--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To remove untouchability is a penance…" description: "\"To remove untouchability is a penance that caste Hindus owe to Hinduism and to themselves.\" — Mahatma Gandhi" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg" --- # To remove untouchability is a penance that caste Hindus… ![“To remove untouchability is a penance that caste Hindus owe to Hinduism and to themselves.” quote by Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg) > “To remove untouchability is a penance that caste Hindus owe to Hinduism and to themselves.” [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Abolishing untouchability is a moral duty for Hindus **In simple terms:** Hindus must end untouchability Key Takeaway Advocate for social reform Themes social justice equality morality Mood determined empathetic Type political ethical When to use this quote - community outreach - education campaigns - policy advocacy Key Concepts caste system ethical responsibility Questions to Reflect On - How can individuals influence caste attitudes? - What actions promote inclusion? A Different Perspective Cultural resistance may impede change ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Castes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/castes/) [Hinduism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hinduism/) [Penance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/penance/) [Untouchability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/untouchability/) ## Related quotes > [Harijan service is a duty the caste Hindus owe to themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/harijan-service-is-a-duty-the-caste-hindus-owe-to-themselves/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It did not cross the minds of most Hindus that barring exceptions, they were responsible for Catholicism in India. The outcastes of Hinduism, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiran-nagarkar/it-did-not-cross-the-minds-of-most-hindus-that-barring-exceptions/) [Kiran Nagarkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiran-nagarkar/) > [The untouchability of Hinduism is probably worse than that of the modern imperialists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-untouchability-of-hinduism-is-probably-worse-than-that-of-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [When untouchability is rooted out, these distinctions will vanish and no one will consider himself superior to any other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/when-untouchability-is-rooted-out-these-distinctions-will-vanish-and/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [We shall dig our own grave if we do not purge ourselves of this curse of untouchability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/we-shall-dig-our-own-grave-if-we-do-not-purge-ourselves-of-this-curse/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The attack on untouchability is an attack on this high-and low-ness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-attack-on-untouchability-is-an-attack-on-this-high-and-low-ness/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [For me there is a vital connection between the Bihar calamity and the untouchability campaign.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/for-me-there-is-a-vital-connection-between-the-bihar-calamity-and-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Anger, lust and such other evil passions raging in the heart are the real untouchables.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/anger-lust-and-such-other-evil-passions-raging-in-the-heart-are-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [We are too near the scene of tragedy to realize that this canker or untouchability has traveled far beyond its prescribed limits and has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/we-are-too-near-the-scene-of-tragedy-to-realize-that-this-canker-or/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Hinduism dies if untouchability lives, and untouchability has to die if Hinduism is to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/hinduism-dies-if-untouchability-lives-and-untouchability-has-to-die/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [No stone should be left unturned to bring home to the family members that untouchability is a sin and a blot on Hinduism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-stone-should-be-left-unturned-to-bring-home-to-the-family-members/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Untouchability is a hydra-headed monster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/untouchability-is-a-hydra-headed-monster/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [A true man of piety will consider himself a sinner and, therefore, untouchable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/a-true-man-of-piety-will-consider-himself-a-sinner-and-therefore/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Untouchability of foreign cloth is as much a virtue with all of us as untouchability of the suppressed classes must be a sin with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/untouchability-of-foreign-cloth-is-as-much-a-virtue-with-all-of-us-as/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The removal of untouchability is a question of the purification of Hinduism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-removal-of-untouchability-is-a-question-of-the-purification-of/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## More by Mahatma Gandhi > [I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Devotion required by the Gita is no soft-hearted effusiveness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/devotion-required-by-the-gita-is-no-soft-hearted-effusiveness/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [No nation being under another nation can accept gifts, and kick at the responsibility attached to those gifts, imposed by the conquering nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-nation-being-under-another-nation-can-accept-gifts-and-kick-at-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [So long as we fear the outside world, we must cease to think of Swaraj.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/so-long-as-we-fear-the-outside-world-we-must-cease-to-think-of-swaraj/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I do not want a kingdom, or heaven; what I want is to remove the trouble of the oppressed, the poor, and the needy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-a-kingdom-or-heaven-what-i-want-is-to-remove-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Religions are not for separating men from one another, they are meant to bind them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/religions-are-not-for-separating-men-from-one-another-they-are-meant/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species. We err in copying the lower animal world if we are superior to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-hold-flesh-food-to-be-unsuited-to-our-species-we-err-in-copying-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It was only in South Africa that I got over this shyness, though I never completely overcame it. It was impossible for me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/it-was-only-in-south-africa-that-i-got-over-this-shyness-though-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“Where there is life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/where-there-is-life/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [If it was wrong to seek God in a stone, how was it right to seek Him in a book called the Gita, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-it-was-wrong-to-seek-god-in-a-stone-how-was-it-right-to-seek-him/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-spirit-of-democracy-cannot-be-established-in-the-midst-of/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them-a desire, a dream, a vison.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/champions-are-made-from-something-they-have-deep-inside-of-them-a/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [My motto is "Unite now, today if you can; fight if you must. But in every case avoid British intervention."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/my-motto-is-unite-now-today-if-you-can-fight-if-you-must-but-in-every/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I have no disciples, being myself an aspirant after discipleship and in search of a guru.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-have-no-disciples-being-myself-an-aspirant-after-discipleship-and/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Man becomes not the lord and master of all creation but he is its servant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/man-becomes-not-the-lord-and-master-of-all-creation-but-he-is-its/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) [Explore all 3,284 Mahatma Gandhi quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## More Castes quotes > [Call a truce, then, to our labors - let us feast with friends and neighbors, and be merry as the custom of our caste;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudyard-kipling/call-a-truce-then-to-our-labors-let-us-feast-with-friends-and/) [Rudyard Kipling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudyard-kipling/) > [The soul has neither sex, nor caste nor imperfection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-soul-has-neither-sex-nor-caste-nor-imperfection/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [One thing that was very clear to me is that the young people in a place like Annawadi aren't tripping on caste the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-boo/one-thing-that-was-very-clear-to-me-is-that-the-young-people-in-a/) [Katherine Boo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-boo/) > [The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/the-mass-incarceration-of-poor-people-of-color-particularly-black-men/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [New Orleans invented the brown paper bag party - usually at a gathering in a home - where anyone darker than the bag attached…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/new-orleans-invented-the-brown-paper-bag-party-usually-at-a-gathering/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) > [Political and social justice requires, not the disintegration of a country and destruction or humiliation of a class which shows initiative, intelligence and drive,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syama-prasad-mukherjee/political-and-social-justice-requires-not-the-disintegration-of-a/) [Syama Prasad Mukherjee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syama-prasad-mukherjee/) > [I want the Brahmins to realize that the Dravidian people today are very much hating those who cunningly cheated them with absurdities. They are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/periyar-e-v-ramasamy/i-want-the-brahmins-to-realize-that-the-dravidian-people-today-are/) [Periyar E. V. Ramasamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/periyar-e-v-ramasamy/) > [Many immigrants do not talk about what they endured back home. They were fleeing that world, and when they left they didn't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-immigrants-do-not-talk-about-what-they-endured-back-home-they/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Now that practical skills have developed enough to provide adequately for material needs, one of these sciences which are not devoted to utilitarian ends…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/now-that-practical-skills-have-developed-enough-to-provide-adequately/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > ["Learn good knowledge with all devotion from the lowest caste. Learn the way to freedom, even if it comes from a Pariah, by serving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/learn-good-knowledge-with-all-devotion-from-the-lowest-caste-learn/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Not in vain has Lincoln lived, for he has helped to make this republic an example of justice, with no caste but the caste…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bancroft/not-in-vain-has-lincoln-lived-for-he-has-helped-to-make-this-republic/) [George Bancroft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bancroft/) > [“Even when her rights are recognized abstractly, long-standing habit keeps them from being concretely manifested in customs. Economically, men and women almost form two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/even-when-her-rights-are-recognized-abstractly-long-standing-habit/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [If we claim heritage in Bacon, Shakespeare and Milton, we also acknowledge that it was for liberties guaranteed Englishmen by sacred charters our fathers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-depew/if-we-claim-heritage-in-bacon-shakespeare-and-milton-we-also/) [Chauncey Depew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-depew/) > [As a feminist, I consider the female pronoun to be an honorific, a term that conveys respect. Respect is due to women as members…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-jeffreys/as-a-feminist-i-consider-the-female-pronoun-to-be-an-honorific-a-term/) [Sheila Jeffreys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-jeffreys/) > [For African American children, in particular, the odds are extremely high that they will have a parent or loved one, a relative, who has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/for-african-american-children-in-particular-the-odds-are-extremely/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) [Browse all 165 Castes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/castes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To remove untouchability is a penance that caste Hindus owe to Hinduism and to themselves.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mahatma Gandhi" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-that-caste-hindus-owe-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Castes" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-that-caste-hindus-owe-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe7/mahatma-gandhi-23_castes_to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-th_2213410.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To remove untouchability is a penance that caste Hindus owe to Hinduism and to themselves.” — Mahatma Gandhi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mahatma Gandhi", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "To remove untouchability is a penance...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-that-caste-hindus-owe-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/to-remove-untouchability-is-a-penance-that-caste-hindus-owe-to/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```