z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 07.indd MK SJ+YS 5 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 500
500 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
becomes just a means for lust, for sport and for pleasure or to beget offspring.
VI
“And he keeps not within the ancient Brahmin bounds, but transgresses them; and it is said: ‘He keeps not within bounds but transgresses,’ and therefore he is called a breaker of bounds.
“Thus, Dona, the Brahmin becomes a breaker of bounds.
“And how, Dona, becomes a Brahmin a Brahmin outcast?
“Take the case, Dona, of a Brahmin of similar birth, he for eight and forty years leads the Brahmalife of virginity, applying himself to the mantras; then, completing that course, he seeks the teaching fee for teaching; (he gets his living according to Dhamma or non-Dhamma) as ploughman, trader, cowherd, bowman, rajah’s man or by some craft or, despising not the beggar’s bowl, just by going about for alms.
“On handing back the teacher’s fee, he seeks a wife according to Dhamma or non-Dhamma; one bought or sold, or a Brahmani on whom water has been poured. He goes to a Brahmani or any other woman . . . one with child, giving suck and so forth... and she is for him a means for lust ... or to beget offspring. He leads a life doing all these things.
“Then the Brahmans say thus of him: ‘How is it that an honourable Brahmin leads this sort of life?’
“And to this he replies: ‘Just as fire burns clean things or unclean, but not by that is the fire defiled ; even so, good sirs, if a Brahmin lead a life doing all these things, not by that is a Brahmin defiled.’
And it is said: ‘He leads a life doing all these things,’ and therefore he is called a Brahmin outcast.
‘Thus, Dona, a Brahmin becomes a Brahmin outcast.
“Verily, Dona, those Brahmin sages of old ,