Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/26

 a Mahar is foul and untouchable. Between them we find a series of castes of countless gradations. The words "foul and untouchable" need some explanation. If a Mahar touches, or even if his shadow falls on a Hindu of a good caste, the latter is supposed to be polluted and is himself unfit to be touched or to enter a house unless he takes a bath. How to simplify these social relations is the problem for us to solve.

To effect any change in a society so complex and so highly organized, a tremendous force is needed, and where is it? It might be thought that individuals might get over these notions of their own accord and remove the evil, but that idea would prove fallacious. Individuals, especially of the higher castes, do not suffer very great inconvenience in their actual dealings, though society as a whole is weakened by the system. As they do not find any inconvenience by letting the things go on as they are going now, they have no inclination to work in the opposite direction and get into trouble. When individuals cannot remove an evil it is the duty of the community or government to do it. The government of India does not care to reform society, because it is afraid that its intentions may be misunderstood. It has determined on a policy of letting society alone. The task will fall upon some disinterested people who look to the