Babasaheb Dr B.R Ambedkar

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z:\ ambedkar\vol-05\vol5-06.indd MK SJ+YS 23-9-2013 470 470 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES policy of making Christianity easy. In adopting this policy the Missionaries never thought that some day, somebody would ask them ‘What good is Christianity for a Hindu if it does not do away with his Caste’. They misunderstood their mission and thought that making a person Christian was the same thing as making him a follower of Christ. V Let us take the second part of the question. Has Christianity been able to save the convert from the sufferings and the ignominy which is the misfortune of every one who is born an untouchable? Can an untouchable after his conversion to Christianity take water from a public well? Are his children admitted to a public school? Can he enter a hotel or tavern which was not open to him ? Can he enter a shop and buy things from inside? Will a barber shave him? Will a washerman wash his clothes? Can he travel in a bus? Will he be admitted in Public offices without compunction ? Will he be allowed to live in the touchable quarters of the village? Will the Hindus take water from him ? Will they dine with him ? Will not the Hindu take a bath if he touches him ? I am sure the answer to every one of these questions must be in the negative. In other words conversion has not brought about any change in the social status of the untouchable convert. To the general mass of the Hindus the untouchable remains an untouchable even though he beomes a Christian. The question is, why has Christianity not succeeded in raising the status of the untouchable convert? What are the reasons for this failure? I am not sure that my reasons will be accepted by all those who are interested in the problem. But I will state them for what they are worth. To understand and appreciate what I am going to say I must begin by pointing out that a change in the social status of the convert Can be the result of a two-fold change. There must be a change in the attitude of the Hindus. Secondly there must be a change in the mentality of the convert. Status is a dual matter, a matter inter se between two persons and unless both move from their old position there can be no change. What has been done by those who are in charge of Christian endeavour to make the parties move on? A consideration of this question will enable us to understand why Christianity has failed to raise the status of the untouchable convert. Let us consider the question in parts. What has Christianity done to make the Hindus move on? I find they have done nothing. They seem to be depending upon an idea doing the miracle. The faith in an idea
z:\ ambedkar\vol-05\vol5-06.indd MK SJ+YS 23-9-2013 471 THE CONDITION OF THE CONVERT 471 doing the work has been well expressed by the late Duke of Argyle when he said: “There is no method of reform so powerful as this. If alongside any false or corrupt belief, or any vicious or cruel system, we place one incompatible idea,—then without any noise of controversy or clash of battle, those beliefs and customs will wave an idea. It was thus that Christianity, without one single word of direct attack, killed off one of the greatest and most universal curses of the pagan world,—the ever deepening curse of slavery.” 1 Whatever may be the importance of an idea, I am sure, history does not bear out the conclusion of the Duke of Argyle. It is debatable question whether the end of slavery in the Roman Empire was due to the influence of Christianity. It is beyond doubt that serfdom continued in Europe although Christianity was an established institution for several hundred years. It is an incontrovertible fact that Christianity was not enough to end the slavery of the Negroes in the United States. A civil war was necessary to give the Negro the freedom which was denied to him by the Christians. The dependence of those in charge of Christian endeavour upon planting of an idea and leaving it to work a miracle is therefore one of the reasons why the untouchable has remained an untouchable notwithstanding his Christian faith. Let me take the other part of the question. Does Christianity inspire the untouchable to move on ? I am constrained to say that (it)does not. So far as I am able to see, Christian preaching to the untouchable is less centered on ‘practical’ reforms and more centered around the development of Christian social attitudes. Christians who desire the conversion of the untouchables insist on regarding Christianity as purely “spiritual”. To teach that Christians have an obligation to love others is no doubt very valuable. But to stop there and argue that spiritual life expressed in a social attitude is quite unrelated to material life and Christians can have nothing to do with it, is in my judgment to preach an empty doctrine. What is the use of a daily exhortation to a wrong doer to be good and just if the exhortation is not followed by action to make the wrong doer just and good. The Christian Missionaries have never thought that it was their duty to act and get the injustice that pursues the untouchables even after his conversion to Christianity removed. That Missions should be so inactive in the matter of the social emancipation of the untouchable is of course a very sad thing. But far more painful is the inaction of the untouchable who becomes a convert to Christianity. It is the saddest thing. He 1 Quoted by C. F. Andrews. Christ and Labour, p. 25.
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’ Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (14
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No one can hope to make any effecti
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Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar : Writings a
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Collected Works of Babasaheb Dr. Am
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(vi) FOREWORD It is a matter of som
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(viii) PREFACE The success of legis
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(xii) EDITORIAL It was learnt that
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(xiv) EDITORIAL *9. The Decline and
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(xvi) EDITORIAL Part—III What the
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(xx) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page BOOK II
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Babasaheb Dr B.R Ambedkar

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