Learning to Read
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		Before Ismail no one else in the village had ever gone to school. When he strated going, it was as though he had seen the light of day for the first time. He became determined to get all his brothers educated. But his older brothers Nallayya and Gollayya were already in their twenties and could not be persuaded to overcome their fear of reading and writing. Ismail insisted that the two youngest sons in the family go to the mission school. In the Ramayana there is a story that a brahmin mourning the death of his son went to the great king Rama and said, "Rama, a son should never die while his father is still alive. This could only have happened because the caste laws are not being followed in your kingdom." Rama, whose epic virtue was to uphold the dharmam--the caste laws and laws governing the proper role of women--sent spies to the four corners of his kingdom. They informed him that there was a sudra named Sambhooka who had become well-versed in the Vedas. According to the ancient Hindu caste law codified by Manu, which continued to be practiced under the British, the only people allowed to read and recite the Vedas were the brahmins. The kshatriyas were allowed to listen to a brahmin reciting from the Vedas but not to read them themselves. If a sudra--a person from the lowest of the four varnas in the caste hierarchy--or an untouchable was caught listening to a brahmin reciting them, he was to have molten lead poured into his ears; if he recited them himself, he was to have his tongue cut off. Rama, hearing that the sudra Sambhooka had dared to read the Vedas, immediately beheaded him. In later centuries the status of sudras was elevated high enough for them to be allowed to read and write, but untouchables continued to be forbidden until the twentieth century when the missionaries came.
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