122 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 scriputre, and shall sink to the region of torment.”
IV. 99. “He (the twice-born) must never read the Veda…in the presence of the Shudras.”
IX. 18. “Women have no business with the text of the Veda.”
IX. 199. “A twice-born man who has….. (improperly) divulged the Veda (ie., to Shudras and women) commits sin, atones for his offence, if he subsists a year on barley.”
In those texts there are embodied three distinct propositions. The Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas can study the Vedas. Of these the Brahmans alone have the right to teach the Vedas. But in the case of the Shudra he has not only to study the Vedas but he should not be allowed to hear it read.
The successsors of Manu made the disability of the Shudra in the matter of the study of the Veda into an offence involving dire penalties. For instance, Gautama says:
III. 4. “If the Shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the Veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and lac; if he utters the Veda, then his tongue should be cut off; if he has mastered the Veda his body should be cut to pieces. “
To the same effect is Katyayana.
The common man (Shudra) is not allowed the benefit of the sacrament of initiation. It is the second birth that helps towards the moral and material advancement of the individual.
The common man is denied the right to have a name conveying dignity. Manu says:
II. 30. “Let the father perform or cause to be performed the Namadheya (the rite of name of the child), on the tenth or twelfth (day after birth), or on a lucky lunar day in a lucky muhurth under an auspicious constellation.
II. 31. “Let (the first part of) a Brahman’s name (denote something) auspicious, a Kshatriya name be connected with power, and a Vaishya 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 (a word) implying protection, of a Vaishya (a term) expressive of thriving and of a Shudra’s (an expression) denoting a service.”
The Superman will not tolerate the Shudra to have the comfort of a high-sounding name. He must be contemptible both in fact and in name.