364 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Antya as a class is mentioned in Manu IV.79. Manu however does not enumerate them. Medhatithi in his commentary suggests that Antya means Mlecha, such as Meda, etc. Buhler translates Antya as a low-caste man.
There is thus nothing to indicate that the Antyas were Untouchables. In all probability, it is the name given to those people who were living in the outskirts or end (Anta) of the village. The reason why they came to be regarded as low is to be found in the story narrated in the Brahadaranyaka Upanishad (1.3) to which reference is made by Mr. Kane. [1] The story is that “Gods and Asuras had a strike and the gods thought that they might rise superior to the Asuras by the Udgithana. In this occurs the passage ‘this devata (Prana) throwing aside the sin that was death to these devatas (vak, etc.) sent it to ends of these devatas there; therefore one should not go to the people outside the Aryan pale nor to disam anta (the ends of the quarters) thinking, otherwise I may fall in with papmani i.e., death.”
The meaning of Antya turns on the connotation of the phrase ‘disam Anta’ which occurs in the passage quoted above. If the phrase ‘ends of the quarters’ can be translated as meaning the end of the periphery of the village, without its being called a far-fetched translation, we have here an explanation of what Antya originally meant. It does not suggest that the Antyas were Untouchables. It only meant that they were living on the outskirts of the village.
As to the Antyajas, what we know about them is enough to refute the view that they were Untouchables. Attention may be drawn to the following facts [2] :
In the Shanti Parvan (109.9) of the Mahabharat there is a reference to Antyajas who are spoken of as Soldiers in the Army. According to Sarasvativiiasa, Pitamaha speaks of the seven cases of Rajakas included in the term Antyaja as Prakritis. That Prakritis mean trade guilds such as of washermen and others is quite clear from the Sangamner Plate of Bhillama II dated Saka 922 which records the grant of a village to eighteen Prakritis. Viramitrodaya says that Srenis mean the eighteen castes such as the Rajaka, etc., which are collectively called Antyajas. In view of these facts how could the Antyajas be said to have been regarded as the Untouchables?
Coming to the Antyavasin, who were they? Were they Untouchables? The term Antyavasin has been used in two different
Kane– History of Dharma Shastra II. Part I. p. 167.
Kane– History of Dharma Shastra. Vol. II. part I. p. 70