FAST ENDS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11957, 30 May 1933, Page 5

FAST ENDS

“HOLDING HIS OWN.”

NO-ONE KNOWS WHAT IT IS ABOUT.

“OLD MAN” REGARDED HUMOROUSLY AS A NUISANCE.

(U.P.A. by ETecvTcl. ’Copyright) CALCUTTA, May' 28.

Only 12 hours are left for Gandhi to complete liis 21 days’ fast, during Avhieli ho lived entirely on mineral water.

He was described to-night as “holding his own/’ with every probability of his being able to enjoy goat’s milk and orainge ijuicc at noon to-morrow.

At the end of the last, nobody, least of all Gandhi, appears to know what it is all about. Whether it was ail expert piece of political c]fTchancory in order to embarrass tbc Government, whether an insane act of a. megalio-maniac or a superb altruistic gesture, it was a complete failure, as it excited less interest among the masses than any previous act. Tho Indian political intelligentsia regard the “old man” ag a nuisance, while the man in the.street regards him with amused tolerance.

MR. GANDH! TN GOOD FORM. (U.P.A. by EJee. Tel. Copyright) (Received May 30, 1 a.m.) CALCUTTA, May 29. . Mr. Gandhi broke bis fast at 12.30. His condition is satisfactory. THE “UNTOUCHABLES’ ’ INDIA’S CRUEL CASTE LAWS FIG IJ T KOIf LIBERATION Far away from “India’s coral •strand,” in a land where the rule huti always been democratic and class distinctions all but .nil, it is difficult for people to grasp tile cast iron distinctions .which exist between the different, peoples which make up our Indiaii Empire. Tile space that- divides the Anglican from tho Roman Catholic, the MV thud ist from the Seventh Day Adventist- is but the tiniest rivulet of thought beside the mighty oceans that divide the 1 peoples of the- var ioiis religions of India. Sitting below tho dirt trodden by the high caste Hindu, the holy Brahman,’ and the smug Moslem are the great immeasurable army of tlm “Untouchables,” on whose behalf Mr. Ghrmflhi sweats and starve b.v Lira, always imbued with the hope ihar his benighted fellow-eoiirttrymen will one dav rise above the nelly bonds of caste, and treat these, people as human beings. Thi s has tn be grasp ed tn realise the fight that- Gandhi i s putting up fo r (heir liberation.

“At the summit of the pyramid of these diverse peoples °f India.” write s Dr. G. S. Gliuyro, “stands the Brahman, who proudly monopolises the priesthood and gives religious sanction to hi s position. At the. bottom are the Sudras, whose very touch pollutes the Brahmen. A sudra may not use the village well or even live in the village. He is less than the dust under the Brahman’, s feet. Even eternity holds out little hope for him.

“So rigid arc the rules about de. fdemeut, which is supposed to be carried with them by all Brahmans, that the latter will not perform even their ablutions within the precincts of a Sudva’s habitation Generally the washerman and barber that serve the general body of villagers will not render tlieir services to the unclean and untouchable castes Even a modem Brahman doctor, when feeling the pulse of a Sudra, first wraps up the patient's wrist with a small piece of silk so that he may not be defiled by touching his skin. . • “All over India the impure castes are debarred from drawing water from the village well which is useu by the members, of other castes. In the Ala rath a country a Malian—one of the untouchables—might not spe on the road lest a piwv-caste Hindu should be polluted by touching it with his foot, but had to carry an earthen pot, hung from his neck in which to spit. Further, he had to dne a thorny branch with him to wipo out his footprints and to lie at a distance prostrate .on the ground if a Brahman passed by, so that bis foul shadow might not defile the holy Brahman.”