382 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
MRA : Is that why you have adopted Buddhism as your religion ?
BRA : May be that was the chief consideration. Also by remaining a Scheduled Castes citizen, one accepts the status of the outcaste. I have felt the faith of the Buddha, which does not believe in the Hindu God Brahma aspires for human beings, man and women, to be free of dogmas. Obscure myths and legends ! One can pursue knowledge ! One can disown casteist heroes of the Hindus like God King Ram, the avatar of Vishnu ! And many other sentimental myths of Hinduism.
MRA : Indeed, I find the Buddha’s hunches far more plausible than the guesses of the Brahmins. He was the first existentialist of the world. He cried out. Dukha, dukha, dukha ! The Hindus were always for make-beliefs. God is ananda. A consolation prize for beggars who ask the feudal Lord God for favours by offering gifts of flowers, bribes of garlands and fruits !—via the priests.
BRA : That is why most priests have big bellies.
MRA : What is your message for the rejected ?
BRA: I say to the Untouchable : Be a lion ! Hindus sacrificed goats before the image of Kali. You be your own light ‘ atta deep bhav !’
MRA : Like the Buddha said to Ananda : Be a lamp unto yourself !....” [1]
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1 : Dr. Mulk Raj Anand, An eminent writer and author of “The Untouchable”—Tribal World, April, 1991, P. 13.
Reprinted, Rattu Remembrances of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Pp. 110—114.