36 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
of the Harijan community came in the form of a procession and tried to gain access to the temple Gods. The priests, however, refused them permission to enter and said, “You can have audience of the Gods standing outside on the street.” Upon this a great crowd gathered at the place. The priests tried to enter the temple and thus a clash took place between the two parties and blows were freely exchanged.”
The Hindus do not allow the Untouchables to enter the Hindu temples. It would be thought that they would allow the Untouchables to have their own temples and install therein the image of God. That is a mistake. The Hindus will not allow even that. It is enough to quote two instances. One is from the ‘ Pratap ’ of 12th February 1923:
“In the District of Agra, a Chamar who had seen a Brahmin worshipping the image of Vishnu in his hous’e, began to do the same himself. When the Brahmin came to know of this he was most indignant and with the help of a number of villagers caught hold of the ill-fated Harijan, gave him a sound beating saying, ‘How dare you try to win over the God Vishnu’. Finally, they stuffed his mouth with filth and left him. In sheer desperation the Chamar abandoned the Hindu faith and embraced Islam.”
The other is from the ‘ Hindu ’ of 4th July 1939:
“A meeting of the Bellary District Harijan Advisory Board was held on 29th June 1939 at the Collector’s Bunglow. Mr. A. D. Crombie, CIE., ICS., President of the Committee and Collector presided.
With regard to the grievances of the Harijans of Narayanadevarakeri including allegations of extraction of forced labour from them and harassment by money-lenders, the Committee decided to call for official report, with a view to taking action, if necessary.
The religious disabilities of the Harijans residing in Kudathini village were brought to the notice of the Committee. It was alleged that though the Harijans constructed a temple in their colony as long as twelve years ago, they could not install the image of God which was also ready in the temple, owing to the objections raised by a section of the Caste Hindus in the place to the Harijans taking out the image in procession in the village before the installation.”
II
How any attempt to take water from the Hindu well is dealt with by the Hindus can be seen from the following instances. The first one appeared in the ‘ Pratap ’ of 12th February 1923: