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Part III

Revolution and
Counter-Revolution
in Ancient India

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had proposed to write a treatise,

i.e., ‘Revolution and Counter’ Revolution in Ancient
India’.The table of contents has been printed in the
chapter of schemes. He had originally planned to
write seven books to be included under this broad
title. The Committee was able to find some pages and
few chapters in his collection. The chapters are also
incomplete. After scrutiny, the Committee came to a
decision that ‘Revolution and Counter-Revolution in
Ancient India’ is to be presented in this volume with the
available material though incomplete. Dr. Ambedkar
considered the rise of Buddhism as revolution. The
Counter-Revolution pioneered by Brahmins1 resulted
into decline and fall of Buddhism.
Contd. overleaf
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As such the following chapters are included under

this title.
1. Ancient India on Exhumation

2 The Ancient Regime—The State of the

Aryan Society

3. A Sunken Priesthood

4. Reformers and Their Fate

5. The Decline and Fall of Buddhism

6. The Literature of Brahminism

7. Triumph of Brahminism

8. The Morals of the House—Manusmruti

or the Gospel of Counter-Revolution

9. Philosophic Defence of Counter-

Revolution (Krishna and his Gita)

10. Analysis of Virat Parva and Uddyog Parva

11. Brahmins V/s Kshatriyas

12. The Shudras and the Counter-Revolution

13. The Women and the Counter-Revolution

The readers may compare these chapters with

the proposed plan given in the last chapters of
Schemes.—Editors
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CHAPTER 5
Ancient India On Exhumation

There are two typed copies of this Chapter. Both of them contain
additions and corrections in the handwriting of Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar. After consideration, we decided that the latter
version should be included here. This essay, consisting of three
pages only, seems to be an introduction to a larger subject Dr.
Ambedkar probably had in his mind.—Editors,

Much of the ancient history of India is no history at all. Not that

ancient India has no history. It has plenty of it. But it has lost its
character. It has been made mythology to amuse women and children.
This seems to have been done deliberately by the Brahminical writers.
Take the word Deva. What does it mean? Is the word Jana Vishesh
represent a member of the human family? It is made to appear
superhuman agency. By this the pith of history contained in it is
squeezed out.

Along with the word Deva occur the names of Yaksha, Gana,
Gandharva, Kinnars. Who were they? The imperession one gets on
reading the Mahabharat and Ramayan is that they are imaginary
beings who filled the horizon but did not exist.

But the Yaksha, Gana, Gandharva, Kinnaras were also members

of the human family. They were in the service of the Devas. The
Yakshas were guarding the palaces. Ganas were guarding the Devas.
Gandharvas were amusing the Devas by music and dancing. The
Kinnaras were also in the service of the Gods. The descendants of
the Kinnaras are even now living in Himachal Pradesh.

Take the name Asura. The description of Asura given, in the

Mahabharat and Ramayana make out as though they belonged to non-
human world. An Asura is described to eat ten carts-load of food. They
are monsters in size. They sleep for six months. They have ten mouths.
Who is a Rakshas? He too is described as a non-human creature. In size,
in his capacity for eating, in his habits of life he resembled the Asura.
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152 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

There is a plenty of references to the Nagas. But who is a Naga? A

Naga is represented as a serpent or a snake. Can this be true ? Whether
true or not, it is so and Hindus believe it. Ancient Indian history must
be exhumed. Without its exhumation Ancient India will go without
history. Fortunately with the help of the Buddhist literature, Ancient
Indian History can be dug out of the debris which the Brahmin writers
have heaped upon in a fit of madness.
The Buddhist literature helps a great deal to remove the debris and
see the underlying substance quite clearly and distinctly.
The Buddhist literature shows that the Devas were a community of
human beings. There are so many Devas who come to the Buddha to
have their doubts and difficulties removed. How could this be unless the
Devas were human beings.
Again the Buddhist canonical literature throws a flood of light on the
puzzling question of the Nagas. It makes a distinction between womb-
born Nagas and egg-born Nagas and thereby making it clear that the
word Naga has two-fold meaning. In its original sense it stood for the
name of a human community.
The Asuras again are not monsters. They too are a Jan-Vishesh
human beings. According to Satpatha Bramhana, the Asuras are the
descendants of Prajapati the Lord of the creation. How they became evil
spirits is not known. But the fact is recorded that they fought against
the Devas for the possession of the earth and that they were overcome
by the Devas and that they finally succumbed. The point is clear that
the Asuras were members of the human family and not monsters.
With this exhumation of debris, we can see Ancient Indian History
in a new light.


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CHAPTER 6
The Ancient Regime:
The State of the Aryan Society

This essay consists of 11 typed foolscap pages tagged into a

file. From the last sentence it appears that the Chapter is
incomplete.—Editors

Buddhism was a revolution. It was as great a Revolution as the

French Revolution. Though it began as a Religious revolution, it
became more than Religious revolution. It became a Social and Political
Revolution. To be able to realize how profound was the character of
this Revolution, it is necessary to know the state of the society before
the revolution began its course. To use the language of the French
Revolution, it is necessary to have a picture of the ancient regime
in India.
To understand the great reform which he brought about by his
teaching, it is necessary to have some idea of the degraded condition
of the Aryan civilization at the time when Buddha started on the
mission of his life.
The Aryan Community of his time was steeped in the worst kind
of debauchery; social, religious and spiritual.
To mention only a few of the social evils, attention may be drawn
to gambling. Gambling had become as widespread among the Aryans
as drinking.
Every king had a hall of gambling attached to his palace. Every
king had an expert gambler in his employment as a companion to play
with. King Virat had in his employment Kank as an expert gambler.
Gambling was not merely a pastime with kings. They played with
heavy stakes. They staked kingdoms, dependents, relatives, slaves,
servants.1 King Nala staked everything in gambling with Paskkar and
lost everything. The only thing he did not stake was himself and his
1
Mahabharat—Vanaparva.
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154 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

wife Damayanti. Nala had to go and live in the forest as a beggar.

There were kings who went beyond Nala. The Mahabharat1 tells how
Dharma the eldest of the Pandavas gambled and staked everything, his
brothers and also his and their wife Draupadi. Gambling was a matter
of honour with the Aryans and any invitation to gamble was regarded
as an injury to one’s honour and dignity. Dharma gambled with such
disastrous consequences although he was warned beforehand. His excuse
was that he was invited to gamble and that as a man of honour, he
could not decline such an invitation.
This vice of gambling was not confined to kings. It had infected even
the common folk. Rig-Veda contains lamentations of a poor Aryan ruined
by gambling. The habit of gambling had become so common in Kautilya’s
time that there were gambling houses licensed by the king from which
the king derived considerable revenue.
Drinking was another evil which was rampant among the Aryans.
Liquors were of two sorts Soma and Sura. Soma was a sacrificial
wine. The drinking of the Soma was in the beginning permitted only
to Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. Subsequently it was permitted
only to Brahmins and Kshatriyas. The Vaishyas were excluded from it
and the Shudras were never permitted to taste it. Its manufacture was
a secret known only to the Brahmins. Sura was open to all and was
drunk by all. The Brahmins also drank Sura. Shukracharya the priest
to the Asuras drank so heavily that in his drunken state he gave the
life giving Mantra known to him only and with which he used to revive
the Asuras killed by the Devas—to Katch the son of Brahaspati who was
the priest of the Devas. The Mahabharat mentions an occasion when
both Krishna and Arjuna were dead drunk. That shows that the best
among the Aryan Society were not only not free from the drink habit
but that they drank heavily. The most shameful part of it was that
even the Aryan women were addicted to drink. For instance Sudeshna2
the wife of King Virat tells her maid Sairandhri to go to Kichaka’s
palace and bring Sura as she was dying to have a drink. It is not to be
supposed that only queens indulged in drinking. The habit of drinking
was common among women of all classes and even Brahmin women were
not free from it. That liquor and dancing was indulged in by the Aryan
women is clear from the Kausitaki Grihya Sutra I. 11-12, which says;
“Four or eight women who are not widowed, after having been regaled
with wine and food are to dance for four times on the night previous to
the wedding ceremony.”
1
Mahabharat—Sabhaparva.
2
Vanaparva. Adh. XV. 10:
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THE ANCIENT REGIME : THE STATE OF THE ARYAN SOCIETY 155

That the drinking of intoxicating liquor was indulged in by Brahmin

women, not to speak of women of the lower Varnas, as late as the seventh
and eighth centuries- A.D. in the Central region of Aryavarta, is clear
from Kumarila Bhatta’s Tantra- Vartika I (iii). 4, which states, “Among
the people of modern days we find the Brahmin women of the countries of
Ahicchatra and Mathura to be addicted to drinking”. Kumarila condemned
the practice in the case of Brahmins only, but not of Kshatriyas and
Vaishyas men and women, if the liquor was distilled from fruits or flowers
(Madhavi), and Molasses (Gaudi) and not from grains (Sura).
The sexual immorality of the Aryan Society must shock their present
day descendants. The Aryans of pre-Buddhist days had no such rule of
prohibited degrees as we have today to govern their sexual or matrimonial
relationship.
According to the Aryan Mythology, Brahma is the creator. Brahma
had three sons and a daughter. His one son Daksha married his sister.
The daughters born of this marriage between brother and sister were
married some to Kashyapa the son of Marichi the son of Brahma and
some to Dharma the third son of Brahma.1
In the Rig-Veda there is an episode related of Yama and Yami brother
and sister. According to this episode Yami the sister invites her brother
Yama to cohabit with her and becomes angry when he refuses to do so.2
A father could marry his daughter. Vashishta married his own daughter
Shatrupa when she came of age.3 Manu married his daughter Ila.4 Janhu
married his daughter Janhavi.5 Surya married his daughter Usha.6
There was polyandri not of the ordinary type. The polyandri prevalent
among the Aryans was a polyandri when kinsmen cohabited with one
woman. Dhahaprachetani and his son Soma cohabited with Marisha the
daughter of Soma.7
Instances of grandfather marrying his grand-daughter are not wanting.
Daksha gave his daughter in marriage to his father Brahma8 and from that
marriage was born the famous Narada. Dauhitra gave his 27 daughters
to his father Soma for cohabitation and procreation.9
The Aryans did not mind co-habiting with women in the open and
within sight of people. The Rishis used to perform certain religious
1
Mahabharat Adiparva. Adh. 66.
2
Rig. Veda.
3
Hari Vansha Adh. II.
4
Ibid. Adh. X.
5
Ibid Adh. XXVII.
6
Yask Nirutta Adh. V. Khanda VI.
7
Harivansha Adh. II.
8
Ibid. Adh. III.
9
Ibid.
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156 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

rites which were called Vamdevya vrata. These rites used to be performed
on the Yadnya bhumi. If any woman came there and expressed a desire
for sexual intercourse and asked the sage to satisfy her, the sage used
to cohabit with her then and there in the open on the Yadnya bhumi.
Instances of this may be mentioned. The case of the sage Parashara had
sexual intercourse with Satyavati and also of Dirghatapa. That such a
custom was common is shown by the existence of the word Ayoni. The
word Ayoni is understood to mean of immaculate conception. That is
not however the original meaning of the word. The original meaning
of the word Yoni is house. Ayoni means conceived out of the house
i.e. in the open. That there was nothing deemed to be wrong in this
is clear from the fact that both Sita and Draupadi were Ayonija. That
this was very common is clear from the fact that religious injunctions
had to be issued against such a practice.1
There was prevalent among the Aryans the practice of renting out
their women to others for a time. As an illustration may be mentioned
the story of Madhavi.2 The king Yayati gave his daughter Madhavi
as an offering to his Guru Galav. Galav rented out the girl Madhavi
to three kings, each a period. Thereafter he gave her in marriage to
Vishwamitra. She remained with him until a son was born to her.
Thereafter Galav took away the girl and gave her back to her father
Yayati.
Besides the practice of letting out women to others temporarily at a
rent there was prevalent among the Aryans another practice namely
allowing procreation by the best amongst them. Raising a family was
treated by them as though it was a breeding or stock raising. Among
the Aryas there was a class of persons called Devas who were Aryans
but of a superior status and prowess. The Aryans allowed their women
to have sexual intercourse with any one of the class of Devas in the
interest of good breeding. This practice prevailed so extensively that
the Devas came to regard prelibation in respect of the Aryan Women
as their prescriptive right. No Aryan woman could be married unless
this right of prelibation had been redeemed and the woman released
from the control of the Devas by offering what was technically called
Avadan. The Laja Hoame which is performed in every Hindu marriage
and the details of which are given in the Ashwalayan Grahya Sutra is
a relic of this act of the redemption of the Aryan woman from the right
of prelibation of the Devas. The Avadan in the Laja Hoama is nothing
but the price for the existinguishment of the right of the Devas over

1
Mahabharat, Adi Parva—Adh. 193.
2
Ibid. Udyoga Parva—Adh. 106-123.
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THE ANCIENT REGIME : THE STATE OF THE ARYAN SOCIETY 157

the bride. The Saptapadi performed in all Hindu marriages and which
is regarded as the most essential ceremony without which there is no
lawful marriage has an integral connection with this right of prelibation
of the Devas. Saptapadi means walking by the bridegroom seven steps
with the bride. Why is this essential ? The answer is that the Devas,
ii they were dissatisfied with the compensation, could claim the woman
before the seventh step was taken. After the seventh step was taken,
the right of the Devas was extinguished and the bridegroom could take
away the bride and live as husband and wife without being obstructed
or molested by the Devas.
There was no rule of chastity for maidens. A girl could have sexual
intercourse with and also progeny from anybody without contracting
marriage. This is evident from the root meaning of the word Kanya which
means a girl. Kanya comes from the root Kam which means a girl free
to offer herself to any man. That they did offer themselves to any man
and had children without contracting regular marriage is illustrated by
the case of Kunti and Malsyagandha. Kunti had children from different
men before she was married to Pandu and Matsyagandha had sexual
intercourse with the sage Parashara before she married to Shantanu
the father of Bhishma.
Beastiality was also prevalent among the Aryans. The story of the
sage Dam having sexual intercourse with a female dear, is well known.
Another instance is that of Surya cohabiting with a mare. But the most
hideous instance is that of the woman having sexual intercourse with
the horse in the Ashvamedha Yadna.

(INCOMPLETE)


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CHAPTER 7
A Sunken Priesthood

This essay is numbered as Chapter III in the file of the Ancient

Regime and contains 16 foolscap typed pages. This Chapter also
seems to be left incomplete.—Editors.
The priestly profession in the ancient Aryan Society was monopolized
by the Brahmins. None except a Brahmin could become a priest. As
custodians of religion, the Brahmins were the guides of the people in
moral and spiritual matters. They were to set the standard for people
to follow. Did the Brahmins act up to the standard? Unfortunately, all
the evidence we have, shows that the Brahmins had fallen to the utmost
depth of moral degradation.
A Shrotriya Brahmin was supposed not to keep with him a store of
provision lasting for more than a week. But they had systematically
trampled upon this rule and were addicted to the use of the things
stored up; stores, to wit, of foods, drinks, clothing, equipages, beddings,
perfumes, and curry-stuffs.
The Brahmins were addicted to visiting shows such as:—
(1) Nautch dances (nakkam).
(2) Singings of songs (gitam).
(3) Instrumental music (vaditam).
(4) Shows at fairs (pekham).
(5) Ballads recitations (akkhanam).
(6) Hand music (panisaram).
(7) The chanting of bards (vetals).
(8) Tam-tam playing (kumbhathunam).
(9) Fair scenes (sobhanagarkam).
(10) Acrobatic feats by Kandalas (Kandala-vamsa-dhopanam).
(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks
and quails.
(12) Bouts at quarterstaff, boxing, wrestling.
(13-16) Sham-fights, roll-calls, manoeuvres, reviews.
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A SUNKEN PRIESTHOOD 159

They were addicted to games and recreations; that is to say,

(1) Games on boards with eight, or with ten rows of squares.
(2) The same games played by imagining such boards in the air.
(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground so that one
steps only where one ought to go.
(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap with one’s nail,
or putting them into a heap, in each case without shaking it. He
who shakes the heap, loses.
(5) Throwing dice.
(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one.
(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out in lac, or red
dye, or flour water, and striking the wet hand on the ground or
on a wall, calling out ‘what shall it be?’ and showing the form
required—elephants, horses & c.
(8) Games with balls.
(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves.
(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs.
(11) Turning summersaults.
(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm leaves.
(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm leaves.
(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows.
(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a playfellow’s back.
(17) Guessing the playfellow’s thoughts.
(18) Mimicry of deformities.
They were addicted to the use of high and large couches; that is to say:
(1) Moveable settees, high, and six feet long (Asandi).
(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko).
(3) Goat’s hair coverings with very long fleece (Gonako).
(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Kittaka).
(5) White blankets (Patika).
(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Patalika).
(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tulika).
(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, & c, (Vikatika).
(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalom).
(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomi).
(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Katthissam).
(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyam).
(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakam).
(14-16) Elephant, horse and chariot rugs.
(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Aginapaveni).
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160 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope.

(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttarakkhadam).
(20) Sofas with red pillows for the head and feet”.
The Brahmins were addicted to the use of means for adorning and
beautifying themselves; that is to say:
Rubbing in scented powders on one’s body, shampooing it, and bathing
it, patting the limbs with clubs after the manner of wrestlers, the use of
mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands, rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces,
walking-sticks, reed cases for drugs, rapiers, sunshades, embroidered slippers,
turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak tail and long-fringed white robes.
The Brahmins were addicted to such low conversation as these:
Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state; tales of war, of terrors,
of battles; talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes;
talks about relationships, equipages, villages, towns, cities and countries;
tales about women, and about heroes; gossip at street corners, or places
whence water is fetched; ghost stories; desultory talk; speculations about
the creation of the land or sea, or about existence and non-existence.
The Brahmins were addicted to the use of wrangling phrases: such as:
“You don’t understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.”
“How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?”
“You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.”
“I am speaking to the point, you are not.”
“You are putting last what ought to come first, and first what ought to
come last.”
“What you’ve ex-cogitated so long, that is all quite upset.”
“You are proved to be wrong.”
“Set to work to clear your views.”
“Disentangle yourself if you can.”
The Brahmins were addicted to taking messages, going on errands, and
acting as go-betweens; to wit, on kings, ministers of state, Kshatriyas,
Brahmans, or young men, saying: Go there, come hither, take this with
you, bring that from thence.’
‘The Brahmins were tricksters, droner out (of holy words for pray), diviners,
and exorcists, ever hungering to add gain to gain.’
The Brahmins earned their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low
arts, such as these:
(1) Palmistry—prophesying long life, prosperity, & c, (or the reverse
from marks on a child’s hands, feet, & c.)
(2) Divining by means of omens and signs.
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A SUNKEN PRIESTHOOD 161

(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts and other celestial portents.

(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams.
(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body.
(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice.
(7) Sacrificing to Agni.
(8) Offering oblations from a spoon.
(9-13) Making offerings to gods of husks, of the red powder between
the grain and the husk, of husked grain ready for boiling, or ghee
and of oil.
(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, & c, into the fire out of
one’s mouth.
(15) Drawing blood from one’s right knee as a sacrifice to the gods.
(16) Looking at the knuckles, & c, and, after muttering a charm,
divining whether a man is well born of luck or not.
(17) Determining whether the site for a proposed house or pleasance,
is luck or not.
(18) Advising on customary law.
(19) Laying demons in a cemetery.
(20) Laying ghosts.
(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used when lodging in an earth
house.
(22) Snake charming.
(23) The poison craft.
(24) The scorpion craft”.
(25) The mouse craft.
(26) The bird craft.
(27) The crow craft.
(28) Foretelling the number of years that man has yet to live.
(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows.
(30) The animal wheel.
The Brahmins earned their living by wrong means of livelihood, by
low arts, such as these:
Knowledge of the signs of good and bad qualities in the following
things and of the marks in them denoting the health or luck of their
owners: to wit,
gems, staves, garments, swords, arrows, bows, other weapons, women,
men, boys, girls, slaves, slave-girls, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls,
oxen, goats, sheep, fowls, quails, iguanas, herrings, tortoises, and other
animals.
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162 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

The Brahmins, earned their living by wrong means of livelihood by

low arts such as soothsaying, to the effect that:
The chiefs will march out.
The home chiefs will attack and the enemies retreat.
The enemies’ chiefs will attack, and ours will retreat.
The home chiefs will gain the victory, and ours will suffer defeat.
The foreign chiefs will gain the victory on this side, and ours will
suffer defeat.
Thus will there be victory on this side, defeat on that.
The Brahmins, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their
living by wrong means of livelihood, by such low arts as foretelling:
(1) There will be an eclipse of the Moon.
(2) There will be an eclipse of the Sun.
(3) There will be an eclipse of a star (Nakshatra).
(4) There will be aberration of the Sun or the Moon.
(5) The Sun or the Moon will return to its usual path.
(6) There will be aberrations of the stars.
(7) The stars will return to their usual course.
(8) There will be a jungle fire.
(9) There will be a fall of meteors.
(10) There will be an earthquake.
(11) The god will thunder.
(12-15) There will be rising and setting, clearness and dimness of the
Sun or the Moon or the stars, or foretelling of each of these fifteen
phenomena that they will betoken such and such a result.”
The Brahmins earned their living by wrong means of the livelihood,
by low arts, such as these:
Foretelling an abundant rainfall.
Foretelling a deficient rainfall.
Foretelling a good harvest.
Foretelling scarcity of food.
Foretelling tranquility.
Foretelling disturbances.
Foretelling a pestilence.
Foretelling a healthy season.
Counting on the fingers.
Counting without using the fingers.
Summing up large totals.
Composing ballads, poetizing.
Casuistry, sophistry.
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A SUNKEN PRIESTHOOD 163

The Brahmins, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their
living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as:
(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or
bridegroom is brought home.
(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or
bridegroom is sent forth.
(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace (or
using charms to procure harmony).
(4) Fixing a lucky time for the outbreak of hostilities (or using charms
to make discord).
(5) Fixing a lucky time for the calling in of debts (or charms for
success in throwing dice).
(6) Fixing a lucky time for the expenditure of money (or charms to
bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice).
(7) Using charms to make people lucky.
(8) Using charms to make people unlucky.
(9) Using charms to procure abortion.
(10) Incantations to keep a man’s jaws fixed.
(11) Incantations to bring on dumbness.
(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands.
(13) Incantations to bring on deafness.
(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror.
(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed.
(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god.
(17) The worship of the Sun.
(18) The worship of the Great One.
(19) Bringing forth flames from one’s mouth.
(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck.
The Brahmins earned their living by wrong means of livelihood, by
low arts, such as these:
(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted.
(2) Paying such vows.
(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house.
(4) Causing virility.
(5) Making a man impotent.
(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwellings.
(7) Consecrating sites.
(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the mouth.
(9) Ceremonial bathings.
(10) Offering sacrifices.
(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives.
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164 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

(15) Purging people to relieve the head (that is by giving drugs to

make people sneeze).
(16) Oiling people’s ears (either to make them grow or to heal sores
on them).
(17) Satisfying people’s eyes (soothing them by dropping medicinal
oils into them).
(18) Administering drugs through the nose.
(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes.
(20) Giving medicinal ointment for the eyes.
(21) Practising as an oculist.
(22) Practising as a surgeon.
(23) Practising as a doctor for children.
(24) Administering roots and drugs.
(25) Administering medicines in rotation.

(INCOMPLETE)


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CHAPTER 8
Reformers and Their Fate

This is a typed bound copy consisting of 87 pages. The Ambatta

Sutta starts at page 69 of the manuscript and after page 70,
pages are numbered from A to Z. The beginning of page 71
starts with Lohikka Sutta.—Editors.

I. Aryan Society. II. Buddha and Reform. III.

It was Sir T. Madhava Raw who speaking of Hindu Society of his

time said:
“The longer one lives, observes, and thinks, the more deeply does he
feel that there is no community on the face of the earth which suffers
less from political evils and more from self-inflicted or self-accepted or
self-created, and therefore avoidable evils, than the Hindu Community.”

This view expresses quite accurately and without exaggeration the

necessity of social reform in Hindu Society.
The first Social Reformer and the greatest of them all is Gautama
Buddha. Any history of Social Reform must begin with him and no
history of Social Reform in India will be complete which omits to take
account of his great achievements.
Siddhartha, surname Gautama, was born in the Sakya clan at
Kapilvastu in Northern India, on the borders of Nepal in 563 B.C.
Tradition says he was a prince. He received education fit for a prince,
was married and had a son. Oppressed by the evils and misery then
prevalent in the Aryan Society he renounced the world at the age of
twenty-nine and left his home in search for truth and deliverance. He
became a mendicant and studied with two distinguished teachers, but
finding that their teachings did not satisfy him he left them and became
an ascetic. He gave up that also as being futile. By hard thinking he got
insight into things and as a result of this insight he formulated his own
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166 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Dhamma. This was at the age of thirty-five. The remainder of his

eighty years he spent in spreading his Dhamma and founding and
administering an order of monks. He died about the year 483 B.C.
at Kusinara surrounded by his devoted followers.
To the carrying out of his mission, the Buddha devoted all his days
after the achievement of enlightment. His time was divided between
feeding the lamp of his own spiritual life by solitary meditation—
just as Jesus spent hours in lonely prayer—and active preaching
to large audiences of his monks, instructing the more advanced in
the subtle points of inner development, directing the affairs of the
Order, rebuking breaches of discipline, confirming the faithful in
their virtue, receiving deputations, carrying on discussions with
learned opponents, comforting the sorrowful, visiting kings and
peasants, Brahmins and outcasts, rich and poor. He was a friend
of publicans and sinners, and many a public harlot, finding herself
understood and pitied, gave up her evil ways to take refuge in the
“Blessed One” Such a life demanded a variety of moral qualities
and social gifts, and among others a combination of democratic
sentiments with an aristocratic Savoir Faire which is seldom met
with. In reading the dialogues one can never forget that Gotama
had the birth and upbringing of an aristocrat. He converses not
only with Brahmins and pundits but with princes and ministers
and kings on easy and equal terms. He is a good diner-out, with a
fund of anecdotes and apparently a real sense of humour, and is a
welcome quest at every house. A distinguished Brahmin is pictured
as describing him thus:
‘The venerable Gotama is well born on both sides, of pure
descent…… is handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust,
gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in
presence, stately to behold, virtuous with the virtue of the
Arhats, gifted with goodness and virtue and with a pleasant
voice and polite address, with no passion of lust left in him nor
any fickleness of mind. He bids all men welcome, is congenial,
conciliatory, not supercillious, accessible to all, not backward in
conversation.’

But what appealed most to the India of his time, and has appealed
most to India through the ages, is expressed by the Brahmin in these
words:
“The monk Gotama has gone forth into the religious life, giving
up the great clan of his relatives, giving up much money and
gold, treasure both buried and above ground. Truly while he
was still a young man, without a gray hair on his head, in the
beauty of his early manhood he went forth from the household
life into the homeless state.”
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 167

“Such a life as his, demanded not only pleasant manners,
sympathy and kindness, but firmness and courage. When the
occasion required it, he could be calmly severe with those who
worked evil for the Order. Physical pain, he bore not only with
equanimity but with no diminution of his inner joy. Courage also
was needed and was found; as, for example, in the Buddha’s calm
attitude during Devadatta’s various attempts to assassinate him,
in facing threats of murder, and in the conversion of the famous
bandit in the Kingdom of Kosala, whom all the countryside
feared, and whom the Buddha visited, alone and unarmed, in his
lair, changing him from a scourge of the kindom to a peaceful
member of the Order. Neither pain, danger, nor insults marred
his spiritual peace. When he was reviled he reviled not again.
Nor was he lacking in tender thoughtfulness for those who needed
his comfort and support.”

He was beloved of all. Repeatedly he is described or describes himself,

as one born into the world for the good of the many, for the happiness
of the many, for the advantage, the good, the happiness of gods and
men, out of compassion for the world.
He left an indelible mark on the Aryan Society and although his
name has gone out of India the impression of his teaching still remains.
His religion spread like wild fire. It soon became the religion of the
whole of India. But it did not remain confined to India. It reached
every corner of the then known world. All races accepted it. Even the
Afghans were once Buddhists. It did not remain confined to Asia. There
is evidence to show that Buddhism was the religion of Celtic Britain.*
What was the cause of this rapid spread of Buddhism ?On this point
what Prof. Hopkins has said is worth quoting. This is what he says:
“The cause, then, of the rapid spread of Buddhism at
the beginning of its career lies only in the conditions of its
teaching and the influential backing of its founder. It was the
individual Buddha that captivated men; it was the teaching that
emanated from him that fired enthusiasm; it was his position
as an aristocrat that made him acceptable to the aristocracy,
his magnetism that made him the idol of the people. From
every page stands out the strong, attractive personality of this
teacher and winner of hearts. No man ever lived so godless
yet so godlike. Arrogating to himself no divinity, despairing
of future bliss, but without fear as without hope, leader of
thought but despising lovingly the folly of the world, exalted but

* Dr. Donald A. Mackenzie. ‘Buddhism in Pre-Christian Britain. Blackie & Son. London.
1928.—Editors
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168 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

adored, the universal brother, he wandered among men, simply,

serenely; with gentle irony subduing them that opposed him, to
congregation after congretation speaking with majestic sweetness,
the master to each, the friend of all. His voice was singularly vibrant
and eloquent; his very tones convinced the hearer, his looks inspired
awe. From the tradition it appears that he must have been one
of those whose personality alone suffices to make a man not only
a leader but a god to the hearts of his fellows. When such a one
speaks he obtains hearers. It matters little what he says, for he
influences the motions, and bends whoever listens to his will. But
if added to this personality, if encompassing it, there be the feeling
in the minds of others that what this man teaches is not only a
variety, but the very hope of their salvation; if for the first time
they recognize in his words the truth that makes of slaves free men,
of classes a brotherhood, then it is not difficult to see wherein lies
the lightninglike speed with which the electric current passes from
heart to heart. Such a man was Buddha, such was the essential
of his teaching; and such was the inevitable rapidity of Buddhistic
expansion and the profound influence of the shock that was produced
by the new faith upon the moral consciousness of Buddha’s people.”

To understand the great reform which he brought about by his

teaching, it is necessary to have some idea of the degraded condition
of the Aryan civilization at the time when Buddha started on the
mission of his life.
The Aryan Community of his time was steeped in the worst kind of
debauchery: social, religious and spiritual.
To mention only a few of the social evils, attention may be drawn
to gambling. Gambling had become as widespread among the Aryans
as drinking.
Every king had a hall of gambling attached to his palace. Every
king had an expert gambler in his employment as a companion to play
with. King Viral had in his employment Kank as an expert gambler.
Gambling was not merely a pastime with kings. They played with
heavy stakes. They staked kingdoms, dependents, relatives, slaves,
servants.1 King Nala staked everything in gambling with Paskkar and
lost everything. The only thing he did not stake was himself and his
wife Damayanti. Nala had to go and live in the forest as a beggar.
There were kings who went beyond Nala. The Mahabharat2 tells how
Dharma the eldest of the Pandavas gambled and staked everything.

1
Mahabharat—Vanparva.
2
Ibid-Sabhaparva
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 169

his brothers and also his and their wife Draupadi. Gambling was a matter
of honour with the Aryans and any invitation to gamble was regraded
as an injury to one’s honour and dignity. Dharma gambled with such
disastrous consequences although he was warned beforehand. His excuse
was that he was invited to gamble and that as a man of honour he could
not decline such an invitation.
This vice of gambling was not confined to kings. It had infected even
the common folk. Rig-Veda contains lamentations of a poor Aryan ruined
by gambling. The habit of gambling had become so common in Kautilya’s
time that there were gambling houses licensed by the king from which
the king derived considerable revenue.
Drinking was another evil which was rampant among the Aryans.
Liquors were of two sorts Soma and Sura. Soma was a sacrificial wine. The
drinking of the Soma was in the beginning permitted only to Brahmins,
Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. Subsequently it was permitted only to Brahmins
and Kshatriyas. The Vaishyas were excluded from it and the Shudras
were never permitted to taste it. Its manufacture was a secret known
only to the Brahmins. Sura was open to all and was drunk by all. The
Brahmins also drank Sura. Shukracharya1 the priest to the Asuras drank
so heavily that in his drunken state he gave the life-giving Mantras—
known to him only and with which he used to revive the Asuras killed
by the Devas—to Katch the son of Brahaspati who was the priest of the
Devas. The Mahabharat mentions an occasion when both Krishna and
Arjuna were dead drunk. That shows that the best among the Aryan
Society were not only not free from the drink habit but that they drank
heavily. The most shameful part of it was that even the Aryan women
were addicted to drink. For instance Sudeshna2 the wife of king Virat
tells her maid Sairandhri to go to Kichaka’s palace and bring Sura as
she was dying to have a drink. It is not to be supposed that only queens
indulged in drinking. The habit of drinking was common among women
of all classes and even Brahmin women were not free from it.3 That
liquor and dancing was indulged in by the Aryan women is clear from
the Kausitaki Grihya Sutra I. 11-12, which says, “Four or eight women
who are not widowed after having been regaled with wine and food are
to dance for four times on the night previous to the wedding ceremony.”
1
Mahabharat.
2
Ibid. Viratparva Ad. XV. 10.
3
That the drinking of intoxicating liquor was indulged in by Brahmin women, not to speak of
women of the lower Varnas, as late as the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. in the Central
region of Aryavarta, is clear from Kumarita Bhatta’s Tantra-Vartika I (iii). 4, which states.
“Among the people of modern days we find the Brahmin women of the countries of Ahicchatra
and Mathura to be addicted to drinking.” Kumarila condemned the practice in the case of
Brahmins only, but not of Kshatriyas and Vaishyas men and women if the liquor was distilled
from fruits or flowers (Madhavi), and Molasses (Gaudi) and not from grains (Sura).
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170 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Turning to the Aryan Society it was marked by class war and class
degradation. The Aryan Society recognized four classes, the Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. These divisions were not merely
horizontal divisions, all on a par with each other in the matter of social
relationship. These divisions, had become vertical, one above the other.
Being placed above or below there was both jealousy and rivalry among
the four classes. This jealousy and rivalry had given rise even to enmity.
This enmity was particularly noticeable between the two highest classes,
namely, the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas and there was a regular class
war between the two, so intense that it would delight the heart of any
Marxian to read the descriptions thereof. Unfortunately there is no detailed
history of this class war between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. Only
a few instances have been recorded. Vena, Pururavas, Nahusha, Sudas,
Sumukh and Nimi were some of the Kshatriya kings who came into the
conflict with the Brahmins. The issues in these conflicts were different.
The issue between Vena and the Brahmins was whether a King could
command and require the Brahmins to worship him and offer sacrifice
to him instead of the Gods. The issue between Pururavas and the
Brahmins was whether a Kshatriya King could confiscate the property
of the Brahmin. The issue between Nahusha and the Brahmins was
whether a Kshatriya king could order a Brahmin to do a servile job. The
issue between Nimi and the Brahmins was whether the king was bound
to employ only his family priest at the sacrificial ceremony. The issue
between Sudas and the Brahmins was whether the king was bound to
employ only a Brahmin as a priest.
This shows how big were the issues between the two classes. No wonder
that the struggle between them was also the bitterest. The wars between
them were not merely occasional riots. They were wars of extermination.
It is stated that Parashuram a Brahmin fought against the Kshatriyas
twenty-one times and killed every Kshatriya.
While the two classes were fighting among themselves for supremacy,
they both combined to keep down the Vaishyas and the Shudras. The
Vaishya was a milch cow. He lived only to pay taxes. The Shudra was a
general beast of burden. These two classes existed for the sole purpose
of making the life of the Brahmins and Kshatriyas glorious and happy.
They had no right to live for themselves. They lived to make the life of
their betters possible.
Below these two classes there were others. They were the Chandalas
and Shwappakas. They were not untouchables but they were degraded.
They were outside the pale of society and outside the pale of law. They
had no rights and no opportunities. They were the rejects of the Aryan
Society.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 171

The sexual immorality of the Aryan Society must shock their present
day descendants. The Aryans of pre-Buddhist days had no such rule of
prohibited degrees as we have today to govern their sexual or matrimonial
relationship.
According to the Aryan Mythology, Brahma is the creator. Brahma
had three sons and a daughter. His one son Daksha married his sister.
The daughters born of this marriage between brother and sister were
married some to Kashyapa the son of Marichi the son of Brahma and
some to Dharma the third son of Brahma.1
In the Rig-Veda there is an episode related of Yama and Yami brother
and sister. According to this episode Yami the sister invites her brother
Yama to cohabit with her and becomes angry when he refuses to do so.2
A father could marry his daughter. Vashishta married his own daughter
Shatrupa when she came of age.3 Manu married his daughter Ila4 Janhu
married his daughter Janhavi.5 Surya married his daughter Usha.6
There was polyandri not of the ordinary type. The polyandri prevalent
among the Aryans was a polyandri when Kinsmen cohabited with one
woman. Dhahaprachetani and his son Soma cohabited with Marisha the
daughter of Soma.7
Instances of grandfather marrying his grand-daughter are not wanting.
Daksha gave his daughter in marriage to his father Brahma8 and from
that marriage was born the famous Narada. Dauhitra gave his 27
daughters to his father Soma for cohabitation and procreation.9
The Aryans did not mind cohabiting with women in the open and
within sight of people. The Rishis used to perform certain religious
rites which were called Vamdevya vrata. These rites used to be
performed on the Yadnya Bhumi. If any woman came there and
expressed a desire for sexual intercourse and asked the sage to satisfy
her, the sage used to cohabit with her then and there in the open on
the Yadnya Bhumi. Instances of this may be mentioned; the case of
the sage Parashara who had sexual intercourse with Satyavati and
also of Dirghatapa. That such a custom was common is shown by the
existence of the word Ayoni. The word Ayoni is understood to mean
of immaculate conception. That is not however the original meaning
of the word. The original meaning of the word Yoni is house. Ayoni
1
Mahabharata Adiparva. Adh. 66.
2
Rig Veda.
3
Harivansha Adh. II..
4
Ibid Adh. X.
5
Ibid Adh. XXVII.
6
Yask Nirukta Adh. V. Khanda VI.
7
Harivansha Adh. II.
8
Harivansha Adh. III.
9
Ibid,
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172 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

means conceived out of the house i.e. in the open. That there was nothing
deemed to be wrong in this is clear from the fact that both Sita and
Draupadi were Ayonija. That this was very common is clear from the
fact that religious injunctions had to be issued against such a practice.1
There was prevalent among the Aryans the practice of renting out
their women to others for a time. As art illustration may be mentioned
the story of Madhavi2 The king Yayati gave his daughter Madhavi as an
offering to his guru Galav. Galav rented out the girl Madhavi to three
kings each a period. Thereafter he gave her in marriage to Vishwamitra.
She remained with him until a son was born to her. Thereafter Galav
took away the girl and gave her back to her father Yayati.
Besides the practice of letting out women to others temporarily at a
rent, there was prevalent among the Aryans another practice namely,
allowing procreation by the best amongst them. Raising a family was
treated by them as though it was a breeding or stock raising. Among
the Aryas there was a class of persons called Devas who were Aryans
but of a superior status and prowess. The Aryans allowed their women
to have sexual intercourse with any one of the class of Devas in the
inerest of good breeding. This practice prevailed so extensively that
the Devas came to regard prelibation in respect of the Aryan women
as their prescriptive right. No Aryan woman could be married unless
this right of prelibation had been redeemed and the woman released
from the control of the Devas by offering what was technically called
Avadan. The Laja Hoame which is performed in every Hindu marriage
and the details of which are given in the Ashwalayan Grahya Sutra
is a relic of this act of the redemption of the Aryan woman from the
right of prelibation of the Devas. The Avadan in the Laja Hoame is
nothing but the price for the extinguishment of the right of the Devas
over the bride. The Saptapadi performed in all Hindu marriages and
which is regarded as the most essential ceremony without which there
is no lawful marriage has an integral connection with this right of
prelibation of the Devas. Saptapadi means walking by the bridegroom
seven steps with the bride. Why is this essential ? The answer is that
the Devas if they were dissatisfied with the compensation could claim
the woman before the seventh step was taken. After the seventh step
was taken, the right of the Devas was extinguished and the bridegroom
could take away the bride and live as husband and wife without being
obstructed or molested by the Devas.
1
Mahabharat Adi Parva—Add. 193.
2
Mahabharat Udyoga parva. Adh. 106-123.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 173

There was no rule of chastity for maidens. A girl could have sexual
intercourse with and also progeny from anybody without contracting
marriage. This is evident from the root meaning of the word Kanya which
means a girl. Kanya comes from the root Kam which means a girl free
to offer herself to any man. That they did offer themselves to any man
and had children without contracting regular marriage is illustrated by
the case of Kunti and Matsyagandha. Kunti had children from different
men before she was married to Pandu and Matsyagandha had sexual
intercourse with the sage Parashara before she was married to Shantanu
the father of Bhishma.
Beastiality was also prevalent among the Aryans. The story of the
sage Dam having sexual intercourse with a female deer1 is well known.
Another instance is that of Surya cohabiting with a mare2. But the most
hideous instance is that of the woman having sexual intercourse with
the horse in the Ashvamedha Yadna.
The religion of the Aryan consisted of the Yadna or sacrifice. The
sacrifice was a means to enter into the godhead of the gods, and even
to control the gods. The traditional sacrifices were twenty one in number
divided into three classes of seven each. The first were sacrifices of
butter, milk, corn, etc. The second class covered Soma sacrifices and
third animal sacrifices. The sacrifice may be of short duration or long
duration lasting for a year or more. The latter was called a Sattra. The
argument in favour of the sacrifice is that eternal holiness is won by
him that offers the sacrifice. Not only a man’s self but also his Manes
stood to benefit by means of sacrifice. He gives the Manes pleasure with
his offering, but he also raises their estate, and sends them up to live
in a higher world.3
The sacrifice was by no means meant as an aid to the acquirement of
heavenly bliss alone. Many of the great sacrifices were for the gaining
of good things on earth. That one should sacrifice without the ulterior
motive of gain is unknown. Brahmanic India knew no thank offering.
Ordinarily the gain is represented as a compensating gift from the
divinity, whom they sacrifice. The sacrifice began with the recitation: “He
offers the sacrifice to the god with this text: ‘Do thou give to me (and) I
(will) give to thee; do thou bestow on me (and) I (will) bestow on thee’.”
The ceremony of the sacrifice was awe-inspiring. Every word was
pregnant with consequences and even the pronunciation of the word
or accent was fateful. There are indications, however, that the priest
themselves understood that, much in the ceremonial was pure hocus-
pocus, and not of much importance as it was made out to be.
1
Mahabharat Adhyaya 1-118.
2
Ibid. Adhyaya 66.
3
This is taken from Hopkins—The Religions of India.
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174 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Every sacrifice meant fee to the priest. As to fee, the rules were
precise and their propounders were unblushing. The priest performed
the sacrifice for the fee alone, and it must consist of valuable garments,
kine, horses or gold—when each was to be given was carefully stated.
The priests had built up a great complex of forms, where at every turn
fees were demanded. The whole expense, falling on one individual for
whose benefit the sacrifice was performed, must have been enormous.
How costly the whole thing became can be seen from the fact that in
one place the fee for the sacrifice is mentioned as one thousand cows.
For this greed, which went so far that he proclaimed that he who gives
a thousand cows obtains all things of heaven. The priest had a good
precedent to cite, for, the gods of heaven, in all tales told of them, ever
demand a reward from each other when they help their neighbour gods.
If the Gods seek rewards, the priest has a right to do the same.
The principal sacrifice was the animal sacrifice. It was both costly and
barbaric. In the Aryan religion there are five sacrificial animals mentioned.
In this list of sacrificial animals man came first. The sacrifice of a man
was the costliest. The rules of sacrifice required that the individual to be
slaughtered must be neither a priest nor a slave. He must be a Kshatriya
or Vaishya. According to the ordinary valuation of those times the cost
of buying a man to be sacrificed was one thousand cows. Besides being
costly and barbaric, it must have been revolting because the sacrificers
had not only to kill the man but to eat him. Next to man came the
horse. That also was a costly sacrifice because the horse was a rare and
a necessary animal for the Aryans in their conquest of India. The Aryans
could hardly afford such a potent instrument of military domination
to be offered as sacrifice. The sacrifice must have been revolting in as
much as one of the rituals in the horse-sacrifice was the copulation of
the horse before it was slaughtered with the wife of the sacrificer.
The animals most commonly offered for sacrifice were of course the
cattle which were used by the people for their agricultural purposes.
They were mostly cows and bullocks.
The Yadnas were costly and they would have died out of sheer
considerations of expense involved. But they did not. The reason is
that the stoppage of Yadna involved the question of the loss of the
Brahmin’s fees. There could be no fees if the Yadna ceased to be
performed and the Brahmin would starve. The Brahmin therefore
found a substitute for the costly sacrificial animals. For a human
sacrifice the Brahmin allowed as a substitute for a live man, a man
of straw or metal or earth. But they did not altogether give up human
sacrifice for fear that this Yadna might be stopped and they should
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lose their fees. When human sacrifice became rare, animal sacrifice came
in as a substitute. Animal sacrifice was also a question of expense to the
laity. Here again rather than allow the sacrifice to go out of vogue, the
Brahmins came forward with smaller animals for cattle just as cattle
had been allowed to take the place of the man and the horse. All this
was for the purpose of maintaining the Yadna so that the Brahmin did
not lose his fees which was his maintenance. So set were the Brahmins
on the continuance of the Yadna that they were satisfied with merely
rice as an offering.
It must not however be supposed that the institution of substitutes of
the Yadnas of the Aryans had become less horrid. The introduction of
substitutes did not work as a complete replacement of the more expensive
and more ghastly sacrifice by the less expensive and the more innocent.
All that it meant was that the offering may be according to the capacity
of the sacrificer. If he was poor his offering may be rice. If he was well
to do it might be a goat. If he was rich it might be a man, horse, cow
or a bull. The effect of the subsitutes was that the Yadna was brought
within the capacity of all so that the Brahmin reaped a larger harvest of
feast on the total. It did not have the effect of stopping animal sacrifice.
Indeed animals continued to be sacrificed by the thousands.
The Yadna often became a regular carnage of cattle at which the
Brahmins did the work of butchers. One gets some idea of the extent of
this carnage of innocent animals from references to the Yadnas which
one comes across in Buddhist literature. In the Suttanipat a description
is given of the Yadna that was arranged to be performed by Pasenadi,
king of Kosala. It is stated that there were tied to the poles for slaughter
at the Yadna five hundred oxen, five hundred bulls, five hundred cows,
five hundred goats and five hundred lambs and that the servents of the
king who were detailed to do the jobs according to the orders given to
them by the officiating Brahmin priests were doing their duties with
tears in their eyes.
The Yadna besides involving a terrible carnage was really a kind of
carnival. Besides roast meet there was drink. The Brahmins had Soma
as well as Sura. The others had Sura in abundance. Almost every Yadna
was followed by gambling and what is most extraordinary is that, side
by side there went on also sexual intercourse in the open. Yadna had
become debauchery and there was no religion left in it.
The Aryan religion was just a series of observances. Behind these
observances there was no yearning for a good and a virtuous life.
There was no hunger or thirst for rightousness. Their religion was
without any spiritual content. The hymns of the Rig Veda furnish very
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176 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

good evidence of the absence of any spiritual basis for the Aryan religion.
The hymns are prayers addressed by the Aryans to their gods. What
do they ask for in these prayers ? Do they ask to be kept away from
temptation ? Do they ask for deliverance from evil ? Do they ask for
forgiveness of sins? Most of the hymns are in praise of Indra. They
praise him for having brought destruction to the enemies of the Aryans.
They praise him because he killed all the pregnant wives of Krishna,
an Asura. They praise him because he destroyed hundreds of villages
of the Asuras. They praise him because he killed lakhs of Dasyus. The
Aryans pray to Indra to carry on greater destruction among the Anaryas
in the hope that they may secure to themselves the food supplies of the
Anaryas and the wealth of the Anaryas. Far from being spiritual and
elevating, the hymns of the Rig-Veda are saturated with wicked thoughts
and wicked purposes. The Aryan religion never concerned itself with
what is called a righteous life.
II
Such was the state of the Aryan Society when Buddha was born.
There are two pertinent questions regarding Buddha as a reformer who
laboured to reform the Aryan Society. What were the chief planks in
his reform ? To what extent did he succeed in his reform movement ?
To take up the first question.
Buddha felt that for the inculcation of a good and a pure life, example
was better than precept. The most important thing he did was to lead
a good and a pure life so that it might serve as a model to all. How
unblemished a life he led can be gathered from the Brahma-Jala Sutta.
It is reproduced below because it not only gives an idea of the pure
life that Buddha led but it also gives an idea of how impure a life the
Brahmins, the best among the Aryans led.
Brahma Jala Sutta
1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One was once going along the
high road between Rajagaha and Nalanda with a great company of the
brethren with about five hundred brethren. And Suppiya the mendicant
too was going along the high road between Rajagaha and Nalanda with
his disciple the young Brahmadatta. Now just then Suppiya the mendicant
was speaking in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, in dispraise of
the Doctrine, in dispraise of the Order. But young Brahmadatta, his
pupil, gave utterance, in many ways, to praise of the Buddha, to praise
of the Doctrine, to praise of the Order. Thus they two, teacher and pupil,
holding opinions in direct contradiction of one to the other, were following,
step by step, after the Bleased one and the company of the brethren.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 177

2. Now the Blessed one put up at the royal rest-house in the

Ambalatthika pleasance to pass the night, and with him the company
of the brethren. And so also did Suppiya the mendicant, and with him
his young disciple Brahmadatta. And there, at the rest-houses, these
two carried on the same discussion as before.
3. And in the early dawn a number of the brethren assembled as they
rose up, in the pavilion; and this was the trend of the talk that sprang
up among them, as they were seated there. ‘How wonderful a thing is
it, brethren, and how strange that the Blessed One, he who knows and
sees, the Arahat, the Buddha Supreme, should so clearly have perceived
how various are the inclination of men! For see how while Suppiya the
mendicant speaks in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Doctrine,
and the Order, his own disciple, young Brahmadatta, speaks, in as many
ways, in praise of them. So do these two, teacher and pupil, follow step
by step after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren, giving
utterance to views in direct contradiction of one to the other.
4. Now the Blessed One, on realising what was the drift of their talk,
went to the pavilion, and took his seat on the mat spread out for him.
And when he had sat down he said: “What is the talk on which you
are engaged sitting here, and what is the subject of the conversation
between you ?” And they told him all. And he said:
5. Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me, or against the
Doctrine, or against the Order, you should not on that account either bear
malice, or suffer heart-burning, or feel ill-will. If you, on that account,
should be angry and hurt, that would stand in the way of your own
self-conquest. If, when others speak against us, you feel angry at that,
and displeased, would you then be able to judge how far that speach of
theirs is well said or ill?
‘That would not be so, Sir.’
‘But when outsiders speak in dispraise of me, or of the Doctrine, or. of
the Order, you should unravel what is false and point it out as wrong,
saying: “For this or that reason this is not the fact, that is not so, such
a thing is not found among us, is not in us.”
6. But also, brethren, if outsiders should speak in praise of me, in
praise of the Doctrine, in praise of the Order, you should not, on that
account, be filled with pleasure or gladness, or be lifted up in heart.
Were you to be so that also would stand in the way of your self-conquest.
When outsiders speak in praise of me, or of the Doctrine, or of the Order,
you should acknowledge what is right to be the fact, saying: “For this
or that reason this is the fact, that is so, such a thing is found among
us, is in us.”
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178 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

7. It is in respect only of trifling things, of matters of little value, of

mere morality, that an unconverted man. when praising the Tathagata,
would speak. And what are such trifling, minor details of mere morality
that he would praise?
(4) (The Moralities. Part I).
8. “Putting away the killings of living things, Gotama the recluse
holds aloof from the destruction of life. He has laid the cudgel and the
sword aside, and ashamed of roughness, and full of mercy, he dwells
compassionate and kind to all creatures that have life.” It is thus that
the unconverted man, when speaking in praise of the Tathagata, might
speak.
Or he might say: “Putting away the taking of what has not been given,
Gotama the recluse lived aloof from grasping what is not his own. He
takes only what is given, and expecting that gifts will come, he passes
his life in honesty and purity of heart.”
Or he might say: “Putting away unchastity, Gotama the recluse is
chaste. He holds himself aloof, far off, from the vulgar practice, from
the sexual act.”
9. Or he might say: “Putting away lying words, Gotama the recluse
holds himself aloof from falsehood. He speaks truth from the truth he
never swerves; faithful and trustworthy, he breaks not his word to the
world”.
Or he might say: “Putting away slander, Gotama the recluse holds
himself aloof from calumny. What he hears here he repeats not elsewhere
to raise a quarrel against the people here; what he hears elsewhere he
repeats not here to raise a quarrel against the people there. Thus does
he live as a binder together of those who are divided, an encourager of
those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace, impassioned for
peace, a speaker of words that make for peace.”
Or he might say: “Putting away rudeness of speech, Gotama the recluse
holds himself aloof from harsh language. Whatsoever word is blameless,
pleasant to the ear, lovely, reaching to the heart, urbane, pleasing to
the people, beloved of the people—such are words he speaks.”
Or he might say: “Putting away frivolous talk, Gotama the recluse holds
himself aloof from vain conversation. In season he speaks, in accordance
with the facts, words full of meaning, on religion, on the discipline of
the Order. He speaks, and at the right time, words worthy to be laid up
in one’s heart, fitly illustrated, clearly divided, to the point.”
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10. Or he might say: “Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from causing
injury to seeds or plants.
He takes but one meal a day, not eating at night, refraining from food after
hours (after midday).
He refrains from being a spectator at shows at fairs with nautch dances,
singing, and music.
He abstains from wearing, adorning, or ornamenting himself with garlands,
scents, and unguents.
He abstains from the use of the large and lofty beds.
He abstains from accepting silver or gold.
He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.
He abstains from accepting raw meat.
He abstains from accepting women or girls.
He abstains from accepting bondmen or bond-women.
He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.
He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.
He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle, horses and mare.
He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.
He abstains from the acting as a go-between or messenger.
He abstains from buying and selling.
He abstains from cheating with scales or bronzes or measures.
He abstains from the crooked ways of bribery, cheating, and fraud.
He abstains from maiming, murder, putting in bonds, highway robbery,
dacoity, and violence.”
Such are the things, brethren, which an unconverted man, when speaking
in praise of the Tathagata might say.
….
Here ends the Kula Sila (the Short Paragraphs on Conduct).
…..
11. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the injury of seedlings and
growing plants whether propagated from roots or cuttings or joints or buddings
or seeds—Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such injury to seedlings and
growing plants.”
12. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of the things stored
up; stores, to wit, of foods, drinks, clothing, equipages, bedding, perfumes, and
curry-stuffs—Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such use of things stored up.”
13. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to visiting shows; that is to say,
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180 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

(1) Nautch dances (nakkam),

(2) Singings of songs (gitam)
(3) Instrumental music (vaditam)
(4) Shows at fairs (pekham)
(5) Ballads recitations (akkhanam)
(6) Hand music (paniseram)
(7) The chanting of bards (vetala)
(8) Tam-tam playing (kumbhathunam)
(9) Fair scences (sobhanagarkam)
(10) Acrobatic feats by Kandalas (Kandala-vamsa-dhopanam)
(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks and
quails.
(12) Bouts at quarterstaff, boxing, wrestling.
(13)-(16) Sham-fights, roll-calls, manoeuvres, reviews.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from visiting such shows.”
14. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living
on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations;
that is to say,
(1) Games on boards with eight, or with ten, rows of squares.
(2) The same games played by imagining such boards in the air.
(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn’ on the ground so that one steps
only where one ought to go.
(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap with one’s nail, or
putting them into a heap, in each case without shaking it. He who shakes
the heap, loses.
(5) Throwing dice.
(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one.
(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out in lac, or red dye, or
flour water, and striking the wet hand on the ground or on a wall, calling
out ‘What shall it be?’ and showing the form requires—elephants, horses etc.,
(8) Games with balls.
(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves.
(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs.
(11) Turning summersaults.
(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm leaves.
(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm leaves.
(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows.
(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a playfellow’s back.
(17) Guessing the playfellow’s thoughts.
(18) Mimicry of deformities.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such games and recreations.”
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15. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living
on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of high and
large couches; that is to say,
(1) Moveable settees, high, and six feet long (Asandi).
(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (Pallanko).
(3) Goats’ hair coverings with very long fleece (Ganako).
(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Kittaka).
(5) White blankets (Patika).
(6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Patalika).
(7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wood (Tulika).
(8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, &c, (Vikatika).
(9) Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomi).
(10) Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomi).
(11) Coverlets embroidered with gems (Katthissam).
(12) Silk coverlets (Koseyyam).
(13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (Kuttakam).
(14-16) Elephant, horse, and chariot rugs.
(17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Aginapaveni).
(18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope.
(19) Carpets with awnings above them (Sauttarakkhadam).
(20) Sofas with red pillows for the head and feet. “
16. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living
on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of means for
adorning and beautifying themselves: that is to say:
Rubbing in scented powders on one’s body, shampooing it, and bathing
it. Patting the limbs with clubs after the manner of wrestlers. The use of
mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands, rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces,
walking-sticks, reed cases for drugs, rapiers, sunshades, embroidered slippers,
turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak’s tail, and long-fringed white robes.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such means of adorning and beautifying
the person.”
17. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans while living
on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to such low conversation
as these:
Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state: tales of war, of
terrors, of battles; talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands,
perfumes; talks about relationships, equipages, villages, towns, cities,
and countries; tales about women, and about heroes; gossip at street
corners, or places whence water is fetched; ghost stories; desultory
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talk; speculations about the creation of the land or sea, or about

existence and non-existence. Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such
low conversation.
18. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of
wrangling phrases: such as:
“You don’t understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.”
“How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?”
“You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.”
“I am speaking to the point, you are not.”
“You are putting last what ought to come first, and first what ought
to come last.”
“What you’ve excogitated so long, that’s all quite upset.”
“Your challenge has been taken up.”
“You are proved to be wrong.”
“Set to work to clear your views.”
“Disentangle yourself if you can.” Gotama the recluse holds aloof from
such wrangling phrases.”
19. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to taking
messages, going on errands, and acting as go-betweens; to wit, on kings,
ministers of state, Kshatriyas, Brahmans, or young men, saying: ‘Go
there, come hither, take this with you, bring that from thence.’
Gotama the recluse abstains from such servile duties.”
20. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, are tricksters, droners out (of
holy words for pay), diviners, and exorcists, ever hungering to add gain
to gain.
Gotam the recluse holds aloof from such deception and patter.”
Here ends the Majjhima Sila (the Longer Paragraphs on Conduct).
........
21. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means
of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
(1) Palmistry—prophesying long life, prosperity, &c, (or the reverse),
from marks on a child’s hands, feet, &c.
(2) Divining by means of omens and signs.
(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts and other celestial portents.
(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams.
(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body.
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(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice.

(7) Sacrificing to Agni.
(8) Offering oblations from a spoon.
(9-13) Making offerings to gods of husks, of the red powder between the
grain and the husk, of husked grain ready for boiling, of ghee and
of oil.
(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, &c., into the fire out of one’s
mouth.
(15) Drawing blood from one’s right knee as a sacrifice to the gods.
(16) Looking at the knuckles, &c., and, after muttering a charm, divining
whether a man is well born of luck or not.
(17) Determining whether the site, for a proposed house or pleasance,
is lucky or not.
(18) Advising on customary law.
(19) Laying demons in a cemetery.
(20) Laying ghosts.
(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used when lodging in an earth
house.
(22) Snake charming.
(23) The poison craft.
(24) The scorpion craft.
(25) The mouse craft.
(26) The bird craft.
(27) The crow craft.
(28) Foretelling the number of years that a man has yet to live.
(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows.
(30) The animal wheel.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”
22. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans while
living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means
of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
Knowledge of the signs of good and bad qualities in the following things,
and of the marks in them denoting the health or luck of their owners: to
wit, gems, staves, garments, swords, arrows, bows, other weapons, women,
men, boys, girls, slaves, slave-girls, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, oxen,
goats, sheep, fowls, quails, iguanas, herrings, tortoises, and other animals.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”
23. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans,
while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by
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184 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

wrong means of livelihood by low arts, such as soothsaying to the effect that:
The chiefs will march out.
The home chiefs will attack, and the enemies retreat.
The enemies’ chiefs will attack, and ours will retreat.
The home chiefs will gain the victory, and ours will suffer defeat.
The foreign chiefs will gain the victory on this side, and ours will suffer
defeat.
Thus will there be victory on this side, defeat on that. Gotama the recluse
holds aloof from such low arts.”
24. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means
of livelihood, by such low arts as foretelling:
(1) There will be an eclipse of the Moon.
(2) There wilt be an eclipse of the Sun.
(3) There will be an eclipse of a Star (Nakshatra).
(4) There will be aberration of the Sun or the Moon.
(5) The Sun or the Moon will return to its usual path.
(6) There will be aberrations of the Stars.
(7) The Stars will return to their usual course.
(8) There will be a fall of meteors.
(9) There will be a jungle fire.
(10) There will be an earthquake.
(11) The God will thunder.
(12-15) There will be rising and setting, clearness and dimness of the Sun
or the Moon or the stars, or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena
that they will betoken such and such a result.” Gotama the recluse holds
aloof from such low arts.
25. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living
on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of the
livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
Foretelling an abundant rainfall.
Foretelling a deficient rainfall.
Foretelling a good harvest.
Foretelling scarcity of food.
Foretelling tranquility.
Foretelling disturbances.
Foretelling a pestilence.
Foretelling a healthy season.
Counting on the fingers.
Counting without using the fingers.
Summing up large totals.
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Composing ballads, poetizing.

Casuistry, sophistry.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”
26. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means
of livelihood, by low arts, such as:
(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or
bridegroom is brought home.
(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or
bridegroom is sent forth.
(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace (or
using charms to procure harmony)
(4) Fixing a lucky time for the outbreak of hostilities (or using charms
to make discord).
(5) Fixing a lucky time for the calling in of debts (or charms for
success in throwing dice).
(6) Fixing a lucky time for the expenditure of money (or charms to
bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice).
(7) Using charms to make people lucky.
(8) Using charms to make people unlucky.
(9) Using charms to procure abortion.
(10) Incantations to keep a man’s jaws fixed.
(11) Incantations to bring on dumbness.
(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands.
(13) Incantations to bring on deafness.
(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror.
(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed.
(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god.
(17) The worship of the Sun.
(18) The worship of the Great One.
(19) Bringing forth flames from one’s mouth.
(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”
27. Or he might say: “Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while
living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means
of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted.
(2) Praying such vows.
(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house.
(4) Causing virility.
(5) Making a man impotent.
(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwellings.
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(7) Consecrating sites.

(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the mouth.
(9) Ceremonial bathings.
(10) Offering sacrifices.
(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives.
(15) Purging people to relieve the head (that is by giving drugs to make
people sneeze).
(16) Oiling people’s ears (either to make them grow or to heal sores on
them).
(17) Satisfying people’s eyes (soothing them by dropping medicinal oils
into them).
(18) Administering drugs through the nose.
(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes.
(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes.
(21) Practising as an oculist.
(22) Practising as a surgeon.
(23) Practising as a doctor for children.
(24) Administering roots and drugs.
(25) Administering medicines in rotation.
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.”
‘These brethren, are the trifling matters, the minor details of morality,
of which the unconverted man, when praising the Tathagata, might speak.’
…..
Here end the Long Paragraphs on Conduct.
III
This was indeed the highest standard for a moral life for an individual
to follow. So high a standard of moral life was quite unknown to the Aryan
Society of his day.
He did not stop merely with setting an example by leading a life of purity.
He also wanted to mould the character of the ordinary men and women
in society. For their guidance he devised a form of baptism which was
quite unknown to the Aryan Society. The baptism consisted in the convert
to Buddhism undertaking to observe certain moral precepts laid down by
Buddha. These precepts are known as Panch Sila or the five precepts. They
are; (1) Not to kill, (2) Not to steal, (3) Not to lie, (4) Not to be unchaste
and (5) Not to drink intoxicants. These five precepts were of the laity. For
the Monks there were five additional precepts: (6) Not to eat at forbidden
times, (7) Not to dance, sing, or attend theatrical or other spectacles, (8) To
abstain from the use of garlands, scents, and ornaments, (9) To abstain from
the use of high or broad beds, and (10) Never to receive money.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 187

These Silas or precepts formed the moral code which it was intended
should regulate the thoughts and actions of men and women.
Of these the most important one was the precept not to kill.
Buddha took care to make it clear that the precept did not merely
mean abstension from taking life. He insisted that the precept must
be understood to mean positive sympathy, good will, and love for
everything that breathes……
He gave the same positives and extended content to other precepts.
One of the Buddha’s lay followers once reported to him the teaching
of a non-Buddhist ascetic, to the effect that the highest ideal consisted
in the absence of evil deeds, evil words, evil thoughts, and evil life.
The Buddha’s conment upon this is significant. “If, said he, “this were
true, then every suckling child would have attained the ideal of life…..
life is knowledge of good and evil; and after that the exchange of evil
deeds, words, thoughts, and life, for good ones. This is to be brought
about only by a long and determined effort of the will”…….
Buddha’s teachings were not merely negative. They are positive
and constructive. Buddha was not satisfied with a man following
his precepts. He insisted upon encouraging others to follow them.
For example in the Auguttara Nikaya the Buddha is quoted as
distinguishing between a good man and a very good man by saying
that one who abstains from killing, stealing, unchastity, lying and
drunkenness may be called good; but only he deserves to be called very
good who abstains from these evil things himself and also instigates
others to do the like……
As has been well said the two cardinal virtues of Buddhism are
love and wisdom.
How deeply he inculcated the practice of love as a virtue is clear
from his own words. “As a mother at the risk of her life watches
over her own child, her only child, so also let every one cultivate a
boundless loving mind towards all beings. And let him cultivate good
will towards, all the world, a boundless (loving) mind above and below
and across, unobstructed, without hatred, without enmity. This way
of living is the best in the world.” So taught Buddha1.
“Universal pity, sympathy for all suffering beings, good will to
every form of sentient life, these things characterized the Tathagath
(Buddha) as they have few others of the sons of men; and he succeeded
in a most surprizing degree in handing on his point of view to his
followers.”2
1
Sutta Nipata.
2
Pratt—Buddhism, p. 49.
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188 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Buddha held to the doctrine of wisdom as firmly as he did to the

doctrine of love. He held that moral life began with knowledge and
ended with wisdom, he “came to save the world, and his method for the
accomplishment of this end was the destruction of ignorance and the
dissemination of knowledge as to the true values of life and the wise way
to live.” Buddha did not arrogate to himself the power to save people.
People had to do that for themselves. And the way to save lay through
knowledge. So much insistance did he place upon knowledge that he did
not think that morality without knowledge was virtue.
There are three things against which Buddha carried on a great
campaign.
He repudiated the authority of the Vedas……
Secondly he denounced the Yadna as a form of religion. The attitude
of Buddha towards Yadna is well stated in the Jatakamala in the form
of a story. The story runs thus:
THE STORY OF THE SACRIFICE
Those whose hearts are pure do not act up to the enticement of the
wicked. Knowing this, pure-hearted-ness is to be striven after. This will
be taught by the following:
Long ago the Bodhisattva, it is said, was a king who had obtained
his kingdom in the order of hereditary succession. He had reached
this state as the effect of his merit, and ruled his realm in peace, not
disturbed by any rival, his sovereignty being universally acknowledged.
His country was free from any kind of annoyance, vexation or disaster,
both his home relations and those with foreign countries being quite in
every respect; and all his vessels obeyed his commands.
1. This monarch having subdued the passions, his enemies, felt no
inclination for such profits as are to be blamed when enjoyed, but was
with his whole heart intent on promoting the happiness of his subjects.
Holding virtuous practice (dharma) the only purpose of his actions, he
behaved like a Muni.
2. For he knew the nature of mankind, that people set a high value
on imitating the behaviour of the highest. For this reason, being desirous
of bringing about salvation for his subjects, he was particularly attached
to the due performance of his religious duties.
3. He practised almsgsiving, kept strictly the precepts of moral conduct
(sila), cultivated forbearance, strove for the benefit of the creatures. His
mild countenance being in accordance with his thoughts devoted to the
happiness of his subjects, he appeared like the embodied Dharma.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 189

Now it once happened that, though protected by his arm, his realm, both
in consequence of the faulty actions of its inhabitants and inadvertance
on the part of the angels charged with the care of rain, was afflicted
in several districts by drought and the troublesome effects of such a
disaster. Upon this the king, fully convinced that his plague had been
brought about by the violation of righteousness by himself or his subjects,
and taking much to heart the distress of his people, whose welfare was
the constant object of his thoughts and cares, took the advice of men
of acknowledged competence, who were reputed for their knowledge
in matters of religion. So keeping counsel with the elders among the
Brahmans, headed by his family priest (purohita) and his ministers, he
asked them for some means of putting an end to that calamity. Now
they believing a solemn sacrifice as is enjoined by the Veda to be a
cause of abundant rain, explained to him that he must perform such a
sacrifice of a frightful character, inasmuchas it requires the massacre of
many hundreds of living beings. But after being informed of everything
concerning such a slaughter as is prescribed for the sacrifice, his innate
compassionateness forbade him to approve of their advice in his heart;
yet out of civility, unwilling to offend them by harsh words of refusal,
he slipped over this point, turning the conversation upon other topics.
They, on the other hand, no sooner caught the opportunity of conversing
with the king on matters of religion, than they once more admonished
him to accomplish the sacrifice, for they did not understand his deeply
hidden mind.
4. “You constantly take care not to neglect the proper time of performing
your different royal duties, established for the sake of obtaining the
possession of land and ruling it. The due order of these actions of yours
is in agreement with the precepts of Righteousness (dharma).
5. “How then is this that you who (in all other respects) are so clever
in the observance of the triad (of dharma, artha, and kama), bearing
your bow to defend the good of your people, are so careless and almost
sluggish as to that bridge to the world of the Devas, the name of which
is ‘sacrifice’?
6. “Like servants, the kings (your vassel) revere your commands,
thinking them to be the surest gage of success. Now the time is come, O
destroyer of your foes, to gather by means of sacrifice superior blessings,
which are to procure for you a shining glory.
7, 8. ‘Certainly, that holiness which is the requisite for a dikshita is
already yours, by reason of your habitual practice of charity and your
strictness in observing the restraint (of good conduct). Nevertheless, it
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190 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

would be fit for you to discharge your debt to the Devas by such sacrifices
as are the subject matter of the Veda. The deities being satisfied by
duly and faultlessly performed sacrifice, honour the creatures in return
by (sending) rain. Thus considering, take to mind the welfare of your
subjects and your own, and consent to the performance of a regular
sacrifice which will enhance your glory.’
Thereupon he entered upon this thought; ‘Very badly guarded is
my poor person indeed, being given in trust to such leaders. While
faithfully believing and loving the law, I should uproot my virtue of
tenderheartedness by reliance upon the words of others. For, truly.’
9. Those who are reputed among men to be the best refuge are the
very persons who intend to do harm, borrowing their arguments from the
Law. Alas! such a man who follows the wrong path shown by them, will
soon find himself driven to straits, for he will be surrounded by evils.
10. What connections may there be, forsooth, between righteousness
and injuring animals? How my residence in the world of the Devas or
propitiation of the deities have anything to do with the murder of victims?
11, 12. The animal slaughtered according to the rites with the prescribed
prayers, as if those sacred formulas were so many darts to wound it,
goes to heaven, they say, and with this object it is killed. In this way
that action is interpreted to be done according to the Law. Yet it is a
lie. For how is it possible that in the next world one should reap the
fruits of what has been done by others ? And by what reason will the
sacrificial animal mount to heaven, though he has not abstained from
wicked actions, though he has not devoted himself to the practice of
good ones, simply because he has been killed in sacrifice, and not on
the ground of his own actions?
13. And should the victim killed in sacrifice really go to heaven,
should we not expect the Brahmans to offer themselves to be immolated
in sacrifice? A similar practice, however, is nowhere seen among them.
Who, then, may take to heart the advice proffered by these counsellors?
14. As to the Celestials, should we believe that they who are wont
to enjoy the fair ambrosia of incomparable scent, flavour, magnificence,
and effective power, served to them by the beautiful Apsaras, would
abandon it to delight in the slaughter of a pitiable victim, that they
might feast on the omentum and such other parts of his body as are
offered to them in sacrifice?
‘Therefore, it is the proper time to act so and so.’ Having thus made
up his mind, the king feigned to be eager to undertake the sacrifice;
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 191

and in approval of their words he spoke to them in this manner;
‘Verily, well protected am I, well gratified, having such counsellors as
Your Lordships are, thus bent on securing my happiness ! Therefore
I will have a human sacrifice (purushamedha) of a thousand victims
performed. Let my officials, each in his sphere of business, be ordered
to bring together the requisites necessary for that purpose. Let also
an inquiry be made of the most fitting ground whereon to raise the
tents and other buildings for the sattra. Further, the proper time
for the sacrifice must be fixed (by the astrologers) examining the
auspicious lunar days, karanas, muhurtas, and constellations.’ The
purohtta answered; ‘In order to succeed in your enterprise, Your
Majesty ought to take the Avabhritha (final bath) at the end of one
sacrifice; after which you may successively undertake the others. For if
the thousand human victims were to be seized at once, your subjects,
to be sure, would blame you and be stirred up to great agitation on
their account.’ These words of the purohita having been approved by
the (other) Brahmans, the king replied: ‘Do not apprehend the wrath
of the people, Reverands. I shall take such measures as to prevent
any agitation among my subjects.’

After this the king convoked an assembly of the townsmen and

the landsmen, and said: “I intend to perform a human sacrifice of a
thousand victims. But nobody behaving honestly is fit to be designated
for immolation on my part. With this in mind, 1 give you this advice:
Whomsoever of you I shall henceforword perceive transgreassing the
boundaries of moral conduct, despising my royal will, him I order to
be caught to be a victim at my sacrifice, thinking such a one the stain
of his family and a danger to my country. With the object of carrying
this resolution into effect, I shall cause you to be observed by faultless
and sharp-sighted emissaries, who have shaken off sleepy carelessness
and will report to me concerning your conduct.’
Then the foremost of the assembly, folding their hands and bringing
them to their foreheads, spoke:
15, 16. ‘Your Majesty, all your actions tend to the happiness of your
subjects, what reason can there be to despise you on that account?
Even (God) Brahma cannot but sanction your behaviour. Your Majesty,
who is the authority of the virtuous, be our highest authority. For this
reason anything which pleases Your Majesty must please us too. Indeed,
you are pleased with nothing else but our enjoyment and our good.’
After then, noteables both of the town and the country had accepted
his command in this manner; the king dispersed about his towns
and all over his country, officers notified as such by their outward
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192 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

appearance to the people, with the charge of laying hold of the evil doers,
and everywhere he ordered proclamations to be made by beat of drum
day after day, of this kind:
17. The King, a granter of security as he is, warrants safety to every
one who constantly cultivates honesty and good conduct, in short, to the
virtuous, yet, intending to perform a human sacrifice for the benefit of
his subjects, he wants human victims by thousands to be taken out of
those who delight in misconduct.
18. ‘Therefore, whosoever henceforward, licentiously indulging in
misbehaviour, shall disregard the command of our monarch, which is
even observed by the kings, his vassels, shall be brought to the state
as a sacrificial victim by the very force of his own actions, and people
shall witness his miserable suffering, when he shall pine with pain, his
body being fastened to the sacrificial post.’
When the inhabitants of that realms became aware of their king’s
careful search after evil-doers with the aim of destining them to be victims
at his sacrifice—for they heard the most frightful royal proclamation
day after day and saw the king’s servants, who were appointed to look
out for wicked people and to seize them, appearing every now and then
everywhere—they abandoned their attachment to bad conduct, and grew
intend on strictly observing the moral precepts and self-control. They
avoided every occasion of hatred and enmity, and settling their quarrels
and differences, cherished mutual love and mutual esteem. Obedience
to the words of parents and teachers, a general spirit of liberality and
sharing with others, hospitality, good manners, modesty, prevailed among
them. In short, they lived as it were in the Krita Yuga.
19. The fear of death had awakened in them thoughts of the next
world; the risk of tarnishing the honour of their families had stirred
their care of guarding their reputation; the great purity of their hearts
had strengthened their sense of shame. These factors being at work,
people were soon distinguished by their spotless behaviour.
20. Even though every one became more than ever intend on keeping
a righteous conduct, still the king’s servants did not diminish their
watchfulness in the pursuit of the evil-doers. This also contributed to
prevent people from falling short of righteousness.
21. The king, learning from his emissaries this state of things in
his realm, felt extremely rejoiced. He bestowed rich presents on those
messengers as a reward for the good news they told him, and enjoined
his ministers, speaking something like this:
22-24. ‘The protection of my subjects is my highest desire, you
know. Now, they have become worthy to be recipients of sacrificial
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gifts, and it is for the purpose of my sacrifice that I have provided this
wealth. Well, I intend to accomplish my sacrifice in the manner which
I have considered to be the proper once. Let every one who wishes for
money, that it may be fuel for his happiness, come and accept it from
my hand to his heart’s content. In this way the distress and poverty,
which is vexing our country, may be soon driven out. Indeed, whenever
I consider my own strong determination to protect my subjects and the
great assistance I derive from you, my excellent companions in that task,
it often seems to me as though those sufferings of my people, by exciting
my anger, were burning in my mind like a blazing fire.’
The ministers accepted the royal command and anon went to execute
it. They ordered alms-halls to be established in all villages, towns, and
markets, likewise at all stations on the roads. This being done, they
caused all who begged in order to satisfy their wants, to be provided
day after day with a gift of those objects, just as had been ordered by
the king.
25. So poverty disappeared, and the people, having received wealth
from the part of the king, dressed and adorned with manifold and fine
garments and ornaments, exhibited the splendour of festival days.
26. The glory of the king, magnified by the eulogies of the rejoiced
recipients of his gifts, spread about in all directions in the same way,
as the flowerdust of the lotuses carried forth by the small waves of a
lake, extends. itself over a larger and larger surface.
27. And after the whole people, in consequence of the wise measures
taken by their ruler, had become intent on virtuous behaviour, the
plagues and calamities, overpowered by the growth of all such qualities
as conduce to prosperity, faded away, having lost their hold.
28. The seasons succeeded each other in due course, rejoicing everybody
by their regularity, and like kings newly established, complying with the
lawful order of things. Consequently the earth produced the various kinds
of corn in abundance, and there was fulness of pure and blue water and
lotuses in all waterbasins.
29. No epidemics afflicted mankind; the medicinal herbs possessed
their efficacious virtues more than ever; monsoons blew in due time and
regularly; the planets moved along in auspicious paths.
30. Nowhere there existed any danger to be feared, either from abroad,
or from within, or such as might be caused by dangerous derangements
of the elements. Continuing in righteousness and self-control, cultivating
good behaviour and modesty, the people of that country enjoyed as it
were the prerogatives of the Krita Yuga.
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194 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

By the power, then, of the king performing his sacrifice in this manner
in accordance with (the precepts of) the Law, the. sufferings of the indigent
were put to an end together^ with the plagues and calamities, and the
country abounded in a prosperous and thriving population offering the
pleasing aspect of felicity. Accordingly people never wearied of repeating
benedictions on their king and extending his renown in all directions.
One day, one of the highest royal officials, whose heart had been
inclined to the (True) Belief, spoke thus to the king: “This is a true
saying, in truth.
31. “Monarchs, because they always deal with all kinds of business,
the highest, the lowest, and the intermediate, by far surpass in their
wisdom any wise men.
“For, Your Majesty, you have obtained the happiness of your subjects
both in this world and in the next, as the effect of your sacrifice being
performed in righteousness, free from the blameable sin of animal-
slaughter. The hard times are all over and the sufferings of poverty have
ceased, since men have been established in the precepts of good conduct.
Why use many words? Your subjects are happy.
32. “The black antelope’s skin which covers your limbs has the
resemblane of the spot on the bright Moon’s surface, nor can the natural
loveliness of your demeanour be hindered by the restraint imposed on
you by your being a dikshita. Your head, adorned with such hair-dress
as is in compliance with the rites of the diksha, possesses no less lustre
than when it was embellished with the splendour of the royal umbrella.
And, last not least, by your largesses you have surpassed the renown
and abated the pride of the famous performer of a hundred sacrifices.
33. “As a rule, Oh, you wise ruler, the sacrifice of those who long for
the attainment of some good, is a vile act, accompanied as it is by injury
done to living beings. Your sacrifice, on the contrary, this monument of
your glory, is in complete accordance with your lovely behaviour and
your aversion to vices.
34. “Oh! Happy are the subjects who have their protector in you ! It
is certain that no father could be a better guardian to his children.”
Another said:
35.“ If the wealthy practise charity, they are commonly impelled
to do so by the hopes they put in the cultivation of that virtue; good
conduct too, may be accounted for by the wish to obtain high regard
among men or the desire of reaching heaven after death. But such
a practice of both, as is seen in your skill in securing the benefit of
others, cannot be found but in those who are accomplished both in
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 195

learning and in virtuous exertions.” In such a way, then, those whose

hearts are pure do not act up to the enticement of the wicked. Knowing
this, pure-heartedness is to be striven after.”
(In the spiritual lessons for princes, also this is to be said:
‘Who to his subjects wishing good, himself exerts,
Thus brings about salvation, glory, happiness.
No other should be of a king the business.’

And it may be added as follows: ‘(The prince) who strives after

material prosperity, ought to act in accordance wih the precepts of
religion, thinking, a religious conduct of his subjects to be the source
of prosperity.’
Further this is here to be said: ‘Injuring animals never tends to bliss,
but charity, self-restraint, continence and the like have this power; for
this reason he who longs for bliss must devote himself to these virtues.
‘And also when discoursing on the Tathagata : ‘In this manner the Lord
showed his inclination to care for the interests of the world, when he
was still in his previous existences.’)
IV
Another powerful attack against Yadna is contained in his discourses
known as Kutadanta Sutta. It is as follows:
THE WRONG SACRIFICE AND THE RIGHT
1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One once, when going on a tour
through Magadha, with a great multitude of the brethren, with about
five hundred brethren, came to a Brahman village in Magadha called
Khanumata. And there at Khanumata he lodged in the Ambalatthika
pleasance.
Now at that time the Brahman Kutadanta was dwelling at Khanumata,
a place teeming with life, with much grassland and woodland and water
and corn, on a royal domain presented him by Seniya Bimbisara the king
of Magadha, as a royal gift, with power over it as if he were the king.
And just then a great sacrifice was being got ready on behalf of
Kutadanta the Brahman. And a hundred bulls, and a hundred steers,
and a hundred heifers, and a hundred goats, and a hundred rams had
been brought to the post for the sacrifice.
2. Now the Brahmans and householders of Khanumata heard the
news of the arrival of the Samana Gotama. And they began to leave
Khanumata in companies and in bonds to go to the Ambalatthika
pleasance.
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3. And just then Kutandanta the Brahman had gone apart to the
upper terrace of his house for his siesta; and seeing the people thus to
go by, he asked his door-keeper the reason. And the doorkeeper told him.
4. Then Kutandanta thought: ‘I have heard that the Samana Gotama
understands about the successful performance of a sacrifice with its
threefold method and its sixteen accessory instruments. Now I don’t
know all this, and yet I want to carry out a sacrifice. It would be well
for me to go to the Samana Gotama, and ask him about it.’
So he sent his doorkeeper to the Brahmans and householders of
Khanumata, to ask them to wait till he could go with them to call upon
the Blessed One.
5. But there were at that time a number of Brahmans staying at
Khanumata to take part in the great sacrifice. And when they heard this
they went to Kutadanta, and persuaded him on the same grounds as the
Brahmans had laid before Sonadanda, not to go. But he answered them
in the same terms as Sonadanda had used to those Brahmans. Then
they were satisfied, and went with him to call upon the Blessed One.
9. And when he was seated there Kutadanta the Brahman told the
Blessed One what he had heard, and requested him to tell him about
success in performing a sacrifice in its three modes and with its accessory
articles of furniture of sixteen kinds.
‘Well then, O Brahman, give ear and listen attentively and I will speak.’
‘Very well, Sir, ‘said Kutadanta in reply; and the Blessed One spoke
as follows:
10. ‘Long ago, O Brahman, there was a king by name Wide-realm(Maha
Vigha), mighty, with great wealth and large property; with stores
of silver and gold, of aids to enjoyment, of goods and corn; with his
treasure-houses and his garners full. Now when King Wide-realm was
once sitting alone in meditation, he became anxious at the thought: “I
have in abundance all the good things a mortal can enjoy. The whole
wide circle of the earth is mine by conquest to possess.’ Twere well if I
were to offer a great sacrifice that should ensure me weal and welfare
for many days.”
And he had the Brahman, his chaplain, called; and telling him all
that he had thought, he said: “Be I would fain, O Brahman, offer a
great sacrifice-let the venerable one instruct me how-for my weal and
my welfare for many days.”
11. Thereupon the Brahman who was chaplain said to the king:
“The king’s country. Sirs, is harrassed and harried. There are decoits
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abroad who pillage the villages and townships, and who make the roads
unsafe. Were the king, so long as that is so, to levy a fresh tax, verily
his majesty would be acting wrongly. But perchance his majesty might
think: ‘I’ll soon put a stop to these scoundrels’ game by degradation and
banishment, and fines and bonds and death!’ But their license cannot
be satisfactorily put a stop to. The remnant left unpunished would still
go on harassing the realm. Now there is one method to adopt to put a
thorough end to this disorder. Whosoever there be in the king’s realm
who devote themselves to keeping cattle and the farm, to them let his
majesty the king give food and seed-corn. Whosoever there be in the
king’s realm who devote themselves to trade, to them let his majesty
the king give capital. Whosoever there be in the king’s realm who devote
themselves to government service, to them let his majesty the king give
wages and food. Then those men following each his own business, will no
longer harass the realm; the king’s revenue will go up; the country will
be quiet and at peace; and the populace, pleased one with another and
happy; dancing their children in their arms, will dwell with open doors.”
‘Then King Wide-realm, O Brahman, accepted the word of his chaplain,
and did as he had said. And those men, following each his business,
harassed the realm no more. And the King’s revenue went up. And the
country became quiet and at peace. And the populace pleased one with
another and happy, dancing their children in their arms, dwelt with
open doors.’
12. ‘So King Wide-realm had his chaplain called, and said: “The
disorder is at an end. The country is at peace. I want to offer that great
sacrifice—let the venerable one instruct me how—for my weal and my
welfare for many days.”
‘Then let his majesty the king send invitations to whomsoever there
may be in his realm who are Kshatriyas, vassals of his, either in the
country or the towns; or who are ministers and officials of his, either
in the country or the towns; or who are Brahmans of position, either in
the country or the towns; or who are householders of substance, either
in the country or the towns, saying: “I intend to offer a great sacrifice.
Let the venerable ones give their sanction to what will be to me for weal
and welfare for many days.”
‘Then King Wide-realm, O Brahman, accepted the word of his chaplain,
and did as he had said. And they each—Kshatriyas and ministers and
Brahmans and householders—made alike reply: “Let his majesty the
king celebrate the sacrifice. The time is suitable O King!”
‘Thus did these four, as colleagues by consent, become wherewithal
to furnish forth that sacrifice,
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198 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

13. ‘King Wide-realm was gifted in the following eight ways:

‘He was well born on both sides, on the mother’s side and on the father’s,
of pure descent back through seven generations, and no slur was cast upon
him, and no reproach, in respect of birth.’
‘He was handsome, pleasant in appearance, inspiring trust, gifted with
great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence, stately to behold.’
‘He was mighty, with great wealth, and large property, with stores of
silver and gold, of aids to enjoyment, of goods and corn, with his treasure-
houses and his garners full’
‘He was powerful, in command of an army, loyal and disciplined in four
divisions (of elephants, cavalry, chariots, and bowmen), burning up, methinks,
his enemies by his very glory.’
‘He was a believer, and generous, a noble giver, keeping open house, a
well in spring whence Samanas and Brahmans, the poor and the wayfarers,
beggars, and petitioners might draw, a doer of good deeds.’
‘He was learned in all kinds of knowledge.’
‘He knew the meaning of what had been said, and could explain, “This
saying has such and such a meaning, and that such and such “.
‘He was intelligent, expert and wise and able to think out things present
or past or future.
‘And these eight gifts of his, too, became where withal to furnish forth
that sacrifice.’
14. ‘The Brahman, his chaplain was gifted in the following four ways:
‘He was well born on both sides, on the mother’s and on the father’s, of
pure descent back through seven generations, with no slur cast upon him,
and no reproach in respect of birth.
‘He was a student repeater who knew the mystic verses by heart, master
of the three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the
exegesis (as a fourth), and the legends as a fifth, learned in the idioms and
the grammar, versed in Lokayata (Mature-lore) and in the thirty marks on
the body of a great man.
‘He was virtuous, established in virtue, gifted with virtue that had grown
great.
‘He was intelligent, expert, and wise; foremost, or at most the second,
among those who hold out the ladle.
‘Thus these four gifts of his, too became wherewithal to furnish forth that
sacrifice.’
15. ‘And further, O Brahman, the chaplain, before the sacrifice had begun,
explained to King Wide-realm the three modes:
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 199

‘Should his majesty the King, before starting on the great sacrifice,
feel any such regret as : “Great, alas, will be the portion of my wealth
used up herein,” let not the king harbour such regret. Should his majesty
the King, whilst he is offering the great sacrifice, feel any such regret
as: “Great, alas, will be the portion of my wealth used up herein “let
not the king harbour such regret. Should his majesty the King, when
the great sacrifice has been offered, feel any such regret as “Great,
alas, will be the portion of my wealth used up herein,” let not the king
harbour such regret.’
‘Thus did the chaplain, O Brahman, before the sacrifice, had begun,
explained to King Wide-realm the three modes.’
16. ‘And further, O Brahman, the chaplain, before the sacrifice had
begun, in order to prevent any compunction that might afterwards in
ten ways, arise as regards those who had taken part therein, said: “Now
there will come to your sacrifice, Sire, men who destroy the life of living
things, and men who refrain therefrom, men who take what has not been
given, and men who refrain therefrom, men who speak lies, and men
who do not—men who slander and men who do not—men who speak
rudely and men who do not—men who chatter vain things and men
who refrain therefrom—men who covet and men who covet not—men
who harbour illwill and men who harbour it not—men whose views are
wrong and men whose views are right. Of each of these let them, who
do evil, alone with their evil. For them who do well let your majesty
offer, for them, Sire, arrange the rites, for them let the king gratify, in
them shall our heart within find peace.”
17. ‘And further, O Brahman, the chaplain, whilst the king was carrying
out the sacrifice, instructed and aroused and incited and gladdened his
heart in sixteen ways: “Should there be people who should say of the king,
as he is offering the sacrifice: ‘King Wide-realm is celebrating sacrifice
without having invited the four classes of his subjects, without himself
having the eight personal gifts, without the assistance of a Brahman
who has the four personal gifts.’ Then would they speak not acording
to the fact. For the consent of the four classes has been obtained, the
king had the eight, and his Brahman has the four, personal gifts. With
regard to each and every one of these sixteen conditions the king may
rest assured that it has been fulfilled. He can sacrifice, and be glad, and
possess his heart in peace.”
18. ‘And further, O Brahman, at that sacrifice neither were any oxen
slain, neither goats, nor fowls, nor fatted pigs, nor were any kinds of
living creatures put to death. No trees were cut down to be used as
posts, no Dabha grasses mown to strew around the sacrificial spot.
And the slaves and messengers and workmen there employed were
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driven neither by rods nor fear, nor carried on their work weeping with
tears upon their faces. Whoso chose to help, he worked; whoso chose not
to help, worked not. What each chose to do he did; what they chose not
to do, that was left undone, With ghee and oil, and butter and milk,
and honey and sugar only was that sacrifice accomplished.
19. ‘And further, O Brahman, the Kshatriya vassels, and the ministers
and officials, and the Brahmans of position, and the householders of
substance, whether of the country or of the towns, went to King, Wide-
realm, taking with them much wealth, and said,” This abundant wealth,
Sire, have we brought hither for the king’s use. Let his majesty accept
it at our hands!”
“Sufficient wealth have I, my friends, laid up, the produce of taxation
that is just. Do you keep yours, and take away more with you!”
When they had thus been refused by the king, they went aside, and
considered thus one with the other: “It would not beseem us now, were
we to take this wealth away again to our own homes. King Wide-realm
is offering a great sacrifice. Let us too make an after-sacrifice!”
20. ‘So the Kshatriyas established a continual largesses to the east
of the king’s sacrificial pit, and the officials to the south thereof, and
the Brahmans to the west thereof, and the householders to the north
thereof. And the things given, and the manner of their gift, was in all
respects like unto the great sacrifice of King Wide-realm himself.’
‘Thus, O Brahman, there was a fourfold co-operation, and King Wide-
realm was gifted with eight personal gifts, and his officiating Brahman
with four. And there were three modes of the giving of that sacrifice.
This, O Brahman, is what is called the due celebration of a sacrifice in
its threefold mode and with its furniture of sixteen kinds.
21. ‘And when he had thus spoken, those Brahmans lifted up their
voices in tumult, and said: “How glorious the sacrifice, how pure its
accomplishment!” But Kutadanta the Brahman sat there in silence.
Then those Brahmans said to Kutadanta: ‘Why do you not approve
the good words of the Samana Gotama as well-said?’
‘I do not fail to approve; for he who approves not as well-said
that which has been -well spoken by the Samana Gotama, verily his
head would split in twain. But I was considering that the Samana
Gotama does not say: “Thus have 1 heard,” nor “Thus behoves it to
be,” but says only, “Thus it was then,” or “It was like that then”. So
I thought; “For a certainty the Samana Gotama himself must at that
time have been King Wide-realm, or the Brahman who officiated for
him at that sacrifice. Does the Venerable Gotama admit that he who
celebrates such a sacrifice, or causes it to be celebrated, is reborn at the
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 201

dissolution of the body, after death, into some state of happiness in heaven ?”
‘Yes, O Brahman, that I admit. And at that time I was the Brahman who,
as chaplain, had that sacrifice performed.’
22. ‘Is there, O Gotama, any other sacrifice less difficult and less
troublesome, with more fruit and more advantage still than this?’
‘Yes, O Brahman, there is.’
‘And what, O Gotama, may that be?’
‘The perpetual gifts kept up in a family where they are given specifically
to virtuous recluses.’
23. ‘But what is the reason, O Gotama, and what the cause, why such
perpetual giving specifically to virtuous recluses, and kept up in a family,
are less difficult and troublesome of greater fruit and greater advantage than
that other sacrifice with its three modes and its accessories of sixteen kinds?’
‘To the latter sort of sacrifice, O Brahman, neither will the Arhata go,
nor such as have entered on the Arhat way. And why not ? Because in it
beating with sticks takes place, and seizing by the throat. But they will go
to the former, where such things are not. And therefore are such perpetual
gifts above the other sort of sacrifice.’
24. ‘And is there, O Gotama, any other sacrifice less difficult and less
troublesome, of greater fruit and of greater advantage than either of these.’
‘Yes, O Brahman, there is.’
‘And what, O Gotama, may that be ?’
‘The putting up of a dwelling place (Vihara) on behalf of the Order in all
the four directions.’
25. ‘And is there, O Gotama, any other sacrifice less difficult and less
troublesome, of greater fruit and of greater advantage than each and all of
these three?’
‘Yes, O Brahman, there is.’
‘And what, O Gotama, may that be?’
‘He who with trusting heart takes a Buddha as his guide, and the Truth,
and the Order—that is a sacrifice better than open largeses, better than
perpetual alms, better than the gift of a dwelling place.’
26. ‘And is there, O Gotama, any other sacrifice less difficult and less
troublesome, of greater fruit and of greater advantage than all these four?’
‘When a man with trusting heart takes upon himself the precepts-
abstinence from destroying life; absitence from taking what has not
been given; abstinence from evil conduct in respect of lusts; abstinence
from lying words; abstinence from strong, intoxicating, maddening
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202 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

drinks, the root of carelessness, that is a sacrifice better than open largesses,
better than perpetual alms, better than the gift of dwelling places, better
than accepting guidance.’
27. ‘And is there, O Gotama; any other sacrifice less difficult and less
troublesome, of greater fruit and of greater advantage than all these five?’
‘Yes, O Brahman, there is.’
‘And what, O Gotama, may that be-?’
(The answer is the long passage from the Samana-phale Sutta 40, p. 62
(of the text,) down to 75 (p. 74) on the First Ghana, as follows:
1. The Introductory paragraphs on the appearance of a Buddha, his
preaching, the conversion of a hearer, and his renunciation of the world.
2. The Silas (minor morality).
3. The paragraph on Confidence.
4. The paragraph on ‘Guarded is the door of his senses.’
5. The paragraph on ‘Mindful and self possessed.’
6. The paragraph on Content.
7. The paragraph on Solitude.
8. The paragraph on the Five Hindrances.
9. The description of the First Ghana.)
‘This, O Brahman, is a sacrifice less difficult and less troublesome, of
greater fruit and greater advantage than the previous sacrifices,
(The same is then said the Second, Third, and Fourth Ghanas, in
succession (as in the Samannao-phalo Sutas 77-82) and of the Insight
arising from knowledge (ibid 83, 84), and further (omitting direct mention
either way of 85-96 inclusive) of the knowledge of the destruction of the
Asavas, the deadly intoxications or floods (ibid. 97-98).
‘And there is no sacrifice man can celebrate, O Brahman, higher and
sweeter than this.’
28. And when he had thus spoken, Kutadanta the Brahman said to the
Blessed One:
‘Most excellent, O Gotama, are the words of thy mouth, most excellent!
Just as if a man were to set up what has been thrown down, or were to reveal
that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him
who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those
who had eyes could see external forms—just even so has the truth been made
known to me in many a figure by the Venerable Gotama. I, even I, betake
myself to the Venerable Gotama as my guide, to the Doctrine and the Order.
May the Venerable One accept me as a disciple, as one who, from this day
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forth, as long as life endures has taken him as his guide. And I myself,
O Gotama, will have the seven hundred bulls, and the seven hundred
steers, and the seven hundred heifers, and the seven hundred goats,
and the seven hundred rams set free. To them I grant their life. Let
them eat green grass and drink fresh water, and may cool breezes waft
around them.’
29. Then the Blessed One discoursed to Kutadanta the Brahman in
due order; that is to say, he spake to him of generosity, of right conduct,
of heaven, of the danger, the vanity, and the defilement of lusts, of the
advantages of rununciation. And when the Blessed One became aware that
Kutadanta the Brahman had become prepared, softened, unprejudiced,
upraised, and believing in heart then did he proclaim the doctrine the
Buddhas alone have won; that is to say, the doctrine of sorrow, of its
origin, of its cessation and of the Path. And just as a clean cloth, with
all stains in it washed away, will readily take the dye, just even so did
Kutadanta the Brahman, even while seated there, obtain the pure and
spotless Eye for the Truth. And he knew whatsoever has a beginning,
in that is inherent also the necesity of dissolution.
30. And then the Brahman Kutadanta, as one who had seen the Truth,
had mastered it, understood it, dived deep down into it. Who had passed
beyond doubt, and put away perplexity and gained full confidence, who
had become depedent on no other for his knowledge of the teaching of
the Master, addressed the Blessed One and said:
‘May the venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his tomorrow
meal with me, and also the members of the Order with him.’
And the Blessed One signified, by silence, his consent. Then the
Brahman Kutadanta, seeing that the Blessed One had accepted, rose
from his seat, and keeping his right towards him as he passed, he
departed thence. And at daybreak he had sweet food, both hard and
soft, made ready at the pit prepared for his sacrifice and had the time
announced to the Blessed One:’ It is time, O Gotama and the meal is
ready.’ And the Blessed One, who had dressed early in the morning,
put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with him, went with the
brethren to Kutadanta’s sacrificial pit, and sat down there on the seat
prepared for him. And Kutadanta the Brahman satisfied the brethren
with the Buddha at their head, with his own hand, with sweet food,
both hard and soft, till they refused any more. And when the Blessed
One had finished his meal, and cleansed the bowl and his hands,
Kutadanta the Brahman took a low seat and seated himself beside him.
And when he was thus seated, the Blessed One instructed and aroused
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204 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

and incited and gladdened Kutadanta the Brahman with religious

discourse; and then arose from his seat and departed thence.
KUTADANTA SUTTA IS ENDED
V
Thirdly Buddha denounceed the caste system. The Caste System in
its present form was not then existing. The bar against inter-dining
and inter-marriage had not then become operative. Things were flexible
and not rigid as they are now. But the principle of inequality which
is the basis of the caste system had become well established and it
was against this principle that Buddha carried on a determined and
a bitter fight. How strongly was he opposed to the pretensions of the
Brahmins for superiority over the other classes and how convincing
were the grounds of his opposition are to be found in many of his
dialogues. The most important one of these is known as the Ambattha
Sutta.
AMBATTHA SUTTA
(A young Brahman’s rudeness and an old one’s faith).
1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One when once on a tour through
the Kosala country with a great company of the brethren, with about
five hundred brethern, arrived at a Brahman village in Kosala named
Ikkhanankala; and while there he stayed in the Ikkhanankala Wood.
Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharsadi was dwelling at
Ukkattha, a spot teeming with life, with much grassland and woodland
and corn, on a royal domain, granted him by King Pasenadi of Kosala
as royal gift, with power over it as if he were the king.
2. Now the Brahman Pokkharasadi heard the news: ‘They say that
the Samana Gotama, of the Sakya clan, who went out from a Sakya
family to adopt the religious life, has now arrived, with a great company
of the brethren of his Order, at Ikkhanankala, and is staying there
in the Ikkhanankala Wood. Now regarding that venerable Gotama,
such is the high reputation that has been noised abroad: The Blessed
One is an Arahat, a fully awakened one, abounding in wisdom and
goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a
guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, a
Blessed One, a Buddha. He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees,
as it were, face to face this universe, including the worlds above of
the gods, the Brahmans, and the Maras, and the world below with its
recluses and Brahmans, its princes and peoples, and having known it,
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 205

he makes his knowldge known to others. The truth, lovely in its origin,
lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation, doth he proclaim, both
in the spirit and in the letter, the higher life doth he make known, in
all its fullness and in all its purity.
‘And good is it to pay visits to Arahats like that.’

3. Now at the time a young Brahman, an Ambattha, was a pupil

under Pokkharasadi the Brahman. And he was a repeater (of the sacred
words) knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who had mastered the
Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis
(as a fourth), and the legends as a fifth learned in the idioms and the
grammar, versed in Lokayata sophistry and in the theory of the signs
on the body of a great man—so recognised an authority in the system
of the threefold Vedic knowledge as expounded by his master, that he
could say of him: ‘What I know that you know, and what you know
that I know.’
4. And Pokkharasadi told Ambattha the news, and said : ‘Come now,
dear Ambattha, go to the Samana Gotama, and find out whether the
reputation so noised abroad regarding him is in accord with the facts or
not, whether the Samana Gotama is such as they say or not’.
5. ‘But how, Sir, shall I know whether that is so or not ?’
‘There have been handed down, Ambattha, in our mystic verses thirty-
two bodily signs of a great man,—signs which, if a man has, he will
become one of two things, and no other. If he dwells at home he will
become a sovereign of the world, a righteous king, bearing rule even
to the shores of the four great oceans, a conqueror, the protector of his
people, possessor of the seven royal treasures. And these are the seven
treasures that he has the Wheel, the Elephant, the Horse, the Gem,
the Woman, the Treasurer, and the Adviser as a seventh. And he has
more than a thousand sons, heroes, mighty in frame, beating down the
armies of the foe. And he dwells in complete ascendancy over the wide
earth from sea to sea, ruling it in righteousness without the need of
baton or of sword. But if he go forth from the household life into the
houseless state, then he will become a Buddha who removes the veil
from the eyes of the world. Now I, Ambattha, am a giver of the mystic
verses; you have received them from me.’
6. ‘Very good Sir, said Ambattha in reply; and rising from his seat
and paying reverence to Pokkharasadi, he mounted a chariot drawn
by mares, and proceeded, with a retinue of young Brahmans, to the
Ikkhanankala Wood. And when he had gone on in the chariot as far as
the road was practicable for vehicles, he got down, and went on, into
the park, on foot.
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7. Now at that time a number of the brethren were walking up and

down in the open air. And Ambattha went up to them, and said: ‘Where
may the Venerable Gotama be lodging now? We have come hither to
call upon him.’
8. Then the brethren thought: ‘This young Brahman Ambattha is
of distinguished family, and a pupil of the distinguished Brahman
Pokkharasadi. The Blessed One will not find it difficult to hold
conversation with such.’ And they said to Ambattha: ‘There Gotama
is lodging, where the door is shut, go quietly up and enter the porch
gently, and give a cough, and knock on the crossbar. The Blessed One
will open the door for you.’
9. Then Ambattha did so. And the Blessed One opened the door, and
Ambattha entered in. And the other young Brahmans also went in; and
they exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and compliments of
politeness and courtesy, and took their seats. But Ambattha, walking
about, said something or other of a civil kind in an off-hand way, fidgetting
about the while, or standing up, to the Blessed One sitting there.
10. And the Blessed One said to him; ‘Is that the way, Ambattha,
that you would hold converse with aged teachers, and teachers of your
teachers well stricken in years, as you now do, moving about the while
or standing, with me thus seated?’
11. ‘Certainly not, Gotama. It is proper to speak, with a Brahman as
one goes along only when the Brahman himself is walking and standing
to a Brahman who stands, and seated to a Brahman who has taken his
seat, or reclining to a Brahman who reclines. But with shavelings, sham
friars, menial black fellows, the offscouring of our kinsman’s heels—with
them I would talk as I now do to you.’
‘But you must have been wanting something, Ambattha, when you
come here. Turn your thoughts rather to the object you had in view
when you came. This young Brahman Ambattha is ill bred, though he
prides himself on his culture; what can this come from except from want
of training?’
12. Then Ambattha was displeased and angry with the Blessed One
at being called rude; and at the thought that the Blessed One was vexed
with him, he said, scoffing, jeering, and sneering at the Blessed One:
‘Rough is this Sakya breed of yours, Gotama, and rude, touchy is this
Sakya breed of yours and violent. Menials, mere menials, they neither
venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to
Brahmans. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly.’
Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the first time charge the
Sakyas with being menials.
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13. ‘But in what then, Ambattha, have the Sakyas given you offence ?’
‘Once, Gotama, I had to go to Kapilvastu on some business or other
of Pokkharasadi’s, and went into the Sakyas’ Congress Hall. Now at
that time there were a number of Sakyas, old and young, seated in the
hall on grand seats, making merry and joking together, nudging one
another with their fingers; and for a truth, methinks, it was I myself
that was the subject of their jokes; and not one of them even offered
me a seat. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the
Sakyas, menials, as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate,
nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahmans.’
Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the second time charge
the Sakyas with being menials.
14. ‘Why a quail Ambattha, little hen bird tough she be, can say what
she likes in her own nest. And there the Sakyas are at their own home, in
Kapilvastu. It is not fitting for you to take offence at so trifling a thing.’
15. ‘There are these four grades, Gotama,—the nobles, the Brahmans,
the tradesfolk, and the work-people. And of these four, three—the nobles,
the tradesfolk, and work-people—are, verily, but attendants on the
Brahmans. So, Gotama, that is neither fitting nor is it seemly, that the
Sakyas, menials as they are, mere menials should neither venerate, nor
value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to the Brahmans.’
*Thus did the young Brahman Ambattha for the third time charged
1

the sakyes with being menials.

16. Then the Blessed One thought thus:’ This Ambattha is very set on
humbling the Sakyas with his charge of servile origin. What if I were
to ask him as to his own lineage.’ And he said to him:
‘And what family do you then, Ambattha, belong to?’
‘Yes, but if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage,
Ambattha, on the father’s and the mother’s side, it would appear that
the Sakyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of
one of their slave girls. But the Sakyas trace their line back to Okkaka
the kings.’
‘Long ago, Ambattha, King Okkaka, wanting to divert the succession
in favour of the son of his favourite queen, banished his elder children-
Okkamukha, Karanda, Hatthinika, and Sinipura-from the land. And
being thus banished they took up their dwelling on the slopes of the
Himalaya, on the borders of a lake where a mighty oak tree grew. And
through fear of injuring the purity of their line they intermarried with
their sisters.
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‘Now Okkaka the king asked the ministers at his court: “Where, Sirs,
are the children now?”
‘There is a spot, Sire, on the slopes of the Himalaya, on the borders
of a lake, where there grows a mighty oak (sako). There do they dwell.
And lest they should injure the purity of their line they have married
their own (sakahi) sisters.’
‘Then did Okkaka the king burst forth in admiration: “Hearts of oak
(sakya) are those young fellows! Right well they hold their own (parama
sakya)!”
‘That is the reason, Ambattha, why they are known as Sakyas. Now
Okkaka had slave girl called Disa. She gave birth to a black baby.
And no sooner was it born than the little black thing said, “Wash me,
mother. Bathe me, mother. Set me free, mother of this dirt. So shall I
be of use to you,”
Now, just as now, Ambattha, people call devils, “devils”, so then they
called devils, “black fellows” (kanhe). And they said, “This fellow spoke
as soon as he was born.’ Tis a black thing (Kanha) that is born, a devil
has been born!” And that is the origin, Ambattha, of the Kanhayanas.
He was the ancestor of the Kanhayanas. And thus is it, Ambattha, that
if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineae, on the father’s
and on the mother’s side, it would appear that the Sakyas were once
your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls.’
17. When he had thus spoken the young Brahmans said to the Blessed
One: ‘Let not the Venerable Gotama, humble Ambattha too sternly with
this reproach of being descended from a slave girl. He is well born,
Gotama, and of good family; he is versed in the sacred hymns, an able
reciter, a learned man. And he is able to give answer to the Venerable
Gotama in these matters.
18. Then the Blessed One said to them: ‘Quite so. If you thought
otherwise, then it would be for you to carry on our discussion further.
But as you think so, let Ambattha himself speak.’
19. ‘We do not think so; and we will hold our peace. Ambattha is able
to give answer to the venerable Gotama in these matters.’
20. Then the Blessed One said to Ambattha the Brahman: ‘Then this
further question arises, Ambattha, a very reasonable one which even
though unwillingly, you should answer. If you do not give a clear reply,
or go off upon another issue, or remain silent, or go away, then your head
will split in pieces on the spot. What have you heard, when Brahmans
old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were
talking together, as to whence the Kanhayanas draw their origin, and
who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back?’
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 209

And when he had thus spoken Ambattha remained silent. And the
Blessed One asked the same question again. And still Ambattha remained
silent. Then the Blessed One said to him: ‘You had better answer, now,
Ambattha. This is no time for you to hold your peace. For whosoever,
Ambattha, does not, even up to the third time of asking, answer a
reasonable question put by a Tathagata (by one who has won the truth),
his head splits into pieces on the spot.’
21. Now at that time the spirit who bears the thunderbolt stood over
above Ambattha in the sky with a mighty mass of iron, all fiery, dazzling,
and aglow, with the intention, if he did not answer, there and then to
split his head in pieces. And the Blessed One perceived the spirit bearing
the thunderbolt, and so did Ambattha the Brahman. And Ambattha on
becoming aware of it, terrified, startled, and agitated, seeking safety and
protection and help from the Blessed One, crouched down besides him in
awe, and said: ‘What was it the Blessed One said ? Say it once again!’
‘What do you think, Ambattha? What have you heard, when Brahmans
old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were
talking together, as to whence the Kanhayanas draw their origin, and
who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back?’
‘Just so, Gotama, did I hear, even as the Venerable Gotama hath said.
That is the origin of the Kanhayana. and that the ancestor to whom
they trace themselves back.’
22. And when he had thus spoken the young Brahmans fell into tumult,
and uproar, and turmoil; and said: ‘Low born, they say, is Ambattha the
Brahman; his family, they say, is not of good standing; they say he is
descended from a slave girl; and the Sakyas were his masters. We did
not suppose that the Samana Gotama. whose words are righteousness
itself, was not a man to be trusted!
23. And the Blessed One thought: ‘They go too far. these Brahmans in
their depreciation of Ambattha as the offspring of a slave girl. Let me set
him free from their reproach. ‘And he said to them:’ Be not too severe
in disparaging Ambattha the Brahman on the ground of his descent.
That Kanha became a mighty seer. He went into the Dekkan, there he
learnt mystic verses, and returning to Okkaka the king, he demanded
his daughter Madda-rupi in marriage. To him the king in answer said:
“Who forsooth is this fellow, who son of my slave girl as he is—asks
for my daughter in marriage:” and. angry and displeased, he fitted an
arrow to his bow. But neither could he let the arrow fly. nor could he
take it off the string again.
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210 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Then the ministers and courtiers went to Kanha the seer, and said: “Let the
king go safe. Sir, let the king go safe.”
“The king shall suffer no harm. But should he shoot the arrow downwards,
then would the earth dry up as far as his realm extends.”
“Let the king, Sir, go safe, and the country too.”
“The king shall suffer no harm, nor his land. But should he shoot the arrow
upwards, the god would not rain for seven years as far as his realm extends.”
“Let the king. Sir. go safe, and the country too.”
“The king shall suffer no harm, nor his land. But should he shoot the arrow
upwards, the god would not rain for seven years as far as his realm extends.”
“Let the king. Sir, go safe, and the country too; and let the god rain.”
“The king shall suffer no harm, nor the land either, and the god shall rain.
But let the king aim the arrow at his eldest son. The prince shall suffer no harm,
not a hair of him shall be touched.”
‘Then, O Brahmans, the ministers told this to Okkaka, and said: “Let the
king aim at his eldest son. He win suffer neither harm nor terror.” And the king
did so, and no harm was done. But the king, terrified at the lesson given him,
gave the man his daughter Madda-rupi as wife. You should not, O Brahmans,
be too severe to disparage Ambattha in the matter of his slave-girl ancestry.
That Kanha was a mighty seer,’
24. Then the Blessed One said to Ambattha; ‘What think you, Ambattha ?
Suppose a young Kshatriya should have connection with a Brahman maiden,
and from their intercourse a son should be born. Now would the son thus come
to the Brahman maiden through the Kshatriya youth receive a seat and water
(as token of respect) from the Brahmans?
‘Yes, he would. Gotama.’
‘But would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the feast offered to the
dead, or of the food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent
as a present?’
‘Yes, they would Gotama.’
‘But would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?’
‘They would, Gotama.’
‘But would he be shut off, or not, from their women?’
‘He would not be shut off.’
‘But would the Kshatriyas allow him to receive the consecration ceremony
of a Kshatriya?’
‘Certainly not. Gotama.’
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 211

‘Because he is not of pure descent on the mother’s side.’

25. ‘Then what think you Ambattha? Suppose a Brahman youth should have
connection with a Kshatriya maiden, and from their intercourse a son should be
bom. Now would the son come to the Kshatriya maiden through the Brahman
youth receive a seat and water (as token of respect) from the Brahmans?’
‘Yes, he would, Gotama.’
‘But would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead,
or of food boiled in milk, or of an offering to the gods, or of food sent as a present?’
‘Yes, they would, Gotama.’
‘But would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not ?’
‘They would, Gotama.’
‘But would the Kshatriyas allow him to receive the consecration ceremony
of a Kshatriya.’
‘Certainly not, Gotama.’
‘Why not that?’
‘Because he is not of pure descent on the father’s side.’
26. ‘Then, Ambattha, whether one compares women with women, or men with
men, the Kshatriyas are higher and the Brahmans inferior.
‘And what think you, Ambattha ? Suppose the Brahmans, for some offence
or other, were to outlaw a Brahman by shaving him and pouring ashes over his
head, were to banish him from the land from the township. Would he be offered
a seat or water among the Brahmans?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama.’
‘Or would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the food offered to the dead,
or of the food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a
present?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama.’
‘Or would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama.’
‘And would he be shut off, or not, from their women?’
‘He would be shut off.’
27. ‘But what think you, Ambattha? If the Kshatriyas had in the same way
outlawed a Kshatriya and banished him from the land or the township, would
he, among the Brahmans, be offered water and a seat?’
‘Yes, he would, Gotama.’
‘And would he be allowed to partake of the food offered to the dead, or of the
food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present?’
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212 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

‘He would, Gotama.’

‘And would the Brahmans teach him their verses?’
‘They would, Gotama?’
‘And would he be shut off, or not, from their women?’
‘He would not, Gotama.’
‘But thereby, Ambattha, the Kshatriya would have fallen into the deepest
degradation, shaven as to his head, cut dead with the ash-basket, banished
from land and townships. So that, even when a Kshatriya has fallen into
the deepest degradation, still it holds good that the Kshatriyas are higher,
and the Brahmans inferior.
28. ‘Moreover it was one of the Brahma gods, Sanam-kumara, who uttered
this stanza.”
“The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk who put their trust in
lineage.
But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness, he is the best among
gods and men.”
‘Now this stanza, Ambattha, was well sung and not ill sung by the Brahma
Sanam-kumara. well said and not ill said, full of meaning and not void
thereof. And 1 too approve it,
‘I also’ Ambattha says:
“The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk who put their trust in
lineage.
But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness, he is the best among
gods and men.”
HERE ENDS THE FIRST PORTION FOR RECITATION
…..
1. ‘But what. Gotama, is the righteousness and what the wisdom spoken
of in that verse?’
‘In the supreme perfection in wisdom and righteousness. Ambattha, there
is no reference to the question either of birth, or of lineage, or of the pride
which says: “You are held as worthy as I”, or “You are not held as worthy as
I”. It is where the talk is of marrying, or giving in marriage, that reference
is made to such things as that. For whosoever. Ambattha. are in bondage
to the notions of birth or of lineage, or to the pride of social position, or of
connection by marrige. they are far from the best wisdom and righteousness.
It is only by having got rid of all such bondage that one can realise for
himself that supreme perfection in wisdom and in conduct.
2. ‘But what, Gotama. is that conduct, and what that wisdom?’
[Here follow, under ‘Morality’ (Sila)]
The introductory paragraphs (40 42 of the ‘Samanaphala’ pp. 62,
63 of the text) on the appearance of a Buddha, his preaching the
conversion of a hearer, and his renunciation of the world: then come.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 213

1. The Silas above pp. 4-12 (8-27) of the text. Only the refrain differs.
It runs here, at the end of each clause, through the whole of this repeated
passage: ‘This is reckoned in him as morality.’
Then under ‘Conduct’ (Karuna).
2. The paragraph on ‘Confidence,’ above, p. 69 of the text 63. The refrain
from here onwards is: This is reckoned to him as conduct.
3. The paragraph on ‘Guarded is the door of the senses’ above, p. 70 of
the text, 64.
4. The paragraph on ‘Mindful and self-possessed,’ above, p. 70 of the text 65.
5. The paragraph on ‘Content,’ above, p. 71 of the text, 66.
6. The paragraph on ‘Solitude,’ above, p, 71 of the text, 67.
7. The paragraphs on the ‘Five Hindrances,’ above pp, 71-2 of the text,
68-74.
8. The paragraphs on the ‘Four Rapt Contemplations’ above, 73-76, pp.
75-82. The refrain at the end of each of them (‘higher and better than the
last’) is here of course, to be read not as higher fruit of the life of a recluse,
but as higher conduct.
UNDER WISDOM (VIGGA)
9. The Paragraphs on ‘Insight arising from Knowledge’ (Nana- dassanam),
above, p. 76 of the text, 83, 84. The refrain from here onwards is: ‘This is
reckoned in him as wisdom, and it is higher and sweeter than the last.’
10. The paragraphs on the ‘Mental Image,’ above, p. 77 of the text 85, 86.
11. The paragraphs on ‘Mystic Gifts’ (Iddhi), above, p. 77 of the text, 87, 88.
12. The paragrphs on the ‘Heavenly Ear’ (Dibbasota), above p. 79 of the
text, 89, 90.
13. The paragraphs on ‘Knowledge of the hearts of others ‘(Kato-pariya-
nanam) above p. 79 of the text 91, 92.
14. The paragraphs on ‘Memory of one’s own previous births’ (Pubbe-
nivasa-anussati-nama) above, p. 81 of the text, 93, 94.
15. The paragraph on the ‘Divine Eye’ (Dibbakakkhu), above, p. 82 of the
text, 95, 96.
16. The paragraphs on the ‘Destruction of the Deadly Floods’ (Asavanam
Khaya-nanam), above, p. 83 of the text. 97, 98.
‘Such a man, Ambattha, is said to be perfect in wisdom, perfect in conduct,
perfect in wisdom and conduct. And there is no other perfection in wisdom
and conduct higher and sweeter than this.’
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214 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

3. ‘Now, Ambattha, to this supreme perfection in wisdom and goodness

there are Four Leakages. And what are the four?’
‘In case, Ambattha, any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly
attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, with his
yoke on his shoulder (to carry fire-sticks, a water-pot, needles, and the
rest of a mendicant friar’s outfit), should plunge into the depths of the
forest, vowing to himself: “I will henceforth be one of those who live only
on fruits that have fallen of themselves”—then, verily, he turns that out
worthy only to be a servant unto him that hath attained to wisdom and
rightsouness.’
‘And again, Ambattha, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having
thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves,
taking a hoe and a basket with him, should plunge into the depths of the
forest, vowing to himself: “I will henceforth be one of those who live only
on bulbs and roots of fruits.” Then, verily he turns out worthy only to
be a servant unto him who hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.’
‘And again, Ambattha. in case any recluse or Brahman, without having
thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves,
and without having attained to living only on bulbs and’ roots and fruits,
should build himself a fires-hrine near the boundries of some village or
some town, and there dwell serving the fire-god,— then, verily he turns
out worthy only to be a servant unto him that hath attained to wisdom
and righteousness.’
‘And again, Ambattha, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having
thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct,
and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves,
and without having attained to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits,
and without having attained to serving the fire-god, should build himself
a four-doored almshouse at a crossing where four high roads meet, and
dwell there, saying to himself: “Whosoever, whether recluse or Brahman,
shall pass here, from either of these four directions, him will I entertain
according to my ability and according to my power—then, verily, he turns
out worthy only to be a servant unto him who hath attained to wisdom
and righteousness.’
‘These are the Four Leakages, Ambattha, to supreme perfection in
righteousness and conduct.’
4. ‘Now what think you. Ambattha ? Have you, as one of a class of
pupils under the same teacher, been instructed in this supreme perfection
of wisdom and conduct?’
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 215

‘Not that, Gotama. How little is it that I can profess to have learnt!
How supreme this perfection of wisdom and conduct! Far is it from me
to have been trained therein?’
‘Then what think you, Ambattha? Although you have not thoroughly
attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, have you
been trained to take the yoke upon your shoulders, and plunge into the
depths of the forest as one who would fain observe the vow of living
only on fruits fallen of themselves?’
‘Not even that, Gotama’.
‘Then what think you Ambattha? Althougn you have not attained unto
this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, nor have attained to
living on fruits fallen of themselves, have you been trained to take hoe
and basket, and plunge into the depths of the forest as one who would
fain observe the vow of living only on bulbs and roots and fruits?’
‘Not even that, Gotama’
‘Then what think you, Ambattha? Althougn you have not attained
unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, and have not
attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, and have not attained
to living on bulbs and roots and fruits, have you been taught to build
yourself a fire-shrine on the borders of some village or some town, and
dwell there as one who would fain serve the fire-god?’
‘Not even that, Gotama.’
‘Then what think you, Ambattha ? Although you have not attained
unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, and have not
attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, and have not attained to
living on bulbs and roots and fruits, and have not attained to serving the
firegod, have you been taught to build yourself a four-doored almshouse
at a spot where four high roads cross, and dwell there as one who would
fain observe the vow to entertain whosoever might pass that way, from
any of the four directions, according to your ability and according to
your power?’
‘Not even that. Gotama.’
5. ‘So then you, Ambattha, as a pupil, have fallen short of due
training, not only in the supreme wisdom and conduct, but even in any
one of the Four Leakages by which the complete attainment thereof
is debarred. And your teacher too. the Brahman Pokkharasadi, has
told you this saying : “Who are these shavelings, sham friars, menial
black fellows, the offscouring of our kinsman’s heels, that they should
claim converse with Brahmans versed in the threefold Vedic Lore!”
he himself not having even fulfilled any one even of these lesser
duties (which lead men to neglect the higher ones). See, Ambattha,
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216 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

how deeply your teacher the Brahman Pokkharasadi has herein done
you wrong.’
6. ‘And the Brhman Pokkharasadi Ambattha. is in the enjoyment of
a grant from Pasenadi, the king of Kosala. But the king does not allow
him to come into his presence. When he consults with him he speaks
to him only from behind a curtain. How is it, Ambattha, that the very
King, from whom he accepts this pure and lawful maintenance, King
Pasendadi of Kosala, does not admit him to his presence? See, Ambattha,
how deeply your teacher the Brahman Pokkharasadi, has herein done
you wrong.”
7. ‘Now what think you, Ambattha ? Suppose a king, either seated
on the neck of his elephant or on the back of his horse, or standing on
the footrug of his chariot, should discuss some resolution of state with
his chiefs or princes, and suppose as he left the spot and stepped on
one side, a workman (Sudra) or the slave of a workman should come
up and. standing there, should discuss the matter, saying : “Thus and
thus said Pasendadi the King.” Although he should speak as the king
might have spoken, or discuss as the king might have done, would he
thereby be the king, or even as one of his officers?’
‘Certainly not, Gotama.’
8. ‘But just so, Ambattha, those ancient poets (Rishis) of the Brahmans,
the authors of the verses, the utterers of the verses whose ancient form
of words so chanted, uttered, or composed the Brahmans of to-day chant
over again and rehearse, intoning or reciting exactly as has been intoned
or recited—to wit, Atthaka, Vamaka, Vamadeva, Yamataggi, Angirasa,
Bharadvaja, Vasettha, Vessamitta, Kassapa, and Bhagu—though you
can say: ‘I as a pupil know by heart their verses ‘that you should on
that account by a Rishi, or have attained to the state of a Rishi—such
a condition of things has no existence!’
9. ‘Now what think you, Ambattha ? What have you heard when
Brahmans, old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours of their
teachers, were talking together—did those ancient Rishis, whose verses
you so chant over and repeat, parade about well groomed, perfumed,
trimmed as to their hair and beard adorned with garlands and gems,
clad in white garments, in the full possession and enjoyment of the five
pleasures of sense, as you. and your teacher too, do now?’
‘Not that, Gotama.’
‘Or did they live, as their food, on boiled rice of the best sorts, from
which all the black specks had been sought out and removed, and
flavoured with sauces and curries of various kind as you, and your
teacher too. do now?’
‘Not that. Gotama.’
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 217

‘Or were they waited upon by women with fringes and furbelows round
their loins, as you, and your teacher too, do now?
‘Or did they go about driving chariots, drawn by mares with plaited
manes and tails, using long wands and goads the while, as you, and your
teacher too, do now?’
‘Not that Gotama.’
‘Or did they have themselves guarded in fortified towns, with moats
dug out round them and Crossbars let down before the gates, by men girt
with long swords, as you, and your teacher too, do now?’
‘Not that Gotama.’
10. ‘So then, Ambattha, neither are. you a Rishi, nor your teacher,
nor do you live under the conditions under which the Rishis lived. But
whatsoever it may be, Ambattha, concerning which you are in doubt or
perplexity about me, ask me as to that, I will make it clear by explanation.’
11. Then the Blessed One went forth from his chamber, and began to
walk up and down that Ambattha did the same. And as he thus walked
up and down, following the Blessed One, he took stock of the thirty-two
signs of a great man, whether they appeared on the body of the Blessed
One or not. And he perceived them all save only two. With respect to those
two—the concealed member and the extent of tongue—he was in doubt
and perplexity, not satisfied not sure.
12. And the Blessed One knew that he was so in doubt. And he so
arranged matters by his Wondrous Gift that Ambattha the Brahman saw
how that part of the Blessed One that ought to be hidden by clothes was
enclosed in a sheath. And the Blessed One so bent round his tongue that
he touched and stroked both his ears, touched and stroked both his nostrils,
and the whole circumstance of his forehead he covered with his tongue.
And Ambattha, the young Brahman, thought: ‘The Samana Gotama is
endowed with the thirty-two signs of a great man, with them all, not only
with some of them.1 And he said to the Blessed One: ‘And now, Gotama,
we would fain depart. We are busy and have much to do.’
‘Do Ambattha, what seemed to you fit.’
And Ambattha mounted his chariot drawn by mares, and departed thence.
13. Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharasadi had gone forth
from Ukkattha with a great retinue of Brahmans, and was seated in
his own pleasance waiting there for Ambattha. And Ambattha came on
to the pleasance. And when he had come in his chariot as far as the
path was practicable for chariots, he descended from it, and came on
foot to where Pokkharasadi was, and saluted him, and took his seat
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218 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

respectfully on one side. And when he was so seated, Pokkharasadi said

to him.
14. ‘Well, Ambattha! Did you see the Blessed One?’
‘Yes, Sir, we saw him.’
‘Well! is the Venerable Gotama so, as the reputation about him I told
you of declares, and not otherwise. Is he such a one, or is he not?’
‘He is so, Sir, as his reputation declares, and not otherwise. Such is
he, not different. And he is endowed with the thirty-two signs of a great
man, with all of them, not only with some.’
‘And did you have any talk, Ambattha, with the Samana Gotama?’
‘Yes. Sir, I had.’
‘And how did the talk go?’
Then Ambattha told the Brahman Pokkharasadi all the talk that he
had with the Blessed One.
15. When he had thus spoken, Pokkharasadi said to him: ‘Oh. you
wiseacre! Oh! you dullard! Oh! you expert, forsooth, in our threefold
Vedic Lore! A man, they say, who should carry out his business thus,
must, on the disolution of the body, after death, be reborn into some
dismal state of misery and woe. What could the very points you pressed
in your insolent words lead up to, if not to the very disclosures the
venerable Gotama made? What a wiseacre, what a dullard; what an
expert, forsooth, in our threefold Vedic lore !’ And angry and displeased,
he struck out with his foot, and rolled Ambattha over. And he wanted,
there and then, himself to go and call on the Blessed One.
I. But the Brahmanas there spake thus to Pokkharasadi: ‘It is much
too late. Sir, today to go to call on the Samana Gotama. The venerable
Pokkharasadi can do so tomorrow.
So Pokkharasadi had sweet food, both hard and soft, made ready at
his own house, and taken on wagons, by the light of blazing torches,
out to Ukkattha. And he himself went on to the Ikkhanankala Wood,
driving in his chariot as far as the road was practicable for vehicles,
and then going on, on foot, to where the Blessed One was. And when
he had exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and compliments
of politeness and courtesy, he took his seat on one side, and said to the
Blessed One:
17. ‘Has our pupil, Gotama, the young Brahman Ambattha, been here?’
‘Yes, Brahman, he has.’
‘And did you, Gotama. have any talk with him?’
‘Yes, Brahman, I had.’
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‘And on what wise was the talk that you had with him?
18. Then the Blessed One told the Brahman Pokkharasadi all the talk
that had taken place. And when he had thus spoken Pokkharasadi said
to the Blessed One:
‘He is young and foolish, Gotama, that young Brahman Ambattha.
Forgive him, Gotama.’
‘Let him be quite happy. Brahman, that young Brahman Ambattha’
19. And the Brahman Pokkharasadi took stock, on the body of the
Blessed One, of the thirty two marks of a Great Being. And he saw
them all plainly, save only two. As to two of them the sheath concealed
member and the extensive tongue—he was still in doubt and undecided.
But the Blessed One showed them to Pokkharasadi, even as he had
shown them to Ambattha. And Pokkharasadi perceived that the Blessed
One was endowed with the thirty two marks of a Great Being, with all
of them, not only with some. And he said to the Blessed One: ‘May the
venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his tomorrow’s meal
with me, and also the members of the Order with him’ And the Blessed
One accepted, by silence, his request.
20. Then the Brahman Pokkharasadi, seeing that the Blessed One had
accepted, had (on the morrow) the time announced to him : ‘It is time.
Oh Gotama, the meal is ready.’ And the Blessed One. who had dressed
in the early morning, put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with
him, went, with the brethren to Pokkharasadi’s house, and sat down on
the seat prepared for him. And Pokkharasadi the Brahman, satisfied
the Blessed One, with his own hand, with sweet food, both hard and
soft, until he refused any more, and the young Brahmans the members
of the Order. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and
cleansed the bowl and his hands, Pokkharasadi took a low seat, and
sat down beside him.
21. Then to him thus seated the Blessed One discoursed in due order;
that is to say, he spoke to him of generosity, of right conduct, of heaven,
of the danger, the vanity, and the defilement of lusts, of the advantages
of renunciation. And when the Blessed One saw that Pokkharasadi
the Brahman, had become prepared, softened, unprejudiced, upraised,
and believing in heart, then he proclaimed the doctrine the Buddhas
alone have won; that is to say, the doctrine of sorrow, of its origin, of
its cessation, and of the Path. And just as a clean cloth from which all
stain has been washed away will readily take the dye, just even so did
Pokkharasadi the Brahman, obtain, even while sitting there, the pure and
spotless Eye for the Truth, and he knew: ‘Whatsoever has a beginning
in that is inherent also the necessity of dissolution.’
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220 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

22. And then the Brahman Pokkarasadi as one who had seen the
Truth, had mastered it, understood it, dived deep down into it, who had
passed beyond doubt and put away perplexity and gained full confidence,
who had become dependent on no other man for his knowledge of the
teaching of the Master, addressed the Blessed One and said:
‘Most excellent Oh Gotama (are the words of thy mouth), most
excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown
down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to
point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring
a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external
forms,—just even so. Lord, has the truth been made known to me, in
many a figure, by the venerable Gotama. And I, Oh Gotama, with my
sons, and my wife, and my people, and my companions, betake myself
to the venerable Gotama as my guide, to the truth, and to the Order.
May the venerable Gotama accept me as a disciple, as one who, from
this day forth, as long as life endures, has taken him as his guide. And
just as the venerable Gotama visits the families of others, his disciples,
at Ukkatha, so let him visit mine. Whosoever there may be there, of
Brahmans or their wives, who shall pay reverence to the venerable
Gotama. or stand up in his presence, or offer him a seat or water, or
take delight in him, to him that will be for long, a cause of weal and
bliss.’
‘It is well. Brahman, what you say.’
Here ends the Ambattha Sutta.
VI
In the matter of his opposition to Caste, Buddha practised what he
preached. He did what the Aryan Society refused to do. In the Aryan
Society the Shudra or low caste man could never become a Brahman.
But Buddha not only preached against caste but admitted the Shudra
and the low caste to the rank of a Bhikku who held the same rank in
Buddhism as the Brahman did in Brahmanism. As Rhys Davis points
out: (Quotation not given)
In the first place, as regards his own Order, over which alone he had
complete control, he ignores completely and absolutely all advantages
or disadvantages arising from birth, occupation, and social status, and
sweeping away all barriers and disabilities arising from the arbitrary
rules of mere ceremonial or social impurity.
One of the most distinguished members of his Order, the very one of
them who was referred to as the chief authority after Gotama himself.
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 221

on the rules of the Order, was Upali, who had formerly been a barber,
one of the despised occupations. So Sunita, one of the brethren whose
verses are chosen for insertion in the Thera Gatha, was a Pukkusa,
one of the low tribes. Sati, the propounder of a deadly heresy, was of
the sons of the fisherfolk, afterwards a low caste, and even then an
occupation, on account of its cruelty, particularly abhorred. Nanda was a
cowherd. The two Panthakas were born out of wedlock, to a girl of good
family through intercoure with a slave (so that by the rule laid down
in Manu 31, they were actually outcasts). Kapa was the daughter of a
deer-stalker, Punna and Punnika had been slave girls. Sumangalamata
was daughter and wife to workers in rushes, and Subha was the daughter
of a smith. More instances could doubtless be quoted and others will
become known when more texts are published.
It does not show much historical insight to sneer at the numbers
as small, and to suggest that the supposed enlightenment or liberality
was mere pretence. The facts speak for themselves; and the percentage
of low-born members of the Order was probably in fair proportion to
the percentage of persons belonging to the despised jatis and sippas as
compared with the rest of the population. Thus of the Theris mentioned
in the Theri Gatha we know the social position of sixty, of whom five
are mentioned above — that is, 81/2 per cent of the whole number were
base-born. It is most likely that this is just about the proportion which
persons in similar social rank bore to the rest of the population.
Just as Buddha levelled up the position of the Shudras and the
low caste men by admitting them to the highest rank namely that
of Bhikkus, he also levelled up the position of women. In the Aryan
Society women were placed on the same position as the Shudras and
in all Aryan literature women and Shudras are spoken of together as
persons belonging to the same status. Both of them were denied the
right to take Sanyas, as Sanyas was the only way open to salvation.
Women and Shudras were beyond salvation. Buddha broke this Aryan
rule in the case of women as he did in the case of the Shudras. Just
as a Shudra could become a Bhikku so a woman could become a nun.
This was taking her to the highest status then conceivable in the eyes
of the Aryan Society.
Another issue on which Buddha fought against the leaders of the
Aryan Society was the issue of the Ethics of teachers and teaching.
The leaders of the Aryan Society held the view that learning and
education was the privilege of the Brahmins. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
The Shudras were not entitled to education. They insisted that it
would be danger to social order if they taught women or any males not
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222 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

twice-born. Buddha repudiated this Aryan doctrine. As pointed out by

Rhys Davis on this question is “That everyone should be allowed to
learn; that everyone, having certain abilities, should be allowed to teach;
and that, if he does teach, he should teach all to all; keeping nothing
back, shutting no one out.” In this connection reference may be made
to the dialogue between Buddha and the Brahman Lohikka and which
is known as the Lohikka Sutta.
LOHIKKA SUTTA
(Some points in the Ethics of Teaching)
1. Thus have I heard. The Exalted One, when once passing on a tour
through the Kosala districts with a great multitude of the members of
the Order, with about five hundred Bhikshus, arrived at Salavatika.
(village surrounded by a row of Sala trees). Now at that time Lohikka
the Brahman was established at Salavatika, a spot teeming with life,
with much grassland and woodland and corn, on a royal domain granted
him by King Pasenadi of Kosala, as a royal gift, with power over it as
if he were the king.
2. Now at that time Lohikka the Brahman was thinking of harbouring
the following wicked view; ‘Suppose that a Samana or a Brahmana
have reached up to some good state (of mind), then he should tell no
one else about it. For what can one man do for another? To tell others
would be like the man who, having broken through an old bond, should
entangle himself in a new one. Like that, I say, is this (desire to declare
to others); it is a form of lust. For what can one man do for another?’
Now Lohikka the Brahman heard the news: ‘They say that the
Samana Gotama, of the sons of the Sakyas, who went out from the
Sakya clan to adopt the religious life, has now arrived, with a great
company of the brethren of his Order, on his tour through the Kosala
districts, at Salavatika. Now regarding that venerable Gotama, such
is the high reputation that has been noised abroad: that Exalted One
is an Arhat, fully awakened, abounding in wisdom and goodness,
happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to
mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, an exalted one,
a Buddha. He, by himself thoroughly knows, and sees as it were face
to face, this universe—including the worlds above of the gods, the
Brahmans and the Maras; and the world below with its Samanas and
Brahmans, its princes and peoples—and having known it, he makes his
knowledge known to others. The truth, lovely in its origin. lovely in its
progress, lovely in consummation, doth he proclaim both in the spirit
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 223

and in the letter. The higher life doth he make known in all its fullness,
and in all its purity. And good is it to pay visists to Arhats like that.’
4. Then Lohikka the Brahman said to Bhesika the barber, ‘Come now,
good Bhesika, go where the Samana Gotama is staying, and on your
arrival, ask in my name as to whether his sickness and indisposition
as abated, as to his health and vigour and condition of ease; and speak
thus: “May the venerable Gotama, and with him the brethren of the
order, accept the tomorrow’s meal from Lohikka the Brahman.”
5. ‘Very well. Sir.’ said Bhesika the barber, acquiescing in the word
of Lohikka the Brahman, and did so even as he had been enjoined. And
the Exalted One consented, by silence, to his request.
6. And when Bhesika the barber perceived that the Exalted One had
consented, he rose from his seat, and passing the Exalted One with
his right hand towards him, went to Lohikka the Brahman, and on his
arrival spake to him thus :
‘We addressed that Exalted One, Sir, in your name, even as you
commanded. And the Exalted One hath consented to come.’
7. Then Lohikka the Brahman, when the night had passed made
ready at his own dwelling place sweet food, both hard and soft, and
said to Bhesika the barber: ‘Come now, good Bhesika, go where the
Samana Gotama is staying, and on your arrival, announce the time to
him, saying: “It is time, O Gotama. and the meal is ready.”
‘Very well. Sir’, said Bhesika the barber in assent to the words of
Lohikka the Brahman; and did so even as he had been enjoined.
And the Exalted One, who had robed himself early in the morning,
went robed, and carrying his bowl with him, with the brethren of the
Order, towards Salavatika,
8. Now, as he went, Bhesika the barber walked step by step, behind
the Exalted One. And he said to him:
‘The following wicked opinion has occured to Lohikka the Brahman;
“Suppose that a Samana or a Brahmana have reached up to some good
state (of mind), then he should tell no one else about it. For what can
one man do for another? To tell others would be like the man who,
having broken through an old bond, should entangle himself in a new
one. Like that, I say, is this (desire to declare to others); it is a form
of lust”, Twere well. Sir, if the Exalted One would disabuse his mind
thereof. For what can one man do for another?’ ‘That may well be,
Bhesika, that may well be.’
9. And the Exalted One went on to the dwelling-place of Lohikka the
Brahman, and sat down on the seat prepared for him. And Lohikka
the Brahman satisfied the Order, with the Buddha at its head.
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224 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

with his own hand, with sweet food both hard and soft, until they refused any
more. And when the Exalted One had finished his meal, and had cleansed
the bowl and his hands, Lohikka the Brahman brought a low seat and sat
down beside him. And to him, thus seated the Exalted One spake as follows:
‘Is it true what they say, Lohikka, that the following wicked opinion has
arisen in your mind; (and he set forth the opinion as above set forth)?
‘That is so Gotama.’
10. ‘Now what think you, Lohikka? Are you not etablished at Salavatika?’
‘Yes, that is so, Gotama.’
‘Then suppose, Lohikka, one were to speak thus: “Lohikka the Brahman
has domain at Salavatika. Let him alone enjoy all the revenue, and all the
produce of Salavatika. allowing nothing to anybody else!” Would the utterer
of that speech be danger-maker as touching the men who live in dependance
upon you, or not?’
‘He would be danger-maker, Gotama’
‘And making that danger, would he be a person who sympathised with
their welfare, or not?’
‘He would not be considering their welfare, Gotama.’
‘And not considering their welfare, would his heart stand fast in love
towards them, or in enmity?”
‘In enmity. Gotama.’
‘But when one’s heart stands fast in enmity, is that unsound doctrine,
or sound?’
‘It is unsound doctrine, Gotama.’
‘Now if a man hold unsound doctrine, Lohikka, I declare that one of two
future births will be his lot, either purgatory or rebirth as an animal.’
11. ‘Now what think you Lohikka? Is not King Pasenadi of Kosala in
possession of Kasi and Kosala?’
‘Yes, that is so. Gotama.’
‘Then suppose, Lohikka. one were to speak thus:’ King Pasenadi of Kosala
is in possession of Kasi and Kosala. Let him enjoy all the revenue and all
the produce of Kasi and Kosala, allowing nothing to anybody else.” Would the
utterer of that speech be a danger-maker as touching the men who live in
dependence on King Pasenadi of Kosala—both you yourself and others or not?’
‘He would be danger-maker Gotama.’
‘And making that danger, would he be a person who sympathised with
their welfare, or not?
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 225

‘He would not be considering their welfare, Gotama.’

‘And not considering their welfare, would his heart stand fast in love
toward them, or in enmity?’
‘In enmity, Gotama.’
‘But when one’s heart stands fast in enmity, is that unsound doctrine,
or sound?’
‘It is unsound doctrine, Gotama.’
‘Now if a man hold unsound doctrine, Lohikka, I declare that one of
two future births will be his lot, either purgatory or rebirth as an animal.
12 and 14. ‘So then, Lohikka, you admit that he who should say that
you, being in occupation of Salavatika, should therefore, yourself enjoy
all the revenue and produce thereof, bestowing nothing on any one else;
and he who should say that King Pasenadi of Kosala, being in power
over Kasi and Kosala, should therefore himself enjoy all the revenue and
produce thereof, bestowing nothing on any one else— would be making
danger for those living in dependence upon you; or for those you and
others living in dependence upon the King. And that those who thus
make danger for others, must be wanting in sympathy for them. And
that the man wanting in sympathy has his heart set fast in enmity. And
that to have one’s heart set fast in enmity is unsound doctrine.
13 and 15. ‘Then just so, Lohikka, he who should say: “Suppose a
Samana or a Brahamana to have reached up to some good state (of
mind), then should he tell no one else about it. For what can one man
do for another? To tell others would be like the man who, having broken
through an old bond, should entangle himself in a new one. Like that,
I say, is this desire to declare to others, it is a form of lust;”—just so
he, who should say, thus, would be putting obstacles in the way of
those clansmen who, having taken upon themselves the Doctrine and
Discipline set forth by Him-who-has-won-the-Truth, have attained to
great distinction therein—to the fruit of conversion, for instance, or to
the fruit of once returning, or to the fruit of never returning, or even
to Arhatship—he would be putting obstacles in the way of those who
are bringing to fruition the course of conduct that will lead to rebirth
in states of bliss in heaven. But putting obstacles in their way he would
be out of sympathy for their welfare; being out of sympathy for their
welfare his heart would become established in enmity; and when one’s
heart is established in enmity, that is unsound doctrine. Now if a man
hold unsound doctrine, Lohikka, I declare that one of two future births
will be his lot, either purgatory or rebirth as an animal.
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226 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

16. ‘There are these three sorts of teachers in the world, Lohikka,
who are worthy of blame; And whosoever should blame such a one, his
rebuke would be justified, in accord with the facts and the truth, not
improper. What are the three?
‘In the first place, Lohikka, there is a sort of teacher who has not
himself attained to that aim of Samanaship for the sake of which he
left his home and adopted the homeless life. Without having himself
attained to it he teaches a doctrine (Dhamma) to his hearers, saying:
“This is good for you, this will make you happy.” Then those hearers of
his neither listen to him, nor give ear to his words, nor become steadfast
in heart through their knowledge thereof; they go their own way, apart
from the teaching of the master. Such a teacher may be rebuked, setting
out these facts, and adding: “You are like one who should make advances
to her who keeps repulsing him, or should embrace her who turns her
face away from him. Like that, do I say, is this lust of yours (to go on
posing as a teacher of men, no one heeding, since, they trust you not).
For what, then, can one man do for another ?”
‘This, Lohikka, is the first sort of teacher in the world worthy of blame.
And whosoever should blame such a one, his rebuke would be justified,
in accord with the facts and the truth, not improper.
17. ‘In the second place, Lohikka, there is a sort of teacher who has not
himself attained to that aim of Samanship for the sake of which he left
his home and adopted the homeless life. Without having himself attained
to it he teaches a doctrine to his hearers, saying: “This is good for you;
that will make you happy.” And to him his disciples listen; they give
ears to his words; they become steadfast in heart by their understanding
what is said; and they go not their own way, apart from the teaching
of the master. Such a teacher may be rebuked, setting out these facts
and adding: “You are like a man who, neglecting his own field, should
take thought to weed out his neighbour’s field. Like that, do I say, is
this lust of yours (to go on teaching others when you have not taught
yourself). For what, then, can one man do for another?”
This, Lohikka. is the second sort of teacher in the world worthy of
blame. And whosoever should blame such a one, his rebuke would be
justified, in accord with the facts and the truth not improper.
18. And again, Lohikka, in the third place, there is a sort of teacher
who has himself attained to that aim of Samanaship for the sake
of which he left his home and adopted the homeless life. Having
himself attained it, he teaches the doctrine to his hearers, saying:
“This is good for you, that will make you happy.” But those hearers of
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REFORMERS AND THEIR FATE 227

his neither listen to him, nor give ear to his words, nor become steadfast in
heart through understanding thereof; they go their own way, apart from the
teaching of the master. Such a teacher may be rebuked, setting out these
facts, and adding; “You are like a man who, having broken through an old
bond, should entangle himself in a new one.” Like that, do I say, is this lust
of yours (to go on teaching when you have not trained yourself to teach).
For what, then, can one man do for another?”
‘This, Lohikka, is the third sort of teacher in the world worthy of blame.
And whosoever should blame such a one, his rebuke would be justified, in
accord with the facts and the truth, not improper. And these, Lohikka, are
the three sorts of teachers of which I spoke.’
19. ‘And when he had thus spoken, Lohikka, the Brahman spake thus to
the Exalted One:
‘But is there, Gotama, any sort of teacher not worthy of blame in the world?’
‘Yes, Lohikka, there is a teacher not worthy, in the world of blame.’
‘And What sort of a teacher, Gotama, is so?’
(The answer is in the words of the exposition set out above in the Samanna-
phala, as follows:
1. The appearance of a Tathagata (one who won the truth), his preaching,
the conversion of a hearer, his adoption of the homeless state.
2. The minor details of mere morality that he practises.
3. The Confidence of heart he gains from this practice.
4. The paragraph on ‘Guarded is the door of his Senses.’
5. The paragraph on ‘Mindful and Self-possessed.’
6. The paragraph on Simplicity of Life, being content with little.
7. The paragraphs on Emancipation, ill-temper, laziness, worry and
perplexity.
8. The paragraph on the Joy and Peace that, as a result of this
emancipation, fills his whole being.
9. The paragraphs on the Four Raptures (Ghanas).
10. The paragraphs on the Insight arising from Knowledge (the knowledge
of the First Path).
11. The paragraphs on the Realisation of the Four Noble Truths the
destruction of the Intoxications—lust, delusions, be comings, and
ignorance—and the attainment of Arhatship.)
The refrain through and the closing paragraph is:
‘And whosoever the teacher be, Lohikka, under whom the disciple
attains to distinction so excellent as that, that, Lohikka is a teacher
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228 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

not open to blame in the world. And whosoever should blame such a one,
his rebuke would be unjustifiable, not in accord either with the facts or
with the truth, without good ground.’
78. And when he had thus spoken, Lohikka the Brahman said to the
Exalted One:
‘Just, Gotama, as if a man had caught hold of a man, falling over the
precipitous edge of purgatory, by the hair of his head and lifted him up
safe back on the firm land—just so have I, on the point of falling into
purgatory, been lifted back on to the land by the Venerable Gotama.
Most excellent, O Gotama, are the words of thy mouth, most excellent?
Just as if a man were to set up what has been thrown down, or were to
reveal what has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road
to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness
so that those who had eyes could see external forms—just even so has
the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the Venerable
Gotama. And I, even I, betake myself to the Venerable Gotama as my
guide, to the Doctrine and to the Order. May the Venerable Gotama
accept me as a disciple; as one who, from this day forth as long as life
endures, has taken him as his guide!’

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CHAPTER 9
The Decline and Fall of
Buddhism.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had written “The Decline and Fall of

Buddhism”, as a part of the treatise, ‘Revolution and Counter-
Revolution’. We have found only 5 pages in our papers which
were not even corrected. Copy of this essay has been received
from Shri S. S. Rege, which shows some corrections in
Dr. Ambedkar’s handwriting. This essay is of 18 typed pages
which is included here.— Editors,
I
The disappearance of Buddhism from India has been a matter of
great surprize to everybody who cares to think about the subject
and is also a matter of regret. But it lives in China, Japan, Burma,
Siam, Annam, Indo-China, Ceylon and parts of Malaya-Archipalego.
In India alone, it has ceased to exist. Not only it has ceased to live in
India but even the name of Buddha has gone out of memory of most
Hindus. How could such a thing have happened ? This is an important
question for which there has been no satisfactory answer. Not only
there is no satisfactory answer, nobody has made an attempt to arrive
at a satisfactory answer. In dealing with this subject people fail to
make a very important distinction. It is a distinction between the fall
of Buddhism and the decline of Buddhism. It is necessary to make
this distinction because the fall of Buddhism is one, the reasons for
which are very different from those which brought about its downfall.
For the fall is due to quite obvious causes while the reasons for its
decline are not quite so obvious.
There can be no doubt that the fall of Buddhism in India was due
to the invasions of the Musalmans. Islam came out as the enemy of
the ‘But’. The word ‘But’ as everybody knows is an Arabic word and
means an idol. Not many people however know what the derivation
of the word ‘But’ is ‘But’ is the Arabic corruption of Buddha. Thus
the origin of the word indicates that in the Moslem mind idol worship
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230 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

had come to be identified with the Religion of the Buddha. To the

Muslims, they were one and the same thing. The mission to break the
idols thus became the mission to destroy Buddhism. Islam destroyed
Buddhism not only in India but wherever it went. Before Islam came
into being Buddhism was the religion of Bactria, Parthia, Afghanistan,
Gandhar and Chinese Turkestan, as it was of the whole of Asia.1 In all
these countries Islam destroyed Buddhism. As Vicent Smith2 points out :
“The furious massacre perpetrated in many places by Musalman
invaders were more efficacious than Orthodox Hindu persecutions, and
had a great deal to do with the disapperance of Buddhism in several
provinces (of India),”

Not all will be satisfied with this explanation. It does seem inadequate.
Islam attacked both, Bramhanism and Buddhism. It will be asked why
should one survive and the other perish. The argument is plausible but
not destructive of the validity of the thesis. To admit that Bramhanism
survived, it does not mean that the fall of Buddhism was not due to
the sword of Islam. All that it means is that, there were circumstances
which made it possible for Bramhanism and impossible for Buddhism
to survive the onslaught of Islam. Fortunately for Bramhanism and
unfortunately for Buddhism that was the fact.
Those who will pursue the matter will find that there were three special
circumstances which made it possible for Bramhanism and impossible
for Buddhism to survive the calamity of Muslim invasions. In the first
place Bramhanism at the time of the Muslim invasions had the support
of the State. Buddhism had no such support. What is however more
important is the fact that this State support to Bramhanism lasted till
Islam had become a quiet religion and the flames of its original fury as a
mission against idolatory had died out. Secondly the Buddhist priesthood
perished by the sword of Islam and could not be resusciated. On the
other hand it was not possible for Islam to annihilate the Bramhanic
priesthood. In the third place the Buddhist laity was persecuted by the
Bramhanic rulers of India and to escape this tyranny the mass of the
Buddhist population of India embraced Islam and renounced Buddhism.
Of these circumstances there is not one which is not supported by
history.
Among the Provinces of India which came Under Muslim domination,
Sind was the first. It was ruled by a Shudra king. But the throne
was usurped by a Brahmin who established his own dynasty

1
Modern researches go to show that Buddhism had spread over Europe and that the Cells
in Britain were Buddhist—Sec “Buddhism in pre-Christian Britain” by Donald A. Mackenzie.
2
Early History of India (1924) pages.
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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM 231

which naturally supported the Brahmnic religion at the time of the

invasion of Sind by Ibne Kassim in 712 A.D. The ruler of Sind was
Dahir. This Dahir belonged to the dynasty of Brahmin rulers.
Heuen Tsang had noticed that the Punjab was in his time ruled by a
Kshatriya Buddhist dynasty. This dynasty ruled Punjab till about 880 A.D.
In that year the throne was usurped by a Brahmin army commander by
name Lalliya who founded the Brahmin Shahi dynasty. This dynasty ruled
the Punjab from 880 A.D. to 1021 A.D. It will thus be seen that at the
time when the invasions of the Punjab were commenced by Sabuktagin
and Mohammad, the native rulers belonged to the Bramhanic religion
and Jayapala (960-980 A.D.) Anandpal (980-1000 A.D.) and Trilochanpal
(1000-21 A.D.) of whose struggles with Sabuktagin and Mahammad we
read so much were rulers belonging to the Bramhanic faith.
Central India began to be infested by Muslim invasions which
commenced from the time of Mohammad and continued under the
leadership of Shahabuddin Ghori. At that time Central India consisted
of different kingdoms. Mewad (now known as Udepur) ruled by the
Gulohits, Sambhar (now divided into Bundi, Kota and Sirohi) ruled by the
Chauhans, Kanauj1 ruled by the Pratihars, Dhar ruled by the Parmars,
Bundelkhand ruled by Chandellas, Anhilwad ruled by the Chavdas,
Chedi ruled by the Kalachuris. Now the rulers of all these kingdoms
were Rajputs and the Rajputs for reasons which are mysterious and
which I will discuss later on had become the staunchest supporters of
the Bramhanic religion.
‘About the time of these invasions Bengal had fallen into two kingdoms,
Eastern and Western. West Bengal was ruled by the Kings of the Pal
dynasty and East Bengal was ruled by the Kings of the Sena dynasty.
The Palas were Kshatriyas. They were Buddhist but as Mr. Vadiya
says2 “probably only in the beginning or in name”. As to the Sena kings
there is a difference of opinion. Dr. Bhandarkar says they were Brahmins
who had taken to the military profession of the Kshatriyas. Mr. Vaidya
insists that the Sena Kings were Aryan Kshatriyas or Rajputs belonging
to the Lunar race. In any case there is no doubt that the Senas like the
Rajputs were supporters of the orthodox faith.3
“South of the river Nerbudda, then existed about the time of the
Muslim invasions four kingdoms (1) The Deccan Kingdom of Western
Chalukyas, (2) The Southern Kingdom of the Cholas (3) The Silahara
1
Nothing remains of Kanauj. It was completely destroyed by Mohammad although it was
most gallantly defended by Prithviraj.
2
History of Medieval Hindu India Vol, II. p. 142.
3
Ibid Vol, III. Chap. x.
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232 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Kingdom in Konkan on the West Coast and (4) The Ganga Kingdom of
Trikalinga on the East Coast. These Kingdoms flourished during 1000-
1200 A.D. which is the period of the Muslim invasions. There were
under them, certain feudatory Kingdons which rose to power in the 12th
Century A.D. and which became independent and powerful in the 13
the Century. They are (1) Devagiri ruled by the Yadavas, (2) Warangal
ruled by Kakatiyas (3) Halebid ruled by Hoyasalas (4) Madura ruled by
the Pandyas and (5) Travancore ruled by the Cheras.
All these ruling dynasties were followers of orthodox Brahmanism.
The Muslim invasions of India commenced in the year 1001 A.D.
The last wave of these invasions reached Southern India in 1296
A.D. when Allauddin Khilji subjugated the Kingdom of Devagiri. The
Muslim conquest of India was really not completed by 1296. The wars of
subjugation went on between the Muslim conquerors and the local rulers
who though defeated were not reduced. But the point which requires to
bear in mind is that during this period of 300 years of Muslim Wars
of conquests, India was governed all over by princes who professed the
orthodox faith of Bramhanism. Bramhanism beaten and battered by the
Muslim Invaders could look to the rulers for support and sustenance
and did get it. Buddhism beaten and battered by the Muslim invaders
had no such hope. It was an uneared for orphan and it withered in the
cold blast of the native rulers and was consumed in the fire lit up by
the conquerors.
The Musalman invaders sacked the Buddhist Universities of Nalanda,
Vikramasila, Jagaddala, Odantapuri to name only a few. They raised to
the ground Buddhist monasteries with which the country was studded.
The Monks fled away in thousands to Napal, Tibet and other places
outside India. A very large number were killed outright by the Muslim
commanders. How the Buddhist priesthood perished by the sword of the
Muslim invaders has been recorded by the Muslim historians themselves.
Summarizing the evidence relating to the slaughter of the Budhist Monks
perpetrated by the Musalman General in the course of his invasion of
Bihar in 1197 A.D. Mr. Vincent Smith says1 :
“The Musalman General, who had already made his name a terror
by repeated plundering expeditions in Bihar, seized the capital
by a daring stroke. The almost contemporary historian met one
of the survivors of the attacking party in A.D. 1243, and learned
from him that the Fort of Bihar was seized by a party of only two
hundred horsemen, who boldly rushed the postern gate and gained
possession of the place. Great quantities of plunder were obtained,
1
Early History of India (1924) pp. 419-420.
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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM 233

and the slaughter of the ‘shaven headed Brahmans’ that is to say the
Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed, that when the victor
sought for some one capable of explaining the contents of the books in
the libraries of the monasteries, not a living man could be found who
was able to read them. ‘It was discovered’ we are told, ‘that the whole
of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindi tongue they
call a college Bihar.”

Such was the slaughter of the Buddhist priesthood perpetrated by the

Islamic invaders. The axe was struck at the very root. For by killing
the Buddhist priesthood Islam killed Buddhism. This was the greatest
disaster that befell the religion of Buddha in India. Religion like any
other ideololgy can be attained only by propaganda. If propoganda
fails, religion must disappear. The priestly class, however detestable
it may be, is necessary to the sustenance of religion. For it is by its
propoganda that religion is kept up. Without the priestly class religion
must disappear. The sword of Islam fell heavily upon the priestly class.
It perished or it fled outside India. Nobody remained to keep the flame
of Buddhism burning.
It may be said that the same thing must have happened to the
Brahmanic priesthood. It is possible, though not to the same extent.
But there is this difference between the constitution of the two religions
and the difference is so great that it contains the whole reason why
Brahmanism survived the attack of Islam and why Buddhism did not.
This difference relates to the constitution of the clergy.
The Brahmnic priesthood has a most elaborate organization. A clear
and succinct account of it has been given by the late Sir Ramkrishna
Bhandarkar in the pages of the Indian Antiquary.1
‘Every Brahmanic family,’ he writes, ‘is devoted to the study of a
particular Veda, and a particular Sakha (recension) of a Veda; and the
domestic rites of the family are performed according to the ritual described
in the Sutra connected with that Veda. The study consists in getting by
heart the books forming the particular Veda. In Northern India, where
the predominant Veda is the White Yagush and the Sakha that of the
Madhyandinas, this study has almost died out, except at Banaras, where
Brahmanic families from all parts of India are settled. It prevails to some
extent in Gujarat, but to a much greater extent in the Maratha country;
and in Tailangana there is a large number of Brahmans who still devote
their life to this study. Numbers of these go about to all parts of the country
in search of dakshina (fee, alms), and all well-to-do natives patronize
them according to their means, by getting them to repeat portions of

1
Indian Antiquary 1874. p. 132 quoted by Max Muller. Hibbert Lectures (1878) pp. 162-164.
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234 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

their Veda, which is mostly the Black Yagush, with Apastamba for their
Sutra. Hardly a week passes here in Bombay in which no Tailangana
Brahman comes to me to ask for dakshina. On each occasion I get the
men to repeat what they have learned, and compare it with the printed
texts in my possession.
‘With reference to their occupation, Brahmans of each Veda are
generally divided into two daises, Grihasthas and Bhikshukas. The
former devote themselves to a worldly avocation, while the latter spend
their time in the study of their sacred books and the practice of their
religious rites.
‘Both these classes have to repeat daily the Sandhya-vandana or
twilight-prayers, the forms of which are somewhat different for the
different Vedas. But the repetition of the Gayatri-mantra ‘Tat Savitur
Vareynam’ etc., five, then twenty eight, or a hundred and eight times,
which forms the principal portion of the ceremony, is common to all.
‘Besides this, a great many perform daily what is called Brahmayagna,
which on certain occasions is incumbent on all. This for the Rig-Veda
consists of the first hymn of the first mandal, and the opening sentences
of the-Aitareya Brahmana, the five parts of the Aitereya Aranyaka, the
Yagus-samhita, the Sama-samhita, the Atharva-samhita, Asvalayana
Kalpa Sutra, Nirukta, Khandas, Nighantu, Jyotisha, Siksha, Panini,
Yagnavalkya Smriti, Mahabharata, and the Sutras of Kanada, Jaimini,
and Badarayan.’

The point to be remembered is that in the matter of officiation

there is no distinction between a Bhikshuka1 and a Grahastha. In
Brahmanism both are priest and the Grahastha is no less entitled
to officiate as a priest than a Bhikshu is. If a Grahastha does not
choose to officiate as a priest, it is because he has not mastered the
mantras and the ceremonies or because he follows some more lucrative
vocation. Under Brahmanic dispensation every Brahmin who is not an
outcast has the capacity to be a priest. The Bhikshuka is an actual
priest, a Grahastha is a potential priest. All Brahmins can be recruited
to form the army of Bramhanic priesthood. Further no particular
training or initiation ceremony is necessary for a Brahmin to act as
a priest. His will to officiate is enough to make him function as a
priest. In Brahmanism the priesthood can never become extinct. Every
Brahmin is a potential priest of Brahmanism and be drafted in service
1
The Bhikshuks (under Bramhanism) are further sub-divided into (1) Vaidikas (2) Yajniks
(3) Srotriyas and (4) Agnihotris. Vaidikas are those who learn the Vedas by heart and
repeat them without a mistake. Yajnikas are those who perform Yajnas and other religious
rites and ceremonies. Srottiyas are those who specialize in the art of performing great
sacrifices, Agnihotris are those who maintain the three sacrificial fires and perform the Ishtis
(fortnightly sacrifices) and Chaturmasyas (sacrifices to be performed every four months).
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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM 235

when the need be. There is nothing to stop the rake’s life and progress.
This is not possible in Buddhism. A person must be ordained in accordance
with established rites by priests already ordained, before he can act as
a priest. After the massacre of the Buddhist priests, ordination became
impossible so that the priesthood almost ceased to exist. Some attempt
was made to fill the depleted ranks of the Buddhist priests. New recruits
for the priesthood had to be drawn from all available sources. They
certainly were not the best. According to Haraprasad Shastri,1
“The paucity of Bhiksus brought about a great change in the composition
of the Buddhist priesthood. It was the married clergy with families,
who were called Aryas, that took the place of the Bhiksus proper,
and began to cater to the religious needs of the Buddhists generally.
They commenced attaining the normal status of Bhiksus through the
performance of some sacraments. (Intro.pp. 19.7, quoting Tatakara
Guptas’ Adikarmaracana : 149, pp. 1207-1208). They officiated at the
religious ceremonies but at the same time, in addition to their prolusion
of priesthood, earned their livelihood through such avocations as those
of a mason, painter, sculptor, goldsmith, and carpenter. These artisan
priests who were in later times larger in numbers than the Bhiksus
proper became the religious guides of the people. Their avocations left
them little time and desire for the acquisition of learning, for deep
thinking, or for devotion to Dhyana and other spiritual exercises. They
could not be expected to raise the declining Buddhism to a higher position
through their endeavours nor could they check its course towards its
ruin through the introduction of salutary reforms.”

It is obvious that this new Buddhist priesthood had neither dignity

nor learning and were a poor match for the rival, the Brahmins whose
cunning was not unequal to their learning.2
The reason why Brahmanism rose from the ashes and Buddhism
did not, is to be accounted for, not by any inherent superiority of
Brahmanism over Buddhism. It is to be found in the peculiar character
of their priesthood. Buddhism died because its army of priests died and
it was not possible to create. Though beaten it was never completely
broken. Every Brahmin alive became priest and took the place of every
Brahmin priest who died.
1
Summary of his views by Narendra Nath Law in Harprasad Shastri Memorial Volume
pp. 363-64.
2
The reason why the new Buddhist priest could not leave their avocations and devote
themselves wholly to the propagation of religion is because as Harprasad Shastri points out.
“The decrease in the number of Buddhist laity also resulted in the difficulty of Buddhist
monks to receive alms. As a monk could not take alms from more than three householders
and could not visit the same household within a month for the same purpose, ninety
household are necessary to maintain a monk”. Harprasad Shastri Memorial Volume. p.362.
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236 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

As to the conversion to the faith of Islam by the Buddhist

population as a cause of the fall of Buddhism, there can hardly
be much doubt.
In his Presidential address to the early Medieval and Rajput
section of the Indian History Congress held at Allahabad in 1938,
Prof. Surendra Nath Sen very rightly observed that there were
two problems relating to the Medieval History of India for which
no satisfactory answers were forthcoming as yet. He mentiond two:
one connected with the origin of the Rajputs and the other to the
distribution of the Muslim population in India. Referring to the
second, he said:
“But I may be permitted to deal with one question that is not wholly
of antiquarian interest today. The distribution of Muslim population
in India demands some explanation. It is commonly believed that
Islam followed the route of conquest and the subjugated people were
forced to accept the faith of their rulers. The predominance of the
Muslims in the Frontier Province and the Punjab lends some colour
to this contention. But this theory cannot explain an overwhelming
Muslim majority in Eastern Bengal. It is quite likely that the North-
Western Frontier Province was peopled by Turkish folks during the
Kushan days, and their easy conversion to Islam may be explained by
racial affinity with the new conquerors; but the Muslims of Eastern
Bengal are certainly not racially akin to the Turks and the Afghans,
and the conversion of the Hindus of that region must have been due
to other reasons.”1

What are these other reasons ? Prof. Sen then proceeds to lay
bare these reasons which are found in Muslim Chronicles. He takes
the case of Sind for which there is direct testimony and says :2
“According to the Chachnama, the Buddhists of Sind suffered all
sorts of indignities and humiliations under their Brahman rulers,
and when the Arabs invaded their country, the Buddhists lent their
whole hearted suport to them. Later on, when Dahir was slain and
a Muslim Government was firmly established in his country, the
Buddhists found to their dismay that, so far as their rights and
privileges were concerned, the Arabs were prepared to restore status
quo ante bellum and even under the new order the Hindus received
a preferential treatment. The only way out of this difficulty was to
accept Islam because the converts were entitled to all the privileges
reserved for the ruling classes. So the Buddhists of Sind joined the
Muslim fold in large numbers.”

Prof. Sen then adds this significant passage :

1
Early Career of Kanhoji Angria and other papers, pp. 188-89.
2
Ibid. pp. 188-89.
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THE DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM 237

“It cannot be an accident that the Punjab, Kashmir, the district around
Behar Sharif, North-East Bengal where Muslims now predominate,
were all strong Buddhist Centres in the pre-Muslim days. It will not
be fair to suggest that the Buddhists succumbed more easily to political
temptations than the Hindus and the change of religion was due to the
prospects of the improvement of their political status.”

Unfortunately the causes that have forced the Buddhist population of

India to abandon Buddhism in favour of Islam have not been investigated
and it is therefore impossible to say how far the persecution of the
Brahmanic Kings was responsible for the result. But there are not wanting
indications which suggest that this was the principal cause. We have
positive evidence of two Kings engaged in the campaign of persecuting
the Buddhist population.
The first to be mentioned is Mihirkula. He belonged to the Huns who
invaded India about 455 A.D. and established their kingdom in Northern
India with Sakala, the modern Sialkot in the Punjab as the capital.
Mihirkula ruled about 528 A.D. As Vincent Smith says:1
“All Indian traditions agree in representing Mihirkula as a blood
thirsty tyrant. ‘The Attila of India’, stained to a more than ordinary
degree with ‘implicable cruelty’ noted by historians as characteristic of
the Hun temperament.”

Mihirkula, to use the language of Smith,2 :- “exhibited ferocious hostility

against the peaceful Buddhist cult, and remorselessly overthrew the
stupas and monasteries, which he plundered of their treasures”.
The other is Sasanka, the King of Eastern India. He ruled about the
first decade of the seventh century and was defeated in a conflict with
Harsha. In the words of Vincent Smith3
“Sansanka, who has been mentioned as the treacherous murderer
of Harsha’s brother, and probably was a scion of the Gupta dynasty,
was a worshipper of Shiva, hating Buddhism, which he did his best to
extirpate. He dug up and burnt the holy Bodhi tree at Buddha Gaya,
on which, according to legend, Asoka had lavished inordinate devotion;
broke the stone marked with the footprints of Buddha at Pataliputra;
destroyed the convents, scattered the monks, carrying his persecutions
to the foot of the Nepalese hills”.

The seventh century seems to be a century of religious persecution in

India. As Smith points out:4
1
Early History of India (1924) p. 336.
2
Ibid p. 337.
3
Ibid p. 360.
4
Ibid F. N. p. 214.
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238 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

“A terrible persecution of the cognate religion Jainism occurred in

Southern India in the seventh century”.

Coming nearer to the time of the Muslim invasions, we have the

instance of Sindh where presecution was undoutedly the cause. That
these persecutions continued upto the time of the Muslim invasions may
be presumed by the fact that in Northern India the Kings were either
Brahmins or Rajputs both of whom were anti Buddhists. That the Jains
were persecuted even in the 12th century is amply supported by history.
Smith refers to Ajayadeva, a Saiva King of Gujarat who came to the
throne in A.D. 1174-6 and began his reign by a merciless persecution
of the Jains, torturing their leader to death. Smith adds, “Several other
well-established instances of severe persecution might be cited.”
There is therefore nothing to vitiate the conclusion that the fall of
Buddhism was due to the Buddhist becoming coverts to Islam as a way of
escaping the tyranny of Brahmanism. The evidence, if it does not support
the conclusion, at least makes it probable. If it has been a disaster, it
is a disaster for which Brahmanism must thank itself.

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CHAPTER 10
Literature of Brahminism

We have come across scattered pages of this essay, numbering

from 6 to 14 and 17 to 39. These pages seem to be a continuation
of the subject dealt with under the title ‘The Decline and Fall
of Buddhism’. Some of the pages are the first copies while the
rest are the carbon copies. There are 14 more pages dealing with
the Vedanta Sutras and Bhagvat Gita. The size and quality of
the paper on which 3 chapters i.e. (1) The Decline and Fall of
Buddhism, (2) The Literature of Brahminism and (3) Vedanta
Sutras and Bhagvat Gita are typed, appear to be similar but
distinct from the size and quality of other Chapters in this
part.—Editors.
I
The facts which supply the reasons must be gleaned from the
literature of Brahmanism which grew up after its political trimuph
under Pushyamitra.
The literature falls under six categories (1) Manu Smriti (2) Gita
(3) Shankaracharya’s Vedant (4) Mahabharat (5) Ramayana and (6)
the Puranas. In analysing this literature, I propose to bring out only
such facts as are capable of being suggested by inference, the reason or
reasons for the decline of Buddhism.
There is nothing unusual or unfair in this. For literature is the mirror
in which the life of a people can be said to be reflected.
There is one point which I feel I must clear up. It relates to the
period when this literature came into existence. Not all will agree
that the literature referred to came into being after the revolution of
Pushyamitra. On the contrary most Hindus, whether orthodox or not,
learned or not, have an inerradicable belief that their sacred literature is
a very old one in point of time. Indeed it seems to be an article of faith
with every Hindu which necessitates a belief in a very high antiquity
of their sacred literature.
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240 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

As to the age of Manu I have given references to show that Manu

Smriti was written by Sumati Bharagava after 185 B.C. i.e. after the
Revolution of Pushyamitra. I need say nothing more on the subject.
The date of the Bhagavat Gita is a subject about which there has been
a difference of opinion.
Mr. Telang was of opinion that the Geeta must be older than the third
century B.C. though he was not able to say how much.
Mr. Tilak……..
In the opinion of Prof. Garbe,1 the Geeta as we have it, is different from
what it originally was. He agrees that the conviction that the Bhagwat
Geeta has not reached us in its original form but has undergone essential
transformations, is now, however, shared by many Indologists outside
India. According to Prof. Garbe, one hundred and forty-six verses in the
Bhagwat Geeta are new and do not belong to the original Geeta. As to
the date of its composition Prof. Garbe says that it “cannot possibly be
placed before the second Century A.D.”
Prof. Kausambi insists that the Geeta was composed in the reign
of King Baladitya. Baladitya belonged to the Gupta Dynasty which
supplanted the Andhra Dynasty in the year……. Baladitya came to
the throne in the year 467 A.D. His reasons for so late a date are two.
Before Shankaracharya—who was born in 788 A.D. and who died in 820
A.D.—wrote his commentary on the Bhagwat Geeta, it was an unknown
composition. It was certainly not mentioned in the Tatvasangraha by
Shantarakshit who wrote his treatise only 50 years before the advent of
Shankaracharya. His second reason is this. Vasubandhu was the originator
of a school of thought known as ‘Vijnyan Vad’. The Bramha-Sutra:Bhashya
contains a criticism of the Vijnyan Vad of Vasubandu. The Geeta contains
a reference2 to the Bramha-Sutra-Bhashya. The Geeta must therefore be
after Vasubandu and after the Bramha-Sutra-Bhashya. Vasubandhu was
the preceptor of the Gupta King Baladitya. That being so, the Geeta must
have been composed during or after the reign of Baladitya.
Nothing more need be said about the date of Shankaracharya. The
age in which he lived and wrote is now generally accepted. Something
about his life needs to be said. But I will reserve that for another place.
The question of determining the date of the composition of the
Mahabharata is next to impossible. Only an attempt to fix the period
of its composition can be made. The Mahabharat has undergone three
editions and with each editor the title and subject matter has changed.
In its original form it was known as ‘Jaya’, Triumph. This original

1
See his “Introduction to the Bhagvatgeeta” English Translation by Prof. Utgikar
2
Geeta Adhya XIII. Shloka 4.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 241

name occurs even in the third edition both in the beginning as well
as in the end. The original edition of the book known as ‘Jaya’
was composed by one Vyas. In its second edition it was known as
Bharat. The Editor of this second edition was one Vaishampayana.
Vaishampayan’s edition was not the only second edition of the
Bharata. Vyas had many pupils besides Vaishampayana; Sumantu,
Jaimini, Paila and Shuka were his other four pupils. They all had
learned at the feet of Vyas. Each one of them produced his own.
Thus there were four other editions of Bharata. Vaishampayana
recast the whole and brought out his own version. The third editor is
Sauti. He recast Vaishampayana’s version of Bharata. Sauti’s version
ultimately came to have the name of Mahabharata. The book has
grown both in size and in the subject matter as well. The ‘Jaya’ of
Vyas was amall work having not more than 8800 Shlokas. In the
hands of Vaishampayana it grew into 24000 verses. Sauti expanded
it to contain 96836 Shlokas. As to subject matter the original as
composed by Vyas was only a story of the war between the Kauravas
and the Pandavas. In the hands of Vaishyampayana the subject
became two-fold. To the original story there was added the sermon.
From a purely historical work, it became a diadactic work aiming
to teach a right code of social, moral and religious duties. Sauti the
last Editor made it an all-embracing repository of legendary lore.
All the smaller floating legends and historical stories which existed
independently of the Bharata were brought together by Sauti so that
they might not be lost or that they may be found togeher. Sauti had
another ambition, that was to make the Bharata a storehouse of
learning and knowledge. This is the reason why he added sections
on all branches of knowledge, such as politics, geography, archary
etc. Taking into account Sauti’s habit of repetition, it is no wonder
that the Bharata in his hand became Mahabharata.
Now as to the date of its composition. There is no doubt that the
war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas is a very ancient
event. But that does not mean that the composition of Vyas is as
old as the event or contemporaneous with the event. It is difficult to
assign specific dates to the different editions. Taking it as a whole
Prof. Hopkins says:1
“The time of the whole Mahabharata generally speaking may then be
from 200-400 A.D. This, however, takes into account neither subsequent
additions, such as we know to have been made in later times, nor the
various recasting in verbal form, which may safely be assumed to have
occurred at the hands of successive copyists.”

1
Prof Hopkins, “The Great Epic of India”, p. 389.
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242 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

But there are other circumstances which definitely point to a later date.
The Mahabharat contains a reference to the Huns. It was Skandagupta
who fought the Huns and defeated them in or about the year 455 A.D.
Notwithstanding this the invasions of the Huns continued till 528 A.D.
It is obvious that the Mahabharat was being written about his time or
therefter.
There are other indications which suggest a much later date. The
Mahabharat refers to the Mlenchhas or the Muslims. In the 190th Adhyaya
of the Vana Parva of the Mahabharat there is a verse 29 wherein the
author says that “the whole world will be Islamic. All Yadnas, rites
and ceremonies and religious celebrations will cease”. This is a direct
reference to the Muslims and although the verse speaks of what is to
happen in the future, the Mahabharat being a Purana must as in the
case of the Purana be taken to speak of the event that has happened.
This verse so interpreted show that the Mahabharat was being written
after the date of the Muslim invasions of India.
There are other references which point to the same conclusion.
In the same Adhyaya verse 59, it is said that “Oppressed by the
Vrashalas, the Brahmins struck with fear and finding no one to protect
them, will roam all over the world groaning and crying in agony”.
The Vrashalas referred to in this verse cannot be the Buddhists. There
is no particle of evidence that the Brahmins were ever oppressed. On
the contrary the evidence is that the Brahmins, during the Buddhists
regime, were treated with the same liberality as the Buddhist Bhikshus.
The reference to the Vrashalas means the uncultured must be to the
Islamic invaders.
There occur other verses in the same Adhyaya of the Vanaparva. They
are 65, 66 and 67. In these verses it is said that, “Society will become
disarranged. People will worship Yedukas. They will boycott Gods. The
Shudras will not serve the twice-born. The whole world will be covered
with Yedukas. The Yug will come to an end.”
What is the meaning of the term ‘Yedukas’? By some it has been
taken to mean a Buddhist Chaitya. But according to Mr. Kausambi1
this is wrong. Nowhere either in the Buddhist literature or in the
Vedic literature is the word Yeduka used in the sense of ‘Chaitya’.
On the contrary according to the Amarkosh as commented upon by
Maheshwar Bhatt the word Yeduka means a wall which contains
a wooden structure to give it strength. So understood Kausambi
contends that the word Yeduka must mean ‘Idgaha’ of the Musalmans
before which they say their prayers. If this is a correct interpretation
1
Hindi Sanskriti Ani Ahimsa. p. 156.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 243

then it is obvious that parts of the Mahabharata were written after

the invasion of Mohammad Ghori. The first Muslim invasion took place
in 712 A.D. under Ibne Kassim. He captured some of the towns in
Northern India but did not cause much destruction. He was followed
by Mohammad of Gazni. He caused great destruction of Temples and
Viharas and massacred priests of both religions. But he did not engage
himself in building Mosques or Idgahas. That was done by Mohammad
Ghori. From this it can be said that the writing of the Mahabharata
was not complete till 1200 A.D.
It seems that like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana has also gone
through three editions. There are two sort of references to the Ramayana
in the Mahabharata. In one case the reference is to ‘Ramayana’ without
any mention of the author. In other the reference is to the Ramayana of
Valmilki. But the present Ramayana is not the Ramayana of Valmiki.1
In the opinion of Mr. C. V. Vaidya2:
“That the present Ramayana, even as it is approved and adopted by
the searching and all-respected commentator Kataka, is not the Ramayana
originally written by Valmiki, not even the most orthodox thinker will
be disposed to doubt. Whoever even cursorily reads the poem cannot but
be struck with the inconsistencies, the severances of connections, juxta-
positions of new and old ideas which abound so greatly in the present
Ramayana, whether we take the Bengal or the Bombay text of it. And
one cannot but come to the conclusion that the Ramayana of Valmiki
was substantially reconstructed at some subsequent date.”

As in the case of the Mahabharata there has been an accretion to

the subject matter of the Ramayana. Originally it was just a story of
the war between Rama and Ravana over the abduction of Rama’s wife
Sita by Ravana. In the second edition it became a story with a sermon.
From a purely historical work it also became a didactic work aiming to
teach a right code of Social, Moral and religious duties. When it assumed
the form of a third edition it was, again, like the Mahabharat, made
a repository of legends, knowledge, learning, philosophy and other arts
and sciences.
With regard to the date of the composition of the Ramayana one
proposition is well established namely that the episode of Rama is
older than the episode of the Pandus. But that the composition of
the Ramayana has gone on paripassu along with the composition of
the Mahabharata. Portions of Ramayana may be earlier than the
Mahabharata. But there can be no doubt that a great part of the
1
Hopkins “The Great Epic of India”, p. 62.
2
The Riddle of the Ramayana Chap. II. p. 6.
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244 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Ramayana was composed after a great part of the Mahabharata had

already been composed.1
(INCOMPLETE)
II
The literature from which I propose to draw upon consists of (1) The
Bhagwat Geeta (2) The Vedant Sutras (3) The Mahabharat (4) The
Ramayana and (5) The Puranas. In analysing this literature I propose to
bring out only such facts as are capable of being suggested by inference
a reason or reasons for the decline of Buddhism.
Before proceeding to examine the subject matter of this lirerature I
must deal with the question of the period when this literature came into
existence. Not all will agree that the literature referred to came into
being after the revolution of Pushyamitra. On the contrary most Hindus
whether orthodox or not, learned or not, have an in-eradicable belief
that their sacred literature is a very old one in point of time. Indeed it
seems to be an article of faith with every Hindu which necessitates a
belief in a very high antiquity of their sacred literature.
(I) BHAGWAT GITA
Beginning with the Bhagwat Gita, the date of its composition has
been a matter of controversy. Mr. Telang2 was of opinion that we should
“take the second century B.C. as a terminous before which the Gita must
have been composed”. The late Mr. Tilak3 was convinced that the date of
the present Gita must be taken as not later than 500 years before the
Saka era” which means that the present Gita was composed somewhere
about…. According to Prof. Garbe4 the date of the composition of the
Bhagwat Gita must be placed somewhere between 200 and 400 A.D.
There is another view propounded by Mr. Kausambi and is based on
quite indisputable data.
Prof. Kausambi insists that the Gita was composed in the reign
of Gupta King Baladitya. Baladitya belonged to the Gupta dynasty
which supplanted the Andhra Dynasty in the year….. Baladitya came
to the throne in the year 467 A.D. His reasons for so late a date for
the composition of the Gita are two. Before Sankaracharya —who was
1
See the Appendix A to Hopkins “The Great Epic of India” for Parallel phrases in the
two epics.
2
Introduction to his translation of the Bhagwat Gita in the “Sacred Books, of the East”
Series.
3
Gita-Rahasva (Eng. Translation) Vol.II p.800. According in Mr. Tilak the original Gita
must have been some centuries earlier.
4
Introduction to the Bhagwat Gita English Translation by Prof. Utgikar.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 245

born in 788 A.D. and who died in 820 A.D. —wrote his commentary on
the Bhagwat Gita, it was an unknown composition. It was certainly
not mentioned in the Tatvasangraha by Shantarakshit who wrote
his treatise only 50 years before the advent of Sankaracharya. His
second reason is this. Vasubandhu was the originator of a school
of thought known as ‘Vijnan Vad’. The Brahma-Sutra-Bhashya
contains a criticism of the Vijnan Vad of Vasubandhu. The Gita
contains a reference1 to the Brahma-Sutra-Bhashya. The Gita must
therefore be after Vasubandhu and after the Brahma-Sutra-Bhashya.
Vasubandhu was the preceptor of the Gupta King Baladitya. That
being so the Bhagwat Gita must have been composed or at any
rate portions of Gita must have been added to the original edition
during or after the reign of Baladitya i.e. about 467 A.D.
While there is a difference of opinion regarding the date of the
composition of the Bhagwat Gita, there is no difference of opinion
that the Bhagwat Gita has gone through many editions. All share
the conviction that the Bhagwat Gita has not reached us in its
original form but has undergone essential transformations at the
hands of different editors who have added to it from time to time.
It is equally clear that the editors through whose hands it has gone
were not of equal calibre. As Prof. Garbe points out2
“The Gita is certainly ‘ no artistic work which the all comprehending
vision of a genious has created.’ The play of inspiration is indeed often
times perceptible; not seldom, however, there are merely high-sounding,
empty words with which an idea that has been already quite often
explained, is repeated; and occasionally the literary expression is
exceedingly faulty. Verses are bodily taken over from the Upanishad
literature, and this is certainly what a poet filled with inspiration
would never have done. The workings of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas
are systematized with a truly Indian pedantry, and much indeed
besides this could be brought forward to prove that the Gita is not
the product of a genuinely poetic creative impulse...”

Hopkins speaks of the Bhagwat Gita as characteristic in its sublimity

as in its puerilities, in its logic as in its want of it….Despite its
occasional power and mystic exaltation, the Divine Song in its present
state as a poetical production is unsatisfactory. The same thing is
said over and over again, and the contradictions in phraseology
and meaning are as numerous as the repetitions, so that one is not
surprised to find it described as “the wonderful song, which causes
the hair to stand on end”.
1
Gita Adhayaya XIII, Shloka, 4.
2
Ibid p. 3.
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246 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

This is not to be rejected as the view of foreigners. It is fully supported

by Prof. Rajwade1 who goes to show that some of those who had a hand
in the composition of the Bhagwat Gita were ignorant of the rules of
grammar.
While all are agreed that there have been different editions of the Gita
under different editors, they are not agreed as to what parts of the Gita
are original and what parts of the Gita are additions subsequently made.
In the opinion of the late Rajaram Shastri Bhagwat the original Gita
consisted only of 60 Shlokas. Humboldt was inclined to the view that
originally the Gita consisted of only the first eleven Adhyayas (chapters)
and that 12 to 18 Adhyayas were subsequent additions made to the
original. Hopkins’ view is that the first fourteen Adhyayas constitute
the heart of the poem. Prof. Rajwade thinks that Adhyayas 10 and 11
are spurious. Prof. Garbe says that 146 verses in the Bhagwat Gita are
new and do not belong to the original Gita which means that more than
one-fifth of the Gita is new.
Regarding the author of the Gita there is none mentioned. The Gita
is a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna which took place on the
battle field, in which Krishna propounds his philosophy to Arjuna. The
conversation is reported by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra, the father of the
Kauravas. The Gita should have been a part of the Mahabharata, for,
the incident which formed the occasion for it, is natural to it, but it
does not find a place there. It is a seperate indepenent work. Yet there
is no author to whom it is attributed. All that we know, is that Vyas
asks Sanjaya to report to Dhritarashtra the conversation that took place
between Arjuna and Krishna. One may therefore say that Vyas is the
author of the Gita.
(2) VEDANT SUTRAS
As has already been said, the Vedic literature consists of the Vedas, the
Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishadas. From the point of their
subject matter, this literature falls into two classes (1) literature which
deals with religious observances and rites and ceremonies technically
called Karma Kanda and (2) literature which deals with the knowledge
about God to use the Vedic equivalent; the Brahmanas, technically
called ‘Gnanakanda’. The Vedas and the Brahmanas fall under the first
category of literature, while the Aranyakas and the Upanishadas fall
under the second.
This Vedic literature had grown to enormous proportions and what
is important is that, it had grown in a wild manner. Some system,
1
Bhandarkar Memorial Volume.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 247

some coordination was necessary to bring order out of this chaos. As a

result of the necessity for this coordination, there grew up a branch of
inquiry called “Mimansa” i.e. an inquiry into the connected meaning of
sacred texts i.e. the Vedic literature. Those who thought it necessary
to undertake such a task of systematization and coordination divided
themselves into two schools, those who systematized the ‘Karmakand’
portion and these who systematized the ‘Gnanakand” portion of the
Vedic literature. The result was that there grew up two branches of
the Mimansa Shastra, one called Purva Mimansa and the other Uttara
Mimansa. As the names suggest, the Purva Mimansa deals with the early
portion of the Vedic literature namely the Vedas and the Bramhanas.
That is why it is called Purva (early) Mimansa. The Uttara Mimansa
deals with the later portions of the Vedic literature namely the Aranyakas
and Upanishads. That is why it is called Uttara (later) Mimansa.
The literature connected with the two branches of the Mimansa Shastra
is immense. Of this, two collections of Sutras stand out as the principal
and leading works in this field of Mimansa. The authorship of one is
attributed to Jaimini and that of the other is ascribed to Badarayana.
Jaimini’s Sutras deal with ‘Karmakanda’ and Badarayan’s deal with
‘Gnanakand’. There is no doubt that there were prior to Jaimini and
Badarayana, other authors who had written treatises on these subjects.
Nonetheless the sutras of Jaimini and Badarayana are taken as the
standard works on the two Branches of the Mimansa Shastra.
Although the Sutras of both relate to that branch of inquiry called
Mimansa, Jaimini’s sutras are called Mimansa Sutras2 while those of
Badarayana are called Vedanta Sutras. The term ‘Vedanta’ is taken to
mean “the end of the Veda”, or the doctrines set forth in the closing
chapter of the Vedas which comprise the Upanishads and as the
Upanishads constitute “the final aim of the Vedas.” The Sutras of
Badarayana which go to systematize and coordinate them have come
to be called Vedanta Sutras, 3* or the doctrines set forth in the closing
chapter of the Vedas which asked Sanjaya to report to. This is the
origin of the Vedanta Sutras.

1
At a matter of fact the systematization of the Karmakand portion of the Vedic literature
gave rise to two kinds of works (1) Kalpa Sutras and (2) Purva Mimansa Sutras. The
former give only a ahort and concise description of the rituals enjoined in the Brahamanas;
while the latter enunciate and support the general principle which the author of the Kalpa
Sutra must follow, if he wishes to render his rules strictly conformable to the teaching
of the Vadas.
2
They are also called Purva Mimansa or Karma Mimansa.
3
They also go by various other names such as Uttara Mimansa Sutras, Brahma Sutras
or Saririka Sutras or Saririka Mimansa Sutras.
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248 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Who is this Badarayana? Why did he compose these Sutras and

when did he compose them? Beyond the name nothing is known about
Badarayana.1 It is not even certain that it is the real name of the author.
There is a considerable uncertainty regarding the authorship of these
Sutras even among his chief commentators. Some say that the author is
Badarayana. Others say that the author of the Sutra is Vyas. The rest
say that Badarayana and Vyas are one and the same person. Such is
the bewildering conflict of opinion regarding the author of the Sutras.
Why did he compose these Sutras ? That the Brahmins should undertake
to systematize the Karmakand portion of the Vedic literature one can quite
understand. The Brahmins were deeply concerned with the Karmakand.
Their very existence, their livelihood depended upon the systematization
of the Karmakand portion of the Vedic literature. The Brahmins on
the other hand had no interest in the ‘Gnankand’ portion of the Vedic
literature. Why should they have made an attempt to systematize it?
The question has not even been raised. But it is an important question
and the answer to that must also be very important. Why the question
is important and what the answer is I shall discuss later on.
There are two other questions with regard to the Vedanta Sutras. First
is this. Is this work theological in character or is it purely philosophical
in its nature? Or is it an attempt to tie down pure philosophy to the
apron strings of established theology and thereby to make it innocuous
and harmless. The other question relates to the commentaries on the
Vedanta Sutras. There have been altogether five commentaries on the
Vedanta Sutras by five eminent men all of whom are called Acharyas
(doctors of learning) by reason of their intellectual eminence. They
are (1) Shankaracharya (788 A.D. to 820 A.D.), (2) Ramanujacharya
(1017 A.D. to 1137 A.D.), (3) Nimbarkacharya (died about 1162 A.D.),
(4) Madhavacharya (1197-1276 A.D.) and (5) Vallabhacharya (born
1417 A.D.). The commentaries of these Acharyas on the Vedanta
Sutras have become far more important than the Vedanta Sutras.
The point of some significance is that on the text of one and
the same collection of the Vedanta Sutras, an attempt has been
made by those five Acharyas to found five different systems of
thought. According to Shankara, the Vedanta Sutras teach absolute
monism. According to Ramanuja, qualified monism. According to
1
The same is true of Jaimini. As Kane says “Hardly anything is known about Jaimini.
There is a Brahmana, a Srauta Sutra and a Grihyasutra ascribed to Jaimini. But it is
hardly likely that they are the works of the founder of the Purvamimansa. In the tarpana
in the Asvalayan Grihya Sutra Jaimini occurs along with Sumantu, Vaishyampayana. In
the Bhagwat Purana Jaimini is said to be the teacher of Sumantu and a promulgator
of Samaveda. The Panchatantra tells us that an elephant crushed to death Jaimini—the
author of the Mimansa. “A brief sketch of the Purva Mimansa System”, p. 12.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 249

Nimbarka, monodualism. According to Madhava, dualism and according

to Vallabha, pure monism. I will not discuss here what these terms
mean. All I want to say is why should five different schools should have
arisen as a result of five different interpretation of the same collection of
Sutras. Is it a mere matter of grammar ? Or is there any other purpose
behind these several interpretations. There is also another question
which arises out of the plurality of commentaries. While there are Five
different commentaries each propounding five different ways of looking
at God and the individual soul really speaking there are only two, the
view taken by Shankaracharya and the view taken by the other four.
For though the four differ among themselves, they are all united in their
opposition to Shankaracharya on two points (1) The complete oneness
between God and individual soul and (2) the world is an illusion. Here
comes the third question. Why did Shankaracharya propound so unique
a view of the Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana ? Is it the result of a
critical study of the Sutras ? Or is it a wishful interpretation designed
to support a preconceived purpose ?
I am only raising this question, I don’t propose to deal with them here.
Here I am concerned with the age of this literature, is it Pre-Buddhist
or Post-Buddhist.
As to the date of the composition of the Vedanta Sutras the initial
difficulty is that like the Bhagwat Gita it has also gone through several
recensions. According to some1 there have been three recensions of the
Vedanta Sutras. That being so nothing definite can be said regarding the
date of its composition.2 The views expressed are only approximations.
There can be no doubt that the Vedanta Sutras are composed after the
rise of Buddhism for the Sutras do allude to Buddhism. They must not
be after Manu for Manu refers to them in his Smriti. Prof. Keith holds
that they must have been written about 200 A.D. and Prof. Jacobi
believes that the Sutras must have been composed between 200 A.D.
and 450 A.D.
(3) MAHABHARATA
The question of determining the date of the composition of the
Mahabharata is next to impossible. Only an attempt to fix the period
of its composition can be made. The Mahabharata has undergone
three editions and with each editor the title and subject matter has
changed. In its original form it was known as ‘Jaya’ Triumph. This

1
See Belvalkar, Basu Mallick Lectures on Vedanta Lecture IV.
2
See Radhakrishnan—Indian Philosophy Vol. II p. 430 where the relevant evidence is
collected together.
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250 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

original name occurs even in the third edition, both in the beginning
as well as in the end. The original edition of the book known as ‘Jaya’
was composed by one Vyas. In its second edition it was known as
Bharat. The editor of this second edition was one Vaishampayana.
Vaishampayana’s Edition was not the only second edition of the
Bharata. Vyas had many pupils besides Vaishampayana; Sumantu,
Jaimini, Paila and Shuka were his other four pupils. They all had
learned at the feet of Vyas. Each one of them produced his own edition.
Thus there were four other editions of Bharata. Vaishampayana
recast the whole and brought out his own version. The third Editor is
Sauti. He recast Vaishampayana’s version of Bharata. Sauti’s version
ultimately came to have the name of Mahabharata. The book has
grown both in size and in the subject matter as well. The ‘Jaya’ of
Vyas was a small work having not more than 8,800 Shlokas. In the
hands of Vaishampayana it grew into 24,000 verses. Sauti expanded
it to contain 96,836 Shlokas. As to subject matter, the original as
composed by Vyas was only a story of the war between the Kauravas
and the Pandavas. In the hands of Vaishampayana the subject became
two-fold. To the original story there was added the sermon. From a
purely historical work it became a diadactic work aiming to teach a
right code of social, moral and religious duties. Sauti the last Editor
made it an all embracing repository of legendary lore. All the smaller
floating legends and historical stories which existed independently
of the Bharata were brought together by Sauti so that they might
not be lost or that they may be found together. Sauti had another
ambition, that was to make the Bharata a storehouse of learning and
knowledge. This is the reason why he added sections on all branches
of knowledge, such as politics, geography, archary etc. Taking into
account Sauti’s habit of repetition it is no wonder that the Bharata
in his hand became Mahabharata.
Now as to the date of its composition. There is no doubt that the
war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas is a very ancient event.
But that does not mean that the composition of Vyas is as old as
the event or contempraneous with the event. It is difficult to assign
specific dates to the different editions. Taking it as a whole Prof.
Hopkins says:1
“The time of the whole Mahabharata generally speaking may
then be from 200-400 A.D. This, however, takes into account neither
subsequent additions, such as we know, to have been made in later
times, nor the various recasting in verbal form, which may safely be
assumed to have occurred at the hands of successive copyists.”

1
Prof. Hopkins, “The Great Epic of India”, p. 389.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 251

But there are other circumstances which definitely point to a later date.
The Mahabharata contains a reference to the Huns. It was Skandagupta
who fought the Huns and defeated them in or about the year 455.
Notwithstanding this, the invasions of the Huns continued till 528 A.D.
It is obvious that the Mahabharata was being written about this time
or thereafter.
There are other indications pointed out by Mr. Kausambi’ which suggest
a much later date. The Mahabharata refers to the Mlenchhas or the
Muslims. In the 190th Adhyaya of the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata,
there is a verse 29 wherein the author says that “the whole world will
be Islamic. All Aryan rites and ceremonies and religious celebrations will
cease”. This is a direct reference to the Muslims and although the verse
speaks of what is to happen in the future, the Mahabharata being a
Purana must as in the case of the Purana be taken to speak of the event
has happened. This verse so interpreted show that the Mahabharata was
being written after the date of the Muslim invasions of India.
There are other references which point to the same conclusion.
In the same Adhyaya verse 59 it is said that “Oppressed by the
Vrashalas, the Brahmins struck with fear, and finding no one to protect
them will roam all over the world-groaning and crying in agony”.
The Vrashalas referred to in this verse cannot be the Buddhists. There
is no particle of evidence that the Brahmins were ever oppressed. On
the contrary the evidence is that the Brahmins during the Buddhist
regimes were treated with the same liberality as the Buddhist Bhikshus.
The reference to the Vrashalas which means the uncultured must be to
the Islamic invaders. If that is so, then part of the Mahabharata was
certainly composed after the Muslim invasions of India began.
There occur other verses in the same Adhyaya of the Vanaparva which
points to the same conclusion. They are 65, 66 and 67. In these verses
it is said that “Society will become disarranged. People will worship
Yedukas. They will boycott Gods. The Shudras will not serve the twice
born. The whole world will be covered with Yedukas. The Yug will come
to an end”.
Great significance attaches to the term ‘Yedukas’. By some it has
been taken to mean a Buddhist Chaitya, on the ground that Yeduka
means bone and particularly the bones of Buddha and subsequently
Chaitya because a Chaitya contains the bones of the Buddha. But
according to Mr. Kausambi2 this is wrong. Nowhere either in the

1
Hindi Sanskriti Ani Ahimsa (Marathi).
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252 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Buddhist literature or in the Vedic literature is the word Yeduka used

in the sense of ‘Chaitya’. On the contrary, according to Amarkosh
as commented upon by Maheshwar Bhatt, the word Yeduka means
a wall which contains a wooden structure to give it strength. So
understood Kausambi contends that the word Yeduka must mean
‘Idgaha’ of the Musalmans before which they say their prayers. If
this is a correct interpretation then it is obvious that part of the
Mahabharata was written after the Muslim invasions, particularly
after those of It Mohammad Ghori. The first Muslim invasion took
place in 721 A.D. under Ibne Kassim. He captured some of the towns
in Northern India but did not cause much destruction of Temples
and Viharas and massacred priests of both the religions. But he
did not engage himself in building Mosques or Idgahas. That was
done by Mahammad Ghori. So that, it can well be said, that the
writing of the Mahabharata was going on till 1200 A.D.
RAMAYANA
It is a fact that like Mahabharata, the Ramayana has also gone
through three editions. There are two sorts of references to the
Ramayana in the Mahabharata. In one case the reference is to
Ramayana without any mention of the author. The other reference
is to the Ramayana of Valmiki. But the present Ramayana is not
the Ramayana of Valmiki.1 In the opinion of Mr. C. V. Vaidya2:
“That the present Ramayana, even as it is approved and adopted
by the searching and all-respected commentator Kataka, is not the
Ramayana originally written by Valmiki, not even the most orthodox
thinker will be disposed to doubt. Whoever even cursorily reads the
poem, cannot but be struck with the inconsistencies, the severances
of connections, juxtapositions of new and old ideas which abound so
greatly in the present Ramayana, whether we take the Bengal or the
Bombay text of it. And one cannot but come to the conclusion that
the Ramayana of Valmiki was substantially reconstructed at some
subsequent date.”

As in the case of the Mahabharata, there has been an accretion to

the subject matter of the Ramayana. Originally it was just a story of
the war between Rama and Ravana over the abduction of Rama’s wife
Sita by Ravana. In the second edition it became a story with a sermon.
From a purely historical work, it also became a didactic work aiming
to teach a right code of Social, Moral and religious duties. When it
1
Hopkins “The Great Epic of India”. p. 62.
2
The Riddle of the Ramayana Chap. II. p. 6.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 253

assumed the form of a third edition, it was again, like the Mahabharata,
made a repository of legends, knowledge, learning, philosophy and other
arts and sciences.
With regard to the date of the composition of the Ramayana, one
proposition is well established namely that the episode of Rama is older
than the episode of the Pandus. But that the composition of the Ramayana
has gone on peripassu along with the composition of the Mahabharata.
Portions of Ramayana may be earlier than the Mahabharata. But there
can be no doubt that a great part of the Ramayana was composed after
a great part of the Mahabharata had already been composed.1
PURANAS
The Puranas2 today number 18. This is however not the original
number. According to traditions, there is no reason to doubt, there was
only one Purana to start with. Tradition alleges that this Purana was
older than the Vedas. The Atharva Veda refers to this Purana and the
Bramhanda Puran says that it is more ancient than the Vedas. It was a
lore which the King was expected to know for the Satapada. Bramhana
says the Adhvaryu was required to recite the Purana to the ‘King on
the 10th day of the Yajna.
The origin of the 18 Puranas is attributed to Vyas who it is said
recast the original single Purana and by additions and substractions
made 18 out of one. The making of the 18 Puranas is thus the second
stage in the evolution of the Puranas. The edition of each of these 18
Puranas as published or uttered by Vyas is called the Adi3 Purana i.e.
the original edition as brought out by Vyas. After Vyas composed these
18 Puranas, he taught them to his disciple Romaharsana. Romaharsana
prepared his own edition of the Puranas and taught it to his six disciples.
Romaharsana’s edition of the Puranas thus becamethe third edition
of the Puranas. Of the six disciples of Romaharsana, three: Kasyapa,
Savarni and Vaisampayana, made three separate editions which may be
called the fourth edition of the Puranas which we call by their names.
According to the Bhavishya Purana, the Puranas came to be revised
sometime during the reign of King Vikramaditya.4
1
See the Appendix A to Hopkins “The Great Epic of India” for Parallel phrases in the
two epics.
2
For the account of the Puranas which follows I have drawn upon Kale’s Purananirikshana
(Marathi) and Partigar’s Ancient Indian Historical Tradition.
3
Adi Purana does not mean a separate Purana of that name. It means the first edition
of each of the 18 Puranas.
4
Who is Vikramaditya ? No one can say.
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254 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

As to the subject matter of the Puranas. The Purana from the oldest time
is a recognised department of knowledge. For instance it was distinguished
from Itihas or history. By Itihas what was understood was past occurances
connected with a ruling king. By Akhyana was meant the recital of an event
the occurance of which one had witnessed. By Upakhyana was meant the
recital of something one has heard. Gathas meant songs about dead ancestors
and about nature and universe.
Kalpashudhi1 are ancient ways of acting regarding Shraddha and Kalpa.2
The Purana was distinguished from all these branches of knowledge.
The Purana was concerned with five subjects. (1) Sarga (2) Prati Sarga
(3) Vamsha (4) Manvantar and (5) Vamshacharitra. Sarga means creation of
the universe, Pratisarga means the dissolution of the Universe. Vamsha means
Geneology, Manvantar means the Ages of the different Manus, particularly
the fourteen successive Manus who were the progenitors or sovereigns of the
Earth. Vamshacharitra means the account of royal dynasties.
There has been a considerable addition made in the scope and subject
matter of the Puranas. For the Puranas which we have are no longer
confined to these subjects. In addition to these subjects they contain other
subjects which fall entirely outside their prescribed scope. Indeed there has
been such a change in the fundamental notion I regarding the scope of the
Puranas so that some of them do not contain any treatment of the regular
subjects but deal wholly with the new or extra subjects. The extra subjects
include the following main topics:
(I) Smriti Dharma which include discussion of:
(1) Varnashrama-dharma, (2) Achara, (3) Ahnika, (4) Bhashyabhasya,
(5) Vivaha, (6) Asaucha, (7) Shradha (8) Dravya-Suddhi (9) Pataka,
(10) Prayaschitta, (11) Naraka, (12) Karma Vipaka and (13) Yuga
Dharma.
(II) Vrata Dharma—Observance of holy vows and holy days
(III) Kshetra Dharma—Pilgrimages to holy places and
(IV) Dana Dharma—Gifts to holy persons.
In addition to this, there are two other topics the new subject matter with
which one finds the Puranas to be deeply concerned.
The first of these two topics relates to sectarian worship. The
Puranas are votaries of a particular deity and advocate the cause of
1
Mr. Hazara speaks of Kalpajokti (instead of Kalpashudhi) which means lore that has
come down through ages—see chronology of Puranas p. 4.
2
The word Kalpa is used in various senses. (1) Practicable. (2) Proper (3) Able, Competent.
The word Kalpa is else used in various senses (1) A Sacred rule (2) A prescribed alternative
(3) Made of performing religious rites (4) End of the world, Universal destruction. (5) A day
of the Brahma Yuga (6) Medical treatment of the sick and (7) One of the six Vedangas:
that which lays down the ritual and prescribes rules for ceremonies and sacrificial acts.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 255

a particular deity and the sect devoted to his worship. Five1 Puranas
advocate worship of Vishnu, Eight2 worship of Shiva, One3 worship of
Brahma, One4 worship of Surya, Two worship of Devi and One worship
of Genesh.
The second topic which the Puranas have made a part of their subject
matter is the history of the Avatars of the God. The Puranas make a
distinction between identification of two Gods and the incarnation of a God.
In the case of identification, the theory is that the God is one although
he has two names. In the case of an incarnation, God becomes another
being of the man or brute and does something miraculous. In reading this
history of incarnations the fruitful source is Vishnu. For it is only Vishnu
who has taken Avatars from time to time and done miraculous deeds and
we find in the Puranas this new topic discussed in all its elaborate details.
It is no wonder if by the addition of these new subjects, the Puranas
have been transformed out of recognition.
There is one other matter regarding the authorship of the Puranas which
is noteworthy. It relates to the change in the authorship of the Puranas.
Among the ancient Hindus, there were two separate sections among the
literary class. One section consisted of the Brahmins and another section
called Sutas who were non-Bramhins. Each was in charge of a separate
department of literature. The Sutas had the monopoly of the Puranas.
The Brahmins had nothing to do with the composition or the reciting of
the Puranas. It was exclusively reserved for the Sutas and the Brahmins
had nothing to do with it. Though the Sutas had specialized themselves in
the making and the reciting of the Puranas, although they had acquired
a hereditary and a prescriptive right to compose and recite the Puranas,
there came a time when the Sutas were ousted from this profession by
Brahmins who took it into their own hands and made a monopoly of it
in their own favour. Thus there was a change in the authorship of the
Puranas. Instead of the Sutas, it is the Brahmins who became their authors.5
It is probably when the Puranas fell into the hands of the Brahmins
that the Puranas have been finally edited and recast to make room for
the new subjects. The editing and recasting has been of a very daring
character. For in doing so they have added fresh chapters, substituted
new chapters for old chapters and written new chapters with old
names. So that by this process some Puranas retained their earlier

1
(1) Vishnu (2) Bhagwat (3) Narada (4) Vaman and (5) Garuda.
2
(1) Shiva (2) Brahma (3) Linga (4) Varaha (5) Skanda (6) Matsya (7) Kurma (8) Bramhanda
3
Padma.
4
Agni.
5
Partiger.
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256 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

materials, some lost their early materials, some gained new materials
and some became totally new works.
The determination of the date of the composition of the Puranas is
a problem which has hardly been tackled.All history written by the
Brahmins is history without dates and the Puranas are no exception. The
date of the Puranas has to be determined by circumstantial evidence co-
related with events the dates of which are well settled. The dates of the
composition of the different Puranas have not been examined as closely
as those of the other parts of the Brahminic literature. Indeed scholars
have paid no attention to the Puranas at all certainly nothing like what
they have done in the matter of the Vedic literature. Mr, Hazara’s is
the only work I know of in which an attempt is made in the matter of
determining the date of the composition of the Puranas. I give below
the dates of the Puranas as found by him.

Puranas Date of Composition

1. Markendeya .. .. Between 200 and 600 A. D.
2. Vayu .. .. Between 200 and 500 A. D.
3. Bramhanda .. .. Between 200 and 500 A. D.
4. Vishnu .. .. Between 100 and 350 A. D.
5. Matsya .. .. Part about 325 A. D.
Part about 1100 A. D.
6. Bhagwat .. .. Between 500 and 600 A. D.
7. Kurma .. .. Between 550 and 1000 A. D.
8. Vamana .. .. Between 700 and 1000 A. D.
9. Linga .. .. Between 600 and 1000 A. D.
10. Varaha .. .. Between 800 and 1500 A. D.
11. Padma .. .. Between 600 and 950 A. D.
12. Brahanaradiya .. .. Between 875 and 1000 A. D.
13. Agni .. .. Between 800 and 900 A. D.
14. Garuda .. .. Between 850 and 1000 A. D.
15. Bramha .. .. Between 900 and 1000 A. D.
16. Skanda .. .. After 700 A. D.
17. Bramha Vaivrata .. .. After 700 A. D.
18. Bhavishya .. .. After 500 A. D.
No more precise date can be fixed for the Puranas at any rate for the
present. New research in the field may narrow the higher and lower
limits of their composition. The difference will only be a difference of
degree. It will not be one of subversion of Eras.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 257

This short survey is enough to remove any doubt as to the age

of this literature that it is post-Buddhistic. The survey establishes
one more point of great significance. This literature arose during the
period subsequent to the triumph of Brahmins under the leadership
of Pushyamitra. The survey brings out one other point. Vyas writes
Mahabharata. Vyas tells Bhagwat Gita, and Vyas also writes the
Puranas. Mahabharata contains 18 Parvas, the Gita has 18 Adhyayas
and the Puranas number 18. Is all this an Accident ? Or is it the
result of a design planned and worked out in concert ? We must wait
and see.
III
THE VEDANTA SUTRAS
The vedanta Sutras of Badarayana as has been pointed out already
constitute a department of study on the same line as the Karma
Sutras of Jaimini. It is natural to ask how the founders of these
two schools of thought comfort themselves towards each other. When
one begins to inquire into the matter one comes across facts which
are revealing. In the first place as Prof. Belvalkar1 points out, ‘the
Vedanta Sutras are very closely modelled upon the Karma Sutras.’
In the matter of methodology and terminology, Badarayana almost
slavishly follows Jaimini. He accepts Jaimini rules of interpreting the
text of the Shruti. He uses Jaimin’s technical terms in the sense in
which they have been used by Jaimini. He uses the very illustrations
which are employed by Jaimini.
This is a matter for small wonder. But what is not a matter for
small wonder is the attitude of the two schools towards each other
in the matter of doctrine. Let me give an illustration.
Badarayana gives the following Sutras2 as illustrative of the position
of Jaimini towards the Vedanta.
2. Because (the Self) is supplementary (to sacrificial acts), (the fruits
of the knowledge of the Self) are mere praise of the agent, even as
in other cases; thus says Jaimini.
“According to Jaimini the Vedas merely prescribe acts to attain
certain purposes including Liberation, and nothing more. He argues
that the knowledge of the Self does not yield any independent
results, as Vedanta holds, but is connected with the acts through the
agent. No one undertakes a sacrificial act unless he is conscious of
the fact that he is different from the body and that after death he
1
Basu Mallick Lectures, p. 152.
2
Swami Vireswarananda—Brahma Sutras (Advaita Ashram Edition 1936), pp. 408-411.
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258 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

will go to heaven, where he will enjoy the results of his sacrifices. The
Text dealing with Self-knowledge serve merely to enlighten the agent
and so are subordinate to sacrificial acts. The fruits, however, which the
Vedanta texts declare with regard to Self-knowledge, are merely praise,
even as texts declare such results by way of praise, with respect to other
matters. In short, Jaimini holds that by the knowledge that his Self will
outlive the body, the agent becomes qualified for sacrificial actions, even
as other things become fit in sacrifices through purificatory ceremonies.

3. Because we find (from the scriptures such) conduct (of men of

realization).
“Janaka, emperor of Videha performed a sacrifice in which gifts were
freely distributed” (Brih. 3.1.1.); “I am going to perform a sacrifice, Sirs”
(Chh. 5.11.5.). Now both Janaka and Asvapati were knowers of the Self.
If by this knowledge of the Self they had attained Liberation, there was
no need for them to perform sacrifices. But the two texts quoted show
that they did perform sacrifices. This proves that it is through sacrificial
acts alone that one attains Liberation, and not through the knowledge
of the Self, as the Vedantians hold.

4. That (viz, that knowledge of the Self stands in a subordinate relation

to sacrificial acts) the scriptures directly declare,
“That alone which is performed with knowledge, faith and meditation
becomes more powerful” (Chh. 1.1.10); This text clearly shows that
knowledge is a part of the sacrificial act.

5. Because the two (knowledge and work) go together (with the

departing soul to produce the results).
“It is followed by knowledge, work, and past experience” (Brih. 4.4.2.).
This text shows that knowledge and work go together with the soul and
produce the effect which it is destined to enjoy. Knowledge independently
is not able to produce any such effect.”

6. Because (the scriptures) enjoin (work) for such (as know the purport
of the Vedas).
“The scriptures enjoin work only for those who have a knowledge of
the Vedas, which includes the knowledge of the Self. Hence knowledge
does not independently produce any result.”

7. And on account of prescribed rules.

“Performing works here let a man wish to live a hundred years”
(Is. 2.); “Agnihotra is a sacrifice lasting up to old age and death; for
through old age one is freed from it or through death” (Sat. Br. 12.4.1.1.).
From such prescribed rules also we find that Knowledge stands in a
subordinate relation or work.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 259

What is the position of Badarayana towards Jaimini and Karma

Kanda Shastras? This is best illustrated by the reply which Badarayana
gives to the attack by Jaimini on Vedanta as formulated by Badarayana
in the Sutras quoted above. The reply is contained in the following
Sutras :1
8. But because (the scriptures) teach (the Supreme Self to be) other
(than the agent), Badarayana’s (view is) correct; for that is seen (from
the scriptures).
“Sutras 2-7 give the view of the Mimamsakas, which is refuted by
Sutras 8-17.

The Vedanta texts do not teach the limited self, which is the agent,
but the Supreme Self, which is different from the agent. Thus the
knowledge of the Self which the Vedanta texts declare is different from
that knowledge of the self which an agent possesses. The knowledge
of such a Self, which is free from all limiting adjuncts, not only does
not help, but puts an end to all actions. That the Vedanta texts teach
the Supreme Self is clear from such texts as the following; “He who
perceives all and knows all” (Mu. 1.1.9.); “Under the mighty rule of
this immutable, O Gargi” etc. (Brih. 3.8.9.).
9. But the declarations of the Shruti equally support both views.
“This Sutra refutes the view expressed in Sutra 3. There it was shown
that Janaka and others even after attaining Knowledge were engaged
in work. This Sutra says the scriptural authority equally supports the
view that for one who attained Knowledge there is no work. “Knowing
this very Self the Brahmanas renounce the desire for sons, for wealth,
and for the worlds, and lead a mendicant life” (Brih. 3.5.1.). “We also
see from the scriptures that knowers of the Self like Yajnavalkya gave
up work.” ‘This much indeed is (the means of) immortality, my dear’.
Saying this Yajnavalkya left home” (Brih. 4.5.15). The work of Janaka
and others was characterized by non-attachment, and as such it was
practically no work; so the Mimamsa argument is weak.

10. (The declaration of the scripture referred to in Sutra 4) is not

universally true.
The declaration of the Shruti that knowledge enhances the fruit of
the sacrifice does not refer to all knowledge, as it is connected only
with the Udgitha, which is the topic of the section.
(There is) division of knowledge and work, as in the case of a hundred
(divided between two persons).

1
Swami Vireswaranand, Brahma Sutras, 411-416.
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260 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

“This Sutra refutes Sutra 5. “It is followed by knowledge, work, and

past experiences” (Brih. 4.4.2.). Here we have to take knowledge and
work in a distributive sense, meaning that knowledge follows one and
work another. Just as when we say a hundred be given to these two
persons, we divide it into two halves and give each man fifty. There
is no combination of the two. Even without this explanation Sutra 5
can be refuted. For the text quoted refers only to knowledge and work,
which concern the transmigrating soul, and not an emancipated soul.
For the passage,” Thus does the man who desires (transmigrate)” (Brih.
4.4.6.) shows that the previous text refers to the transmigrating self.
And of the emancipated soul Shruti says, “But the man who never
desires (never transmigrates)” etc. (Brih. 4.4.6.).

12. (The scriptures enjoin work) only on those who have read the
Vedas.
“This Sutra refutes Sutra 6. Those who have read the Vedas and
known about the sacrifices are entitled to perform work. No work is
prescribed for those who have knowledge of the Self from the Upanishads.
Such a knowledge is incompatible with work.

13. Because there is no special mention (of the Jaimini it does

not(apply to him).
“This Sutra refutes Sutra 7. The text quoted there from the Isa
Upanishad is a general statement, and there is no special mention
in it that it is applicable to a Jnani also. In the absence of such a
specification it is not binding on him.

14. Or rather the permission (to do work) is for praising (Knowledge).

“The injunction to do work for the knowers of the Self is for the
glorification of this Knowledge. The praise involved in it is this :
A knower of the Self may work all his life, but on account of this
Knowledge he will not be bound by its effects.

15. And some according to their choice (have refrained from all
work).
“In Sutra 3 it was said that Janaka and others were engaged in
work even after Knowledge. This Sutra says that some have of their
own accord given up all work. The point is that after Knowledge some
may choose to work to set an example to others, while others may
give up all work. There is no binding on the knowers of the Self as
regards work.

16. And (the scriptures say that the) destruction (of all qualifications
for work results from Knowledge).
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 261

Knowledge destroys all ignorance and its products like agent, act,
and result. “But when to the knower of Brahman everything has
become the Self, then what should one see and through what” etc.,
(Brih. 4.5.15). The knowledge of the Self is antagonistic to all work
and so cannot possibly be subsidiary to work.

17. And (Knowledge belongs) to those who observe continence (i.e.

to Sannyasis); because (this fourth Ashrama is mentioned) in the
scriptures.
“The scriptures declare that Knowledge is gained in that stage of life in
which continence is prescribed, i.e. the fourth stage or Sannyasa Asrama.
To a Sannayasin there is no work prescribed except discrimination. So
how can Knowledge be subservient to work ? That there is a stage of
life called Sannyasa we find from the scriputures themselves in texts
like : “There are three branches of duty; sacrifice, study and charity
are the first;.... All these attain to the worlds of the virtuous; but only
one who is firmly established in Brahman attains immortality” (Chh.
2.33.1-2); “Desiring this world (the Self) alone monks renounce their
homes “(Brih. 4.4.22). See also Mu. 1.2.11 and Chh. 5.10.1. Everyone
can take to this life without being a householder etc. which shows the
independence of Knowledge”.

Many such Sutras can be found in Badarayana indicating the

attitude of the two schools of thought towards each other. But one
is enough as it is so very typical. If one stops to consider the matter
the position becomes absolutely clear. Jaimini denounces Vedanta
as a false Shastra a snare and a delusion, something superficial,
unnecessary and insubstantial. What does Badarayana do in the
face of this attack ? He defends his own Vedanta Shastra. What one
would expect from Badrayana is denunciation of the Karmakanda
of Jaimini as a false religion. Badarayana shows no such courage.
On the contrary he is very apologetic. He concedes that Jaimini’s
Karmakanda is based on the Scriptures and cannot be repudiated.
All that he insists is that his Vedanta doctrine is also true because it
has also the support of the Scriptures. Some explanation is necessary
for this attitude of Badarayana.

BHAGWAT GITA

The Bhagwat Gita forms part of the Bhishmaparvan of the great

epic known as the Mahabharat. The epic is mainly concerned with
the struggle for sovereignty between cousins, the Kauravas the sons
of Dhritarashtra and the Pandavas the sons of Pandu. Pandu was the
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262 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

younger brother of Dhritarashtra. But as Dhritarashtra was blind the

throne went to Pandu. After Pandu’s death there arises a dispute between
his sons and the sons of Dhritarashtra regarding the right of succession.
The struggle for sovereignty culminated in the battle of Kurukshetra (near
modern Panipat). In this battle Krishna sides with the Pandavas and
acts as their guide, friend and philohopher,—nay acts as the charioteer
of Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers and who plays the part of the
chief warrior in the battle on the side of the Pandavas.
The two armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas were arrayed
for battle on the field. Arjuna in his chariot with Krishna as a driver
comes and takes his place in front of the Pandava army. Strong and
valiant he gazes at the opposing army of the Kauravas and is struck
by the horror of the dreadful fratricidal war in which he will have to
kill his cousins and slay those whom he himself revers and to whom
he is greatly attached and indebted, He becomes dejected, lays down
his weapons and refuses to fight. Krishna begins to argue with him
and provoke him to fight. This argument takes the form of a question
and answer of a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna at the end
of which Arjuna agrees to fight.
At the opening of the Bhagwat Gita we find old Dhritarashtra
questioning Sanjaya about the battle. This is because Dhritarashtra the
father of the Kauravas who though alive at the time when the battle
was fought was a blind man and could not see and know things for
himself. For the knowledge of the happenings he had to depend upon
the reports of others. Anticipating the difficulty of getting someone to tell
Dhritarashtra the authentic story, Vyas the author of the Mahabharata,
it is said, bestowed on Sanjaya, the charioteer of Dhritrashtra, the power
of knowing all that takes place on the battlefield— even the thoughts
in men’s minds—that he may make a faithful report to Dhritarashtra.
That is why we find the episode of Bhagwat Gita related as a reply
by Sanjaya to questions by Dhritarashtra. But the Gita is really a
conversation between Arjuna and Krishna and is rightly called Krishana
Arjuna Samvad.
In this Krishna-Arjuna-Samvad—which is the real name of the
Bhagwat Gita— the main question over which there was disagreement
was to fight or not to fight. There was no other question. This was the
one and the only question which was the subject matter of discussion
and argument between the two. Starting from this point of view it
is obvious that the Gita could never have been intended by Krishna
to be the occasion for moral instruction for the general public or the
doctrinal exposition of any religious system or the catechism attached
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 263

to any creed. Yet this is just what the Gita has come to be. Although the
occasion was to decide to fight or not to fight, the Gita is said to contain
what his religious doctrine Krishna is said to have preached to Arjuna.
The first question that crops up is who is this Krishna. To this one gets
quite surprizingly a variety of answers from the Gita itself. At the start
Krishna appears as a mere man with a completely human personality. He
is a warrior by profession. He is a great warrior though he had chosen1
the humble duty of driving the chariot of Arjuna. From man he grows into
superman directing and controlling the war and its frotunes. From superman
he grows into a demigod and dictator. When all his arguments fail to move
Arjuna to fight, he simply orders him to fight and the frightened Arjuna
gets up and does his biddings. From demigod he rises to the position of God
and is spoken of as Ishwara.
This shows the growth of the personality of Krishna. But what is important
is that in the very same Gita, Krishna stands out as a representative of
other forms of God. Four such representative characters in which Krishna
appears are clear to any one who happens to read the Gita even casually.
Krishna is Vasudeo :
Bhagwat Gita:
Ch.X.37. Of the Vrishnis I am Vasudeva; of the Pandavas, Dhananjaya;
and also for the Munis, I am Vyasa; of the sages, Ushanas the sage.
Krishna as Bhagwan :
Ch.X.12. The Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Abode, the Supreme
Purifier, art Thou.
Krishna is an Avtar of Vishnu :
Ch.X.21. Of the Adityas, I am Vishnu; of luminaries, the radiant Sun;
of the winds, I am Marichi; of the asterisms, the Moon.
Ch.XI.24. On seeing Thee touching the sky, shining in many a colour,
with mouths wide open, with large fiery eyes, I am terrified at heart,
and find no courage nor peace, O Vishnu.
XI.30. Swallowing all the worlds on every side with Thy flaming
mouths. Thou art licking Thy lips. Thy fierce rays, filling the whole
world with radiance, are burning, O Vishnu.
Krishna is also an Avtar of Shankara ;
X.23. And of the Rudras I am Shankara; of the Yakshas and Rakshasas
the Lord of wealth (Kuvera); of the Vasus I am Pavaka; and of mountains,
Meru am I.
1
This is the result or an arrangement between him and Duryodhan leader of the Kauravas.
Before the war actually started Duryodhan approached Krishna to fight on the side of the
kauravas. Krishna gave him a choice, have him or have his men the Yadavas. Duryodhan
chose the Army of Yadavas. That is why Krishna and the Yadavas fought on opposite sides.
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264 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Krishna is Bramhan :—
XV. 15. I am centered in the hearts of all; memory and perception as
well as their loss come from Me. I am verily that which has to be known
by all the Vedas, I indeed am the Author of the Vedanta, and the Knower
of the Veda am I.

XV. 16. There are two Purushas in the world,—The Perishable and the
Imperishable. All beings are the Perishable, and the Kutastha is called
Imperishable.

XV. 17. But (there is) another, the Supreme Purusha, called the Highest
Self, the immutable Lord, who pervading the three worlds, sustains them.

XV. 18. As I transcend the Perishable and am above even the Imperishable,
therefore am I in the world and in the Veda celebrated as the Purushottama,
(the Highest Purusha).

XV. 19. He who free from delusion thus knows Me, the Highest Spirit,
he knowing all, worships Me with all his heart, O descendant of Bharata.

Ask the next question, What is the doctrine that Krishna preaches to Arjuna ?
The doctrine preached by Krishna to Arjuna is said to be the doctrine of
salvation for the human soul. While the question dealt with by Krishna
is one relating to Salvation, Krishna teaches three different doctrines of
Salvation.
Salvation is possible by Dnyanmarg as propounded by Samkhya Yog.
II.39. The wisdom of Self-realisation has been declared unto thee. Hearken
thou now to the wisdom of Yoga, endued with which, O son of Pritha, thou
shah break through the bonds of Karma.

Thus is the concluding verse of the discourse on Samkhya Yoga discussed

in Chapter II, verses 11-16 and 18-30.
(2) Salvation is possible by Karma marg,
V.2. Both renunciation and performance of action lead to freedom : of
these performance of action is superior to the renunciation of action.

(3) Salvation is possible by Bhakti Marg.

IX. 13. But the great souled ones O son of Pritha, possessed of the Divine
Prakriti, knowing Me to be the origin of beings, and immutable, worship
Me with a single mind.

IX. 14. Glorifying Me always and striving with firm resolve, bowing
down to Me in devotion, always steadfast, they worship Me.

IX. 15. Others, too, sacrificing by the Yajna of knowledge (i.e. seeing the
Self in all), worship Me the All Formed, as one, as distnct, as manifold.
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LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 265

IX. 17. I am the Father of this world, the Mother, the Sustainer, the
Grandfather; the Purifier, the (one) thing to be known, (the syllable)
Om, and also the Rik Saman and Yajus.

IX.22. Persons who, meditating on Me as non-separate, worship Me

in all beings, to them thus ever jealously engaged, I carry what they
lack and preserve what they already have.

There are two other features of the Bhagwat Gita which arrests one’s
attention.
(i) There is a sentiment of depreciation of the Vedas and Vedic rituals
and sacrifices.
II.42-44. O Partha, no set determination is formed in the minds
of those that are deeply attached to pleasure and power, and whose
disctimination is stolen away by the flowery words of the unwise, who
are full of desires and look upon heaven as their highest goal and who,
taking pleasure in the panegyric words of the Vedas, declare that there
is nothing else. Their (flowery) words are exuberant with various specific
rites as the means to pleasure and power and are the causes of (new)
births as the result of their works (performed with desire).

II.45 The Vedas deal with the three Gunas, Be thou free, O Arjun, from
the triad of the Gunas, free from the apirs of opposites, ever balanced,
free from (the thought of) getting and keeping, and established in the Self.

II.46. To the Brahmana who has known the Self, all the Vedas are
of so much use, as a reservoir is, when there is a flood everywhere.

IX.21. Having enjoyed the vast Swarga-world, they enter the mortal
world, on the exhaustion of their merit; Thus, abiding by the injunctions
of the three (Vedas), desiring desires, they (constantly) come and go.

INCOMPLETE

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CHAPTER 11
The Triumph of Brahmanism:
Regicide or the birth of
Counter-Revolution

We have found only 3 typed pages under this title. Fortunately,

a copy of the essay has been spared by Shri S. S. Rege for
being included in this book. While examining the pages we
have noticed that the copy given by Mr. Rege also lacks page
nos 3 to 7 and 9 to 17. The total typed pages of this essay
have been numbered 92 inclusive of the missing pages. The
title on the copy of Mr. Rege is the ‘Triumph of Brahmanism’
; whereas the first page of the script in our papers is also
entitled as ‘Regicide or the Birth of Counter-Revolution’. The
classification of the subject into IX Chapters is noted in our
copy whereas it is missing from the copy of Mr. Rege. Both the
titles and the classification are recorded in the handwriting
of Dr. Ambedkar. Hence, they are retained in this print.
Incidentaly, the page nos 9 to 17 were found tagged in other
file. All those papers have now been introduced at proper place.
Thus except page Nos. 4 to 7, the script is complete.—Editors.
I
I The Brahmanic Revolt against Buddhism. II Manu the apostle
of Brahmanism. III Brahmanism and the Brahmin’s Right to rule
and regicide. IV Brahmanism and the privileges of Brahmins.
V Brahmanism and the Creation of Caste. VI Brahmanism and the
degradation of the Non-Brahmins. VII Brahmanism and the Suppression
of the Shudra. VIII Brahmanism and the Subjection of Women.
IX Brahmanism and the legalization of the social system.
Speaking about India, Prof. Bloomfield opens his lectures on the
Religion of the Veda by reminding his audience that “India is the land
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 267

of religions in more than one sense. It has produced out of its own
resources, a number of distinctive systems and sects…..
In another sense India is a land of religions. Nowhere else is the
texture of life so much impregnated with religious convictions and
practices... ”1
These observations contain profound truth. He would have given
utterance to truth far more profound and arresting if he had said that
India is a land of warring religions. For indeed there is no country in
which Religion has played so great a part in its history as it has in
the history of India. The history of India is nothing but a history of
a mortal conflict between— Buddhism and Brahmanism. So neglected
is this truth that no one will be found to give it his ready acceptance.
Indeed there may not be wanting persons who would repudiate any
such suggestion.
Let me therefore briefly recount the salient facts of Indian history. For
it is important that everyone who was able to understand the history
of India must know that it is nothing but the history of the struggle
for supremacy between Brahmanism and Buddhism.
The history of India is said to begin with the Aryans who invaded
India, made it their home and established their culture. Whatever may
be the virtues of the Aryans, their culture, their religion and their
social system, we know very little about their political history. Indeed
notwithstanding the superiority that is claimed for the Aryans as
against the Non-Aryans, the Aryans have left very little their political
achievements for history to speak of. The political history of India
begins with the rise of a non-Aryan people called Nagas, who were a
powerful people, whom the Aryans were unable to conquer, with whom
the Aryans had to make peace, and whom the Aryans were compelled
to recognize as their equals. Whatever fame and glory India achieved
in ancient times in the political field, the credit for it goes entirely to
the Non-Aryan Nagas. It is they who made India great and glorious in
the annals of the world.
The first land mark in India’s political history is the emergence of
the Kingdom of Magadha in Bihar in the year 642 B.C. The founder
of this kingdom of Magadha is known by the name of Sisunag2 and
belonged to the non-Aryan race of Nagas.
From the small beginning made by Sisunag, this Kingdom of
Magadha grew in its extent under the capable rulers of this Sisunag
dynasty. Under Bimbisara the fifth ruler of this dynasty the kingdom
1
The Religion of the Veda p. 1.
2
His name is also spelt as Sisunak.
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268 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

grew into an Empire and came to be known as the Empire of Magadha.

The Sisunag dynasty continued to rule the kingdom till 413 B.C. In that
year the reigning Emperor of the Sisunag Dyansty Mahananda was killed
by an adventurer called Nanda. Nanda usurped the throne of Magadha
and founded the Nanda Dynasty. This Nanda Dynasty ruled over the
Empire of Magadha upto 322 B.C. The last Nanda king was deposed
by Chandragupta who founded the Maurya Dynasty. Chandragupta was
related1 to the family of the last ruling emperor of the Sisunag Dynasty
so that it may be said that the revolution effected by Chandragupta was
really a restoration of the Naga Empire of Magadha.
The Mauryas by their conquests enormously extended the boundaries
of this Empire of Magadha which they inherited. So vast became the
growth of this Empire under Ashoka, the Empire began to be known
by another name. It was called the Maurya Empire or the Empire of
Ashoka. (From here onwards page Nos. 4 to 7 of the MS are missing.)
It did not remain as one of the many diverse religions then in vogue.
Ashoka made it the religion of the state. This of course was the greatest
blow to Brahmanism. The Brahmins lost all state partonage and were
neglected to a secondary and subsidiary position in the Empire of Ashoka.
Indeed it may be said to have been suppressed for the simple reason that
Ashoka prohibited all animal sacrifices which constituted the very essence
of Brahmanic Religion. The Brahmins had not only lost state partonage
but they lost their occupation which mainly consisted in performing
sacrifices for a fee which often times was very substantial and which
constituted their chief source of living. The Brahmins therefore lived as
the suppressed and Depressed Classes2 for nearly 140 years during which
the Maurya Empire lasted. A rebellion against the Buddhist state was
the only way of escape left to the suffering Brahmins and there is special
reason why Pushyamitra should raise the banner of revolt against the
rule of the Mauryas. Pushyamitra was a Sung by Gotra. The Sungas
were Samvedi Brahmins,3 who believed in animal sacrifices and soma
sacrifices. The Sungas were therefore quite naturally smarting under
the prohibition on animal sacrifices throughout the Maurya Empire
proclaimed in the very Rock Edict by Ashoka. No wonder if Pushyamitra
who as a Samvedi Brahmin was the first to conceive the passion to end
the degradation of the Brahmin by destroying the Buddhist state which
1
Mr. Hari Krishna Deb: quoted by Smith. Early History of India (1924) p.44. F.N. 1.
2
The inferiority complex of the Brahmins under the Maurya Rule becomes apparent from
the privileges asked for them by Manu in the Manu Smriti. This inferiority complex must
be due to their depressed condition.
3
See Harprasad Shastri in Buddhistic Studies (Ed. Law) Chapter XXXIV p. 819.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 269

was the cause of it and to free them to practise their Brahmanic

religion.
That the object of the Regicide by Pushyamitra was to destroy
Buddhism as a state religion and to make the Brahmins the sovereign
rulers of India so that with the political power of the state behind it
Brahmanism may triumph over Buddhism is borne out by two other
circumstances.
The first circumstance relates to the conduct of Pushyamitra himself.
There is evidence that Pushyamitra after he ascended the throne
performed the Ashvamedha Yajna or the horse sacrifice, the vedic rite
which could only be performed by a paramount sovereign. As Vincent
Smith observes :
“The exaggerated regard for the sanctity of animal life, which was
one of the most cherished features of Buddhism, and the motive of
Ashoka’s most characterisitic legislation, had necessarily involved the
prohibition of bloody sacrifices, which are essential to certain forms of
Brahmanical worship, and were believed by the orthodox to possess the
highest saving efficacy. The memorable horse sacrifices of Pushyamitra
marked an early stage in the Brahmanical reaction, which was fully
developed five centuries later in the time of Samudragupta and his
successors.”

Then there is evidence that Pushyamitra after his accession launched

a violent and virulent campaign of persecution against Buddhists and
Buddhism.
How pitiless was the persecution of Buddhism by Pushyamitra can
be gauged from the Proclamation which he issued against the Buddhist
monks. By this proclamation Pushyamitra set a price of 100 gold pieces
on the head of every Buddhist monk.1
Dr. Harprasad Shastri speaking about the persecution of Buddhists
under Pushyamitra says2 :
“The condition of the Buddhists under the imperial sway of the
Sungas, orthodox and bigotted, can be more easily imagined than
described. From Chinese authorities it is known that many Buddhists
still do not pronounce the name of Pushyamitra without a curse.”

II
If the Revolution of Pushyamitra was a purely political revolution
there was no need for him to have launched a compaign of persecution
1
Burnouf— L’Introduction a L’Historie on Buddhisme Indien (2nd.Ed.) p. 388.
2
Buddhistic Studies (Ed. by Law) Chapter XXXIV p. 820.
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270 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

against Buddhism which was not very different to the compaign of

persecution launched by the Mahamad of Gazni against Hinduism. This
is one piece of circumatantial evidence which proves that the aim of
Pushyamitra was to overthrow Buddhism and establish Brahmanism
in its place.
Another piece of evidence which shows that the origin and purpose
of the revolution by Pushyamitra against the Mauryas was to destroy
Buddhism and establish Brahmanism is evidenced by the promulgation
of Manu Smriti as a code of laws.
The Manu Smriti is said to be divine in its origin. It is said to be
revealed to man by Manu to whom it was revealed by the Swayambhu
(i.e. the Creator). This claim, as will be seen from the reference already
made to it, is set out in the Code itself. It is surprizing that nobody has
cared to examine the grounds of such a claim. The result is that there
is a complete failure to realise the significance, place and position of the
Manu Smriti in the history of India. This is true even of the historians
of India although the Manu Smriti is a record of the greatest social
revolution that Hindu society has undergone. There can however be no
doubt that the claim made in the Manu Smriti regarding its authorship
is an utter fraud and the beliefs arising out of this false claim are quite
untenable.
The name Manu had a great prestige in the ancient history of India
and it is with the object to invest the code with this ancient prestige
that its authorship was attributed to Manu. That this was a fraud to
deceive people is beyond question. The code itself is signed1 in the family
name of Bhrigu as was the ancient custom. “The Text Composed by
Bhrigu (entitled) “The Dharma Code of Manu” is the real title of the
work. The name Bhrigu is subscribed to the end of every chapter of
the Code itself. We have therefore the family name of the author of the
Code. His personal name is not disclosed in the Book. All the same it
was known to many. The Author of Narada Smriti writing in about the
4th Century A.D. knew the name of the author of the Manu Smriti and
gives out the secret. According to Narada it was one Sumati Bhargava
who composed the Code of Manu. Sumati Bhargava is not a legendary
name, and must have been historical person for even Medhatithe2 the
great commentator on the Code of Manu held the view that this Manu
was ‘a certain individual’. Manu therefore is the assumed name of Sumati
Bhargava who is the real author of Manu Smriti.

1
On this point see Jaiswal’s Volume on Manu & Yajnavalkya.
2
Commentary on Manu 1.1.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 271

When did this Sumati Bhargava compose this Code? It is not possible
to give any precise date for its composition. But quite a precise period
during which it was composed can be given. According to scholars whose
authority cannot be questioned Sumati Bhargava must have composed
the Code which he deliberately called Munu Smriti between 170 B.C.
and 150 B.C. Now if one bears in mind the fact that the Brahmanic
Revolution by Pushyamitra took place in 185 B.C. there remains no doubt
that the code known as Manu Smriti was promulgated by Pushyamitra as
embodying the principles of Brahmanic Revolution against the Buddhist
state of the Mauryas. That the Manu Smriti forms the Institutes of
Brahmanism and are a proof that Pushyamitra Revolution was not a
purely personal adventure will be clear to any one who cares to note
the following peculiarities relating to the Manu Smriti.

First thing to be noted is that the Manu Smriti is a new Code of

law promulgated for the first time during the reign of Pushyamitra.
There was a view once prevalent that there existed a code known as
the Manava-Dharma-Sutra and that what is known as Manu Smriti is
an adaptation of the old Manava Dharma Sutra. This view has been
abandoned as there has been no trace of any such work. Two other
works existed prior to the present Manu Smriti. One was known as
Manava Artha Sastra, or Manava-Raja-Sastra or Manava-Raja-Dharma-
Sastra. The other work was known as Manava-Grihya-Sutra. Scholars
have compared the Manu Smriti. On important points the provisions
of one are not only dissimilar but are in every way contrary to the
provisions contained in the other. This is enough to show that Manu
Smriti contains the new law of the new regime.

That the new regime of Pushyamitra was anti-Buddhist is betrayed by

the open provisions enacted in the Manu Smriti against the Buddhists
and Buddhism. Note the following provisions in Manu Smriti:—
IX. 225. “… Men who abide in heresy ... the king should banish from
his realm.”

IX. 226. “These robbers in disguise, living in the king’s realm constantly
injure the worthy subject by the performance of their misdeeds.”

V. 89. “Libations of water shall not be offered to (the souls of) those
who (neglect the prescribed rites and may be said to) have been born in
vain, to those born in consequence of an illegal mixture of the castes,
to those who are ascetics (of heretical sects) and to those who have
committed suicide.”
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272 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

V. 90. (Libations of water shall not be offered to the souls of) women
who have joined a heretical sect…….

IV. 30. Let him (the householder) not honour, even by a greeting
heretics…. logicians, (arguing against the Veda).

XII. 95. “All those traditions and all those despicable systems of
Philosophy, which are not based on the Veda produce no reward after
death, for they are declared to be founded on Darkness.

XII. 96. “All those (doctrines), differing from the (Veda), which spring
up and (soon) perish, are worthless and false, because of modern date.”

Who are the heretics to whom Manu refers and whom he wants the
new king to banish from his realm and the Householder not to honour in
life as well as after death? What is this worthless philosophy of modern
date, differing from the Vedas, based on darkness and bound to perish?
There can be no doubt that the heretic of Manu is the Buddhist and
the worthless philosophy of modern date differing from the Vedas is
Buddhism. Kalluck Bhutt another commentator on Manu Smriti expressly
states that the references to heretics in these Shlokas in Manu are to
the Buddhists and Buddhism.
The third circumstance is the position assigned to the Brahmins in
the Manu Smriti. Note the following provisions in Manu :—
I. 93. As the Brahmana sprang from (Bramha’s) mouth, as he was
the first born, and as he possesses the Veda, he is by right the lord of
this whole creation.

I. 96. Of created beings the most excellent are said to be those which
are animated; of the animated, those which subsist by intelligence; of
the intelligent, mankind; and of men, the Brahmans.

I. 100. Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Bramhans;

on account of the excellence of his origin the Brahmana is, indeed,
entitled to it all.

I. 101. The Brahmana eats but his own food, wears but his own
apparel, bestows but his own in alms; other mortals subsist through
the benevolence of the Brahmana.

X. 3. On account of his pre-eminance, on account of the superiority of

his origin, on account of his observance of (particular)restrictive rules,
and on account of his particular sanctification, the Brahmana is the
lord of (all) castes.

XI. 35. The Bramhana is declared to be the creator of the world, the
punisher, the teacher, and hence a benefactor of all created beings; to
him let no man say anything unpropitious, nor use any harsh words.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 273

Manu warns the King against displeasing the Bramhans in the

following terms :—
IX. 313. Let him (the King) not, though fallen unto the deepest distress,
provoke Bramhans to anger; for they, when angered, could instantly
destroy him together with his army and his vehicles.
Manu further proclaims,
XI. 31. A Bramhana who knows the law need not bring any (offence)
to the notice of the king; by his own power alone he can punish those
men who injure him.
XI. 32. His own power is greater than the power of the king;
The Bramhana, therefore, may punish his foes by his own power alone.

This deification of the Brahmins, placing them even above the King
would have been impossible unless the King himself was a Brahmin
and in sympathy with the view expressed by Manu. Pushyamitra and
his successors could not have tolerated these exaggerated claims of
the Brahmins unless they themselves were Brahmins interested in the
establishment of Bramhanism. Indeed it is quite possible that the Manu
Smriti was composed at the command of Pushyamitra himself and forms
the book of the philosophy of Bramhanism.
Taking all these facts into considerations there can remain no doubt;
the one and only object of Pushyamitra’s revolution was to destroy
Buddhism and re-establish Bramhanism.
The foregoing summary of the political history of India would have
been quite unnecessary for the immediate purpose of this chapter if
I was satisfied with the way in which the history of India is written.
But frankly I am not satisfied. For too much emphasis is laid on the
Muslim conquest of India. Reels and reels have been written to show
how wave after wave of Muslim invasions came down like avalanche
and enveloped the people and overthrew their rulers. The whole history
of India is made to appear as though the only important thing in it is
a catalogue of Muslim invasions. But even from this narrow point of
view it is clear that the Muslim invasions are not the only invasions
worth study. There have been other invasions equally if not of greater
importance. If Hindu India was invaded by the Muslim invaders so
was Buddhist India invaded by Bramhanic invaders. The Muslim
invasions of Hindu India and the Bramhanic invasions of Buddhist
India have many similarities. The Musalman invaders of Hindu India
fought among themselves for their dynastic ambitions. The Arabs,
Turks, Mongols and Afghans fought for supremacy among themselves.
But they had one thing in common—namely the mission to destroy
idolatory. Similarly the Bramhanic invadars of Buddhist India fought
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274 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

among themselves for their dynastic ambitions. The Sungas, Kanvas and
the Andhras fought for supremacy among themselves. But they, like the
Muslim invaders of Hindu India, had one object in common that was to
destroy Buddhism and the Buddhist Empire of the Mauryas. Surely if
Muslim invasions of Hindu India are worthy of study at the hands of
the historians, the invasions of Buddhist India by Bramhanic invaders
are equally deserving of study. The ways and methods employed by
the Bramhanic invaders of Buddhist India to suppress Buddhism were
not less violent and less virulent than the ways and means adopted
by Muslim invaders to suppress Hinduism. From the point of view
of the permanent effect on the social and spiritual life of the people,
the Bramhanic invasions of Buddhist India have been so profound in
their effect that compared to them, the effect of Muslim invasions on
Hindu India have been really superficial and ephemeral. The Muslim
invaders destroyed only the outward symbols of Hindu religion such as
temples and Maths etc. They did not extirpate Hinduism nor did they
cause any subversion of the principles or doctrines which governed the
spiritual life of the people. The effects of the Bramhanic invasions were
a thorough-going change in the principles which Buddhism had preached
for a century as true and eternal principles of spiritual life and which
had been accepted and followed by the masses as the way of life. To
alter the metaphor the Muslim invaders only stirred the waters in the
bath and that too only for a while. Thereafter they got tired of stirring
and left the waters with the sediments to settle. They never threw the
baby—if one can speak of the principles of Hinduism as a baby—out
of the bath. Bramhanism in its conflict with Buddhism made a clean
sweep. It emptied the bath with the Buddhist Baby in it and filled the
bath with its own waters and placed in it its own baby. Bramhanism
did not care to stop how filthy and dirty was its water as compared
with the clean and fragrant water which flowed from the noble source
of Buddhism. Bramhanism did not care to stop how hideous and ugly
was its own baby as compared with the Buddhist baby. Bramhanism
acquired by its invasions political power to annihilate Buddhism and
it did annihilate Buddhism. Islam did not supplant Hinduism. Islam
never made a thorough job of its mission. Bramhanism did. It drove out
Buddhism as a religion and occupied its place.
These facts show that Brahmanic invasions of Buddhist India have
a far greater significance to the Historian of India than the Muslim
invasions of Hindu India can be said to have produced. Yet very little
space is devoted by historians to the vissicitudes which befell Buddhist
India built up by the Mauryas and even where that is done they have
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 275

not cared to deal in a pointed manner with questions that quite naturally
arise: questions such as, who were the Sungas, Kanavas and Andhras;
why did they destroy the Buddhist India which was built up by the
Mauryas, nor has any attempt been made to study the changes that
Brahmanism after its triumph over Buddhism brought about in the
political and social structure.
Failure to appreciate this aspect of India’s history is due to the
prevalence of some very wrong notions. It has been commonly supposed
that the culture of India has been one and the same all throughout history;
that Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism are simply different phases and
that there has never been any fundamental antagonism between them.
Secondly it has been assumed that whatever conflicts have taken place
in Indian politics were purely political and dynastic and that they had
no social and spiritual significance. It is because of these wrong notions
that Indian history has become a purely mechanical thing, a record of
one dynasty succeeding another and one ruler succeeding another ruler.
A corrective to such an attitude and to such a method of writing history
lies in recognition of two facts which are indisputable.
In the first place it must be recognized that there has never been
such as a common Indian culture, that historically there have been
three Indias, Brahmanic India, Buddhist India and Hindu India, each
with its own culture. Secondly it must be recognized that the history
of India before the Muslim invasions is the history of a mortal conflict
between Bramhanism and Buddhism. Any one who does not recognize
these two facts will never be able to write a true history of India, a
history which will disclose the meaning and purpose running through
it. It is a corrective to Indian history written as it is and to disclose
the meaning and purposes running through it that I was obliged to re-
cast the history of the Brahmanic invasions of Buddhist India and the
political triumph of Brahmanism over Buddhism.
We must therefore begin with the recognition of the fact: Pushyamitra’s
revolution was a political revolution engineered by the Brahmins to
overthrow Buddhism.
The curious will naturally ask what did this triumphant Brahmanism
do? It is to this question that I will now turn. The deeds or misdeeds
of this triumphant Brahmanism may be catalogued under seven heads.
(1) It established the right of the Brahmin to rule and commit regicide.
(2) It made the Bramhins a class of privileged persons. (3) It converted
the Varna into caste. (4) It brought about a conflict and anti-social
feeling between the different castes. (5) It degraded the Shudras and
the women (6) It forged the system of graded inequality and (7) It made
legal and rigid the social system which was conventional and flexible.
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276 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

To begin with the first.

The revolution brought about by Pushyamitra created an initial difficulty
in the way of the Brahmins. People could not be easily reconciled to this
revolution. The resentment of the public was well expressed by the poet Bana1
when in referring to this revolution reviles Pushyamitra as being base born
and calls his act of regicide as Anarya. The act of Pushyamitra was properly
described by Bana as Anarya i.e. contrary to Aryan law. For on three points
the Aryan law at the date of Pushyamitra’s revolution was well settled. The
then Aryan law declared (1) That Kingship is the right of the Kshatriya. only.
A Brahmin could never be a king. (2) That no Brahmin shall take to the
profession of Arms2 and (3) That rebellion against the King’s authority was
a sin. Pushyamitra in fostering the rebellion had committed a crime against
each of these three laws. He was Brahmin, and although a Brahmin he
rebelled against the King, took to the profession of Arms and became a King.
People were not reconciled to this usurption which constituted so flagrant a
breach of the law that the Brahmins had to regularize the position created
by Pushyamitra. This the Brahmins did by taking the bold step of changing
the law. This change of law is quite manifest from the Manu Smriti. I will
quote the appropriate shlokas from the Code:
XII. 100. “The post of the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom, the very
Headship of Government, the complete empire over every one are deserved
by the Brahmin.”

Here we have one change in the law. This new law declares that the
Brahmin has a right to become Senapati (Commander of forces), to conquer
a kingdom, and to be the ruler and the Emperor of it.
XI. 31. A Brahmin, who well knows the laws, need not complain to the
king of any grievous injury; since, even by his own power, he may chastise
those, who injure him.
XI. 32. His (Brahmin’s) own power, which depends on himself alone is
mightier than the royal power, which depends on other men; by his own
might, therefore may a Brahmin coerce his foes.

1
Harsha Charita, quoted by Smith (1924) p. 208.
2
The rule was so strict that according to the Apastamba Dharmasutra ‘A Brahman shall
not take up a weapon in his hand though he be only desirous of examining it.’ It may be
matter of some surprize how Pushyamitra who was a Brahmans could have done a deed
which could under the circumstances be expected only from a member of the martial race.
This difficulty is well explained by Harprasad Shastri. According to him the Sungas though
Brahmins were a martial race. Among the fighting Brahmans, two were distinguished
among the rest, the Vishwamitras and the Bharadvajas. The wife of Vishvamitra Brahmin
proving barren, a Bharadvaj was requested by the ancient custom of ‘Niyoga’ to beget a
son on Vishvamitra’s. The issue was Sung. He was the progenitor of a Gotra and that
Gotra took up the Samveda for their study. The Sungas were called a Dvayamushyam
gotra i.e. a gotra issuing from the two gotras, Vishvamitra and Bharadvaj both of which
had taken to military occupation—See Buddhistic Studies (Ed. by Law) Ch. XXXIV, p. 820.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 277

XI. 261-62. A Brahmin who has killed even the peoples of the three
worlds, is completely freed from all sins on reciting three times the Rig,
Yajur or Sama.-Veda with the Upanishadas.”

Here is the second change in the law. It authorized the Brahmin to

kill not only the king but to engage in a general massacre of men if
they seek to do injury to his power and position.
VIII. 348. “The twice born man may take arms, when the rightful
occupation assigned to each by Dharma is obstructed by force; and when,
in some evil time, a disaster has befallen the twice-born classes.”
IX. 320. Of a Kshatriya (Military man or king), who raise his arm
violently on all occasions against the Brahmins, Brahmin himself shall be
the chastiser; since the soldier originally proceeded from the Brahmin.”

This is the third legal change. It recognized the right to rebellion and
the right to regicide. The new law is very delicately framed. It gives
the right of rebellion to three higher classes. But it is also given to the
Brahmins singly by way of providing for a situation when the Kshatriyas
and the Vaishyas may not be prepared to join the Brahmin in bringing
about a rebellion. The right of rebellion is well circumscribed. It can
be exercised only when the king is guilty of upsetting the occupations
assigned by Manu to the different Varnas.
These legal changes were as necessary as they were revolutionary. Their
object was to legalize and regularize the position created by Pushyamitra
by killing the last Maurya King. By virtue of these legal changes, a
Brahmin could lawfully become a king, could lawfully take arms, could
lawfully depose or murder a king who was opposed to Chaturvarna and
could lawfully kill any subject that opposed the authority of the Brahmin.
Manu gave the Brahmins a right to commit Barthalomeu if it became
necessary to safeguard their interests.
In this way Brahmanism established the right of Brahmana to rule
and set at rest whatever doubt and dispute there was regarding the
same. But that could hardly be enough for the Brahmins as a whole.
It may be a matter of pride but not of any advantage. There can be no
special virtue in Brahmin rule if the Brahmin was treated as common
man along with the Non-Brahmins having the same rights and same
duties. Brahmin rule if it is to justify itself, it must do so by conferring
special privileges and immunities on the Brahmins as a class. Indeed
Pushyamitra’s Revolution would have been an ill wind blowing no
good if it had not recognized the superior position of the Brahmins
and conferred upon them special advantages. Manu was alive to this
and accordingly proceeds to create monopolies for Brahmins and grant
them certain immunities and privileges as may be seen from the Code.
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278 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

First as to monopolies:
I. 88. To Brahmanas he assigned teaching and studying (the Veda)
sacrificing for their own benefit and for others, giving and accepting
(of alms).
X. 1. Let the three twice-born castes (Varna), discharging their
(prescribed) duties, study (the Veda); but among them the Brahmana
(alone) shall teach it, not the other two; that is an established rule.
X. 2. The Brahmana must know the means of subsistence (prescribed)
by law for all, instruct others, and himself live according to (the law).
X. 3. On account of his pre-eminence, on account of the superiority of
his origin, on account of his observance of (particular) restrictive rules,
and on account of his particular sanctification, the Brahmana is the
lord of (all) castes (varna).
X. 74. Brahmanas who are intent on the means (of gaining union
with) Brahman and firm in (discharging) their duties, shall live by
duly performing the following six acts, (which are enumerated) in their
(proper) order.
X. 75. Teaching, studying, sacrificing for himself, sacrificing for
others, making gifts and receiving them are the six acts (prescribed)
for a Brahamana.
X. 76. But among the six acts (ordained) for him three are his means
of subsistence, (viz.) sacrificing for others, teaching, and accepting gifts
from pure mdn.
X. 77. (Passing) from the Brahmana to the Kshatriya, three acts
(incumbent) (on the former) are forbidden, (viz.) teaching, sacrificing
for others, and, thirdly, the acceptance of gifts.
X. 78. The same are likewise forbidden to a Vaisya, that is a settled
rule; for Manu, the lord of creatures (Prajapati), has not prescribed them
for (men of) those two (castes).
X. 79. To carry arms for striking and for throwing (is prescribed)
for Kshatriyas as a means of subsistence; to trade, (to rear) cattle, and
agriculture for Vaisyas; but their duties are liberality, the study of the
Veda, and the performance of sacrifices.

Here are three things which Manu made the monopoly of the Brahmin:
teaching Vedas, performing Sacrifices and receiving gifts.
The following are the immunities that were granted to the Brahmins.
They fall into two classes; freedom from taxation and exemption from
certain forms of punishment for crimes.
VII. 133. Though dying (with want), a king must not levy a tax on
Srotriyas, and no Srotriya residing in his kingdom, must perish from
hunger.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 279

VIII. 122. They declare that the wise have prescribed these fines for
perjury, in order to prevent a failure of justice, and in order to restrain
injustice.
VIII. 123. But a just king shall fine and banish (men of) the three
(lower) castes (varna) who have given false evidence, but a Brahmana
he shall (only) banish.
VIII. 124. Manu, the son of the Self-existent (Svayambhu), has named
ten places on which punishment may be (made to fall) in the cases of
the three (lower) castes (varna); but a Brahmana shall depart unhurt
(from the country).
VIII. 379. Tonsure (of the head) is ordained for a Brahmana (instead
of) capital punishment; but (men of) other castes shall suffer capital
punishment.
VIII. 380. Let him never slay a Brahmana, though he have committed
all (possible) crimes; let him banish such an (offender), leaving all his
property (to him) and (his body) unhurt.

Thus Manu places the Brahmin above the ordinary penal law for
felony. He is to be allowed to leave the country withdraw a wound on
him and with all property in proved offences of capital punishment. He
is not to suffer forfeiture of fine nor capital punishment. He suffered
only banishment which in the words of Hobbes was only a “Change of
air” after having committed the most heinous crimes.
Manu gave him also certain privileges.
A Judge must be a Brahmin.
VIII. 9. But if the king does not personally investigate the suits, then
let him appoint a learned Brahmana to try them.
VIII. 10. That (man) shall enter that most excellent court, accompanied
by three assessors, and fully consider (all) causes (brought) before the
(king), either sitting down or standing. The other privileges were financial.
VIII. 37. When a learned Brahmana has found treasure. deposited
in former (times), he may take even the whole (of it); for he is master
of everything.
VIII. 38. When the king finds treasure of old concealed in the ground,
let him give one half to Brahmanas and place the (other)half in his
treasury.
IX. 323. But (a king who feels his end drawing nigh) shall bestow
all his wealth, accumulated from fines, on Brahmanas, make over his
kingdom to his son, and then seek death in battle.
IX. 187. Always to that (relative within three degrees) who is nearest
to the (deceased) Sapinda the estate shall belong; afterwards a Sakulya
shall be (the heir, then) the spiritual teacher or the pupil.
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280 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

IX. 188. But on failure of all (heirs) Brahmanas (shall) share the
estate, (who are) versed in the three Vedas, pure and self-controlled ;
thus the law is not violated.
IX. 189. The property of a Brahmana must never be taken by the
King, that is a settled rule; but (the property of men) of other castes
the king may take on failure of all (heirs).

These are some of the advantages, immunities and privileges which

Manu conferred upon the Brahmins. This was a token of a Brahmin
having become a king.
Supporters of Brahmanism—so strong is the belief in the excellence of
Brahmanism that there are no appologists for it as yet—never fail to point
to the disabilities which Manu has imposed upon the Brahmins. Their
object in doing so is to show that the ideal placed by Manu before the
Brahmin is poverty and service. That Manu has placed certain disabilities
upon the Brahmins is a fact. But to conclude from it that Manu’s ideal
for a Brahmin is poverty and service is a gross and deliberate concoction
for which there is no foundation in Manu.
To understand the real purpose which Manu had in imposing these
disabilities, two things must be borne in mind. Firstly the place Manu
has assigned to the Brahmins in the general scheme of society and
secondly the nature of the disabilities. The place assigned by Manu to
the Brahmins is enunciated by him in unequivocal terms. The matter
being important I must quote again the Verses already quoted.
I. 93. As the Brahmana sprang from (Brahman’s) mouth, as he was
the first born, and as he possesses the Veda, he is by right the lord of
this whole creation.

Consider the nature of the disabilities.

IV. 2. A Brahamana must seek a means of subsistence which either
causes no, or at least little pain (to others), and live (by that) except
in times of distress.
IV. 3. For the purpose of gaining bare subsistence, let him accumulate
property by (following those) irreproachable occupations (which are
prescribed for) his (caste), without (unduly) fatiguing his body.
VIII. 337. In (a case of) theft the guilt of a Sudra shall be eightfold,
that of a Vaishya sixteenfold, that of a Kshatriya two-and-thirty fold.
VIII. 338. That of a Brahamana sixty-four-fold, or quite a hundred-fold
or (even) twice four-and-sixty-fold; (each of them) knowing the nature
of the offence.
VIII. 383. A Brahamana shall be compelled to pay a fine of one
thousand (panas) if he has intercourse with guarded (females of)
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 281

those two (castes); for (offending with) a (guarded) Sudra female a fine
of one thousand (panas) (shall be inflicted) on a Kshatriya or a Vaishya.

VIII. 384. For (intercourse with) an unguarded Kshatriya a fine of

five hundred (panas shall fall) on a Vaisya; but (for the same offence)
a Kshatriya shall be shaved with the urine (of a donkey) or (pay) the
same fine.

VIII. 385. A Brahamana who approaches unguarded females (of the)

Kshatriya or Vaisya (castes), or a Sudra female, shall be fined five
hundred (panas); but (for intercourse with) a female (of the) lowest
(castes), one thousand.

Examining these disabilities against the background furnished by the

place assigned to him by Manu, it is obvious that the object of these
disabilities was not to make the Brahmin suffer. On the other hand it
becomes clear that the object of Manu was to save the Brahmin from
falling from the high pennacle on which he had placed him and incurring
the disgrace of the non-Brahmins.
That the object of Manu was not to subject the Brahmins to poverty
and destitute is clear from other provisions from Manu-Smriti. In this
connection reference should be made to the rule contained in the Manu
Smriti regarding the course of conduct a Brahmin should pursue when
he is in distres.
X. 80. Among the several occupations the most commendable are,
teaching the Veda for a Brahmana, protecting (the people) for a Kshatriya,
and trade for a Vaisya.

X. 81. But a Brahmana, unable to subsist by his peculiar occupations

just mentioned, may live according to the law applicable to Kshatriyas;
for the latter is next to him in rank.

X. 82. If it be asked, ‘How shall it be, if he cannot maintain himself

by either (of these occupations?’ the answer is), he may adopt a Vaisya’s
mode of life, employing himself in agriculture and rearing cattle.

X. 83. But a Brahamana, or a Kshatriya, living by a Vaisya’s mode

of subsistence, shall carefully avoid (the pursuit of) agriculture, (which
causes) injury to many beings and depends on others.

X. 84. (Some) declare that agriculture is something excellent, (but)

that means of subsistence is blamed by the virtuous; (for) the wooden
(implement) with iron point injures the earth and (the beings) living
in the earth.

X. 85. But he who, through a want of means of subsistence, gives

up the strictness with respect to his duties, may sell, in order to
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282 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

increase his wealth, the commodities sold by Vaisyas, making (however)

the (following) exceptions.

It will be seen that the disabilities imposed upon a Brahmin last as

long as he is prospering by the occupations which belong to him as of
right. As soon as he is in distress and his disabilities vanish and he is
free to do anything that he likes to do in addition to the occupations
reserved to him and without ceasing to be a Brahmin. Further whether
he is in distress or not is a matter which is left to the Brahmin to be
decided in his own discretion. There is therefore no bar to prevent even
a prosperous Brahmin to supplement his earnings by following any of
the professions open to him in distress by satisfying his conscience.
There are other provisions in Manu Smriti intended to materially
benefit the Brahmanas. They are Dakshina and Dana, Dakshina is the
fee which the Brahmin is entitled to charge when he is called to perform
a religious ceremony. Brahmanism is full of rites and ceremonies. It
is not very difficult to imagine how great must this source of income
be to every Brahmin. There was no chance of a priest being cheated
of his fees. The religious sense attached to Dakshina was a sufficient
sanction for regular payment. But Manu wanted to give the Brahmins
the right to recover his fees.
XI. 38. A Brahamana who, though wealthy, does not give, as fee
for the performance of an Agnyadheya, a horse sacred to Prajapati,
becomes (equal to one) who has not kindled the sacred fires.

XI. 39. Let him who has faith and controls his senses, perform other
meritorious acts, but let him on no acount offer sacrifices at which he
gives smaller fees (than those prescribed).

XI. 40. The organs (of sense and action), honour, (bliss in) heaven,
longevity, fame, offspring, and cattle are destroyed by a sacrifice at
which (too) small sacrificial fees are given; hence a man of small means
should not offer a (Srauta) sacrifice.

He even goes to the length of excusing a Brahmin by declaring

that anything done by him to recover his fees shall not be an offence
under the law.
VIII. 349. In their own defence, in a strife for the fees of officiating
priests and in order to protect women and Brahmanas; he who (under
such circumstances kills in the cause of right, commits no sin.

But it is the provision of Dana which makes a fruitful source of

income to the Brahmins. Manu exhorts the King to make Dana to
Brahmins.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 283

VII. 79. A King shall offer various (Srauta) sacrifices at which
liberal fees (are distributed), and in order to acquire merit, he shall
give to Brahmanas enjoyments and wealth.

VII. 82. Let him honour those Brahmanas who have returned from
their teacher’s house (after studying the Veda); for that (money which
is given) to Brahmanas is declared to be an imperishable treasure
for kings.

VII. 83. Neither thieves nor foes can take it, nor can it be lost; hence
an imperishable store must be deposited by kings with Brahmanas.

XI. 4. But a king shall bestow, as is proper, jewels of all sorts, and
presents for the sake of sacrifices on Brahmanas learned in the Vedas.

This admonition by Manu to the King did not remain a mere

hope for the Brahmin. For as history shows that this exhortation
was fully exploited by the Brahmins as the number of dana patras
discovered by Archialogists indicate. It is astounding how the kings
were befooled by the Brahmins to transfer village after village to
crafty, lazy and indolent Brahmins. Indeed a large part of the wealth
of the present day Brahmins lies in this swindle practised by wily
Brahmins upon pious but foolish kings. Manu was not content to
let the Brahmin prey upon the King for dana. He also allowed the
Brahmin to prey upon the public in the mattter of dana. This Manu
does in three different ways. In the first place he exhorts people to
make gifts as a part of the duty owed by the pious to himself at
the same time pointing out that the highest dana to a Brahmin.:
VII. 85. A gift to one who is not a Brahmana (yields) the ordinary
(reward); a gift to one who calls himself a Brahmana, a double (reward);
a gift to a well-read Brahmana, a hundred thousandfold (reward); (a
gift) to one who knows the Veda and the Angas (Vedaparanga), (a
reward) without end.

VII. 86. For according to the particular qualities of the recipient

and according to the faith (of the giver) a small or a great reward
will be obtained for a gift in the next world.

In the next place Manu declares that in certain circumstances

dana to a Brahmin is compulsory.
XI. 1. Him who wishes (to marry for the sake of having) offspring,
him who wishes to perform a sacrifice, a traveller, him who has given
away all his property, him who begs for the sake of his teacher, his
father, or his mother, a student of the Veda, and a sick man.
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284 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

XI. 2 These nine Brahmanas one should consider as Snatakas, begging

in order to fulfill the sacred law; to such poor men gifts must be given
in proportion to their learning.

XI. 3. To these most excellent among the twice-born, food and presents
(of money) must be given; it is declared that food must be given to others
outside the sacrificial enclosure.

XI. 6. One should give, according to one’s ability, wealth to Brahmanas

learned in the Veda and living alone; (thus) one obtains after death
heavenly bliss.

The third method adopted by Manu to make the rule of Dana become
a source of secure and steady income is beyond question the most
ingenuous one. Manu linked up dana with penance. In the Scheme of
Manu, an improper act may be a sin although not an offence or it may
be both a sin as well as an offence. As a sin its punishment is a matter
for canonical law. As an offence its punishment is a matter of secular
law. As sin, the improper act is called Pataka and the punishment for
it is called Penance. In the Scheme of Manu every Pataka must be
expunged by the performance of a penance.
XI. 44. A man who omits a prescribed act, or performs a blameable
act, or cleaves to sensual enjoyments, must perform a penance.

XI. 45. (All) sages prescribe a penance for a sin unintentionally

committed; some declare, on the evidence of the revealed texts, (that it
may be performed) even for an intentional (offences).

XI. 46. A sin unintentionally committed is expiated by the recitation

of Vedic texts, but that which (men) in their folly commit intentionally,
by various (special) penances.

XI. 53. Thus in consequence of a remnant of (the guilt of former)

crimes, are born idiots, dumb, blind, deaf and deformed men, who are
(all) despised by the virtuous.

XL. 54. Penances, therefore, must always be performed for the sake
of purification, because those whose sins have not been expiated, are
born (again) with disgraceful marks.

The penances prescribed by Manu are many and the curious may
refer to the Manu Smriti itself for a knowledge of what they are. What
is worthy of note is these penances are calculated to materially benefit
the Brahmin. Some penances take the form of a simple dana to the
Brahmin. Others prescribe the performance of some religious rites. But
as religious rites cannot be performed by anybody except by a Brahmin
and that the performance of religious rite requires the payment of fees
the Brahmin alone can be the beneficiary of the dana system.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 285

It is therefore absurd to suggest that Manu wanted to place before

the Brahmins the ideal of humility, poverty and service. The Brahmins
certainly did not understand Manu that way. Indeed they believed that
they were made a privileged class. Not only they believed in it but they
sought to extend their privileges in other directions a matter which will
be discussed later on. They were perfectly justified, in their view. Manu
called the Brahmins the ‘lords of the earth * and he framed (the law)
with such care that they shall remain so.
Having made full provision for Brahmin Rule and Brahmin dominance
Manu next launches out to transform society to suit his purposes.
The transformation of Varna into Caste is the most stupendous and
selfish task in which Brahmanism after its triumph became primarily
engaged. We have no explicit record of the steps that Brahmanism took
to bring about this change. On the contrary we have a lot of confused
thinking on the relation between Varna and Caste. Some think that Varna
and Caste are the same. Those who think that they are different seem
to believe that Varna became caste when prohibition on intermarriage
became part of the social order. All this, of course, is erroneous and
the error is due to the fact that Manu in transforming the Varna into
Caste has nowhere explained his ends and how his means are related
to those ends. Oscar Wilde has said that to be intelligible is to be
found out. Manu did not wish to be found out. He is therefore silent
about his ends and means, leaving people to imagine them. For Hindus
the subject is important beyond measure. An attempt at clarification
is absolutely essential so that the confusion due to different people
imagining differently the design of Manu may be removed and light
thrown on the way how Brahmanism proceeded to give a wrong and
pernicious turn to the original idea of Varna as the basis of society.
As I said Manu’s ways are silent and subterranean and we cannot
give the detailed and chronological history of this conversion of Varna
into Caste. But fortunately there are landmarks which are clear enough
to indicate how the change was brought about.
Before proceeding to describe how this change was brought about
let me clear the confusion between Varna and Caste. This can
best be done by noting the similarities and differences between the
two. Varna and Caste are identical in their de jure connotation.
Both connote status and occupation. Status and occupation are the.
two concepts which are implied both in the notion Varna as well
as in the notion of Caste. Varna and Caste however differ in one
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286 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

important particular. Varna is not hereditary either in status or

occupation. On the other hand Caste implies a system in which status
and occupation are hereditary and descend from father to son.
When I say that Brahmanism converted Varna into Caste what I
mean is that it made status and occupation hereditary.
How was this transformation effected? As I said there are no foot .
prints left of the steps taken by Brahmanism to accomplish this change
but there are landmarks which serve to give us a clear view of how the
deed came to be done.
The change was accomplished by stages. In the transformation of
Varna into Caste three stages are quite well marked. The first stage was
the stage in which the duration of Varna i.e. of status and occupation
of a person was for a prescrbied period of time only. The second stage
was a stage in which the status and occupation involved the Varna of
a person ensured during lifetime only. The third stage was a stage in
which the status and occupation of the Varna became hereditary. To use
legal language the Estate conferred by Varna was at the beginning an
Estate for a term only. Thereafter it became a life Estate and finally it
became an Estate of inheritance which is tantamount to saying that Varna
became Caste. That these are the stages by which Varna was converted
into Caste seems to have ample support from tradition as recorded in
the religious literature.1 There is no reason why this tradition should not
be accepted as embodying some thing that is quite genuine. According
to this tradition, the task of determining Varna of a person was effected
by a body of officers called Manu and Sapta Rishis. From the mass of
people Manu selected those who were fit to be Kshatriyas and Vaishas
and the Sapta Rishis selected those who were fit to be Brahmanas. After
this selection was made by Manu and Sapta Rishis for being Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishas, the rest that were not selected were called Shudras.
The Varna arrangement so determined lasts for one Yug i.e. a period
of four years. Every fourth year a new body of officers known by the
same designation Manu and Sapta Rishi were appointed for making
a new selection. It happened that last time some of those who were
left to be fit only for being Shudras were selected for being Brahmins,
Kshatriyas and Vaishyas while some of those who were, elected last
time for being Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were left as being fit
only of being Shudras. Thus the personnel of the Varna changed. It was
1
I am here following the clues supplied by the investigations of Mr. Daphtary and
Pradnayneshwar Yati. The former’s Dharma Rahasya and the letter’s Chaturvarnya are
very valuable as they are quite original in their point of view. The subject of course needs
to be further investigated along the lines suggested by them.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 287

a sort of a periodical shuffling and selection of men to take up according to

their mental and physical aptitudes and occupations which were essential
to the life of the community. The time when the reshuffling of the Varnas
took place was called Manwantar which etymologically means change of
Vama made by Manu. The word Manwantar also means the period for
which the Varna of an individual was fixed. The word Manwantar is very
rich in its contents and expresses the essential elements of the Varna
system which were two. First it shows that Varna was determined by
an independent body of people called Manu and Saptarshi. Secondly it
shows that the Varna was for a period after which a change was made
by Manu1. According to ancient tradition as embodied in the Puranas the
period for which the Varna of a person was fixed by Manu and Saptarshi
was a period of four years and was called Yug. At the end of the period
of four years there occured the Manwantar whereby every fourth year
the list was revised. Under the revision some changed their old Varna,
some retained it, some lost it and some gained it.2
The original system seems to have in contemplation the determination
of the Varna of adults. It was not based on prior training or close
scrutiny of bias and aptitude. Manu and Saptarshi was a sort of a
Board of Interview which determined the Varna of a person from how
he struck them at the interview. The determination of the Varna was
done in a rough and tumble manner. This system seems to have gone
into abeyance. A new system grew up in its place. It was known as
the Gurukul system. The Gurukul was a school maintained by a Guru
(teacher) also called Acharya (learned man). All children went to this
Gurukul for their education. The period of education extended for twelve
years. The child while at Gurukul was known as Bramhachari. After
the period of education was over there was the Upanayan ceremony
performed at the Gurukul by the Acharya. The Upanayan ceremony
was the most important ceremony. It was a ceremony at which the
Acharya determined the Varna of the student and sent him out in the
world to perform the duties of that Varna. Upanayan by the Acharyas
was the new method of determining Varna which came into vogue in
place of method of determination by Manu and Saptarshi. The new
method was undoubtedly superior to the old method. It retained the

1
One can now see why Sumati Bhargava called his code as the Code of Manu. He wanted
to invest it with the dignity and authority of the ancient law-giver Manu.
2
This is the only theory which can explain how some of the Mantras of the Vedas are
admitted to have been made by Shudras, a question which in view of the statement of
Manu that the Shudras must not recite the Vedas, nor hear them recited becomes a very
puzzling question.
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288 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

true feature of the old method namely that the Varna should be determined
by a disinterested and independent body. But it added a new feature
namely training as a pre-requisite for assignment of Varna. On the
ground that training alone developes individual in the make up of a
person and the only safe way to determine the Varna of a person is to
know his individuality, the addition of this new feature was undoubtedly
a great improvement.
With the introduction of the Acharya Gurukul system, the duration
of the Varna came to be altered. Varna instead of being Varna for a
period became Varna for life. But it was not hereditary.
Evidently Brahmanism was dissatisfied with this system. The reason
for dissatisfaction was quite obvious. Under the system as prevalent
there was every chance of the Acharya declaring the child of a Brahmin
as fit only to be a Shudra. Brahmanism was naturally most anxious to
avoid this result. It wanted the Varna to be hereditary. Only by making
the Varna hereditary could it save the children of the Brahmins from
being declared Shudra. To achieve this Brahmanism proceeded in the
most audacious manner one can think of.
III
Brahmanism made three most radical changes in the system of
determing the Varna of the child. In the first place the system of
Gurukul as the place where training to the child was given and its
Varna was determined by the Guru at the end of the period of training
was abolished. Manu is quite aware of the Gurukul and refers to
Guruvas1 i.e. training and residence in the Gurukul under the Guru.
But does not refer to it at all in connection with the Upanayan. He
abolishes the Guru as an authority competent to perform Upanayan
by omitting to make even the remotest reference to him in connection
with Upanayan. In place of the Guru Manu allows the Upanayan of
the child to be performed by its father athome.2 Secondly Upanayan
was made into a Sanskara i.e. a sacrament. In olden times Upanayan
was like a convocation ceremony3 held by the Guru to confer degrees
obtained by students in his Gurukul in which certificates of proficiency
in the duties of a particular Varna were granted. In Manu’s law that
Upanayan was a complete change in the meaning and purpose of this
most important institution. Thirdly the relation of training to Upanayan
was totally reversed. In the olden system training came before Upanayan.

1
Manu II. 67 Where Manu.
2
Manu II, 36-37.
3
On this point see Pradnaneshwar Yati’s booklet on Upnayan.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 289

Under the Brahmanism Upanayan came before training. Manu directs

that a child be sent to the Guru for training but that is after Upanayan
i.e. after1 his Varna is determined by his father.
The principal change made by Brahmanism was the transfer of authority
from the Guru to the father in the matter of performing Upanayan. The
result was that the father having the right to perform the Upanayan of
his child gave his own Varna to the child and thus made it hereditory.
It is by divesting the Guru of his authority to determine the Varna and
vesting it in the father that Brahmanism ultimately converted Varna
into Caste.
Such is the story of the transformation of Varna into Caste. The story
of the transition from one to the other is of course reconstructed. For
the reasons already given it may not be quite as accurate as one would
wish it to be in all its details. But I have no doubt that the stages and
the ways by which Varna ceased to exist and caste came into being
must be some such as have been suggested in the foregoing discussion
of the subject.
What object Brahmanism could have had in converting Varna into
caste it is not difficult to imagine. The object was to make the high
status enjoyed by the Brahmins from ancient times the privilege of every
Brahmin and his progeny without reference to merits or to qualifications.
To put it differently the object was to elevate and ennoble every Brahmin,
however mean and worthless he may be, to the high status occupied by
some of them on account of the virtue. It was an attempt to ennoble
the whole of the Brahmin Community without exception.
That this was the object of Brahmanism is clear from Manu’s ordinances.
Manu knew that making Varna hereditary, the most ignorant Brahmin2
will be elevated to the status occupied by the most learned Brahmin.
He feared that the former may not be respected as much as the most
learned, which was the object of this attempt at the ennoblement of the
whole class of Brahmins. Manu is very much concerned about the ignorant
Brahmin—a new thing— and warns people against being disrespectful
to an ignorant and mean Brahmin.
IX. 317. A Brahmin, whether learned or ignornt, is a powerful divinity;
even as fire is powerful divinity, whether consecrated or popular.

IX. 319. Thus although Brahmins employ themselves in all sorts

of mean ocupations, they must invariably be honoured; for they are
something transcendently divine.
1
Manu II. 69.
2
Under the Varna there could be no ignorant Brahmin. The possibility of an ignorant
Brahmin can arise only when Varna becomes Caste i.e. when one becomes a Brahmin
only by reason of birth.
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290 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Such a warning was unnecessary if the object was to ennoble the whole
Brahmin class. Here is a case where vice refuses to pay to virtue even
the homage of hypocracy. Can there be greater moral degeneracy than
what is shown by Manu in insisting upon the worship of the Brahmin
even if he is mean and ignorant?
So much for the object of change from Varna to caste. What have
been the consequences of this change?
From the spiritual point of view the consequences have been too
harmful to be contemplated with equanimity. The harm done may
perhaps be better realized by comparing the position of the Brahmin
as a priest resulting from the law of Manu with that of the law of the
clergy under the Church of England. There the clergy is subject to the
criminal law as every citizen is. But in addition to that he is always
subject to Church Descipline Act. Under the Criminal Law he would
be punished if he officiated as a clergy without being qualified for it.
Under the Church Discipline Act he would be liable to be disqualified
as a clergy for conduct which would be deemed to be morally wrong
although it did not amount to a crime. This double check on the clergy
is held justifiable because learning and morality are deemed to be quite
essential for the profession of the clergy who are supposed to administer
to the spiritual needs of the people. Under Brahmanism the Brahmin
who alone can be the clergy need not possess learning or morality. Yet
he is in sole charge of the spiritual affairs of the people!! On the value
of a creed which permits this, comment is unnecessary.
From the secular point of view, the consequences of this transformation
of Varna into Caste has to introduce a most pernicious mentality among
the Hindus. It is to disregard merit and have regard only to birth. If one
is descended from the high he has respect although he may be utterly
devoid of merit or worth. One who is of high birth will be superior to
the one who is of low birth although the latter may be superior to the
former in point of worth. Under Brahmanism it is birth that always
wins, whether it is against birth or against worth. Merit by itself can win
no meads. This is entirely due to the dissociation of merits from status
which is the work of Brahmanism. Nothing could be better calculated to
produce an unprogressive society which sacrifices the rights of intelligence
on the altar of aristocratic privilege.
Now the third deed in the catalogue of deeds done by Brahmanism
after its triumph over Buddhism. It was to separate the Brahmins from
the result of the Non-Brahmin population and to sever the different
social strata of the Non-Brahmin population.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 291

Pushyamitra’s Brahmanic Revolution was undertaken for the

purposes of restoring the ancient social system of Chaturvarna which
under the Buddhist regime was put into the melting pot. But when
Brahmanism triumphed over Buddhism it did not content itself with
merely restoring Charutvarna as it was in its original form. The system
of Chaturvarna of the Pre-Buddhist days was a flexible system and
was an open to system. This was because the Varna system had no
connection with the marriage system. While Chaturvarna recognized
the existence of four different classes, it did not prohibit inter-marriage
between them. A male of one Varna could lawfully marry a female of
another Varna. There are numerous illustrations in support of this
view. I give below some instances which refer to well known and
respectable individuals which have acquired a name and fame in the
sacred lore of the Hindus.
Husband His Varna Wife Her Varna
1. Shantanu Kshatriya Ganga Shudra Anamik
2. Shantanu Kshatriya Matsyagandha Shudra Fisher woman
3. Parashara Brahmin Matsyagandha Shudra Fisher woman
4. Vishwamitra Kshatriya Menaka Apsara
5. Yayati Kshatriya Devayani Brahmin
6. Yayati Kshatriya Sharmishta Asuri—Non-Aryan
7. Jaratkaru Brahmin Jaratkari Nag—Non-Aryan

Should anybody retain doubt on the question that the division of

the society into classes did not prohibit intermarriages between the
four Varnas let him consider the geneology of the family of the great
Brahmin sage Vyas.
GENEOLOGY OF VYAS
Varuna Mitra = Urvashi 
Vashishtha = Akshamala

Shakti =

Parashara = Matsyagandha

= Vyas

Brahmintsm with the ferocity of an outraged brute proceeded to put a

stop to these intermarriage between the different Varnas. A new law is
proclaimed by Manu. It is in the following terms:—
III. 12. For the first marriage of twice born men (wives) of equal
caste are recommended.
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292 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

III. 13. It is declared that a Sudra woman alone can be the wife of
a Shudra.
III. 14. A Shudra woman is not mentioned even in any (ancient) story
as the (first) wife of a Brahmana or of a Kshatriya, though they lived
in the (greatest) distress.
III. 15. Twice-born men who, in their folly, wed wives of the low
(Sudra) caste, soon degrade their families and their children to the
state of Sudras.
III. 16. According to Atri and to (Gautama) the son of Utathya, he
who weds a Sudra woman becomes an outcast, according to Saunakaon
the birth of a son, and according to Bhrigu he who has (male)offspring
from a (Sudra female, alone).
III. 17. A Brahmana who takes a Sudra wife to his bed, will (after
death) sink into hell; if he begets a child by her, he will lose the rank
of a Brahmana.
III. 18. The manes and the gods will not eat the (offerings) of that
man who performs the rites in honour of the gods, of the manes, and
of guests chiefly with a (Sudra wife’s) assistance, and such (a man) will
not go to heaven.
III. 19. For him who drinks the moisture of a Sudra’s lips, who is
tainted by her breath, and who begets a son on her, no expiation is
prescribed.

Brahmanism was not satisfied with the prohibition of intermarriage.

Brahmanism went further and prohibited interdining.
Manu lays down certain interdicts on food. Some are hygenic. Some
are social. Of the social the following are worthy of attention:
IV. 218. Food given by a king, impairs his manly vigour; by one of the
servile class, his divine light; by goldsmiths, his life; by leathercutters,
his good name.
IV. 219. Given by cooks and the like mean artizans, it destroys his
offsprings: by a washerman, his muscular strength;
IV. 221. That of all others, mentioned in order, whose food must
never be tasted, is held equal by the wise to the skin, bones, and hair
of the head.
IV. 222. Having unknowingly swallowed the food of any such persons,
he must fast during three days; but having eaten it knowingly, he
must perform the same harsh penance, as if he had tasted any seminal
impurity, ordure, or urine.

I said that Brahmanism acted with the ferocity of an outranged brute

in undertaking the task of prohibiting intermarriage and interdining.
Those who have doubts in this matter ponder over the language of Manu.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 293

Mark the disguest Manu shows with regard to the Shudra woman.
Mark what Manu says about the food of the Shudra. He says it is
as impure as semen or urine.
These two laws have produced the caste system. Prohibition of
intermarriage and prohibition against interdining are two pillars on
which it rests. The caste system and the rules relating to intermarriage
and interdining are related to each other as ends to means. Indeed by
no other means could the end be realized.
The forging of these means shows that the creation of the caste system
was end and aim of Brahmanism. Brahmanism enacted the prohibitions
against intemarriage and interdining. But Brahmanism introduced
other changes in the social system and if the purposes underlying these
changes are those which I suggest them to be, then it must be admitted
that Brahmanism was so keen in sustaining the caste system that it
did not mind whether ways and means employed were fair or unfair,
moral or immoral. I refer to the laws contained in the Code of Manu
regarding marriage of girls and the life of widows.
See the law that Manu promulgates regarding the marriage of females.
IX. 4. Reprehensible is the father who gives not (his daughter) in
marriage at the proper time.

IX. 88. To a distinguished, handsome suitor of equal caste should a

father give his daughter in accordance with the prescribed rule, though
she have not attained (the proper age), i.e. although she may not have
reached puberty.

By this rule Manu enjoins that a girl should be married even though
she may not have reached the age of puberty i.e. even when she is a
child.
Now with regard to widows Manu promulgates the following rule.
V. 157. At her pleasure let her (i.e. widow) emaciate her body, by
living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots and fruits; but let her not,
when her lord is deceased, even pronounce the name of another man.

V. 161. But a widow, who from a wish to bear children, slights her
deceased husband by marrying again, brings disgrace on herself here
below, and shall be excluded from the seat of her lord (in heaven).

V. 162. Offspring begotten on a woman by any other than her husband,

is here declared to be no progeny of hers; no more than a child, begotten
on the wife of another man belongs to the begetter; nor is a second
husband any where prescribed for a virtuous woman.
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294 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

This is the rule of enforced widowhood for a woman. A reference may

also be made to Sati or a widow who burns herself on the funeral pyre
of her husband and thus puts an end to her life. Manu is silent about it.
Yajnavalkya1 an authority nearly as great as Manu says, she must
not live separately or alone.
86. When deprived of her husband, she must not remain away from
her father, mother, son, brother, mother-in-law or from her maternal
uncle; otherwise she might become liable to censure.

Here again Yajnavalkya does not suggest that a widow become a

Sati. But Vijnaneshwar, the author of Mitakshara a commentary on
Yajnavalkya Smriti makes the following observation in commenting on
the above Sloka.
“This is in the case of the alternative of leading a celibate life vide
the text of Vishnu2: “After the death of the husband, either celibacy or
ascending the (cremation) pile after him.”
Vijnaneshwar3 adds as his opinion that ‘There is great merit in
ascending the funeral pyre after him.’

From this one can very easily and clearly see how the rule of Sati came
to be forged. Manu’s rule was that a widow was not to remarry. But it
appears from the statement by Vijnaneshwar that from the time of the
Vishnu Smriti a different interpretation began to put on the ordinance
of Manu. According to this new interpretation Manu’s rule was explained
to be offering to the widow a choice between two alternatives: (1) Either
burn yourself on your husband’s funeral pyre or (2) If you don’t, remain
unmarried. This of course is totally false interpretation quite unwarranted
by the clear words of Manu. Somehow it came to be accepted. The date
of the Vishnu Smriti is somewhere about the 3rd or 4th Century. It can
therefore be said that rule of Sati dates from this period.
One thing is certain, these were new rules. The rule of Manu that
girl should be married before she has reached puberty is a new rule.
In Pre-Buddhistic Brahmanism4 marriages were performed not only
after puberty but they were performed when girls had reached an age
when they could be called grown up. Of this there is ample evidence.
Similarly the rule that a woman once she had lost her husband
must not remarry is a new rule. In the Pre-Buddhist Brahmanism
there was no prohibition on widow remarriage. The fact that the
Sanskrit language contains words such as Punarbhu (woman who has

1
The date of the Yajnavalkya Smriti is betwen 150-200 A.D.
2
Vishnu Smriti Ch. XXV 14.
3
He wrote his Mitakshara between 1070 and 1100 A.D.
4
See kane—History of Dharmashastra I. Part I. page.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 295

undergone a second marriage ceremony) and punarbhav (second husband)

show that such marriages were quite common under the Pre-Buddhist
Brahmanism.1 With regard to Sati the position as to when it arose,2
there is evidence to suggest that it existed in ancient times. But there is
evidence that it had died out and it was revived after Brahmanism under
Pushyamitra obtained its victory over Buddhism although it was some time
later than Manu.
Question is this, why these changes were made by the triumphant
Brahmanism? What did Brahmanism want to achieve by having girls
married before they had become pubert, by denying the widow to the right
to marry again and by telling her to put herself to death by immolating
herself in the funeral pyre of her deceased husband? No explainations are
forthcoming for these changes. Mr. C. V. Vaidya who offers an explanation
for girl marriage says3 that girl marriage was introduced to prevent girls
from joining the Buddhist order of nuns. This explanation does not satisfy
me. Mr. Vaidya omits to take into consideration another rule laid down by
Manu—namely the rule relating to suitable age for marriage. According
to that rule.
IX. 94. A man, aged thirty, shall marry a maiden of twelve who pleases
him, or a man of twenty-four a girl eight years of age.

The question is not why girl marriage was introduced. The question is
why Manu allowed so much discrepancy in the ages of the bride and the
bridegroom.
Mr. Kane4 has attempted an explanation of Sati. His explanation is
that there is nothing new in it. It existed in India in ancient times as it
did in other parts of the world. This again does not satisfy the world. If it
existed outside India, it has not been practised on so enormous a scale as in
India. Secondly if traces of it are found in Ancient India in the Kshatriyas,
why was it revived, why was it not universalized? There is no satisfactory
explanation. Mr. Kane’s explanation that the prevalence of Sati by reference
to laws of inheritance does not appear to me very convincing. It may be
that because under the Hindu Law of inheritance as it prevailed in Bengal,
women got a share in property. The relations of the husband of the widow
pressed her to be a Sati in order to get rid of a share may explain why
Sati was practised on so large a scale in Bengal. But it does not explain
how it arose nor how it came to be practised in other parts of India.
Again with regard to the prohibition of widow remarriage, there
is no explanation whatsoever. Why was the widow, contrary to

1
See Kane—History of Dharmashastra, Vol. II, Part II Chapt.
2
The available evidence on Sati has been collected by Kane in his History of Dharmashastra
Vol. II Part I pp. 617-636.
3
History of India Vol. II.
4
History or Dharmashastra.
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296 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

established practice, prohibited from marrying? Why was she required

to lead a life of misery? Why was she disfigured?
My explanation for girl marriage, enforced widowhood and Sati is
quite different and I offer it for what it is worth.1
“Thus the superposition of endogamy over exogamy means the
creation of Caste. But this is not an easy affair. Let us take an
imaginary group that desire to make itself into a caste and analyse
what means it will have to adopt to make itself endogamous. If a
group desires to make itself endogamous, a formal injunction against
intermarriage with outside groups will be of no avail, especially if
prior to the introduction of endogamy, exogamy were to be the rule
in all matrimonial relations. Again there is a tendency in all groups
living in close contact with one another to assimilate and amalgamate,
and thus consolidate into a homogeneous society. If this tendency be
strongly counteracted in the interest of Caste formation, it is absolutely
necessary to circumscribe a circle without which people should not
contract marriages.”

“Nevertheless this encircling to prevent marriages from without

creates problems from within which are not very easy of solution.
Roughly speaking in a normal group the two sexes are more or less
evenly distributed, and generally speaking there is an equality between
those of the same age. But this equality is never quite realised in actual
societies. While to the group that is desirous of making itself into a
caste the maintenance of this equality between the sexes becomes the
ultimate goal, for without this endogamy can no longer subsist. In other
words, if endogamy is to be preserved, conjugal rights from within have
to be provided for, else members of the group will be driven out of the
circle to take care of themselves in any way they please. But in order
that the conjugal rights be provided for from within, it is absolutely
necessary to maintain a numerical equality between the marriageable
units of the two sexes within the group desirous of making itself into
a Caste. It is only through the maintenance of this equality that the
necessary endogamy of the group could be kept intact, and a very
large disparity is sure to break it.”

“The problem of Caste then ultimately resolves itself into one of

repairing the disparity between the marriageable units of the two sexes
within it. The much needed parity between the units could be realized
only when a couple dies simultaneously. But this is a rare contingency.
The husband may die before the wife and create a surplus woman who
must be disposed of, else through intermarriage she will violate the
endogamy of the group. In like manner the husband may survive his
1
They will be found in my paper on “Castes in India” which appeared in The Indian
Antiquarry for May, 1917.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 297

wife and be a surplus man whom the group, while it may sympathise
with him for the sad bereavement, has to dispose of, else he will
marry outside the Caste and will break the endogamy. Thus both the
surplus man and the surplus woman constitute a menace to the Caste
if not taken care of, for, not Finding suitable partners inside their
prescribed circle (and they cannot find any, for there are just enough
pairs to go round) very likely they will transgress the boundary, marry
outside and import population that is foreign to the Caste. Let us see
what our imaginary group is likely to do with this surplus man and
surplus woman. We will first take up the case of the surplus woman.
She can be disposed of in two different ways so as to preserve the
endogamy of the Caste.”

“First : burn her on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband and
get rid of her. This, however, is rather an impracticable way of solving
the problem of sex disparity. In some cases it may work, in others it
may not. Consequently every surplus woman cannot thus be disposed
of, because it is an easy solution but a hard realization. However, the
surplus woman (widow) if not disposed of, remains in the group: but
in her very existence lies a double danger. She may marry outside the
Caste and violate to endogamy or she may marry within the Caste
and through competition encroach upon the chances of marriage that
must be reserved for the potential brides in the Caste. She therefore
is a menace in any case and something must be done to her if she
cannot be burned along with her deceased husband.”

“The second remedy is to enforce widowhood on her for the rest of

her life. So far as the objective results are concerned burning is a better
solution than enforcing widowhood. Burning the widow eliminates all
the three evils that a surplus woman is fraught with. Being dead and
gone she creates no problem of remarriage either inside or outside
the Caste. But compulsory widowhood is superior to burning because
it is more practicable. Besides being comparatively humane it also
guards against the evils of remarriage as does burning; but it fails to
guard the morals of the group. No doubt under compulsory widowhood
the woman remains and, just because she is deprived of her natural
right of being a legitimate wife in future, the incentive to bad moral
conduct is increased. But this is by no means an insuperable’ difficulty.
She can be degraded to a condition where she could no longer be a
source of allurement.”

“The problem of surplus man (—widower) is much more important

and much more difficult than that of the surplus woman in a group
that desires to make itself into a Caste. From time immemorial man
as compared with woman has had the upper hand. He is a dominant
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298 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

figure in every group and of the two sexes has greater prestige. With
this traditional superiority of man over woman his wishes have always
been consulted. Woman on the other hand has been an easy prey to
all kinds of iniquitous injunctions, religious, social or economic. But
man as a maker of injunctions is most often above them all. Such
being the case you cannot accord the same kind of treatment to a
surplus man as you can to a surplus woman in a Caste.”

“The project of burning him with his deceased wife is hazardous in

two ways: first of all it cannot be done, simply because he is a man.
Secondly, if done, a sturdy soul is lost to the Caste. There remain
then only two solutions which can conveniently dispose of him. I say
conveniently because he is an asset to the group.”

“Important as he is to the group, endogamy is still more important,

and the solution must assure both these ends. Under these
circumstances he may be forced, or I should say induced, after the
manner of the widow to remain a widower for the rest of his life.
This solution is not altogether difficult, for without there being any
compulsion some are so disposed as to enjoy self-imposed celibacy or
may even take a further step of their own accord to renounce the
world and its joys. But, given human nature as it is, this solution
can hardly be expected to bc\ realized. On the other hand, as is
very likely to be the case, if he remains in the group as an active
participator in group activities, he is a danger to the morals of the
group. Looked at from a different view point, ceilibacy though easy
in cases where it succeeds, is not so advantageous even then to the
material prospects of the Caste. If he observes genuine celibacy and
renounces the world, he would not be a menace to the preservation
of Caste endogamy or Caste morals as undoubtedly would be, if he
remained a secular person. But as an ascetic celibate he is as good
as burned, so far as the material well-being of his Caste is concerned.
A Caste, in order that it may be large enough to afford a vigorous
communal life, must be maintained at a certain numerical strength.
But to hope for this and to proclaim celibacy is the same as trying
to cure atrophy by bleeding.

“Imposing celibacy on the surplus man in the group therefore

fails, both theoretically and practically. It is in the interest of the
Caste to keep him as a Grahastha (one who raises a family) to use
a Sanskrit technicality. But the problem is to provide him with a
wife from within the Caste. At the outset this is not possible, for the
ruling ratio in a caste has to be one man to one woman and none can
have two chances of marriage, for in a Caste thoroughly self enclosed
there are always just enough marriageable women to go round for the
marriageable men. Under these circumstances the surplus man can
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 299

only be provided with a wife by recruiting a bride from the ranks of
those not yet marriageable in order to tie him down to the group. This
is certainly the best of the possible solutions in the case of the surplus
man. By this, he is kept within the Caste. By this, this numerical
depletion through constant outflow is guarded against, and by this
endogamy and morals are preserved.

“It will now be seen that the four means by which numerical disparity
between the two sexes is conveniently maintained are : (1) Burning
the widow with her deceased husband; (2) Compulsory widowhood—a
milder form of burning; (3) Imposing celibacy on the widower;
(4) Wedding him to a girl not yet marriageable. Though as I said above,
burning the widow and imposing celibacy on the widower are of doubtful
service to the group in its endeavour to preserve its endogamy, all of
them operate as means. But means as forces, when liberated or set in
motion create an end. What then is the end that these means create?
They create and perpetuate endogamy, while caste and endogamy,
according to our analysis of the various definitions of caste, are one
and the same thing. Thus the existence of these means means caste
and caste involves these means.”

“This, in my opinion, is the general mechanism of a caste in a

system of castes. Let us now turn to the castes in the Hindu Society
and inquire into their mechanism. I need hardly promise that there
are a great many pitfalls in the path of those who try to unfold the
past, and caste in India to be sure is a very ancient institutiion. This
is especially true where there exist no authentic or written history or
records or where the people, like the Hindus are so constituted that
to them writing history is a folly, for the world is an illusion. But
institutions do live, though for a long time they may remain unrecorded
and as often as not customs and morals are like fossils that tell their
own history. If this is true, our task will be amply rewarded if we
scrutinize the solution the Hindus arrived at to meet the problems of
the surplus man and surplus woman.”

“Complex though it be in its general working the Hindu Society,

even to a superficial observer, presents three singular uxorial customs,
namely:—

(i) Sati or the burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of her
deceased husband.
(ii) Enforced widowhood by which a widow is not allowed to
remarry.
(iii) Girl marriage.
In addition to these, one also notes a great hankering after Sannyasa
(renunciation) on the part of the widower, but it may in some cases be
due purely to psychic disposition.
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300 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

“So far as I know, no scientific explanation of the origin of

these customs is forth coming even today. We have plenty of
philosophy to tell us why these customs were honoured. (Cf.
A. K. Coomaraswamy— “Sati: a Defence of the Eastern Woman
“in the British Sociological Review Vol. VI 1913) Because it is
a “proof of the perfect unity of body and soul” between husband
and wife and of “devotion beyond the grave”, because it embodied
the ideal of wifehood which is well expressed by lima when she
said “Devotion to her Lord is woman’s honour, it is her eternal
heaven: and O Maheshwara”, she adds with a most touching
human cry, “I desire not paradise itself if thou art not satisfied
with me!” Why compulsory widowhood is honoured I know not
nor have I yet met with anyone who sang in praise of it, though
there are a great many who adhere to it. The eulogy in honour
of girl marriage is reported by Dr. Ketkar to be as follows: “A
really faithful man or woman ought not to feel affection for
a woman or a man other than the one with whom he or she
is united. Such purity is compulsory not only after marriage,
but even before marriage, for that is the only correct ideal of
chastity. No maiden could be considered pure if she feels love
for a man other than to whom she might get married. As she
does not know whom she is going to get married to, she must
not feel affection for any man at all before marriage. If she does
so, it is a sin. So it is better for a girl to know whom she has
to love, before any sexual consciousness has been awakened in
her”. Hence girl marriage.

“This high-flown and ingenious sophistry indicates why these

institutions were honoured, but does not tell us why they were
practised. My own interpretation is that they were honoured
because they were practised. Any one slightly acquainted with
rise of individualism in the 18th century will appreciate my
remark. At all times, it is the movement that is most important;
and the philosophies grow around it long afterwards to justify
it and give it a moral support. In like manner I urge that the
very fact that these customs were so highly eulogized proves
that they needed eulogy for their prevalence. Regarding the
question as to why they arose, I submit that they were needed
to create the structure of caste and the philosophies in honour
of them were intended to popularize them or to gild the pill,
as we might say, for they must have been so abominable and
shocking to the sense of the unsophisticated that they needed a
great deal of sweetening. These customs are essentially of the
nature of means, though they are represented as ideals. But this
should not blind us from understanding the results that flow
from them. One might safely say that idealization of means is
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 301

necessary and in this particular case was perhaps motivated to
endow them with greater efficacy. Calling means an end does not
harm except that it disguises its real character, but it does not
deprive it of its real nature, that of a means. You may pass a law
that all cats are dogs, just as you can call a means an end. But
you can no more change the nature of means thereby than you can
turn cats into dogs; consequently I am justified in holding that,
regard them as ends or as means, Sati, enforced widowhood and
girl marriage are customs that were primarily intended to solve
the problem of the surplus man and surplus woman in a caste and
to maintain its endogamy. Strict endogamy could not be preserved
without these customs, while caste without endogamy is fake.”

According to my view girl marriage, enforced widowhood and Sati

had no other purpose than that of supporting the Caste System which
Brahmanism was seeking to establish by prohibiting intermarriage. It is
difficult to stop intermarriage. Members of different castes are likely to go
out of their Caste either for love or for necessity. It is to provide against
necessity that Brahmanism made these rules. This is my explanation
of these new rules, made by Brahmanism. That explanation may not
be acceptable to all. But there can be no doubt that Brahmanism was
taking all means possible to prevent intermarriages between the different
classes taking place.
Another illustration of this desire on the part of Brahmanism is to
be found in the rule regarding excommunication promulgated by Manu.
Manu says that a person who is excommunicated by his Caste is an
outcast.1 According to Manu an outcast is to be treated as though he
was actually dead. Manu ordains that his obsequies should be performed
and lays down the mode and manner of performing these obsequies of
the outcast.
XI. 183. The Sapindas and Samanodakas of an outcast must
offer (a libation of) water (to him, as if he were dead), outside (the
village), on an inauspicious day, in the evening and in the presence
of the relatives, officiating priests, and teachers.
XI. 184. A female slave shall upset with her foot a pot filled
with water, as if it were for a dead person; (his Sapindas) as
well as the Samanodakas shall be impure for a day and a night.
Manu however allows the outcast to return to Caste on performing
penance as will be seen from the following rules:
XI. 187. But when he has performed his penance, they shall
bathe with him in a holy pool and throw down a new pot, filled
with water.

1
The outcast is quite different from un Untouchable as will be shown later.
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302 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

XI. 188. But he shall throw that pot into water, enter his house and
perform, as before, all the duties incumbent on a relative.
XI. 189. Let him follow the same rule in the case of female outcasts; but
clothes, food, and drink shall be given to them, and they shall live close
to the (family) house.
But if the outcast was recalcitrant and impenitent Manu provides for
his punishment.

Manu will not allow the outcast to live in the family house. Manu
enjoins that
XI. 189………Clothes, food, and drink shall be given to them (i.e. the
outcast members of the family), and they shall live close to the (family)
house.
III. 92. Let him (i.e. the householder) gently place on the ground (some
food) for dogs, outcasts, chandals, those aflicted with diseases that are
punishments of former sins, crows and insects.

Manu declares that having social intercourse with an outcast is a sin.

He warns the Snataka
IV. 79…………not (to) stay together with outcasts.
IV. 213…………Not (to eat food given) by outcasts.

To the householder Manu says:—

III. 151. Let him (i.e. the householder) not entertain at a Shradha.
III. 157. (A person) who forsakes his mother, his father, or a teacher
without (sufficient) reason, he who has contracted an alliance with outcasts
either through the Veda or through a marriage.

Manu ordains a social boycott of the outcast by penalizing those who

associate with him.
XI. 181. He who associates himself for one year with an outcast himself
becomes an outcast; not by sacrificing, reading the Veda, or contracting
affinity with him, since by those acts he loses his class immediately, but
even by using the same carriage or seat, or by taking his food at the same
board.
XI. 182. He who associates with any one of those outcasts, must perform,
in order to atone for (such) intercourse, the penance prescribed for that
(sinner).

Then there are penalties against an outcast who defies his caste and
choses to remain an outcast. Manu tells him what will be his penalty
in the next world.
XII. 60. He who has associated with outcasts (will) become Brahmarakshas
(i.e. an evil spirit).
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 303

Manu however was not prepared to leave the outcast with this. He
proceeds to enact penalty the severity of which cannot be doubted. The
following are the penal sections of Manu Smriti against an outcast.
III. 150…………Those Brahmins who are .....outcasts ……….
Athesists are unworthy (to partake) of oblations to the gods and manes.
IX. 201. .....Outcast receive(s) no share (in inheritance).
XI. 185. But thenceforward (i.e. after the obsequies of the outcast
have been performed) it shall be forbidden to converse with him, to
sit with him, to give him a share of the inheritance, and to hold with
him such intercourse as is usual among men;
XI. 186. And (if the outcast be the eldest) his right of primogeniture
shall be withheld and the additional share, due to the eldest son; and
in his stead a younger brother, excelling in virtue (i.e. who observes
the rule of caste) shall obtain the share of the eldest.

Such is the law of Manu against an outcast. The severity of the

penalties prescribed against him is quite obvious. Its effect is to
exclude him from all social intercourse, to suspend him from every
civil function, to disqualify him for all offices and to disable him
from inheriting any property. Under these pains and penalties the
outcaste might as well be dead which indeed Manu considers him to
be, directing libations to be offered to the manes as though he was
naturally so. This system of privations and mortifications was enforced
by prescribing a similar fate to anyone who endeavoured to associate
with an outcast. The penalty was not confined to the outcast. Nor was
it restricted to males. Males and females were both subject to the law
of the outcast. Even their progeny was subject to penalty. The law
was extended to the son of the outcast. Born befo
son was entitled to inherit immediately, as though his father was dead.
Born after excommunication he lost his right to inherit, i.e. he became
an outcast along with his father.
The laws of Manu regarding the outcast are of course devoid of
justice and humanity. Some might think that there is nothing very
strange about them. That is because these laws are very similar to the
laws against apostacy and heresy to be found in all religious codes.
It is unfortunately a fact. All religions —Except Buddhism— have
used or misued the laws of inheritance for enforcing adhesion and
conformity to their codes. The conversion of a Christian to Judaism
or paganism or any other religion was punished by the Emperors
Constantines and Jul
Emperors Theodosius and Valentiniaus added capital punishment, in
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304 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

case the apostle endeavoured to pervert others to the same inequity.

This was borrowed by all the European countries1 who maintained a
similar system of penalities to enforce the Christian faith.
Such a view of the law of the outcast would be quite superficial.
First of all the outcast is a creation of Brahmanism. It is a necessary
coefficient of caste. Indeed once Brahmanism was determined to create
the caste system the law against the outcast was absolutely essential.
For only by punishing the outcast can the caste system be maintained.
Secondly there is a difference between the Christian or Mahomedan
Law of Apostacy and the Brahmanic law of caste. The disqualification
under the Christian or Mahomedan law of apostacy was restricted to
want of religious belief or the profession of wrong religious belief. Under
the Brahmanic law the disqualification had no connection with belief
or want of belief. It was connected with the sanctity of a certain form
of social organization—namely Caste. It is the act of going out of one’s
caste that was made punishable. This is a very important difference.
The Brahmanic law of the outcast as compared with the law of
apostacy in other religions shows that a belief in God is not essential
to Brahmanism; that a belief in life after death is not essential to
Brahmanism; that a belief in salvation either by good deeds or by a
belief in a prophet is not essential to Brahmanism; that a belief in the
sacredness of the Vedas is essential to Brahmanism. This is only one
thing that is essential to Brahmanism. For it is only breach of caste
which is penalized. All else is left to violation.
Those who are not blind to these forces of integration will admit that
this act of Brahmanism in prohibiting intermarriage and interdining is
nothing short of a complete dismemberment of society. It is a deathknell
to unity, an effective bar to united action. As will be shown hereafter
Brahmanism was keen on preventing united action by Non-Brahmins to
overthrow Brahmanism and that is why Brahmanism brought about this
segmentation of Indian Society. But the fatal effects of a poison can never
be confined to the limits of the original intention of the perpetrator. The
same thing has happened in the case of Caste. Brahmanism intended
to paralyse the Non-Brahmans for action against Brahmins, it did not
design that they as a nation should be paralysed for action against
a foreign nation. But the result of the poison of Caste has been they
have become stricken for action against Brahmanism as well as against
foreigners. In other words Brahmanism in instituting Caste system has
put the greatest impediment against the growth of nationalism.
1.
See Stephen’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (15th Ed.) Vo. IV. p. 179.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 305

In spite of what others say the Hindu will not admit that there is any
thing evil in the Caste system, and from one point of view he is right.
There is love, unity and mutual aid among members of a family. There
is honour among thieves. A band of robbers have common interests as
respects to its members. Gangs are marked by fraternal feelings and
intense loyalty to their own ends however opposed they may be to the
other gangs. Following this up one can say that a Caste has got all the
praiseworthy characteristics which a society is supposed to have.
It has got the virtues of a family inasmuch as there is love unity and
mutual aid. It has got the honour known to prevail among thieves. It has
got the loyalty and fraternal feeling we meet with in gangs and it also
possesses that sense of common interests which is found among robbers.
A Hindu may take satisfaction in these praiseworthy characteristics of
the Caste and deny that there is anything evil in it. But he forgets that
his thesis that Caste is an ideal form of social organization is supportable
on the supposition that each caste is entitled to regard himself as an
independent society, as an end in itself as nations do. But the theory
breaks down when the consideration pertains to Hindu Society and to
the Caste-System which goes with it.
Even in such a consideration of the subject the Hindu will not admit
that the Caste system is an evil. Charge Hinduism with the responsibility
for the evils of the Caste-system and the Hindu will at once retort, “What
about the Class System in Europe?” Upto a point the retort is good if it
means that there exists nowhere that ideal society of the philosophers
marked by organic unity, accompanied by praiseworthy community of
purpose, mutuality of sympathy, loyalty to public ends and concern for
general welfare. Nobody can have much quarrel if the Hindu by way of
analogy were to say that in every Society there are families and classes
marked by exclusiveness, suspicion, and jealousy as to those without;
bands of robbers, gangs. narrow cliques, trade unions. Employees’
Associations, Kartels, Chambers of Commerce and political parties. Some
of these are held together by the interest and plunder and others while
aspiring to serve the public do not hesitate to prey upon it.
It may be conceded that everywhere de facto society whether in the
past or in the present is not a single whole but a collection of small
groups devoted to diverse purposes as their immediate and particular
objectives. But the Hindu cannot take shelter under this analogy
between the Hindu caste system and the Non-Hindu Class system and
rest there as though there is nothing more to be said about the subject.
The fact is there is a far bigger question which the Hindu has still to
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306 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

face. He must take note of the fact that although every society consists of
groups there are societies in which the groups are only non-social while
there are societies in which the groups are anti-social. The difference
between a society with the class system and a society with the caste
system lies just in this namely the class system is merely non-social but
the caste system is positively anti-soicial.
It may be important to realize why in some societies the group system
produces only non-social feeling and in some societies the group system
produces anti-social feeling. No better explanation of this difference can
be given than the one given by professor John Dewey. According to him
every thing depends upon whether the groups are isolated or associated,
whether there is reciprocity of interest between them or whether there
is lack of reciprocity of interest. If the groups are associated, if there
is a reciprocity of interest between them the feeling between them will
be only non-social. If the groups are isolated, if there is no reciprocity
between them the feeling between them will be anti-social. To quote
Professor Dewey1:
“The isolation and exclusiveness of a gang or clique brings its anti-social
spirit into relief. But this same spirit is found wherever one group has
interests ‘of its own’ which shut it out from full interaction with other
groups, so that its prevailing purpose is the protection of what it has got,
instead of reorganization and progress through wider relationships. It
marks nations in their isolation from one another; families which seclude
their domestic concerns as if they had no connection with a larger life;
schools when separated from the interest of home and community; the
divisions of rich and poor; learned and unlearned. The essential point
is that isolation makes for rigidity and formal institutionalizing of life,
for static and selfish ideals within the group.”

The question to be asked is not whether there are groups in a Society

or whether the Society is one single whole. The question to be asked is
what degree of association, cooperative intercourse and interaction exists
among the different groups; how numerous and varied are the interests
which are consciously shared by them: how full and free is the interplay
with other forms of Association? A society is not to be condemned as
body because there are groups in it. It is to be condemned if the groups
are isolated, each leading an exclusive life of its own. Because it is this
isolation which produces the anti-social spirit which makes co-operative
effort so impossible of achievement.
This isolation among the classes is the work of Brahmanism. The
principal steps taken by it was to abrogate the system of intermarriage
1
Democracy and Education p. 99
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 307

and interdining that was prevalent among the four Varnas in olden times.
This has already been discussed in an earlier section of this chapter. There is
however one part of the story that remains to be told. I have said the Varna
system had nothing to do with marriage. That males and females belonging to
the different Varnas could marry and did marry. Law did not come in the way
of inter-varna marriage. Social morality was not opposed to such marriages.
Savarna marriage was neither required by law nor demanded by Society. All
marriages between different Varnas—irrespective of the question whether
the bride was of a higher Varna than the bride-groom or whether the bride-
groom was of the higher Varna and the bride of the lower Varna—were valid.
Indeed as Prof. Kane says the distinction between Anuloma and Pratiloma
marriage was quite unknown and even the terms Anuloma and Pratiloma
were not in existence. They are the creation of Brahmanism. Brahmanism
put a stop to Pratiloma marriages i.e. marriages between women of a higher
Varna and men of lower Varna. That was a step in the direction of closing
the connection between the Varnas and creating in them an exclusive and
anti-social spirit regarding one another. But while the inter-connecting gate
of the Pratiloma marriage was closed the inter-connecting gate of Anuloma
marriage had remained open. That was not closed. As pointed out in the
section on graded inequality Anuloma marriage i.e. marriage between a
male of the higher Varna and the female of the lower Varna was allowed
by Brahmanism to continue. The gate of Anuloma marriage was not very
respectable and was a one way gate only, still it was an interconnecting gate
by which it was possible to prevent a complete isolation of the Varnas. But
even here Brahmanism played what cannot but be called a dirty trick. To
show how dirty the trick was it is necessary first to state the rules which
prevailed for determining the status of the child. Under the rule existing from
very ancient times the status of the child was determined by the Varna of
the lather. The Varna of the mother was quite unimportant. The following
illustrations will place the point beyond doubt:

Father’s Varna of Mother’s Varna of Child’s Varna of

name father Name mother name child
1. Shantanu Kshatriya Ganga Shudra Bhishma Kshatriya
(Anamik)
2. Shantanu Kshatriya Matsyagandha Shudra Viehitra Kshatriya
(Fisher) Virya
3. Parashar Brahmin Matsyagandha Shudra Krishna- Brahmin
(Fisher) Dwaipayana
4. Vishwamitra Kshatriya Menaka (Apsara) Shakuntala Kshatriya

5. Yayati Kshatriya Devayani Brahmin Yadu Kshatriya

6. Yayati Kshatriya Sharmishta Asuri Druhya Kshatriya
(Nonaryan)
7. Jaratkaru Brahmin Jaratkari Nag. Asita Brahmin
(Nonaryan)
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308 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

The rule was known as the rule of Pitra Savarnya. It would be

interesting to consider the effect of this rule of Pitra Savarnya on the
Anuloma and Pratiloma systems of marriage.
The effect on Pratiloma marriage would be that the children, of
mothers of the higher Varnas would be dragged down to the level of
the lower Varnas represented by their fathers. Its effect on Anuloma
marriage would be just the contrary. The children of mothers of the
lower Varnas would be raised up and absorbed in the higher Varnas
of their fathers.
Manu stopped Pratiloma marriages and thereby prevented the higher
from being dragged to the status of the lower. However regrettable, not
much damage was done by it so long as the Anuloma marriage and the
rule of Pitra Savarnya continued in operation. The two together formed
a very useful system. The Anuloma marriage maintained the inter-
connection and the Pitra Savarnya rule made the higher classes quite
composite in their make up. For they could not but help to be drawn
from mothers of different Varnas. Brahmanism did not want to keep this
gate of intercommunication between the Varnas open. It was bent on
closing it. But it did it in a manner which is disreputable. The straight
and honourable way was to stop Anuloma marriage. But Brahmanism
did not do that. It allowed the system of Anuloma marriage to continue.
What it did was to alter the rule of determining the status of the child.
It replaced the rule of Pitra Savarnya by the rule of Matra Savarnya
by which the status of the child came to be determined by the status
of the mother. By this change marriage ceased to be that means of
intersocial communication which it principally is. It relieved men of the
higher Varna from the responsibility to their children simply because
they were born of a mother of lower Varna. It made Anuloma marriage
mere matter of sex. a humiliation and insult to the lower Varnas and
a privilege to the higher classes to lawfully commit prostitution with
women of the lower classes. And from a larger social point of view it
brought the complete isolation among the Varnas which has been the
bane of Hindu Society. Notwithstanding all this the Orthodox Hindu
still believes that the caste system is an ideal system. But why talk
about the orthodox Hindus. There are among enlightened politicians and
historians. There are of course Indians both politicians and historians who
vehemently deny that the Caste system comes in the way of nationalism.
They presume that India is a nation and feel very much offended if
anybody instead of speaking of the Indian Nation speaks of the people of
India. This attitude is quite understandable. Most of the politicians and
historians are Brahmins and cannot be expected to have the courage to
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 309

expose the misdeeds of their ancestors or admit the evils perpetrated by

them. Ask any one the question, is India a nation, and all in a chorus say,
‘yes.’ Ask for reasons, they will say that India is a nation firstly because
India has a geographical unity of the country and secondly because of
the fundamental unity of the culture. All this may be admitted for the
sake of argument and yet it is true to say that to draw an inference
from these facts that India is a nation is really to cherish a delusion. For
what is a nation? A nation is not a country in the physical sense of the
country whatever degree of geographical unity it may posses. A nation
is not people synthesized by a common culture derived from common
language, common religion or common race. To recall what I have said
in another place “ Nationality is a subjective psychological feeling. It is
a feeling of a corporate sentiment of oneness which makes those who are
charged with it feel that they are kith and kin. This national feeling is
a double edged feeling. It is at once a feeling of fellowship for one’s own
kith and an anti-fellowship feeling for those who are not one’s own kith.
It is a feeling of “ consciousness of kind” which binds together those who
are within the limits of the kindred and severs them from those who
are outside the limits of the kindred. It is a longing to belong to one’s
own group and a longing not to belong to any other group. This is the
essence of what is called a nationality and national feeling. This longing
to belong to one’s own kindred as I said is a subjective psychological
feeling and what is important to bear in mind is that the longing to
belong to one’s own kindred is quite independent of geography, culture
or economic or social conflict. There may be geographical unity and yet
there may be no “longing to belong”. There may be no geographical unity
and yet the feeling of longing to belong may be very intense. There may
be cultural unity and yet there may be no longing to belong. There may
be economical conflicts and class divisions and yet there may be an
intense feeling of longing to belong. The point is that nationality is not
primarily a matter of geography culture or”………..
In the declinging1 days of the Vedic Regime, the Shudras as well
as women had come to occupy a very low position. The rising tide of
Buddhism had brought about a great change in the status of both.
To put it briefly a Shudra under the Buddhist regime could acquire
property, learning and could even become a king. Nay he could even
rise to the highest rung of the social ladder occupied by the Brahmin
in the Vedic Regime. The Buddhist order of Bhikshus was counterpart
of the Vedic order of Brahmins. The two orders, each within its own

By declining days I mean the period since when the Brahmins started disturbing the
1.

balance of Chaturvaryna system by asserting their supremacy.

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310 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

religious system were on a par in the matter of status and dignity. The
Shudra could never aspire to be a Brahmin in the Vedic regime but he
could become a Bhikshu and occupy the same status and dignity as did
the Brahmin. For, while the Vedic order of Bramhins was closed to the
Shudra, the Buddhist order of Bhikshus was open to him and many
Shudras who could not become Brahmins under the Vedic Regime had
become their peers by becoming Bhikshus under Buddhism. Similar
change is noticeable in the case of women. Under the Buddhist regime she
became a free person. Marriage did not make her a slave. For marriage
under the Buddhist rule was a contract. Under the Buddhist Regime
she could acquire property, she could acquire learning and what was
unique, she could become a member of the Buddhist order of Nuns and
reach the same status and dignity as a Brahmin. The elevation of the
status of the Shudras and women was so much the result of the gospel
of Buddhism that Buddhism was called by its enemies as the Shudra
religion (i.e. the religion of the low classes).
All this of course must have been very galling to the Brahmins. How
very galling it must have been to them is shown by the vandallic fury
with which Bramhanism after its triumph over Buddhism proceeded
to bring about a complete demolition of the high status to which the
Shudras and women had been elevated by the revolutionary changes
effected by the vivifying gospel of Buddhism.
Starting with this background one shudders at the inhumanity and
cruelty of the laws made by Manu against the Shudras. I quote a few
of them assembling them under certain general heads.
Manu asks the householders of the Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya
Class :
IV. 61. Let him not dwell in a country where the rulers are
Shudra………..

This cannot mean that Bramhana, Kashtriya and Vaishya should

leave the country where Shudra is a ruler. It can only mean that if a
Shudra becomes a king he should be killed. Not only a Shudra is not to
be recognized as fit to be a king, he is not to be deemed as a respectable
person. For Manu enacts that :—
XI. 24. A Bramhin shall never beg from a Shudra property for
(performing) a sacrifice i.e. for religious purposes.

All marriage ties with the Shudra were proscribed. A marriage with
a woman belonging to any of the three higher classes was forbidden.
A Shudra was not to have any connection with a woman of the higher
classes and an act of adultery committed by a Shudra with her was
declared by Manu to be an offence involving capital punishment.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 311

VIII. 374. A Shudra who has an intercourse with a woman of the
higher caste guarded1 or unguarded, shall be punished in the following
manner; if she was unguarded, he loses the offending part. If she was
guarded then he should be put to death and his property confiscated.

Manu insists that a Shudra shall be servile, unfit for office, without
education, without property and as a contemptible person, his person
and property shall always be liable to be conscripted.
As to office Manu prescribes.
VIII 20. A Bramhana who is only a Brahmana by descent i.e. one has
neither studied nor performed any other act required by the Vedas may.
at the king’s pleasure, interpret the law to him i.e. act as the Judge,
but never a Shudra (however learned he may be).
VIII. 21. The Kingdom of that monarch who looks on while a Shudra
settles the law will sink low like a cow in a morass.
VIII. 272. If a Shudra arrogantly presumes to preach religion to
Bramhins the King shall have poured burning oil in his mouth and ears.

In olden times the study of the Vedas stood for education. Manu
declare that the study of the Vedas was not a matter of right but that
it was a matter of privilege. Manu deprived the Shudra of the right to
study Veda. He made it a privilege of the three higher classes. Not only
did he debar the Shudra from the study of the Vedas but he enacted
penalties against those who might help the Shudra to acquire knowledge
of the Veda. To a person who is previleged to study the Vedas, Manu
ordains that :
IV. 99. He must never read the Vedas.. .in the presence of the Shudras.

and prescribes that :—

III. 156. He who instructs Shudra pupils and he whose teacher is a
Shudra shall become disqualified for being invited to Shradha.

Manu’s successor went much beyond him in the cruelty of their

punishment of the Shudra for studying the Veda. For instance Katyayana
lays down that if a Shudra overheard the Veda or ventured to utter a
word of the Veda, the King shall cut his tongue in twain and put hot
molten lead in his ears.
As to property Manu is both ruthless and shameless. According to
the Code of Manu :
X. 129. No superfluous collection of wealth must be made by a Shudra,
even though he has power to make it since a servile man, who has
amassed riches, becomes proud, and. by his insolence or neglect, gives
pain to Bramhans.

Guarded means under the protection of relation, Unguarded means living alone.
1.
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312 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

The reason for the rule is more revolting than the rule itself. Manu
was of course not sure that the prohibitory injunction will be enough
to prevent the Shudra from acquiring wealth. To leave no room for the
Shudra to give offence to the Bramhins by his accumulation of wealth
Manu added another section to his code whereby he declared that :
VIII. 417. A Bramhana may seize without hesitation if he be in
distress for his subsistence, the goods of his Shudra.

Not only is the property of a Shudra liable to conscription but the

labour of the Shudra, Manu declares, is liable to conscription. Compare
the following provision in Manu :
VIII. 413. A Bramhana may compel a Shudra, whether bought or
unbought to do servile work; for he is created by the creator to be the
slave of a Bramhana.

A Shudra was required by Manu to be servile in his speech. How very

servile he must be can be seen from the following provisions in Manu :—
VIII. 270. A Shudra who insults a twiceborn man with gross invective,
shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
VIII. 271. If he mentions the names and castes of the (twiceborn)
with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red hot
into his mouth.

Manu’s object was to make the Shudra not merely a servile person
but an altogether contemptible person. Manu will not allow a Shudra
the comfort of having a high sounding name. Had Manu not been there
to furnish incontrovertible proof it would be difficult to believe that
Bramanism could have been so relentless and pitiless in its persecution
of the Shudra. Observe Manu’s law as to the names that the different
classes can give to their children.
II. 31. Let the first part of a Brahman’s name denote something
auspicious, a Kshatriya’s be connected with power, and a Vaishya’s with
wealth, but a Shudra’s express something contemptible.
II. 32. The second part of a Bramhan’s name shall be a word implying
happiness, of a Kshatriya’s a word implying protection, of a Vaisya’s a
term expressive of thriving and of a Shudra’s an expression denoting
service.

The basis of all these inhuman laws is the theory enunciated by Manu
regarding the Shudra. At the outset of his Code, Manu takes care to
assert it emphatically and without blushing. He says :
I. 91. One occupation only, the Lord prescribed to the Shudra, to
serve meekly these other three castes (namely Bramhin, Kshatriya and
Vaishya).
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 313

Holding that the Shudra was born to be servile, Manu made his laws
accordingly so as to compel him to remain servile. In the Buddhist
regime a Shudra could aspire to be a judge, a priest and even a King,
the highest status that he could ever aspire to. Compare with this the
ideal that Manu places before the Shudra and one can get an idea of
what fate was to be under Brahmanism :
X. 121. If a Shudra, (unable to subsist by serving Brahmanas),
seeks a livelihood, he may serve Kshartiyas, or he may also seek to
maintain himself by attending on a wealthy Vaishya.

X. 122. But let a (Shudra) serve Brahmanas, either for the sake of
heaven, or with a view to both (this life and the next); for he who is
called the servant of a Brahmana thereby gains all his ends.

X. 123. The service of Brahmanas alone is declared (to be) an

excellent occupation for a Shudra; for whatever else besides this he
may perform will bear him no fruit.

X. 124. They must allot to him out of their own family (property) a
suitable maintenance, after considering his ability, his industry, and
the number of those whom he is bound to support.

X. 125. The remnants of their food must be given to him, as well

as their old household furniture.

Manu can hardly be said to be more tender to women than he was to

the Shudra. He starts with a low opinion of women. Manu proclaims :
II. 213. It is the nature of women to seduce men in this (world); for
that reason the wise are never unguarded in (the company of) females.

II. 214. For women are able to lead astray in (this) world not only
a fool, but even a learned man, and (to make) him a slave of desire
and anger.

II. 215. One should not sit in a lonely place with one’s mother
sister or daughter; for the senses are powerful, and master even a
learned man.

IX. 14. Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on
age; (thinking), ‘(It is enough that) he is a man ’, they give themselves
to the handsome and to the ugly.

IX. 15. Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper,
through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards
their husbands, however carefully they may be guarded in this (world).

IX. 16. Knowing their disposition, which the Lord of creatures laid in
them at the creation, to be such, (every) man should most strenuously
exert himself to guard them.
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314 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

IX. 17. (When creating them) Manu allotted to women (a love of

their) bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires, wrath,
dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct.

The laws of Manu against women are of a piece with this view.
Women are not to be free under any circumstances. In the opinion of
Manu :—
IX. 2. Day and night women must be kept in dependence by the
males (of) their (families), and, if they attach themselves to sensual
enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control.

IX. 3. Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects

(her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never
fit for independence.

IX. 5. Women must particularly be gurded against evil inclinations,

however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they
will bring sorrow on two families.

IX. 6. Considering that the highest duty of all castes, even weak
husbands (must) strive to guard their wives.

V. 147. By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one,

nothing must be done independently, even in her own house.

V. 148. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in

youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman
must never be independent.

V. 149. She must not seek to separate herself from her father,
husband, or sons; by leaving them she would make both (her own
and her husband’s) families contemptible. Woman is not to have a
right to divorce.

IX. 45. The husband is declared to be one with the wife, which
means that there could be no separation once a woman is married.
Many Hindus stop here as though this is the whole story regarding
Manu’s law of divorce and keep on idolizing it by comforting their
conscience by holding out the view that Manu regarded marriage as
sacrament and therefore did not allow divorce. This of course is far
from the truth. His law against divorce had a very different motive. It
was not to tie up a man to a woman but it was to tie up the woman
to a man and to leave the man free. For Manu does not prevent a
man for giving up his wife. Indeed he not only allows him to abandon
his wife but he also permits him to sell her. But what he does is to
prevent the wife from becoming free. See what Manu Says :

IX. 46. Neither by sale nor by repudiation is a wife released from

her husband.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 315

The meaning is that a wife, sold or repudiated by her husband, can never
become the legitimate wife of another who may have bought or received
her after she was repudiated. If this is not monstrous nothing can be. But
Manu was not worried by considerations of justice or injustice of his laws.
He wanted to deprive women of the freedom she had under the Buddhistic
regime. He knew, by her misuse of her liberty, by her willingness to marry
the Shudra that the system of the gradation of the Varna had been destroyed.
Manu was outraged by her license and in putting a stop to it he deprived
her of her liberty.
A wife was reduced by Manu to the level of a slave in the matter of
property.
IX. 146. A wife, a son, and a slave, these three are declared to have no
property; the wealth which they earn is (acquired) for him to whom they belong.

When she becomes a widow Manu allows her maintenance if her husband
was joint and a widow’s estate in the property of her husband if he was
separate from his family. But Manu never allows her to have any dominion
over property.
A woman under the laws of Manu is subject to corporal punishment and
Manu allows the husband the right to beat his wife.
VIII. 299. A wife, a son, a slave, a pupil, and a younger brother of the full
blood, who have committed faults, may be beaten with a rope or a split bamboo.

In other matters woman was reduced by Manu to the same position as

the Shudra.
The study of the Veda was forbidden to her by Manu as it was to the
Shudra.
II. 66. Even for a woman the performance of the Sanskaras are necessary
and they should be performed. But they should. be performed without uttering
the Veda Mantras.

IX. 18. Women have no right to study the Vedas. That is why their Sanskars
are performed without Veda Mantras. Women have no knowledge of religion
because they have no right to know the Vedas. The uttering of the Veda
Mantras is useful for removing sin. As women cannot utter the Veda Mantras
they are as unclean as untruth is.

Offering sacrifices according to Bramhanism formed the very soul of

religion. Yet Manu will not allow women to perform them. Manu ordains
that :—
XI. 36. A woman shall not perform the daily sacrifices prescribed by the Vedas.

XI. 37. If she does it she will go to hell.

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316 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

To disable her from performing such sacrifices Manu prevents her from
getting the aid and services of a Bramhin priest.
IV. 205. A Bramhan must never eat food given at a sacrifice performed by
a woman.
IV. 206. Sacrifices performed by women are inauspicious and not acceptable
to God. They should therefore be avoided.

Woman was not to have any intellectual persuits and nor free will nor
freedom of thought. She was not to join any heretical sect such as Buddhism.
If she continues to adhere to it, till death she is not to be given the libation
of water as is done in the case of all dead.
Finally a word regarding the ideal of life, Manu has sought to place before
a woman. It had better be stated in his own words :
V. 151. Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother with the
father’s permission, she shall obey as long as he lives and when he is dead,
she must not insult his memory.
V. 154. Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid
of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a
faithful wife.
V. 155. No sacrifice, no vow, no fast must be performed by women, apart
from their husbands; if a wife obeys her husband, she will for that reason alone
be exalted in heaven.

Then comes the choicest texts which forms the pith and the marrow of
this ideal which Manu prescribes for the women :
V. 153. The husband who wedded her with sacred Mantras, is always a
source of happiness to his wife, both in season and out of season, in this world
and in the next.
V. 150. She must always be cheerful, clever in the management of her
household affairs, careful in cleaning her utensils, and economical in expenditure.

This the Hindus regard as a very lofty ideal for a woman!!!

The severity of these laws against Shudras and women show that the
phenomenal rise of these classes during the Buddhist regime had not only
offended the Brahmins but had become intolerable to them. It was a complete
reversal of their sacred social order from top to bottom. The first had become
last and the last had become first. The laws of Manu also explain, the
determined way in which the Brahmins proceeded to use their political power
to degrade the Shudras and the women to their old status. The triumphant
Bramhanism began its onslaught on both the Shudras and the women in
pursuit of the old ideal namely servility and Bramhanism did succeed in
making the Shudras and women the servile classes, Shudras the serfs to the
three higher classes and women the serfs to their husbands. Of the black
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 317

deeds committed by Brahmanism after its triumph over Buddhism this

one is the blackest. There is no parallel in history for so foul deeds of
degradation committed by a class of usurpers in the interest of class
domination. The collosal character of this deed of degradation perpetrated
by Barahmanism is unfortunately not fully realized. It is concealed by
those small monosyllablic words, Stri and Shudra. Let those who wish
to get an idea of the enormity of their deed think, of the numbers that
lie behind these two terms. What part of the population do they apply
to ? The woman represents one half of the population. Of the balance
the Shudra represents not less than two third. The two together make
up about 75% of the total population. It is this huge mass of people
that has been doomed by Brahmanism to eternal servility and eternal
degradation. It is because of the collosal scale of degradation whereby
75% of her people were deprived of their right to life, liberty and persuit
of happiness that India became a decaying if not a dead nation.
The principle of graded inequality runs through the whole of the Manu
Smriti. There is no department of life in which he has not introduced his
principle ,of graded inequality. For a complete and thorough exposition
of it, it would be necessary to reproduce the whole of Manu Smriti. I
will take only a few departments to illustrate how in the hands of Manu
the principle of graded inequality became imbedded in the social life.
Take the field of marriage. Observe the rule of Manu :-—
III. 13. It is declared that a Shudra woman alone (can be) the wife of
a Shudra, she and one of his own caste (the wives) of a Vaishya, those
two and one of his own caste the wives of a Kshatriya, those three and
one of his own caste (the wives of a Bramhan).

Take the rules of Manu regarding the treatment of guests :—

III. 110. But a Kshatriya (who comes) to the house of a Brahmana is
not called a guest (atithi), nor a Vaisya, nor a Shudra, nor a personal
friend, nor a relative, nor the teacher.
III. 111. But if Kshatriya comes to the house of a Brahmana in the
manner of a guest, (the house-holder) may feed him according to his
desire, after, the above mentioned Brahmanas have eaten.
III. 112. Even a Vaisya and a Shudra who have approached his house
in the manner of guests, he may allow to eat with his servants, showing
(thereby) his compassionate disposition.

In the house of a Brahmana, nobody except a Brahmin is to have

the honour of being a guest.1 If the Kshatriya comes in the manner
1
The word guest is used by Manu in a technical sense and means a Bramhana who stays
one night only see III. 102.
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318 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

of a guest to the house of a Brahmin he is to be fed after all the Brahmins

are fed and if the Vaishyas and Shudras come in the manner of guests
they are to be fed after everybody is fed and only in the company of
servants.
Take the rules of Manu regarding Sanskaras:
X. 126. A Shudra has no right to receive the sacraments.
X. 68. The law prescribes that neither of the two (that is those who
belong to mixed castes) shall receive the sacraments the first being
excluded on account of lowness of his origin of his parents was against
the order of the castes.
II. 66. The whole series1 of sacraments must be performed for females
also in order to sanctify the body at the proper time and in the proper
order, but without the recitaion of sacred Vedic Mantras.

Manu further lays down that:

VI. 1. A twice born Snataka, who has thus lived according to the law
in the order of householders, may, taking a firm resolution and keeping
his organs in subjection, dwell in the forest, duly (observing the rules
given below).
VI. 33. But having thus passed the third part of (a man’s natural term
of) life in the forest, he may live as an ascetic during the fourth part
of his existence, after abandoning all attanchment to worldly objects.

Even in law Manu introduces the principle of graded inequality. To

take only two illustrations, the law of defamation, abuse and the law
of assault:
VIII. 267. A Kshatriya having defamed a Brahmana, shall be fined
one hundred (panas); A Vaisya one hundred and fifty or two hundred;
a Shudra shall suffer corporal punishment.
VIII. 268. A Brahamna shall be fined fifty (panas) for defaming a
Kshatriya; in (the case of) a Vaisya the fine shall be twenty five (panas);
in (the case of) a Shudra twelve.
VIII. 269. For offences of twice born men against those of equal caste
(varna, the fine shall be) also twelve (panas) for speeches which ought
not to be uttered, that (and every fine shall be) double.
VIII. 276. (For mutual abuse) by a Brahmana and a Kshatriya a fine
must be imposed by a discerning (king), on the Brahmana the lowest
agreement, but on the Kshatriya the middlemost.
VIII. 277. A Vaisya and a Shudra must be punished exactly in the
same manner according to their respective castes, but the tongue (of
the Shudra) shall not be cut out; that is the decision.

Except Upanayan which is forbidden for women.

1.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 319

VIII. 279. With whatever limb a man of a low caste does hurt to (a
man of the three) highest (castes), even that limb shall be cut off; that
is the teaching of Manu.
VIII. 280. He who raises his hand or a stick, shall have his hand
cut off; he who in anger kicks with his foot, shall have his foot cut off.

Everywhere is the principle of graded inequality. So ingrained it had

become in the social system that the successors of Manu were careful to
introduce it where he had failed to give effect to it. For instance Manu
had had recognized the system of slavery. But had failed to prescribe
whether the system of slavery was or was not subject to the principle
of graded order of insubordination.
Lest it should be understood that the law of graded inequality did
not apply to slavery and that a Brahmin may be a slave of the Shudra,
Yajnavalkya at once proceeds to clear the doubt. He expressly laid down
that:—
“Slavery is in the descending order of the Varnas and not in the
ascending order” (XIV. 183).

Vijnaneshwar in his commentary on Yajnavalkya makes it concrete

by his illustrations when he says :
“Of the Varnas such as the Brahmana and the rest, a state of slavery
shall exist Anulomyena, in the descending order. Thus, of a Brahmana, a
Kshatriya and the rest may become a slave; of a Kshatriya, the Vaishya
and the Shudra; and of a Vaishya, Shudra, thus the state of slavery
shall operate in the descending order.”

Stated in the language of equality and inequality, this means that

the Brahmin is the highest because he can be the slave of nobody but
is entitled to keep a person of any class as his slave. The Shudra is the
lowest because everybody can keep him as his slave but he can keep no
one as his slave except a Shudra. The place assigned to the Kshatriya
and the Vaishya introduces the system of graded inequality. A Kshatriya
while he is inferior to the Brahmin he can be the slave of the Brahmin.
While he is yet superior to the Vaishyas and the Shudras because he
can keep them as his slaves; the Vaishyas and the Shudras have no
right to keep a Kshartiya as his slave. Similarly a Vaishya while he is
inferior to the Bramhins and the Kshatriyas, because they can keep him
as their slave and he cannot keep any one of them as his slave, he is
proud that he is at least superior to the Shudra because he can keep the
Shudra as his slave while Shudra cannot keep the Vaishya as his slave.
Such is the principle of graded inequality which Bramhanism
injected into the bone and the marrow of the people. Nothing worse
to paralyze society to overthrow inequity could have been done.
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320 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Although its effects have not been clearly noticed there can be no doubt
that because of it the Hindus have been stricken with palsy. f Students of
social organization have been content with noting the difference between
equality and inequality. None have realized that in addition to equality
and inequality there is such a thing as graded inequality. Yet inequality
is not half so dangerous as graded inequality. Inequality carried within
itself the seeds of its own destruction. Inequality does not last long.
Under pure and simple inequality two things happen. It creates general
discontent which forms the seed of revolution. Secondly it makes the
sufferers combine against a common foe and on a common grievance.
But the nature and circumstances of the system of graded inequality
leave no room for either of these two things to happen. The system of
graded inequality prevents the rise of general discontent against inequity,
ft cannot therefore become the storm centre of revolution. Secondly
the sufferers under inequality becoming unequal both in terms of the
benefit and the burden there is no possibility of a general combination
of all classes to overthrow the inequity. To make the thing concrete the
Brahmanic law of marriage is full of inequity. The right of Brahmana
to take a woman from the classes below him but not to give a woman
to them is in inequity. But the Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra will not
combine to destroy it. The Kshatriya resents this right of the Brahmana.
But he will not combine with Vaishya or the Shudra and that for two
reasons. Firstly because he is satisfied that if the Brahman has the
right to take the right of three communities, the Kshatriya has the
right to appropriate the women of two communities. He does not suffer
so much as the other two. Secondly if he joins in a general revolution
against this marriage—inequity in one way he will rise to the level of
the Bramhins but in another way all will be equal which to him means
that the Vaishyas and the Shudras will rise to his level i.e. they will
claim Kshatriya women-which means he will fall to their level. Take
any other inequity and think of a revolt against it. The same social
psychology will show that a general rebellion against it is impossible.
One of the reasons why there has been no revolution against
Brahmanism and its inequities is due entirely to the principle of graded
inequality. If is a system of permitting a share in the spoils with a view
to enlist them to support the spoils system. It is a system full of low
cunning which man could have invented to perpetuate inequity and to
profit by it. For it is nothing else but inviting people to share in inequity
in order that they may all be supporters of inequity.
There now remains to lift the curtain from the last act of this drama
of Bramhanism.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 321

Bramhanism inherited from the Vedic past that system of Chaturvarna.

The system of Chaturvarna which the Hindus regard as the unique creation
of their Aryan ancestors is in no sense unique. There is nothing original
about it. The whole ancient world had stumbled into it. The Egyptians
had it and the ancient Persians had it. Plato was so convinced about its
excellence that he presented it as ideal form of social organization. The
ideal of the Chaturvarna is faulty. The lumping together of individuals
into a few sharply marked off classes is a very superficial view of man
and his powers. The Ancient Aryans as well as Plato had no conception
of the uniqueness of every individual, of his incommensurability with
others and of each individual forming a class of his own. They had no
recognition of the infinite diversity of active tendencies and combination of
tendencies of which an individual is capable. To them there were types of
faculties or powers in the individual constitution and all that is necessary
for social organization is to classify them. All this is demonstrably wrong.
Modern science has shown that lumping together of individuals into a
few sharply marked off classes each confined to one particular sphere
does injustice both to the individual and to Society. The stratification
of Society by classes and occupations is incompatible with the fullest ,
utilization of the qualities which is so necessary for social advancement
and is also incompatible with the safety and security of the individual
as well as of Society in general.1
There is another mistake which the Ancient Hindus including Plato,
made. There is probably some truth in saying that there is among
human beings a dimorphism or polyformism in human beings as there
is among insects, though in the former it is only psychological while
in the latter it is both physical as well as psychlolgical. But assuming
that there is a thing psychological dimorphism or polyformism among
human beings, it is wrong to separate them into those who are born
to do one thing and others to do another, some born to command i.e.
to be masters and some born to obey i.e. to be slaves. It is wrong to
suppose that in a given person some qualities are present and others
are absent. On the contrary the truth is that all qualities are present
in every person and this truth is not diminished in any way by that,
some tendency predominates to the extent of being the only one that is
apparent. So well established is this truth that a tendency which may
be dominant in a man at one time may be quite different from and even
the direct opposite of the tendency that may be dominant at another
time. As Prof. Bergson2 in speaking of the Nietsche’s false antithesis of
‘men’ and ‘slaves’ observes :
1.
For further consideration of this subject see my tract on “Annihilation of Caste.”
2.
“Two sources of Morality”. (Holt), p. 267.
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322 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

“We have a clear vision of this (falsity) in times of revolution,

Unassuming citizens, upto that moment humble and obedient, wake up
one fine day with pretentions to be leaders of men”.

The cases of Mussolini and Hitler are a complete disproof of the theory
of the Aryans and of Plato.
This Vedic system of Chaturvarna, far from being an ideal system
was made positively worse by the changes which Bramhanism made and
which have already been described. Every one of them was mischievous
in character is beyond question. The Buddhist order of Bhikshus and the
Vedic order of Brahmins were designed to serve the same purpose. They
formed the elite of their society whose function was to lead and guide
society along the right road. Although designed to discharge the same
function the Budhist Bhikshu was better placed to discharge it than
was the Bramhin. That is because Buddha recognized one thing which
nobody either before him or after him has done. Buddha realized that
lor a person to give a true lead to Society and be its trustworthy guide
he must be intellectually free and further, which is more important,
to be intellectually free he must not have private property. An elite
charged with the care of his private property must fail to discharge
his duty of leading and guiding Society along the right road. Buddha
therefore took care to include in the Code of discipline for the Bhikshus
a rule prohibiting a Bhikshu from holding private property. In the Vedic
order of Bramhins there was no such prohibition. A Bramhin was free
to hold property. This difference produced a profound difference on the
character and outlook of the Buddhist Bhikshu and the Vedic Bramhin.
The Bhikshus formed an intellectual class. The Bramhins formed on the
other hand merely an educated class. There is a great difference between
an intellectual class and an educated class. An intellectual class has no
limitations arising out of any affiliations to any class or to any interest.
An educated Class on the other hand is not an intellectual class although
it has cultivated its intellect. The reason is that its range of vision and
its sympathy to a new ideology is circumscribed by its being identified
with the interest of the class with which it is affiliated.
The Bramhins from the very beginning therefore were inclined to be
a purely educated class, enlightened but selfish. This evil in the Vedic
order of Bramhins was extreme by the changes made in the old Vedic
System. The right of the Brahmins to rule and the grant of special
privileges and immunities made them more selfish, and induced in them
the desire to use their education not for the advancement of learning but
for the use of their community and against the advancement of society.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 323

All their energy and their education has been spent in maintaining
their own privileges against the good of the public. It has been the boast
of many Hindu authors that the civilization of India is the most ancient
civilization in the world. They will insist that there was no branch of
knowledge in which their ancestors were not the pioneers. Open a book
like “The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology” by Prof. Benoy Kumar
Sarkar, or a book like “The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus” by
Dr. Brajendranath Seal one is overwhelmed with data touching upon the
knowledge their ancestors had about various scientific subjects. From
these books it would appear that the ancient Indians knew astronomy,
astrology, biology, chemistry, mathematics, Medicine, minerology. Physics
and in the view of the mass of people even aviation. All this may be very
true. The important question is now how the ancient Indians discovered
these positive sciences. The important question is why did the ancient
Indians cease to make any progress in the sciences in which they were the
pioneers? This sudden arrest in the progress of science in ancient India
is as astounding as it is deplorable. In the scientific world India occupies
a position which even if it be first among the primitive is certainly last
among the civilized nation. How did it happen that a people who began
the work of scientific progress stopped, halted on the way, left in its
incohate and incomplete condition ? This is a question that needs to be
considered and answered, not what the ancient Indians knew.
There is only one answer to the question and it is a very simple
answer. In ancient India the Bramhins were the only educated class. They
were also the Class which was claiming to be above all others. Buddha
disputed their claim for supremacy and declared a war on the Brahmins.
The Brahmins acted as an Educated Class—as distinguished from an
intellectual class—would act under the circumstances. It abandoned all
pursuits and engaged itself in defending the claim of supremacy and the
social, economic and political interests of its class. Instead of writing
books on Science, the Brahmins undertook to write Smritis. Here is
an explanation why the progress of science in India became arrested.
Brahmins found it more important and more imperative to write Smritis
to repel the Buddhist doctrine of social equality.
How many Smritis did the Brahmins write ?
Mr. Kane a great authority on the Smriti literature has computed
their number to be 128. And what for ? The Smritis are called
lawbooks which of course hide their nature. They are really treatises
expounding the supremacy of the Brahmins and their rights to special
privileges. The defence of Bramhanism was more important than the
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324 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

progress of science. Bramhanism not only defended its previleges but set
about extending them in a manner that would cover every descent man
with shame. The Brahmins started particularly to expand the meaning
of certain privileges granted to them by Manu.
Manu had given the Bramhins the right to dana, gift. The dana
was always intended to be money or chattel. But in course of time the
concept of dana was expanded so as to include the gift of a woman which
a Brahmin could keep as his mistress or who could be released by the
Bramhin on commutation1 of money payment.
Manu designated the Bramhins as Bhu-devas, lords of the Earth. The
Bramhins enlarged the scope of this statement and began to claim the
right to sexual intercourse with women of other classes. Even queens
were not exempt from this claim. Ludovico Di Varthema who came to
India as a traveller in about 1502 A.D. records the following about the
Brahmins of Calicut:
“It is a proper, and the same time pleasant thing to know who these
Brahmins are. You must know that they are the chief persons of the
faith, as priests are among us. And when the King takes a wife, he
selects the most worthy and the most honoured of these Brahamins
and makes him sleep the first night with his wife, in order that he
may deflower her. ”2.

Similarly Hamilton3 another writer says:

“When the Samorin marries, he must not cohabit with his bride till
the Nambourie (Nambudari Brahmin), or chief priest, has enjoyed her,
and if he pleases, he may have three nights of her company, because
the first fruits of her nuptials must be an holy oblation to the god she
worships.”

In the Bombay Presidency the priests of the Vaishnava sect claimed the
right to deflower the women of their sect. This gave rise to the famous
Maharaja Libel case brought by the chief priest of the Sect against one
Karosondas Mulji in the High Court of Bombay in the year 1869 which
shows that the right to claim the benefit of the first night was certainly
effective till then.
When such a right to sexual cohabitation for the first night could be
extended against the generality of the lower classes the Brahmins did
not hesitate to extend it. This they did particularly in Malabar. There,
Manu designated the Brahmins as Bhu-devas, lords of the earth. The
Brahmins enlarged the scope of this statement and began to claim the
I remember reading the report of case in which a Brahmin who had taken a married wife
1.

as Dana refused to release her even though communication was offered by her husband.
2.
“The Travels of Ludovico Di Varthema” (Pub. Hakyt Society) Page 141. Varthema adds
Do not imagine that the Brahmin goes willingly to perform this operation. The King is
even obliged to pay him four hundred or five hudndred ducats.
New Account of the East Indies (1744) Vol. I. page 310.
3.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 325

right of promiscuous sexual intercourse with the women folk of the other
Classes. This happened particularly in Malabar. There1
“The Brahman castes follow the Makatyam System that is the system
by which the child belongs to its father’s family. They contract, within
their own caste regular marriages, with all the ordinary legal and religious
sanctions and incidents. But the Brahmin men are also in the habit
of entering into Sambandhan-Unions with women of the lower castes.”

This is not all. Observe further what the writer has to say:
“Neither party to a Sambadhan Unions becomes thereby a member of
the other family; and the offspring of the Union belong to their mothers
tharwad (family) and have no sort of claim, so far as the law goes, to a
share of their father’s property or to maintenance therefrom.”

Speaking of the origin of this practice the author of the Gazetteer

observes that the origin of this institution:
“ Is found in the claim of the Bhu-devas ” or “ Earth Gods” (that
the Brahmanas) and on a lower plain of the Kshatriyas or the ruling
classes, to the first fruits of lower Caste Womanhood, a right akin to
the medieval droit de Seigneurie.”

It is an understatement to say that it is only a right to first fruits

as the ‘right to the first night’ was called in the middle ages in Europe.
It is more than that. It is a general right of the Brahmin against the
lower caste to claim any woman of that class for mere prostitution, for
the mere satisfaction of sexual appetite, without burdening the Brahmin
to any of the obligations of marriage.
Such were the rights which the Brahmins the spiritual precepts
claimed against the laity!! The Borgese Popes have been run down in
history as the most debauched race of spiritual preceptors who ascended
the throne of Peter. One wonders whether they were really worse than
the Brahmins of India.
A purely intellectual Class, free to consider general good and having
no interest of a class to consider, such as the one contemplated by
Buddha is not to be had anywhere. For the limitations resulting from
property on the freedom of intellect of the elite have not been generally
recognized until very recently. But this want of an intellectual class has
been made good in other countries by the fact that in those countries
each Strata of Society has its educated class. There is safety, if no
definite guidance, in the multiplicity of views expressed by different
educated classes drawn from different strata of society. In such a
multiplicity of views there is no danger of Society being misguided or
1
Gazetteer of Malabar and Anjengo District by Mr. C. A. Innes Vol. I. p. 95
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326 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

misdirected by the views of one single educated class drawn from

one single class of society and which is naturally bound to place the
interest of its class before the interests of the country. By the change
made by Brahmanism India ceased to have safe and sure guidance of
an intellectual class. But what is worse is that the Hindus lost the
safety and security which other, peoples have and which arises from
the multiplicity of views expressed by various educated classes drawn
from different strata of Society.
By the denial of education to the Shudras, by diverting the Kshatrryas
to military persuits, and the Vaishyas to trade and by reserving education
to themselves the Brahmins alone could become the educated class—free
to misdirect and misguide the whole society. By converting Varna into
Caste they declared that mere birth was a real and final measure of
the worth of a man. Caste and Graded inequality made disunity and
discord a matter of course.
All this disfigurement of the original Varna system would have
been tolerable if it had remained a mere matter of social practice. But
Brahmanism was not content to leave the matter there. It wanted to
give the Chaturvarna in its changed and perverted form the force of
law. This new Chaturvarna the making of Brahmanism occupies in the
Manu Smriti as the Law of Persons and the Law of Family. Nobody
can make a mistake about it. Manu made it an offence for a person of
a lower Caste to arrogate to himself the status of a higher Caste or to
pass off as a member of the higher Caste.
X. 96. A man of low caste who through covetousness lives by the
occupations of a higher one, the king shall deprive of his property and
banish.
XI. 56. Falsely attributing to oneself high birth, giving information
to the king (regarding a crime), and falsely accusing one’s teacher, (are
offences) equal to slaying a Brahmana.

Here there are two offences, General Impersonation (X. 96) and
impersonation by the Shudra (XI 56). Note also the punishments how
severe they are. For the first the punishment is confiscation of property
and banishment. For the second the punishment is the same as the
punishment for causing the death of a Brahmin.
The offence of personation is not unknown in modern jurisprudence
and the Indian Penal Code recognizes it in section 419. But what is the
punishment the Indian Penal Code prescribes for cheating by personation?
Fine, and if imprisonment, then 3 years or both. Manu must be turning
in his grave to find the British Government make so light of his law
of Caste.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 327

Manu next proceeds to direct the king that he should execute this law.
In the first place he appeals to the King in the name of his pious duty:
VIII. 172. By preventing the confusion of Castes…………..the power
of the King grows, and he prospers in this world and after death.

Manu perhaps knows that the law relating to the confusion of Varna
may not be quite agreeable to the conscience of the king and he avoids
enforcement. Consequently Manu tells the King how in the matter of
the execution of the laws the King should act:
VIII. 177. Therefore let the King not heeding his own likes and dislikes
behave exactly like Yama.

i.e. he should be as impartial as Yama the Judge of the Dead.

Manu however does not wish to leave the matter to the King as a
mere matter of pious duty. Manu makes it a matter of obligation upon
the King. Accordingly Manu lays down as a matter of obligation that:
VIII. 410. The King should order a Vaishya to trade to lend money, to
cultivate the land, or to lend cattle, and the Shudra to serve the twice
born Caste. Again Manu reverts to the subject and say:

VIII 418. The King should carefully compel Vaishyas and Sudras to
perform the work (prescribed) for them; for if these two castes swerved
from their duties they would throw this whole world into confusion.

What if the Kings do not act up to this obligation. This law of

Chaturvarna is so supreme in the eyes of Manu that Manu will not
allow himself to be thwarted by a King who will not keep his obligation
to maintain this law. Boldly Manu forges a new law that such a king
shall be disposed. One can imagine how dear Chaturvarna was to Manu
and to Brahmanism.
As I have said the Chaturvarna of the Vedic system was better
than caste system was not very favourable to the creation of a Society
which could be regarded as one single whole possessing the Unity of
the ideal society. By its very theory the Chaturvarna has given birth
to four classes. These four classes were far from friendly. Often they
were quarreling and their quarrels were so bitter that they cannot but
be designated as Class wars. All the same this old Chaturvarna had
two saving features which Brahminism most selfishly removed. Firstly
there was no isolation among the Varnas. Intermarriage and interdining
the two strongest bonds for unity had full play. There was no room for
the different Varnas to develop that anti-social feeling which destroys
the very basis of Society. While the Kshatriyas fought against the
Brahmins and the Brahmins fought against the Kshatriyas there were
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328 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

not wanting Kshatriyas who fought against the Kshatriyas1 for the sake
of Brahmins and there were not wanting Brahmins2 who joined hands
with Kshatriyas to put down the Brahmins.
Secondly this old Chaturvarna was conventional. It was the ideal of
the Society but it was not the law of the State. Brahmanism isolated the
Varnas and sowed the seed of antagonism. Brahmanism made legal what
was only conventional. By giving it a legal basis it perpetrated the mischief.
The Vedic Chaturvarna if it was an evil would have died out by force of
time and circumstances. By giving it the force of Law Brahmanism has
made it eternal. This is probably the greatest mischief that Brahmanism
has done to Hindu Society.
In considering this question one cannot fail to notice that the obligation
imposed upon the King for the maintenance of the law of Chaturvarna
which is another name for the system of graded inequality does not require
the King to enforce it against the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. The
obligation is limited to the enforcement of the law against the Vaishyas
and the Shudras. Having regard to the fact that Brahmanism was so intent
on giving the system the force of law the result has been very awkward
to say the least about it. Notwithstanding this attempt at legalization the
system remained half legal and half conventional, legal as to the Vaishyas
and the Shudras and merely conventional as to Brahmins and Kshatriyas,
This difference needs to be accounted for. Was Brahmanism honest in
its attempt to give the system the force of law? Did it wish that each of
the four Varnas be bound by it? The fact that Brahmanism would not bind
the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas by the law it made, shows that in this
business Brahmainsm was far from honest. If it believed in the system
as ideal it could not have failed to make it an universal binding force.
But there is more than dishonesty in this foul game. One can quite
understand why the Brahmins were left free and untramelled by the
shackles of the law. Manu called them Gods on earth and Gods must be
above the law. But why were the Kshatriyas left free in the same way as
the Brahmins. He knows that the Kshatriyas will not humble themselves
before the Brahmins. He then proceeds to warn them, how the Brahmins
can punish them if the Kshatriyas show arrogance and plan rebellion.
IX. 320 When the Kshatriyas become in any way overbearing
towards the Brahmanas, the Brahmanas themselves shall duly
restrain them; for the Kshatriyas sprang from the Brahmanas.
1.
This is how Interpret the story of Parashuram’s war against the Kshatriyas.
2.
Buddhism was a revolt against Brahmins and Brhminism. Yet many or the early followers
of Buddha & Buddhism were Brahmins.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 329

IX. 321. Fire sprang from water, Kshatriya from Brahmanas, iron
from stone; the all-penetrating force of those (three) has no effect on
that whence they were produced.

One might think that the reason why Manu does not impose an
obligation upon the King to enforce the law against the Kshatriya was
because the Brahmins felt themselves quite capable of dealing with
Kshatriyas by their own prowess and without the aid of the King and
that they meant to put their sanctions against the Kshatriyas when
the time came and without fear of consequences. All this could not
have been meant by Manu. For after uttering this vows of vengeance,
and threats and imprecations Manu suddenly come down and begins to
plead with the Kshatriyas for cooperation and common front with the
Brahmins. In a verse next after the verse in which he utters the threats
and imprecations against the Kshatriyas Manu pleads:
IX. 323. But (a king who feels his end drawing nigh) shall bestow
all his wealth, accumulated from fines on Brahmanas, make over his
kingdom to his son and then seek death in battle.

From imprecations to supplication is a very queer cry. What is the

explanation of this anti-climax in the attitude of this strange behaviour
of Manu towards the Kshatriyas? What is the object of this cooperation
between Brahmins and Kshatriyas ? Against whom is this common
front to be? Manu does not explain. A whole history of a thousand years
must be told before this puzzle is solved and the questions satisfactorily
answered.
The history which furnishes the clue to the solution of this puzzle is
the history of the class wars between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas.
Most of the orthdox Hindus are repelled by the doctrine of Class
war which was propounded by Karl Marx and would be certainly
shocked if they were told that the history of their own ancestors
probably furnishes the most cogent evidence that Marx was searching
for support of his theory. Indeed there have been numerous class wars
between Brahmins and the Kshatriyas and only the most important
of them have been recorded1 in the ancient Hindu literature. We have
record of the conflict between the Brahmins and the Kings who were
all Kshatriyas. The first of these conflicts was a conflict with King
Vena, the second with Pururavas, the third with Nahusha, fourth with
Nimi and fifth with Sumukha. There is a record of a conflict between
Vashishtha a Brahmin and Vishvamitra an ordinary Kshatriya and
not a king. Then we have the record of the wholesale massacre of the
Brahmins of Bhrigu clan by the Kshatriya decendants of Kratavirya

1.
All this record has been collected by Prof. Muir in his Original Sanskrit Texts. Vo. I.
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330 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

and then we have the record of the whole class of Kshatriyas exterminated
by Parashuram acting on behalf of the Brahmanas. The issues that brought
them in conflict extended over a wide range and show how bitter and
strained must have been the feelings between Brahmins and Kshatriyas.
There were conflicts over the question whether the Kshatriya had a right
to become a Brahmana. There were conflicts over the question, whether
the Brahmins were subject to the authority or not. There were conflicts
on the question who should salute first and who should give way to
whom. The wars were wars1 of authority, status and dignity.
The results of these wars could not but be obvious to the Brahmins.
Notwithstanding their boastful utterances they must have realized
that it was not possible for them to crush the Kshatriyas and that
notwithstanding the wars of extermination the Kshatriyas survived
in sufficient numbers to plague the Brahmins. One need not pay any
attention to the filthy story told by the Brahmins and alluded to by
Manu that the Kshatriyas of the Manu’s day were not the original
Kshatriyas but a race of new Kshatriyas begotten by the Brahmins upon
the widows of the old Kshatriyas who were massacred by Parashuram.
Blackmailing is one of the means which Brahmanism is never ashamed
of using to advance its own purposes. The fight of Brahmanism against
the Kshatriyas was from the very beginning a fight between a fool
and a bully. Brahmanas were fighting against the Kshatriyas for the
maintenance of the Chaturvarna. Now it is this very Chaturvarna which
allowed bayonets to the Kshatriyas and denied them to the Brahmins.
How under this theory could the Brahmin fight with the Kshatriya with
any hope of success? It could not have taken long for the Brahmins to
realise the truth—which Tallyrand told Napoleon—that it is easy to give
bayonets but it is very difficult to sit on them and that as Kshatriyas
had bayonets and Brahmins none, war with the Kshatriya was the way
to ruin. These were the direct consequences of these wars between the
Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. But there were others which could not
have escaped the attention of the Brahmins. While the Brahmins and
Kshatriyas were fighting among themselves nobody was left to check
and keep the Vaishyas and the Shudras under control. They were on the
road of social equality almost nearing to the status of the Brahmins and
Kshatriyas. To Brahmanism the possibility of suppressing the Kshatriya
was very remote and the danger of being overtaken by Vaishyas and
Shudras were real and very real. Should the Brahmana continue to fight
the Kshatriya and ignore the danger of the Vaishyas and the Shudras?
Or Should the Brahmana give up the hopeless struggle against the
1.
See Hopkins History of the Ruling Races.
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THE TRIUMPH OF BRAHMANISM 331

Kshatriya and befriend him and make with him a common cause and
suppress the growing menace of the Vaishyas and Shudras? Brahmanism
after it was exhausted in the wars with the Kshathyas chose the second
alternative. It sought to befriend their worthwhile enemies the Kshatriyas
to work for a new ideal namely to enslave and exploit the two classes
below them namely the Vaishyas and the Shudras. This new ideal
must have taken shape some time when the Satpatha Brahmana came
to be composed. It is in the Satpatha Brahmana we find the new ideal
expressed it was well established. The language in which it is expressed,
and the subject to which it is applied are so telling that I feel it should
be quoted in its original terms. Says the author of the Satpatha1:
“They then make the beast return (to the Ahavaniya2) the he-goat
goes first of them, then the ass, then the horse. Now in going away from
this (Ahavaniya) the horse goes first, then the ass, then the he-goat—for
the horse corresponds to the Kshatra (nobility), the ass to the Vaishya
and Shudra, the he-goat to the Brahman and in-as-much as, in going
from here, the horse goes first, therefore the Kshatriya, going first, is
followed by the three others castes; and in-as-much as, in returning
from here, the he-goat goes first, therefore the Brahman, going first, is
followed by the three other castes. And in-as-much as the ass does not
go first, either in going back from here, or in coming back from there,
therefore the Brahmana and Kshatriya never go behind the Vaishya
and Sudra; hence they walk thus in order to avoid a confusion between
good and bad. And, moreover, he thus encloses those two castes (the
Vaishyas and Sudra) on both sides by the priesthood and the nobility
and makes them submissive.”

Here is the explanation of the puzzling attitude of Manu towards the

Kshatriyas, attitude of willing to wound but afraid to strike, of wishing
to dictate but preferring to befriend.
It is these wars and the compromise that had taught Manu that it was
no use trying to coerce the Kshatriyas to submit to the domination of
the Brahmin. It may be an ideal to be kept up. But as practical politics
it was an impossible ideal. Like Bismark, Manu knew that politics was
the game of the possible. What was possible was to make a common
cause and to build up a common front between the Brhamins and the
Kshatriyas against the Vaishyas and the Shudras and this is what Manu
did. The pity of it is that it was done in the name of religion. This need
not shock anybody who has studied the soul and spirit of Brahmanism.
With Brahmanism religion is a cloak to cover and hide its acquisitive
politics.
Eggeling Sathapatha Brahmana. Part III. pp. 226-27.
1.

Avavaniya.
2.


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CHAPTER 12
The Morals of the House

This is 61 page typed manuscript. This is a second copy but

it is having corrections and modifications by Dr. Ambedkar
himself. It is reproduced here taking all the corrections into
account. There is one separate file entitled ‘Manu Smriti or
the Gospel of Counter-Revolution ’. In that copy notes on Manu
Smriti under various categories have been drawn. However, all
these notes have been found to be incorporated in this essay,
‘Morals of the Mouse.’ It is felt that the printing of these notes
would be a mere repetition of this essay. Hence, the said copy
is not separately printed:
I
The morals of the Hindus and their religious creed are prescribed by
the Smritis which form a part of the Sacred literature of the Hindus.
It is to the Smritis that one must go to understand the Ethics and the
Religion of the Hindus. The Smritis are by no means few in number. A
conservative estimate gives the total number of Smritis to be 108. The
large number of Smritis cannot however make our problem difficult. For
though the Smritis are numerous they do not differ in essentials. Indeed
they repeat one another so closely that reading the Smritis creates a
most monotonous task. They are all derived from one common source.
That source is the Smriti of Manu otherwise known as Manava Dharma
Shastra. The other Smritis are faithful repetitions of the Manu Smriti.
A study of the Manu Smriti is therefore quite sufficient to obtain an
adequate conception of the moral standards and Religious notions of
the Hindus.
It may be said that Manu Smriti—and the same is true of the other
Smritis—is a Code of Laws. It is not a book of Ethics nor is it a book
of Religion and to take a book of Laws and to treat it as though it is
a book of Ethics and Religion is to confound Ethics, Religion and Law.
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 333

In the first place it is only in modern times that Law has been
separated from Religion. In all ancient Society, Law and Religion were
one. As Prof. Max Muller1 points out that though :—
“Law seems naturally to be the foundation of society, and the bond that
binds a nation together. Those who look below the surface have quickly
perceived that law itself, at least ancient law, derives its authority,
its force, its very life from religion……..The belief that the law giver
enjoyed some closer intimacy with the Deity than ordinary mortals,
pervades the ancient traditions of many nations. According to a well
known passage in Diodorus Siculus, the Egyptians believed their laws
to have been communicated to Menvis by Hermes; the Cretaus held that
Minos received his laws from Zeus, the Lacedaemonians that Lykurgus
received his laws from Apollon. According to the Arians, their law giver
Zarathustras had received his Laws from the Good Spirit; According
to the Stoe, Zamolixis received his laws from the goddess Hestia; and
according to the Jews, Moses received his laws from the God las.”

No one has pointed out more forcibly than Sir Henry Mains2 that
in ancient times religion as a divine influence was underlying and
supporting every relation of life and every social institution when he
says of Religion as:
“A supernatural presidency (which) is supposed to consecrate and
keep together all the cardinal institutions of those times, the state, the
Race, and the Family ”.

From this superntural presidency of Reigion, Law had notsucceded in

finding an escape until at a later time when law Finally breaks away
from religion but not without leaving many traces to show the link it
had with Religion at the very beginning of human history.
Again it is only in modern times that a difference is being made
between Religion and Ethics. Religion and Ethics are inextricably and
indissolubly bound together. Morality and Ethics are essentially practical.
As Prof. Jacks insists3 that the problem of Ethics is not merely getting
the Good understood but realised, not merely getting the Right placed
on scientific basis but done. Morality is a mere matter of defining what
is good and what is right. Prof. Jacks rightly says :
“Whenver we embark on the study of morality without interest
in its application I cannot but think that it is not morality we are
studying. Morality does not arise till the point of application is
reached. The effect of a moral theory launched upon the world is
1
Science of Religion, pages 150-151.
2
Ancient Law p. 6.
3
“ Morals and Religion ”— Hibbert Journal Vol. XIX. pp. 615-621.
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334 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

next to nothing unless the application of it can be reinforced by

powerful motives. The good life, as Aristotle pointed out is a very
difficult affair; difficult even when it goes no further than conformity
to existing conventions. But when the good life demands that existing
standards must be transcended how can this be effected without an
immense liberation of power? Mere information as to why men should
do right has no effect against their natural tendencies to do wrong—it
is no match for the difficulties that beset good life.”

Unless some motive force comes to its aid morality remains inert.
There can be no doubt that what gives motive force to morality is
Religion. It is a propelling force which creates, to use again the language
of Principal Jacks:
“ Motives which are strong enough to overcome the enormous
difficulties involved in living the good life, even in its simpler forms,
and adequate to maintain that continuous improvement of the moral
ideal.”

Religion as a motive force reinforces the moral will in various ways.

Sometimes it takes the form of sanctions by laying down a scheme of
rewards and punishments after death; some times it makes rules of
morality as the commandments of God; some times it invests these
rules with sanctity which evokes willing obedience. But these are only
different ways in which motive power generated by Religion helps to
sustain moral life in action. Religion is the dynamics which moves the
wheels of morality.
If Ethics and Morality are duties then there can be no doubt that
Manu Smriti is a book of Ethics. Any one who takes the trouble
to read the Smriti of Manu will have to admit that if there is any
subject which figures prominently in the book it is that of duties.
Manu was the first to syatematise and codify the duties to which a
Hindu was bound. He distinguishes between Varnashramadharmas
and Sadharandharmas. The Varnashramdharmas are the specific
duties relating to one’s station in life i.e. one’s station as determined
by one’s Varna or caste and one’s Ashram or particular stage of life.
The Sadharandharmas are duties irrespective of one’s age, caste or
creed i.e. duties obligatory on man as man and not as a member of a
particular community or social class or as being at a particular stage
or period of life. The whole book deals with duties and with nothing
else. Manu Smriti is thus a book of Law, Religion and Ethics rolled
into one. It is Ethics because it deals with duties of men. It is religion
because it deals with Caste which is the soul of Hinduism. It is Law
because it prescribes penalities for breach of duties. In this view there
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 335

is nothing wrong in going to Manu Smriti to ascertain the moral standards

and religious notions of the Hindus.
That Manu Smriti is a book of Religion may not be quite obvious.
That is because Hinduism is a very illusive term. Different writers have
defined it in various ways.
Sir D. Ibbetson1 defines Hinduism as :
“A hereditary sacerdotalism with Brahmins for its devices, the vitality
of which is preserved by the social institution of caste and which include
all shades and diversities of religion native to India, as distinct from
foreign importations of Christianity and islam, and from the later
outgrowths of Buddhism, more doubtfully of Sikhism and still more
doubtfully of Jainism”.

Sir J. A. Baines2 defined Hinduism as :—

“The large residium that is not Sikh, or Jain, or Buddhist or professedly
Animistic, or included in one of the foreign religions such as Islam.
Mazdaism. Christianity, or Hebraism.”

To Sir Edward Gait3 Hinduism :—

“ is a complex congenies of creeds and doctrines. It shelters within
its portals monotheists, polytheists. and pantheists; Worshippers of the
great God Siva and Vishnu, or of their female counterparts, as well
as worshippers of the divine mothers, of the spirits of trees, rocks and
streams and of the tutelary village deities; persons who propitate their
deity by all matter of bloody sacrifices, and persons who will not only
kill no living creature, but who must not even use the word “cut”; those
whose ritual consists mainly of prayers and hymns, and those who
indulge in unspeakable orgies in the name of religion”.

This discription of complexity is full but is still incomplete. To the list

must be added those who revere the cow and those who eat it, those who
worship natural forces, and those who worship a single God; those who
are worshippers of idols, demons, ghosts, ancestors, saints and heroes.
Such are the answers given by the three Census Commissioners to
the simple question what is Hinduism. Others have not found it less
difficult to answer the question. Consider how Sir A. Lyall has fared in
answering the question. In his “ Rede Lecture ” delivered at Cambridge
in 1891 he said4 :
“And if I were asked for a definition of Hinduism I could give no
precise answer, I could not define it concisely by giving its central
1
Punjab Census Report 1881. para 214.
2
Census of India. Report 1881. p. 158.
3
Census of India. Report 1911 p. 114.
4
Asiatic Studies Vol. II pp. 287-88.
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336 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

doctrines and its essential articles of faith; as I might do in describing

of the great historical Religions. For the word Hindu is not exclusively a
religious denomination; it denotes also a country, and to certain degree
a race. When we speak of Christian, a Mahomedan, or a Buddhist, we
mean a particular religious community, in the widest sense, without
distinction of race or place. When we talk of a Russian or a Persian,
we indicate country or parentage without distinction of creed. But when
a person tells me that he is a Hindu, I know that he means all three
things together— Religion. Parentage and Country.”

Speaking of Hinduism as a Religion Sir Alfred Lyall said that:

“Hinduism was a tangled mugle of disorderly superstitions, the
collection of rights, worships, beliefs, traditions and mythologies, that
are sanctioned by the sacred books and ordinances of the Brahmins and
are propogated by Brahmanic teachings.”

Lastly I will quote the defintion given by a Hindu Mr. G. P. Sen who
not merely a Hindu but is a student of Hinduism. In his book called
‘Introduction to the study of Hinduism’ Mr. Sen says :—
“ Hinduism is what the Hindus, or a major portion of them in a
Hindu Community do. ”

Is there then no principle in Hinduism which all Hindus no matter

what their other differences are, feel bound to render willing obedience?
It seems to me there is and that principle is the principle of Caste. There
may be a difference of opinion as to which matters constitute matters
of essence so far as Hinduism is concerned. But there can be no doubt
that Caste is one and an essential and integral part of Hinduism. Every
Hindu—if he is not merely a statutory Hindu-believes in Caste and every
Hindu—even one who prides himself on being a statutory Hindu—has a
Caste. A Hindu is as much born into caste as he is born in Hinduism.
Indeed a person connot be born in Hinduism unless he is born in a Caste.
Caste and Hinduism are inseparable. As Prof. Max Muller1 observes :
“Modern Hinduism rests on the system of Caste as on a rock which
no arguments can shake.”

It therefore follows that in so far as Manu lays down the creed of the
Caste and in so far as Hinduism at its core is the creed of Caste the
Manu Smriti must be accepted as the Book of Religion.
II
What are the Ethical and Religious norms prescribed by Manu for
Hindus to observe and follow?

Science of Religion, p. 28.

1.
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 337

To begin with, Manu divides Hindus into four varnas or social orders.
He not only divides Hindus into four orders he also grades them. The
following is his scheme of gradation.
X. 3. On account of his pre-eminence, on account of the superiority of
his origin, on account of his observance of (particular) restrictive rules,
and on account of his particular sanctification the Brahman is the Lord
of (all) Varnas.

He proceeds to amplify his reasons and does so in the following

characteristic manner :—
I. 93. As the Brahmana sprang from (Prajapati’s i.e.Gods) mouth, as
he was first-born, and as he possesses the Veda, he is by right the lord
of this whole creation.
I. 94. For the self existent (Svayambhu i.e. God), having performed
austerities, produced him first from his own mouth, in order that the
offerings might be conveyed to the Gods and Manes and that this
universe might be preserved.
I. 95. What created being can surpass him, through whose mouth
the Gods continually consume the sacrificial viands and the manes the
offerings to the dead.
I. 96. Of created beings the most excellent are said to be those which
are animated; of the animated, those who subsist by intelligence; of the
inteligent, mankind; and of the men, the Brahmans.

Besides the reason given by Manu the Brahmin is first in rank because
he was produced by God from his mouth, in order that the offerings
might be conveyed to the Gods and manes. Manu gives another reason
for the supremacy of the Brahmins.
He says :—
I. 98. The very birth of a Brahmana is an eternal incarnation of the
sacred Law (Veda); for he is born to (fulfil) the sacred law, and become
one with Brahman (God).
I. 99. A Brahamana, coming into existence, is born as the highest on
earth, the lord of all created beings, for the protection of the treasury
of the Law.
Manu concludes by saying that :
I. 101. The Brahmana eats but his own food, wears but his own
apparel, bestows but his own alms; other mortals subsist through the
benevolence of the Brahmana.”

Because according to Manu :

I. 100. Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Brahmana;
on account of the excellence of his origin the Brahmana is, indeed,
entitled to it all.
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338 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

It is really an understatement to say that according to Manu the

Brahman is a lord of all creation. For Manu gives a warning to the
effect that :—
IX. 317. A Brahmana, be he ignorant or learned, is a great divinity,
just as the fire, whether carried forth (for the performance of a burnt
oblation) or not carried forth, is a great divinity.
IX. 319. Thus, though the Brahmans employ themselves in all (sorts)
of mean occupations, they must be honoured in every way; (for each of)
them is a very great deity.

Being a deity the Brahmin is above law and above the King. Manu
directs :—
VII. 37. Let the King, after rising early in the morning, worship
Brahmans who are well versed in the threefold sacred science and learned
(in polity), and follow their advice
VII. 38. Let him daily worship aged Brahmans who know the Veda
and are pure……….

Finally Manu says :

XI. 35. The Brahman is (hereby) declared (to be) the creator (of the
world), the punishcr, the teacher, (and hence) a benefactor (of all created
beings); to him let no man say anything unpropitions, nor use any harsh
words.

In the Code of Manu there are rules regarding the different occupations
which the different orders are required to follow:
I. 88. To Brahmens he (Swayambhu Manu) assigned the duties of reading
the Veda, of teaching it, of sacrificing, of assisting others to sacrifice,
of giving alms, if they the rich, and if indiquent, of receiving of gifts.
I. 89. To defend the people, to give alms, to sacrifice, to read the Veda,
to shun the allurements of sensual gratifiction, are, in a few words, the
duties of a Kshatriya.
I. 90. To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largeness, to sacrifice, to read
the scriptures, to carry on trade, to lend at interest, and to cultivate
land are prescribed or permitted to a Vaishya.
I. 91. One principal duty the supreme Ruler assigns to a Shudra; namely,
to serve the before mentioned classes, without depreciating their worth.
I.74. Let such Brahmans as are intent on the means of attaining the
supreme Godhead, and firm in their own duties, completely perform, in
order, the six following acts:
X. 75. Reading the Vedas, the teaching others to read them, sacrificing,
and assisting others, to sacrifice, giving to the poor if themselves have
enough, and accepting gifts from the virtuous if themselves are poor, are
the six prescribed acts of the first born class;
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 339

X. 76. But, among those six acts of a Brahmin, three are his means
of susbsistence; assisting to sacrifice, teaching the Vedas, and receiving
gifts from a pure handed giver.
X. 77. Three acts of duty cease with the Brahman, and belong not to
the Kshatriya; teaching the Vedas, officiating at a sacrifice, and, thirdly,
receiving presents.
X. 78. Those three are also (by the fixed rule of law) forbidden to the
Vaisya; since Manu, the Lord of all men, prescribed not those acts to
the two classes, military and commercial.
X. 79. The means of subsistence, peculiar to the Kshatriya, are bearing
arms, either held for striking or missile, to the Vaisya, merchandize,
attending on cattle, and agriculture but with a view to the next life,
the duties of both are alms giving, reading, sacrificing.”

Besides prescribing rank and occupation Manu grants privileges to

certain orders and imposes penalties on certain orders.
As to privileges those relating to marriage may be referred to first.
Manu says :
III. 12. For the first marriage of the twice born classes, a woman
of the same class is recommended but for such as are impelled by
inclination to marry again, women in the direct order of the classes
are to be preferred :
III. 13. A Sudra woman only must be the wife of a Sudra; she and
a Vaisya, of a Vaisya; they two and a Kshatriya, of a Kshatriya; those
three and a Brahmani of a Brahman.

Then there are privileges relating to occupations. These privileges

stand out quite prominently when Manu deals with the question as to
what a person is to do when he is in distress:
X. 81. Yet a Brahmen, unable to subsist by his duties just mentioned,
may live by the duty of a soldier; for that is the next in rank.
X. 82. If it be asked, how he must live, should he be unable to get
a subsistence by either of those employments; the answer is, he may
subsist as a mercantile man, applying himself in person to tillage and
attendance on cattle.
X. 83. But a Brahman and a Kshatriya, obliged to subsist by the acts
of a Vaisya, must avoid with care, if they can live by keeping herds, the
business of tillage, which gives great pain to sentient creatures, and is
dependent on the labour of others, as bulls and so forth.
X. 84. Some are of opinion, that agriculture is excellent, but it is a
mode of subsistence which the benevolent greatly blame, for the iron
mouthed pieces of wood not only wound the earth, but the creatures
dwelling in it.
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340 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

X. 85. If through want of a virtuous livelihood, they cannot follow

laudable occupations, they may then gain a competence of wealth by
selling commodities usually sold by merchants, avoiding what ought to
be avoided.

X. 86. They must avoid selling liquids of all sorts, dressed grain, seeds
of tila, stones, salt, cattle, and human creatures.

X. 87. All woven cloth dyed red, cloth made of sana, of cshuma-bark,
and of wool, even though not red; fruit, roots, and medicinal plants.

X. 88. Water, iron, poison, flesh-meat, the moon-plant, and perfumes

of any sort; milk, honey, butter milk, clarified butter, oil of tila, wax
sugar, and blades of cusa grass;

X. 89. All beasts of the forest, as deer and the like, ravenous beasts,
birds, and fish; spirituous liquors, nili, or indigo, and lascha, or lac; and
all beasts with uncloven hoofs.

X. 90. But the brahmen-husbandman may at pleasure sell pure tila-

seeds for the purpose of holy rites, if he keep them not long with a
hope of more gain, and shall have produced them by his own culture.;

X. 91. If he apply seeds of tila to any purpose but food, anoiting, and
sacred oblations, he shall be plunged, in the shape of a worm, together
with his parents, into the ordure of dogs.

X. 92. By selling flesh-meat, lac or salt, a Brahmen immediately sinks

low; by selling milk three days, he falls to a level with a Sudra.

X. 93. And by selling the other forbidden commodities with his own
free will, he assumes in this world, after seven nights, the nature of a
mere Vaisya.

X. 94. Fluid things may, however, be bartered for other fluids, but
not salt for anything liquid; so may dressed grain for grain undressed,
and tila-seeds for grain in the husk, equal weights or measures being
given and taken.

X. 102. The Brahmen having fallen into distress, may receive gifts
from any person whatever; for by no sacred rule can it be shown, that
absolute purity can be sullied.

X. 103. From interpreting the Veda, from officiating at sacrifices, or

from taking presents, though in modes generally disapproved, no sin is
committed by priests in distress; for they are as pure as fire or water.

Compare with this what Manu has to say with regard, to what the
other Varnas can do in an emergency, Manu says :
X. 96. A man of lowest class, who through covetousncss. lives by the
acts of the highest, let the king strip of all his wealth and instantly
banish.
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 341

X. 97. His own office, though defectively performed, is preferable
to that of another, though performed completely; for he, who without
necessity discharges the duties of another class, immediately forfeits
his own.

X. 98. A mercantile man, unable to subsist by his own duties, may

descend even to the servile acts of a Sudra, taking care never to do
what ought never to be done; but, when he has gained a competence,
let him depart from service.

X. 99. A man of fourth class, not Finding employment by waiting

on the twice born, while his wife and son are tormented with hunger,
may subsist by handicrafts.

X. 121. If a Sudra want a subsistence and cannot attend priest, he

may serve a Kshatriya; or, if he cannot wait on a soldier by birth, he
may gain his livelihood by serving an opulent Vaisya.

X. 122. To him, who serves Brahmens, with a view to a heavenly

reward, or even with view to both this life and the next, the union of
the word Brahmen with his name of servant will assuredly bring success.

X. 123. Attendance on Brahmens is pronounced the best work of Sudra;

whatever else he may perform will comparatively avail him nothing.

X. 124. They must allot him a fit maintenance according to their

own circumstances, after considering his ability, his exertions, and the
number of those, whom he must provide with nourishment.

X. 125. What remains of their dressed rice must be given to him,

and apparel which they have worn, and the refuse of their grain, and
their old household furniture.

X. 126. There is no guilt in a man of the servile class who eats leeks
and other forbidden vegetables; he must not have the sacred investiture;
he has no business with the duty of making oblations to fire and the
like, but there is no prohibition against his offering dressed grain as
a sacrifice, by way of discharging his own duty.

X. 127. Even Sudras, who were anxious to perform their entire duty,
and, knowing what they should perform, imitate the practice of good
men in the household sacraments, but without any holy text, except
those containing praise and salutations, are so far from sinning, that
they acquire just applause.

X. 128. As a Sudra, without injuring another man, performs the

lawful acts of the twice-born, even thus, without being censured, he
gains exaltation in this world and in the next.

X. 129. No superfluous collection of wealth must be made by a

Sudra, even though he has power to make it, since a servile man,
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342 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

who has amassed riches, becomes proud, and, by his insolence or neglect,
gives pain even to Brahmens.

He concludes :—
X. 130. Such, as have been fully declared, are the several duties of the
four classes in distress for subsistence, and, if they perform them exactly,
they shall attain the highest beatitude.

The privileges to some were not merely social they were also financial,
Says Manu :—
VIII. 35. From the man, who shall say with truth, ‘This property, which
has been kept, belongs to me’, the king may take a sixth or twelfth part,
for having secured it.

VIII. 36. But he, who shall say so falsely, may be fined either an eighth
part of his own property, or else in some small proportion to the value of
the goods falsely claimed, a just calcultion having been made.

VIII. 37. A learned Brahmen, having found a treasure formerly . hidden,

may take it without any deduction; since he is the lord of all.

VIII. 38. But of a treasure anciently deposited under ground, which any
other subject or the king has discovered, the king may lay up half in his
treasury having given half to the Brahmens.

IX. 323. Should the king be near his end through some incurable disease,
he must bestow on the priests all his riches, accumulated his kingdom to
his son, let him seek death in battle, or if there be no war, by abstaining
from food.

VII. 127. Having ascertained the rates of purchase and sale, the length
of the way, the expenses of food and of condiments the charges of securing
the goods carried, and the net profits of trade, let the king oblige traders
to pay taxes on their saleable commodities.

VII. 128. After full consideration, let a king so levy those taxes continually
in his dominions, that both he and the merchant may receive a just
compensation for their several acts.

VII. 129. As the leech, the suckling calf, and the bee, take their natural
food by little and little, thus must a king draw from his dominions an
annual revenue.

VII. 130. Of cattle, of gems, of gold and silver, added each year to the
capital stock, a fiftieth part may be taken by the king; of grain, an eighth
part, a sixth, or a twelfth, according to the difference of the soil, and the
labour necessary to cultivate it.

VII. 131. He may also take a sixth part of the clear annual increase
of trees, fleshmeat, honey, clarified butter, perfumes, medical substances,
liquids, flowers, roots, and fruit.
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VII. 132. Of gathered leaves, pot-herbs, grass, utencils made with
leather or cane, earthen pots, and all things made of stone.

VII. 132. A king, even though dying with want, must not receive
any tax from a Brahman learned in the Vedas, nor suffer such a
Brahmen, residing in his territories, to be afflicted with hunger.

VII. 134. Of that king, in whose dominion a learned Brahmen is

afflicted with hunger, the whole kingdom will in a short time be
afflicted with famine.

VII. 137, Let the king order a mere trifle to be paid, in the name of
the annual tax, by the meaner inhabitants of his realm, who subsist
by petty traffic.

VII. 138. By low handicraftsmen, artificers, and servile men, who

support themselves by labour, the king may cause work to be done
for a day in each month.

VIII. 394. Neither a blind man, nor an idiot, nor a cripple, nor a man
full seventy years old, nor one who confers great benefits on priests
of eminent learning, shall be compelled by any king to pay taxes.

X. 118. A military king, who takes even a fourth part of the crops
of his realm at a time of urgent necessity, as of war or invasion, and
protects his people to the utmost of his power, commits no sin:

X. 119. His peculiar duty is conquest, and he must not recede

from battle; so that, while he defends by his arms the merchant and
husbandman, he may levy the legal tax as the price of protection.

X. 120. The tax on the mercantile class, which in times of

prosperity must be only a twelfth part of their crops, and a fiftieth
of their personal profits, may be an eighth of their crops in a time of
distress, or a sixth, which is the medium, or even a fourth in great
public adversity; but a twentieth of their gains on money, and other
moveables, is the highest tax; serving men, artisans, and mechanics,
must assist by their labour, but at no time pay taxes.

X. 187. To the nearest sapinda, male or female, after him in the

third degree, the inheritance next belongs; then, on failure of sapindas
and of their issue the samanodaca, or distant kinsman, shall be the
heir; or the spiritual preceptor, or the pupil, or the fellow student,
of the deceased.

IX. 188. On failure of all those, the lawful heirs are such Brahmens,
as have read the three Vedas, as are pure in body and mind, as have
subdued their passions; and they must consequently offer the cake;
thus the rites of obsequies cannot fail.
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344 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

IX. 189. The property of a Brahmen shall never be taken as an

escheat by the king; this is a fixed law; but the wealth of the other
classes, on failure of all heirs, the king may take.

The terms on which the different social orders should carry on their
associated life has been defined by Manu in a set of rules which form
a very important part of the morals of the Hindu House.
Manu ordains that:
X. 3. From priority of birth, from superiority of origin, from a more
exact knowledge of scripture, and from a distinction in the sacrificial
thread, the Brahmen is the lord of all classes.

IX. 317. A Brahmen, whether learned or ignorant, is a powerful

divinity; even as fire is powerful divinity, whether consecrated or
popular.

IX. 319. Thus, although Brahmens employ themselves in all sorts

of mean occupations, they must invariably be honoured; for they are
something transcendently divine.

VII. 35. A king was created as the protector of all those classes and
orders, who, from the first to the last, discharge their several duties.

VII. 36. And all, that must be done by him, for the protection of
his people, with the assistance of good ministers, I will declare to
you, as the law directs, in due order.

VII. 37. Let the king, having risen at early dawn, respectfully
attend to Brahmen, learned in the three Vedas, and in the science
of ethics, and by their decision let him abide.

VII. 38. Constantly must he show respect to Brahmens, who have

grown old, both in years and in piety, who know the scriptures,
who in body and mind are pure; for he, who honours the aged, will
perpetually be honoured even by cruel demons:

IX. 313. Let him not, although in the greatest distress for money,
provoke Brahmens to anger by taking their prosperty; for they, once
enraged, could immediately by sacrifices and imprecations destroy
him with his troops, elephants, horses and cars.

Such was to be the relationship in the field of political life. For

ordinary social intercourse between the different Varnas Manu lays
down the following rules:—
III. 68. A house-keeper has five places of slaughter, or where small
living creatures may be slain; his kitchen-hearth, his grindstone,
his broom, his pestle and mortar, his water-pot; by using which, he
becomes in bondage to sin:
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III. 69. For the sake of expiating offences committed ignorantly in those
places mentioned in order, the five great sacraments were appointed by
eminent sages to be performed each day by such as keep house.
III. 70. Teaching and studying the scripture is the sacrament of the
Veda; offering cakes and water, the sacrament of the Manes, an oblation
to fire, the sacrament of the Deities; giving rice or other food to living
creatures, the sacrament of spirits; receiving guests with honour, the
sacrament of men.
III. 71. Whoever omits not those five great ceremonies, if he have
ability to perform them, is untainted by the sons of the five slaughtering
places, even though he constantly reside at home;
III. 84. In his domestic Are for dressing the food of all the Gods, after
the prescribed ceremony, let a Brahmen make an oblation each day to
these following divinities.

After it is offered to the deities Manu directs:—

III. 92. The share of dogs, of outcasts, of dog-feeders, of sinful men,
punished with elephantiasis or consumption, of crows, and of reptiles,
let him drop on the ground by little and little.

With regard to the rules of hospitality Manu directs the householder:

III. 102. A Brahmen, staying but one night as a guest, is called an
atithi, since continuing so short a time, he is not even a sojourner for
a whole tithi, or day of the moon.
III. 98. But an offering in the fire of a sacerdotal mouth, which richly
blazes with true knowledge and piety, will release the giver from distress
and even from deadly sin.
III. 107. To the highest guests in the best form, to the lowest in the
worst, to the equal equally, let him offer seats, resting places, couches;
giving them proportionable attendance when they depart; and honour,
as long as they stay.
III. 110. A military man is not denominated a guest in the house of a
Brahman; nor a man of the commercial or servile class; nor his familiar
friend, nor his paternal kinsmen; nor his preceptor.
III. 111. But if a warrior come to his house in the form of a guest, let
food be prepared for him, according to his desire, after the beforementioned
Brahmens have eaten.
III. 112. Even to a merchant or a labourer, approaching his house in
the manner of guests, let him give food, showing marks of benevolence
at the same time with his domestics.

On social bearing of one class towards another Manu has laid down
some very interesting ordinances. He has an equation for social status:
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346 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

II. 135. The student must consider a Brahmen, though but ten years
old, and a Kshatriya, though aged a hundred years, as father and son; as
between those two, the young Brahmen is to be respected as the father.

II. 136. Wealth, kindred, age, moral conduct, and, fifthly divine
knowledge, entitle men to respect; but that which is last mentioned in
order, is the most respectable.

II. 137. Whatever man of the three highest classes possesses the most
of those five, both in number and degree that man is entitled to most
respect; even a Sudra, if he have entered the tenth decade of his age.

II. 138. Way must be made for a man in a wheeled carriage, or above
ninety years old, or afflicted with disease, or carrying a burthen; for a
woman; for a priest just returned from the mansion of his preceptor;
for a prince, and for a bridegroom.

II. 139. Among all those, if they be met at one time, the priest just
returned home and the prince are most to be honoured; and of those
two, the priest just returned, should be treated with more respect than
the prince.

As illustrating the rules of social bearing a reference may be made

to rules regarding salutation:
II. 121. A youth who habitually greets and constantly reverses the
aged, obtains an increase of four things; life, knowledge, fame, strength.

II. 122. After the word of salutation, a Brahman must address an

elder; saying, “I am such an one,” pronouncing his own name.

II. 123. If any persons, through ignorance of the Sanskrit language,

understand not the import of his name, to them should a learned man
say, “ It is I”; and in that manner he should address all classes of women.

II. 124. In the salutation he should pronounce, after his own name,
the vocative particle ‘bhoh’; for the particle ‘bhoh’ is held by the wise
to have the same property with names fully expressed.

II. 125. A Brahmen should thus be saluted in return; “ May’st thou

live long, excellent man ”, and at the end of his name, the vowel and
preceding consonant should be lengthened, with an acute accent, to three
syllabic moments or short vowels.

II. 126. That Brahmen, who knows not the form of returning a
salutation, must not be saluted by a man of learning; as a Shudra,
even so is he.

II. 127. Let a learned man ask a priest, when he meets him, if his
devotion prospers, a warrior, if he is unhurt; a merchant, if his wealth
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 347

is secure; and one of the servile classes, if he enjoys good health; using
respectively the words, cusalam, anamayam, ksheman and anarogyam.
The provisions laid down by Manu in relation to Religion and Religious
Sacraments and Sacrifice are worthy of note.
The ordinances of Manu relating to Sacraments and sacrifices are as
follows:
III. 68. A house-keeper has five places of slaughter, or where small
living creatures may be slain; his kitchen-hearth, his grindstone, his
broom, his pastle and mortar, his water-pot; by using which, he become
in bondage to sin.
III. 69. For the sake of expiating offences committed ignorantly in those
places mentioned in order, the five great sacraments were appointed by
eminent sages to be performed each day by such as keep house.
III. 70. Teaching and studying the scriptures is the sacrament of the
Veda; offering cakes and water, the sacrament of the Manes, an oblation
to fire, the sacrament of the Deities; giving rice or other food to living
creatures, the sacraments of spirits; receiving guests with honour, the
sacrament of men.
III. 71. Whoever omits not those five great ceremonies, if he have
ability to perform them, is untainted by the sons of the five slaughtering
places, even though he constantly reside at home.

Manu then proceeds to lay down that all are not entitled to the
benefit of the sacraments and all have not the same right to perform
the sacrifices.
He defines the position of women and Shudras in the matter of
Sacraments and sacrifices. As to women Manu says :—
II. 66. The same ceremonies, except that of the sacrificial thread, must
be duly performed for women at the same age and in the same order,
that the body may be made perfect; but without any text from the Veda.”

As to Shudras, Manu says :—

X. 127. Even Shudras, who were anxious to perform their entire duty,
and, knowing what they should perform initate the practice of , good
men in the household sacraments, but without any holy text, except
those containing praise and salutation, are so far from sinning, that
they acquire just applause.

The investiture of a person with the sacred thread is a very important

sacrament.
II. 36. In the eighth year from the conception of a Brahman, in the
eleventh from that of a Kshatriya, and in the twelfth from that of a
Vaisya, let the father invest the child with the mark of his class.
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II. 37. Should a Brahman, or his father for him, be desirous of his
advancement in sacred knowledge; a Kshatriya, of extending his power;
or a Vaisya of engaging in mercantile business; the investiture may be
made in the fifth, sixth, or eighth years respectively.

II. 38. The ceremony of investiture hallowed by the Gayatri must not
be delayed, in the case of a priest, beyond the sixteenth year; nor in
that of a soldier, beyond the twenty second; nor in that of a merchant,
beyond the twenty fourth.

II. 39. After that, all youths of these three classes, who have not been
invested at the proper time, become vratyas, or outcasts, degraded from
the Gayatri, and condemned by the virtuous.

As to the Gayatri it is a mantra and this is how Manu explains its

importance:—
II. 76. Brahma milked out, as it were, from the three Vedas, the
letter A, the letter U, and the letter M which form by their coalition
the triliteral monosyllable, together with three mysterious words bhur,
bhuvah, svah or earth, sky, heaven.

II. 77. From the three Vedas, also, the Lord of creatures,
incomprehensibly exalted, successively milked out the three measures
of that ineffable text, beginning with the word tad, and entitled Savitri
or Gayatri.

II. 78. A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to
himself, both morning and evening, that syllable, and that holy text
preceded by the three words, shall attain the sanctity which the Veda
confers:

II. 79. And a twice born man, who shall a thousand times repeat those
three (om, the vyahritis, and the gayatri), apart from the multitude,
shall be released in a month even from a great offence, as a snake
from his slough.

II. 80. The priest, the soldier, and the merchant, who shall neglect
this mysterious text, and fail to perform in due season his peculiar acts
of piety, shall meet with contempt among the virtuous.

II. 81. The great immutable words, preceded by the triliteral syllable,
and followed by the gayatri which consists of three measures, must be
considered as the mouth, or principal part of the Veda;

II. 82. Whoever shall repeat, day by day, for three years, without
negligence, that sacred text, shall hereafter approach the divine essence,
move as freely as air, and assume an ethereal form.

II. 83. The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the Supreme, the

suppressions of breath with a mind fixed on God are the highest
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devotion; but nothing is more exalted than the Gayatri; a declaration
of truth is more excellant than silence.

II. 84. All rites ordained in the Veda, oblations to fire, and solemn
sacrifices pass away; but that which passes not away, is declared to
be the syllable om, thence called acshara; since it is a symbol of God,
the Lord of created beings.

II. 85. The act of repeating his Holy Name is ten times better than
the appointed sacrifice; an hundred times better when it is heard by
no man; and a thousand times better when it is purely mental.

II. 86. The four domestic sacraments which are accompanied with the
appointed sacrifice, are not equal though all be united, to a sixteenth
part of the sacrifice performed by a repetition of the gayatri.

This investiture is equivalent to a new birth.

II. 147. Let a man consider that as a mere human birth, which
his parents gave him for their mutual gratification, and which he
receives after lying in the womb.

II. 148. But that birth which his principal acharya, who knows the
whole Veda, procures for him by his divine mother the gayatri, is a
true birth; that birth is exempt from age and from death.

II. 169. The first birth is from a natural mother; the second, from
the ligation of the zone; the third from the due performance of the
sacrifice; such are the births of him who is usually called twice-born,
according to a text of the Veda.

II. 170. Among them his divine birth is that, which is distinguished
by the ligation of the zone, and sacrificial cord ; and in that birth the
Gayatri is his mother, and the Acharya, his father. This sacrament
is not permitted by Manu to Shudras and to women.

II. 103. But he who stands not repeating it in the morning, and
sits not repeating it in the evening, must be precluded, like a Sudra,
from every sacred observance of the twice born class.

Manu has not forgotten to mention rules relating to education

and learning. Manu has nothing to say about mass education. He
does not see the utility of it and he does not see the necessity of
imposing any obligation upon the king or the state. He was merely
concerned with the learning of the sacred and Religious literature
namely the Vedas.
Veda must be learned from a preceptor and with his assent. No
one can read and study the Vedas by himself. He will be guilty of
theft if he did it.
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350 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

II. 116. He who shall acquire knowledge of the Veda without the
assent of his preceptor, incurs the guilt of stealing the scripture and
shall sink to the region of torment.

But others cannot study at all.

IX. 18. Women have no business with the texts of the Veda; thus
is the law fully settled; having, therefore, no evidence of law, and no
knowledge of expiatory texts, sinful women must be as foul as falsehood
itself; and this is a fixed rule.
IV. 99. He must never read the Veda without accents and letters well
pronounced; nor even in the presence of Sudras; nor, having begun to read
it in the last watch of the night, must he, though fatigued, sleep again.

This prohibition applies to Vratyas or outcasts from the three higher

classes. For Manu says:
II. 40. With such impure men, let no Brahmen, even in distress for
subsistence, ever form a connexion in law, either by the study of the
Veda, or by affinity.

Teaching Veda or performing of sacrifices for disqualified persons was

prohibited by Manu.
IV. 205. Never let a priest eat part of a sacrifice not begun with texts
of the Veda, nor of one performed by a common sacrificer, by a woman,
or by an eunuch:
IV. 206. When those persons offer the clarified butter, it brings
misfortune to good men, and raises aversion in the deities, such oblations,
therefore, he must carefully shun.
XI. 198. He, who has officiated at a sacrifice for outcasts, or burned
the corpse of a stranger, or performed rites to destroy the innocent, or
made the impure sacrifice, called Ahimsa, may expiate his guilt by three
prajapatya penances.

Take equality before Law.

When they come as witnesses—according to Manu they are to be
sworn as follows:
VIII. 87. In the forenoon let the judge, being purified, severally call on
the twice-born, being purified also, to declare the truth, in the presence
of some image, a symbol of the divinity, and of Brahmens, while the
witnesses turn their faces either to the north or to the east.
VIII. 88. To a Brahmen he must begin with saying, “Declare;” to a
Kshatriya, with saying, “ Declare the truth ”; to a Vaisya, with comparing
perjury to the crime of stealing kine, grain, or gold; to a Sudra, with
comparing it in some or all of the following sentences, to every crime
that men can commit.
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VIII. 113. Let the judge cause a priest to swear by his veracity; a soldier,
by his horse, or elephant, and his weapons; a merchant, by his kine, grain,
and gold; a mechanic or servile man, by imprecating on his own head, if he
speak falsely, all possible crime; Manu also deals with cases of witnesses
giving false evidence.

According to Manu giving false evidence is a crime. Says Manu:

VIII. 122. Learned men have specified these punishments, which were
ordained by sage legislators for perjured witnesses, with a view to prevent
a failure of justice and to restrain iniquity.

VIII. 123. Let a just prince banish men of the three lower classes, if they
give false evidence having first levied the fine; but a Brahmen let him only
banish.”

But Manu made one exception:

VIII. 112. To women, however, at a time of dalliance, or on a proposal
of marriage, in the case of grass or fruit eaten by a cow, of wood taken for
a sacrifice, or of a promise made for the preservation of a Brahmen, it is
deadly sin to take a light oath. As parties to proceedings—Their position
can be illustrated by quoting the ordinances of Manu relating to a few of
the important criminal offences dealt with by Manu.

Take the offence of Defamation. Manu says:

VIII. 267. A soldier, defaming a priest, shall be fined a hundred panas a
merchant, thus offending, an hundred and fifty, or two hundred : but, for
such an offence, a mechanic or servile man shall be whipped.

VIII. 268. A priest shall be fined fifty, if he slander a soldier; twenty five,
if a merchant; and twelve, if he slander a man of the servile class.

Take the offence of Insult—Manu says:

VIII. 270. A once-born man, who insults the twice-born with gross invectives,
ought to have his tongue slit; for he sprang from the lowest part of Brahma.

VIII. 271. If he mention their names and classes with contumely as, if
he say, “Oh Devadatta, thou refuse of Brahmen”, an iron style, ten fingers
long, shall be thrust red into his mouth.

VIII. 272. Should he, through pride, give instruction to priests concerning
their duty, let the king order some hot oil to be dropped into his mouth
and his ear.

Take the offence of Abuse—Manu says:

VIII. 276. For mutual abuse by a priest and a soldier, this fine must be
imposed by a learned king; the lowest amercement on the priest, and the
middle-most on the soldier.
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352 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

VIII. 277. Such exactly, as before mentioned, must be the punishment

for a merchant and a mechanic, in respect of their several classes,
except the slitting of the tongue; this is a fixed rule of punishment.

Take the offence of Assault—Manu propounds:

VIII. 279. With whatever member of a low-born man shall assault
or hurt a superior, even that member of his must be slit, or cut more
or less in proportion to the injury; this an ordinance of Manu.

VIII. 280. He who raises his hand or a staff against another, shall
have his hand cut; and he, who kicks another in wrath, shall have
an incision made in his foot.

Take the offence of Arrogance—According to Manu:

VIII. 281. A man of the lowest class, who shall insolently place
himself on the same seat with one of the highest, shall either be
banished with a mark on his hinder parts, or the king shall cause a
gash to be made on his buttock.

VIII. 282. Should he spit on him through pride, the king shall
order both his lips to be gashed; should he urine on him, his penis;
should he break wind against him, his anus.

VIII. 283. If he seize the Brahmen by the locks, or by the feet, or

by the beard, or by the throat, or by the scrotum, let the king without
hesitation cause incisions to be made in his hands.

Take the offence of Adultery. Says Manu:

VIII. 359. A man of the servile class, who commits actual adultery
with the wife of a priest, ought to suffer death; the wives. indeed, of
all the four classes must ever be most especially guarded.

VIII. 366. A low man, who makes love to a damsel of high birth,
ought to be punished corporally; but he who addresses a maid of equal
rank, shall give the nuptial present and marry her, if her father please.

VIII. 374. A mechanic or servile man, having an adulterious

connection with a woman of a twice-born class, whether guarded at
home or unguarded, shall thus be punished; if she was unguarded,
he shall lose the part offending, and his whole substance; if guarded,
and a priest less, every thing, even his life.

VIII. 375. For adultery with a guarded priestess, a merchant shall

forfeit all his wealth after imprisonment for a year; a soldier shall
be fined a thousand panas, and be shaved with the urine of an ass.

VIII. 376. But, if a merchant or soldier commit adultery with a

woman of the sacerdotal class, whom her husband guards not at
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 353

home, the king shall only fine the merchant five hundred, and the
soldier a thousand;
VIII. 377. Both of them, however, if they commit that offence with
a priestess not only guarded but eminent for good qualities, shall be
punished like men of the servile class, or be burned in a fire of dry
grass or reeds.
VIII. 382. If a merchant converse criminally with a guarded woman
of the military, or a soldier with one of the mercantile class, they both
deserve the same punishment as in the case of a priestess unguarded.
VIII. 383. But a Brahmen, who shall commit dultery with a guarded
woman of those two classes, must be fined a thousand panas; and for
the like offence with a guarded woman of the servile class, the fine of
a soldier or a merchant shall be also one thousand.
VIII. 384. For adultery with a woman of the military class, if
unguarded, the fine of a merchant is five hundred; but a soldier, for
the converse of that offence, must be shaved with urine, or pay the
fine just mentioned.
VIII. 385. A priest shall pay five hundred panas if he connect himself
criminally with an unguarded woman of the military, commercial, or
servile class, and a thousand, for such a connexion with a woman of
vile mixed breed.

Turning to the system of punishment for offences Manu’s Scheme

throws an interesting light on the subject. Consider the following
ordinances:
VIII. 379. Ignominious tonsure is ordained, instead of capital
punishment, for an adulterer of the priestly class, where the punishment
of other classes may extend to loss of life.
VIII. 380. Never shall the king slay a Brahmen, though convicted
of all possible crimes; let him banish the offender from his realm, but
with all his property secure, and his body unhurt.
XI. 127. For killing intentionally a virtuous man of the military class,
the penance must a fourth part of that ordained for killing a priest;
for killing a Vaisya, only an eighth; for killing a Sudra, who had been
constant in discharging his duties, a sixteenth part.
XI. 128. But, if a Brahmen kill a Kshatriya without malice, he must,
after a full performance of his religious rites, give the priests one bull
together with a thousand cows.
XI. 129. Or he may perform for three years the penance for slaying
a Brahmen, mortifying his organs of sensation and action, letting his
hair grow long, and living remote from the town, with the root of a
tree for his mansion.
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354 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

XI. 130. If he kill without malice a Vaisya, who had a good moral
character, he may perform the same penance for one year, or give the
priests a hundred cows and a bull.
XI. 131. For six months must he perform this whole penance, if without
intention he kill a Sudra; or he may give ten white cows and a bull to
the priests.
VIII. 381. No greater crime is known on earth than slaying a Brahmen;
and the king, therefore, must not even form in his mind an idea of killing
a priest.
VIII. 126. Let the king having considered and ascertained the frequency
of a similar offence, the place and time, the ability of the criminal to pay
or suffer and the crime itself, cause punishment to fall on those alone,
who deserve it.
VIII. 124. Manu, son of the Self-existent, has named ten places of
punishment, which are appropriate to the three lower classes, but a Brahmen
must depart from the realm unhurt in any one of them.
VIII. 125. The part of generation, the belly, the tongue, the two hands,
and, fifthly, the two feet, the eye, the nose, both ears, the property, and,
in a capital case, the whole body.
On the point of rights and duties relating to religious Sacraments and
Sacrifices the views of Manu are noteworthy:
II. 28. By studying the Veda, by religious observances, by oblations to
fire, by the ceremony of Traividya, by offering to the Gods and Manes, by
the procreation of children, by the five great sacraments, and by solemn
sacrifices, this human body is rendered fit for a divine state.
III. 69. For the sake of expiating offences committed ignorantly in those
places mentioned in order, the five great sacrements were appointed by
eminent sages to be performed each day by such as keep house.
III. 70. Teaching and studying the scripture is the sacrament of the Veda;
offering cakes and water, the sacrament of the Manes; an oblation to fire,
the sacrament of the Deities; giving rice or other food to living creatures, the
sacrament of spirits; receiving guests with honour, the sacrament of men.
III. 71. Whoever omits not those five great ceremonies, if he have ability
to perform them, is untained by the sins of the five slaughtering places,
even though he constantly reside at home.
Such are the ordinances of Manu. Laws are never complete enough to
cover every point. There are always moot questions. Manu was conscious
of this and provides for such contingencies.
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THE MORALS OF THE HOUSE 355

XII. 108. If it be asked, how the law shall be ascertained, when
particular cases are not comprised under any of the general rules, the
answer is this: “That which well instructed Brahmens propound, shall
be held incontestible law.”

XII. 109. Well instructed Brahmens are they, who can adduce occular
proof from the scripture itself, having studied, as the law ordains, the
Vedas and their extended branches, or Vedangas, Mimansa, Nyaya,
Dharma, Shastra, Puranas.

XII. 113. Even the decision of one priest, if more cannot be assembled,
who perfectly knows the principles of the Vedas, must be considered
as law of the highest authority; not the opinion of myriads, who have
no sacred knowledge.

The Laws of Manu are eternal. Therefore there is no question of

considering how changes could be effected in them. The only question
Manu had to consider was the upholding and maintaining the system.
Manu has laid down several provisions with this purpose in view. As
to the preservation of the Social Code, Manu has made it the duty of
the King to uphold and maintain:
VIII. 410. The king should order each man of the mercantile class
to practice trade, or money lending, or agriculture and attendance on
cattle; and each man of the servile class to act in the service of the
twice-born.

VIII. 418. With vigilant care should the king exert himself in
compelling merchants and mechanics to perform their respective duties;
for, when such men swerve from their duty, they throw this world into
confusion.

Failure to maintain was made an offence in the King punishable at

Law.
VIII. 335. Neither a father, nor a preceptor, nor a friend, nor a mother,
nor a wife, nor a son, nor a domestic priest must be left unpunished
by the king, if they adhere not with firmness to their duty.

VIII. 336. Where another man of lower birth would be fined one
pana, the king shall be fined a thousand, and he shall give the fine to
the priests, or cast it into the river, this is a sacred rule.

Failure to uphold and maintain the system on the part of the king
involved a forfeiture of his right to rule. For Manu allows a right to
rebel against, such a King.
VIII. 348. The twice-born may take arms, when their duty is obstructed
by force; and when, in some evil time, a disaster has befallen the twice-
born classes.
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356 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

The right of rebellion is given to the three higher classes and not to the
Shudra. This is very natural. Because it is only the three upper classes
who would benefit by the maintenance of this system. But supposing
the Kshatriyas joined the King in destroying the system what is to
be done? Manu gives the authority to the Brahmins to punish all and
particularly the Kshatriyas.
XI. 31. A priest, who well knows the laws, need not complain to the
king of any grievious injury; since, even by his own power, he may
chastise those, who injure him.

XI. 32. His own power, which depends on himself alone, is mightier
than the royal power, which depends on other men; by his own might,
therefore, may a Brahman coerce his foes.

XI. 33. He may use, without hesitation, the powerful charms revealed
to Atharvan, and by him to Angiras; for speech is the weapon of a
Brahmen; with that he may destroy his oppressors.

IX. 320. Of a military man, who raises his arm violently on all occasions
against the priestly class, the priest himself shall be the chastiser; since
the soldier originally proceeded from the Brahmen.”

How can the Brahmins punish the Kshatriyas unless they can take
arms? Manu knows this and therefore allows the Brahmins to arm
themselves to punish the Kshatriyas.
XII. 100. Command of armies, royal authority, power of inflicting
punishment, and sovereign dominion over all nations, he only well
deserves, who perfectly understands the Veda Shastra.

So intent is Manu on the maintenance of the system of Chaturvarna

that he did not hesitate to make this fundamental change in it. For to
ask a Brahman to take up arms is a fundamental change as compared
with the rule that was prevalent before Manu. The prohibition against
Brahmin handling arms was very strict. In the Apastamba Dharma Sutras
which is prior to Manu the rule is laid down in the following terms:
I. 10, 29, 6. A Brahmin shall not take up a weapon in his hand’
though he be only desirous of examining it.”

Successor of Manu—Baudhayana—improved upon him, and laid down

in his Code of Laws:
II. 24, 18. For the protection of the Cows, Brahmins, or in the case
of the confusion of Varnas, Brahmins and Vaisyas (also) should take up
arms, out of consideration for the Dharma. and maintain the system
at any cost.

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CHAPTER 13
Essays on the Bhagwat Gita:
Philosophic Defence of Counter-
Revolution:
Krishna and His Gita

The first page of ‘Essays on the Bhagvat Gita’ is autographed

by Dr. Ambedkar, Next 42 pages consist of analytical notes on
Viral Parva and Uddyog Parva including the table of contents on
this subject. The table of contents is printed in the schemes. This
file contains two typed copies of an essay entitled ‘Philosophic
Defence of Counter-Revolution—Krishna and His Gita’. The last
sentence of this essay is left incomplete. The total number of
typed pages of this essay is 40 only. The notes on Viral Parva
& Udyog Parva are printed in the next chapters.—Editors.
What is the place of the Bhagwat Gita in the literature of ancient
India? Is it a gospel of the Hindu Religion in the same way as the Bible
is of the Christian Religion? The Hindus have come to regard it as their
gospel. If it is a gospel, what does it really teach? What is the doctrine
it stands for? The variety of answers given to this question by students
competent to speak on the subject is really bewildering. Bohtlingk1 says:
“The Gita contains by the side of many high and beautiful thoughts,
not only a few weak points; contradictions (which the commentators have
tried to pass over as excusable), repetitions, exaggerations, absurdities
and loathsome points.”

“Hopkins2 speaks of the Bhagvat Gita as a characteristic work of the

Hindu Literature in its sublimity as in its puerilities, in its logic as in its
want of it; ..... an ill-assorted cabinet of primitive philosophical opinions.”

In his judgment:
1
Quoted by Garbe in his Introduction to the Bhagvat Gita (Indian Antiquary 1918
Supplement).
2
. Religion of India pp. 390-400.
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358 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

“Despite its occasional power and music exaltation, the Divine

song in its present state as a poetical production is unsatisfactory.
The same thing is said over again, and the contradictions in
phraseology and in meaning are as numerous as the repetitions,
so that one is not surprised to find it described as “the wonderful
song, which causes the hair to stand on end.”

Holtzman1 says:
“We have before us (in the Bhagvat Gita) a Vishnuite revision
of a pantheistic poem.”

Garbe2 observes:
“The whole character of the poem in its design and execution is
preponderatingly theistic. A personal God Krishna stands forth in
the form of a human hero, expounds his doctrine, enjoins, above all
things, on his listener, along with the performance of his duties,
loving faith in Him and self-surrender:…… And by the side of
this God—(who is) delineated as personally as possible, and who
dominates the whole poem—stands out frequently the impersonal
neutral Brahman, the Absolute, as the highest principle. At one
time Krishna says that He is the sole Highest God who has created
the world and all beings and rules over it all; at another time, he
expounds the Vedantic doctrine of Brahman and maya—the Cosmic
Illusion, and expounds as the highest goal of human being that
he be freed from the World-Illusion and become Brahman. These
two doctrines—the theistic and the pantheistic—are mixed up with
each other, and follow each other, sometimes quite unconnected
and sometimes loosely connected. And it is not the case that the
one is represented as a lower, exoteric, (Text p. 9) and, (p. ) as the
higher esoteric doctrine. It is nowhere taught that the Theism is
a preliminary step to the knowledge of the reality or that it is its
symbol, and that the pantheism of the Vedanta is the (ultimate)
reality itself; but the two beliefs are treated of almost throughout
as though there was indeed no difference between them, either
verbal or real.”

Mr. Telang says:3

“There are several passages in the Gita which it is not very easy
to reconcile with one another; and no attempt is made to harmonise
them. Thus, for example, in stanza 16 of Chapter VII, Krishna
divides his devotees into four classes, one of which consists of ‘men
of knowledge’, whom, Krishna says, he considers ‘as his own self.
It would probably be difficult to imagine any expression which
1
Quoted by Garbe.
2
Introduction to Bhagvat Gita.
3
Bhagvat Gita (S.E.B.) Introduction p. II.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 359

could indicate higher esteem. Yet in stanza 46 of chapter VI,
we have it laid down, that the devotee is superior not only
to the mere performer of penances, but even to the men of
knowledge. The commentators betray their gnostic bias by
interpreting ‘men of knowledge’ in this latter passage to mean
those who have acquired erudition in the Shastras and their
significations. This is not an interpretation to be necessarily
rejected. But there is in it a certain twisting of words, which,
under the circumstances here, I am not inclined to accept. And
on the other hand, it must not be forgotten, that the implications
fairly derivable from Chapter IV, stanza 39 (pp. 62, 63), would
seem to be rather than knowledge is superior to devotion—is the
higher stage to be reached by means of devotion as the stepping
stone. In another passage again at Gita, Chapter XII, stanza 12,
concentration is preferred to knowledge, which also seems to
me to be irreconcileable with Chapter VII, stanza 16. Take still
another instance. At Gita, Chapter B stanza 15, it is said, that
‘Lord receives the sin or merit of none.’ Yet at Chapter V, stanza
24 Krishna calls himself ‘the Lord and enjoyer,’ of all sacrifices
and penances. How, it may be well asked, can the Supreme
Being ‘enjoy that which he does not even receive?’ Once more
at Chapter X, stanza 29, Krishna declares that’ none is hateful
to me, none dear.’ And yet the remarkable verse at the close of
Chapter XII seem to stand in pointblank contradiction to that
declaration. There through a most elaborate series of stanzas,
the burden of Krishna’s eloquent sermon is ‘such a one is dear
to me.’ And again in those fine verses, where Krishna winds up
his Divine Law, he similarly tells Arjuna, that he, Arjuna, is
‘dear’ to Krishna. And Krishna also speaks of that devotee as
‘dear’ to him, who may publish the mystery of the Gita among
those who references Supreme Being.1 And yet again, how are we
to reconcile the same passage about none being ‘hateful or dear’
to Krishna, with his own words at Chapter XVI, stanza 18 and
following stanzas? The language used in describing the ‘demoniac’
people there mentioned is not remarkable for sweetness towards
them, while Krishna says positively, ‘I hurl down such people
into demoniac wombs, whereby they go down into misery and the
vilest condition.’ These persons are scarcely characterized with
accuracy ‘as neither hateful nor dear’ to Krishna. It seems to
me, that all these are real inconsistencies in the Gita, not such,
perhaps, as might not be explained away, but such, I think, as
indicate a mind making guesses at truth, as Professor Max Muller
puts it, rather than a mind elaborating a complete and organized
1
And see, too, Chapter VII, stanza 17, where the man of knowledge is declared to be
‘dear’ to Krishna.
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360 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

system of philosophy. There is not even a trace of consciousness on the

part of the author that these inconsistencies exist. And the contexts
of the various pasages indicate, in my judgment, that a half-truth is
struck out here and another half-truth there, with special reference
to the special subject then under discussion; but no attempt is made
to organize the various half-truths which are apparently incompatible,
into a symmeterical whole, where the apparent inconsistencies might
possibly vanish altogether in the higher synthesis.”

These are the views of what might be called modern scholars.

Turning to the view of the orthodox Pandits, we again find a variety
of views. One view is that the Bhagvat is not a sectarian book, it
pays equal respect to the three ways of salvation (1) Karma marge or
the path of works (2) Bhakti marga or the path of devotion and (3)
J nana marga or the path of knowledge and preaches the efficacy of
all three as means of salvation. In support of their contention that the
Gita respects all the three ways of salvation and accepts the efficacy
of each one of them, the Pandits point out that of the 18 Chapters of
the Bhagvat Gita, Chapters 1 to 6 are devoted to the preaching of the
J nana marga, Chapters 7 to 12 to the preaching of Karma marga and
Chapters 12 to 18 to the preaching of Bhakti marga and say that this
equal distribution of its Chapters shows that the Gita upholds all the
three modes of salvation.
Quite contrary to the view of the Pandits is the view of Shankaracharya
and Mr. Tilak, both of whom must be classed amongst orthodox writers.
Shankaracharya held the view that the Bhagvat Gita preached that
the Jnana marga was the only true way of salvation. Mr. Tilak1 does
not agree with the views of any of the other scholars. He repudiates
the view that the Gita is a bundle of inconsistencies. He does not
agree with the Pandits who say that the Bhagvat Gita recognizes all
the three ways of salvation. Like Shankaracharya he insists that the
Bhagvat Gita has a definite doctrine to preach. But he differs from
Shankaracharya and holds that the Gita teaches Karma Yoga and not
Jnana Yoga.
It cannot but be a matter of great surprise to find such a variety of
opinion as to the message which the Bhagvat Gita preaches. One is
forced to ask why there should be such divergence of opinion among
scholars? My answer to this question is that scholars have gone on
a false errand. They have gone on a search for the message of the
Bhagvat Gita on the assumption that it is a gospel as the Koran, the
Bible or the Dhammapada is. In my opinion this assumption is quite
1
See His Gita Rahasya 2nd editions vol. II. Chapter XIV. passim.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 361

a false assumption. The Bhagvat Gita is not a gospel and it can therefore
have no message and it is futile to search for one. The question will no
doubt be asked: What is the Bhagvat Gita if it is not a gospel? My answer
is that the Bhagvat Gita is neither a book of religion nor a treatise on
philosophy. What the Bhagvat Gita does is to defend certain dogmas
of religion on philosphic grounds. If on that account anybody wants to
call it a book of religion or a book of philosophy he may please himself.
But essentially it is neither. It uses philosophy to defend religion. My
opponents will not be satisfied with a bare statement of view. They
would insist on my proving my thesis by reference to specific instances.
It is not at all difficult. Indeed it is the easiest task.
The first instance one comes across in reading the Bhagvat Gita is the
justification of war. Arjuna had declared himself against the war, against
killing people for the sake of property. Krishna offers a philosophic defence
of war and killing in war. This philosophic defence of war will be found
in Chapter II verses 11 to 28. The philosophic defence of war offered
by the Bhagvat Gita proceeds along two lines of argument. One line of
argument is that anyhow the world is perishable and man is mortal.
Things are bound to come to an end. Man is bound to die. Why should
it make any difference to the wise whether man dies a natural death
or whether he is done to death as a result of violence? Life is unreal,
why shed tears because it has ceased to be? Death is inevitable, why
bother how it has resulted ? The second line of argument in justification
of war is that it is a mistake to think that the body and the soul are
one. They are separate. Not only are the two quite distinct but they
differ in-as-much as the body is perishable while the soul is eternal and
imperishable. When death occurs it is the body that dies. The soul never
dies. Not only does it never die but air cannot dry it, fire cannot burn
it, and a weapon cannot cut it. It is therefore wrong to say that when a
man is killed his soul is killed. What happens is that his body dies. His
soul discards the dead body as a person discards his old clothes—wears
a new ones and carries on. As the soul is never killed, killing a person
can never be a matter of any movement. War and killing need therefore
give no ground to remorse or to shame, so argues the Bhagvat Gita.
Another dogma to which the Bhagvat Gita comes forward to offer
a philosophic defence is Chaturvarnya. The Bhagvat Gita, no doubt,
mentions that the Chaturvarnya is created by God and therefore
sacrosanct. But it does not make its validity dependent on it. It offers
a philosophic basis to the theory of Chaturvarnya by linking it to the
theory of innate, inborn qualities in men. The fixing of the Varna of
1
And see, too, Chapter VII, stanza 17, where the man of knowledge is declared to be
‘dear’ to Krishna.
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362 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

man is not an arbitrary act says the Bhagvat Gita. But it is fixed
according to his innate, inborn qualities.1
The third dogma for which the Bhagvat Gita offers a philosphic defence
is the Karma marga. By Karma marga the Bhagvat Gita means the
performance of the observances, such as Yajnas as a way to salvation.
The Bhagvat Gita most stands out for the Karma marga throughout
and is a great upholder of it. The line it takes to defend Karma yoga is
by removing the excrescences which had grown upon it and which had
made it appear quite ugly. The first excrescence was blind faith. The
Gita tries to remove it by introducing the principle of Buddhi yoga2 as a
necessary condition for Karma yoga. Become Stihtaprajna i.e., ‘Befitted
with Buddhi’ there is nothing wrong in the performance of Karma kanda.
The second excrescence on the Karma kanda was the selfishness which
was the motive behind the performance of the Karmas. The Bhagvat
Gita attempts to remove it by introducing the principle of Anasakti
i.e., performance of karma without any attachment for the fruits of the
Karma.3 Founded in Buddhi yoga and dissociated from selfish attachment
to the fruits of Karma what is wrong with the dogma of Karma kand ?
this is how the Bhagvat Gita defends the Karma marga.4 It would be
quite possible to continue in this strain, to pick up other dogmas and
show how the Gita comes forward to offer a philosophic defence in their
support where none existed before. But this could be done only if one
were to write a treatise on the Bhagvat Gita. it is beyond the scope of a
chapter the main purpose of which is to assign to the Bhagvat Gita its
proper place in the ancient Indian literature. I have therefore selected
the most important dogmas just to illustrate my thesis.
Two other questions are sure to be asked in relation to my thesis.
Whose are the Dogmas for which the Bhagvat Gita offers this philosophical
defence? Why did it become necessary for the Bhagvat Gita to defend
these Dogmas?
To begin with the first question, the dogmas which the Gita defends
are the dogmas of counter-revolution as put forth in the Bible of
counter-revolution namely Jaimini’s Purvamimamsa. There ought
to be no difficulty in accepting this proposition. If there is any it is
largely due to wrong meaning attached to the word Karma yoga. Most
writers on the Bhagvat Gita translate the word Karma yoga as ‘action’
and the word Janga yoga, as ‘knowledge’ and proceed to discuss the
Bhagvat Gita as though it was engaged in comparing and contrasting
1
Bhagvat Gita IV. 13.
2
Bhagvat Gita II. 39-53
3
Bhagvat Gita II. 47.
4
This is well summed up in Bhagvat Gita II. 48.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 363

knowledge versus action in a generlized form. This is quite wrong.

The Bhagvat Gita is not concerned with any general, philosophical
discussion of action versus knowledge. As a matter of fact, the Gita is
concerned with the particular and not with the general. By Karma yoga
or action Gita means the dogmas contained in Jaimini’s Karma kanda
and by Jnana yoga or knowledge it means the dogmas contained in
Badarayana’s Brahma Sutras. That the Gita in speaking of Karma is
not speaking of activity or inactivity, quieticism or energism, in general
terms but religious acts and observances cannot be denied by anyone
who has read the Bhagvat Gita. It is to life the Gita from the position
of a party pamphlet engaged in a controversy on small petty points and
make it appear as though it was a general treatise on matters of high
philosophy that this attempt is made to inflate the meaning of the words
Karma and Jnana and make them words of general import. Mr. Tilak
is largely to be blamed for this trick of patriotic Indians. The result
has been that these false meanings have misled people into believing
that the Bhagvat Gita is an independent self-contained book and has no
relation to the literature that has preceded it. But if one were to keep
to the meaning of the word Karma yoga as one finds it in the Bhagvat
Gita itself one would be convinced that in speaking of Karma yoga the
Bhagvat Gita is referring to nothing but the dogmas of Karma kanda
as propounded by Jaimini which it tries to renovate and strengthen.
To take up the second question: Why did the Bhagvat Gita feel it
necessary to defend the dogmas of counter-revolution? To my mind
the answer is very clear. It was to save them from the attack of
Buddhism that the Bhagvat Gita came into being. Buddha preached
non-violence. He not only preached it but the people at large—except
the Brahmins—had acepted it as the way of life. They had acquired
a repugnance to violence. Buddha preached against Chaturvarnya.
He used some of the most offensive similes in attacking the theory
of Chaturvarnya. The frame work of Chaturvarnya had been broken.
The order of Chaturvarnya had been turned upside down. Shudras
and women could become sannyasis, a status which counter-revolution
had denied them. Buddha had condemned the Karma kanda and the
Yajnas. He condemned them on the ground of Himsa or violence. He
condemned them also on the ground that the motive behind them was
a selfish desire to obtain bonus. What was the reply of the counter-
revolutionaries to this attack? Only this. These things were ordained
by the Vedas, the Vedas were infallible, therefore the dogmas were not
to be questioned. In the Buddhist age, which was the most enlightened
and the most rationalistic age India has known, dogmas resting on
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364 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

such silly, arbitrary, unrationalistic and fragile foundations could hardly

stand. People who had come to believe in non-violence as a principle of
life and had gone so far as to make it a rule of life—How could they
be expected to accept the dogma that the Kshatriya may kill without
sinning because the Vedas say that it is his duty to kill ? People who
had accepted the gospel of social equality and who were remaking
society on the basis of each one according to his merits—how could
they accept the chaturvarnya theory of gradation, and separation of
man based on birth simply because the Vedas say so ? People who
had accepted the doctrine of Buddha that all misery in society is due
to Tanha or what Tawny calls acquisitive instinct—how could they
accept the religion which deliberatly invited people to obtain boons
by sacrifices merely because there is behind it the authority of the
Vedas? There is no doubt that under the furious attack of Buddhism,
Jaimini’s counter-revolutionary dogmas were tottering and would
have collapsed had they not received the support which the Bhagvat
Gita gave them. The philosophic defence of the counter-revolutionary
doctrines given by the Bhagwat Gita is by no means impregnable.
The philosophic defence offered by the Bhagvat Gita of the Kshtriya’s
duty to kill is to say the least puerile. To say that killing is no killing
because what is killed is the body and not the soul is an unheard of
defence of murder. This is one of the doctrines which make some people
say that the doctrines make one’s hair stand on their end. If Krishna
were to appear as a lawyer acting for a client who is being tried for
murder and pleaded the defence set out by him in the Bhagvat Gita
there is not the slightest doubt that he would be sent to the lunatic
asylum. Similarly childish is the defence of the Bhagvat Gita of the
dogma of chaturvarnya. Krishna defends it on the basis of the Guna
theory of the Sankhya. But Krishna does not seem to have realized
what a fool he has made of himself. In the chaturvarnya there are
four Varnas. But the gun as according to the Sankhy as are only
three. How can a system of four varnas be defended on the basis of
a philosophy which does not recognise more than three varnas? The
whole attempt of the Bhagvat Gita to offer a philosophic defence of
the dogmas of counterrevolution is childish—and does not deserve a
moment’s serious thought. None-the-less there is not the slightest doubt
that without the, help of the Bhagvat Gita the counter-revolution would
have died out, out of sheer stupidity of its dogmas. Mischievous as it
may seem, to the revolutionaries the part played by the Bhagvat Gita,
there is no doubt that it resuscitated counter-revolution and if the
counterrevolution lives even today, it is entirely due to the plausibility of
the philosophic defence which it received from the Bhagvat Gita— anti-
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 365

Veda and anti-Yajna. Nothing can be a greater mistake than this. As

will appear from other portions of the Bhagvat Gita that it is not against
the authority of the vedas and shastras (XVI, 23, 24: XVII, 11,13, 24).
Nor is it against the sanctity of the yajnas (III. 9-15). It upholds the
virtue of both. There is therefore no difference between Jaimini’s Purva
Mimansa and the Bhagvat Gita. If anything, the Bhagvat Gita is a
more formidable supporter of counter-revolution than Jaimini’s Purva
Mimansa could have ever been. It is formidable because it seeks to give
to the doctrines of counter-revolution that philosophic and therefore
permanent basis which they never had before and without which they
would never have survived. Particularly formidable than Jaimini’s Purva
Mimansa is the philosophic support which the Bhagvat Gita gives to
the central doctrine of counter-revolution—namely Chaturvarnya. The
soul of the Bhagvat Gita seems to be the defence of Chaturvarnya
and securing its observance in practice, Krishna does not merely rest
content with saying that Chaturvarnya is based on Guna-karma but
he goes further and issues two positive injunctions. The first injunction
is contained in Chapter III verse 26. In this Krishna says: that a wise
man should not by counter propaganda create a doubt in the mind
of an ignorant person who is follower of Karma kand which of course
includes the observance of the rules of Chaturvarnya. In other words,
you must not agitate or excite people to rise in rebellion against the
theory of Karma kand and all that it includes. The second injunction
is laid down in Chapter XVIII verses 41-48. In this Krishna tells that
every one do the duty prescribed for his Varna and no other and warns
those who worship him and are his devotees that they will not obtain
salvation by mere devotion but by devotion accompanied by observance
of duty laid down for his Varna. In short, a Shudra however great he
may be as a devotee will not get salvation if he has transgressed the
duty of the Shudra—namely to live and die in the service of the higher
classes. The second part of my thesis is that the essential function of the
Bhagvat gita to give new support to Jaimini at least those portions of
it which offer philosophic defence of Jaimini’s doctrines—has become to
be written after Jaimini’s Purva Mimansa had been promulgated. The
third part of my thesis is that this philosophic defence of the Bhagvat
Gita, of the doctrines of couter-revolution became necessary because
of the attack to which they were subjected by the revolutionary and
rationalistic thought of Buddhism.
I must now turn to the objections that are likely to be raised against
the validity of my thesis. I see one looming large before me. I shall be
told that I am assuming that the Bhagvat Gita is posterior in time to
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366 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Buddhism and to Jaimini’s Purva Mimansa and that this asumption has
no warrant behind it. I am aware of the fact that my thesis runs counter
to the most cherished view of Indian scholars all of whom, seem to be
more concerned in fixing a very ancient date to the compositon of the
Bhagvat Gita far anterior to Buddhism and to Jaimini than in finding
out what is the message of the Bhagvat Gita and what value it has as
a guide to man’s life. This is particularly the case with Mr. Telang and
Mr. Tilak. But as Garbe1 observes “To Telang, as to every Hindu—how
much so ever enlightened—it is an article of faith to believe in so high
an antiquity of the Bhagvat Gita and where such necessities are powerful
criticism indeed comes to an end.”
In the words of Prof. Garbe:
“The task of assigning a date to the Gita has been recognized by every
one who has earnestly tried to solve the problem, as being very difficult;
and the difficulties grow (all the more) if the problem is presented two
fold, viz., to determine as well the age of the original Gita as also of
its revision. I am afraid that generally speaking, we shall succeed in
arriving, not at any certainties, but only at probabilities in this matter.”

What are the probabilities? I have no doubt that the probabilities

are in favour of my thesis. Indeed so far as I can see there is nothing
against it. In examining this question, I propose first to advance direct
evidence from the Gita itself showing that it has been composed after
Jaimini’s Purva Mimansa and after Buddhism.
Chapter III verses 9-13 of the Bhagvat Gita have a special significance.
In this connection it is true that the Bhagvat Gita does not refer to
Jaimini by name: nor does it mention Mimansa by name. But is there
any doubt that in Chapter III verses 9-18 the Bhagvat Gita is dealing
with the doctrines formulated by Jaimini in his Purva Mimansa?
Even Mr. Tilak2 who believes in the antiquity of the Bhagvat Gita
has to admit that here the Gita is engaged in the examination of
the Purva Mimansa doctrines. There is another way of presenting
this argument. Jaimini preaches pure and simple Karma yoga. The
Bhagvat Gita on the other hand preaches anasakti karma. Thus the
Guta preaches a doctrine which is fundamentally modified Not only
the Bhagvat Gita modifies the Karma yoga but attacks the upholders
of pure and simple Karma yoga in somewhat severe terms.3.If the
Gita is prior to Jaimini one would expect Jaimini to take note of this
attack of the Bhagvat Gita and reply to it. But we do not find any;
reference in Jaimini to this anasakti karma yoga of the Bhagvat Gita.
1
Introduction (Indian Antiquary Supplement) p. 30.
2
Gita Rahasya Vol. II. 916-922.
3
Bhagvat Gita II. 42-16 and XVIII 66.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 367

Why? The only answer is that this modification came after Jaimini and
not before—which is simply another way of saying that the Bhagvat
Gita was composed after Jaimini’s Purva Mimansa.
If the Bhagvat Gita does not mention Purva Mimansa it does mention
by name the Brahma Sutras1 of Badarayana. This reference to Brahma
Sutras is a matter of great significance for it furnishes direct evidence
for the conclusion that the Gita is later than the Brahma Sutras.
Mr. Tilak2 admits that the reference to the Brahma Sutras is a
clear and defniite reference to the treatise of that name which we now
have. It may be pointed out that Mr. Telang3 discusses the subject in a
somewhat cavalier fashion by saying that the treatise “Brahma Sutras”
referred to in the Bhagvat Gita is different from the present treatise
which goes by that name. He gives no evidence for so extraordinary a
proposition but relies on the Conjectural statement of Mr. Weber4—given
in a foot-note of his Treatise in Indian Literature, again without any
evidence—that the mention of Brhma Sutras in the Bhagvat Gita “may
be taken as an appellative rather than as a proper name.” It would not
be fair to attribute any particular motives to Mr. Telang for the view
he has taken on this point. But there is nothing unfair in saying that
Mr. Telang3 shied at admitting the reference to Brahma Sutra because
he saw that Weber had on the authority of Winternitz assigned 500 A.D.
to the composition of the Brahma Sutras, which would have destroyed
his cherished theory regarding the antiquity of the Bhagvat Gita. There
is thus ample internal evidence to support the conclusion that the Gita
was composed after Jaimini’s Purva Mimansa and Badarayana’s Brahma
Sutras.
Is the Bhagvat Gita anterior to Buddhism ? the question was raised
by Mr. Telang:
“We come now to another point. What is the position of the Gita
in regard to the great reform of Sakya Muni? The question is one
of much interest, having regard particularly to the remarkable
coincidences between Buddhistic doctrines and the doctrines of
the Gita to which we have drawn attention in the footnotes to our
translation. But the materials for deciding the question are unhappily
not forth coming. Professor Wilson, indeed, thought that there was
1
Bhagwat Gita XIII. 4
2
Gita Rahasya II. p. 749.
3
Bhagvat Gita (S.B.E.) Introduction p. 31.
4
History of Indian Literature p. 242 f.n.
5
On the other hand, it may be said that Mr. Tilak readily admitted the reference because it
was his opinion that Brahma Sutras were a very ancient treatise—see Gita Rahasya Vol. II.
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368 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

an allusion to Buddhism in the Gita.1 But his idea was based on a

confusion between the Buddhists and the Charvakas or materialists.2
Failing that allusion, we have nothing very tangible but the unsatisfactory
‘negative argument’ based on mere non-mention of Buddhism in the
Gita. That argument is not quite satisfactory to my own mind, although,
as I have elsewhere pointed out,3 some of the ground occupied by the
Gita is common to it with Buddhism, and although various previous
thinkers are alluded to directly or indirectly in the Gita. There is,
however, one view of the facts of this question, which appears to me to
corroborate the conclusion deducible by means of the negative argument
here referred to. The main points on which Budddha’s protest against
Brahmanism rests, seem to be the true authority of the Vedas and
the true view of the differences of caste. On most points of doctrinal
speculation. Buddhism is still but one aspect of the older Brahmanism4.
The various coincidences to which we have drawn attention show that,
if there is need to show it. Well now, on both these points, the Gita,
while it does not go the whole length which Buddha goes, itself embodies
a protest against the views current about the time of its composition.
The Gita does not, like Buddhism, absolutely reject the Vedas, but it
shelves them. The Gita does not totally root out caste. It places caste
on a less untenable basis. One of two hypothesis therefore presents
itself as a rational theory of these facts. Either the Gita and Buddhism
were alike the outward manifestation of one and the same spiritual
upheaval which shook to its centre the current religion, the Gita being
the earlier and less thorough going form of it; or Buddhism having
already begun to tell on Brahmanism, the Gita was an attempt to
bolster it up, so to say, at its least weak points, the weaker ones being
altogether abandoned. I do not accept the latter alternative, because I
cannot see any indication in the Gita of an attempt to compromise with
a powerful attack on the old Hindu system while the fact that, though
strictly orthodox, the author of the Gita still undermines the authority,
as unwisely venerated, of the Vedic revelation; and the further fact, that
in doing this, he is doing what others also had done before him or about
his time; go, in my opinion, a considerable way towards fortifying the
results of the negative argument already set forth. To me Buddhism
is perfectly intelligible as one outcome of that play of thought on high

1
Essays on Sanskrit Literature. Vo. Ill p. 150.
2
See our remarks on this point in the Introductory Essay to our Gita in verse p. II seq.
3
Introduction to Gita in English verse p. v. seq,
4
Cr. Max Muller’s Hibbert Lectures, p. 137 Webet’s Indian Literature, pp. 288, 289:
and Rhys Davids’ excellent little volume on Buddhism, p. 151; and see also p. 83 of
Mr. Davids’ book.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 369

spiritual topics, which in its other, and as we may say, less thorough going,
manifestation we see in the Upanishads and the Gita1.”
I have quoted this passage in full because it is typical of all Hindu scholars.
Everyone of them is most reluctant to admit that the Bhagvat Gita is anyway
influenced by Buddhism and is ever ready to deny that the Gita has borrowed
anything from Buddhism. It is the attitude of Prof. Radhakrishnan and also
of Tilak. Where there is any similarity in thought between the Bhagvat Gita
and Buddhism too strong and too close to be denied, the argument is that it
is borrowed from the Upanishads. It is typical of the mean mentality of the
counterrevolutionaries not to allow any credit to Buddhism on any account.
The absurdity of these views must shock all those who have made a
comparative study of the Bhagvat Gita and the Buddhist Suttas. For if it is
true to say that Gita is saturated with Sankhya philosophy it is far more
true to say that the Gita is full of Buddhist ideas.2 The similarity between
the two is not merely in ideas but also in language. A few illustrations will
show how true it is.
The Bhagvat Gita discusses Bramha-Nirvana.3 The steps by which
one reaches Bramha. Nirvana are stated by the Bhagvat Gita to be
(1) Shraddha (Faith in oneself); (2) Vyavasaya (Firm determination);
(3) Smriti (Rememberance of the goal); (4) Samadhi (Earnest contemplation)
and (5) Prajna (Insight or True Knowledge). From where has the Gita borrowed
this Nirvana theory? Surely it is not borrowed from the Upanishads. For no
Upanishad even mentions the word Nirvana. The whole idea is peculiarly
Buddhist and is borrowed from Buddhism. Anyone who has any doubt on
the point may compare this Bramha-Nirvana of the Bhagvat Gita with the
Buddhist conception of Nirvana as set out in the Mahapari-nibbana Sutta.
It will be found that they are the same which the Gita has laid down for
Bramha-Nirvana. Is it not a fact that the Bhagvat Gita has borrowed the
entire conception of Brmhma Nirvana instead of Nirvana for no other reason
except to conceal the fact of its having stolen it from Buddhism ?
Take another illustration. In Chapter VII verses 13-20 there is a
discussion as to who is dear to Krishna; one who has knowledge, or one
who performs karma or one who is a devotee. Krishna says that the
Devotees is dear to him but adds that he must have the true marks
1
Cr. Weber’s History of Indian Literature, p. 285. In Mr. Davids’ Buddhism, p. 94 we
have a noteworthy extract from a standard Buddhistic work, touching the existence of
the soul. Compare that with the corresponding doctrine in the Gita. It will be found that
the two are at one in rejecting the identity of the soul with the senses &c. The Gita then
goes on to admit a soul separate from these. Buddhism rejects that also, and sees nothing
but the senses.
2
On this point compare Bhagvat Gita by S. D. Budhiraja M.A.. L.L.B.. Chief Judge,
Kashmere. At every point the author has attempted to draw attention to textual similarities
between the Gita and Buddhism.
3
Max Muller Mahapari-Nibbana Sutta p. 63.
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370 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

of a Devotee. What is the charcter of a true Devotee ? According

to Krishna the true devotee is one who practices (1) Maitri; (loving
Kindness); (2) Karuna (compassion); (3) Mudita (sympathizing joy)
and (4) Upeksa (unconcernedness). From where has the Bhagvate
Gita borrowed these qualifications of a perfect Devotee ? Here
again, the source is Buddhism. Those who want proof may compare
the Mahapadana Sutta,1 and the Tevijja Sutta2 where Buddha has
preached what Bhavanas (mental attitude) are necessary for one
to cherish for the training of the heart. This comparison will show
that the whole ideology is borrowed from Buddhism and that too
word for word.
Take a third illustration. In chapter XIII the Bhagvat Gita descusses
the subject of Kshetra-Kshetrajna. In verses 7-11 Krishna points out
what is knowledge and what is ignorance in the following language:
“Pridelessness (Humility), Unpretentiousness, Non-injury or
Harmlessness, Forgiveness, Straight-forwardness, (uprightness),
Devotion to Preceptor, Purity, Steadiness, Self-restraint, Desirelessness
towards objects of sense, absence of Egoism, Reflection on the suffering
and evil of Birth, Death, decrepitude and disease, Non-attachment,
Non-identification of oneself with regard to son, wife and home and
the rest, Constant even-mindedness on approach of both (what is)
agreeable and (what is) disagreeable unswerving devotion to Me with
undivided meditation of Me, Resort to sequestered spots (contemplation,
concentration, in solitude), Distaste for the society of worldly men,
Incessant application to the knowledge relating to self, Perception or
realisation of the true purport of the knowledge of the Tattvas (Samkhya
Philosophy), all this is called ‘knowledge’; what is Ajnana (Ignorance)
which is the reverse thereof.”

Can anyone who knows anything of the Gospel of Buddha deny

that the Bhagvat Gita has not in these stanzas reproduced word for
word the main doctrines of Buddhism?
In chapter XIII verses 5, 6, 18, 19, the Bhagvat Gita gives a new
metaphorical interpretation of karmas under various heads (1) Yajnas
(sacrifices); (2) Dana (Gifts); (3) Tapas (penances); (4) Food and
(5) Svadhyaya (Vedic study). What is the source of this new
interpretation of old ideas ? Compare with this what Buddha is
reported to have said in the Majjhina Nikaya I, 286 Sutta XVI.
Can anyone doubt that what Krishna says in verses 5, 6, 18, 19 of
chapter XVII is a verbatim reproduction of the words of Buddha?

1
See Mahapadana Sutta p.
2
Tevijja Sutta p.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 371

These are only a few illustrations I have selected those of major

doctrinal importance. Those who are interested in pursuing the
subject, may take up the reference to similarities between Gita
and Buddhism given by Telang in the footnotes to his edition of
the Bhagvat Gita and satisfy their curiosity. But the illustrations
I have given will be enough to show how greatly the Bhagvat Gita
is permeated by Buddhistic ideology and how much the Gita has
borrowed from Buddhism. To sum up the Bhagvat Gita seems to be
deliberately modelled on Buddhists Suttas. The Buddhists Suttas are
dialogues. So is the Bhagvat Gita. Buddha’s religion offered salvation
to women and Shudras. Krishna also comes forward to offer salvation
to women and Shudras. Buddhists say, “I surrender to Buddha, to
Dhamma and to Sangha.” So Krishna says, “Give up all religions
and surrender unto Me.” No parallel can be closer than what exists
between Buddhism and Bhagvat Gita.
IV
I have shown that Gita is later than Purva Mimansa and also
later than Buddhism. I could well stop here. But I feel I cannot. For
there still remains one argument against my thesis which requires
to be answered. It is the argument of Mr. Tilak. It is an ingenious
argument. Mr. Tilak realizes that there are many similarities in ideas
and in words between the Bhagvat Gita and Buddhism. Buddhism
being earlier than the Bhagvat Gita, the obvious conclusion is that
the Bhagvat Gita is the debtor and Buddhism is the creditor. This
obvious conclusion is not palatable to Mr. Tilak or for the matter of
that to all upholders of counter-revolution. With them it is a question
of honour that counter-revolution should not be shown to be indebted
to Revolution. To get over this difficulty Mr. Tilak has struck a new
line. He points out the distinction between Hinayana Buddhism
and Mahayana Buddhism and say, that Mahayana Buddhism was
later than Bhagvat Gita and if there are any similarities between
the Buddhism and Bhagvat Gita it is due to the borrowing by the
Mahayanist from the Bhagvat Gita. This raises two questions. What is
the date of the origin of the Mahayana Buddhism ? What is the date
of the composition of the Bhagvat Gita ? The argument of Mr. Tilak is
ingenious and clever. But it has no substance. In the first place, it is
not original. It is based on certain casual remarks made by Winternitz1
and by Kern2 in foot-notes that there are certain similarties between
1
History of Indian Literature (English Translation) Vol. II, p. 229 foot-note.
2
Manual of Indian Buddhism p. 122 foot-note.
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372 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

the Bhagvat Gita and the Mahayan Buddhism and that there similarities
are the result of Mahayana Buddhism borrowing its ideas from the
Bhagvat Gita. Behind these remarks there is no evidence of special
research either on the part of Winternitz, Kern or Mr. Tilak. All of them
seem to be led away by the assumption that the Bhagvat Gita is earlier
than Mahayana Buddhism.
This leads me to examine the question of the date of the Bhagvat
Gita particularly with reference to the theory as put forth by Mr. Tilak.
Mr. Tilak1 is of opinion that the Gita is part of the Mahabharata and
that both have been written by one and the same author named Vyasa
and consequently the date of the Mahabharata must be the date of the
Bhagvat Gita. The Mahabharata, Mr. Tilak argues, must have been
written at least 500 years before the Shaka Era on the groung that
the stories contained in the Mahabharata were known to Megasthenes
who was in India about 300 B.C. as a Greek ambassador to the court of
Chandragupta Maurya. The Shaka Era began in 78 A.D. On this basis
it follows that the Bhagvat Gita must have been composed before 422
B.C. This is his view about the date of the composition of the present
Gita. According to him, the original Gita must have been some centuries
older than Mahabharata If reliance be placed on the tradition referred
to in the Bhagvat Gita that the religion of the Bhagvat Gita was
taught by Nara to Narayan in very ancient times. Mr. Tilak’s theory
as to the date of the composition of the Mahabharata is untenable.
In the first place, it assumes that the whole of the Bhagvat Gita and
the whole of Mahabharat have been written at one stretch, at one
time and by one hand. There is no warrant for such an assumption,
either in tradition, or in the internal evidence of these two treatises.
Confining the discussion to the Mahabharata the assumption made by
Mr. Tilak is quite opposed to well-known Indian traditions. This tradition
divides the compostion of the Mahabharata into three stages; (1) Jaya
(2) Bharata and (3) Mahabharata and assigns to each part a different
author. According to this tradition Vyasa was the author of the 1st
edition so to say of the Mahabharata called ‘Jaya’. Of the Second Edition
called ‘Bharata’ tradition assigns the authorship to Vaishampayana
and that of the Third Edition called Mahabharata to ‘Sauti’. That this
tradition is well-founded has been confirmed by the researches of Prof.
Hopkins based on the examination of. internal evidence furnished by
the Mahabharata. According to Prof. Hopkins2 there have been several
stages in the composition of the Mahabharata. As has been pointed
1
Gita Rahasya Vol. II p. 791-800.
2
The Great Epic of India p. 398.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 373

out by Prof. Hopkins1 in the first stage it was just a Pandu Epic consisting
of plays and legends about heroes who took part in the Mahabharata
war without the masses of didactic material. Such a Mahabharata, says
Prof. Hopkins, may have come into existence between 400-200 B.C. The
second stage was the remaking of the epic by the inclusion of didactic
matter and the addition of Puranic material. This was between 200 B.C.
and 200 A.D. The third stage is marked when (1) the last books were
added to the composition as it stood at the end of the second stage with
the introduction of the first book and (2) the swollen Anushasana Parva
was separated from Shanti Parva and recognized as a separate book. This
happened between 200 to 400 A.D. To these three stages Prof. Hopkins
adds a fourth or a final stage of occasional amplification which started
from 400 A.D. onwards. In coming to this conclusion Prof. Hopkins has
anticipated and dealt with all the arguments advanced by Mr. Tilak such
as the mention of Mahabharata in Panini2 and in the Grihyasutras.3
The only new pieces of evidence produced by Mr. Tilak which has not
been considered by Prof. Hopkins are two. One such piece of evidence
consists of the statements which are reported to have been recorded by
Megasthenes,4 the Greek Ambassador to the court of Chandra Gupta
Maurya, and the other is the astronomical evidence5, in the Adi Parva
which refers to the Uttarayana starting with the Shravana constellation.
The facts adduced by Mr. Tilak as coming from Megasthenes may not be
denied and may go to prove that at the time of Megasthenes i.e., about
300 B.C. a cult of Krishna worship had come into existence among the
Sauraseni community. But how can this prove that the Mahabharata
had then come into existence ? It cannot. Nor can it prove that the
legends and stories mentioned by Megasthenes were taken by him from
the Mahabharata. For there is nothing to militate against the view
that these legends and stories were a floating mass of Saga and that it
served as a reservoir both to the writer of the Mahabharata as well as
to Greek Ambassador.
Mr. Tilak’s astronomical evidence may be quite sound. He is
right insaying6 that “it is stated in the Anugita that Visvamitra
started the enumeration of the constellation with Shravana (Ma.Bha.
Asva.44.2, and Adi.71.34). That has been interpreted by commentators
as showing that the Uttarayana then started with the Shravana
constellation, and no other interpretation is proper. At the date of the
1
The Great Epic of India p. 398.
2
The Great Epic of India p. 395.
3
Ibid p. 390.
4
Gita Rahasya II p. 79.
5
Gita Rahasya II p. 789.
6
Ibid p. 789.
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374 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Vedanga-Jyotisa, the Uttarayana used to start with the Sun in the

Dhanistha constellation. According to astronomical calculations, the
date when the Uttarayana should start with the Sun in the Dhanistha
constellation to about 1,500 years before the Saka era; and according
to astronomical calculations, it takes about a thousand years for the
Uttarayana to start one constellation earlier. According to this calculation,
the date when the Uttarayana ought to start with the Sun in the Shravana
constellation comes to about 500 years before the Saka era. This conculsion
would have been proper if it was true that the Mahabharata was one
whole piece, written at one time by one author. It has, however, been
shown that there is no warrant for such an assumption. In view of this
Mr, Tilak’s astroncomical evidence cannot be used to determine the date of
the Mahabharata. It can be used only to determine the date of that part
of the Mahabharata which is affected by it—in this case the Adi Parva
of the Mahabharata. For these reasons Mr. Tilak’s theory as to the date
of the composition of the Mahabharata must fall to the ground. Indeed
any attempt to fix a single date for a work like the Mahabharata which
is a serial story produced in parts at long intervals must be regarded
as futile. All that one can say is that the Mahabharata was composed
between 400B.C. to 400A.D. a conclusion too broad to be used for the
purpose which Mr. Tilak has in view. Even this span seems to some
scholars to be too narrow. It is contended1 that the reference to Edukas
in the 190th Adhyaya of the Vanaparva has been wrongly interpreted
to mean. Buddhist Stupas when, as a matter of fact, it refers to the
Idgahas created by the Muslim invaders for Muslim converts. If this
interpretation is correct it would show that parts of the Mahabharata
were written about or after the invasions of Mohammed Ghori.
Let me now turn to examine Mr. Tilak’s theory as to the date of
the composition of the Bhagvat Gita, There are really two propositions
underlying his theory. First is that the Gita is part of the Mahabharata,
both are written at one time and are the handiwork of one man. His
second proposition is that the Bhagvat Gita has been the same what it
is today from the very beginning when it first came to be written. To
avoid confusion I propose to take them separately.
Mr. Tilak’s object in linking the Gita with the Mahabharata in the
matter of its composition is quite obvious. It is to have the date of the
Mahabharata which he thinks is known to derermine the date of the
Bhagvat Gita which is unknown. The basis on which Mr. Tilak has
tried to establish an integral connection between the Mahabharata and
the Bhagvat Gita is unfortunately the weakest part of his theory. To
1
Dharmanand Kausambi — Hindi Sanskriti ani Ahimsa (Marathi) p. 156.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 375

accept that the Gita is a part of the Mahabharata because the author
of both is Vyasa—and this is the argument of Mr. Tilak—is to accept a
fiction for a fact. It assumes that Vyasa is the name of some particular
individual capable of being identified. This is evident from the fact that
we have Vyasa as the author of the Mahabharata, Vyasa as the author
of the Puranas, Vyasa as the author of Bhagvat Gita and Vyasa as the
author of the Bramha Sutras. It cannot therefore be accepted as true that
the same Vyasa is the author of all these works separated as they are
by a long span of time extending to several centuries. It is well-known
how orthodox writers wishing to hide their identity get better authority
for their works by the use of a revered name were in the habit of using
Vyasa as a nom-de-plume or pen name. If the author of the Gita is a
Vyasa he must be a different Vyasa. There is another argument which
seems to militate against Mr, Tilak’s theory of synchroniety between the
composition of the Bhagvat Gita and the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata
consists of 18 Parvas. There are also 18 Puranas. It is curious to find that
Bhagvat Gita has also 18 Adhyayas. The question is: Why should there be
this parallelism? The answer is that the ancient Indian writers regarded
certain names and certain numbers as invested with great sanctity. The
name Vyasa and the number 18 are illustrations of this fact. But there
is more in the fixation of 18 as the chapters of the Bhagvat Gita than
is apparent on the face of it. Who set 18 as the sacred number, the
Mahabharata or the Gita ? If the Mahabharata, then Gita must have
been written after the Mahabharata. If it is the Bhagvat Gita, then the
Mahabharata must have been written after the Gita. In any case, the
two could not have been written at one and the same time.
These considerations may not be accepted as decisive against
Mr. Tilak’s first proposition. But there is one which I think is decisive.
I refer to the relative position of Krishna in the Mahabharata and in
the Bhagvat Gita. In the Mahabharata, Krishna is nowhere represented
as a God accepted by all. The Mahabharata itself shows the people
were not prepared even to give him the first place. When at the time
of the Rajasuya Yajna, Dharma offered to give Krishna priority in
the matter of honouring the guest, Shishupala—the near relation of
Krishna—protested and abused Krishna. He not only charged him
with low origin, but also with loose morals, an intriguer who violated
rules of war for the sake of victory. So abhorent but so true was this
record of Krishna’s foul deeds that when Duryodhan flung them in
the face of Krishna, the Mahabharata itself in the Gada Parva records
that the Gods in heaven came out to listen to the charges made by
Duryodhan against Krishna and after listening showered flowers as
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376 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

a token of their view that the charges contained the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. On the other hand, the Bhagvat Gita presented
Krishna as God omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, pure, loving,
essence of goodness. Two such works containing two quite contradictory
estimates about one and the same personality could not have been written
at one and the same time by one and the same author. It is a pity that
Mr. Tilak in his anxiety to give a pre-Buddhist date to the composition
of the Bhagvat Gita should have completely failed to take note of these
important considerations.
The second proposition of Mr. Tilak is equally unsound. The attempt
to fix a date for the composition of the Bhagvat Gita is nothing but the
pursuit of a mirage. It is doomed to failure. The reason is that the Bhagvat
Gita is not a single book written by a single author. It consists of different
parts written at different times by different authors.
Prof. Garbe is the only scholar who has seen the necessity of following
this line of inquiry. Prof. Garbe hold that there are two parts of the Bhagvat
Gita one original and one added. I am not satisfied with this statement.
My reading of the Bhagvat Gita leads me to the conclusion that there
have been four separate parts of Bhagvat Gita. They are so distinct that
taking even the present treatise as it stands they can be easily marked off.
(i) The original Gita was nothing more than a heroic tale told or a
ballad recited by the bards of how Arjuna was not prepared to fight and
how Krishna forced him to engage in battle, how Arjuna yielded and so
on. It may have been a romantic story but there was nothing religious or
philosophical in it.
This original Gita will be found embedded in Chapter I, Chapter II,
verses…. and Chapter XI verses 32-33 in which Krishna is reported to
have ended the argument:
“Be my tool, carry out my will, don’t worry about sin and evil resulting
from fighting, do as I tell you, don’t be impudent.”

This is the argument which Krishna used to compel Arjuna to fight.

And this argument of coercion and compulsion made Arjuna yield.
Krishna probably threatened Arjuna with brute force if he did not actually
use it. The assumption of Vishva-rupa by Krishna is only different way
of describing the use of brute force. On that theory it is possible that the
chapter in the present Bhagvat Gita dealing with Vishva-rupa is also a
part of the original Bhagvat Gita.
(ii) The first patch on the original Bhagvat Gita is the part in which
Krishna is spoken of as Ishvara, the God of the Bhagvat religion. This
part of the Gita is embedded in those verses of the present Bhagvat Gita
which are devoted to Bhakti Yoga.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 377

(iii) The second patch on the original Bhagvat Gita is the part which
introduces the Sankhya and the Vedanta philosophy as a defence to the
doctrines of Purva Mimansa which they did not have before. The Gita
was originally only a historical Saga with the cult of Krishna came to
be interwoven. The Philosophy portion of the Bhagvat Gita was a later
intrusion can be proved quite easily from the nature of the original dialogue
and the sequence of it.
In chapter I verses 20-47 Arjuna mentions those difficulties. In chapter
II Krishna attempts to meet the difficulties mentioned by Arjuna. There
are arguments and counter arguments. Krishna’s first argument is
contained in verse 2 and 3 in which Krishna tells Arjuna that his conduct
is infamous, unbecoming an Arya and that he should not play the part of
an effeminate which was unworthy of him. To this, Arjuna gives a reply
which is embodied in verses 4 to 8. In verses 4 to 5 he says, “how can I
kill Bhishma and Drona who are entitled to highest reverence: it would
be better to live by begging than kill them. I do not wish to live to enjoy
a kindom won by killing old revered elders.” In verses 6 to 8 Arjuna
says: “I do not know which of the two is more meritorious, whether we
should vanquish the Kauravas or whether we should be vanquished by
them.” Krishna’s reply to this is contained in verses 11 to 39 in which
he propounds (i) that grief is unjustified because things are imperishable,
(ii) that it is a false view that a man is killed when the atman is eternal
and (iii) that he must fight because it is the duty of the Kshatriya to fight.
Any one who reads the dialogue will notice the following points:
(1) The questions put by Arjuna are not philosophical questions.
They are natural questions put by a worldly man faced with worldly
problems.
(2) Upto a point Krishna treats them as natural questions and
returns to them quite natural replies.
(3) The dialogue takes a new turn. Arjuna after having informed
Krishna positively and definitely that he will not fight, suddenly
takes a new turn and expresses a doubt whether it is a good to kill
the Kauravas or be killed by them.This is a deliberate departure
designed to give Krishna a philosophical defence of war, uncalled
for by anything said by Arjuna.
(4) Again there is a drop in the tone of Krishna from verses 31 to
38. He treats the question as natural and tells him to fight because
it is the duty of the Kshatriya to fight.
Anyone can see from this that the introduction of the Vedanta
philosophy is quite unnatural and therefore a later intrusion. With
regard to the introduction of the Sankhya philosophy the case is quite
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378 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

obvious. Often it is expounded without any question by Arjuna and whenever

it has been propounded in answer to a question that question has nothing
to do with the war. This shows that the philosophic parts of the Bhagvat
Gita are not parts of the original Gita but have been added later on and
in order to find a place for them, new, appropriate and leading questions
have been put in the mouth of Arjuna which have nothing to do with the
mundane problems of war.
(iv) The third patch on the oriinal Bhagvat Gita consists of verses in which
Krishna is elevated from the position of Ishwara to that of Parmeshwara. This
patch can be easily detected as being chapters X and XV where Krishna says:
(Quotation not mentioned) ……..
As I said, to go in for a precise date for the composition of the Bhagvat
Gita is to go on a fool’s errand and that if an attempt in that direction is
to be of any value, effort must be directed to determine the date of each
patch separately. Proceeding in this way it is possible that what I have
called the original unphilosophic Bhagvat Gita was part of the first edition
of the Mahabharata called Jaya. The first patch on the original Bhagvat
Gita in which Krishna is depicted as Ishvara must be placed in point of date
sometimes later than Megasthenes when Krishna was only a tribal God,1 How
much later it is not possible to say. But it must be considerably later. For
it must be remembered that the Brahmins were not friendly to Krishnaism
in the beginning. In fact they were opposed to it.2 It must have taken some
time before the Brahmins could have become reconciled to Krishna worship.3
The second patch on the original Bhagvat Gita having reference to Sankhya
and Vedanta must for reason already given be placed later than the Sutras
of Jaimini and Badarayana. The question of the date of these Sutras has
carefully been examined by Prof. Jacobi4. His conclusion is that these Sutras
were composed sometime between 200 and 450 A.D.
The third patch on the original Bhagvat Gita in which Krishna is
raised into Parmeshvara must be placed during the reign of the Gupta
Kings. The reason is obvious. Gupta kings made Krishna-Vasudev
their family deity as their opponents the Shaka kings had made
1
Dr. Bhandarkar in his ‘Saivism and Vaishnavism’ says, “If the Vasudeva Krishna
worship prevailed in the time of the first Maurya it must have originated long before the
establishment of the Maurya dynasty.” This is an unexceptionable statement. But it seems
to me that a distinction must be made between Krishna as a tribal God and Krishna as
an universalized Ishwara. The date for the first may be what Dr. Bhandarkar suggests but
the same cannot be the date for the second. In the Gita we are concerned with the second.
2
See Shamshastri Memorial Volume.
3
The opposition to Krishnaism has been expressed by so late a person as Shankaracharya.
4
The dates of the Philosophical Sutras or the Brahmans—in the journal of the American
Oriental Society—Vol. XXXI 1911.
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KRISHNA AND HIS GITA 379

Mahadeo their family deity. The Brahmins to whom religion has been a
trade, who were never devoted to one God but came forward to worship
the deity of the ruling race thought of pleasing their masters by making
their family deity into a high and mighty Parmeshvar. If this is correct
explanation then this patch on the original Bhagvat Gita must be placed
between 400 and 464 A.D.
All this goes to confirm the view that the attempt to place the Bhagvat
Gita prior in point of time to Buddhism cannot succeed. It is the result
of wishful thinking on the part of those who have inherited a positive
dislike to Buddha and his revolutionary gospel. History does not support
it. History proves quite abnormally that at any rate those portions of the
Bhagvat Gita which have any doctrinal value are considerably later in point
of time to the Buddhist canon and the Sutras of Jaimini and Badarayana.
The discussion of the dates not only proves that the Bhagvat Gita is
later than Hinayana Buddhism but is also later than Mahayana Buddhism.
The impression prevails that Mahayana Buddhism is later in origin. It is
supposed to have come into being after A.D. 100 when Kanishka held the
third Buddhist Council to settle the dissension in the Buddhist Church.
This is absolutely a mistake.1 It is not true that after the Council a new
creed of Buddhism came into existence. What happened is that new
names of abuse came into existence for parties which were very old. As
Mr. Kimura has shown the Mahayanist is simply another name for the
sect of Buddhists known as Mahasanghikas. The sect of Mahasanghikas
had come into being very much earlier than is supposed to be the case. If
tradition be believed the sect had come into being at the time of the First
Buddhist Council held at Pataliputra 236 years after the death of Buddha
i.e., 307 B.C2 for settling the Buddhist canon and is said to have led the
opposition to the Theravad sect of Buddhism which later on came to be
stigmatized as Hinayana (which means those holding to the low path).
There could hardly be any trace of Bhagvat Gita when the Mahasanghikas
later known as Mahayanists came into being.
Apart from this what have the Mahayanists borrowed from the
Bhagvat Gita? Indeed what can they borrow from the Bhagvat Gita?
As Mr. Kimura points out the doctrine of every school of Buddhism is
mainly concerned at least with three doctrines: (1) Those which deal
with cosmic existence; (2) Those which deal with Buddhology; and
(3) Those which deal with conception of human life. Mahayana is no
1
On the whole subject see—A Historical study of the terms Hinayana and Mahayana and
the origin of Mahayana Buddhism—by Ryukan Kimura, Cal. University 1927.
2
This is if the date of Buddha’s death is taken to be 543 B.C. and would be 217 B.C. if
the date of his death is taken to be 453 B.C.
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380 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

exception to this. Except probably on Buddhology the Mahayanists could

hardly use the Bhagvat Gita to draw upon So different is the aproach
of the two on the other doctrines and even this possibility is excluded
by the factor of time.
The foregoing discussion completely destroys the only argument that
could be urged against my thesis—namely that the Bhagvat Gita is very
ancient, pre-Buddhistic in origin and therefore could not be related to
Jaimini’s Purva Mimansa and treated as an attempt to give a philosophic
defence of his counter-revolutionary doctrines.
To sum up, my thesis is three-fold. In other words it has three parts.
First is that the Bhagvat Gita is fundamentally a counter-revolutionary
treatise of the same class as Jamini’s Purva Mimansa—the official Bible
of counter-revolution. Some writers relying on verses 40-46 of Chapter
II hold the view that the Bhagvat Gita is
(In all the copies available with us, the essay has been left here
incomplete, as is seen from the above sentence—Editors.)

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CHAPTER 14
Analytical Notes of
Virat Parva & Udyog Parva

VIRAT PARVA

1. The spies sent by Kauravas to search for the existence of the

Pandavas return to Duryodhan and tell him that they are unable to
discover them. They ask his permission as to what to do.—Virat Parva,
Adhya. 25.
2. Duryodhan asks for advice from his advisers. Karna said send other
spies. Dushasan said they might have gone beyond the sea. But search
for them.—Ibid. —Adhya. 26.
3. Drona said the Pandavas are not likely to be defeated or destroyed.
They may be living as Tapasis, therefore send Siddhas and Brahamins
as spies—Ibid. Adhya 27.
4. Bhishma supports Drona— Ibid Adhya. 28.
5. Kripacharya supported Bhishma and added—Pandavas are great
enemies. But wise man does not neglect even small enemies. While they
are in Agnyatavasa you should go on collecting armies from now.— Ibid
Adhya. 29.
6. Then Susharma King of Trigarth raised quite a different subject.
He said that Kichaka who was the Senapati of King Virat I hear dead,
King Virat is to give us great trouble. Kichaka having been dead Virat
must have become very weak. Why not invade the Kingdom of Virat
? This is the most opportune time. Karna also supported Susharma.
Why worry about the Pandavas, these Pandavas are without wealth,
without army and fallen. Why bother with them? They might have even
been dead by now. Give up the search and let undertake the project of
Susharma—Ibid Adhya. 30.
7. Susharma’s invasion of Vairat. Susharma carries away the cows of
Virat. The cow herds go and inform Virat of this and ask him to pursue
Susharma and rescue the cows.—Ibid Adhya. 31.
8. Virat became ready for war. In the meanwhile Shatanik the
younger brother of Virat suggested that instead of going alone he
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382 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

might take with him Rank (Sahadeo) Ballava (Yudhishtira) Santipal

(Bhima) and Granthik (Nakula) to help him to fight Susharma. Virat
agreed and they all went—Ibid. Adhya. 31.
9. War between Shusharma and Virat—Ibid Adhya. 32.
10. Yudhishthira rescues Virat.—Ibid. Adhya. 33.
11. Announcement in the Virat Nagari that their King is safe.—Ibid
Adhya. 34.
ENTRY IN VIRAT NAGARI BY KAURVAS
12. While King Virat went after Susharman Duryodhan with Bhishma,
Drona, Karna, Krapa, Ashvashthama, Shakuni, Dushashana, Vivinshali,
Vikama, Chitrasen, Durmukha, Dushala and other warriers entered the
Virat Nagari and captured the cows of Virat and were going away. The
cowherds came to the palace of King Virat and gave the news. They
need not find the King but they found his son Uttar. so they gave him
the news.—Ibid Adhya. 35.
13. Uttar began to boast saying he was superior to Arjuna and would
do the job. But his complaint was that there was no one to act his
Sarathi. Draupadi went and told him that Brahannada was at one time
the Sarathi of Arjuna. Why not ask him? He said he had no courage and
requested Draupadi to make the request. Why not ask your younger sister
Manorama. So he told Manorama to bring Brahannada—Ibid Adhya. 36.
14. Manorama takes Brahannada to his brothers and Uttara persuades
him to be his Sarathi. Brahannada agreed and took the Rath of Uttara
in front of the Kauravas—Ibid. Adhya. 37.
15. On seeing the army of the Kauravas Uttara left the Rath and
started running away. Arjuna stopped him. The Kauravas seeing this
began to suspect that the man might be Arjuna. Arjuna told him not
to be afraid—Ibid Adhya. 38.
16. Arjuna took his Ratha to the Shami tree. Seeing this Drona said
he must be Arjuna. Hearing this the Kauravas were greatly upset. But
Duryodhana said if Drona is right it is good for us. Because it is before
the thirteenth year that the Pandavas will have been discovered and
they will have to suffer Vanavas again for 12 years.—Ibid Adhya. 39.
17. Arjuna asks Uttara to climb the Shami tree and to take down the
weapons.—Ibid Adhya. 40.
18. Uttara’s doubts about the corpse on the Shami Tree—Ibid Adhya. 41.
19. Uttara’s excitement after seeing the weapons—Ibid Adhya. 42.
20. Arjuna’s description of the weapons.—Ibid Adhya. 43.
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ANALYTICAL NOTES OF VIRAT PARVA & UDYOG PARVA 383

21. Uttara’s Inquiry regarding the whereabouts about the Pandavas.—Ibid

Adhya. 44.
22. Climbing down of Uttara from the tree—Ibid Adhya. 45.
23. The Rath with Vanar Symbol. Drona becomes sure that he is Arjuna.
Bad omens seen by the army of the Kauravas.—Ibid Adhya. 46.
24. Duryodhan encourages the soldiers who were frightened by Drona’s
saying that it was Arjuna. Karna’s slander of Drona and proposal to Duryodhan
to remove Drona as a Commander-in-Chief.— Ibid Adhya. 47.
25. Boasting by Kama and Pratijna to defeat Arjuna—Ibid Adhya. 48.
26. Krapacharya’s admonition to Karna not to brag and boast. War is
regarded as bad by the Shastras—Ibid Adhya. 49.
27. Ashvasthama abuses Karna and Duryodhan because of their slander
of Drona—Ibid Adhya. 50.
28. Ashavashthama abused Karna and Duryodhan for speaking ill of
Drona. Karna replied, ‘after all I am only a Suta.’ But Arjuna has behaved
as bad as Rama behaved towards Vali—Ibid Adhya. 50.
29. Ashvashthama was quieted by Bhisma, Drona and Krapa, Duryodhan
and Karna tendered apology to Drona—Ibid Adhya. 51.
30. Bhishma’s decision that the Pandavas have completed 13 years.—ibid
Adhya. 52.
31. Arjuna has defeated the army of the Kauravas.—Ibid Adhya. 53.
32. Arjuna defeats Karna’s Bhrata. Arjuna defeats Karna and Karna runs
away—Ibid Adhya. 54.
33. Arjuna destroys the army of the Kauravas and breaks the Rath of
Kripacharya—Ibid Adhya. 55.
34. Gods came out in heaven to witness the fight between Arjuna and the
army of the Kauravas—Ibid Adhya. 56.
35. Battle between Krapa and Arjuna and the running away of Krapa.—
Ibid Adhya. 57.
36. Battle between Drona and Arjuna and running away of Drona.—Ibid
Adhya.’ 58.
37. Battle between Ashavashthama and Arjuna—Ibid Adhya. 59.
38. Battle between Karna and Arjuna, defeat of Karna—Adhya. 60.
39. Attack on Bhishma by Arjuna—Ibid Adhya. 61.
40. Arjuna kills the Kauravas soldiers—Ibid Adhya. 62.
41. Defeat of Bhishma and his running away from the Battle-field— Ibid
Adhya. 64.
42. Fainting of the soldiers of the Kauravas. Bhishmas telling them to
return home.—Ibid Adhya. 66.
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384 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

43. Kaurava soldiers surrendering to Arjuna from Abhay. Uttar and

Arjuna return to Virat Nagari—Ibid Adhya. 67.
44. Virat enters his capital and his people honouring him.—Ibid
Adhya. 68.
45. The Pandavas enter the King’s Assembly.—Ibid Adhya. 69.
46. Arjuna introduces his other brothers in Virat.—Ibid Adhya. 71.
47. Marriage between Arjuna’s son and the daughter of Virat.—Ibid
Adhya. 72.
48. Thereafter the Pandavas leave Virat Nagari and live in Upaplowya
Nagari—Ibid Adhya. 72.
49. Arjuna thereafter brought his son Abhimanyu, Vasudev, and Yadav
from Anrut Desh—Ibid Adhya. 72.
50. Friends of Yudhisthir such as Kings Kashiraj and Shalya came
with two Akshauhini army. Similarly Yagyasen Drupadraj came with
one Akshauhini. Draupadi’s all sons Ajinkya, Shikhandi, Drustadumna
also came .—Ibid 72.
UDYOGAPARVA
After the marriage of Abhimanyu the Yadavas and the Pandavas met
in the Sabha of King Virat. Krishna addresses them as to what is to
be done about the future. We must do what is good both Kauravas and
Pandavas. Dharma will accept anything—even one villaga—by Dharma.
Even if he is given the whole kingdom by Duryodhana he will not accept
it. Upto now the Pandavas have observed Niti. But if the Kauravas
observe Aniti the Pandavas will not hesitate to kill the Kauravas. Let
nobody be afraid on account of the fact that the Pandavas are a minority.
They have many friends who will come to their rescue. We must try
to know the wishes of the Kauravas. I suggest that we should send a
messanger to Duryodhan and ask him to give part of the Kingdom to
the Pandavas.—Udyog Parva, Adhya. 1.
2. Balaram supports the proposal of Krishna but added that it was the
fault of Dharma knowing that he was losing at the hands of Shakuni.
Therefore instead of fighting with the Kauravas get what you can by
negotiation.—Ibid, Adhya. 2.
3. Satyaki got up and condemned Balaram for his attitude—Ibid
Adhya. 3.
4. Drupad supports Satyaki. Drupad agrees to send his Purohit as a
messanger—Ibid. Adhya. 4.
5. Krishna supports Drupad and goes to Dwarka. Kings invited by
Drupad and Virat arrive. Similarly Kings invited by Duryodhan arrive.—
Ibid, Adhya. 5.
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ANALYTICAL NOTES OF VIRAT PARVA & UDYOG PARVA 385

6. Drupada instructs his purohit how to speak in the assembly and deal
with the issue.—Ibid Adhya. 6.
7. Arjuna and Duryodhana both go to Dwarka to ask for his aid in the
war. He said I will help you both. I can give my army to one and I can
join one singly. Choose what you want. Duryodhan chose the army. Arjuna
choose Krishna.—Ibid Adhya. 7.
8. Coming of Shalya to the Pandavas with a large army. Duryodhan thinks
him lower. Meeting of Shalya and Pandavas. Pandavas request Shalya to
discourage Karna in the war. Agreement of Shalya.—Ibid. Adhya. 8.
9. Adhya. 9—Irrelevant.
10. Adhya. 10—Irrelevant.
11. Adhya. 11—Irrelevant.
12. Adhya. 12—Irrelevant.
13. Adhya. 13—Irrelevant.
14. Adhya. 14—Irrelevant.
15. Adhya. 15—Irrelevant.
16. Adhya. 16—Irrelevant.
17. Adhya. 17—Irrelevant.
18. Adhya. 18—Irrelevant.
19. Adhya—Satyaki comes to Pandvas with his army and Bhagadatta
went to Duryodhana.
20. Adhya. 20—The Purohit of Drupada enters the Kauravas Sabha. The
Purohit said that the Pandvas are prepared to part evil deeds of the Kauravas
and make a compromise with them. He told them that the Pandavas have
a large army yet they wish to compromise.
21. Adhya. 21—Bhishma supports the Purohit. Karna objects. Dispute
between Bhishma and Karna. Dhratrarashtra suggests that Sanjaya be sent
for negotiation on their behalf.
22. Adhya. 22—Dhratrarashtra sends Sanjaya to go to the Pandvas and
give his blessings and say what you think best for the occasion and which
will not advance enmity between the two.
23. Adhya. 23—Sanjaya’s going to the Pandvas.
24. Adhya. 24—Conversation betwen Sanjaya and Yudhistira.
25. Adhya. 25—Sanjaya condemns war.
26. Adhya. 26—Dharma says ‘I am prepared to compromise if the Kauravas
give us our Kingdom of Indraprastha.
27. Adhya. 27—It is Adharma to kill Gurujan and obtain a Kingdom. If
the Kauravas refuse to give you any kingdom without war you had better
live by begging in the Kingdom of Vrishni and Andhakas.
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386 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

28. Adhya. 28—Says, Dharma Blame us Sanjaya if you think we have acted
or acting against Dharma. Sanjaya says I want Swadharma or Sama.
29. Adhya. 29—Krishna’s address to Sanjaya why war is legitimate and asks
him to go and tell his views to Dhratarashtra.
30. Adhya. 30—Sanjaya returns to Kauravas and tells Duryodhana to war.
Duryodhan either to return Indraprastha to the Pandavas or be ready for war.
31. Adhya. 30—Sanjaya tells Duryodhan to live and let live. If he cannot give
Indraprastha let him give us five villages.
32. Adhya. 31—Sanjaya reaches Dratrarashtra at night and tells him I will
give you the message of Dharma in the morning.
33. Adhya. 32—Dhratarashtra is uneasy and wants to know the message
Sanjaya brought. So he sends for Sanjaya immediately. Sanjaya gives him the
message and says settle the dispute by giving them their share of the Kingdom.
34. Adhya. 34—Dhratarashtra calls for Vidura and asks his advice. His advice
is, give the Pandavas their portion of the Kingdom.
35. Adhya. 35—Irrelevant.
36. Adhya. 36—Irrelevant. Vidur says make the two sides friends.
37. Adhya. 37—Irrelevant.
38. Adhya 38—Irrelevant.
39. Adhya. 39—Dhratarashtra tells Vidura I cannot give up Duryodhan
although he is bad.
40. Adhya. 40—Vidura describes Chaturvarna.
41. Adhya. 41—Dhratarashtra asks Vidur about Brahma. He says I can’t
because I am a Shudra. Then comes Sanat-Sujata.
42. Adhya. 42—Conversation between Dhratarashtra & Sanat Sujata on
Brahma Vidya.
43. Adhya. 43—Dialogue between Sanat Sujat and Dhratarashtra on the
same subject.
44. Adhya. 44—Sanat Sujata on Brahma Vidya.
45. Adhya. 45—Sanat Sujata preaches yoga.
46. Adhya. 46—Sanat Sujat on Atma.
47. Adhya. 47—Kauravas come to the Sabha to hear the message brought
by Sanjaya.
48. Adhya. 48—Sanjaya delivers the message. (Particularly that part which
was given by Arjuna?)
49. Adhya. 49—Praise of Arjuna & Krishna by Bhishma. Karna gets angry.
Drona supports Bhisma and advices compromise.
50. Adhya. 50—Dhratarashtra asks Sanjaya who are the allies of the Pandvas
& their strength. Sanjaya taunts, gets up answers.
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ANALYTICAL NOTES OF VIRAT PARVA & UDYOG PARVA 387

51. Adhya. 51—Dhratarashtra thinks of the prowess of Bhismna and sighs.

52. Adhya. 52—Dhratarashtra thinks of the prowess of Arjuna and sighs.
53. Adhya. 53—Dhratarashtra thinks of the prowess of Dharma and his
friends. He tells his sons to compromise with the Pandavas.
54. Adhya. 54—Sanjaya predicts the defeat of the Kauravas.
55. Adhya. 55—Duryodhan says Pandavas cannot defeat us because our
forces are greater.
56. Adhya. 56—Sanjaya describes the disposition of the army made by
the Pandavas.
57. Adhya. 57—Sanjaya describes how Pandavas have designed to kill the
warriors of the Kauravas. Duryodhan says he is not afraid of the Pandvas
defeating the Kauravas who have a larger army.
58. Adhya. 58—Dhratarashtra tells Duryodhan not to fight. Duryodhan
takes oath not to swerve from battle. Dhratarashtra weeps.
59. Adhya. 59—Dhratarashtra tells Sanjaya to tell him what conversation
took place between Krishna & Arjuna.
60. Adhya. 60—Dhratarashtra tells Duryodhan that the Devas will help
the Pandavas and will ruin the Kauravas.
61. Adhya. 61—Duryodhan says he is not afraid of that.
62. Adhya. 62—Karna says he alone is capable of killing Arjuna.
63. Adhya. 63—Duryodhan says he is fighting relying on Karna & not on
Bhishma, Drona etc.
64. Adhya. 64—Vidura tells Duryodhan give up enmity.
65. Adhya. 65—Dratarashtra admonishes Duryodhan.
66. Adhya. 66—Sanjaya tells Dratarashtra the message of Arjuna.
67. Adhya. 67—The kings who had assembled in the hall of the Kauravas
return to their homes. Vyas and Gandhari come with Vidur. Vyas told
Sanjaya to tell Dhratarashtra every thing he knows about the real Swarup
of Krishna & Arjuna.
68. Adhya. 68—Sanjaya tells Dhratarashtra about Krishna.
69. Adhya. 69—Dhratarashtra tells Duryodhan to surrender to Krishna.
Refusal of Duryodhan. Gandhari abuses Duryodhan.
70. Adhya 70—Different names of Krishna & their origin.
71. Adhya 71—Dhratarashtra surrenders to Krishna.
72. Adhya. 72—Conversation between Yudhistira and Krishna. Yudhistir
says Sanjaya told him not to rely on Dhratarashtra. Yudhistir stresses the
importance of property Speaks of (Kshatradharma) & the necessity of observing
it Krishna proposes to go to the Kauravas. Yudhistir does not like the idea
but says to what you think is the best.
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388 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

73. Adhya. 73—Krishna tells Dharma the secret which has in mind. Don’t
use soft speech with the Pandvas tells Krishna to Dharma. There are plenty
of reasons why you should not make any compromise with the Kauravas.
Emphasizes how the Kauravas disgraced Draupadi. Therefore Oh; Dharma
do not hesitate to kill them.
74. Adhya. 74—Bhishma tells Krishna to use soft speech with the Kauravas.
75. Adhya. 75—Krishna redicules Bhima.
76. Adhya. 76—Bhima makes up his mind to fight.
77. Adhya. 77—Krishna tells Bhima the difference between Daiva and
Paurush.
78. Adhya. 78—Arjuna tells Krishna to adopt Shama—failing war can be
considered.
79. Adhya. 79—Krishna’s talk to Arjun. I will try to bring about a settlement
by peace. If that is not possible be ready for war. I will not communicate to
Duryodhan Dharma’s willingness to accept, five villages.
80. Adhya. 80—Nakul tells Krishna to do the best.
81. Adhya. 81—Sahadev meets Krishna and tells him to bring about a
war with the Kauravas. Satyaki said that all warriors assembled here agree
with the view of Sahadeo.
82. Adhya. 82—Draupadi meets Krishna & tells him that she will not be
satisfied unless Duryodhan is punished. Krishna gives her assurance.
83. Adhya. 83—Last meeting between Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna makes
the best effort for Shama. Yudhishtir tells Krishna to give assurances to
Kunti. Krishna starts on his mission.
84. Adhya. 84—Good & Bad omens to Krishna on his way to Hastinapura.
85. Adhya. 85—Duryodhana creates Resting places for Krishna’s journey
to Hastinapur. Krishna arrives in Hastinapura.
86. Adhya. 86—Dhratarashtra tells Vidura what gifts are to be offered
to krishna.
87. Adhya. 87—Vidur tells Dhratarashtra that he cannot separate Krishna
from the Pandavas.
88. Adhya. 88—Duryodhan says Krishna is worship. But this is not the
time to worship him. Bhishma tells Duryodhan to make a compromise with
Pandavas. Duryodhan desires to look up Krishna. Bhishma’s strong opposition
to Duryodhana.
89. Adhya. 89—Krishna’s entry into Hastinapur. Meeting with Dhratarashtra.
His stay with Vidura.
90. Adhya. 90—Meeting between Kunti and Krishna—Kunti’s
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ANALYTICAL NOTES OF VIRAT PARVA & UDYOG PARVA 389

sorrow. Krishna consoles her. Kunti tells Krishna— (1) Tell ray sons to
fight for their kingdom. (2) I am sorry for Draupadi.
91. Adhya. 91—Kauravas invite Krishna to dinner. Krishna’s refusal.
Krishna goes for meal to Vidur.
92. Adhya. 92—Vidur tells Krishna that he does not like his going among
the Kauravas.
93 Adhya. 93—Krishna tells Vidura not all the Kauravas can hurt him.
I have come only because Shama is Punnyakarak.
94. Adhya. 94—Krishna enters the assembly Hall of the Kauravas.
95. Adhya. 95—Krishna’s address to the Assembly. He told them pandavas
are ready for both peace as well as war. Give them half their kingdom.
96. Adhya. 96—Jamadgni tells a story against arrogance.
97. Adhya. 97-105—Matali Akhyan.
98. Adhya. 106—Narada’s advice to Duryodhana.
99. Adhya. 106-123—Galava Akhyan.
100. Adhya. 124—Dratarashtra tells Krishna to advise Duryodhana.
101. Adhya. 125—Bhishma’s advice to Duryodhan. Drona’s support.
Vidura’s condemnation of Duryodhana. Dhratarashtra’s advice.
102. Adhya. 126—Bhishma & Drona advice Duryodhana a second time.
103. Adhya. 127—Duryodhana announces not to give anything to the
Pandavas.
104. Adhya. 128—Krishna condemns Duryodhana. Duryodhan leaves
the Assembly. Dushyasana’s speech. Krishna warns Bhishma.
104. Adhya. 129—Dhratarashtra asks Vidur to bring Gandhari to the
Assembly. Duryodhan comes back—Gandhari asks him to give half the
Kingdom to Pandavas.
104. Adhya. 130—Duryodhana leaves the assembly. His intention to kill
Krishna. Satyaki informs Dhratarashtra of this secret plot. Srikrishna’s
speech. Dhratarashtra calls back Duryodhana to the assembly, warns him.
Vidur’s condemnation.
105. Adhya. 131—Bhagwana’s Vishwarup Darshan Dhratarashtra gets
Divya Chakshu? Krishna leaves the assembly and goes to Kunti.
106. Adhya. 132—Krishna tells Kunti what happened in the assembly.
Kunti tells Krishna war is natural to Kshatriyas. There is no better Dharma
than that.
107. Adhya. 133—Kunti tells Krishna the story of Vidula to reinforce
her point.
108. Adhya. 134—Vidula’s story.
109. Adhya. 135—Vidula’s story.
110. Adhya. 136—Vidula’s story.
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390 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

111. Adhya. 137—Kunti’s advice to her sons. Krishna’s advice to Karna

and his departure to Upapalavya Nagari.
112. Adhya. 138—Advice to Duryodhana by Bhishma & Drona.
113. Adhya. 139—Bhishma’s sorrow. Drona again advises Duryodhana.
114. Adhya. 140—Conversation between Dhratarashtra and Sanjaya.
Krishna advices Karna’s.
115. Adhya. 141—Karna’s reply to Krishna.
116. Adhya. 142—Krishna’s assurance to Karna that the Pandava’s will win.
117. Adhya. 143—Karna sees bad omens. His determination to finish
Pandavas. His going home.
118. Adhya. 144—Conversation between Vidura and Pratha. Knows
Duryodhana is determined to fight. Kunti’s sorrow. Her wish to tell Karna
his origin. Kunti goes to the bank of the river.
119. Adhya. 145—Kunti meets Karna and tells him his origin and request
him to join the Pandavas.
120. Adhya. 146—Surya supports the proposal of Kunti. Karna rejects it.
Promises to save all the Pandavas except Arjuna.
121. Adhya. 147—Krishna goes to Pandavas. Yudhistir asks what happened
in the Kaurava Sabha.
122. Adhya. 147, 148, 149, 150—Krishna relates the whole story.
123. Adhya. 151—Appointment of Senapati for the Pandavas Army. Entry
of Pandava’s Army in Kurushetra.
124. Adhya. 152—Description of Pandavas arrangement for supply to
the Army.
125. Adhya. 153—Arrangement on Kaurava’s side. Our army must enter
Kurushetra tomorrow early morning.
126. Adhya. 154—Dharma’s fear of fall from his moral rectitude by going
to war. Krishna satisfied him. Arjuna said you must fight.
127. Adhya. 155—Description of Duryodhan’s army.
128. Adhya. 156—Bhishma is made Senapati of the Kaurava’s army.
Karna is offended. His decision not to take command till Bhishma is dead.
Kaurava’s Army enters Kurushetra.
129. Adhya. 157—Krishna becomes commander of Pandava’s Army.
130. Balram goes on Pilgrimage saying I do not like the Kauravas destroyed.
131. Adhya. 158—Rukmi neither wanted by Arjuna nor by Duryodhana
goes home.
132. Adhya. 159—Conversation between Sanjaya and Dhratarashtra. He
blames Dhratarashtra.
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ANALYTICAL NOTES OF VIRAT PARVA & UDYOG PARVA 391

133. Adhya. 160—Pandava’s Army on the bank of the Hiranyavati

river. Duryodhan sends offensive messages to Pandavas and Krishna
saying fight if you can.
134. Adhya. 161. Uluka goes with the messages.
135. Adhya. 162—Angry Pandavas send back angry messages. They
give order that the war will start tomorrow.

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CHAPTER 15
Brahmins Versus Kshatriyas

This manuscript consists of 43 foolscap typed pages. All the loose

pages are tagged. The original title, ‘Brahmins and Kshatriyas
and the Counter-Revolution’ has been modified in Dr. Ambedkar’s
hand-writing as ‘Brahmins Versus Kshatriyas’ on the title page.
The essay seems to be complete.—Editors.
The sacred literature of the Hindus contains many cases of conflicts
between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas and even of sanguinary wards
between the two.
The first case reported was that of the King Vena. Vena was a
Kshatriya King. His conflict with the Brahmins has been referred to in
various authorities. The following account is taken from the Harivansa.
“1There was formerly a Prajapati (lord of creatures), a protector of
righteousness, called Anga, of the race of Atrai, and resembling him
in power. His son was the Prajapati Vena, who was but indifferently
skilled in duty, and was born of Sunitha, the daughter of Mrityu. This
son of the daughter of Kala (Death), owing to the taint derived from
his maternal grand-father, threw his duties behind his back, and lived
in covetousness under the influence of desire. This king established an
irreligious system of conduct; transgressing the ordinances of the Veda,
he was devoted to lawlessness. In his reign men lived without study
of the sacred books and without the Vashatkara, and the gods had no
some-libations to drink at sacrifices.”

No sacrifice or oblation shall be offered,—such was the ruthless

determination of that Prajapati, as the time of his destruction
approached. ‘I’, he declared, ‘am the object, and the performer of
sacrifice, and the sacrifice itself; it is to me that sacrifice should
be presented, and oblations offered.’ This transgressor of the rules
of duty, who arrogated to himself what was not his due, was then
1
Muir Vol. I. p. 302-303.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 393

addressed by all the great Rishis, headed by Marichi: “We are about to
consecrate ourselves for a ceremony which shall last for many years;
practise not unrighteousness, of Vena; this is not the eternal rule of
duty. Thou art in every deed a Prajapati of Atri’s race and thou hast
engaged to protect thy subject.’ The foolish Vena, ignorant of what was
right, laughingly answered those great Rishis who had so addressed him:
“Who but myself is the ordainer of duty ? or whom ought I to obey ?
Who on earth equals me in sacred knowledge, in process, in austere
fervour, in truth? Ye who are deluded and senseless know not that I
am the source of all beings and duties. Hesitate not to believe that I,
if I willed, could turn up the earth, or deluge it with water, or close
up heaven and earth.’ When owing to his delusion and arrogance Vena
could not be governed, then the mighty Rishis becoming licensed, seized
the vigorous and struggling king, and rubbed his left thigh. From this
thigh, so rubbed, was produced a black man, very short in stature, who,
being alarmed, stood with joined hands. Seeing that he was agitated,
Atri said to him ‘Sit down’ (Nishida). He became the founder of the race
of the Nishadas, and also progenitor of the Dhivaras (Fishermen), who
sprang from the corruption of Vena.’
The second case is that of Pururavas. Pururavas is another Kshatriya
King, son of Ila and grandson of Manu Vaivasvata. He came in conflict
with the Brahman’s the following account of which appears in the Adi
Parva of the Mahabharata:
“1Subsequently the wise Pururavas was born of Ila who, as we have
heard was both his father and his mother. Ruling over thirteen islands
of the ocean, and surrounded by beings who were all superhuman,
himself a man of great renown, Pururavas, intoxicated by his prowess,
engaged in a conflict with the Brahmans, and robbed them of their jewels,
although they loudly remonstrated. Sanatkumara came from Brahma’s
heaven, and addressed to him an admonition, which however, he did
not regard. Being then straightway cursed by the incenses Rishis, he
perished, this covetous monarch, who, through piece of power, had lost
his understanding.”

The third and a somewhat serious conflict was that between King
Nahusha and the Brahmins. Nahusha is the grandson of Pururavas. The
story is told in two places in the Mahabharata once in the Vanaparvan
and a second time in the Udyogaparvan. The following account is taken
from the Udyogaparvan of the Mahabharata:
“2After his slaughter of the demon Vritta, Indra became alarmed
at the idea of having taken the life of a Brahman (for Vritta was

1
Muir Vol. I, p. 307.
2
Muir Vol. I, p. 310-313.
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394 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

regarded as such) and hid himself in the waters. In consequence

of the disappearance of the king of the gods, all affairs, celestial
as well as terrestrial, fell into confusion. The Rishis and gods
then applied to Nahusha to be their king. After the first excusing
himself on the plea of want of power, Nahusha at length, in
compliance with their solicitations, accepted the high function.
Upto the period of his elevation he had led a virtuous life, but he
now became addicted to amusement and sensual pleasure, ‘and
even aspired to the possession of Indrani, Indra’s wife, whom he
had happened to see. The queen resorted to the Angiras Vrihaspati,
the preceptor of the gods, who engaged to protect her. Nahusha
was greatly incensed on hearing of this interference; but the gods
endeavoured to pacify him, and pointed out the immorality of
appropriating another person’s wife. Nahusha, however, would
listen to no remonstrance, and insisted that in his adulterous
designs he was no worse than Indra himself.”

“The renowned Ahalya, a rishi’s wife, was formerly corrupted

by Indra in her husband’s lifetime. Why was he not prevented
by you? And many barbarous acts, and unrighteous deeds, and
frauds were perpetrated of old by Indra; Why was he not prevented
by you?” The gods, urged Nahusha, then went to bring Indrani;
but Vrihaspati would not give her up. At his recommendation,
however, she solicited Nahusha for some delay, till she should
ascertain what had become of her husband. This request was
granted.” Indrani now went in search of her husband; and by the
help of Upasruti (the goddess of night and revealer of secrets)
discovered him existing in a very subtile form in the stem of a
lotus growing in a lake situated in a continent within an ocean
north of the Himalayas. She made known to him the wicked
intentions of Nahusha, and entreated him to exert his power,
rescue her from danger, and resume his dominion. Indra declined
any immediate interposition on the plea of Nahusha’s superior
strength; but suggested to his wife a device by which the usurper
might be hurled from his position. She was recommended to say
to Nahusha that “if he would visit her on a celestial vehicle
borne by Rishis, she would with pleasure submit herself to him.”

“I desire for thee, king of the gods, a vehicle hitherto unknown,

such as neither Vishnu, nor Rudra, nor the Asuras, nor the
Rakshases employ. Let the eminent Rishis, all united, bear thee,
lord, in a car: this idea pleases me.” Nahusha receives favourably
this appeal to his vanity, and in the course of his reply thus gives
utterance to his self-congratulation: “He is a personage of no mean
prowess who makes the Munis his bearers. I am a fervid devotee of
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 395

great might, lord of the past, the future, and the present. If I
were angry the world would no longer stand; on me everything
depends……. Wherefore, O goddess, I shall, without doubt, carry
out what you propose. The seven Rishis, and all the Brahman-
rishis, shall carry me. Behold, beautiful goddess, my majesty and
my prosperity.” The narrative goes on: “Accordingly this wicked
being, irreligious, violent, intoxicated by the force of conceit,
and arbitrary in his conduct, attached to his car the Rishis who
submitted to his command, and compelled them to bear him.”
Indrani then again resorts to Vrihaspati, who assures her that
vengeance will soon overtake Nahusha for his presumption, and
promises that he will himself perform a sacrifice with a view to
the destruction of the oppressor, and the discovery of Indra’s
lurking place. Agni is then sent to discover and bring Indra to
Vrihaspati; and the latter, on Indra’s arrival, informs him of all
that had occurred during his absence. While Indra, with Kuvera,
Yama, Soma and Varuna was devising means for the destruction
of Nahusha, the sage Agastya came up, congratulated Indra on
the fall of his rival, and proceeded to relate how it had occurred:

“Wearied with carrying the sinner Nahusha the eminent

divine-rishis, and the spotless Brahman-rishis, asked that divine
personage Nahusha (to solve) a difficulty; “Dost thou, O Vasava,
most excellent of conquerors, regard as authoritative or not those
Brahmana texts which are recited at the immolation of kine?”
‘No’, replied Nahusha, whose understanding was enveloped in
darkness. The Rishis rejoined: ‘Engaged in unrighteousness, thou
attainest not unto righteousness: these texts, which were formerly
uttered by great Rishis, are regarded by us as authoritative.’
Then (proceeds Agastya) disputing with the Munis, Nahusha,
impelled by unrighteousness, touched me on the head with
his foot. In consequence of this the king’s glory was smitten
and his prosperity departed. When he had instantly become
agitated and oppressed with fear, I said to him,’ Since thou, O
fool, contemnest that sacred text, always held in honour, which
has been composed by former sages, and employed by Brahman-
rishis, and has touched my head with thy foot, and employest the
Brahma—like the irresistible Rishis as bearers to carry thee,—
therefore, shorn of thy lusture, and all thy merit exhausted, sink
down, sinner, degraded from heaven to earth. For ten thousand
years thou shalt crawl in the form of a huge serpent. When
that period is completed, thou shalt again ascend to heaven.’
So fell that wicked wretch from the sovereignty of the gods.
Happily, O Indra, we shall now prosper, for the enemy of the
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396 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Brahmans has been smitten. Take possession of the three worlds,

and protect their inhabitants, O husband of Sachi (Indrani) subduing
thy senses, overcoming thine enemies, and celebrated by the great
Rishis.”

The fourth case is of King Nimi. Nimi was one of the sons of Ikshvaku.
The facts of his conflict with the Brahmans are related in the Vishnu
Purrana which says:
“1Nimi had requested the Brahman Rishi Vashistha to officiate
at a sacrifice, which was to last a thousand years. Vashistha in
reply pleaed a pre-engagement to Indra for five hundred years, but
promised to return at the end of that period. The king made no
remark, and Vashistha went away, supposing that he had assented
to his arrangement. On his return, however, the priest discovered
that Nimi had retained Gautama (who was, equally with Vashistha,
a Brahmin-rishi) and others to perform the sacrifice; and being
incensed at the neglect to give him notice of what was intended, he
cursed the king, who was then asleep, to lose his corporeal form.
When Nimi awoke and learnt that he had been cursed without
any previous warning, he retorted by uttering a similar curse on
Vashistha, and then died. Nimi’s body was emblamed. At the close
of the sacrifice which he had begun, the gods, were willing, on the
intercession of the priests, to restore him to life, but he declined
the offer; and was placed by the deities, according to his desire,
in the eyes of all living creatures. It is in consequence of this
that they are always opening and shutting (nimisha means “The
twinkling of the eye”).

The fifth case relates to the conflict between Vashishtha and

Vishvamitra. Vashishtha was a Brahmin priest. Vishavamitra was a
Kshatriya. His great ambition was to become a Brahmin. The following
episode reported from the Ramayana explains the reasons why he became
anxious to become a Brahmin.
“2There was formerly, we are told, a king called Kusa, son of
Prajapati, who had a son called Kusanabha, who was father of
Gadhi, the father of Vishvamitra. The latter ruled the earth for
many thousand years. On one occasion, when he was making a
circuit of the earth, he came to Vashishtha’s hermitage, the pleasant
abode of many saints, sages, and holy devotees, where, after all first
declining, he allowed himself to be hospitability entertained with his
followers by the son of Brahma. Vishvamitra, however, coveting the
wonderous cow, which had supplied all the dainties of the feast, first

1
Muir Vol. I, pp. 316.
2
Muir Vol. I, pp. 397-400.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 397

of all asked that she should be given to him in exchange for a
hundred thousand common cows, adding that “she was a gem,
that gems were the property of the King, and, therefore, the
cow owas his by right.” On this price being refused, the King
advances immensely in his offers, but all without effect. He then
proceeds very ungratefully, and tyrannically, it must be allowed—
to have the cow removed by force, but she breaks away from his
attendants, and rushes back to her master, complaining that he
was deserting her. He replies that he was not deserting her, but
that the king was much more powerful than he. She answers,
‘Men do not ascribe strength to a Kshatriya: the Brahmans are
stronger. The strength of Brahmins is divine, and superior to
that of Kshatriyas. Thy strength is immeasurable. Vishvamitra,
though of great vigour, is not more powerful than thou. Thy
energy is invincible. Commission me, who have been acquired
by thy Brahmanical power, and I will destroy the pride, and
force, and attempt of this wicked prince.” She accordingly by
her bellowing creates hundred of Pahalvas, who destroy the
entire host of Vishvamitra, but are slain by him in their turn.
Sakas and Yavanas, of great power and valour, and well armed,
were then produced, who consumed the king’s soldiers, but
were routed by him. The cow then calls into existence by her
bellowing, and from different parts of her body, other warriors of
various tribes, who again destroyed Vishvamitra’s entire army,
foot soldiers, elephants, horses, chariots, and all. A hundred of
the monarch’s sons, armed with various weapons, then rushed
in great fury on Vashishtha, but were all reduced to ashes in a
moment by the blast of that sage’s mouth. Vishvamitra, being
thus utterly vanquished and humbled, appointed one of his sons
to be regent, and travelled to the Himalaya, where he betook
to austerities, and thereby obtained a vision of Mahadeva, who
at his desire revealed to him the science of arms in all its
branches, and gave him celestial weapons with which, elated
and full of price, he consumed the hermitage of Vashishtha,
and put its inhabitants to flight. Vashishtha then threatens
Vishvamitra and uplifts his Brahmanical mace. Vishvamitra, too,
raises his fiery weapon and calls out to his adversary to stand.
Vashishtha bids him to show his strength and boasts that he
will soon humble his pride. He asks: “What comparison is there
between a Kshatriya’s might and the might of a Brahman?
Behold, thou contemptible Kshatriya, my divine Brhmanical
power.’ The dreadful fiery weapon uplifted by the son of Gadhi
was then quenched by the rod of the Brahman, as fire is by
water.” Many and various other celestial missiles, as the nooses of
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398 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Brahma, Kala (Time), and Varuna, the discuss of Vishnu, and the
trident of Shiva, were hurled by Vishvamitra at his antagonist, but
the son of Brahma swallowed them up in his all-devouring mace.
Finally, to the intense consternation of all the gods, the warrior shot
off the terrific weapon of Brahma; but this was equally ineffectual
against the Brahmanical sage. Vashishtha had now assumed a
direful appearance. “Jets of fire mingled with smoke darted from
the pores of his body; the Brahmanical mace blazed in his hand
like a smokeless mundane conflagration, or a second sceptre of
Yama.” Being appeased, however, by the munis, who proclaimed
his superiority to his rival, the sage stayed his vengeance; and
Vishvamitra exclaimed with a groan: “Shame on a Kshatriya’s
strength: the strength of a Brahman’s might alone is strength; by
the single Brahmanical mace all my weapons have been destroyed.”

No alternative now remains to the humilated monarch, but either

to acquiesce in this help less inferiority, or to work out his own
elevation to the Brahmanical order. He embraces the latter
alternative: “Having pondered well this defeat, I shall betake myself,
with composed senses and mind, to strenuous austere fervour, which
shall exalt me to the rank of a Brahman.” Intensely vexed and
mortified, groaning and full of hatred against his enemy, he travelled
with his queen to the south, and carried his resolution into effect.
At the end of a thousand years Brahma appeared, and announced
that he had conquered the heaven of royal sages (rajarshis): and,
in consequence of his austere fervour, he was recognised as having
attained that rank.”

The conflict seems to have begun in the reign of King Sudas who
belonged to the line of Ikshavaku. Vashishtha was the hereditary priest
of King Sudas. For some reason which is not very clearly stated Sudas
appointed Vishvamitra as his family priest. This brought about a conflict
between Vishvamitra and Vashishtha. This conflict once started raged
on for a long time.
The conflict between the two took a peculiar turn. If Vishvamitra was
involved in a dispute Vashishtha came into the fray and sided with his
opponent. If Vishvamitra was involved in dispute Vashishtha entered
into fray and sided with Vishvamitra as opponent. It was a case of one
persecuting the other.
The first such episode is that of Satyavrata otherwise called Trishanku.
The story as told in the Harivamsha is as follows:
“1Meanwhile Vashishtha, from the relation subsisting between
the King (Satyavrata’s father) and himself, a disciple and spiritual
1
Muir Vol. I. pp. 177-378.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 399

preceptor, governed the city of Ayodhya, the country, and the interior
apartments of the royal palace. But Satyavrata, whether through
folly or the force of destiny, cherished constantly an increased
indignation against Vashishtha, who for a (proper) reason had not
interposed to prevent his exclusion from the royal power by his
father. ‘The formulas of the marriage ceremonial are only binding,’
said Satyavrata, ‘when the seventh step has been taken, and this
had not been done when I seized the damsel: still Vashishtha,
who knows the precepts of the law, does not come to my aid.’
Thus Satyavrata was incensed in his mind against Vashishtha,
who however, had acted from a sense of what was right. Nor did
Satyavrata understand (he propriety of) that silent penance imposed
upon him by his father…….. When he had supported this arduous
rite, (the supposed that) he had redeemed his family position.
The venerable muni Vashishtha did not, however, (as has been
said) prevent his father from setting him aside, but resolved to
install his son as King. When the powerful prince Satyavrata had
endured the penance for twelve years, he beheld, when he was
without flesh to eat, the milch cow of Vashishtha which yielded
all objects of desire; and under the influence of anger; delusion,
and exhaustion, distressed by hunger, and failing in the ten duties
he slew……. and both partook of her flesh himself, and gave it
to Vishvamitra’s sons to eat. Vashishtha hearing of this, became
incensed against him”, and imposed on his the name of Trisanku
as he had committed three sins. On his return home, Vishvamitra
was gratified by the support which his wife had received, and
offered Trisanku the choice of a boon. When this proposal was
made, Trisanku chose the boon of ascending bodily to heaven. All
apprehension from the twelve year’s drought being now at an end,
the muni (Vishvamitra) installed Trisanku in his father’s kingdom,
and offered sacrifice on his behalf. The mighty Kaustka then, in
spite of the resistance of the gods and of Vashishtha,1 exalted the
king alive to heaven.”

2. As stated in the Harivamsa:

“2In consequence of the wickedness which had been committed,
Indra did not rain for a period of twelve years. At that time
Vishvamitra had left his wife and children and gone to practise
austerities on the sea-shore. His wife, driven to extremity by want,
was on the point of selling her second son for a hundred cows, in

1
As stated in another place in the Harivamsa Trisanku had been expelled from his home
by his father for the offence of carrying off the young wife of one of the citizens under the
influence of a criminal passion and Vashishtha did not interfere to prevent his banishment.
It is to this that the text refers.
2
Muir Vol. I. pp. 376-77.
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400 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

order to support the others; but this arrangement was stopped

by the interventions of Satyavrata, who liberated the son when
bound, and maintained the family by providing them with the
flesh of wild animals; and according to his father’s injunction,
consecrated himself for the performance of a silent penance for
twelve years.”

The next episode in which they appear on opposite sides is that of

Harishchandra the son of Trisanku. The story is told in the Vishnu
Purana and in the Markendeya Purana. This is how the story runs:
“On one occasion, when hunting the king heard a sound of female
lamentation which proceeded, it appears, from the sciences who
were becoming mastered by the austerely fervid sage Vishvamitra,
in a way they had never been before by anyone else; and were
consequently crying out in alarm at his superiority. In fulfilment
of his duty as a Kshatriya to defend the weak, and inspired by
the god Ganesha, who had entered into him, Harishchandra
exclaimed, “What sinner is this who is binding fire in the hem of
his garment, white, I, his lord, am present, resplendent with force
and fiery vigour?’ He shall to-day enter on his long sleep, pierced
in all his limbs by arrows, which, by their discharge from my
bow, illuminate all the quarters of the firmament.” Vishvamitra
was provoked by this address. In consequence of his wrath the
Sciences instantly perished, and Harishchandra, trembling like
the leaf of an Asvattha tree, submissively represented that he had
merely done his duty as a king, which he defined as consisting
in the bestowl of gifts on eminent Brahmins and other persons
of slender means, the protection of the timid, and war against
enemies. Vishvamitra hereupon demands a gift as a Brahman
intent upon receiving one. The. king offers him whatsoever he may
ask: Gold, his own son, wife, body, like kingdom, good fortune.
The saint first requires the present for the Rajasuya sacrifice.
On this being promised, and still more offered, he asks for the
empire of the whole earth, including everything but Harishchandra
himself, his wife and son, and his virtue which follows its
posses or wherever he goes.” “Harishchandra joyfully agrees.
Vishvamitra then requires him to strip off all his ornaments, to
clothe himself in the bark of trees, and to quit the kingdom with
his wife Saviya (Taramati) and his son. When he is departing
the sage stops him and demands payment of his yet unpaid
sacrificial fee. The king replies that he has only the persons of
his wife, his son, and himself left. Vishvamitra insists that he
must nevertheless pay; and that “unfulfilled promises of gifts to
Brahmans bring destruction.” The unfortunate prince, after being
threatened with a curse, engages to make the payment in a month;
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 401

and commences his journey with a wife unused to such fatigues,
amid the universal lamentations of his subjects. While he
lingers, listening to their affectionate remonstrances against
his desertion of his kingdom, Vishvamitra, comes up and being
incensed at the delay and the King’s apparent hesitation, strikes
the queen with his staff, as she is dragged on by her husband.
Harishchandra then proceeded with his wife and little son to
Benares, imagining that this divine city, as the special property
of Siva, could not be possessed by any mortal. Here he found the
relentless Vishvamitra waiting for him, and ready to press his
demand for the payment of his sacrificial gift, even before the
expiration of the full period of grace. In this extremity Saivya
the queen suggests with a sobbing voice that her husband should
sell her. On hearing this proposal Harishchandra swoons, then
recovers, utters lamentations, and swoons again, and his wife,
seeing his said condition, swoon also. While they are in a state
of unconsciousness, their famished child exclaims in distress,
“O father, father, give me bread; O mother, mother give me
food: hunger overpowers me and my tongue is parched.” At this
moment Vishvamitra returns, and after recalling Harishchandra to
consciousness by spinkling water over him, again urges payment
of the present. The king again swoons, and is again restored. The
sag threatens to curse him if his engagement is not fulfilled by
sunset. Being now pressed by his wife, the King agrees to sell
her ading, however, “If my voice can utter such a wicked word,
I do not what the most inhuman wretches cannot perpetrate.”
He then goes into the city and in selfacusing language offers his
queen for sale as a slave. A rich old Brahman offers to buy her
at a price corresponding to her value, to do his household work.
Seeing his mother dragged away, the child ran after her, his eyes
dimmed with tears, and crying ‘mother’. The Brahman purchaser
kicked him when he came up; but he would not let his mother
go, and continued crying ‘mother, mother.’ The queen then said to
the Brahman, “Be so kind, my master, as to but also this child,
as without him I shall prove to thee but a useless purchase. Be
thus merciful to me in my wretchedness, unite me with my son,
like a cow to her calf.” The Brahman agrees: “Take this money
and give me the boy.” After the Brahman had gone out of sight
with his purchases, Vishvamitra again appeared and renewed
his demands; and when the afflicted Harishchanda offered him
the small sum he had obtained by the sale of his wife and son,
he angrily replied, “If, miserable Kshatriya, thou thinkest this
a sacrificial gift befitting my deserts, thou shalt soon beheld the
transcendent power of my ardent austere fervour, of my spotless
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402 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Brahmanhood of my terrible majesty, and of my holy study.

Harishchandra promises an additional gift, and Vishvamitra
allows him the remaining quarter of the day for its liquidation.
On the terrified and afflicted prince offering himself for sale, in
order to gain the mean of meeting this cruel demand, Dharma
(Righteousness) appears in the form of a hideous and offensive
Chandala, and agrees to buy him at his own price, large or small.
Harishchandra declines such a degrading servitude, and declares
that he would rather be consumed by the fire of his persecutor’s
curse than submit to such a fate. Vishvamitra however again comes
on the scene, asks why he does not accept the large sum offered
by the Chandala; and, when he pleads in excuse his descent from
the solar race, threatens to fulminate a curse against him if he
does not accept that method of meeting his liability. Harishchandra
implores that he may be spared this extreme of degradation, and
offers to become Vishvamitra’s slave in payment of the residue
of his debt; whereupon the sage rejoins, “If thou art my slave,
then I sell thee as such to the Chandala for a hundred millions
of money.”

“The Chandala, delighted, pays down the money, and carries

off Harishchandra, bound beaten, confused and afflicted, to his
own place of abode. Harishchandra is sent by the Chandala to
steal grave clothes in a cemetary and is told that he will receive
two-sixths goind to his masters, and one-sixth to the King. In
this horrid spot, and in this degrading occupation, he spent in
great misery, twelve months, which seemed to him like a hundred
years. He then falls asleep and has a series of dreams suggested
by the life he had been leading. After he awoke, his wife came
to the cemetary to perform the obsequies of their son, who had
died from the bite of a serpent. At first the husband and wife did
not recognize each other, from the change in appearance which
had been brought upon them by their miseries. Harishchandra
however, soon discovered from the tenor of her lamentations
that it is his wife, and falls into a swoon; as the queen does also
when she recognizes her husband. When consciousness returns,
they both break out into lamentations, the father bewailing in a
touching strain the loss of his son, and the wife the degradation
of the King. She then falls on his neck, embraces him, and asks
“whether all this is a dream, or a reality, as she is utterly be
wildered”, and adds, that “if it be a reality, then righteousness
is unvailing to those who practise it.” After hesitating to devote
himself to death on his son’s funeral pyre without receiving
his master’s leave, Harishchandra resolves to do so, braving
all the consequences, and consoling himself with the hopeful
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 403

anticipation: “If I have given gifts, and offered sacrifices an
gratified my religious teachers, then may I be reunited with
my son and with thee (my wife) in another world.” The queen
determines to die in the same manner. When Harishchandra,
after placing his son’s body on the funeral pile, is meditating
on the Lord Shri Narayan krishna, the supreme spirit, all the
gods arrive, headed by Dharma (righteousness), and accompanied
by Vishvamitra. Dharma entreats the king to desist from his
rash intention; and Indra announces to him that he, his wife,
and son have conquered heaven by their good works. Amrosia,
the antidote of death, and flowers are rained by the god from
the sky; and the king’s son is restored to life and the bloom of
youth. The king, adorend with celestial clothing and garlands,
and the queen, embrace their son. Harishchandra, however
declares that he cannot go to heaven till he has received his
master the Chandala’s permission, and has paid him a ransom.
Dharma then reveals to the king that it was he himself who
had miraculously assumed the form of a Chandala. The king
next objects that he cannot depart unless his faithful subjects,
who are shares in his merits, are allowed to acompany him
to heaven, at least for one day. This request is granted by
Indra; and after Vishvamitra has inaugurated Rohitasva the
king’s son to be his successor, Harishchandra, his friends and
followers, all ascend in company to heaven. Even after this
great consummation, however, Vashishtha, the family-priest of
Harishchandra, hearing, at the end of a twelve years’ abode in
the waters of the Ganges, an account of all that has occured,
becomes vehementaly incensed at the humiliation inflicted on
the excellent monarch, whose virtues and devotion to the gods
and Brahmans he celebrates, declares that his indignation had
not been so great roused even when his own hundred sons had
been slain by Vishvamitra, and in the following words dooms the
latter to be transformed into crane. Wherefore that wicked man,
enemy of the Brahmans, smitten by my curse, shall be expelled
from the society of intelligent beings, and losing his understanding
shall be transformed into a Vaka.” Vishvamitra reciprocates the
curse, and changes Vashishtha into a bird of the species called
Ari. In their new shapes the two have a furious fight, the Ari
being of the portentous height of two thousand yojanas = 18,000
miles, and the Vaka of 3090 yojanas. The first assail each other
with their wings; then the Vaka smites his antagonist in the
same manner, while the Ari strikes with his talons. Falling
mountains, overturned by the blasts of wind raised by the flapping
of their wings, shake the whole earth, the waters of the ocean
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404 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

overflow, the earth itself, thrown off its perpendicular slopes downwards
patala, the lower regions. Many creatures perish by these various
convulsions. Attracted by the dire disorder, Brahma arrives, attended
by all the gods, on the spot, and command the comptants to desist from
their fray. They were too fiercely infuiriated to regard this injunction;
but Brahma put an end to the conflict by restoring them to their
natural forms, and conselling them to be reconciled.

The next episode in which they came in as opponents is connected

with Ambarish King of Ayodhya.
The story relates that Ambarisha was engaged in performing a
1

sacrifice, when Indra carried away the victim. The priest said that this
ill-omened event had occurred owing to the king’s had administration,
and would call for a great expiation, unless a human victim could be
produced. After a long search the royal rishi (Ambarisha) came upon the
Brahman-rishi Richika, a descendent of Bhrigu, and asked him to sell
one of his sons for a victim, at the price of a hundred thousand cows.
Richika answered that he would not sell his eldest son; and his wife
added that she would not sell the youngest: eldest sons” she observed,
“being generally the favourites of their fathers, and youngest sons of
their mothers.” The second son, Sunassepna, then said that in that
case he regarded himself as the one who was to be sold, and desired
the king to remove him. The hundred thousand cows, with ten millions
of gold pieces and heaps of jewels, were paid down, and Sunassepa
carried away. As they were passing through Pushkara Sunassepa
beheld his maternal uncle Vishvamitra who was engaged in austerities
there with other rishis, threw himself into his arms, and implored his
assistance, urging his orphan friendless, and helpless state, as claims
on the sage’s benevolence.
“Vishvamitra soothed him: and pressed his own sons to offer
themselves as victim in the room of Sunassepa. This proposition
met with no favour from Madhushyanda and the other sons of the
royal hermit, who answered with haughtiness and derision: “How
is that thou sacrificest thine own sons, and seekest to rescue those
of others ? We look upon this as wrong, and like the eating of one’s
own flesh.” The sage was exceedingly wroth at this disregard of his
injunction, and doomed his sons to be born in the most degraded
classes, like Vashishtha’s sons, and to eat dog’s flesh, for a thousand
years. He then said to Sunassepa: “When thou art bound with
hallowed cords, decked with a red garland, and annointed with
unguents, and fastened to the sacrificial post of Vishnu, then address
thyself to Agni, and sing these two divine verses (gathas), at the

1
Muir Vol. I. pp. 405-407.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 405

sacrifice of Ambarisha; then shalt thou attain the fulfilment.” Being
furnished with the two gathas, Sunassepa proposed at once to king
Ambarisha that they should set out for their destination. When
bound at the stake to be immolated, dressed in a red garment, “he
celebrated the two gods, Indra and his younger brother (Vishnu), with
the excellent verses. The thousand-eyed (Indra) was pleased with the
secret hymn, and bestowed long life on Sunassepa.”

The last episode recorded in which the two appear as opponents

is connected with King Kalmashapada. The episode is recorded in
the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata.
“1Kalmashapada was a King of the race Ikshvaku. Vishvamitra
wished to be employed by him as his officiating priest; but the king
preferred Vashishtha.” It happened, however, that the king went out
to hunt, and after having killed a large quantity of game, he became
very much fatigued, as well as hungry and thirsty. Meeting Saktri,
the eldest of Vashishtha’s hundred sons, on the road, he ordered him
to get out of his way. The priest civilly replied: “The path is mine, O
King; this is the immemorial law; in all observances the king must
cede the way to the Brahman.” Neither party would yield, and the
dispute waxing warmer, the king struck the muni with his whip. The
muni, resorting to the usual expedient of offended sages, by a curse
doomed the king to become a man eater. “It happened that at that
time enmity existed between Vishvamitra and Vashishtha on account of
their respective claims to be priest to Kalmashapada.” Vishvamitra had
followed the king; and approached while he was disputing with Saktri.
Perceiving, however, the son of his rival Vashishtha, Vishvamitra made
himself invisible, and passed them, watching his opportunity. The
king began to implore Saktri’s clemency: but Vishvamitra wishing to
prevent their reconciliation, commanded a Rakshasa (a man-devouring
demon) to enter into the king. Owing to the conjoint influence of the
Brahma-rishi’s curse, and Vishvamitra’s command, the demon obeyed
the injunction. Perceiving that his object was gained, Vishvamitra left
things to take their course, and absented himself from the country.
The king having happened to meet a hungry Brahman, and sent
him, by the hand of his cook (who could procure nothing else), some
human flesh to eat, was cursed by him also to the same effect as by
Saktri. The curse, being now augmented in force, took effect, and
Saktri himself was the first victim, being eaten up by the King. The
same fate befell all the other sons of Vashishtha at the instigation
of Vishvamitra. Perceiving Saktri to be dead, Vishvamitra again and

1
Muir Vol. I, pp. 415-417.
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406 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

again incited the Rakshasa against the sons of Vashishtha; and

accordingly the furious demon devoursed those of his sons who
were younger than Saktri as a lion eats up the small beasts of the
forest. On hearing of the destruction of his sons by Vishvamitra,
Vashishtha supported his affliction, as the great mountain
sustains the earth. He meditated his own destruction, but never
thought of exterminating the Kausikas. This divine sage hurled
himself from the summit of Meru, but fell upon the rocks as if
on a heap of cotton. Escaping alive from his fall, he entered a
glowing fire in the forest; but the fire, though fiercely blazing,
not only failed to burn him, but seemed perfectly cool. He next
threw himself into the sea with a heavy stone attached to his
neck; but was cast up by the waves on the dry land. He then
went home to his hermitage; but seeing it empty and desolate,
he was again overcome by grief and went out; and seeing the
river Vipasa which was swolen by the recent rains and sweeping
along many trees torn from its banks, he conceived the design
of drowning himself into its water, he accordingly tied himself
firmly with cords, and threw himself in, but the river severing
his bonds, deposited him unbound (vipasa) on dry land; whence
the name of the stream, as imposed by the sage. He afterwards
saw and threw himself into the dreadful Satadru (Sutlej), which
was full of alligators, etc., and derived its name rushing away in
a hundred directions on seeing the Brahman brilliant as fire. In
consequence of this he was once more stranded; and seeing he
could not kill himself, he went back to his hermitage.”

There are only particular instances of their general enmity

towards each other. This general enmity was of a mortal kind so
much so that Vishvamitra wanted even to murder Vashishtha. This
is related in the Shalyaparva of the Mahabharata. Says the author
of the Mahabharata:
“ 1There existed a great enmity, arising from rivalry in
their austerities, between Vishvamitra and the Brahman
rishi Vashishtha. Vashishtha had an extensive hermitage in
Sthanutirtha, to the east of which was Vishvamitra’s………These
two great ascetics were every day exhibiting intense emulation
in regard to their respective austerities. But Vishvamitra,
beholding the might of Vashishtha, was the most chagrined;
and fell into deep thought. The idea of this sage, constant in
duty (!) was the following: ‘This river Sarasvati will speedily
bring to me on her current the austere Vashishtha, the most
eminent of all mutterers of prayers. When that most excellent
Brahman has come, I shall most assuredly kill him.’ Having thus
1
Muir Vol. I, pp. 420-422.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 407

determined, the divine sage Vishvamitra, his eyes reddened by
anger, called to mind the chief of rivers. She being thus the
subject of his thoughts, became very anxious, as she knew him
to be very powerful and very irascible. Then trembling palid, and
with joined hands, the Sarasvati stood before the chief of munis.
Like a woman whose husband has been slain, she was greatly
distressed; and said to him, ‘What shall I do?” The incensed
muni replied, ‘Bring Vashishtha hither speedily, that I may
slay him.’ The lotus-eyed goddess, joining her hands trembled
in great fear, like a creeping plant agitated by the wind”……….
Vishvamitra, however, although he saw her condition, repeated
his command. “The Sarasvati, who knew how sinful was his
design, and that the might of Vashishtha was unequalled,
went trembling, and in great dread of being cursed by both
the sages, to Vashishtha, and told him what his rival had said.
Vashishtha seeing her emaciated, pale, and anxious, spoke thus:
‘Deliver thyself, O chief of rivers; carry me unhesitatingly to
Vishvamitra, lest he curse thee’. Hearing these words of the
merciful sage, the Sarasvati considered how she could act most
wisely. She reflected, ‘Vashishtha has always shown me great
kindness; I must seek his welfare.’ Then obsering the Kausika
sage praying and sacrificing on her brink, she regarded that as
a good opportunity, and swept away the bank by the force of her
current. In this way the son of Mitra and Varuna (Vashishtha)
was carried down; and while he was being borne along, he thus
celebrated the river: ‘Thou, O Sarasvati, issuest from the lake
of Brahma, and pervadest the whole world with thy excellent
streams. Residing in the sky, thou dischargest water into the
colouds. Thou alone art all waters. By these we study.’ ‘Thou
art nourishment, radiance, fame, perfection, intellect, light. Thou
art speech; thou art Svaha; this world is subject to thee. Thou,
in fourfold form, dwellest in all creatures’…….

Beholding Vashishtha brought near by the Sarasvati,

Vishvamitra searched for a weapon with which to make an end
of him. Perceiving his anger, and dreading lest Brahmanicide
should ensue, the river promptly carried away Vashishtha in
an easterly direction; thus fulfilling the commands of both
sages, but eluding Vishvamitra. Seeing Vashishtha so carried
away, Vishvamitra, impatient, and enraged by vexation, said
to her: ‘Since thou, O chief of rivers, hast elued me, and hast
receded, roll in waves of blood acceptable to the chief of demons,”
(which are fabled to gloat on blood). “The Sarasvati, being thus
cursed, flowed for a year in a stream mingled with blood…..
Rakshasas came to the place of pilgrimage, where Vashishtha
had been swept away, and revealed in drinking to satiety
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408 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

the bloody stream in security, dancing and laughing, as if they had

conquered heaven.” Some rishis who arrived at the spot some time
after were horrified to see the blood-stained water, and the Rakshasas
quaffing it, and “made the most strenuous efforts to rescue the
Sarasvati.”

The foregoing cases relate to individual conflicts between a

particular Brahmin and a particular Kshatriya. The cases which
follow are cases of class or communal conflicts between Brahmins
on the one hand and the Kshatriyas on the other. They are not
mere conflicts. Nor is it correct to say that they were like communal
riots. They were class wars undertaken by one community with
the avowed intention of exterminating the other root and branch.
Two such class wars of extermination have been recorded in the
Mahabharat. The first is a war of the Haihaya Kshatriyas on the
Bhargava Brahmins. It occurred in the reign of the Haihaya King
Kritavirya. The following is the description of this war in the
Adiparvan of the Mahabharat.
“1There was a king named Kritavirya, by whose liberality the
Bhrigu, learned in the Vedas, who officiated as his priest, had been
greatly enriched with corn, and money. After he had gone to heaven,
his descendants were in want of money, and came to beg for a supply
from the Bhrigus, of whose wealth they were aware. Some of the latter
hid their money under ground, others bestowed it on Brahmans, being
afraid of the Kshatriyas, while others again gave these last what
they wanted. It happened, however, that a Kshatriya, while digging
the ground, discovered some money buried in the house of a Bhrigu.
The Kshatriyas then assembled and saw this treasure, and, being
incensed, slew in consequence all the Bhrigus, whom they regarded with
contempt, down to the children in the womb. The widows, however, fled
to the Himalaya mountains. One of them concealed her unborn child
in her thigh. The Kshatriyas, hearing of its existence from a Brahmani
informant, sought to kill it; but it issued forth from its mother’s
thigh with lustre, and blinded the persecutors. After wandering about
bewildered among the mountains for a time, they humbly supplicated
the mother of the child for the restoration of their sight; but she
referred them to her wonderful infant Aurva into whom the whole Veda,
with its six Vedangas, had entered, as the person who (in retaliation
of the slaughter of his relatives) had robbed them or their eye-sight,
and who alone could restore it. They accordingly had recourse to
him, and their eye-sight was restored. Aurva, however, meditated the
destruction of all living creatures, in revenge for the slaughter of the
1
Muir Vol. I. pp. 448-449.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 409

Bhrigus, and entered on a course of austerities which alarmed both
gods, asuras, and men; but his progenitors (Pitris) themselves appeared,
and sought to turn him from his purpose by saying that they had no
desire to be revenged on the Kshatriyas: It was not from weakness
that the devout Bhrigus overlooked the massacre perpetrated by the
murderous Kshatriyas. When we became distressed by old age, we
ourselves desired to be slaughtered by them. The money which was
buried by someone in a Bhrigu’s house was placed there for the purpose
of exciting hatred, by those who wished to provoke the Kshatriyas.
For what had we, who were desiring heaven, to do with money?” They
add that they hit upon this device because they did not wish to be
guilty of suicide, and concluded by calling upon Aurva to restrain
his wrath; and abstain from the sin he was meditating, “Destroy not
the Kshatriyas, O son, nor the seven worlds. Suppress thy kindled
anger which nullifies the power of austere-fervour.” Aurva, however,
replies that he cannot allow his threat to remain unexecuted. His
anger, unless wreaked upon some other object, will, he says, consume
himself. And he argues on grounds of justice, expediency, and duty,
against the clemency which his progenitors recommend. He is, however,
persuaded by the Pitris to throw the fire of his anger into the sea,
where they say it will find exercise in assailing the watery element,
and in this way his threat will be fulfilled.”

The second class war and which was also a war of extermination
was declared by the Bhargava Brahmins on the Haihaya Kshatriyas.
In this the leader of Bhargava Brahmins was one Parashuram.
The story of the birth of Parashuram is described in the Vishnu
Purana in the following terms:
“1Gadhi’s daughter Satyavati had been given in marriage to an
old Brahman called Richika, of the family of Bhrigu. In order that
his wife might bear a son with the qualities of a Brahman, Richika
had prepared for her a dish of Charu (rice, barley, and pulse, with
butter and milk) for her to eat; and a similar mess for her mother,
calculated to make her conceive a son with the character of a warrior.
Satyavati’s mother, however, persuaded her to exchange messes. She
was blamed by her husband on her return home for what she had
done. I quote the words of the original:

“Sinful woman, what improper deed is this that thou has done? I
beheld thy body of a very terrible appearance. Thou hast certainly
eaten the Charu prepared for thy mother. This was wrong. For into
that Chari I had infused all the endowments of heriosm, vigour, and

1
Muir Vol. I. pp. 349-350.
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410 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

roce, whilst into thine I had introduced all these qualities of

quietude, knowledge, and patnence which constitute the perfection
of a Brahmin. Since thou hast acted in contravention of my
design a son shall be born to thee who shall live the dreadful,
martial, and murderous life of a Kshatriya and thy mother’s
offspring shall exhibit the peaceful disposition and conduct of a
Brahman.” As soon as she had heard this, Satyavati fell down
and seized her husband’s feet, and said, ‘My lord, I have acted
from ignorance; show kindness to me, let me not have a son
of the sort thou hast described; if thou pleasest, let me have a
grandson of that description.’ Subsequently she bore Jamadagni,
and her mother gave birth to Vishvamitra. Satyavati became the
river called Kausiki. Jamadagni wedded Renuka, the daughter
of Renu, of the family of Ikshvaku; and on her he begot a son
called Parashurama.”

The following additional details about Parashuram’s family history

is given in the Venaparvan of the Mahabharata:
“1Jamadagni and Satyavati had five sons, the youngest of whom
was the repubtable Parasurama. By his father’s command he kills
his mother (who by the indulgence of impure desire, had fallen
from her brevious sanctity), after the four elder sons had refused
this matricidal offen, and had in consequence been deprived of
reason by their father’s curse. At Parasurama’s desire however,
his mother is restored by his father to life, and his brothers to
reason; and he himself is absolved from all the guilt of murder;
and obtains the boon of invincibility and long life from his father.”

This second class war took place in the reign of the Haihaya king
Arjuna the son of King Kartavirya. To understand it correctly it is
necessary to divide it into two parts for there are two stages in it.
The trouble began with the Brahmans claiming certain prerogatives
and powers exclusively for themselves and King—Arjuna scouting
them in most contemptuous terms. As the Anushasanparvan of the
Mahabharata puts it.
“2Then ascending his chariot glorious as the resplendent sun,
he exclaimed in the intoxication of his prowess, ‘Who is like me in
fortitude, courage, fame, heriosm, energy, and vigour?’ At the end
of this speech a bodiless voice on the sky addressed him: ‘Thou
knowest not, O fool, that a Brahman is better than a Kshatriya. It is
with the help of the Brahman that the Kshatriya rules his subjects.
Arjuna answers ‘If I am pleased, I can create, or, if displeased,
annihilate, living beings; and no Brahman is superior to me in
1
Muir Vol. I, pp. 450.
2
Muir Vol. I, pp. 454.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 411

act, thought, or word. The first proposition is that the Brahmans
are superior; the second that the Kshatriyas are superior; both
of these thou hast stated with their ground, but there is a
difference between them. The Brahmans are dependent on the
Kshatriyas, and not the Kshatriyas on the Brahmans; and the
Kshatriyas on the Brahmans; and the Kshatriyas are eaten
up by the Brahmans, who wait upon them and only make the
Vedas a pretence. Justice the protection of the people, has its
seat in the Kshatriyas. From them the Brahmans derive their
livelihood; how then can the latter be superior? I always keep in
subjection to myself those Brahmans, the chief of all beings, who
subsist on alms, and who have a high opinion of themselves. For
truth was spoken by that female the Gayatri in the sky. I shall
subdue all those unruly Brahmans clad in hides. No one in the
three worlds, god or man can hurl me from my royal authority;
wherefore I am superior to any Brahman.”

On hearing this Vayu comes and says to Arjuna:

“1Abandon this sinful disposition, and to obeisance to the

Brahmans. If thou shalt do them wrong, thy kingdom shall be
convulsed. They will subdue thee; those powerful men will humble
thee, and expel thee from thy country’ The king asks him, ‘who
art thou? Vayu replies, ‘I Vayu, the messenger of the gods,
and tell thee what is for thy benefit’. Arjuna rejoins, ‘Oh thou
displayest to-day a great warmth of devotion to the Brahmans.
But say that a Brahman is like (any other) earth-born creature.
Or say that this most excellent Brahman is something like the
wind. But fire is like the waters, or the sun, or the sky.’

Vayu then adduces various instances in which the superiority

of the Brahmins has been mainfested. Arjuna then drops his
hostility against the Brahmins and becomes their friend. In the
Anushasanparva he is reported to have said:

“2I live altogether and always for the sake of the Brahmans. I am
devoted to the Brahmans, and do obeisance to them continually.
And it is through the favour of Dattatreya (A Brahman) that I
have obtained all this power and high renown, and that I have
practised righteousness.”

1
Muir Vol. I. pp. 454.
2
Muir Vol. I. pp. 473
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412 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

It is in the second stage that Parashuram comes on the scene and

extreminates the Kshatriyas. The story is told in the Shantiparvan
in the following terms:
“1Being of a meek, pious, kind and charitable turn of mind, the
valiant Arjuna thought nothing of the curse; but his sons, who were
of an arrogant and barbarous disposition, became the cause of its
resulting in his death. Without their father’s knowledge they took away
Jamadagni’s calf; and in consequence Parasurama attacked Arjuna and
cut off his arms.” His son retaliated by killing Jamadagni. Parashurama
incensed at the slaughter of his father, having vowed in consequence
to sweep away all Kshatriyas from the earth, seized his weapons;
and slaying all the sons and grandsons of Arjuna, with thousands of
the Haihayas, he turned the earth into a mass of ensanguined mud.
Having thus cleared the earth of Kshatriyas, he became penetrated
by deep compassion and retired to the forest. After some thousands
of years had elapsed, the hero, naturally irascible, was taunted by
Paravsu, the son of Raibhya and grandson of Vishvamitra, in a public
assembly in these words: ‘Are not these virtuous men, Pratardana
and the others, who are assembled at the sacrifice in the city of
Yayati,—are they not Kshatriyas? Thou hast failed to execute thy
threat, and vainly boastest in the assembly. Thou has withdrawn to
the mountain from fear of those valiant Kshatriyas, while the earth
has again become overrrun by hundred of their race.’ Hearing these
words, Rama seized his weapons. The hundreds of Kshatriyas who had
before been spared had now grown powerful kings. These, however,
Parasurama now slew with their children, and all the numerous
infants then unborn as they came into the world. Some, however,
were preserved by their mothers.”

Those who are curious to know the subsequent history of the

Kshatriyas might be interested in the following extract from the
Adiparvan.
“2Having one and twenty time swept away all the Kshatriyas
from the earth, the son of Jamadagni engaged in austerities on
Mahendra the most excellent of mountains. After he had cleared the
world of Kshatriyas, their widows came to the Brahmans, praying
for offspring. The religious Brahmans, free from any impulse of
lust cohabited at the proper seasons with these women, who in
consequence became pregnant, and brought forth valiant Kshatriya
boys and girls, to continue the Kshatriya stock. Thus was the
Kshatriya race virtuously begotten by Brahmans on Kshatriya
1
Muir Vol. I, pp. 454-455.
2
Muir Vol. I, pp. 451-452.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 413

women, and became multiplied and long-lived, thence arose four castes
inferior to the Brahmans.”

These instances of enmity were accompanied by challenges from one

side to the other which shows how high were the tempers running on
both sides. The conduct of king Nimi in yoking the Brahmins to his
chariot and making them drag it like horses show how determined the
Kshatriyas were to humiliate the Brahmans. The challenges uttered by
Arjuna Kartavirya against the Brahmins indicates his determination
to level them down. The Brahmins on their side were not slow to take
up this challenge and send counter challenges to the kshatriyas not
to provoke the Brahmins. This is very clear from the way Vayu the
messenger or Ambassador of the Brahmins talks to Arjuna Kartivirya
after he had issued his challenge to the Brahmans. Vayu tells Arjuna
how the Brhmans Atri made sea water saltish by urinating in it, how
Dandakas were overthrown by the Brahmans, how the Kshatriyas of the
Talajaughas were destroyed by a single Brahmin Aurva; The striking
power of the Brahmins is not only superior to that of the Kshatriya it
is superior to that of the Devas and Vayu proceeds to tell Arjuna some
of the victories achieved by the Brahmins over the Devas. He tells him
how Varuna ran away with Bhadra the daughter of Soma and the wife
of the Brahman Utathya of the race of Angiras how Utathya by his
curse caused the earth to be dried up and how Varuna as a consequence
submitted to Utathya and returned his wife. He tells him how once the
Devas were conquered by the Asuras and the Danavas, how deprived of
all oblations, and stripped of their dignity they came to the earth went to
the Brahmin Agastya and applied to him for protection and how Agastya
scorched the Danavas from heaven and earth and made him fly to the
South and reinstated the Devas in their dominion. He tells Arjuna how
once the Adityas were performing a sacrifice and while engaged in it
were attached by Danavas called Khalims, who came in ten in thousands
to slay them, how the Adityas went to Indra and how Indra himself
attached by the Daityas not being able to render help to the Adityas went
to the Brahmin Vashishtha for help and how Vashishtha taking mercy
on the Adityas saved them by burning the Danavas alive. He next tells
Arjuna how the Danavas once fought with the Devas, how by enveloping
them in dreadful darkness the Danavas slaughtered the Devas, how the
Devas implored the Brahmin Atri to become the moon and dispell the
glown around the sun which Atri did thereby saved the Devas from the
Danvas. The last episode of Brahmin prowess which Vayu tells Arjuna
is how the Brahmin Chyavana compelled Indra to admit the Ashwins
to equal rank and drink Soma with them as a token of equality and
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414 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

how when Indra refused he took away both the earth and heaven from
them and how he created a Demon Mada and put the Devas including
Indra into his mouth and how he compelled Indra to admit the Ashwins
to equal rank and drink Soma with them and how Indra ultimately
surrendered to Chyavana.
Vayu did not merely recount these exploits of the Brahmins. He did
something more. Every time he gave Arjuna an instance of the power
of the Brahmins he ended by asking Arjuna pointed questions such as
“Can you tell me of any Kshatriya who was superior to him (i.e. the
Brahmins hero of the story)”. “Declare on your part, any Kshatriya who
has been superior to him, “Tell me of any Kshatriya superior to Atri.”
This class war between the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas must have
gone on for ages. In the light of this the attitude of Manu towards this
Class War comes as very strange. Consider the following verses from
the Manu Smriti:
IV. 135. “Let him who desires prosperity, indeed, never despise a
Kshatriya, a snake, and a learned Brahmana, be they ever so feeble.”
IV. 136. “Because these three, when treated with disrespect, may
utterly destroy him; hence a wise man must never despite them.”
X. 322. “Kshatriyas prosper not without Brahmans, Brahmans prosper
not without Kshatriyas; Brahmans and Kshatriyas, being closely united,
prosper in this (world) and in the next.”

Here there is a clear attempt on the part of Manu to close the ranks.
Against whom did Manu want the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas to
close their ranks? Was this an attempt to forget and forgive or was the
motive to combine them in a conspiracy to achieve some unholy purpose.
What were the circumstances that forced Manu to advise the Brahmins
to forget their age old enmity with Kshatriyas and seek the helping
hand? The circumstances, must have been very hard and very pressing.
For there was no room left for a reapproachment between the two. The
Brahmins had hurled a terrible insult against the Kshatriyas and had
wounded their price by saying quite openly that the Kshatriyas were
the illegitimate children of Brahmins begotten by them on Kshatriyas
widows. The next offensive thing that the Brahmins had done to wound
the feelings of the Kshatriyas was to extract from the latter a confession
that the Brahmins were superior to the Kshatriyas in military prowess
and had made Bhishma say:
“ 1 The prowess of the Brahmans can destroy even the gods.
Those wise beings behold all these worlds. To them it is indifferent
whether they are perfumed with sandal wood or deformed with mire,
1
Muir Vol. I, pp. 473-474.
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BRAHMINS VERSUS KSHATRIYAS 415

whether they eat or fast, whether they are clad in silk, or in sack cloth
or skins. They can turn what is not divine into what is divine, and the
converse; and can in their anger create other worlds with their guardians.
They are the gods of the gods; and the cause of the cause. The ignorant
Brahman is a god, whilst a learned Brahman is yet more a god, like
the full ocean.”
All this makes this sudden climb down by the Brahmins, this stoping
down to win over the Kshatriyas very mysterious. What can be the key
to this mystery?

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CHAPTER 16
Shudras and the Counter Revolution

This is a 21-page foolscap typed manuscript. The cover page

is having a title ‘Shudras and the Counter-Revolution’ and the
text on next page starts with the same title. All these pages
were loose and tagged together. Unfortunately, only 21 pages
are available and the latter pages seem to be lost. — Editors.
The laws of Manu relating to the Status of the Shudra make a very
interesting reading for the simple reason that they have moulded thed
psychology of the Hindus and determined their attitude towards the
Shudras who forms at the present and at all times the most numerous
part of Hindu society. They are set out below under separate heads so
that it may be possible for the reader to have a complete idea of the
status given by Manu to the Community of Shudras.
Manu asks the householders of the Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya
Class:
IV. 61. Let him not dwell in a country where the rulers are Shudra.
A Shudra is not to be deemed as a respectable person. For Manu enacts
that:

XI. 24. A Brahmin shall never beg from a Shudra property for
(performing) a sacrifice i.e. for religious purpose. All marriage ties with
the Shudra were proscribed. Marriage with a woman belonging to any
of the three other classes was forbidden. A Shudra was not to have any
connection with a woman of the higher classes and an act of adultery
committed by a Shudra with her was declared by manu to be an offence
involving capital punishment.

VIII. 374. A Shudra who has an intercourse with a woman of the

higher caste guarded1 or unguarded, shall be punished in the following
manner:

If she was unguarded, he loses the offending part. If she was guarded
then he should be put to death and his property confiscated.
As to office Manu prescribes.
1
Guarded means under the protection of some relation. Unguarded means living alone.
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SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 417

VIII. 20. A Brahmana who is only a Brahmana by decent i.e. one
who has neither studied nor performed any other act required by the
Vedas may, at the king’s pleasure, interpret the law to him i.e. act as
the Judge, but never a Shudra (however learned he may be).
VIII. 21. The kingdom of that monarch who looks on while a Shudra
settles the law will sink low like a cow in a morass.
VIII. 272. If a Shudra arrogantly presumes to preach religion to
Brahmins the King shall have poured burning oil in his mouth and oars.

In the matter of acquiring learning the knowledge Manu ordains as

follows:
III. 156. He who instructs Shudra pupils and he whose teacher is a
Shudra shall become disqualified for being invited to a Shudra.
IV. 99. He must never read the Vedas…. in the presence of the Shudras.

Manu’s successors went much beyond him in the cruelty of their

punishment of the Shudra for studying the Veda. For instance Katyayana
lays down that if a Shudra overheard the Veda or ventured to utter a
word of the Veda the King shall cut his tongue in twain and pour hot
molten lead in his ears.
As to right to property by the Shudra Manu enjoins as follows:
X. 129. No superfluous collection of wealth must be made by a Shudra,
even though he has power to make it, since a servile man, who has
amassed riches, becomes proud, and, by his insolence or neglect, gives
pain to Brahmans.
VIII. 417. A Brahmanas may seize without hesitation if he be in
distress for his subsistence, the goods of his Shudra.

The Shudra can have only one occupation. This is one of the inexhorable
Laws of Manu. Says Manu:
I. 91. One occupation only, the Lord prescribed to the Shudra, to
serve meekly these other three castes (namely Brahmin, Kshatriya and
Vaishyas).
X. 121. If a Shudra, (unable to subsist by serving Brahmans) seeks
a livelihood, he may serve Kshatriyas, or he may also seek to maintain
himself by attending on a wealthy Vaisya.
X. 122. But let (Shudra) serve Brahmans, either for the sake of heaven,
or with a view to both (this life and the next); for he who is called the
servant of a Brahmana thereby gains all his ends.
X. 123. The service of Brahmanas alone is declared (to be) an excellent
occupation for a Shudra for whatever else besides this he may perform
will bear him no fruit.
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418 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Service by Shudra is not left by Manu to be regulated as a free contract.

If the Shudra refuses to serve there is a provision for conscription which
runs as follows:
VIII. 413. A Brahmana may compel a Shudra, whether bought or
unbought to do servile work; for he is created by the creator to be the
slave of a Brahmana.
X. 124. They must allot to him out of their own family (property) a
suitable maintenance, after considering his ability, his industry, and the
number of those whom he is bound to suport.
X. 125. The remnants of their food must be given to him, as well as
their old household furniture.

A Shudra is required by Manu to be servile in his speech and manner

towards the other classes.
VIII. 270. A Shudra who insults a twice-born man with gross invective,
shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin.
VIII. 271. If he mentions the names and castes of the (twice-born)
with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red hot
into his mouth.

Manu is not satisfied with this. He wants this servile status of the
Shudra to be expressed in the names and surnames of persons belonging
to that community. Manu says:
II. 31. Let the first part of a Brahman’s name denote something
auspicious, a Kshatriya’s be connected with power and a Vaishya’s with
wealth, but a Shudra’s, express something contemptible.
II. 32. The second part of a Brahman’s name shall be a word implying
happiness; of a Kshatriya’s word implying protection; of a Vaishya’s a term
expressive of thriving and of a Shudra’s an expression denoting services.

What was the position of the Shudra before Manu? Manu treats the
Shudra as though he was an alien Non-Aryan not entitled to the social
and religious privileges of the Aryan. Unfortunately the view that the
Shudra was a Non-Aryan is too readily accepted by the generality of the
people. But there can be no doubt that this view has not the slightest
foundation in the literature of the ancient Aryans.
Reading the Religious literature of the ancient Aryans one comes
across the names of various communities and groups of people. There
were first of all the Aryans with their fourfold divisions of Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. Besides them and apart from them
there were (i) Asuras (ii) Suras or Devas (iii) Yakshas (iv) Gandharvas
(v) Kinnars (vi) Charanas (vii) Ashvins and (viii) Nishadas. The Nishadas
were a jungle people primitive and uncivilized. The Gandharvas,
Yakshas, Kinnars, Charanas and Ashvins were professional classes and
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SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 419

not communities. The word Asura is generic name given to various tribes
known by their tribal names of Daityas, Danavas, Dasyus, Kalananjas,
Kaleyyas, Kalins, Nagas, Nivata-Kavachas, Paulomas, Pishachas and
Raxasas. We do not know if the Suras and Devas were composed of
various tribes as the Asuras were. We only know the leaders of the
Deva Community. The well known amongst them were Brahma, Vishnu
Rudra, Surya, Indra, Varuna, Soma etc.
Due mostly to the ignorant interpretations of Sayanacharya some very
curious beliefs prevail even among the best informed people about these
communities namely the Aryans, the Asuras and the Devas and their
inter-relation and their consanguinity. It is believed that the Asuras were
not a human species at all. They are held to have been ghosts and goblins
who plagued the Aryans with their nocturnal visitations. The Suras or
Devas are understood to be poetic deifications of nature’s forces. With
regard to the Aryans the belief is that they were a fair race with sharp
nose and had a great deal of colour prejudice. As to the Dasyus it is
asserted that a Dasyu is only another name for a Shudra. The Shudras
it is said formed the aboriginals of India. They were dark and flat nosed.
The Aryans who invaded India conquered them and made them slaves
and as a badge of slavery gave them the name Dasyu which it is said
comes from the word Das1 which means a slave.
Every one of these beliefs is unfounded. The Asuras and Suras were
communities of human beings as the Aryans were. The Asuras and Suras
were descended from a common father Kashapa. The story is that Daksha
Prajapati had 60 daughters, of them thirteen were given in marriage
to Kashapa. Diti and Aditi were two among the 13 of Kashapa’s wives.
Those born to Diti were called Asuras and those born to Aditi were
called Suras or Devas. The two faught a long and a bloody battle for
the soverignty of the world. This no doubt is mythology and mythology
though it is history in hyperbole is still history.
The Aryans were not a race. The Aryans were a collection of people.
The cement that held them together was their interest in the maintenance
of a type of culture called Aryan culture. Any one who accepted the
Aryan culture was an Aryan. Not being a race there was no fixed type
of colour and physiognomy which could be called Aryan. There was no
dark and flat nose people for the Aryans to distinguish themselves from2.
The whole of this edifice of colour prejudice as being factors for division
and antagonism between Aryans and the Dasyus is based upon a wrong
meaning given to the two words Varna and Anas which are used with
reference to the Dasyus. The word Varna is taken to mean colour and the
1
According to Nirukta, Das means to destroy.
2
On the whole of this subject see a brilliant discussion by Mr. Satvalekar in Purusharth
Vol. XIII. p.
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420 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

word Anas is taken to mean without nose. Both these meanings are
erroneous. Varna means Caste or group and Anas if read as An-As
means uncultivated speech. That statement that the Aryans had a colour
prejudice which determined their social order is arrant nonsense. If there
were any people who were devoid of colour prejudice it is the Aryans and
that is because there was no dominant colour to distinguish themselves.
It is wrong to say that the Dasyus were non-Aryans by race. The
Dasyus were not a pre-Aryan race of aboriginals of India. The Dasyus
were members of the Aryan community who were deprived of the title
of Arya for opposing some belief or cult which was an essential part of
the Aryan Culture. How this belief that the Dasyus were Non-Aryans
by race could have arisen it is difficult to understand. In the Rig Veda
(X. 49) Indra says: “I (Indra) have killed with my thuderbolt for the
good of the man, known as Kavi. I have protected Kupa by adopting
means of protection. I took up the thunderbolt for killing Susna. I have
deprived the Dasyus of the appellation of Arya.”
Nothing can be more positive and definite than this statement of Indra
that the Dasyus were Aryans. Further and better proof of this fact can
be had in the impeachment of Indra for the various atrocities he had
committed. In the list of atrocities for which Indra was impeached there
was one charge namely the killing of Vratra. Vratra was the leader of
the Dasyus. It is unthinkable that such a charge could be framed against
Indra if the Dasyus were not Aryans.
It is erroneous to believe that the Shudras were conquered by the Aryan
invaders. In the first place the story that the Aryans came from outside
India and invaded the natives has no evidence to support it. There is a
large body of evidence that India is the home of the Aryans. In the second
place there is no evidence anywhere of any warfare having taken place
between Aryans and Dasyus but the Dasyus have nothing to do with the
Shudras. In the third place it is difficult to believe that the Aryans were
a powerful people capable of much military prowess. Any one who reads
the history of the Aryans in India in their relation to the Devas will be
reminded of the relationship that subsisted between the Viellens and their
lords during the feudal times. The Devas were the feudal lords and the
Aryans were the Villens. The innumerable sacrifices which the Aryans
performed have the look of fudal dues paid to the Deva. This servility of
the Aryans to the Devas was due to the fact that without the help and the
protection of the Devas they could not withstand the assualts of the Asuras.
It is too much to presume that so effete a people could have conquered
the Shudras. Lastly there was no necessity to conquer the Shudra.
They were Aryans in the only sense in which the word Aryan is used,
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SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 421

namely, the upholders of the Aryans Culture. Two things are clear about
the Shudras. Nobody has ever contended that they were dark and flat
nosed. Nobody has contended that they were defeated or enslaved by
the Aryans. It is wrong to treat the Dasyus and Shudras as one and
the same. As a people they may be the same. But culturally they were
quite different. The Dasyus were Non-Aryans in the sense they had
fallen away and rebelled against the Aryan culture. The Shudras on
the other hand were Aryans i.e. they were believers in the Aryan way
of life. The Shudra was accepted as an Aryan and as late as Kautilya’s
Artha Shastra was addressed an Arya.
The Shudra was an intergral, natural and valued member of the Aryan
Society is proved by a prayer which is found in the Yajur Veda1and
which is offered by the Sacrificer. It runs as follows:
“……….. O Gods

Give lustre to our holy priests, set lustre in our ruling chiefs, Lustre
to Vaisyas, Shudras: Give, through lustre; Lustre unto me.” It is a
remarkable prayer, remarkable because it shows that the Shudra was a
member of the Aryan Community and was also a respected member of it.
That the Shudras were invited to be present at the coronation of the
King along with Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas is proved by the
description given in the Mahabharata of the coronation of Yudhisthira
the eldest brother of the Pandavas. Shudra took part in the consecration
of the King. According to ancient writer called Nilkantha speaking of
the coronation ceremony expressly says: “that the four chief Ministers,
Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra consecrated the new king. Then
the leaders of each Varna and by the Castes lower still consecrated him
with the holy water. Then followed acclamation by the twice-born. In the
post-vedic period preceding Manu there was group of the representatives
of the people called the Ratnis. The Ratnis played a significant part in
the investiture of the King. The Ratnis were so called because they held
the Ratna (jewel) which was a symbol of sovereignty. The king received
his sovereignty only when the Ratnis handed over to him the jewel of
sovereignty and on receiving his sovereignty the King went to the house
of each of the Ratnis and made an offering to him. It is a significant
fact that the Shudra was one of the Ratnis.
Shudras were members of the two political Assemblies of ancient
times namely the Janapada and Paura and as a member of this he was
entitled to special respect even from a Brahmin.

1
……… White Yajur Veda p. 200.
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422 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

That the Shudra in the Ancient Aryan Society had reached a high
political status is indisputable. They could become ministers of State. The
Mahabharata bears testimony to this. Enumerating the different classes
of ministers within his memory the writer of the Mahabharata mentions
a list1 of 37 Ministers of whom four are Brahmins, eight Kshatriyas,
twenty-one Vaishyas, three Shudras and one Suta.
Shudras did not stop with being ministers of State. They even became
Kings. The story of Shudras which is given in the Rig Veda stands in
cruel contrast with the views expressed by Manu regarding the eligibility
of the Shudra to be a King. The reign of Sudas if referred to at all is
referred only in connection with the terrible contest between Vashishtha
and Vishvamitra as to who should become the purohit or Royal priest
of King Sudas. The issue involved in the contest was as to the right to
officiate as the Purohit or the King. Vashishtha who was a Brahmin and
who was already an officiating priest of Sudas claimed that a Brahmin
alone could become the Purohit of a King while Vishvamitra who was
a Kshatriya contended that a Kshatriya was competent for that office.
Vishvamitra succeeded and in his turn became the Purohit of Sudas.
The contest is indeed memorable because the issue involved in it is
very crucial although the result has not been a permanent deprivation
of the Brahmins. But there can be no doubt the story is probably the
best piece of social history that is to be found in the ancient literature.
Unfortunately nobody has taken serious notice of it. Nobody has even
asked who this King was. Sudas was the son of Paijavana and Paijavana
is the son of Devodas who was the King of Kasi i.e. Benares. What was
the Varna of Sudas? Few would believe if they were told that King Sudas
was a Shudra. But that is a fact and it can be proved by the testimony
of the Mahabharata2 where in the Santipurva a reference is made to this
Paijavana. It is stated that Paijavana was a Shudra. In the light of this
the story of Sudas sheds new light on the status of the Shudra in the
Aryan Society. It shows that a Shudra could be a reigning monarch. It
also shows that both the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas not only saw no
humiliation in serving a Shudra King but they with each other to secure
his patronage and were ready to perform vedic ceremonies at his house.
It cannot be said that there were no Shudra Kings in later times.
On the contrary history shows that the two dynasties which preceded
Manu were dynasties of Shudras Kings. The Nandas who ruled from
B.C.413 to B.C. 322* were Shudras. The mauryas who succeded

1
Jaiswal—Hindu Polity Part II. p. 148.
2
Muir Sanskrit Texts Vol. I. p. 366.
*Figures are incorporated by Editors as they are not in the M.S.—Editors.
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SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 423

the Nandas and who ruled from 322 3.C, to 183 B.C.* were also Shudras.
What more glaring piece of evidence can there be to show the high
dignity enjoyed by the Shudra than to point to the case of Asoka who
was not merely the Emperor of India but a Shudra and his Empire was
the Empire built by the Shudras.
On the question of the right of the Shudra to study the Vedas a
reference may be made to the Chhandogya Upanished (V. 1.2). It
relates the story of one Janasruti to whom Veda Vidya was taught by
the preceptor Raikva. This Janasruti was a Shudra. This story if it is
a genuine story leaves no doubt that there was a time when there was
no bar against the Shudra in the matter of studying the Vedas.
Not only was Shudra free to study the Vedas but there were Shudras
who had reached the status of Rishis and has been composers of the
Hymns of the Vedas. The story of the Rishi Kavasha Aliusha1 is very
illuminating. He was a Rishi and the author of several hymns of the
Tenth Book of the Rig-Veda.2
On the question of the spiritual eligibility of the Shudra to perform
the Vedic ceremonies and sacrifies the following data may be presented.
Jaimini3 the author of the Purva Mimansa mentions an ancient teacher
by name Badari—whose work is lost as an exponent of the view that
even Shudra could perform Vedic sacrifices. The Bharadvaja Srauta
Sutra (v. 28) admits that there exists another school of thought which
holds that a Sudra can consecrate the three sacred fires necessary for
the performance of a Vedic Sacrifice. Similarly the Commentator of the
Katyayana Srauta Sutra (1 & 5) admits that there are certain Vedic texts
which lead to the inference that the Shudra was eligible to perform Vedic
rites. In the Satpath Brahmana (I. 1.4.12) there is enunciated a rule of
etiquette which the priest officiating at the performance of a sacrifice
is required to observe. It relates to the mode in which the priest should
address the Haviskut (the person celebrating the sacrifice) calling upon
him to begin the ceremony. The rule says:
“Now there are four different forms of this call, viz. ‘Come hither’
(Ehi) in the case of a Brahmana; ‘approach’ (Agahi) and ‘hasten hither’
(Adarva) in the case of a Vaishya and a member of the Military caste
and ‘run hither’ (Adhava) in that of a Shudra.”

In the Satpatha Brahman4 there is evidence to show that the Shudra

was eligible to perform the Soma Yaga and to partake of the divine
drink Soma. It says that in the Soma Yaga in place of a ‘payovrata’
1
Aitercya Brahmana Vol. II. p. 112.
2
Max-Muller— Ancient Sanskrit Literature 1860, p.58.
3
See Kane—History of Dharmashastras.
4
Quoted by Kane—History of Dharmashastras.
5
Figures are incorporated by Editors as they are not in the MS.—Editors.
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424 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

(vow to drink milk only) Mastu (whey) is prescribed for the Shudra. In
another place the same Satapatha Brahmana1 says:
“There are four classes, the Brahmin, Rajanya, Vaishya and Sudra.
There is no one of these who dislikes Soma. If any one of them however
should do so, let there be an atonment.”

This means that the drinking of Soma was not only permissible but
it was compulsory on all including the Shudra. But in the story of the
Ashvins there is definite evidence that the Shudra had a right to the
divine drink of Soma. The Ashvins as the story2 goes once happened to
behold Sukanya when she had just bathed and when her person was bare.
She was young girl married to a Rishi by name Chyavana who at the
time of marriage was so old as to be dying almost any day. The Ashvins
were captivated by the beauty of Sukanya and said “accept one of us
for your husband, it behoveth thee not to spend thy youth fruitlessly.”
She refused saying “I am devoted to my husband.” They again spoke
to her and this time proposed a bargain—“We two are the celestial
physicians of note. We will make thy husband young and graceful. Do
thou then select one of us as thy husband.” She went to her husband
and communicated to him the terms of the bargain. Chyavana said to
Sukanya “Do thou so” and the bargain was carried out and Chyavana
was made a young man by the Ashwins. Subsequently a question arose
whether the Ashwins were entitled to Soma which was the drink of
the Gods. Indra objected saying that the Ashwins were Shudras and
therefore not entitled to Soma. Chyavana who had received perpetual
youth from the Ashwins set aside the contention and compelled Indra
to give them Soma.
All these provisions can have no meaning unless the Shudra was
in fact performing the Vedic ceremonies to which they relate—there is
evidence to show that a Shudra woman took part in the Vedic sacrifice
known as the Ashwamedha.3
With regard to the Upanayana ceremony and the right to wear the
sacred thread there is nowhere an express prohibition against the Shudra.
On the other hand in the Sansakara Ganapati there is an express
provision declaring the Shudra to be eligible for Upanayan.4
The Shudra though belonging to a lower class was nonetheless a free
citizen in days before Manu cannot be gainsaid. Consider the following
provisions in Kautilya’s Artha Shastra:
1
Quoted by Muir Sanskrit Texts I p. 367.
2
V. Fausboil Indian Mythology pp. 128-134.
3
Jaiswal Indian Polity Part II. p. 17.
4
Referred to by Max-Muller in Ancient Sanskrit Literature-(1860)—p. 207.
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SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 425

“The selling or mortgaging by kinsmen of the life of a Sudra who
is not a born slave, and has not attained majority, but is an Arya in
birth shall be punished with a fine of 2 panas.”

“Deceiving a slave of his money or depriving him of the privileges

he can exercise as an Arya (Aryabhava), shall be punished with half
the fine (levied for enslaving the life of an Arya).”

“Failure to set a slave at liberty on the receipt of a required amount

of ransom shall be punished with a fine of 12 panas; putting a slave
under confinement for no reason (samrodhaschakaranat) shall likewise
be punished.

“The offspring of a man who has sold himself off as a slave shall
be an Arya. A slave shall be entitled without prejudice to his master’s
work but also the inheritance he has received from his father.”

Why did Manu suppress the Shudra?

This riddle of the Shudra is not a simple riddle. It is a complex one.
The Aryans were for ever attempting to Aryanize the Non-Aryans i.e.
bringing them within the pale of the Aryan Culture. So keen were the
Aryans on Aryanization that they had developed a religious ceremony
for the mass conversion of the Non-Aryans. The ceremony was called
Vratya-stoma. Speaking of the Vratya-Stoma Mahamahopadhyaya
Haraprasad Shastri says:
“The ceremony by which these Vratyas were purified, and which is
described in the Pancavimsa Brahmana differed at least in one particular
from other great ceremonies of the Vedic times, namely, while other
ceremonies had only one sacrificer and his wife in the hall of sacrifice,
this ceremony had thousands of sacrificers. One of them, the wisest, the
richest or the most powerful acted as Grahapati or Patriarch and the
rest simply followed him. The Grahapati had to pay a higher Daksina
or fee than the rest.”

“I consider this to be a device by which thousands and thousands of

Vratyas were admitted to the society of the Rsis by one ceremony, and
such ceremonies were of frequent occurrence, thus admitting hordes
after hordes of nomadic Aryans into settled habits. The purified Vratyas
were not allowed to bring their possessions in Vratya life with them
in settled life. They had to leave them to those who remained Vratyas
still or do the so-called Brahmins of the Magadha-desa, which, as I
have elsewhere shown, was mostly inhabited by men whom the Rsis
looked down upon.”

“But when the Vratyas were admitted to settled life, they were
admitted as fully equals. The Rsis used to eat food cooked by them,
and they used to eat food cooked by the Rsis. They were taught all
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426 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

the three Vidyas, Sama, Rk, and Yajus, and they were allowed to
study the Vedas, and teach them, and to sacrifice for themselves and
for others, that is, they were considered as fully equal. Not only were
they treated as fully equal but they attained the highest proficiency
of a Rsi. Samans were revealed to them, and even Rks. One of the
purified Vratyas, Kausitaki was allowed to collect Brahmans of the
Rig-Veda, which collection still goes under his name.”

The Aryans were not only converting to their way of life the willing
non-Aryans they were also attempting to make converts from among
the unwilling Asuras who were opposed to the Aryans, their cult of
sacrifice, their theory of Chaturvarna and even to their Vedas which
according to the mythology the Asuras stole away from the Aryas.
The story of Vishnu rescuing Pralhad by killing his father the Asura
called Hiranya Kashapu on the ground that Pralhad was willing to be
converted to the Aryan Culture while Hiranya Kashapu was opposed
to it is an illustration in point. Here are instances of Non-Aryans
being naturalized and enfranchized. Why was an opposite attitude
taken against the Shudra? Why was the Shudra fully naturalized and
fully enfranchized, denaturalized and disfranchized?
The treatment given to the Nishadas gives a point to this riddle
which should not be overlooked. The Ancient Sanskrit Literature is
full of reference to the five tribes. They are described under various
appellations1 such as Panch-Krishtayah, Panch-Kshitayah, Panch-
Kshityas Manushyah, Panch-Charshanayah, Panch-Janah, Panchi-
janya viz., Pancha-Bhuma, Panchajata. There is a difference of opinion
as to what these terms denote. Sayanacharya the Commentator of
Rig Veda says that these expressions refer to the four Varnas and
the Nishads. The Vishnu Purana gives the following story about the
Nishads:
“7. The Maiden named Sunitha, who was the first born of Mrityu
(Death) was given as wife to Anga; and of her Vena was born.”

8. This son of Mrityu’s daughter, infected with the taint of his

maternal grandfather, was born corrupt, as if by nature.

9. When Vena was inaugurated as king by the eminent rishis, he

caused this proclamation to be made on the earth; “Men must not
sacrifice, or give gifts, or present oblations. Who else but myself is
the enjoyer of sacrifices? I am for ever the lord of offerings.”

10. Then all the rishis approaching the king with respectful
salutations, said to him in a gentle and conciliatory tone:

1
Source not quoted. — Editors.
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SHUDRAS AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 427

11. ‘Hear, O King, what we have to say:

12. We shall worship Hari, the monarch of the Gods, and the lord
of all sacrifices with a Dirghasattra (prolonged sacrifice), from which
the highest benefits will accrue to your kingdom, your person and
your subjects. May blessing rest upon you? You shall have a share
in the ceremony.

13. Vishnu the Lord of sacrifices Male, being propitiated by us with

this rite, will grant all the objects of your desire. Hari, the Lord of
Sacrifices, bestows on those kings in whose country he is honoured
with oblation everything that they wish.” Vena replied: “What other
being is superior to me? Who else but I should be adored ? Who is
this person called Hari, whom you regard as the Lord of sacrifice?
Brahma Janardana, Rudra, Indra, Vayu, Yama, Ravi (the Sun) Agni,
Varuna, Dhatri, Pushan, Earth, the Moon,— these and the other
gods who curse and bless are all present in king’s person: for he is
composed of all the gods. Knowing this, ye must act in conformity
with my commands. Brahmans, ye must neither give gifts, nor present
oblations nor sacrifices.

14. As obedience to their husbands is esteemed the highest duty of

women, so is the observance of my orders incumbent upon you.” The
Rishis answered. ‘Give permission great kings: let not religion perish:
this whole world is but a modified form of oblations.

15. When religion perishes the whole world is destroyed with it,
When Vena although thus admonished and repeatedly addressed by
the eminent rishis, did not give his permission, then all the munis,
filled with wrath and indignation, cried out to one another, “Slay,
slay the sinner.”

16. This man of degraded life, who blasphemes the sacrified Male,
the god, the Lord without beginning or end, is not fit to be lord of the
earth.’ So saying the munis smote with blades of kusa grass consecrated
by texts this king who had been already smitten by his blasphemy of
the divine being and his other offences. The munis afterwards beheld
dust all round, and asked the people who were standing near what
that was.

17. They were informed: “In this country which has no king, the
people being distressed, have become robbers, and have begun to seize
the property of others.

18. It is from these robbers rushing impetuously, and plundering

other men’s goods, that this great dust is seen ?” Then all the
munis, consulting together, rubbed with force the thigh of the king,
who was childless, in order to produce a son. From his thigh when
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428 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

rubbed there was produced a man like a charred log, with flat face,
and extremely short.

19. “What shall I do,” cried the man, in distress, to the Brahmans. They
said to him, “Sit down (nishida); and from this he became a Nishada.

20. From his sprang the Nishadas dwelling in the Vindhya mountains,
distinguished by their wicked deeds.

21. By this means the sin of the king departed out of him; and so
were the Nishads produced, the offspring of the wickedness of Vena.”

This is a mythological origin of the Nishads. But it contains historical

facts. It proves that the Nishads were a low, primitive jungle tribe
living in the forests of the Vindhya mountains, that they were a wicked
people i.e. opposed to the Aryan Culture. They invented a mythology for
explaining their origin and connecting them with the Aryan Society. All
this was done in order to support the inclusion of the Nishads into the
Aryan fold though not in the Aryan Society. Now there is nowhere any
sort of disabilities imposed upon Nishads a low, uncivilized and foreign
tribe. Question is why were the disabilities imposed upon the Shudra,
who was civilized and an Arya?

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CHAPTER 17
The Woman and the Counter-
Revolution

There is one copy with a title ‘The Woman and the Counter-
Revolution’. There is another copy of the same text with a title,
‘The Riddle of the Woman’. The Editorial Board felt that this
essay would be appropriate in this Volume rather than in the
volume of ‘Riddles in Hinduism’ .—Editors.
Manu can hardly be said to be more tender to women than he was
to the Shudra. He starts with a low opinion of women. Manu proclaims:
II. 213. It is the nature of women to seduce men in this (world); for
that reason the wise are never unguarded in (the company of) females.

II. 214. For women are able to lead astray in (this) world not only
a fool, but even a learned man, and (to make) him a slave of desire
and anger.

II. 215. One should not sit in a lonely place with one’s mother, sister
or daughter; for the senses are powerful, and master even a learned man.

IX. 14. Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on
age; (thinking); ‘(It is enough that) he is a man’, they give themselves
to the handsome and to the ugly.

IX. 15. Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper,
through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal towards their
husbands, however, carefully they may be guarded in this (world).

IX. 16. Knowing their disposition, which the Lord of creatures laid in
them at the creation, to be such, (every) man should most strenuously
exert himself to guard them.

IX. 17. (When creating them) Manu allotted to women (a love of their)
bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty,
malice, and bad conduct.

The laws of Manu against women are of a piece with this view. Women
are not to be free under any circumstances. In the opinion of Manu:
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430 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

IX. 2. Day and night women must be kept in dependence by the males
(of their families), and, if they attach themselves to sexual enjoyments,
they must be kept under one’s control.
IX. 3. Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects
(her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never
fit for independence.
IX. 5. Women must particularly be guarded against evil inclinations,
however trifling (they may appear); for, if they are not guarded, they
will bring sorrow on two families.
IX. 6. Considering that the highest duty of all castes, even weak
husbands (must) strive to guard their wives.
IV. 147. By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing
must be done independently, even in her own house.
V. 148. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth
to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never
be independent.
V. 149. She must not seek to separate herself from her father,
husband, or sons; by leaving them she would make both (her own and
her husband’s) families contemptible.

Woman is not to have a right to divorce.

IX. 45. The husband is declared to be one with the wife, which means
that there could be no separation once a woman is married.

Many Hindus stop here as though this is the whole story regarding
Manu’s law of divorce and keep on idolizing it by comforting their
conscience by holding out the view that Manu regarded marriage as
sacrament and therefore, did not allow divorce. This of course is far
from the truth. His law against divorce had a very different motive. It
was not to tie up a man to a woman but it was to tie up the woman to
a man and to leave the man free.
For Manu does not prevent a man from giving up his wife. Indeed
he not only allows him to abandon his wife but he also permits him to
sell her. But what he does is to prevent the wife from becoming free.
See what Manu says:
IX. 46. Neither by sale nor by repudiation is a wife released from
her husband.

The meaning is that a wife, sold or repudiated by her husband, can

never become the legitimate wife of another who may have bought
or received her after she was repudiated. If this is not monstrous
nothing can be. But Manu was not worried by consideration of justice
or injustice of his law. He wanted to deprive woman of the freedom
she had under the Buddhistic regime. He knew that by her misuse of
her liberty, by her willingness to marry the Shudra the system of the
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THE WOMAN AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 431

gradation of the Varna had been destroyed. Manu was outraged by her license
and in putting a stop to it he deprived her of her liberty.
A wife was reduced by manu to the level of a slave in the matter of property.
IX. 416. A wife, a son, and a slave, these three are declared to have no
property; the wealth which they earn is (acquired) for him to whom they
belong.

When she becomes a widow Manu allows her maintenance, if her husband
was joint, and a widow’s estate in the property of her husband, if he was
separate from his family. But Manu never allows her to have any dominion
over property.
A woman under the laws of Manu is subject to corporal punishment and
Manu allows the husband the right to beat his wife.
VIII. 299. A wife, a son, a slave, a pupil and a younger brother of full
blood, who have committed faults, may be beaten with a rope or a split
bamboo. In other matters woman was reduced by Manu to the same position
as the Shudra.

The study of the Veda was forbidden to her by Manu as it was to

the Shudra.
II. 66. Even for a woman the performance of the Sanskaras are necessary
and they should be performed. But they should be performed without uttering
the Veda Mantras.
IX. 18. Women have no right to study the Vedas. That is why their
Sanskars are performed without Veda Mantras. Women have no knowledge
of religion because they have no right to know the Vedas. The uttering of
the Veda Mantras is useful for removing sin. As women cannot utter the
Veda Mantras they are as unclean as untruth is.

Offering sacrifices according to Brahmanism formed the very soul of religion.

Yet Manu will not allow women to perform them. Manu ordains that:
XI. 36. A woman shall not perform the daily sacrifices prescribed by the
Vedas.
XI. 37. If she does it she will go to hell.

To disable her from performing such sacrifices Manu prevents her from
getting the aid and services of a Brahmin priest.
IV. 205. A Brahman must never eat food given at a sacrifice performed
by a woman.
IV. 206. Sacrifices performed by women are inauspicious and not acceptable
to God. They should therefore be avoided.

Woman was not to have any intellectual persuits nor free will, nor
freedom of thought. She was not to join any heretical sect such as
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432 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

Buddhism. If she continues to adhere to it till death she is not to be

given the libation of water as is done in the case of all dead.
Finally a word regarding the ideal of life, Manu has sought to place
before a woman. It had better be stated in his own words:
V. 151. Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother with
the father’s permission, she shall obey as long as he lives and when he
is dead, she must not insult his memory.
V. 154. Though destitute or virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or
devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must be constantly worshipped
as a god by a faithful wife.
V. 155. No sacrifice, no vow, no fast must be performed by women,
apart from their husbands; if a wife obeys her husband, she will for
that reason alone be exalted in heaven.

Then comes the choicest texts which forms the pith and the marrow
of this ideal which Manu prescribes for women:
V. 153. The husband who wedded her with sacred Mantras, is always
a source of happiness to his wife, both in season and out of season, in
this world and in the next.
V. 150. She must always be cheerful, clever in the management of
her household affairs, careful in cleaning her utensils, and economical
in expenditure.

This the Hindus regard as a very lofty ideal for a woman!

Compare with this the position of the woman before the days of Manu.
That a woman was entitled to Upanayan is clear from the Atharva Veda
where a girl is spoken of as being eligible for marriage having finished
her Brahmacharya. From the Shrauta Sutras it is clear that women
could repeat the Mantras of the Vedas and that women were taught to
read the Vedas. Panini’s Ashtaadhyai bears testimony to the fact that
women attended Gurukul and studied the various Shakhas of the Veda
and became expert in Mimansa. Patanjali’s Maha Bhashya shows that
women were teachers and taught Vedas to girl students. The stories
of women entering into public discussions with men on most abstruse
subjects of religion, philosophy and metaphysics are by no means few.
The story of public disputation between Janaka and Sulbha, between
Yajnavalkya and Gargi, between Yajnavalkya and Maitrei and between
Shankaracharya and Vidyadhari shows that Indian women in pre-Manu’s
time could rise to the highest pinnacle of learning and education.
That women in pre-Manu days were highly respected cannot be
disputed. Among the Ratnis who played so prominent a part in the
coronation of the King in Ancient India was the queen and the King
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THE WOMAN AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 433

made her an offering1 as he did to the others. Not only the king elect did
homage to the Queen, he worshipped his other wives of lower castes2. In
the same way the King offers salutation after the coronation ceremony
to the, ladies of the chiefs of the shremes (guides3).
In the days of Kautilya women4 were deemed to have attained their
age of majority at 12 and men at 16. The age of majority was in all
probability the age of marriage. That the marriages were post puberty
marriages is clear from Baudhayanas’ Grihya Sutras5 where an expiatory
ceremony is specially prescribed in the case of a bride passing her menses
on the occasion of her marriage.
In Kautilya there is no law as to age of consent. That is because
marriages were post puberty marriages and Kautilya is more concerned
with cases in which a bride or a bridegroom is married without disclosing
the fact of his or her having had sexual intercouse before marriage with
another person or maiden in menses having had sexual intercouse. In
the former case Kautilya says6:
“Any person who has given a girl in marriage without announcing
her guilt of having laid with another shall not only be punished with a
fine but also be made to return the Sulka and Stridhana. Any person
receiving a girl in marriage without announcing the blemishes of the
bridegroom shall not only pay double the above fine, but also forfeit
the Sulka and Stridhana (he paid for the bride). In regard to the latter
case the rule in Kautilya7 is:
“It is no offence for a man of equal caste and rank to have connection
with a maiden who has been unmarried three years after her first
menses. Nor is it an offence for a man, even of different caste, to have
connection with a maiden who has spent more than three years after
her first menses and has no jewellery on her person.”

Unlike Manu Kautilya’s idea is monogamy. Man can marry more than
one wife only under certain conditions. They are given by Kautilya in
the following terms1:
“If a woman either brings forth no (live) children, or has no male
issue, or is barren, her husband shall wait for eight years (before
marrying another). If she bears only a dead child, he has to wait for
ten years. If she brings forth only females, he has to wait for twelve
1
Jaiswal: Indian Polity, Part II, p. 16.
2
Ibid, Part II, p. 17.
3
Ibid, p. 82.
4
Sham Shastri, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, p. 175.
5
Baudhyayana, I. 7. 22.
6
Sham Shastri, Kautilya’s Arthashastra, p. 222.
7
Ibid, p. 259.
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434 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

years. Then if he is desirious to have sons, he may marry another. In

case of violating this rule, he shll be made to pay her not only Sulks,
her property (Stridhana) and an adequate monetary compensation
(adhivedanika martham), but also a fine of 24 panas to the Government.
Having given the necessary amount of Sulka and property (Stridhana)
even to those women who have not received such things on the
occasion of their marriage with him, and also having given his wives
the proportionate compensation and an adequate subsistence (vrutti),
he may marry any number of women; for women are created for the
sake of sons.”

Unlike Manu in Kautilya’s time women could claim divorce on

the ground of mutual enmity and hatred.
“A woman, hating her husband, cannot dissolve her marriage with
him against his will. Nor can a man dissolve his marriage with his
wife against her will. But from mutual enmity, divorce may be obtained
(parasparam dveshanmokshah). If a man, apprehending danger from
his wife, desires divorce (mokshamichchhet), he shall return to her
whatever she was given (on the occasion of her marriage). If a woman,
under the apprehension of danger from her husband, desires divorce,
she shall forfeit her claim to her property.”

A wife can abandon her husband if he is a bad character.

“A woman who has a right to claim maintenance for an unlimited
period of time shall be given as much food and clothing (grasacchadana)
as necessary for her, or more than is neessary in proportion to the
income of the maintainer (yathapurushapari-vapam va). If the period
(for which such things are to be given to her with one-tenth of the
amount in addition) is limited, then a certain amount of money,
fixed in proportion to the income of the maintainer, shall be given
to her; so also if she has not been given her Sulka, property, and
compensation (due to her for allowing her husband to re-marry). If she
places herself under the protection of any one belonging to her father-
in-law’s family (Svasurakula), or if she begins to live independently,
then her husband shall not be sued (for her maintenance). Thus the
determination of maintenance is dealt with.”

In the days of Kautilya there was no ban on woman or a widow

remarrying:
“On the death of her husband a woman, desirous to lead a pious
life, shall at once receive not only her endowment and jewellery
(sthapyabharanam), but also the balance of Sulka due to her. If
after obtaining these two things she re-married another, she shall be
caused to pay them back together with interest (on their value). If
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THE WOMAN AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 435

she is desirous of a second marriage (kutumbarkama), she shall be
given on the occasion of her re-marriage (nivesakale) whatever either
her father-in-law or her husband or both had given to her. The time
at which women can re-marry shall be explained in connection with
the subject of long sojourn of husbands.

“If a widow marries any man other than of her father-in-law’s

selection (svasurapratilomyenanivishta), she shall forfeit whatever
had been given to her by her father-in-law and her deceased husband.

“The kinsmen (gnatis) of a woman shall return to her old father-

in-law whatever property of her own she had taken with her while,
re-marrying a kinsman. Whoever justly takes a woman under his
protection shall equally protect her property. No woman shall succeed
in her attempt to establish her title to the property of her deceased
husband, after she re-marries.

“if she lives a pious life, she may enjoy it (dharmakama bhunjita).
No woman with a son or sons shall (after re-marriage) be at liberty
to make free use of her own property (stridhana); for that property
of hers, her sons shall receive.

“If a woman after re-marriage attempts to take possession of her

own property under the plea of maintaining her sons by her former
husband, she shall be made to endow it in their name. If a woman
has many male children by many husbands, then she shall conserve,
her property in the same condition as she had received from her
husbands. Even that property which has been given her with full
powers of enjoyment and disposal, a remarried woman shall endow
in the name of her sons.

“A barren widow who is faithful to the bed of her dead husband

may, under the protection of her teacher, enjoy her property as long
as she lives; for it is to ward off calamities that women are endowed
with property. On her death, her property shall pass into the hands
of her kinsman (Dayada). If the husband is alive and the wife is
dead, then her sons and daughters shall divide her property among
themselves. If there are no sons, her daughters shall have it. In their
absence her husband shall take that amount of money (sulka) which he
had given her, and her relatives shall re-take whatever in the shape
of gift or dowry they had presented her. Thus the determination of
the property of a woman is dealt with.”

“Wives who belong to Sudra, Vaisya, Kshatriya or Brahman caste,

and who have not given birth to children, should wait as long as a
year, two, three and four years respectively for their husbands who
have gone abroad for a short time; but if they are such as have
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436 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

given birth to children, they should wait for their absent husbands
for more than a year. If they are provided with maintenance, they
should wait for twice the period of time just mentioned. If they
are not so provided with, their well-to-do gnatis should maintain
them either for four or eight years. Then the gnatis should leave
them to marry, after taking what had been presented to them on
the occasion of their marriages. If the husband is a Brahman,
studying abroad, his wife who has no issue should wait for him
for ten years; but if she has given birth to children, she should
wait for twelve years. If the husband is a servant of the king,
his wife should wait for him till her death; but even if she bears
children to a savarna husband (i.e. a second husband belonging
to the same gotra as that of the former husband), with a view
to avoid the extinction of her race, she shall not be liable to
contempt thereof (savarnatascha prajata na’ pavadam labheta). If
the wife of an absent husband lacks maintenance and is deserted
by well-to-do gnatis, she may remarry one whom she likes and
who is in a position to maintian her and relieve her misery.”

Unlike Manu every precaution was taken to guarantee economic

independence to a married woman. This is clear from the following
provisions in Kautilya’s Arthashastra relating to wife’s endowment
and maintenance:
“Means of subsistence (vruti) or jewellery (abadhya) constitutes
what is called the property of a woman. Means of subsistence
valued at above two thousand shall be endowed (in her name).
There is no limit to jewellery. It is no guilt for the wife to make
use of this property in maintaining her son, her daughter-in-law,
or herself, whenever her absent husband has made no provision
for her maintenance. In calamities, disease and famine, in warding
off dangers and in charitable acts, the husband, too, may make
use of this property. Neither shall there by any complaint against
the enjoyment of this property by mutual consent by a couple who
have brought forth a twin. Nor shall there be any complaint if
this property has been enjoyed for three years by those who are
wedded in accordance with the customs of the first four kinds
of marriage. But the enjoyment of this property in the cases of
Gandharva and Asura marriages shall be liable to be restored
together with interest on it. In the case of such marriages as
are called Rakshasa and Paisacha, the use of this property shall
be dealt with as theft. Thus the duty of marriage is dealt with.”

“A woman who has a right to claim maintenance for an

unlimited period of time shall be given as much food and clothing
z:\ ambedkar\vol-3\vol3-04.indd MK SJ+YS 28-10-2013>YS>9-12-2013 437

THE WOMAN AND THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION 437

(grasachhadan) as is necessary for her, or more than is necessary in
proportion to the income of the maintainer (yatha-purushaparivapam
va). If the period (for which such things are to be given to her
with one-tenth of the amount in addition) is limited, then a certain
amount of money, fixed in proportion to the income of the maintainer,
shall be given to her; so also if she has not been given her sulka,
property, and compensation (due to her for allowing her husband
to re-marry). If she places herself under the protection of any one
belonging to her father-in-law’s family (svasurkula), or if she begins
to live independently, then her husband shall not be sued (for her
maintenance). Thus the determination of maintenance is dealt with.”

Surprising as it may appear in Kautilya’s time a wife could bring an

action in a court of law against her husband for assault and defamation.
In short in pre-Manu days a woman was free and equal partner of man.
Why did Manu degrade her?
