WHEN BUDDHA............BY THEM 303
men from the pastoral class whose tribes had been broken up by internecine wars. These men were allotted pieces of land and houses just outside the villages and their main duty—as is their main duty today—was to maintain law and order.
This duty of defending the villages against pastoral tribes they discharged for generations. The relations between the villagers proper and the protectors of the villagers living on the village fringe were normal human relations without any conception of Untouchability. How did it come in then ?
For that, according to Dr. Ambedkar, we have to look to the rise of Buddhism in India.
Buddhism, says Dr. Ambedkar, swept the land as no physical conqueror had ever done in India’s history. Within a few generations almost the entire country especially the masses and the trading classes went over to Buddhism.
Brahminism was in the grip of mortal fear. In fact, it would have been wiped out had it not been for the shrewd adaptability of the Brahmins who were prepared to throw overboard every social and religious institution which they had championed for centuries and on which they had flourished for ages if only Brahminism could be saved. What did the Brahmins do ?
Mass Appeal of Buddhism
There were three cardinal teachings of Buddha that appealed to the masses. His gospel of social equality, his demand for the abolition of the “Chaturvarna” system, his doctrine of non-violence and his condemnation of elaborate religious ceremonials and sacrifices which impoverished the masses and created among them a repugnance for religious ceremonies.
The Brahmins of this period, according to Dr. Ambedkar, were far from being vegetarians. They were the most gluttomous meat eaters, sacrificing cows and other animals by thousands, presumably to pacify the Gods, but really to pacify their own greed for meat.