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Vol, XXII, No. 3
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while 'Antevnsin' occurs as a word used for the Caņdalas. As we are concerned here with the use of the term of Antyāvasãyin and its relation with a Brahmacäri only, we need not divert our attention to them.
'The use of the term Anevāsin for a Cāndāla though mentioned in the Amarakosha is rare and I do not remember having come across such usage in literature. Still, if the term is used that way, it means a person residing at the end of village. The meaning of term, however, must differ when it is used for a student (Brahmacārī). The word 'ante' is used in the sense of near' in the Närada Smộti (ācāryasya vasedante) and the term Antevāsin, therefore, must mean ‘one who lives near a teacher'. The pupil is enjoined by Nārada to stay near his teacher and the latter is to spare time for him and teach him regularly, to feed him and to treat him as own son15. The word 'ante' cannot mean anything but near' in this context as the pupil is further enjoined to serve the teacher and his wife and son attentively which is hardly possible by staying at a good distance.16
The term Antyāvasãyin cannot mean anything like that. How can one compare a Brahmacāri with that Antyāsāyin who is called 'vile even among the Bāhyas' and a dweller of cremation ground17 ? A person going to cremation ground even for a while becomes polluted and requires purification by bathing. How can then a caste reside in the cremation ground for ever and yet remain touchable ? To equate Antyāvasãyın with Antavāsin and then to pick up one of the senses of the term 'Antevāsin' (i.e. Brahmacāri) and to argue on the ground of that sense that the word connot possibly cannote untou. chability-that is what Ambedkar's logic amounts to. Such a logic we find it difficult to accept.
The Antyāvasāyips are not the only outcastes mentioned in the Dharmashästras. Manu has indicated the residence of Andhras and Medās, the two castes of the Bābya group, outside the village18. The Cândalas and sva pacas are forbidden entry into villages and towns during night'. Mounds, cremation grounds, hills, forests and gardens are said to be the dwellings of Nisāda, Āyogava, Chunchu, Madgu, Kşair, Ugra, Pukkasa, Dhigvaga, Veņa etc. 20 Why they were not allowed to enter and reside in villages and town requires explanation.
DR. Ambedkar can explain that away. But we come across the term 'Apa patra' in at least three Dharma Sūtras21. They were people who could not touch and use the food vessels of higher' castes. If they used them, the vessels could not be purified by any means and had to be thrown away. Manu uses the term for Candalas and
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