hunger. But I do know that it is harmful both to spiritual and national growth. Varna and ashrama 6 are institutions which have nothing to do with castes. The law of varna teaches us that we have each one of us to earn our bread by following the ancestral calling. It defines not our rights but our duties. It necessarily has reference to callings that are conducive to the welfare of humanity and to no other. It also follows that there is no calling too low and none too high. All are good, lawful and absolutely equal in status. The callings of aBrahmin—spiritual teacher—and a scavenger are equal, and their due performance carries equal merit before God, and at one time seems to have carried identical reward before man. Both were entitled to their livelihood and no more. Indeed one traces even now in thevillages the faint lines of this healthy operation of the law. 7
2.3
Living in Segaon 8 with its population of six hundred, I do not find a great disparity between the earnings of different tradesmen, including Brahmins. I find too that real Brahmins are to be found, even in these degenerate days, who are living on alms freely given to them and are giving freely of what they have of spiritual treasures. It would be wrong and improper to judge the law of varna by its caricature in the lives of men who profess to belong to a varna, whilst they openly commit a breach of its only operative rule. Arrogation of a superior status by and of a varna over another is a denial of the law. And there is nothing in the law of varna to warrant a belief inuntouchability. (The essence of Hinduism is contained in its enunciation of one and only God as truth and its bold acceptance ofahimsa as the law of the human family.)
2.4
I am aware that my interpretation of Hinduism will be disputed by many besides Dr Ambedkar. That does not affect my position. It is an interpretation by which I have lived for nearly half a century, and according to which I have endeavoured to the best of my ability to regulate my life.
2.5
In my opinion the profound mistake that Dr Ambedkar has made in his address is to pick out the texts of doubtful authenticity and value, and the state of degraded Hindus who are no fit specimens of the faith they so woefully misrepresent. Judged by the standard applied by Dr Ambedkar every known living faith will probably fail.
2.6
In his able address, the learned doctor has over-proved his case. Can a religion that was professed byChaitanya, Jnyandeo,Tukaram, Tiruvalluvar,Ramakrishna Paramahansa,Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Maharshi Devendranath Tagore,Vivekananda, 9 and a host of others who might be easily mentioned, be so utterly devoid of merit as is made out in Dr Ambedkar’s address? A religion has to be judged not by its worst specimens but by the best it might have produced. For that and that alone can be used as the standard to aspire to, if not to improve upon.
Harijan , 18 July 1936
Sant Ram responds to Gandhi
Varna versus Caste
3
3.1
Shri Sant Ramji of theJat-Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore wants me to publish the following: 10
3.2
“I have read your remarks about Dr Ambedkar and the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal, Lahore. In that connection I beg to submit as follows:
“We did not invite Dr Ambedkar to preside over our conference because he belonged to theDepressed Classes, for we do not distinguish between a Touchable and an Untouchable Hindu. On the contrary our choice fell on him simply because his diagnosis of the fatal disease of the Hindu community was the same as ours, i.e., he too was of the opinion that the caste system was the root cause of the disruption and downfall of the Hindus. The subject of the doctor’s thesis for his doctorate being the caste system, 11 he has studied the subject thoroughly. Now the object of our conference was to persuade the Hindus to annihilate caste, but the advice of a non-Hindu in social and religious matters can have no effect on them. The doctor in the supplementary portion of his