The Breaking Down of Caste

In Volume 5, Number 3 of the *Star of the West,* dated the twenty-eighth of April, 1914, the editors reprinted a short letter headed "The Breaking Down of Caste," taken from the London weekly *The Christian Commonwealth.* It was signed M. Holbach and dated from 'Akká on Good Friday.

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The letter began with a group of pilgrims from India:

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> Among the Bahai pilgrims now at Haifa are a group of > Indians—among whom is a young Hindu of high caste—who by > crossing the sea and living in the pilgrim house with > Zoroastrians, Jews, and Mohammedans have crossed the rubicon > and broken down the wall of caste which presents such an > impenetrable barrier to the Christian missionary.

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Holbach talked with these pilgrims. One, a lawyer by profession, explained that at home they avoided religious discussion as far as possible, so that the faith of his forefathers had become for him a mere form. Yet he spoke of a prophecy in the Hindu scriptures that whenever irreligion prevails on earth, a new prophet will arise to re-establish religion.

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Another was the master of the upper form in a Government school in India where three-quarters of the pupils were Muslims. Holbach believed that the spirit of brotherhood this teacher carried would reach his pupils even though he did not teach them religion.

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The letter closed with 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself, who was then visiting 'Akká and living in the house of Bahá'u'lláh, close to the prison where He had been confined with His Father. Holbach described Him passing through the narrow streets of the town, saluted with deep respect by the Turkish officials and the officers of the garrison, who visited Him constantly:

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> "The Master" does not teach in Syria as he did in the West, > but he goes about doing good, and Mohammedans and Christians > alike share his benefactions. From sunrise often till midnight > he works, in spite of broken health, never sparing himself if > there is a wrong to be righted or a suffering to be relieved.

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In the same issue the *Star of the West* printed other testimonies of the time, including one describing how, among the Bahá'ís, people of many religions "sit at one board in amity, eat of one dish, and offer united thanksgiving to one Giver."

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*A retelling based on **Star of the West**, Volume 5, No. 3 (April 28, 1914), "The Breaking Down of Caste," reprinted from The Christian Commonwealth. For the fuller account, see the original.*

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