z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-06.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 489
EVIDENCE BEFORE SIMON COMMISSION 489
classes arc revered by all classes, and high-class persons bow down before them as much as before such saints from higher classes ?
Dr. Ambedkar: There is only one case so far as I know.
- But do they do so ?
Dr. Ambedkar: Yes, as they do the Mahomedan Pir.
- Are you aware that untouchability is not observed in the Warkari Panth, i.e. the devotees of the God Vithoba at Pandharpur ?
Dr. Ambedkar: That is entirely incorrect.
- Do you agree that there is a vast change during the last 25 years in the treatment accorded to the depressed classes, that the educated higher classes are trying to remove this evil of untouchability and mix with them quite freely and that there is a gradual change in the condition of the depressed classes and in the treatment accorded to them by the general educated public ?
Dr. Ambedkar: Yes, it is so, though the sympathy is only in words and is seldom translated into action.
- Are you aware that in almost all villages the depressed class people are provided with wells meant only for their own use ?
Dr. Ambedkar: No.
- Are there not such wells ?
Dr. Ambedkar: Not in every village.
- Who are the depressed classes ? Will you please name the castes ?
Dr. Ambedkar: There is the census.
- Do inter-marriages take place between the Mang and the Mahar castes ?
Dr. Ambedkar: No, the caste Hindus have spread their poison to the rest.
- Do they dine together ?
Dr. Ambedkar: Yes, now-a-days. The movement for consolidation is going on and there is now a case of inter-marriage between a Mang and a Mahar.
- Are there not two Inamdars in my constituency who belong to the depressed classes ?
Dr. Ambedkar: I do not know.