The history is largely made up of national freedom movement, British period, Muslim period, middle age, and ancient period with barely any mention of caste and its impact on society. It is left to be discussed in Sociology where it is not avoidable. If it was possible it would have been eliminated from there also.
There are some people, who like to consider the caste system as a gift from British and Muslim periods. Or in other words it was the result of foreign rule. The caste system before them was not supposed to be birth based in character. It seems that the foreigners came and provided endogamous basis of Hindu social structure with retrospective effect; not even the Absolute has this power in Hindu religious thought; the foreigners should be actually worshipped for possessing such a power. Blaming them is a fanciful thinking. Such an understanding of history and Hindu social structure is overwhelming. It overwhelms the logic. May be one would have to take the result to be axiomatic and presuppose the existence of proof. And then do not try to find it without any success. The higher level people are not supposed to be questioned. Their words are proof. The caste system has always unleashed powerful and controlling social, economical, political and religious forces to safeguard the heredity privileges of privileged people since ancient times.
The intelligentsia’s prominent silence is due to its predominantly upper caste character where intellectual honesty is a worthless attribute. It is inherent in its structure. The structure is not supposed to oppose itself. The caste is not important to them due to many reasons. One reason is their belief that they achieved their historical and current position due to their own past and current merit. In today’s context they have competed in an open system on the basis of their own undiluted merit. It is reflective of a civil society where anybody can achieve anything as an individual irrespective of his origin. Therefore they are not the product of their caste system. Secondly, the existence of caste does not affect them adversely. It is an unending source of never ending goodies. They reap it like forever green fields. These fields are full of impure manual workers who are to be kept at a safe distance but there is no problem with the yield. The yield of impure people is pure. Thirdly, any recognition of caste system and its importance means acknowledgement of injustice heaped on the society by their forefathers and their present kith and kin for which they refuse to take the responsibility. They cannot blame themselves and people like them for the ills of the society. It has to be the fault of victims. They discount the caste by disowning it and relegating it to a distant past but this past exists currently. It is a grandiose step which falters at the steps of history and intellectual honesty. They are moderns and separate from pre-modern things like caste and therefore it is none of their concern though they walk, talk and eat in environment, which is fully embedded with inherited casteism, however direct or indirect it may be. As a matter of their commitment to make caste irrelevant, the esteemed members of such a casteless civil society do not marry outside their castes and consider themselves innately superior to low castes. In addition, they do not like to hire the people of unlikable castes. And they create subtle and indirect vocal and behavioral ways to insult the people from lower strata. All of them are men of principles, of course. All their views run concurrently to the events of suppression and oppression in India. These are the people with unimpeachable credentials in their own circle. One such member with unimpeachable credentials forwards his objective and logical opposition to discuss any issue on caste, the second member forwards it, the third member writes an article on it and the fourth one publishes it; hardly any member form fifth stratum takes part in such an objective and impartial process. They cannot take part in it because their presence has been unofficially outlawed in their exalted circles. And of course I forgot about purity of this circle made up mainly of twice-born.
Then there is view that a secular and civil society will solve the problems of caste if any or will make it irrelevant. The civil society is thought to be non-discriminating in nature but it is not known that to what an extent the Hindu civil society has acquired this character.
There are some people, who like to consider the caste system as a gift from British and Muslim periods. Or in other words it was the result of foreign rule. The caste system before them was not supposed to be birth based in character. It seems that the foreigners came and provided endogamous basis of Hindu social structure with retrospective effect; not even the Absolute has this power in Hindu religious thought; the foreigners should be actually worshipped for possessing such a power. Blaming them is a fanciful thinking. Such an understanding of history and Hindu social structure is overwhelming. It overwhelms the logic. May be one would have to take the result to be axiomatic and presuppose the existence of proof. And then do not try to find it without any success. The higher level people are not supposed to be questioned. Their words are proof. The caste system has always unleashed powerful and controlling social, economical, political and religious forces to safeguard the heredity privileges of privileged people since ancient times.
The intelligentsia’s prominent silence is due to its predominantly upper caste character where intellectual honesty is a worthless attribute. It is inherent in its structure. The structure is not supposed to oppose itself. The caste is not important to them due to many reasons. One reason is their belief that they achieved their historical and current position due to their own past and current merit. In today’s context they have competed in an open system on the basis of their own undiluted merit. It is reflective of a civil society where anybody can achieve anything as an individual irrespective of his origin. Therefore they are not the product of their caste system. Secondly, the existence of caste does not affect them adversely. It is an unending source of never ending goodies. They reap it like forever green fields. These fields are full of impure manual workers who are to be kept at a safe distance but there is no problem with the yield. The yield of impure people is pure. Thirdly, any recognition of caste system and its importance means acknowledgement of injustice heaped on the society by their forefathers and their present kith and kin for which they refuse to take the responsibility. They cannot blame themselves and people like them for the ills of the society. It has to be the fault of victims. They discount the caste by disowning it and relegating it to a distant past but this past exists currently. It is a grandiose step which falters at the steps of history and intellectual honesty. They are moderns and separate from pre-modern things like caste and therefore it is none of their concern though they walk, talk and eat in environment, which is fully embedded with inherited casteism, however direct or indirect it may be. As a matter of their commitment to make caste irrelevant, the esteemed members of such a casteless civil society do not marry outside their castes and consider themselves innately superior to low castes. In addition, they do not like to hire the people of unlikable castes. And they create subtle and indirect vocal and behavioral ways to insult the people from lower strata. All of them are men of principles, of course. All their views run concurrently to the events of suppression and oppression in India. These are the people with unimpeachable credentials in their own circle. One such member with unimpeachable credentials forwards his objective and logical opposition to discuss any issue on caste, the second member forwards it, the third member writes an article on it and the fourth one publishes it; hardly any member form fifth stratum takes part in such an objective and impartial process. They cannot take part in it because their presence has been unofficially outlawed in their exalted circles. And of course I forgot about purity of this circle made up mainly of twice-born.
Then there is view that a secular and civil society will solve the problems of caste if any or will make it irrelevant. The civil society is thought to be non-discriminating in nature but it is not known that to what an extent the Hindu civil society has acquired this character.
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