162 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
(3) How can the loss of Upanayana result in the general degradation of Shudras?
(4) What power did the Brahmins have to deny Upanayana to the Shudras?
Having stated the possible objections to my thesis, I like to give my reply to them.
IV
To begin with the first. The best way to deal with this objection is to refer to the judicial decisions in order to find out what the Courts in India have regarded as the surest criterion for determining who is a Shudra.
The first case to which reference may be made is to be found in
7, M.I.A.18. [1] It was decided by the Privy Council in 1837. The question at issue was whether at the relevant time there were in India any Kshatriyas. The contention of one side was that there were. The contention on the other side was that there were none. The latter contention was based upon the theory propagated by the Brahmins that the Brahmin Parashurama had killed all the Kshatriyas and that if any were left they were all exterminated by the Shudra king Mahapadma Nanda, so that thereafter there were no Kshatriyas left and that there were only Brahmins and Shudras. The Privy Council did not accept this theory which they regarded as false and concocted by the Brahmins and held that the Kshatriyas still existed in India. The Privy Council did not however lay down any test by which a Kshatriya could be distinguished from a Shudra. In their view, the question must be determined in each case on its own facts.
The second case on the subject is to be found in I.L.R.10 Cal. 688. [2] The question raised in the case was whether the Kayasthas of Bihar were Kshatriyas or Shudras. The High Court decided that they were Shudras. The partisans of the Kayasthas took the position that the Kayasthas of Bihar were different from the Kayasthas of Bengal, the Upper Provinces and Benares and that while those in the Upper Provinces and Benares were Shudras, the Kayasthas of Bihar were Kshatriyas. The court refused to make this distinction and held that the Kayasthas of Bihar were also Shudras.
Chuohirya Run Murdan Syn Versus Sahub Purhulad Syn.
Raj Coomar Lall versus Bissessur Dyal.