...There is no central authority in Hindu religion. There is no priest or head priest who controls religious activities in any given region. No priest is under control of any other priest from any other temple. All the temples are independent. The Brahmanas were not under the control of any king so naturally they were not under the control of each other also. Only one thing could control them was dharma. All the authority was vested in scriptures. They did not need any other authority. All the basic tenets of Varna dharma derive their authority from the timeless scriptures. The Shastras in turn derive their authority from being the Word of God. They are the dictums of God. None could dare defy them.
No such supreme controlling authority is envisaged in scriptures. One reason for the absence of this authority is the multitude of persons involved in formulating Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and dharma Shastras etc. the Hindu scriptures are not the handiwork of a single man. These scriptures, sacred to Hindus, have been composed over different overlapping periods running into hundreds of years each. Whatever was produce by one Brahman could have been added or altered by another Brahman in the coming generations. When this process runs into hundreds of years we have an output where contributions have been made by different Brahmans. In addition, there are many outputs like that – all of them sacred though with different levels of sacredness. An older scripture is usually more sacred than the others. Therefore Manusmriti being the oldest of dharma Shastras is more sacred then other dharma Shastras.
So we have many composers of Vedas, many contributors to Upanishads and many authors to each of the dharma Shastras and Puranas. Any man in his lifetime did not start and finalized any portion of the scriptures. These writings were carried from generation to generation through oral traditions. This situation lasted till the scripture in question was finalized and a final word was said on it. It was a long time before any of the scriptures was finalized and written down. Thus each scripture has the contribution of innumerable authors. Thus there is no single author or individual who can be claimed or identified as most important or as a central authority in any of the scriptures. And when all the scriptures are put together the difficult of finding a single formulator becomes insurmountable. This explains why Hindu religion or Hindu society does not have a central authority or personality like Buddha, Jesus or Mohammed. In the absence of such authority or personality, any learned Brahman who knew scriptures became local authority on the matters pertaining to Hindu dharma. This absence of a central authority forced a kind of decentralization in Hindu society where scriptures were taken as final authority. These scriptures were in turn were monopolized by Brahmanas. Thus the authority of scriptures got translated into authority of Brahmanas. Therefore, a Brahman in a village in deep south was a local religious and social authority at village level and a Brahman in village in north was a local authority there. The kings came and went but the local authority remained unchanged. It automatically passed through inheritance from one generation to another. If one has to be a Brahman then one has to inherit the Brahmanhood. It is not an acquirable commodity. One needed to be born to cruel lawmakers to make cruel laws. The Brahmans can be regarded as a well-trained army in scriptures who were ever ready to defend their well-swindled privileges. They did an indirect impenetrable defense through scriptures. The fort of scriptures was impregnable. All the social and religious attacks on others came from this fort where they were safe....
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