POLITICAL NON-BRAHMINISM AND THE JUSTICE PARTY

The Non-brahmin as Citizen Reform ( By S. Uthanda Nadar)

Social reform is one of the pressing topics of modern times that engage the serious attention of bonafide well wishers of Indian Nation. There were days, when a sincere social reformer, anxious to see a better order of things prevail in society, was beset with violent opposition of vested interests, as well as innate conservatism of people. But now, it is rejoicing, that happy signs of growing tendency on the part of masses, towards eradicating pernicious evils and flagrant abuses of society, are visible in many quarters. It has become accepted on all hands, that in the absence of social reorganization, India cannot advance an inch further in her march towards National Emancipation.

Of late, Turkey and Afghanistan have shown an inspiring example to the world. Their social spheres have undergone much revolution. Age-long and accredited system of “purdah” has been boldly overthrown. Women population of the countries, who had been hitherto caged like wild birds, and whose activities had been cribbed, cabined and confined within the narrow corridors of domestic circles have been given wider scope of activities and freedom of movement. As a result the twin Muslim Nations loom large in international politics and have procured for themselves an undying fame. And we are sure that India will learn much wisdom from her sister nations.

Side by side, thanks to the invigorating activities of Non Brahmin movement, revolting conscience of modern generation has rightly grasped the imperative need for and immediate change in Indian society. Congress and conferences are held to turn the question of social reform into practical politics, from academic discussion in which state it had been hitherto detained. India is tired of innumerable crude superstitions and unreasonable dogmas. Her children can no more follow any theory blindly and bluntly, unless completely convinced of underlying truths by a regular analytical scientific process. Hence, as Lord Alfred Tennyson said, old order must change yielding place to new. Indian society must be purged of all pernicious evils that keep the masses under perpetual social slavedom and political thralldom. A healthy Indian Nation must be built at all costs.

But, we are aware that undertakers of this thankless task will have to encounter fire and brimstone from orthodox section, ridicules from conservatives, and scurrilous wordy attacks from insane reactionaries. They will be fallen foul of, and denounced as an enemy of religion and opponent of sacred customs and religious traditions. However, heedless of any amount of mudslinging from mischievous sources, true well wishers of India must pull on with their humble service in the social field of the country.

– Revolt, 26 December 1928

The Non Brahmin (By Satyasadhu)

The Non-brahmin represents a section of humanity characterized by its extreme truthfulness, sincerity and humility. Any section of human beings desiring seclusion as a mark of its sanctity will eventually feel its sanctity degenerating into stagnation. Not by proud segregation but by close intimacy, not by austere superiority but by humble understanding, not by cynical patronizing but by sympathetic upliftment, not by arrogant self-sufficiency but by all embracing catholicity is the progress of humanity maintained. Of all forces in human life that go to the making of dominant desire none is more powerful than love. So the compelling motives of the world’s devotees from mothers to martyrs have been unselfish. Are the present peacemakers of communal conflicts able, like Gordon in the Soudan, to say, “I declare, if I could stop this slave traffic I would willingly be shot this night” or with John Knox, “God give me Scotland, or I die”? The Non Brahmin should have the courage to declare. “Give me communal harmony, I will forget my community.”

No man is the whole of himself; his friends are the rest of him. The solution for communal rancour is to give the aggrieved party time, opportunity and blessing to work out its salvation. The many mistakes, rash steps, or even unjust actions are inevitable in the turmoil incident

to the establishment of a new order of social relationships. To elevate a nation or an individual it is necessary to inculcate self-respect in them. The prevalence of the inferiority complex, the practice of hopeless mendicancy, the adoption of the shameless hobby of enjoying oneself, the cultivation of the self-devouring fastidiousness creates narrowness in those very people who boast of their breadth of outlook. The party that claims vision should not be self-mutilating in its wanton attacks on individuals for their not falling into line with their programme but that sort of “Independence” which they offer to the country, they should see, is not denied to individuals.

After all human activity – political, social, religious or economic – is to be judged by the results achieved and not by the energy spent in the achieving. The ultimate end being the same, the interim methods should not so dishearten true workers as to embitter social relationships. As Mr. G.K. Chesterton has aptly said, “If I were a preacher my sermon will be against the sin of Pride.” He says “The more I see of existence, and especially of modern practical and experimental existence, the more I am convinced of the reality of the old religious thesis that all evils began with some attempt at superiority some moment when as we might say the very skies were cracked across like a mirror, because there was a sneer in heaven.” It would be frustrating the full joy and completion of the cosmos if we dislocate the design and make any particular individual or society the supreme object of worship. Hence all attempts at alleviating the miseries of existence ought to be blessed and nothing is so much needed now as mutual understanding, recognizing the self-respect of humanity, its ends and how each individual is to subordinate his pride and vanity to the realization of a unified, contented and self assertive society.

He is a Non-brahmin, who has eschewed what he considers condemnatory in the much maligned Brahmin, who is not repeating the disgusting story of the actions, policies, and the monopoly instinct of that section of society which suffers from the superiority complex. The Non-Brahmin has a broader aim. His catholic heart and his correct vision struggle to achieve at a greater humanity. He suffers vicariously in alleviating the sufferings of the masses. He does not care to create comfortable berths for individuals. He works for social peace and individual contentment.

– Revolt, 13 February 1929

 Where we Are (By S.Guruswami)

It is only in recent years that the non Brahmin community has come to realize its degraded position in Hindu society. Even thousands of years ago, many great men of the community directed the attention of the Non-Brahmins to their servile conditions under the aliens. But their warning was only a cry in the wilderness. Because the Non-Brahmins were carefully denied all chances of education. the incomers so cleverly manipulated the society among the Non Brahmins that in course of time the latter were made to feel the indispensableness of the former. Even against such heavy odds, many great men sprang from the community, but circumstances prevented them from expressing their opinions boldly. The first and the foremost of the curse that were handed down by the incomers, was the caste-system. It divided the homogeneous community into a number of small divisions. The institution was then made part and parcel of religion. The disease went into the very vitals. Men like Capillar, Tiruvalluvar and 18 Chithars (Tamil mystics and poets – editors) more than 2000 years ago, condemned the ruinous system in unequivocal terms. They proved by sane arguments the preposterousness of man’s superiority by birth. They showed to the people the absurdity of meaningless ceremonials as Sraddahas and other rites; but met with no encouragement.

Years rolled on and the caste system wrought all that was expected of it by the originators. Men of the same community were flying at one another’s throats. Privilege of birth demanded an outer agency to support it and the Aryan element supplied all that was necessary. The country came to be ruled by many alien races. Still there were the intruders at the helm of affairs, and they had no other weapons except god and religion. The Vedas and other puranas were written in order to establish an unquestioning right over the natives. If reason interfered with them, they safely took refuge under the ‘All powerful’. Under penalty of hell-fire and eternal damnation, Hinduism (Brahmanism) was safeguarded. Kings may come and kings may go, but the Varnashrama was going on for ever. Whether it was the rule of the Greeks, or the Persians or the Mauryas or the Guptas or the Rajputs or the Moguls or the Mahrattas, it was immaterial to the Rishi Community. Their armour was caste system and their weapons, god and religion. If anybody dared to think, woe unto him – nay even to his soul! And then came the Western invasion. There was a rapid spread of education. The Aryan element eyed it with displeasure. Here was the beginning of their end. Sanctity of languages was tampered with by the “heathen”. The rishi community blinked wide and breathed high. Years passed on and the ‘’holy” Vedas were translated by the heathen. The face-born thought of its power for curse. Each member of the class eagerly looked up to his right hand to conjure up his hereditary fire. And lo! It was gone! The Vedic hymns were chanted even more vigorously and vociferously and yagams were performed in every corner. All that was possible for driving the Europeans was tried by the priestly class, but in vain. The English machine-guns, steamers ands aero-planes proved stronger than the six inches kusha grass (dharpa).The Indian Penal Code proved mightier than the Vedas, Smirithis and Puranas. By and by the Hindu gods themselves began to groan under the feet of the so called mlecchas. Not merely that. The Hindu goddesses like Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and Saraswathi (goddess of learning) emigrated to the West (“a heathen land”) once and forever. Finding their attempts were in vain, the incomers joined the invaders in sucking the blood of the people. It is why whenever the government pretends any reform for the amelioration of the people, the face-born community obstruct it by such outbursts as “religion in danger”, and “god in danger”. And some of the Non-Brahmins also join the chorus without realizing the real situation. This is the pass we have come into.

– Revolt, 10 April 1929

 Latest Social Developments (Mr. A. Ramasami Mudaliar’s Lecture)

We extract the following from the presidential address of Mr. A. Ramasami Mudaliar at the first anniversary of the Dr. T. M. Nair Literary Association, which was celebrated on the 15^th April at the Gokhale Hall:

The Subject, Mr. Mudaliar began, on which he had intended to speak was, “The Latest Social Developments”. The present age, he said, was one when vast social developments were quite the order of the day. All over the world the existing social systems were being rebuilt. In Turkey old social systems were being ruthlessly set aside, and the country and its people were adjusting themselves to the new conditions brought about by the genius of that great Dictator, Mustapha Kamal Pasha. What had happened in Turkey was happening, and was bound to happen in India also, despite all that could be said by obscurantists who took their stand on the immutable customs and traditions of the past. During the past 20 years, incessant change, active and uninterrupted, had been the feature of the social life of this country. That man ought to be made happier than he is, that great democratic ideal, which was so incessantly preached in the political world should also be translated into the social world, that equality of men and women should be recognized and the fairness of dealing towards each other ought to be the attribute of the social system – these were the ideals with which these social changes had been worked out.

An obsolete system

Time was 35 or 40 years ago when mysteries and mysteriousness were the order of the day, when the Hindu often got himself converted into other religions, when even the educated, had with great difficulty to be brought to a sense of the greatness of his own religion and the purity of his own soul. But that time had passed. People were now firm in their belief in the greatness of their religion, and the strength and future of their society, provided it was welded and organized into a whole. Men who had swept away from their lives every tenet of Varanashrama Dharma, who did not know their own religion, who had not studied their own social customs, who had some vague idea that somewhere in the Code of Manu some talk there was that this caste was superior and that caste was inferior, men who made a religious fetish of every little thing – these were not the men who were going to strengthen the Hindu religion and their social system.

That a system which had done immense injury should be replaced by a system more human, more touching, having a better faith in each other, and in those who composed society, would be the desire of everyone who wanted to see progress. Those orthodox gentlemen who were trying to prevent the logical development of Hindu society by threats to electioneering prospects, by cajolery and by all sorts of tricks – the sooner they realized the fact that every reasoned and reasoning individual whatever his caste might be, was up in arms against a state of society which permitted degradation of individuals merely because of birth, the better it would be for them.

The lecturer next referred to the position of women in Hindu society which was not all that was desirable. And he was doubtful whether women got that treatment which they were entitled to. Nowadays people enthused over the feminine characteristics of Hindu mythology. But the present day treatment of women was at so much variance with its ideals and the conception expounded in the puranas. Socially they had no place and from a financial point of view, they were nowhere. The boy was entitled to a share in the father’s property; but the daughter, even if she was the sole surviving heir and her father a millionaire, got nothing but a small share of that property. The result was that every social principle and dogma being based on religion, religion suffered.

Therefore, social reformers could not be blamed if they attacked religion in their over-anxiety to reform society. If people could not realize the great evil they were creating in the country by intermixing religion in social matters, if they had not got the grim determination like Mustapha Kemal Pasha in Turkey to separate the spiritual from the secular matters, then they could not be said to be true representatives of the Hindu religion which they professed to be.

Turning back to the subject of the treatment of women in Hindu society, the speaker drew attention to the narrow groove of moral and ethical principles in which women were made to move.

Child marriages were encouraged, resulting in child windows who were compelled to live the rest of their life in austere devotion to a husband whom, perhaps, they had never seen. Whereas in the case of the death of his wife, he ought to speak of the possibility of a second wife – otherwise, it was considered inauspicious. Taking the case of a widow, it did not matter how near and dear she was, but once she became a widow, she was an inauspicious being for ever. A society which tolerated such ideas required thorough reform. Society could never improve unless these ideas were blotted out of men’s minds altogether.

Temple entry

Regarding the question of temple entry, Mr. Mudaliar declared that it was going to become the very biggest problem for the Hindu Society in the very near future. The movement for the addition of all classes in the great temples of the land was bound to succeed sooner than later. Prohibition of entry into certain temples to classes of people was an illogical state of society which could not be tolerated. Then again a great deal had been said about Atheism and those who were tending to be atheistic in society. But it had to be realized that atheism was a well recognized thing in Hinduism. How dare people say that one man was a true Hindu and the other was an Atheist, while Hinduism itself was the most tolerant of all religions and held in its bosom the Atheists, the Agnostics, the Dwaitins, the Adwaitins, etc. For his own part the speaker was firm in his belief that every Hindu did at heart believe in a supreme God. When the Self respect propagandists condemned the existing temples their main idea was to put an end to the corruption existing in those temples. Mahatma Gandhi himself had once said: “The temples in this country are the den of prostitutes”. The fact was that those who made such criticisms of the temples were despondent of any sort of purification and reform being possible with reference to those temples, that they had come out with such extreme statements.

– Revolt, 24 April 1929

Present Social Discontent

Under the auspice of the George Town Non-Brahmin Social Club, Mr. K.V. Gopalasami, B.A., (Oxon) delivered the inaugural address of the Literary Branch of the Association, under the presidency of Mr. C. Subbaroya Mudaliar.

Mr. Gopalaswami in the course of his lecture said that discontent is of different kinds, moral, religious social, economic and political. Undoubtedly, in every country the political discontent is making a large noise and moral discontent the least. India is morally discontent and it is the basis of social and political discontent. The actual discontent involves four crucial problems, the question of marriage, the question of prostitution, the question of family and the question of untouchability. We should give our women education and let them rebel. If they rebel then there will be a better society.

The second fundamental question is the sex problem. Sex is one of the potential elements in life. Birth control and sexual relations ought to be taught to young men. Prostitution is the despicable evil in the whole world. It is a heart rending spectacle to see prostitutes sold like cattle in Bombay. Then to the Purdah. Did it ever strike us, the absurdity of the system of purdah? Have we ever imagined about the insult we give our women, suspecting them to be susceptible to the charms of young men? It is an insult to our women that we should not let her go. It matters little whether the marriageable age is fixed at 13 or 14 unless we fix it fairly as high as 17. We have to educate our people and convert them to our view. Our educated girls have to face problems. It is all a bunkum to exhort women to practice celibacy. Whether a rising nation or not, young men are bound to come into conflict with their parents. Wives loom larger in our eyes than our parents, for we are responsible for their lives.

Thanks to the Brahminocracy, we have a society where kicks are got, the man who gets those kicks, kicks another below, but he does not believe that he is kicked. We should not, in these matters, depend on others to lead us for everybody ought to fight his own battles. Whoever may preach today the best that he can do is to present the case, we should cultivate the thinking capacity. Better we make a mess and suffer for ourselves than suffer in the mess of others. Adi-Dravidas are not allowed to walk on public roads and make use of public wells and temples. It is the Brahmin Civilisation that is responsible for the deplorable position of our Adi-Dravida brethren and women. The lecturer concluded by observing that woman is in the same position as a Panchama and she is denied equal rights and privileges, which man enjoys.

– Revolt, 7 July 1929

To the Non-Brahmin Youths 

Mr.M.K.Reddi while hoisting the flag at the Vellore Non-Brahmin Youth Conference said:

Dear Comrades,

Remember, ours is a cult of Action, and not of idle talk. Revolution, thorough-paced and to the very utterance, and not a whit short of it, is our motto. Superstition in all its manifestations is the many headed Hydra that confronts us. To fight it bravely, and to come out victorious is the be-all of our existence. Break away therefore from the moribund past, and unburden the dead-weight of spirit-enslaving customs that hang about your necks.

Heed your leader’s words of caution. Be true to them as truly steel and stand by them through war and peace. Be bold and falter not, be brave and flinch not, for none but the brave deserves to breathe the air. Think, every one of you, that you are a knight-errant engaged in your maiden fight and with a definite purpose running through your life. Set before yourselves the highest of ideals and cherish them. Cultivate the noblest of your sentiment and perfect them. Awake from your slumber and realise that you owe your country a duty of service. The service which you are called upon to render in the cause of your motherland is the protection of the work and the uplift of the oppressed and downtrodden.

Stretch your arms across the frontiers and beyond the seas and make a common cause with the youths of other lands. Self-respect is your cherished hermitage; and Revolt against deadening customs is your watch word. Maintain your place in the vanguard of progress, but fail not to lead gently on your weaker comrades. Bear the banner aloft and press forward with unswerving tread and untiring nerves; and the cry of victory will redound from end to end even as the flag now unfurled shall flout the sky.

– Revolt, 16 January 1929

Madura Non Brahmin Youth Conference Resolutions.

The following are among the resolutions passed at the Madura-Ramand District Second Non-Brahmin Youth Conference held at Madura under the presidency of Mr. N. Sivaraj B.A.,B.L M.L.C., on 25^th and 26^th August29:-

1. This conference resolves that an association, like the Servants of India Society may be started for working for the upliftment of the Non-brahmin community.
2. This Conference requests the Government, Local Self Government officials and the Managers of private schools not to prescribe for studies in the schools under their managements, books inculcating ideas of inferiority and superiority and of antiquated customs and manners and requests the Non-brahmin authors not to write such books.
3. This Conference requests the Government to appoint a Committee to delete lessons referred to above from books approved by the Text Books Committee.
4. This Conference approves of the recommendations made by the Age of Consent Committee with regard to the Age of Consent and marriageable ages.
5. This Conference requests the members of the Legislative Assembly to wholeheartedly support this measure and pass it into law.
6. This Conference requests that even during ordinary conversations words indicating inferiority or superiority as of master and servant should not be used and specially requests the youths to cultivate this habit from the beginning.
7. This Conference is of opinion that in all choultries, Hospitals and public places under the management of the Government and in Refreshment Rooms under the management of the railways no distinction of caste should be made and requests that the existing distinctions should be abolished.
8. This Conference is of opinion that Brahmin teachers are mainly responsible for the backwardness of the Non-brahmin boys in their educational matters and requests that Non-brahmin teachers must be appointed in all the schools, especially as Headmasters, under the management of the Municipalities and Local Board Institutions.
9. This Conference requests that no license should be issued to hotels which observe caste distinctions and requests the Government to make necessary amendments in law to carry out the above object.
10. This Conference requests that in Civil Procedure Code and Registration Act nobody should be compelled to “write” their caste and religion.
11. This Conference adopts the resolution passed at the First Self-respect Provincial Conference held at Chingleput.

Revolt, 1 September 1929

The Second Non Brahmin Youth Conference :Presidential Address

The following is an extract of the presidential address delivered by Mr. N. Sivaraj, B.A.,B.L., M.L.C., at the (Madura-Ramnad) 2^nd Non-Brahmin Youth Conference held at Madura on the 25th and 26^th August:-

By electing me President of this Conference you have indeed conferred upon me an honour of which I m justly proud. As to my being worthy of it, I will content myself with stating in the words of Goethe, “It is a great mistake to fancy oneself greater than one is, to value oneself at less than one is worth.”

I am not here either to talk of vague ideals and indefinite promise which the politician often indulges in to gain your support, nor am I here to detail to you a catalogue of “dos” and “don’ts” which aged counselors invariably think it their duty to do. But I will submit just a few observations touching the Youth movement for your earnest consideration.

The Non-Brahmin movement as I understand it, stands for the equal treatment of all human beings: for the abolition of caste and caste monopoly; for natural rights as opposed to custom; for man against a system. It is opposed to the mode of social conduct known as Brahminism which fixed for every man a station in life by the accident of his birth. Have the people understood all these principles or having understood do they act up to them? Are we anywhere near the goal? The answers to these questions will enable us to judge the progress of the movement. I confess that the answers are far from satisfactory. I believe I am right when I say that the ideals have not reached the masses, and that a large section of the population is still under the baneful system of caste and cling to it with a pathetic adherence, not to mention of those who, no more believing in it than does a foreigner maintain it and use it for the material advantages to be derived from society. Many believe that the Non-Brahmin movement is against only the predominant caste – the Brahmins and be content with attacking the supremacy of the Brahmin without in their turn giving up the system which I call Brahmanism and of which they are more particular than the Brahmins themselves. I am inclined to call every one who sincerely or otherwise believes in the system a Brahmin. Considered thus the majority are Brahmins; only they fall into two categories the threaded and the thread-less. The Non-Brahmins, they, that have as their ideals the abolition of caste and of monopoly by birth, the equality of men and the dignity of labour are still in a minority. Those who act up to these ideals are fewer still. Hence it is that you must constantly strive to keep them in view in every action of yours, to deserve to call yourselves the Non-Brahmin youth. If you forget these ideals your efforts will be of no avail, and your movement will do more harm than good by spreading class hatred, and by perpetuating the very evils, which the Non-Brahmin movement was indented to remove.

Youth

Talking of youth, you will permit me to says what I understand by the term “YOUTH.” To me it does not signify merely a section of the population who by reason of some arbitrary age limit come to be called so, nor does it refer solely to the student population. It includes the labourer in the fields, the worker in the factory, the petty trader and the rich Zamindar. It knows no barriers of caste, creed or colour. It is rather with reference to the spirit and outlook upon life that youth has be to be distinguished from other categories into which humanity falls. Hope and enthusiasm, freedom from prejudices, love of liberty, boundless energy and liveliness – these are the distinctive characteristics of youth. The youth of a country on account of these form its most important asset. It is needless for me to tell you the part that youth has played in the history of the world. The pageant of youth through the ages is the most inspiring theme. Youth has very many achievements to its credit. It has undertaken many a mission and carried it out successfully but it has always been at the bidding of the elders. Now, however, it has acquired a self consciousness. Youth has organized itself all the world over, and stands on its own feet. It is seeking to solve all, by itself, not merely national problems but international problems. Its methods are different from those of the elders. Diplomacy, intrigue, formalities and ceremonies – these it abhors. Youth thus has come to play new role in the world. The League of Youth may succeed where the League of Nations fails.

In our country more than in any other, the youth have a new role to play. They have to stand up against the Rule of Custom. Custom is a huge octopus gripping India in its tentacles. The country must be freed from its grip before it can advance and march along with the other countries of the world. The task is one which requires boundless energy, enthusiasm and a real love of liberty. To search for these qualities in any quarter but that of youth is to search in vain. The spirit of friendly rivalry so peculiar to the young folk is another factor which renders them fit to undertake and accomplish this difficult task.

With these observations I appeal to you to take up the work of social reconstruction. Calling yourselves the Non-Brahmin youth, you cannot do better than to act up to the ideals which form the basis of the Non-Brahmin movement as I understand the term. You must inculcate these ideals in your fellow human beings, even in the remotest village. The lines on which you should work, you know best. I will not indicate them to you but you will permit me to touch upon some subjects in which I am interested.

There is for instance the curse of untouchability. I need not waste your time by recounting to you the evils resulting there from. Enough has been said about the necessity and desirability of removing that curse but I merely wish to point out that in order to realize the ideal of the dignity of man, untouchability must go. Further it is necessary, that it should be blotted out, if you want to give equal opportunities to all. I wish you know what a great drawback it is to be an untouchable. The legitimate doors of free and fair competition are shut against the untouchables in practice. The so called untouchable does not derive the full benefits from society to which he is entitled.Why, he is altogether outside the pale of society. It is up to you to address this grievance. I know it is a difficult and delicate task, to be accomplished only by our enthusiasm and energy. If you do not succeed nobody else will. The problem is one which must be tackled by the young and is capable of solution only at their hands.

Then you have to educate the people on the dignity of labour. No man ought to be condemned as low by reason of the work he is engaged in. In our country, it is very essential that people ought to understand this ideal. Work of any kind should not be despised. Work is not a curse, it is the prerogative of intelligence, the only means to manhood and the measure of civilization. Savages do not work. The growth of a sentiment that despises work is an appeal from civilization to barbarism. It is because people have not felt what is dignity of labour, that in this country work is regulated by caste, the higher caste taking to better kinds of work, the lower being doomed to the meaner ones. Why should it be? Every man should be given the freedom of choice of profession. Capacity, not caste should decide what work a man is fit for. It is for you to spread this idea to the ignorant masses of India.

Friends! When you done these you will have achieved a glorious success. You will have ennobled man. Every Indian then will have the opportunity to full manhood unhampered by any system. If I have laid emphasis on these two ideals (in fact one and the same) it is because, without a realization of these, India will never be a free country. Freedom implies self-respect and self-respect is impossible of attainment without these ideals. Lack of self respect rather an inability to appreciate self-respect is responsible for the subjections of our women, the treatments of the “untouchables” and the helpless condition of the masses. There are a number of other fields to which you can turn your activities and be useful to your fellow human beings. But your ultimate success lies in making every Indian realise the value of self-respect.

As to what methods you are to adopt, how you are to plan your campaign, I will not make any suggestion in particular. You must choose your own weapons. Avoid the company of the orthodox. “Religion in danger” is their cry. They merely cling to ritual and call it religion. In my opinion there can be no greater religion than devotion to social service.

Then the so called educated man is another obstacle probably. The educated men are fast forming themselves into another caste in India. They often feel that they have no lot or part with the rest of their unfortunate countrymen. They assume a certain superiority which is even more detestable than onr based on caste. The true value of education consists not merely in acquiring knowledge but in imparting that knowledge to your less fortunate fellow beings. Those of you who call themselves educated ought to be careful not to cerate an impression that you are different from and superior to the ordinary man in the street.

The family is another factor you should take note of. Very often it happens that you are helpless against it. You must educate the family in that case and bring into your point of view and not break away from it. These are some of the obstacles in your way. You should not despair. If you hold fast to your principles and do not lose your courage and independence, you are bound to overcome them in the long run. You have as youth, a definite contribution to make to the whole fabric of culture of the nation. This is a source of encouragement to you. One other suggestion. You must be practical. It is all very well to talk of ideals. But no ideal is ever capable of realization if it is divorced from practical considerations.

– Revolt, 15 September 1929

Nellore Social Conference Welcome Address

At Nellore, the Non-brahmin Social Conference was held under the presidency of Mr. A. Ramasami Mudaliar, President, Corporation of Madras. Khan Bahadur Janab Yah Ali, B.A.,B.L., Chairman or the Reception Committee then read his address of welcome from which we extract the following:-

The question of social reform has, to my mind, a special importance in this country, because of its enormous diversity and complexity. On the one hand there is the Hindu society broad based on a system of caste, which, however justifiable its origin might be has ultimately resulted in splitting up the society into numerous isolated castes and sub-castes with no centralizing force or element to maintain its compactness or solidarity; on the other hand, there exists the Mussalman community maintaining its integral existence organized on a principle of social equality intense but presenting social problems of its own somewhat peculiar and equally complex. Besides these two, there are other minor communities constituting the body politic maintaining however their own integral life with their peculiar problems of no mean importance. It is impossible to gainsay the fact that in this museum of cultures there has been no blending of these groups into one solid compact society, even though for centuries past these respective elements have lived together side by side. The vital problem before the social reformers of this country – a problem the like of which has not been faced by any nation as yet in the world’s history is how to bring about a harmonious organisation or these heterogeneous elements into one homogenous society functioning as one organic unit bereft of all those time-honoured, though time-outlived, institutions which have been the bane of the society so long.

Whether as a result of natural conservation or in consequence of being enslaved by custom and superstition or due to any other causes of an ultra social origin, the Indian has by nature been averse to any cataclysmic social reform and each step in that direction has invariably drawn out a volume of resistance which has steadily retarded the pace of social progress. The first inroad into the superiority and inferiority complex was made by the indigenous movement of Buddhism which for a time revolutionized and perhaps liberalized the Hindu society. The advent of Islam with its virile principle of social equality and brotherhood of mankind and its dynamic force was the first factor which occasioned a ripple on the sea of Hindu orthodoxy but that culture also domiciled in the soil exercising no considerable or lasting influence in altering the aspect of that social life. The last but not the least inroad into the Hindu society by the western science and western culture brought in the wake of the British rule, has contributed to a considerable extent to unsettle the philosophic repose of the spiritualistic Hindu and rudely awakened him to his materialistic environment. The Indian who always used to behave like the camel of the Arab hiding the head under the sands whenever a typhoon passed and soon after it spent itself, raised its head and went on measuring its steps in the sands oblivious of the storm and its effects, cannot, however, afford any longer to ignore the storms that are too often raging in all directions against the archaic citadel in which he has been living. It seems to me, therefore, that when once the social problem has been realized and it has been observed that the tide has risen and whether we will like it or not, the tide will carry us aloft, it is essential that we should take stock of the situation and determine carefully and in a circumspect manner the course that we will have to take in order that we may safely and successfully reach the destination.

At the threshold of any discussions of the specific problem facing us today lies the vexed question, which has latterly assumed considerable prominence, to wit, the extent to which social reform can be achieved by legislation. While just now the Child Marriage Restraint Bill has passed through both the Houses of the Imperial Legislature and is awaiting the assent of the Governor-General, while the report of the Age of Consent Committee is under the consideration of the Government and the public is eagerly awaiting its publication, while in our own province, we have the legislation with regard to the Devadasis, the enquiry relating to the Brothels, the amendments made from time to time in the local enactments to remove the bar of untouchability, we have, on the other hand, a storm of protest raised against some of those pieces of legislation founded upon an apprehension that religions and religious principles are in danger. On other hand, radical reformer cries that the Legislation is not making such vast progress and such deeper inroads as he desires, on the other hand, the orthodox element is vehemently raising the banner of revolt and is organizing its religious forces to discountenance such onslaughts on religion by means of legislation. Before introducing very drastic revolutions in family life, it seems essential that the most anxious attention should be paid to improve and augment educational facilities for the other sex. Literacy and education should be the bedrock of all social progress and without these steadying elements, the social changes can only lead to disruption rather than to really substantive and stable progress. With the advance of education it goes without saying, that the vast majority of the evils obtaining within the household which have handicapped the progress of the country will disappear and the reform thereafter will be easier, more rapid and more welcome. One has only to peruse the works written by the foreign observers like Miss Mayo and others to realize the disgust which the worst aspect of our family and social lives have caused on foreign minds and if only as an incentive to self realization, self knowledge and self rectification, I would welcome that publication, however much the jaundiced eyes of its writer may have tarnished the fair name of India. The lesson that Miss Mayo has taught to India, to my mind, seems to be not to dislike the administration which has rendered the publication of such an account possible but to turn the telescope within and by a process of introspection to study our real lives with a view to set our home in order.

I have already adverted to the intercaste relationship obtaining in the Hindu society and of the unmistakable indications in the horizon of the disappearance of the old order. It is a matter of happy augury that the campaign of (sic) untouchability and the endeavours to redeem and elevate the depressed classes have been bearing very commendable fruits and the higher classes cannot afford to ignore the portentious signs of the times and to alienate the feelings of such a large slice of humanity who are now struggling for their rights clamouring for a suitable place in the society which they have a right to belong. Intermingled with this question of intercaste relationship is the still larger question of communal amity. The fusion of the Hindu and Mussalmaan communities is a problem pertaining not only to the political field but also to the social. Indeed, it appears to me to be of the utmost social importance. It is for the future social reformer to consider whether he would revel in his own Maha Sabha, in his own Shuddi and Sankatan movements (the reference is to the Hindu Mahasabha and the Arya Samaj respectively – editors) and keep himself isolated feeding upon envy, hatred and revenge or whether he will take a broader outlook of the best and the noblest aspirations of the country and enlarge his social vision shorn of all pettiness and narrow mindedness….

It is now-a-days more fashionable to indulge in tall talk about politics and to ignore other fields of activity to the great detriment of the country, but I need hardly reiterate that emancipation from social evils is the surest sign of emancipation from political bondage and no society can really be happy in its political liberty without being well-organised and free from social disruption. The cancer which corrodes into society and undermines its well being also affects its political existence in a more potent measure. It is therefore of supreme importance that greater attention should be paid by the leaders of the country to this aspect of the country’s existence if it is desired that the real progress of the nation should be achieved in a lasting and abiding manner.

Revolt, 13 October 1929