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Vol. XXI, No. 3
91
between the Aniravasita Shūdras and Niravasita Shūdras. Had he done that, he would not have concluded that untouchability came about around 400 A.D. Panini leaves no room for such conjections and establishes firmly the existence of untonchability before 483 B.C. In the days of Buddha
There is evidence to show that untouchability was not unknown in the days of Buddha Dr. Ambedkar himself has come across two stories in his The Buddha and his Dhamma" that prove the existence of untouchability at the time. While describing the story of Suppiya and Sopaka's convertion to Buddhism, Ambedkar calls them pariahs. If Suppiya and Sopaka, who became Buddha's disciples were pariahs, how can one believe that untouchability came about much later?
Ambedkar narrates the story of the Chandala girl, Prakṛti, in the same work. She was going on her way with a pot of water. Ananda requested her to give him some water to drink, She refused with the information that she was a Chanḍāla girl. Ānanda told her he wanted water to drink and did not want to know her caste. Such conversation proves that the Chandalas were outcasts at the time and people belonging to higher castes' (including even the Vedic Sanyasius) did not accept water from them. No wonder the non-Vedic monks (with the exception of the Buddhists) too treated the Chandalas in the same way. Even now we find so many socialists, communists and progressives who follow the caste rules and practise untouchability. That explains the Chanḍāla girls's unwillingness to give water to Ananda. Ambedkar has picked up these pieces of information from translations of the Pali cannons and the incidents occurred during the life of Buddha. So, There was untouchability even in the days of Buddha. To hesitate to concede so much antiquity to it would be as wrong as to support untouchability on the ground of its antiquity. Refusal to record truth and the attempt to falsify and distort it are the greatest crimes a historian can ever commit. Truth, even if bitter, is essential for correct understanding of social reality and proves ultimately a source of strength to the oppressed. So deviation from truth is not permissible on any specious grounds whatsoever. And to respect truth, we cannot help concluding that untouchability in India originated before 623 B.C.
The Upanisads and before
Scholars differ regarding the date of the Upanisads. But there is a general consensus that all the Upanisads do not belong to one period. The Brahadāraṇyak and the Chhandogya are believed to be
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