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BRAHMINS AND PANCHAMAS

[''Mr. and Mrs, Gandhi on their way to Tranquebar arrived at Mayavarant on 2nd May, 1915, and they were presented with an address by the citizens of the town. In the course of his reply Mr. Gandhi said'']:—

It was quite by accident that I had the great pleasure, of receiving an address from my 'Panchama brethren,' and there, they said that they were without convenience for drinking water, they were without convenience for living supplies, and they could not buy or hold land. It was difficult for them even to approach courts. Probably, the last is due to their fear, but a fear certainly not due to themselves, and who is then responsible for this state of things? Do we propose to perpetuate this state of things? Is it a part of Hinduism? I do not know. I have now to learn what Hinduism really is. In so far as I have been able to study Hinduism outside India, I have felt that it is no part of real Hinduism to have in its fold a mass of people whom I would 60