Mahatma Gandhi Quotes
Untouchables are treated as if less than beasts …. Untouchability for me is more insufferable than British rule. If Hinduism hugs Untouchability, then Hinduism is dead and gone.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian Political and Spiritual Leader, Interview with Katherine Mayo, Mother India, 1927
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Manava Dharma Shastra. This text is a part of the Hindu Holy Texts. Hindus believe that Manu was a prophet whose text is revealed or inspired.
Manava Dharma Shastra. The Hindus believe in reincarnation and that the souls of animals move up the ladder and if they are good are eventually born as humans (Sudras). These are the lowest caste in this terribly discriminatory system—the “untouchables.” But if a Sudra lives a pious life and accepts his lot, he is reincarnated as a higher cast human (twice born). This law illustrates the incredible discrimination that the cast system produced. In modern India, the caste system is illegal and there is no discrimination in law or by government. However it is still terribly evident in social life, marriage, employment and most phases of Indian society. This text is a part of the Hindu Holy Texts. Hindus believe that Manu was a prophet whose text is revealed or inspired.
The Caste System has been legally abolished in India yet hundreds of million Indians still follow it.
Paz was the Ambassador to India. The caste system in India was outlawed by the Indian Constitution, and the government has made many effort at affirmative action to eliminate it put as Paz observed it is so ingrained in Indian tradition, culture and religion that it continues to persist.
The traditional Hindu social structure established castes – levels of society with Brahmins at the top and untouchables at the bottom. When India gained independence, the caste system was made illegal. Nonetheless, it is still followed by hundreds of millions of Indians. Religiously the Buddhists and the Hindus have had different philosophies. Ilaiah is a Buddhist who opposes the traditional Brahmin social structure and is a supporter of “Dalitization” – a change in the Indian culture to make the Dalits (untouchables) equal de juro and de facto.
Manava Dharma Shastra. The caste system in action. Note however that the highest caste aristocrats could not abuse even lower caste women with impunity the way that was common in early Christian Europe. However, the punishment was not death as required by Muslim law—see {590409}. This text is a part of the Hindu Holy Texts. Hindus believe that Manu was a prophet whose text is revealed or inspired.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and in turn inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.
