The difference was a glaring difference. That this was a revolution is beyond question. Unfortunately, students of Indian history have entirely missed the importance of this strife. If the Brahmins had acted from conviction that animal sacrifice was bad, all that was necessary for them to do was to give up killing animals for sacrifice⦠That they did go in for vegetarianism makes it obvious that their motive was far-reaching. The revolution has taken place in spite of Manu and contrary to his directions. They are not maxims. The first element in religion presupposes a classification of all things, real and ideal, which are the subject-matter of man's thought, into two distinct classes which are generally designated by two distinct terms the sacred and the profane, popularly spoken of as secular. If there was a time when the Untouchables were not Untouchables even though they ate beef why should beef-eating give rise to Untouchability at a later-stage? Nor did their conduct contravene the doctrine of Ahimsa assuming that it has anything to do with the abandonment of beef-eating by the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins. Can the hatred between Buddhism and Brahmanism be taken to be the sole cause why Broken Men became Untouchables? For the Brahmin every day was a beef-steak day. The only way to beat the Buddhists was to go a step further and be vegetarians. ⦠Ambedkarâs 1948 work The Untouchables: Who Were They and Why They Became Untouchables? This made beef-eating a sacrilege. The answer is that the Brahmins had to suspend or abrogate a requirement of their Vedic religion in order to overcome the supremacy of the Buddhist Bhikshus. Why ⦠The Broken Men who continued to eat beef became guilty of sacrilege. Surely not. Generally speaking, the Smritikars never care to explain the why and the how of their dogmas. In this connection it must be remembered that there was one aspect in which Brahmanism suffered in public esteem as compared to Buddhism. Contact may be established in a variety of ways other than touch. For they did not kill the cow. It is two revolutions rolled into one. If the Broken Men were eating beef from the very beginning, then obviously the theory cannot stand. A person who gets birth in a Brahmin family is no different from a person who gets birth in a so called 'shoodra' family. It will be found that Untouchability is the result of the breach of the interdiction against the eating of the sacred animal, namely, the cow. Their breach is more than a crime. The strife between Buddhism and Brahmanism is a crucial fact in Indian history. It comes, so to say, straight from the horseâs mouth and what is important is that it is also rational for it accords with facts as we know them. Subscribe to The Hindu now and get unlimited access. The question is why should a Hindu king have come forward to make a law against cow-killing, that is to say, against the Laws of Manu? It is generally believed that the Buddhist Bhikshus eschewed animal food. The law made by the Gupta Emperors was intended to prevent those who killed cows. But there is nothing surprising in it. That the cow is venerated in the Rig Veda is of course true. Indeed the cow was killed because the cow was regarded as sacred. The strife between Buddhism and Brahmanism is a crucial fact in Indian history. This explanation is obviously unsatisfactory. â¦The giving up of the yajna system and abandonment of the sacrifice of the cow could have had only a limited effect. They, in their turn, built temples and installed in them images of Shiva, Vishnu and Ram and Krishna etc.â all with the object of drawing away the crowd that was attracted by the image worship of Buddha. It continued to be the religion of the masses for hundreds of years. Most important of these is the interdiction on contact. Why Should Beef-Eating Make Broken Men Untouchables? This, of course, raises another question: Why did the Brahmins give up beef-eating? Although the non-Brahmins did eat beef they could not have had it every day. It is the strategy which all rightists use to overcome the leftists. B.R. B.R. But in 12% of the cases the husband was a meat eater, while the wife was a vegetarian⦠Were all the brahmins always Vegetarian? As they could not escape carrying the dead cow they did not mind using the flesh as food in the manner in which they were doing previously. âUntouchables are Broken Men belonging to a tribe different from the tribe comprising the village community.â, âBroken Men were the followers of Buddhism and did not care to return to Brahmanism when it became triumphant over Buddhismâ.Â. Examining the legislation of Asoka the question is: Did he prohibit the killing of the cow? At the most it would have put the Brahmins on the same footing as the Buddhists. The Vedanta Sutra which proclaims the doctrine of oneness of life does not prohibit the killing of animals for sacrificial purposes as is evident from II.1.28. They wanted to oust the Buddhists from the place of honour and respect which they had acquired in the minds of the masses by their opposition to the killing of the cow for sacrificial purposes. This statement might surprise many people owing to the popular belief that the connection between Ahimsa and Buddhism was immediate and essential⦠This is an error. Clearing distortionary theories and unravelling the truth behind Brahmin vegetarianism. Brahmins, who had overcome the challenge of Buddhism, increasingly became vegetarian, along with the Banias (who were strongly influenced by the Jains). It could not have given the Brahmins the means of achieving supremacy over the Buddhists which was their ambition. The Impure And The Untouchables .. But they seem to be entirely unaware of the struggle for supremacy in which these creeds were engaged and that their struggle, which extended for 400 years has left some indelible marks on religion, society and politics of India. There must therefore be some special reason why in India the difference between the Settled Community and the Broken Men in the matter of beef eating created a bar between the two. A select list of articles that match your interests and tastes. All that is necessary to reach the answer I have proposed is to read the analysis of the working of the laws of the sacred with the cow as the sacred object. It divides Hindus into vegetarians and flesh eaters. We must however refuse to enter into this discussion as it is unnecessary for the immediate purpose we have in mind. It attacked Brahmanism on all sides as no religion had done before. Ambedkar's conclusions, based on an analysis of various religious texts, will seem more than deeply ironical to anyone who studies contemporary India, for the father of Indian Constitution argued that Brahmins who once had no compunctions against slaughter of animals, including cows, and were the greatest beef-eaters themselves, not only gave up beef-eating but also started worshipping the cow as a deliberate strategy. August 9, 2020 Leave a Comment. The Broken Men had therefore no cause for feeling qualms of conscience in continuing to eat the dead cow. The fact is that the Buddhist Bhikshus were permitted to eat three kinds of flesh that were deemed pureâ¦. To have given up meat-eating altogether and become vegetarians was another revolution. Ambedkar asks in this excerpt from âBeef, Brahmins and Broken Men: An Annotated Critical Selection from The Untouchablesâ So I stuck it out, despite being in Western Canada, Alberta to be specific, a definite meat eater's paradise. As we fight disinformation and misinformation, and keep apace with the happenings, we need to commit greater resources to news gathering operations. It can therefore be taken for granted that in the ancient past when both the Settled Community and Broken Men did eat beef the former ate fresh beef and the latter of the dead cow and that this system represented a universal state of affairs throughout India and was not confined to the Maharashtra alone. In special cases individuals and groups changed their social class. That being the case, the Brahmins could do nothing to improve their position against the Buddhists except by giving up the Yajna as a form of worship and the sacrifice of the cow. Beef-eating was not merely a crime. For instance, women are not allowed to see certain things which are regarded as sacred. Many depend on Manusmriti, an ancient legal text in Sanskrit, to prove the point. It was because they did not want to put themselves merely on the same footing in the eyes of the public as the Buddhist Bhikshus. As the French author, Gabriel Tarde has explained that culture within a society spreads by imitation of the ways and manners of the superior classes by the inferior classes. As a result of the spread of Buddhism, the Brahmins had lost all power and prestige at the Royal Court and among the people. In a period overridden by ritualism there was hardly a day on which there was no cow sacrifice to which the Brahmin was not invited by some non-Brahmin. If the Hindus were eating beef, when did they give it up? To enable wide dissemination of news that is in public interest, we have increased the number of articles that can be read free, and extended free trial periods. He has to surrender it to the Mahar. Even this explanation does not fit in with facts. Why then did the Brahmins give up meat-eating and become vegetarians? Slowly the people who have been practicing the vegetarian food have become complete vegetarians and made it a rule that Brahmins cannot eat vegetarian food. Or was it dictated by strategy? Earlier in the book, Ambedkar introduces the concept of Broken Men, whom he describes as follows: In a tribal war it often happened that a tribe instead of being completely annihilated was defeated and routed. Without the realization of this fact, it is impossible to explain some of the features of Hinduism. The only way to beat the Buddhists was to go a step further and be vegetarians. After the death of Buddha his followers started setting up the images of the Buddha and building stupas. Buddhism had made so deep an impression on the minds of the masses and had taken such a hold of them that it was absolutely impossible for the Brahmins to fight the Buddhists except by accepting their ways and means and practising the Buddhist creed in its extreme form. This means that no Hindu can eat the flesh of his own animal when it dies. â¦The giving up of the yajna system and abandonment of the sacrifice of the cow could have had only a limited effect. Without it they would starve. Chapter XIII. The answer is that without becoming vegetarian the Brahmins could not have recovered the ground they had lost to their rival namely Buddhism. As the Buddhist Bhikshus did eat meat the Brahmins had no reason to give it up. That he did not prohibit the slaughter of the cow in specie may well be taken as a fact which for having regard to the Buddhist attitude in the matter cannot be used against Asoka as a ground for casting blame. As a subscriber, you are not only a beneficiary of our work but also its enabler. We have no positive evidence to show that members of the Settled Community never ate the flesh of the dead cow. Secondly, it was unnecessary for them to become vegetarians. Two such objections to the thesis appear obvious. This feature lies in religion being a unified system of beliefs and practices which (1) relate to sacred things and (2) which unite into one single community all those who adhere to them. 14: Why should beef-eating make Broken Men Untouchable? From the Rig Veda (X.72.6) it appears that the cow was killed with a sword or axe. That in an agricultural population there should be respect for Buddhism and revulsion against Brahmanism which involved slaughter of animals including cows and bullocks is only natural. Why did the Brahmins give up beef-eating? THE stoppage of beef-eating by the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and the continued use thereof by the Broken Men had produced a situation which was different from the old. They did not stop to make a difference between a living cow and a dead cow. But we have negative evidence which shows that the dead cow had become an exclusive possession and perquisite of the Broken Men. 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