92 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
tribes to live by organized bodies of criminals, crime continues to be their main occupation.
Besides these two classes there is a third class which comprizes a body of people who are known as Untouchables.
Below the Untouchables there are others who are known as Unapproachables. Untouchables are those who cause pollution only if they touch. The Unapproachables are those who cause pollution if they come within a certain distance. It is said of the Nayadis—a people who fall into the category of the Unapproachables, “that they are the lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters. They are the most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow at a respectful distance, for miles together any person walking, driving or boating. If any thing is given to them, it must be laid down, and after the person offering it has proceeded a sufficient distance, the receipient comes timidly forward, and removes it.” Of the same people Mr. Thurston says, “The subject (i.e. the Nayadis) whom I examined and measured at Shoranus, though living only about three miles off, had, by reason of the pollution which they traditionally carry with them to avoid walking over the long bridge which spans the river, and follow a circuitous route of many miles”
Below the Unapproachables are the Unseeables.
In the Tinnevelley District of the Madras Presidency there is a class of unseeables called Purada Vannans. Of them it is said,” that they are not allowed to come out during day time because their sight is enough to cause pollution. These unfortunate people are ‘compelled’ to follow the nocturnal habits, leaving their dens after dark and scuttling home at the false dawn like the badger, the hyena, the avordvark.”
Consider the total population of these classes. The Primitive Tribes form a total of 25 million souls. The Criminal Tribes number 4½ millions and the Untouchables number 50 millions. This makes a grand total of
79½ millions. Now ask how these people could have remained in the state of moral, material, social and spiritual degradation surrounded as they have been by Hinduism. Hindus say that their civilization is older than any civilization, that Hinduism as a religion is superior to any other religion. If this is so how is that Hinduism failed to elevate these people, bring them enlightenment and hope; how is it that it failed even to reclaim them; how is it that it stood with folded hands when millions and millions were taking to life to shame and crime ? What is the answer to this. The only answer is that Hinduism is overwhelmed with the fear of pollution. It has not got the power to purify. It has not the impulse to serve and that is because by its very nature it is unhuman and unmoral. It is a misnomer to call it religion. Its philosophy is opposed to very thing for which religion stands.