A Forgotten Liberator by Braj Ranjan BaMani

Some may well wonder as to how the Bhats managed to crush the depressed and down-trodden people here even though they (the Shudras) outnumbered them tenfold.

(Should a Bhat Officer find a spittle from a Shudra's mouth on the road, woe betide the Shudra!)……. Should he happen to pass through a Brahmin (Bhat) locality he had to carry an earthen-pot slung about his neck to collect his spittle. The Shudras were forbidden even to spit in the streets. Should a Shudra be unlucky enough to cast his polluting shadow on a Bhat inadvertently, the Bhat used to belabour him mercilessly and would go to bathe at the river to wash off the pollution. He was free to proceed further only after the `Bhat Saheb' had passed by him. If a `Bhat Saheb' were to come along from the opposite direction, the Shudra had to stop by the road until such time as the `Bhat Saheb' passed by - for fear of casting his polluting shadow on him. It was difficult for the Shudras to move about freely in the streets for their daily routine, most of all in the mornings when persons and things cast long shadows about them. More often than not he would be punished stringently for complaining against the Bhats. He could not complain to the Government Officials, as the administration was dominated by the Bhats. On recovering from the swoon the Shudra would collect his blood- stained clothes and wend his way home silently. Even then, if a drop of water were to touch the body of the Bhat from there, or even if the Bhat so imagined it, the Bhat did not hesitate to fling his utensil angrily at the head of the Shudra who would collapse to the ground, his head bleeding profusely. If a Bhat happened to pass by a river where a Shudra as washing his clothes, the Shudra had to collect all his clothes and proceed to a far distant spot, lest some drops of the (contaminated) water should be sprayed on the Bhat. On his 189 th Birth Anniversary, April 11, we bring to you excerpts from Jyotiba Phule’s path breaking work, severely criticising Brahminism and the Caste System

A Forgotten Liberator by Braj Ranjan BaMani