z:\ ambedkar\vol 011\vol11 02.indd MK SJ+YS 4 10 2013/YS 18 11 2013 36
36 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
I
even one’s own people commonly become mere strangers in a reverse of fortune.
“A son is brought up for the sake of the family, the father is honoured by the son for the sake of his own future support ; the world shows kindness for the sake of hope ; there is no such thing as unselfishness without a motive.
“Thou art the only exception. Take now this horse and return.
“The king, with his loving confidence, still unshaken, must be enjoined to stay his grief.
“Tell him, I have left him—with no thirst for heaven, with no lack of love, nor feeling of anger.
“He should not think of mourning for me who am thus gone forth from my home ; union, however long it may last, in time will come to an end.
“Since separation is certain, how shall there not be repeated severings from one’s kindred ?
“At a man’s death there are doubtless heirs to his wealth but heirs to his merit are hard to find on the earth or exist not at all.
“The king, my father, requires to be looked after. The king may say, ‘ He is gone at a wrong time.’ But there is no wrong time for duty.
“Do thou address the king, O friend, with these and suchlike words ; and do thou use thy efforts so that he may not even remember me.
“Yes, do thou repeat to my mother my utter unworthiness to deserve her affection. She is a noble person, too noble for words.”
Having heard these words, Channa, over whelmed with grief, made reply with folded hands, his voice choked by emotion :
“Seeing that ye are causing affliction to thy kindred, my mind, O my Lord, sinks down like an elephant in a river of mud.
“To whom would not such a determination as this of thine, cause tears, even if his heart were of iron—how much more if it were throbbing with love ?
“Where is gone this delicacy of limb, fit to lie only in a palace, and where is the ground of the