkar says from this description that "It is,
therefore, just possible that when Yuan Chwang came to India, Untouchability had
emerged." Before presenting this conclusion, he have pointed out the presence of
the terms & behaviors related to untouchability, in the Vaidic literature & in Manu
Smriti; in the writings of Prof. Buhler & Mr. Daphatry; the descriptions of India, as
were done by Chinese travellers Fah-Hian & Yuan shwang & also the descriptions
of the Castes like Chandala in the literature of Brahmins like Bana.

We can see some of the symptoms of origin of untouchability in the period of

Lord Buddha too. In its initial stage, as I see, the untouchability was present in the
form of exclusion from the society. There was one incident happened in the life of
Siddharth Gautama in his young age, before his emergence as Lord Buddha. He
was then a young citizen and a member of the 'Shakya Sangha'.When he was a
young member of the sangha, once there was arrived a possibility of war between
the Shakya and Koliya people. Both of them were residing on the different edges of
the Rohini river. The matter was ignited through a conflict of 'Raj Sevaks' on the
issue of using water for irrigation. It was later on resulted into the possibility of a
war between Shakyas and Koliyas. A bill was passed by the 'Shakya Sangha' for
declaring a war against the Koliyas, under the leadership of the chief of the Army.
Buddha, being a young Siddhartha at that time, opposed the war and also refused to
enter himself into the army. The Chief of the army then threatened Gautama that the
Sangh can declare a social boycott against Gautama's family & the Sangh can
confiscate his family lands. Young Siddhartha then requested the chief of army, not
to punish his family & not to put them in distress by subjecting them to social
boycott. He also requested the Senapati not to make them destitute by confiscating

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their land, which was their only means of livelihood. He promised the Army chief
that he will become a Parivrajaka and leave the country. It too was a kind of an
exile & this matter will not reach to the king of Kosal, who had succeeded in
establishing his paramountcy over their state & without whose permission, they
were not allowed to take certain decisions. As this request of Gautama was accepted
by the chief of the Army, young Siddhartha & his family escaped from the
exclusion.9 This can be & should be treated as a very important proof in finding out
the root causes of the origins & existence of the 'practice of untouchability' in
ancient & present India.

1.4 formation & spread of caste

1.4.1 Views of Dr. Ambedkar

In his famous writings with title “Castes in India”, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar says-
“I venture to say that there is no country that can rival the Indian Peninsula with
respect to the unity of its culture. It has not only a geographic unity, but it has over
and above all a deeper and a much more fundamental unity- the indubitable cultural
unity that covers the land from end to end. But it is because of this homogeneity
that Caste becomes a problem so difficult to be explained. If the Hindu Society
were a mere federation of mutually exclusive units, the matter would be simple
enough. But Caste is a parcelling of an already homogeneous unit, and the
explanation of the genesis of Caste is the explanation of this process of
parcelling.”.10

The western writers, as Dr. Ambedkar points out, have treated five measure
things responsible for the creation and spread of the Caste system in India. These
five things are- (1) occupation; (2) survivals of tribal organization etc.; (3) the rise
of new belief; (4) cross-breeding and (5) migration.11
Challenging the occupational theory of caste, advocated by Mr. Nesfield ,

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Dr. Ambedkar questions- "why is it that an occupational group turned into an
occupational caste ?" According to him, the occupation was exclusively the reason
behind the formation or existence of caste. To him, like many other societies in the
world, the Hindu society too, at some time, was formed by four main classes. They
were- 1. The priests class or the Brahmins, 2. The military class or Kshatriyas, 3.
The merchant class or Vaishyas & 4. The artisan and menial class or Shudras. He
says, "at some time in the history of the Hindus, the priestly class socially detached
itself from the rest of the people & through a closed-door policy became a caste by
itself. The other classes being subject to the law of social division of labor,
underwent differentiation, some into large, others into very minute groups". 12 Dr.
Ambedkar says that, a grouping in any society is quiet natural thing; but what is
unnatural about the 'caste system' in India, is that, these groups in the name of
castes, have lost the open-door character of the class & have become self-enclosed
units called castes. According to him, the whole process of caste-formation in India
is a process of imitation of the higher group or class by the lower group or class. 13

This process of imitation, which is responsible for caste formation can be

similar to the process of westernization occurred in India and other third world
countries in last few centuries. The Western people, like Europeans, Americans etc.
when came to Asia, Africa etc. and earned prestige especially after their win in the
wars, many of the Asian, African etc. individuals and groups started imitating them.
Western lifestyle became the fashion of the day. The similar process might have
been occurred in India in the old age too. The imitation cannot be same altogether.
Some individuals & groups might have imitated more and some might have less. It
depends on many factors. Their relations with the foreigners, the impression created
by the foreigners, the prestige the foreigners might have earned, the repulsion
which might have been created in the minds of the natives etc. We can say that not
all the things might have been imitated by the natives. Some of the things might
have been taken by the foreigners from the natives. All such things must be present
in the process of Caste formation in India, if they are formed by imitation.

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 Dr. Ambedkar summarizes his views about the origin & nature of caste
system with following points14-
1. Color of the skin was not the decisive factor in formation of Castes.

2. There are some occupational, religious castes, but these are not the reasons

behind the formation of castes. We have yet to find out why occupational
groups have became the castes. This question is never raised yet.
3. There is a deep cultural unity among the Indian population irrespective of

the existence of castes.

4. A caste is just a 'parcel' of a larger cultural unit.

5. There was only one caste to start with. It was Brahmin.

6. Classes have become castes through imitation & excommunication.

At the end of this writing, Dr. Ambedkar warns that, while dealing with the
'Caste problem', the sentiment must be outlawed from the domain of science and
things should be judged from an objective standpoint. He says that the question is
still not answered fully whether the caste is appeared in our society due to the
conscious command of a Supreme Authority or it is an unconscious growth in the
life of a human society under peculiar circumstances. However, he was of the
opinion that, creating a whole society, that is standing on somebody's principles, is
too difficult.15 If we rely on our common sense, we can say that the Caste problem is
mainly the problem created by the 'unconscious growth in the life of a human
society', though somebody may have supported it.

What we can conclude from all this discussion is that, many a things have
interfered the natural growth of Indian Society. The Varna System was introduced
for the first time by the 'Vedic' liturature and afterwards it was forced on the society.
The Varnas later on went on splitting. With our common sense, we can say that, the
four Varnas were not present initially in whole of the society. The idea was came for
the first time in the mind of some persons, which later on scripted in the Vedic
literature. Even though the literature have divided the society in four groups
theoretically, it was not possible for any person or system to bring the concept into

26
the reality, at once and to the fullest extent & that too, all over the Indian provinces.
It is quiet evident from this that, there might be some groups which were inside this
classification, who might have fully or partly accepted the concept. It is also quiet
evident from this that there was a large chunk of the society, which was not inside
this classification and which was not aware of this classification. Later on some
groups might have accepted it, some might have forced to accept it & some might
have resisted it. It is quiet possible that, only three classes or Vernas were present
initially. It is also possible that initially only one class of 'Sanskrit-Speaking people'
or 'Brahmins' was formed, that too only in limited area & only with limited number
of people. Later on the theory might have been amended so as to include one or
more Vernas, which later on recognized as the Kshatriya, Vaishya & Shudra. It
seems that the people who never admitted the Brahmin domination and were not
included in the above mentioned classification, were termed as the 'Ati-Shudra' or
Avarna, some of which were later on treated as the Untouchables.

It is quiet natural and possible that, even after this grouping was completed,
there was still a large chunk of human society which could not be included in or
haven't accepted this classification. We can see many possibilities. First, the large
chunk outside the classification was present in various regions and in various
groups. Some of them might be well organized & some might not be well-
organized. Some of them might be fighting with each other, some might not be
fighting with each other. Some groups might be doing some conversation with each
other, some groups might not be doing any conversation with each other. Some of
the groups might have developed their own languages, some might not have.
Conversation within all groups was not fully possible due to the different
languages. The Vedic people were using Sanskrit language, which other groups
were not using or learning. Hence, it was not possible for them to know &
understand the classification which the Brahminic system was advocating. Various
groups were using their own languages, about which the Vedic people were fully
ignorant. In this situation, it was not at all possible for the advocates of the
“Chaturvarnya” system, to enforce their system on all these different groups

27
scattered in the thousands of kilometers in Indian peninsula. Hence, while making
any reference to them during conversation with each other, the Brahminic people
might have used the word “Avarna” for all the scattered groups, which were neither
united nor unique in all their socio-cultural characters.

Though the word “Avarna” was used for all those people who were not the
part of the vedic system, it is quiet possible that they were not at all present as a
single group at that time. It is also quiet natural that many of the groups were well
cultured and well organized in the Vedic period, but as the authors of the Brahminic
literature were inimical towards them and were not knowing their languages and
cultures fully, they gave secondary treatment to the diverse groups, especially in
their literature. Later on, due to different situations like internal or external wars,
natural disasters like flood, famine etc. they might have become less powerful as
compared to some other groups. In the course of time, some groups might have
accepted the Vedic system and some might not have accepted. We know that in the
British era, only the English speaking people were supposed by the western people
as the well-cultured people. Similarly, it is quiet possible that, only the Sanskrit
speaking people were considered as the well-cultured people in the Brahminic era.
The Avarnas might not been well cultured and well established people, in the eyes
of the Brahminic authors, but reality could be different than that. It is also possible
that they might have been degraded in life & culture, after some social conflicts or
wars. The winners in the war can be treated as the powerful persons, but they
cannot in any sense be treated as the most cultured people. In the period of the
conflict between Buddhism and Brahminism, most of the literature of the Buddhist
ideology was burnt by the Brahminic side. Most of the things, which we read today
have come from the Brahminic literature and it is quit possible, beyond any doubt,
that the Brahminic literature is not impartial about the other classes, especially the
groups which were in opposition to them. A lots of wrong and misguiding things are
written in the so called sacred books. Hence, to know the truth, at many places, we
must have to use our common sense.

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1.4.2 Views of Marc Galanter

Marc Galanter, a well-known Author & professor, looks at the division of

Indian society into castes, as one of the most distinctive and pervasive feature. He
points out specific characteristics of Indian Caste system as follows 16-
1. Caste is an endogamous group bearing a common name and it claims

common origin.
2. The membership of caste is hereditary. It is linked to one or more common

traditional occupations. It imposes certain obligations and restrictions on its

members.
3. Each Caste have more or less determinate position in hierarchical scale of

ranks.
4. Membership of a caste by birth is unalterable. It may lost by expulsion.

5. Caste members marry within their castes.

6. One does not dine with the another, who is an outsider with respect to the

caste.
7. The Caste members follow a common round of life. They have a

characteristic diet, domestic routine, style of dress, and round of religious

observance.
8. The castes may have distinct forms of religious expression - a preference for

certain gods, shrines, modes of worship, fasts and feasts.

9. Some cultural characteristics may be common in all or most of the

castes.Whereas, other cultural characteristics may be distinctive to one or

more castes.
10. Most of the people in most of the castes, now a days, do not follow their

traditional occupation.
11. The number of castes having their own councils or Panchayats is now

reducing. Most of the castes were having formal/informal panchayats

traditionally, which were used to adjudicate disputes among caste
mambers.They were also enabled to take actions against the offenders of the
taboos enforced on eating, drinking, smoking or sexual intercourse with

29
 members of other castes.
12. The castes are not self sufficient, but are interdependent. “Caste unites while

it divides”.
13. Castes live not in isolation, but in the midst of a set of other groups, with

which they have certain economic, political, social & religious relationships.
14. The number of caste groups in a given locality may vary from a few to more

than thirty. From five to twenty, is the typical number.

15. There are no all-India Caste and there is no nationwide hierarchy of castes.

16. In a local area, the relative standing of the various castes is more or less

fixed. It is subjected to slow change. Each caste commonly claiming to have

a higher rank.
17. As noted by Marriot and Inden, there is a mild but ubiquitous inclination of

castes to improve their ranks.

Most of the sacred books which we use for reference to find out truth about
the Indian social system, are written or preserved by the Brahmin scholars. These
scholars were not honest towards the other classes. Most of their writings regarding
the other classes, are came from their self-centric inner-self, which was dying for
the domination over others and also for all sort of luxuries of the life. They were
well aware of the fact that all those luxuries will come in their reach only after
achieving full domination over other groups. In all their so called sacred books, we
can see some common things, as follows-
1. The Brahmin scholars have written good of themselves.

2. They have written bad for others and very bad for those whom they hated.

3. The writing is not intellectually believable.

4. Most of such literature is present in 'Sanskrit' language, which was the

language of the Brahmin class. (All their opponents were prohibited from
learning that language).
The very bad thing about the 'Brahminic Social System' is that, it has
interrupted the natural flow of social order and tried to form a closed-door & class
based compartmental social structure. No other religious thought in the world have

30
interrupted the social order in this way. There is no other religious thought in the
world, that have advocated all sort of concessions and advantages for one class and
rejected the same for other classes & that too on the basis of birth only. As per the
so called religious scripts of Brahminic or Hindu social order,
1. Some people are allowed to take education and some are not allowed.

2. Some people are allowed to do the rituals and others are prohibited.

3. Some people are allowed to enter the temples and others are not allowed.

4. Some people are allowed to do the business etc. and some are not allowed.

5. Some people are allowed to be the rulers and some groups are prohibited.

6. Some people are allowed to wear the sacred thread and others are not.

7. Some people are allowed to read the religious books and others are not.

1.4.3 Views of Mahatma Phule & Maharshi Shinde

Mr. Jyotiba Phule, to whom people honored as 'Mahatma', says that the
Brahmins have created some false books to create their dominance over the others
and tell the illiterate people that the books were created by the God himself. 17 He
also tells us that the process of the birth of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra
etc., as described by the 'Manu' is not true. Not all human being are included in his
system. He also says that the all the stories of the 'Avatars' are the false stories.
They were not the 'Avtaars' of God. All those were the leaders of Brahmin Army
and they were not free from all the bad virtues, which every human being
possess.18He also have noted that the word 'Mahar' is originated from the word
'Maha Ari', which means the 'Big enemy' & Mahars were the Big Enemies of the
Brahminic system.19 He have described the untouchable castes like Mahar, Mang
etc. as the Martial races. We can see in some books like “Indian village
Communities”, that the untouchable people like Mahars in Maharashtra were
described as the brave, tall, handsome and trustworthy people. All such descriptions
are totally contradictory to the descriptions that we find in the Brahminic literature.
While the western and progressive authors & scholars have described many of the
untouchables as the brave, intelligent and honest people, the Brahminic authors

31
have described them as the bad people.

A well known reformer Maharshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde also have studied
the'Untouchables Quest', to a great depth. In his book 'Bhartiya Asprushyatecha
Prashna', he gives a number of names and incidences, where the so treated
untouchables have shown their extra-ordinary bravery. The 'Nagnak Mahar' of
Nagewadi in Vai area near Satara have fought for and won the fort 'Vairatgad' from
the Mohammedans in year 1753. 20 He also have given an example of Shidnak
Mahar, who fought bravely in the war of 'Kharda' and saved life of the 'Parshuram
Bhau'.21 The 'Vithu Mahar' of Mangalwedha have saved the life of 'Damaji' with his
wealth.22 Mahars were also have their representation in the 'Goth' ( the then Gram
Sabhas), which were working as the judiciary, to solve the conflicts of the villagers.
Mr. V. R. Shinde gives one example of 'Maral Deshmukh' case at 'Kanad Khore',
where Bapnak & Bhiknak Mahars were represented on the Panchayat along with
'Jijabai', the great Mother of Chatrapati Shivaji & other people from castes like
Brahmin, Maratha, Teli, Nhavi, Gurav & Parit etc.23

From all such 'Satya Shodhaki' (Truth Finding) literature, the overall
impression of the Brahminic literature & the daily experience, we can very
confidently say that the Barhminic liturature is less trustworthy. Mr. Vitthal Ramji
Shinde says, if we compare, at least in historical approach, the literature in Pali
Language is better & more trustworthy than the Hindu literature (Puranas etc.), as
far as the Truth, straight-forwardness, neutrality and greatness is concerned! 24

1.5 The Ground reality

Today, we can see that even after sixty four years of Indian Independence,
the discriminating books are not yet banned or ousted from the socio-religious life
of the Indians. A number of large organizations and plenty of intellectuals are still
advocating the spirituality of these so called sacred books. The dominant people

32
haven't yet condemned these books or thoughts which are still propagated through
these books. Such books and the thoughts propagated from these books are still
treated as holy books and holy thoughts by some groups. Such discriminating
thoughts are declared as debarred by the Indian constitution; but they are not yet
declared as outdated and debarred by the dominant classes. They secretly &
sometimes openly advocate such thoughts. In fact, some orthodox groups are trying
hard to change the character of the Indian Constitution. A number of people from
such groups are supporting the orthodox thoughts either openly or secretly. The
problem of social hatred & caste atrocities is made more complicated by such
groups and persons. Many of the sacred books are treated as fully true, even today,
by them. In fact, these books and thoughts have created wrong impression on
human mind and society at large. A number of thoughts and things in these books
do not have any resemblance to the real world.

By assuming an opposite situation, we can find out some truth. Assume, for
example, if some young intellectuals from the SC/ST/OBC etc. community, out of
anger against the false Brahminic literature, decide to answer that literature in their
own way & wrote some books with a matter totally opposite to the matter written in
todays so called religious literature & if the same thing is repeated by hundreds of
SC/ST intellectuals out of anger or out of some motive to take revange, then what
will happen? If all other material against this theory is destroyed either naturally or
through human efforts like burning the opponent's material; if only this material of
SC/ST intellectuals is preserved somehow, then what will happen? What will the
researchers in future do in that situation? Will they just analyze this material and
put forward their opinions? If they do that, will their results be true and correct? Of
course not! The results kept forward after using such material will be totally wrong.
This is completely applicable for the Brahminic literature available today. We can
not rely upon it for truth finding or for drawing a true picture of Indian social
system. We will have to rely upon our common sence, at list upto some extent!

It is very unfortunate a fact that most of the researchers up till now have

33
relied upon this literature for their research. As the base is not correct and fool-
proof, the opinions of such authors have gone wrong. The Brahminic authors say
that there were four Varnas and Brahmins were at the top. Many researchers feel
that this is a true statement. But what if this is not a true statement? What if it is not
showing the full reality? Brahmins may have written this thing in their books, for
their own benefit. This is just one point. Another point is that, mere writing in the
book cannot change the actual situation. Why will others accept this type of social
order? There is high possibility that, quiet a large portion of society might not have
accepted this categorization. The unavailability of other literature should not force
us to believe all the stuff written in the preserved material. Therefore we will have
to rely on our common sense, to draw the correct picture of the Indian social
system. The old Brahminic literature, which is used for reference or for analysis
today, is not fully trustworthy, at least as far as the description of conflicts & social
behavior is concerned. A number of Brahminic authors were not honest. Their
literature is written mainly to protect their own interest. All the cunning-ness and all
the hatred towards opponents is present in them. These authors were not too
intelligent and studied. They possessed just a limited knowledge of the world and
society around them. They were hostile towards other human groups. They wanted
to establish and secure their own superiority with the help of the so called sacred
books. Hence, we cannot rely on the Brahminic literature for finding out the truth.
Therefore we will have to take help of anything else. If nothing is available, we can
get some inferences from the known history of mankind in various parts of the
world. We can get some clues from the study of common trends of human behavior
in different situations; we can take help of our imagination power and our common
sense, to find out the truth. More and over, we can use books and references given
by the progressive & honest authors and leaders like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Jyotiba
Phule, Shahu, Periyar & others.

Actually, there is nothing like upper or lower castes in the nature. All live on
the same plane ground. It is just an intellectual trick used by some to enslave others.
In ancient Indian society, a number of groups were existed. Unity, diversity,

34
attraction, repulsion, love, hatred etc. all was there! All these things are present in
the present Indian society too. Each group or caste is having affinity towards his
group-mate and is emotionally attached with his group mate in this or that manner.
We should understand that this is quiet a natural thing. In each group, there is a
natural presence of internal bonding as well as internal conflicts. They are just like
the love, bonding & conflicts present in every family. The ratio of love, bonding &
conflicts may be different. There is nothing like 'layered inequality' in the nature. It
is just the outcome of the 'selfish intellectual moves' of the Brahminic scholars. Still
today, a number of groups or castes don't even know the names of hundreds and
thousands of other groups or castes. Then how can there be a feeling of highness or
lowness? Love or hatred? It was just in the minds of the Brahminic scholars, which
is extended to some learned people. Before the English advent, most of the Indians
were not even aware of the number of castes present all over India. They were not
aware of the number and names of hundreds and thousands of such groups. If they
are not even aware of the groups or castes, how can there be any notion of equality
or inequality among them? If at all it was there, it was limited to the local area only.
It is only the Brahmanic texts, which introduced into them the feeling of graded
inequality. Nobody can say that all have accepted that graded inequality.

The Brahminic scholars wanted to keep themselves above all groups. That's
why they written such type of literature. There are hundreds of castes who know
only those groups or castes, which come in their contact in natural course of life.
They don't know even the names of hundreds of groups or castes. Then how can
they become upper or lower than all these castes or groups? Its a quiet natural thing
that everybody feel or think good of himself. Everybody thinks that he himself is
the best person. Everybody thinks that his own parents are better. Everybody has
some sort of affinity towards his own family, his own relatives. In the same way,
everybody has some sort of affinity towards his own group or caste, his own
religion etc. This feeling comes out of love for his own self, his own parents, his
own culture etc. Brahmins too were having this feeling in them for themselves and
they wrote that they were the best people & they have the best culture etc. They

35
wrote bad for others out of hatred & ignorance. The same thing went on increasing
for years and we see the result. The Brahminic scholars themselves were not aware
of all the castes, all the languages, all the religious notions and rituals. Therefore
they wrote about only those things which were in their reach and in their sight.
There were hundreds and thousands of groups or castes, which were not in their
sight or not in their reach. Its quiet obvious that these groups/castes/people were not
under their control. Even those whom they known, were not all under their control.
Hence, it will be wrong to divide all the society according to the Barhminic
classification. It was not accepted by all of the society.
This is quiet true that mere writing does not show us the total reality. The
writers can be honest or they can be fraud. To what extent one is honest and to what
extent one is fraud, cannot be found out at this stage. This is the reality. We know
that even Brahmin scholars were not aware of the number of Castes and Tribes,
which were away from their reach, sight or control. These castes or groups, though
were referred to with a same name as 'Avarna' or some groups as 'Shudra' or 'Ati-
Shudra', they were not unique in their characters, in their rituals, thoughts, eating
habits & so on. They were having close resemblance in all matters, with those
leaving in geographically close areas. All the depressed & suppressed people were
enlisted by the British for the first time as a group and termed them as Scheduled
Castes, in the year 1936. The count of scheduled castes was figured to be 450 at that
time. In 1950, two separate lists were declared by the Indian government, which
detected almost 1100 Scheduled Castes and almost 670 Scheduled Tribes. All these
people, which were not under the reach, sight or control of the scholars, were
summarily treated or termed as the Avarnas later by the then Brahminic Scholars. In
fact, the count of groups treated as 'Avarna' by the Brahminic scholars was not
determined nor was found out by the Brahmin scholars. All those who were away
from the reach or control of Brahminic system, were termed as Avarnas. They were
not a single group. They were not having single language or culture. It is quiet
possible that some of them were culturally progressive than Brahmins. Nobody can
tell exactly what might have been happened at that time.
Scheduled castes, might be living originally in the villages/cities and they

36
might have been ousted from those villages after conflicts or wars. Some of them
might have tried to mix up with the people living inside, but might have remained
unsuccessful. Similar or somewhat different things might have happened for
hundreds or thousands of times in different period & at different places in the
history. It is not possible that all the society, all the villages and all the groups will
have the same or similar history of conflicts and co-operations. The micro analysis
can prove that every single person has his own history of life. It is quite different
from that of the others & that too just in the life span of some sixty to a hundred
years. We can easily understand how much different and diverse histories might
have been there, of thousands of persons, families, groups & villages if considered
for the span of thousands of years! Example of 'avoided excommunication' of Lord
Buddha's family in his young age, is an eye opening example. I haven't yet come
across any description about the treatment given to the widows & children of the
worriers, who have lost their lives in wars in ancient India. I feel that many of the
widows & children would have to leave their houses & other properties etc. after
the death of their family chief. At many places, the close people, neighbors or other
powerful men might have looted their properties & made them to leave their
villages. Such people too might have added to the population of excommunicated
people. Dr. Ambedkar has noted that the number of the excommunicated castes in
India have increased over years.25

2. History of Atrocities

2.1 Experiences of Dr. Ambedkar

Look at the following para from the Dr. Ambedkar's writings with a heading
“Waiting for a Visa”. The para describes an incidence faced by him in 1901, when
he was a child of nine years. He was staying at Satara and went by a train to Masur,
the nearest railway station from Koregaon, along with his three brothers. His father
was working as a cashier on a government work of excavation of a tank in famine
area at Masur, near Koregaon in Satara district. His father was retired from the

37
British Army. As the message sent by him was not reached to his father due to
negligence of the servant, his father wasn't came to the railway station to pick them
up. Dr. Ambedkar & his brothers were waiting for him till the evening on the
railway station. After some time, the station-master came to them & asked the well
dressed, neat and clean children about their difficulty. They told him the fact. Dr.
Ambedkar wirtes, ".....Indeed the station-master was quite sure that we were
Brahmin children and was extremely touched at the plight in which he found us. As
is usual among the Hindus, the station-master asked us who we were. Without a
moment's thought, I blurted out that we were 'Mahars'. The station-master was
stunned. His face underwent a sudden change. We could see that he was
overpowered by a strange feeling of repulsion. As soon as he heard my reply he
went away to his room and we stood where we were! Fifteen to twenty minutes
elapsed; the sun was almost setting. The father had not turned up nor had he sent his
servant, and now the station-master had also left us. We were quite bewildered and
the joy and happiness which we felt at the beginning of the journey gave way to the
feeling of extreme sadness."26

The paragraph may be seen by some people just as a personal experience;

but actually it is not! All of the untouchable people, at that time, were facing the
same atmosphere of hatred & repulsion throughout India. In the above mentioned
situation, as is written by Dr. Ambedkar, after about half an hour the same station-
master returned back and after some discussion, asked some cart-men to take them
to Koregaon. But as they (Dr.Ambedkar & his brothers) were now recognized as the
untouchables, nobody of the cart-men wanted to take them in their carts due to the
fear of getting “polluted”. After some time on the agreement of paying double fare
and driving the cart themselves, one of the cart-men agreed to come with them. His
only condition was that he will not sit in the cart, he will walk by it, without
touching it. A strange behavior of the cart-man is noted down by Dr. Ambedkar, that
when they went quiet away from the village & it was quiet dark all around, the cart-
man suddenly jumped into the cart and sat for a long time into it. This shows us that
he was practicing the 'untouchability' due to the fear of the society & it was not his

38
own choice. The sad thing is that not just elders, but millions & trillions of innocent
children too have faced such inhuman treatment of a series of insults, irritations &
hatreds for almost two thousand years throughout India. It is noted by Dr.
Ambedkar that, even though there was good drinking water available everywhere,
they could not drink it, throughout the travel, just because they were born in an
untouchable family. They reached to Goregaon, on the next day at about two
o'clock in the after-noon. Dr. Ambedkar writes, “This incident has a very important
place in my life. I was a boy of nine when it happened. But it has left an indelible
impression on my mind".27

Dr. Ambedkar also writes here of the daily experiences that were faced by
him in the school & elsewhere. He writes that as an untouchable, he was subjected
to certain indignities and discrimination. In the school he could not sit in the midst
of his class students according to his rank. He has to sit in a corner alone. There he
had to carry a separate piece of gunny cloth for him to sit down on the floor, in the
class room. The servant employed to clean the school was cleaning the classroom
without touching the gunny cloth used by him. He had to carry the gunny cloth
every day with him from home to school and back from school to home. The
children of the touchable classes, when thirsty, were free to drink water from the
water tap & quench their thirst, just with a permission of the teacher. But Dr.
Ambedkar wasn't have this facility. He was not allowed to touch the tap. After
taking permission of the teacher, he had to depend on the 'Peon', who could open
the tap for him. If the peon was not available, he had to go without water for the
whole day! He sums up the situation as "no peon, no water!"28

At home, his family could afford the service of a washer-man, but still they
had to wash their own clothes, just because no washer-man was supposed to wash
the clothes of the untouchables. His elder sister had to cut his hairs, as no barber
was supposed to shave the untouchables. In the second part of his above
mentioned writings, Dr. Ambedkar writes about his experience, when he was
returned from America, after his higher education in 1916. As he was sent by

39
Maharaja of Baroda, for higher education to the America, he was bound to serve the
Baroda State. After arrival at Baroda, he faced difficulty first in finding a place for
residence. It was not possible for him to stay in Hindu hotels. The only option
remained with him was to hide his identity, but he did not went for it. There were
some friends in Baroda, who were studying with him in America. But he could not
go to them, as he was aware that they will feel embarrassed to let an untouchable to
stay in their household. After some inquiry on the station, he came to know that
there was a 'Parsi inn' and they took paying guests. Dr. Ambedkar writes, “Hearing
that it was an inn maintained by the Parsis, my heart was gladdened. The Parsis are
followers of the Zoroastrian religion. There was no fear of my being treated by
them as an untouchable because their religion does not recognize untouchability.
With a heart glad with hope and a mind free from fear I put my luggage in a
hackney carriage and asked the driver to drive me to Parsi inn in the camp". This is
truly a horrible picture, portrayed & experienced by Dr. Ambedkar himself, in
which we can see a learned person trying to find some shelter in the followers of
some other religions because he couldn’t find it in the followers of his own religion.
This is the greatest complication of the Hindu religion as well as of practice of the
untouchability & the atrocities coming put of it. Similar experiences of the dirty
practice of untouchability & atrocities was faced for thousands of years by
ancestors of present Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes. 29

During the above incidence, Dr. Ambedkar had to stay there as a Parsi man.
But after ten days, he had to leave the place, as people around him recognized that
he was not a Parsi. He was threatened by a group of almost a dozen Parsis, carrying
sticks in their hands, after being uncovered as a non-Parsi. He then went to a Hindu
friend, but that friend replied, “If I allowed you to stay there, my servants will leave
the house!” One another friend of him, who was a Brahmin converted to
Christianity, also rejected to allow him to stay with him. His application for
government residence was just moving from one table to another. In this situation,
he had to leave Baroda on the 11 th day of his stay, and had to return to Mumbai,
because of unavailability of a proper shelter. He writes about the incidence as

40
follows- “The scene of a dozen Parsis armed with sticks lined before me in a
menacing mood and myself standing before them with a terrified look imploring for
mercy is a scene which so long a period as 18 years has not succeeded in fading
away. I can even now vividly recall it and never recall it without tears in my eyes. It
was then for the first time that I learn that a person who is an untouchable to a
Hindu is also an untouchable to a Parsi." 30

In the third part of the above writings, Dr. Ambedkar writes about one more
incidence, he experienced in Chalisgaon, which is in Khandesh area of present
Maharashtra. In 1929, Dr. Ambedkar was appointed on a Committee to investigate
the grievances of the untouchables, by the then "Bombay Government". The
Committee had to tour all over the province to investigate into the allegations of
injustice, oppression and tyranny. Dr. Ambedkar & one more member were to visit
two districts of Khandesh. While going to a village on Dhulia line to investigate a
case of social boycott declared by the caste Hindus against the untouchables of that
village, he was got down at Chalisgaon. There, some of untouchables requested him
to stay for the night with them. After completing his work, he came back to
Chalisgaon. There he has to wait for long time for a tanga (a one horse carriage).
After some time, one tanga was made available for him. He was taken to the
'Maharwada' by that tanga. While going there, once his tanga was narrowly escaped
from a collision with a motor car. After a few minutes, while crossing a culvert on
the river, the wheel of his 'tanga' struck against the side stone on the culvert and he
was physically lifted up and thrown down on the stone pavement of the culvert. The
horse and the carriage fell down from the culvert into the river. He received several
injuries, his leg was fractured and he was disabled for several days. After
questioning “how can such an inexperienced tangewala be there?” He came to
know the true story. The fact was that, no touchable person was ready to carry the
'untouchable' in his tanga. When one person from untouchable community made up
his mind to drive the tanga himself, one tanga was made available for them. Dr.
Ambedkar writes, "It is then I learnt that a Hindu tangawalla, no better than a
menial, has a dignity by which he can look upon himself as a person who is

41
superior to all untouchables even though he may be a Barristar-at-law". 31 One
should not hesitate in accepting that, this feeling of false superiority is at the base of
the atrocities, which are committed on the SC/ ST people and is one of the most
important reasons behind them.

In the fourth part, of the writing, Dr. Ambedkar tells us about one of his
experience at Daulatabad fort, near Aurangabad. In 1934, Dr. Ambedkar was went
to see the caves at Verul. On the way, they went to the fort. Some of his colleagues
washed their mouth and feet in the tank there. Meanwhile their local associates
came there and the Mohammedans there came to know that, the visitors are from
untouchable caste. Knowing this, the Mohammedans there started abusing Dr.
Ambedkar and his colleagues. They said- “The Dheds have become arrogant… they
have forgotten their religion (i. e. to remain low and degraded). The Dheds must be
taught a lesson...”. When they assumed a most menacing mood, Dr. Ambedkar had
to use some intellectual weapons to avoid the attack from them. On asking whether
they would have behaved like this, if they(Dr. Ambedkar & his colleagues) would
have accepted the Mohammedan religion?” This question calmed the
Mohammedans down. With this experience, Dr. Ambedkar realized that ' a person
who is an untouchable to a Hindu, is an untouchable to a Mohammedan too!'. 32The
untouchability, degradation & atrocities coming out of it, are not confined to a
particular religious group.

2.2 Experiences of others

In the fifth part of the same writing, Dr. Ambedkar attracts our attention
towards an incidence occurred in Kathiawar. The incidence was occurred between 5
to 7 December, 1929 and it was appeared in the “Young India” of Mahatma Gandhi
on 12th December,1929. This experience of a school teacher from the untouchable
class is also an eye opener. There was a child born in the house of the school
teacher on 5th December, 1929. After two days, his wife fell ill. He went to a
Doctor, but the Doctor refused to go to the house of an untouchable. After seeking

42
help of the 'Nagarseth' and 'Garasia darbar', the doctor agreed to check the woman,
but outside the Harijan colony. After bringing her and her child outside the colony,
the Doctor checked them through a Musalman person. He refused to touch the
patient and the child. He gave the thermometer to the Musalman, he gave it to the
Harijan teacher & the teacher himself used it for measuring the temperature of his
wife. Due to the careless treatment of the doctor, the wife and the child died on the
next day. Dr. Ambedkar writes “The Hindu would prefer to be inhuman rather than
touch an Untouchable”.33

In the Sixth part of this writing, Dr. Ambedkar writes about an incident
occurred with an educated untouchable youth 'Kalidas Shivram Parmar'. This youth
had narrated his experience in a meeting of the Manual Scavengers. It was held on
March 6, 1938, at Kasarwadi in Dadar, Mumbai, under the Chairmanship of Mr.
Indulal Yadnik. Mr. Parmar was appointed by the Backward Classes Officer of
Ahmedabad, on 19th February 1936, as a Talati (village Patwari). He was posted in
the office of the Mamlatdar of the Borsad Taluka of Kheda District in Gujarat.
When he went there to take charge of the post, the clerk there asked him, "Who are
you ?" When he replied, "Sir, I am a Harijan", the clerk shouted suddenly- "Go
away, stand at a distance! How dare you stand so near to me? You are in the
office ... if you were outside, I would have given you six kicks! what audacity to
come here for service?"34 After some time, the clerk asked Mr. Shivram to drop his
certificate & the order of appointment as a Talati, on the ground. He then picked
them up, to complete the formalities of joining, without directly or indirectly
touching Mr. Shivram. During his stay there, Mr. Shivram faced a great difficulty in
getting water everyday for drinking. There was a small rusty pot kept there for him,
in which the waterman used to pour water. No one else was touching the pot. He
could get water only when the waterman was present. Many times that waterman
was pretending of being slept, and Mr. Parmar had to live without water for many
days. He there could not get proper food and place for residence. The untouchables
there, were not helping him, as they were afraid of the caste Hindus, who were not
happy with his attempt to live a standard life like the established class. 35 The

43
headman of one Jentral village there, was quiet hostile to him. He one day
threatened Shivram & said- "you fellow..., your father, your brother are sweepers,
who sweep the village office ….. and you want to sit in the office as our equal? ….
Take care....better give up this job.....!"36

After a few days, Shivram was called to Saijpur, to prepare the population
table of the village. He saw the Talati & headman there and said “good Morning!”;
but they do not replied. He was standing there for fifteen minutes, without any
response from anybody. Mr. Parmar had narrated in the above mentioned meeting
in Mumbai that, "He was already tired of life and felt enraged at being thus ignored
and insulted!" After some time, he sat on a chair lying there. Just a few minutes
went and then he saw a mob gathered around him. The librarian at the place was the
leader of the mob. Mr. Parmar was sat on that librarians chair unknowingly and the
librarian was so much upset because of that. At the moment addressing the Ravania
(village servant), the librarian shouted -“Who allowed this dirty dog of a Bhangi to
sit on the chair ?" The whole mob then surrounded him and started abusing and
threatening him. Some of them said that they will cut him into pieces! When they
were not in a situation of listening anything, Mr. Parmar dared to take a piece of
paper & wrote some lines in big bold letters, on it. The lines were as follows 37-

" To,
The Mamlatdar,
Taluka Borsad.

Sir,
Be pleased to accept the humble salutations of Parmar Kalidas Shivram. This
is to humbly inform you that the hand of death is falling upon me today. It would
not have been so if I had listened to the words of my parents. Be so good as to
inform my parents of my death."

Reading those words, the librarian again shouted at him with great anger &

44
said- "You want us to address you as our Talati ? You are a Bhangi and you want to
enter the office and sit on the chair?" Seeing no any sign of any help, Shivram at
last promised them to leave the job & returned to Bombay taking a fifteen day
leave.38

In the writings of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, we can find the description of one of

the worst example of this inhuman practice, named untouchability. Under the
heading “What Untouchables have to face”, he discusses about the “Antagonism of
the Administration”, “Problem of discrimination”, and “Problem of Isolation”. At
the end of that writings, in the first of the three appendices, he have included a news
with the heading “Matters made worst by Untouchability”. It is a news about an
incidence occurred at Jaipur, in June 1953. The people there were facing a disease
occurred because of some “guinea worm”. The worm was coming from the
drinking water. The following two lines from the news can describe the seriousness
of the atrocities and hardships faced bay the untouchables, renamed as the
“Harijans” by Mahatma Gandhi. The news says- “A pond from which Harijans
drink water was so dirty that it must have been a nursery for the guinea worm.
When showed to the Collector of Banswara he was shocked and ordered the pond
be closed immediately.”39

In the second appendix, Dr. Ambedkar have given one another incident
occurred in South India, which he had taken from the "Sunday Times" of March 9,
1952. The heading of the news was "WHERE WEARING A SHIRT IS AN
OFFENCE!". Some of the shocking lines from it are as follows-" In Navinipatti
about two miles from Melur, the village Munsif himself is alleged to have taken
objection to the Harijans wearing decent dress on Pongal festival day and made two
Harijan youths to remove their shirts and upper cloth. The youths were made to do
Kumbidal (full prostration on the ground) and go away in loin-cloth only". The
news also says that, various civil disabilities of Harijans still continue to exist in our
villages, in spite of the "Civil Disabilities Removal Act", which came into force
about five years ago. A number of disabilities, that were imposed on the dalits, by

45
the stronger castes regarding tea shops, barber saloons, wells, tanks, chavadies, etc.
A Harijan youth from Parli near Natham, who refused to take tea in a cocoanut shell
and desired to be served in the glass tumbler, was kicked and shoed on the head by
a caste Hindu. He, later was subsequently convicted and fined only Rs. 10 by the
Sub-Magistrate of Melur.40 In another incidence at kelavalu, the dalits had to take
water from a pond where men used to take bath and cattle were washed. They were
threatened when they tried to take water from the protected water tank. The police
there were indifferent towards the disabilities of dalits. 41 In Ettimangalam, the
stronger caste people destroyed the paddy seedlings raised by some Harijans in
Government land, just because they went into the chavadi during a public meeting
in the village. No any action was taken by the police, even after complaint given by
the dalits.42 In Tiruvadur, a pregnant woman was attacked by a high caste youth just
because she took water from the water tank. The person was fined just Rs. 15 by the
sub-magistrate.43 In Kidaripatti, the dalits were not allowed to use public footpaths
and ride on the bicycles. In Thekkitheru, when the dalits were sitting in the Manthai
chavadi for a public meeting at the chavadi, pebbles were thrown at them till they
quitted the place out of fear.44 In another incidences, youth were beaten mercilessly
just for entering the tea shops & coffee shops. The reporter writes- "Mahatmaji had
desired us to consider the Harijans as blood brothers, but alas ! blood is thicker than
water!"45 The reporter also writes at the end that, about the contradiction, that “at
that time, Manilal, the son of Mahatma Gandhi was doing satyagraha in South
Africa for removing the civil disabilities of the Indians residing there, and here the
Indians were refusing the same thing to their fellow Indians!”46

In the next part of this writings of Dr. Ambedkar have included some more
examples. Mr. Swami Anand Tirth, the regional Officer of the “All India Harijan
Sevak Sangh”, under heading "lynch law against harijans" writes that the dalits
constantly remain under fear of the caste Hindus and it is this fear of victimization,
because of which the dalits do not respond to the movement of the removal of their
civil disabilities. 47 He also writes that, in several places, the villagers run the
chavadi courts under the color of holding Panchayats. The poor dalits were

46
summoned to the chavadi and tried like slaves. They were subjected to merciless
beating and torture, in order to strike terror in them. Public whipping, imposition of
heavy fines, confiscation of properties, foisting of false cases, economic boycott,
social ostracism -prohibiting taking part in social functions and religious
ceremonies, denial of water by preventing access to tanks and wells, denial of
foodstuffs by banning sale of articles to them in the village-shops etc. were the
ways by which the dalits were being tortured by the villagers.48 In another incidence
at Thumbapatti village, 22 miles away from Madurai, on 1st August 1953, some
dalit youths were suspected of theft. They were forced to lie on the ground touching
their belly to the ground. They were given blows with sticks and forced to admit the
act of theft. The reporter writes-"The Harijan youth who had tried to escape was
dragged by his legs over the rough and stony ground. The others were beaten with
sticks and tied to the trees and again beaten so mercilessly till their bones were
almost broken. There they were made to stand, tied to the trees for about eight
hours, as the pitiable objects of public scorn." He also writes that, the subordinate
Police officials usually support the higher caste Hindus and thus the latter gets the
freedom to apply their "Lynch law" and bring the dalits to a sense of their social
servility.49

At the end of his book, the “States And Minorities”, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
have attached few appendices. In the first of it he writes- "It is difficult to expect
that in a country like India, where most persons are communally minded, those in
authority will give equal treatment to those who do not belong to their community.
Unequal treatment has been the inescapable fate of the Untouchables in India".50

The proof of the unequal treatment given to Dalits, by the Hindu officers, is
illustrated by Dr. Ambedkar, with the help of an extract from the Proceedings of the
Board of Revenue of the Government of Madras, No. 723 dated 5 th November,
1892. The proceeding reveals that, so as to "punish the disobedience of Pariahs",
their masters were doing following things51-
(a) bringing false cases in the village Court or in the criminal Courts ;

47
(b) obtaining waste lands all round the paracheri, from Government, so as to
impound the Pariahs' cattle or obstruct the way to their temple;
(c) fraudulently entering mirasi names in the Government account against the
paracheri;
(d) pulling down the huts and destroy the growth in the backyards;
(e) denying occupancy right in immemorial sub-tenancies ;
(f) forcibly cutting the Pariahs' crops, and on being resisted charge them with theft
and rioting ;
(g) under misrepresentations, getting them to execute documents by which they are
after wards ruined;
(h) cutting off the flow of water from their fields;
(i) without legal notice, getting the property of sub-tenants attached for the
landlords' arrears of revenue.

The next section (no. 136) of the proceedings says "...There are the Courts
indeed; but India does not breed village Hampdens. One must have courage to go to
the Courts ; money to employ legal knowledge, and meet legal expenses; and
means to live during the case and the appeals.Further, most cases depend upon the
decision of the first Court; and these Courts are presided over by officials who are
sometimes corrupt and who generally for other reasons, sympathize with the
wealthy and landed classes to which they (themselves) belong". 52 Dr. Ambedkar
also have pointed out his finger towards the “The Punjab Land Alienation Act”. He
have described it as “another illustration of unequal treatment of the Untouchables
by the Legislature”.53

In another important para, Dr. Ambedkar have portrayed the horrible picture
of the harassment & difficulties faced by the untouchables, which he have seen
throughout his life. He writes- "The problem of the untouchables is a formidable
one for the untouchables to face. The untouchables are surrounded by a vast mass
of Hindu population which is hostile to them and which is not ashamed of
committing any inequity or atrocity against them. For a redress of these wrongs

48
which are matters of daily occurrence, the untouchables have to call in the aid of
the administration. What is the character and composition of this administration ?
To be brief, the administration in India, is completely in the hands of the Hindus. It
is their monopoly. From top to bottom it is controlled by them. There is no
Department which is not dominated by them. They dominate the Police, the
Magistracy and the Revenue Services, indeed any and every branch of the
administration. The next point to remember is that the Hindus in the administration
have the same anti-social and inimical attitude to the Untouchables, which the
Hindus outside the administration have. Their one aim is to discriminate against the
untouchables and to deny and deprive them not only of the benefits of Law, but also
of the protection of the Law against tyranny and oppression. The result is that the
Untouchables are placed between the Hindu population and the Hindu-ridden
administration, the one committing wrong against them and the other protecting the
wrongdoer, instead of helping the victims."54

2.3 Atrocities & Swaraj

In the very next para, Dr. Ambedkar have picturized a imaginary picture of
the future, after independence. He writes as follows- "what can Swaraj mean to the
Untouchables ? It can only mean one thing, namely, that while today it is only the
administration that is in the hands of the Hindus, under Swaraj the Legislature and
Executive will also be in the hands of the Hindus, it goes without saying that such a
Swaraj would aggravate the sufferings of the untouchables. For, in addition to an
hostile administration, there will be an indifferent Legislature and a callous
Executive. The result will be that the administration unbridled in venom and in
harshness, uncontrolled by the Legislature and the Executive, may pursue its policy
of inequity towards the untouchables without any curb. To put it differently, under
Swaraj the untouchables will have no way of escape from the destiny of
degradation which Hindus and Hinduism have fixed for them”.55 We all are the
witnesses of the scene, where we can see that Dr. Ambedkar's imagination is not far

49
from reality! This is a situation after Dr. Ambedkar himself have written Indian
Constitution & have introduced plenty of safeguards for all the distressed
classes,including SC & ST. What would have happened to these classes, if he had
not written the Indian Constitution?

In his explanatory notes regarding Article II, Section III, Clause 2, Dr.
Ambedkar says- "The best remedy against tyranny and oppression by a majority
against the minority is inquiry, publicity and discussion".56 In the next clause, i. e.
the clause number 3, Dr. Ambedkar says- "Social boycott is always held over the
heads of the Untouchables by the Caste Hindus as a sword of Democles. Only the
Untouchables know what a terrible weapon it is in the hands of the Hindus”. He
further gives extracts from the report of a Committee appointed by the Government
of Bombay in 1928 to investigate the grievances of the Depressed Classes. The
committee have reported as follows- “Although we have recommended various
remedies to secure to the Depressed Classes their rights to all public utilities, we
fear that there will be difficulties in the way of their exercising them for a long time
to come. The first difficulty is the fear of open violence against them by the
orthodox classes. It must be noted that the Depressed Classes form a small minority
in every village, oppose to which is a great majority of the orthodox who are bent
on protecting their interests and dignity from any supposed invasion by the
Depressed Classes at any cost. The danger of prosecution by the Police has put a
limitation upon the use of violence by the orthodox classes and consequently such
cases are rare.The second difficulty arises from the economic position in which the
Depressed Classes are found today. The Depressed Classes have no economic
independence in most parts of the Presidency. Some cultivate the lands of the
orthodox classes as their tenants at will. Others live on their earnings as farm
laborers employed by the orthodox classes and the rest subsist on the food or grain
given to them by the orthodox classes in lieu of service rendered to them as village
servants. We have heard of numerous instances where the orthodox classes have
used their economic power as a weapon against those Depressed Classes in their
villages, when the latter have dared to exercise their rights, and have evicted them

50
from their land, and stopped their employment and discontinued their remuneration
as village servants. This boycott is often planned on such an extensive scale as to
include the prevention of the Depressed Classes from using the commonly used
paths and the stoppage of sale of the necessaries of life by the village Bania.
According to the evidence, sometimes small causes suffice for the proclamation of
a social boycott against the Depressed Classes. Frequently it follows on the exercise
by the Depressed Classes of their right to use the common well, but cases have been
by no mean rare where a stringent boycott has been proclaimed simply because a
Depressed Class man has put on the sacred thread, has bought a piece of land, has
put on good clothes or ornaments, or has carried a marriage procession with a
bridegroom on the horse through the public street"57

Dr. Ambedkar have included one letter of The Scheduled Caste People , from
a village named 'Kheri Jessore', in Rohtak District of Punjab, in the same writings
of the “States And Minorities”. This letter was written by them to the Deputy
Commissioner of Rohtak District. A copy of this letter was forwarded to Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar, on the address of Western Court, New Delhi. It was received by Dr.
Ambedkar on 1st February 1947. The letter was written by the Chamars of Kheri
Jessore, to seek protection from "undue pressure & merciless treatment by the Caste
Hindu Jats" of the village.

The Jats in Kheri Jessore wanted the chamars to work in their fields on lesser
wages, of which chamars were not satisfied. The wage, according to chamars was
"too little and insufficient to meet both ends". They had therefore refused to go on
that work. The consequences of this struggle were as below58-

1. Jats were enraged due to the refusal of chamars to work on less wages and

declared a Social Boy-cot on them.

2. They pressurized the Chamars to pay a tax for grazing their cattle in the

jungle, when no such tax was supported by any law.

3. They prevented the cattle of Chamars to drink water in the village pool.

51
 4. They prevented the sweepers from cleaning the streets where the chamars

live.
5. The heaps of dust and dirt were lying there. (It might have caused some

disease.)
6. The chamars were forced to lead a shameful life.

7. The Jats were always ready to beat them and tear down their honor by

behaving indecently towards their wives, sisters and daughters.

8. Chamars were experiencing a lot of trouble of the worst type.

9. The children of Chamars were even beaten severely and in a merciless

manner, while going to the school.

10. No action was taken even after an application was submitted to the Deputy

Commissioner of Rohtak District.

11. The Inspector of Police & Tehsildar of Rohtak made careless investigation

and no attention was paid to redress the difficulties of the poor and innocent
people.
12. They have urged the Deputy Commissioner to take some immediate steps to

enable them to lead an honorable and peaceful life which is "humanity's

birth-right".

Dr. Ambedkar have said that, what was true in 1928, was true in 1947 too
and what was true of Bombay was true of the whole of India". 59 With a great pain, I
must comment here, in year 2012, that the "Humanity's Birth Right" is not yet
restored fully in the Independent India, even after sixty four years of its so called
Independence. Different types of the atrocities are still occurring all over India &
whatever was happening in 1947, is still happening in 2012, even though the ratio
may be less or more. Reasons may be different & details may be different, but the
consequences are quiet similar. The way the innocent SC/ST people are left
helpless, the way unlawful actions committed against them in order to "suppress"
their minds and bodies, the way the government officials give the partial treatment
to them etc. have quiet a similar pattern, which was present before independence.

52
2.4 The History Continued

A number of atrocities are still occurring in India, every day. In that sence,
the history of atrocities is still continued in independent India, even after sixty four
years of its independence. The 'National Commission for Scheduled Castes &
Scheduled Tribes', have categorized the current atrocities into three main categories
as follows60-

1. cases relating to the practice of "untouchability" & attempts to defy the

social order;
2. cases relating to land disputes and demands for minimum wages; &

3. cases of atrocities by police & forest officials.

In India, more than 30,000 cases of atrocity are getting registered all over
India every year, till today. At an average, more than 100 cases are getting
registered every day. Even after such a high number of atrocities taking place
everyday in every corner of India, many people now a days, are seen saying that
caste discrimination & caste atrocities are now finished from India. This is a proof
of the fact that the media & concerned machinery in India have kept the ugly truth
hidden from the society in general, for a number of years. They have satisfied
themselves by showing that everything is alright all over. By doing this, these
people are committing a big mistake. They may hide the burning truth; but they
can't hide the smell! The situation will get aggravated, if they continued to do so.
The social and religious discrimination is not yet finished fully. It is reduced to
some extent only in the outer sphere of life and that too due to the fear of the law. It
is also reduced to some extent due to the outcry & pressure from some honest
intellectuals, Human Right Activists & other Social-political organizations. Even
then, a lot of oppressive spirit is still present in the minds of a number of people
from the dominating groups. There is little change in the mindset of the powerful
class. The atrocities therefore are still continued. We need some powerful
instrument to curb them.

53
 The real thing about the atrocities today is that, a few people commit
atrocities against SCST people. These atrocities are of types that are mentioned &
not mentioned in the law. Some people support these atrocities openly or secretely.
Some admire those atrocities. Maximum number of people remain indifferent. Dalit
activists & some of their friends oppose them. Only a few number from non-dalit
section oppose these atrocities sincerely. Some of the dalits, due to personal
interests or due to pressure from oppressers support or ignore the atrocities.
Economic dependence of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes makes the
situation quiet worst. There is a majority & overall domination of non-SC/ST
groups all over India in the Administration, Police and Judiciary, which leaves no
way of escape for dalits. They had to get crushed under the foots of the dominant
people from powerful castes.

We can summarize the current status of the Indian Social System & nature of
atrocities on SC & ST people, as follows-

1. Atrocities on Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes is an age old social

problem.
2. It is a religious problem too.

3. To a considerable level, it is a political problem too.

4. A person/caste/tribe which is untouchable or secondary to a Hindu is

untouchable or secondary to others too.

5. The problem of untouchability and atrocities, is the outcome of the mixed

feelings of enmity, hatred & superiority complex.

6. When people see some monetary benefit, they change their adamant casteist

behavior, at least up to some extent.

7. When there is some chance of not getting uncovered while violating the

rules for maintaining superiority, they violate it, especially for personal
benefit.
8. The educational or economic progress, clean and neat life style and sober

behavior of the ex-untouchable/tribal persons does not upgrade his

54
 secondary status in the minds of people with superiority complex.
9. A considerable part of atrocities is a result of caste system, which has created

some superiority complex in the minds of majority of people from the so

called higher castes and some inferiority complex in the minds of the so
called lower castes.
10. In present India, the Laws are changed, but the mindsets are not!

***

55
 References

1. Marc Galanter, Competing Equalities : Law & the Backward Classes in

India,Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1991, p.8

2. Who were the Shudras? By Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Part -I, Chapter-I

3. Ibid., Part -I, Chapter-I

4. Ibid., Part -I, Chapter-I

5. Ibid., Part -I, Chapter-I

6. Ibid., Part -I, Chapter-I

7. Ibid., Part -I, Chapter-III

8. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, The untouchables : Who were they & Why they became

untouchables? Part II.

9. Dr. B. R.Ambedkar, Buddha & Dhamma,Part-I, section 14 to 16

10. Dr. B. R.Ambedkar, The Castes in India, Their Mechanism, Genesis &

Development, Indian Antiquary, May 1917, Vol. XLI

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Marc Galanter, Competing Equalities : Law & the Backward Classes in India,

Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1991, p.7 to 10

17. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Preface to the book 'Brahmani Adpadadyat

Gulamgiri',Rajesh Prakashan Pune, p.1

18. Ibid. Part-I to V, p.13 to 22

19. Part-VII, p.31

20. Maharshi V.R.Shinde,'Bhartiya Asprushyatecha Prashna', Kaushalya

Prakashan, Aurangabad, 2003, ch.11, p.153

21. Ibid. ch.11,p.158

22. Ibid. ch.11, p.161

23. Ibid. p.ch.11,p.154-55

56
24. Ibid. ch. 2, p.29

25. Dr. Ambedkar B.R., “Untouchables : Who are They & Why They Became

Untouchables?” Part-VI, ch.16.

26. Dr. Ambedkar B.R.,Waiting For a Visa, P.E. Society, Part-I,1990.

27. Ibid.,Part-I

28. Ibid. Part-I

29. Ibid. Part-II

30. Ibid. Part-II

31. Ibid., Part-III

32. Ibid., Part-IV

33. Ibid., Part-V

34. Ibid., Part-VI

35. Ibid., Part-VI

36. Ibid., Part-VI

37. Ibid., Part-VI

38. Ibid., Part-VI

39. Dr. Ambedkar B.R., Untouchables or The Children of India's Ghetto”, part-IV, appe.I
40. Ibid.,Part-IV,appe.II

41. Ibid.,Part-IV,appe.II

42. Ibid.,Part-IV,appe.II

43. Ibid.,Part-IV, appe.II

44. Ibid., Part-IV, appe.II

45. Ibid.,Part-IV, appe.II

46. Ibid.,Part-IV, appe.II

47. Ibid.,Part-IV, appe.III

48. Ibid.,Part-IV, appe. II

49. Ibid.,Part-IV, appe. II

50. Dr. Ambedkar B.R., States & Minorities, Appe.I, Article-II, Section II, Clause2 .

51. Ibid.

52. Ibid.

53. Ibid.

57
54. Ibid. Article-II, Section III, clause I

55. Ibid

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid. Article-II, Section III, clause III

58. Ibid. Article-II, Section III, clause III

59. Ibid. Article-II, Section III, clause III

60. "Broken People : Caste Violence Against India’s Untouchables”,Human

Rights Watch,1999, p.1-10

***

58