Charan, Shiva [VerfasserIn]: Life of Gautama Buddha (Lucknow, 1902)

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became a most distinguished member of the
holy order. This gives us an idea of the
Buddha’s abhorrence and disregard of the sup-
posed importance of the caste system. How
many people are prepared to assign such a
high place to their barbers, though they may
acquire the knowledge and enlightenment of
Upali, even at the present day ?
The truth is that the very idea of a
Sudra mixing with a ‘twice-born’ or of his being
on a par with the latter, is jarring to the
nerves of an orthodox Hindu. The so-called
Brahmans, who are the spiritual leaders of the
Hindu society, and whose mere birth secures
them all respect and wealth, will not like the
change. They shall keep the masses of illiterate’
Hindus, whom they guide like so many sheep, in
blind ignorance, to the great pecuniary advan-
tage of their race and the utter destruction
of their disciples. But strange as it may
seem, the miners of the land have not also
benifited by the change. Roughly estimating
the Hindu population of India at two hundred