(ii)
independence from foreign rule.” The history of India is a tally of events of caste-discrimination preached and practised in the name of God. It is fair to conclude in retrospect that the caste as the institution is the survival of pre-jural society and the early jurisprudence of India like the jurisprudence of many other countries, was sustained by the belief in supernatural agencies which punish transgression of usages and can be assuaged by the magic charms and rituals. It is due to the role of religion in the early laws that the priest became the most potent instrument of the stability and the status quo. In Europe the priest and the supremacy of the Church was challenged by intellectuals but in India the challenge to the priestly class and the tradition came much later when the British Rule for the first time introduced masses to the democratic values which find expression in the Proclamation of 1858 which states: “And it is our further Will that, so far as may be, our subjects of whatever Race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified by their education, ability and integrity to discharge.” In a society of institutionalised gradation and hierarchy, this was a revolution in ideas and ideals of equality which Dr. Ambedkar has advocated in a spirit of social democracy. The present constitutional mandate for equality is traceable to this accident of history which brought with the British rule the philosophy of social change that whatever may be birth-mark, education would qualify an individual for a public office or employment. This was the first blow to the doctrine of the caste followed by the Railways which made the static society mobile. The caste is replaced by the ethics of classification which must be reasonable. Article 14 of the Constitution prohibits class legislation but does not forbid reasonable classification for the purpose of legislation as held by the Supreme Court in ‘Budhan Vs State of Bihar, 1955– Supreme Court 1045.’
In a sense, ‘Who were the Shudras’ may be said to be an invitation by Dr. Ambedkar to a fresh historical research on this subject to know the reality of human nature which is not harmonious: it has two sides: an aggressive self-assertive side which leads to ignoring the expectations of others in the satisfaction of one’s own expectations and a co-operative social side which leads to working with others in association and groups of all sorts in recognition of common purposes. The individual needs the force of social control to keep these two sides in balance. Undoubtedly, the struggle for existence, the competition in satisfying expectations or desires whenever acute