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Vol. XXII, No. 4
219
more primitive the conditions in a country are, the more rigorous are the ideas regarding contact. What lies behind such ideas as the fear of losing one's special powers and receiving various misfortunes from others as a result of the touch, Exclusiveness is the only religion of the primitive stage. The savage peoples of the islands of the Pacific Ocean call it mana,"36
It means, mana is something confined to the uncivilised. The Aryans were civilised and therefore there could be no room for exclusiveness in their society. A number of facts are ignored in this logic and we must remind our readers about it.
1. All the civilised people in the world have passed through the state of saya gery at some time or other. Even when they reach civilisation, they do not get rid of all the traits of savagery and relics of the past remain, We have moved far from the state when stone implements were the only possessions of mankind and vessels could be prepared of earth or stone only. Still, use of pestle and quern, of stone and earthen vessels is favoured for religious purposes. Fire is lighted in kilns as well as during sacrifices not with matches but after the fashion of the primitive man Civilised man of the twentieth century still follows the mana on occasions like birth, death, marriage etc. That is true about all civilised societies.
2. Intellectual development in any society is highly uneven with the result that alongwith the enlightened we find backward sections in society. Malnutrition and diseases are the companions of the poor sections of society even in civilised societies. Mostly they remain illiterate to date. Even in the United States, there are many who believe in spirits, astrology, palmistry, magic etc. Intellectual development was far more slow and uneven in former times.
3. History and sociology do not use terms like "civilised' and "uncivilised' for praise or abuse. They are used for food producers and food gatherers respectively. So the statement, 'the Aryans were not uncivilised' can mean only that they had passed to the stage of food production from the stage of food gathering and learned the use of metals. It is utterly false and illogical to imply that no section of the Aryans was backward, no section had retained the implements, superstitions, beliefs, habits and practices of savagery.
So we bave to conclude that the Aryans too had a backward section in socicty and exclusiveness was not a vice found in the nonAryans only. That leaves no justification for laying the blame for untouchability at the door of the exclusiveness of the Aryans only. Neither one nor any non-Aryan peoples can be held responsible for untouchability.
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