சமயம் / 5
always truly and faithfully. In consideration of such meritorious service they were given high appointments in the army and they and their relatives for a time led a life of decent competency, and, with the help of the pension bestowed on them in old age, were able to give to their children somewhat liberal education and to make them rise in the scale of civilization. But, now, to leave these people as it were no longer in the enjoyment of such comfort and happiness and to prevent their further progress, the high caste men, who once refused to enlist themselves in this battalion as they thought they would lose their caste thereby, have begun to do so to a large extent. By this all hopes of obtaining high appointments in the army and rising to position are lost to the members of this class, and their gradual banishment from the battalion is the result.
Fourthly - When hospitals were first established, to render medical aid both to troops and civil subjects, the high caste men, thinking it would be quite unbecoming them as caste men to dissect dead bodies and dress the wounds and sores of men of all nationality, did not try for appointment in hospitals as apothecaries, dressers, etc. The members of this community alone offered themselves up for this service. In rendering medical aid to the troops during the time of war and in ministering unto the wants of the subjects in general whenever they became ill, they worked truly and honestly for the benefit of Government. With the help of the decent pay they got for their good service and of the pension obtained in old age, they and their families were not only able to live in affluence but were also able to educate their children. But now this profession is closed for them. There is no means of proving that now-a-days at least at the rate of one per annum their young men enter the Government service as dressers. This is because the very caste men who once regarded it as unbecoming on their part to dress sores have entered the Medical profession in great majority.
Fifthly - The members of this community who live in the villages have for ages been serving faithfully as watchmen over hamlets and fields and to this day they are the faithful protectors of their masters' property. Such faithful men are scarcely allowed to enlist themselves as city Police men and as Salt and Abkari Police men, who draw better emoluments of pay for their services. Even if they are allowed to do so, their Pariah nationality is made to stand as a bar to their getting higher appointments in that department and as a cause of their ruin.
Sixthly - It will be clear from the foregoing remarks that at all places whence money and health is to be got, a caste man has no caste to observe, but a Pariah alone has his low caste always to stand in his way wherever he goes to get money or to preserve his health. He is thus excluded from sharing every thing that is good and useful and forced to remain always in a degraded condition. He cannot even claim to live healthily. Within the Municipal limits of Madras there is a village called the Hall's Garden which is solely peopled by this race. The benefits of a Municipality are not extended to it; for, it has no metalled roads, nor has it drains or water pipes. The filthy water which the people use soaks into the ground, and during the rainy season an offensive smell emanates from the ground which pollutes the air they inhale. They therefore become often subject to various kinds of disease and get their health, more and more impaired. If such is the state of a village within Municipal
