Show LOWEST OF IUNDOOS LOT OF DESPISED PANCHAMA IS INDEED PITIABLE Cannot Draw Water from Village Well or Approach Those of Higher Caste Lest He Pollute Them by His Nearness Tho lot of tho Hindoo of the lowest order of society Is truly pltlnhlo Ho bas no plnco In tho social schema no nlcho to fill In the visible universe lie Is not so well off tin one of tho dogs that prowl In tho village marketplace market-place for he Is still a sentient human being In many villages says n writer In the London Times ho has to live entirely apart lie Is not even allowed to draw water from tho village vil-lage well lest ho should pollute It by his touch and where there Is no second well for tho untouchables tho hardship Is cruel especially In seasons of drought when casual wa Rer dries up In every circumstance of his life the vileness of his lot Is brought homo to the wretched pariah by an elaborate and relentless system of social oppression I will only quote one or two Instances which havo como within my own observation Tho respective re-spective distances beyond which Panclmmas must not approach a Brahman lest they pollute1 him differ according to tholr degree Of uncleanness unclean-ness Though they havo been laid down with great precision It Is growing grow-ing more and more difficult to enforce them with tho Increasing promiscuity of railway and street car Intercourse but In tho more remote parts of India In-dia and especially In tho couth tho old rules are Btlll often observed In Cochin a few years ago 1 was crossing cross-ing a bridge and Just In front of me walked a respectablelooking native Ho suddenly turned tall and running back to tho end of tho bridge from which we had both come plunged out of sight into tho Jungle on the side of the road He had seen a Brahman entering on to tho bridge from tho other end and he had fled Incontinently Incontinent-ly rather than Incur tho resentment of that high casto gentleman by Inflicting In-flicting upon him tho pollution of forbidden propinquity as tho bridge though a fairly broad one was not wide enough for them to pass each other at the proscribed distance In tho native state of Travancoro It Is not uncommon to see a Panclmmn witness wit-ness In a lawsuit standing about 100 yards from the court so as not to de file tho Brahman judge and pleaders while a row of peons or messengers stationed between him and tho court hand on Its questions to him and pass back his replies |