A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

550 THE REFORM OF CASTE.ancient and modem. What is the plan? The idealkt one end is the Brahmin and the ideal at the otherend is the cCtandala, and the whole work i to raise theChandala up to the Brahmin. Slowly and slowly you findmore and more privileges granted to them. There arebooks where you read such fierce words as these "If the:Sudra hears,fill his ears with molten lead, and i h^remembers a line cut him to pieces. If he says tothe Brahmin you Brahmin cut his tongueout."Diabolical old barbarism, no doubt,. itgoes withoutsaying, but do not blame the, lawgivers, who simplyrecorded the customs of some section of the commuthose ancients. Therenity. Such devils arose amonghave been devils everywhere more or less in all aes.Ther you find that this is toned down a little ; only donot disturb them but do not teach them higher things.Then slowly we find in other Smritis, especially thosethat have fullpower now, that if the Sudras imitatethe manners and customs of the Brahmins they arebest off, they ought to do that. Thus it is going on. Ihave no time to place before you all these workings,how they can be traced in detail; but coming to plain factswe find that all the castes are to rise slowly and slowly ;however, there are thousands of castes and some are evengetting admission! into Brahminhood ;for what preventsu any caste from declaring they are Brahmins ? Thuscaste, with all its rigour, has been made in that wr ay.Say there are castes he^e with ten thousand people each.If these put their hei ds together and say we will callourselves Brahmins, notiiing can stop them who is to;saynay. I see it in my own life. Some castes become strong,and as soon as they all agree who is to say nay ? Becausewhatever it be, each caste is exclusive of the other. It