WHAT WAY EMANCIPATION ? 133
enjoyment. A religion cannot be changed as we change our clothes every day. You wish to leave this Hindu religion and embrace another one. Do you then think that your ancestors who clung to this religion for a long period were fools ?” Some so called wise men have raised this question. I do not find any substance in this objection. A foolish alone will say that one has to adhere to ones religion because it is that of his ancestors. No wise man will accept such a proposition. Those who argue that the ancestral religion should not be changed, seem that they have not read the history at all. The ancient Aryan religion was called Vedic Religion, in which three distinct characteristics— beef eating, drinking and merry-making—were the pan of the religion of the day. Thousands of people followed it in India and even now some Brahmins dream of going back to it. If the ancient religion alone is to be adhered to why did the people of India renounce the Hinduism and accept the Buddhism ? Why did they renounce the Vedic religion and accept the Jain religion ? It cannot be denied that our ancestors lived in the ancient religion, but I cannot say that they remained there voluntarily. The Chaturvarna System prevailed in this country for a fairly long time. In this System, the Brahmins were permitted to learn, Kshatriyas to fight, Vaishyas to earn property and the Shudras to serve; this way of life was the rule of the day. In this way of life, the Shudras had no education, no property and no arms. Those your ancestors who were thus forced to live in impoverish and defence less conditions, no man with sense will say that they accepted this religion voluntarily. Here it is also necessary to consider whether it was possible for your ancestors to revolt against this religion. Had it been possible for them to revolt and they had still not acted upon, then only we could have said that they had accepted this Religion voluntarily. But if we look into the real conditions, it will be clear to us that our ancestors were compelled to live in that religion. Thus this Hindu Religion is not the Religion of our ancestors, but it was slavery thrusted upon them. Our ancestors had no means to fight this slavery and hence they could not revolt. They were compelled to