Caste by birth or Varna by birth : No No - Geeta says so !

The Varna system is highly exploitative, discriminatory,
derogatory and crippling but according to some people, it is a simple
division of labor. It never runs short of defenders. Everyone is doing
the job he is most suitable. However, it can be a division of function
between rulers, traders and servants etc. It cannot be division of
labor in industrial sense. It is so because the Varna system was born
in primitive agrarian conditions where no particular specialization of
labor was needed. Anybody could do any job with little learning. The
ancient technology did not require an advanced degree in rocket
engineering to perform any job. The job of potter or forger could be
performed by anybody. In case it was a simple labor division then the
labor or function should have determined the Varna but it does not.
Remember, according to the scriptures the Varnas were born neither
developed nor evolved out of any historical process.
Then there are some defenders of Varna Dharma who claim
that Varna of a man is not based on birth. Here, the first issue is that
the Varna is a group and defining any individual separately makes
little sense. We will examine it but before that, it is necessary to show
how the Varna is actually determined.
There are some people who argue that the real Sanatana
Dharma or Hindu Dharma is as given in the Rig Veda little forgetting
that religion of Rig Vedic people was called Rta which died along
with the Rig Vedic mode of life with the import of agriculture into
the Aryan society from the then natives of India. We know that the
Rig Vedic religion Rta is not the same as the Sanatana Hindu
Dharma.
There are people who don't even talk about the Varna
Dharma or Jati Dharma. They simply stick to their own definition of
Dharma which excludes any notion of Varna or caste. Their Dharma
is made up of normal Dharma that means only normal duties and
other normal bad activities or vices like cheating, stealing, being
virtuous etc. But all these normal duties (Dharma?) are given
elsewhere also like cheating is bad, stealing is bad, killing is bad,
conspiracy is bad etc. And for this, they try to take all the credit of
teaching all the good things to all the civilizations in the world. They
are very fond of quoting and discussing the epic Mahabharata and
define their Dharma on its basis and define all the duties based on it -
son's Dharma, wife's Dharma, father's Dharma, brother's Dharma,
king's Dharma etc. They define the justice based on the events given
in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. For them the eighty percent
of Hindus are non-existent, and you do not write anything about
non-existent people. Do you? This may also be a ploy to hide the true
nature of Dharma which includes the Varna Dharma. The lower
strata do not exist for them and they try to hide them from the
students of Hindu religion. They try to pass Dharma as applicable to
individuals as the real Dharma. Normally they are successful also but
any discussion about Dharma is not complete without the inclusion
of Varna Dharma. These epics and these commentators do not
discuss the dos and don'ts of Varna system as applicable to different
Varnas and castes. It is very odd since the greatest Dharma is said to
be the Jati Dharma (caste-Dharma).
Now we may turn to determination or predetermination of
Varna. Were the Varnas birth based or not? When the Varna of an
individual is determined is very simple. It is defined at birth time. A
toddler has a Varna of his parents and caste of his parents. Both the
parents should be from the same Varna. Two Varnas cannot
combine and form a Varna because there are only four Varnas and
fifth Varna does not exist. Such a combination is called Varna-Sankar
or a hybrid which is a lowly term in the Hindu scriptures. The Varnas
are defined as groups and not as individuals. You cannot choose your
parents and thus you cannot choose your Varna or caste; you are
born with it. There is no process given in the scriptures of changing
someone's caste and/or Varna. Whatever is given is applicable to
kings who were in a position to give the land grants.
The Manu Dharma (the way of life permitted in Manusmriti)
is also defended as the Manav Dharma which is by its inherent purity
and goodness is supposed to be applicable to all men, in all the times
and in all the places - what grandiose ambitions! A crippling system
and so ambitious! It is beyond understanding. A general way of living
without any justice causing insults to certain groups for no cause!
Remaining within the limits of eternity is not its goal. It goes beyond.
It is limitless, but within the limits of understanding of the logicless
proponents of Varna Dharma! However, one should expect that such
a Manav Dharma treatise should include a definition of Manav or
man or at least man in the form of an individual should be at its
center. But it is not so. In the Manusmriti, it is nowhere described
that who is Manav (human) and what are his rights and duties. The
rights and duties are combined in one term which is "function”. The
definition is simply missing from it. It is not indicated that who is this
Manav among all the four Varnas. If all of them are human beings,
then why should they not have the same human Dharma and follow
the same commandments? Why should they follow unequal
commandments?
If they have to follow the different Dharmas then that does
not really make them the same? In that case, the defenders of
Manusmriti cannot make a claim that it is a general code of conduct,
for all the men all the times. Or they may have bypassed few pages of
dictionary when finding the meaning of “general”.
The Hindu society is a caste-based society where the control
of everything is acquired by the upper castes through the natural act
of taking birth. This society is very effective in crippling the lower
castes. A newborn upper caste child is predestined to be a controller
and a newborn Shudra child a controlled servant. And nobody can
change that. The indirect control over the lower castes is passed
down on heredity basis. It cuts across the generations. The upper
castes get this control through inheritance. The cosmic forces are put
forwarded as the deciding and unquestionable reasons behind this.
Now we will see how the Varna of a man is to be
determined? Well, the question how and when? Is it determined or
predetermined? The Varna system regulations are described in the
Baudhayan sutra and the Apstambha sutra. The tradition of these is
carried on in the Manusmriti. The later Dharma Shastras carried on
the cruel and derogatory traditions with an unparalleled vengeance.
The Manusmriti, the most authentic of Dharma Shastras can help us
in understanding the determination of Varna. Apart from the
endogamous nature of different Varnas, there is loathing abhorrence
for the Varna-Sankars (people having mixed Varnas or parents from
different Varnas) in the Manusmriti. This abhorrence also exists in
the great spiritual epitome of Sanatana Dharma, the inestimable Gita.
A Varna-Sankar is an offspring of parents belonging to different
Varnas. According to both the scriptures, the emergence of Varna-
Sankar should be prevented as it causes corruption, contamination or
destruction of Dharma. The presence of Varna-Sankars makes the
world unsafe for Dharma. It offends Dharma. Dharma can be
destroyed or corrupted by the emergence of Varna-Sankar people.
The concept and the presence of Varna-Sankar are antagonists to
Dharma. Therefore, any Varna-Sankar is anti-Dharma in nature.
Dharma would like to see the extinction of the Varna-Sankars and
prevent them from emerging altogether. Therefore, Dharma aims to
prevent marriages between two different Varnas, sometimes directly
and sometimes indirectly by calling them aDharmic. A Varna-Sankar
person is without Varna and not entitled to one. Also, he is not
entitled to any Vedic rites. The Varna-Sankars are unwanted. A
dharmic and obsessive abhorrence to Varna-Sankar implies that only
the people belonging to same Varna can marry; else Dharma would
be destroyed. Dharma as given in the Mahabharata, simply, does not
talk about this - but by closing the eyes, the Varna Dharma does not
disappear. The subjugation does not disappear in the unofficial India.
The Manusmriti is very clear that only those offspring who
have the father and the mother from the same Varna can inherit their
Varna and not the others. A person has true Varna only if he has the
parents from the same Varna. Otherwise, he is a Varna-Sankar.
Dharma Shastras are very clear that there are only four Varnas and
there exists no fifth Varna. Therefore, no additional Varna can be
created through inter-Varna marriages. A Varna-Sankar is without
any Varna and is deprived of any Vedic rites and ceremonies. It also
deprives them of any status in society. It means that the Varna is
decided by the pure parentage, or, in other words purely by birth.
The parentage of a pure Varna cannot come from any other Varna;
note.
As a derivation of Varna, the caste (sub-varna) can only be
determined by birth. The Manusmriti allows the higher Varna men to
marry lower Varna women, as a matter of subordination of lower
Varnas. It is a clear indication of who rules over whom! It is called
Anuloma marriage. The children born out of such marriages are not
allowed to have their father's Varna. They are Varna-Sankar and they
are called base-born. They are assigned the jobs which are not done
by the twice born, which makes them effectively Shudras since the
only jobs then left to them are that of the Shudras'. The children
from such marriages have no place in society, as no family from pure
Varna would be willing to marry them. So their lineage stops or to
find life partners they are forced to go to the Shudra level and then
remain there. This veritable threat of degrading to Shudra level
prevents effectively the Anuloma marriages though it is kept as a
symbol of demeaning and disparaging subordination of lower Varnas
to higher Varnas. The respect of lower Varnas bites the dust.
The marriage in opposite direction, where man is from
lower Varna and woman is from higher Varna is called the Pratiloma
marriage. The Anuloma marriage implies the subordination of lower
Varnas to higher Varnas and Pratiloma marriage implies an
insubordination to higher Varnas. The Pratiloma marriages are
straight forwardly outlawed by the Manusmriti. The children born
out of such marriages are classified as outcastes and such a
classification ultimately makes them to degrade to the fifth stratum of
the Untouchables. Anybody involved in such an act of
insubordination is consigned to the level of Untouchables, a
punishment for life until death, which is carried forward to the next
generations through inheritance. They are condemned forever. The
eternity in this eternal religion has some meaning!
Thus, we find that the Varna is determined by birth because
true Varna comes only from the same Varna. Anybody violating the
endogamy of Varna was punished by outcasting, pauperizing and
excommunicating for whole life including his progenies and their
progenies and so on; whole coming lineage was affected. The people
with the equal level of relative purity were supposed to marry each
other; otherwise the impurities would prevail which would corrupt
the Dharma and the Varna. Otherwise cosmic order would become
under a threat and may ultimately collapse. Do I see the tears in pure
and pious eyes whose ethical owners do not mind crippling the lower
castes?
Some people claim that the Varna system is simply a division
of labor. Actually, it is enforced labor division; any diversion from
the division is directly or indirectly punishable. It was an occupational
and social encagement caused by the non-transferability of
occupation or Varna. The non-transferability of occupations across
the castes presents itself as labor specialization – the illusion; the real
thing is non-transferability. If it is simple division of labor then why
there are limitations on Varnas about education and studying sacred
scriptures? Anybody crossing these limitations was punishable. The
crippling limitations tell that it was not a natural and free division of
labor with a choice; there was no choice; the blood of butchered
choice is spread all over Hindu streets. The movement of labor was
caged by the isolating caste system. No lower castes were allowed to
transcend their social space and economic space. This is a scientific
(?) and forced, if any, division of labor, without any logical movement
labor!
In the natural division of labor, there are no artificial
crippling limitations to make easy the life of certain people – these
people got everything without efforts. Further, it was not essential to
be a specialist to perform any production activity in an agrarian
economy. The upper castes that controlled the land and the capital in
society did not provide any labor. Therefore, any division of labor if
it was; it was within the last two groups. If it was a simple division of
labor then the Shudras could have simply changed their Varna at will
by changing their occupation, which did not happen. And that was
not allowed. Even the Buddha could not bring it about in society.
Any such move would have required a reallocation of land, capital
and authority which no higher Varna was willing to do. This division
of labor was eternally binding. Anyway, the worth of a child is
defined at the time of birth without having any idea about the
abilities of the child. I told you earlier that the Hindu Society is very
altruistic. It gives away the insulted status at the time of birth without
asking and the cow dung grain is nothing to talk about! Here some
are born insulted and some are born respected. The question of
earned merit within closed doors never arose, and it was always
bestowed irrevocably by birth. Now you know the importance of
birth in Hindu society. It is not only a biological process; it predefines
the life from cradle to death depending on your caste. And there is
no such thing as earned-merit in the unofficial and traditional India.
There is only caste merit. The caste merit meant easy money for high
castes.
The division of labor is need based, not birth based. In the
division of labor, any worker can change his occupation if he does
not get enough to eat. Such a change or luxury is not permitted under
the Varna system - it was binding - no choice. Any dumb Brahman
was a genius because he had no choice! Any genius Untouchable was
dumb because he had no choice! The real abilities of people were
hidden under a veil called born-abilities. The job does not determine
the Varna but the Varna determines the job. The determination is in
sequence of birth, Varna, Caste and then occupation. How the
number of Shudra children required to serve the higher Varna was
going to be known? Was there any excess or not? If ironsmiths were
more required then they were to be born in higher number and only
gods could guarantee it - no doubt it was called divinely ordained
system. If the barbers were needed in fewer number than required
then what was the alternative? The heredity occupations caused such
anomalies and created economic inefficiencies. It was actually
unmatched division of labor with actual demands for it. This created
inefficiencies in society and economy. And the lower strata paid for it
while upper strata earned the rent. It was also a birth-based socially
captive and caged labor system. A static system requires a static state
or the anomalies would be created. Yes, that is called a state of
harmony and social stability. It was enforced division of labor and
thus a criminally enforced division of labor. Or the encagement, it
was.
Now we will take into account is the non-transferability of
occupations among different castes. This may throw some light on
non-duality of caste and Varna. Each Varna has its related function in
the Hindu society. Similarly, each caste has its function in society.
The functions of castes and Varna are the same. Varna decides which
caste is higher and which is lower, and then within the Varna the
caste decides which occupation decides which caste is higher and
which is lower. In Hindu society the scriptures (the traditional laws)
define the Varna first and then their functions; it shows that the
Varna is not function dependent but the functions are Varna
dependent and Varnas were born. The functions are heredity
specified for each inherited Varna; the actual occupation within a
given Varna is dependent on the inherited caste. The nontransferability
of jobs means that it was a forced and fake labor
specialization. The Hindu religion has always been the religion of
elites by birth.
If the functions of castes and Varnas are the same and they
are non-transferable then they have to be the same. The caste, being
its derivative, resides within the Varna system. Nowhere in Hindu
scriptures, it is said, that the functions are transferable among the
different Varnas or castes. This non-transferability of functions
implies that Varna and caste are the same; the caste or Jati is a further
division of Varna as occupations are further division of functions.
Similarly, the heredity nature of occupations implies that Varna and
caste are not only the same; they are based on birth also. The
endogamous nature of Varna and caste coincide with each other
which reduces any further difference between them. There are four
main Varnas but they are also divided into further castes, sub-caste
and sub-sub-castes which belong to their respective Varna. There are
many occupations related to any given function of society. The caste
should be called sub-Varna. The stipulation that the molten lead
should be poured into ears of a Shudra who has heard a single word
of the sacred Vedas, points toward this non-transferability of
function or occupations. In the absence of transferability of
functions, it is impossible to port a man from lower Varna into any
of the higher Varnas. His Varna remains what he was born with it.
The further segmentation of society under the dominant Varna
doctrine led to development of endogamous caste where the jobs
became non-transferable.
The highest Varna was, in fact, blessed with the power with
extreme strands of highest purity. The paranormal power and purity
had to be acquired by taking birth in a particular Varna.
These people are decrying our time tested caste system. We,
the upper castes with high ethics and high morals, and who are
paragons of virtue, know that what these heathen people can do.
The dismal depths to which these lower caste people can
descend under the influence of the slimy, sly and insidious creature
called modernism is despicable. Under its influence, they turn
aDharmic or heretics. It is a matter of grave concern to the pure and
sacred Dharma. We, the pure people, are purely unselfish and do not
care about ourselves. Our one and only one and unselfish concern is
Dharma. We have such a pure and sacred objective. We do not want
anything for ourselves. It is only Dharma we want to save. We have
nothing against the low castes. We only want that they follow the
sacred and the divine Dharma. And nothing more we want. Is it
wrong to ask people to follow the sacred Dharma? This birthattached
ascendancy and descendancy is a piece of pure fiction. We
have the immutable law of Karma according to which everyone gets
what he deserves depending upon his cumulative karmas of past
lives. We are not to be blamed. What? You want this to be
established? You profane people! Do not you trust us? Do not you
trust the integrity of our ancient Rishis and sages? Do not you trust
the divinity? So what! If we created the specific divinity that favors
us! How aDharmic can you get! We, the high caste people with
unimpeachable integrity, ethics and morals, pass the judgment for the
good of everyone in society. And don't look back into eyes - behave
yourself. No doubt, you are suffering because of your past Karmas!
In our pure and sacred system, the results decide the logic. The
present defines the unseen, unconformable and unknown past. What
you want exact linkage? You are getting too far! The divine
retribution will get you in the direct form or indirect form. You get
your just desert then why complain? It is the gruel waiting for you!
We do not cause any atrocity; it is the divinity which punishes you for
the aDharmic and bad deeds of your past lives; we the pure people
are simply means to attain the divine objectives. It is gods’ will. You
do not know! Why are you not as foolish as your ancestors? Those
virtuous, nice, servile and condemned fellows never asked for any
explanation! Anyway, we are not answerable to lowly scum.
The ostracization that makes a person an outcaste is
equivalent to a prison system in society where the presence of a king
is not needed to carry out the sentence. The society could collectively
impose the punishment of ostracization which also deprived a man
of any inheritance of any kind. The cruel and ghastly Panchayats were
the handy tools to do this. The ostracized man was deprived of any
social interaction and any economic means. He had no property and
no employment. Nobody was supposed to interact with him, not
even the Shudras. Thus, he had the Untouchables for the company
and had to take up their jobs to survive. As the ostracized person
lived among the Untouchables, and out of the village; he was
effectively boycotted, he was no threat to Dharma and hence
everybody was happy. Good riddance, it was.
There are some defenders of the Varna Dharma who claim
that Varna of a man is not birth based but depends on Karmas and
Gunas (deeds and traits). Here, the first problem is that the Varna is a
group entity and defining an individual separately makes little sense.
Anyway, the strongest evidence against, dependence of Varna on
karmas and Guna, is the endogamous nature of caste. If you
completely break the endogamy, you break the caste. People
belonging to a particular Jati refuse to marry outsiders and outsiders
refuse to marry them. This makes Jati an enforced birth based
system. However, we may see the arguments in favor of Guna
(nature) based Varna. These people seem to imply that the Varna is
different from the Jati. They put the Jati first and then try to allocate
a Varna to it. Most probably, the Jatis have come out of Varnas. They
consider the Varna a passive and theoretical structure only. But, they
forget that any inter-mixing of Varnas is not allowed so an intermixing
of castes is also not allowed. The Varna and caste
superimpose upon each other nicely, as if though they are one and
the same thing; the caste just has more details. They share more
attributes in common with Varna then the differences.
Sanatana Dharma is full of hate. Its dirty proof is that certain
people are kept outside the villages as they are considered as
possessing polluting properties. Another proof is that the
Untouchables cannot fetch water from the village well. And another
proof is the anti-untouchability law of the Indian Constitution which
represents the official India.
The silent lamenting of higher caste minds, can only be
heard, by a truly empathic mind, when their right to look down on
the low castes, is snatched. Their birth-attached right of demeaning
the people is not a trivial one; it is the foundation of Sanatana
Dharma. It is the spine of the caste and Varna system. They can go to
any length to impose this demeaning traditional right. How can you
take away the right which God has given to them? Certainly you
cannot be so aDharmic or unrighteous? Can you be? No, no - it is a
big and divine no. Did not somebody tell you that looking down on
people is perfectly righteous and virtuous? It is. You should be aware
of the sacred and pious ways of Hindu society. Only people with
crass and insensitivity mentality would not be sympathetic to the
pathetic conditions of upper caste minds when they have to take a
retort from the low caste people. Any talk of equality brings grimaces
and frowns across the scowling caste proud faces of pure people; any
talk of equality should be shunned. Their minds groan and growl.
Their soft hearts are cruelly crushed. These people! These heathen
people would talk back now! The world is going to collapse. And
many ways are created to explain their pious and sacred society which
is supremely expert in throwing people out and disparaging them. It
is a hallmark of a society where divisive forces operate along with the
forces of hate.
The wheels of dirty minds of impure people turn and churn
out the thoughts which demand the dirty and filthy equality, and
squalid freedom from wearing tattered clothes, and want assured
food supply - sheer dirty thoughts. The dirty people can have only
filthy thoughts; their viciousness is beyond bounds. Must be some
dirty aspects of modernism! The baseness of impure minds is
limitless. Believe it!
The Guna defenders of Varna Dharma do not explain how a
man born in lower caste can be allowed to have the privileges
available to higher Varnas? The Varnas and privileges go hand in
hand - separating them would be a mockery of the thousands of years
old divine system and culture. The defenders do not consider it as
mockery but treat it as a stout defense which cannot withstand the
harmony of Varnas with the functions. Considering any Untouchable
as Brahman is useless until Brahmanical functions, privileges and
comforts are allowed to him. Do you want to mock a divine system?
You would not if you were having pure, pious intentions and totally
unselfish intentions at heart. And how a low born is to be included in
the Brahman group? The Varna-Sankar progenies are abhorred in all
the scriptures; the stress on purity of bloodlines is almost obsessive;
inter-mixing of blood can destroy Dharma by pushing out the pure
Varnas. It is simple, the more are the Varna-shankars meaning the
less of the pure Varnas, and hence fewer people are eligible for
performing of Vedic rituals. It should be remembered that there is no
fifth Varna. However, Varna is a socially ranked group of similarly
ranked endogamous Jatis as given in the scriptures with unchanging
occupations. If nature (Guna) of man is going to decide his Varna
then endogamous nature of Jatis has to break down. Anyway, the
defenders of Varna Dharma may play this argument as joke on
unsuspecting people - and there are many such people. When people
are listening with the empty bellies, they cannot understand the joke.
These people want to rise up in society? In the Hindu
society??? These filthy louts and fiends think that they can be equal to
us, the pure people. What a miserable misunderstanding they are
living in! They are just dreaming - pigs cannot fly. For your
information, we, the pure people, are pleased to inform that you are
just day dreaming on empty bellies. One day you will wake up. By
that time, you must have banged your heads against invisible caste
walls for a very long time, and realized that you do not have the
purity to gain the entry, by that time you would be in the last stage of
your life with little chance to do anything. Your dreams would be
torn asunder. And your next generations will also undergo the same
process. Period.
What a marvelous and delightful world! Is it not? Well, it is
for pure people! Repeat - this world is for the pure people - the
Sanatani world.
As far as the Gunas are concerned, there are three Gunas -
Satvik, Rajsik and Tamsik. The Satvik Guna denotes purity, calmness,
intelligence and renunciation. These qualities are supposed to be
possessed by the Brahmans. The Rajsik Guna denotes power, vitality
and dynamism. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by the
Kshatriyas. The Tamsik Guna denotes darkness, ignorance and
inertness. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by the
Shudras. The third Varna of Vaisyas possesses a combination of
Rajsik and Tamsik Gunas. It is like a combination of pure and
impure. Different Varnas possess different Gunas. But it is not the
same as saying that Gunas determine the Varna or the nature of a
man decides his Varna and allow him an entry into higher Varna and
provide him with all the functions of higher Varnas. Again, the
causation as usual is wrong! Any Varna is a group entity. How to get
included in that? Since the Varnas were born, the qualities were also
born with them. Do the Gunas decide the Varna of a man and
related privileges, discounting the group-based nature of
castes/Varnas? Can the Gunas discount the group-based nature,
which is blood related, of the castes and Varnas and make a hole in it
for the entry of others? Can the individual Gunas override the caste
and varna Gunas? The answer is a resounding series of “no”. Can a
man from any of the Shudra Jatis possessing the Satvik Gunas belong
to endogamous Brahman Varna? Answer is “no”. Does he have the
right to study and teach Vedas? Does he have the right to guide a
king in running his kingdom? Does he have the right to be revered by
the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas? - No. Does he have the right to
become priest of temples? – No. And biggest of them all - does he
have the right to marry a Brahman girl? – No. This is the right that
even the kings did not have. The Varna system does not operate in
isolation. It comes with a complete baggage of privileges and
crippling disabilities. All the Varnas are attached with respective
privileges and disabilities. Defining the Varnas without privileges and
disabilities is snobbish mockery. The conmen playing the tricks. It
would be interesting to guess the number of Brahmans, Kshatriyas
and Vaisyas willing to extend him all these rights or privileges; it is a
man against the higher level groups. The number of such people
would be zero. In other words, the function of a Satvik Shudra
remains to serve the higher Varnas with servility. And no Guna-based
hypothesis can change that. The doors are closed. Period.
As long as such a man exists in the arguments of defenders
of Varna system there is no problem. However, the moment such a
Shudra possessing Satvik Gunas presents himself in the physical
form, the problems start. The first problem, he would have to go
through thread ceremony to become a Brahman that no Brahman
would perform. The second problem, all the Brahman families would
refuse to give him a girl in marriage. They would even refuse to dine
with him. The Kshatriyas would refuse to honor him and refuse to
touch his feet. The Vaisyas would also refuse to honor him and
refuse to touch his feet. The Kshatriyas and Vaisyas would refuse to
dine with him, walk with him and sit with him. Offering a girl in
marriage cannot even be thought of. What a despicable thought!
None of the higher three Varnas would be willing to cross the first
stage of walking and talking with him. And marrying him in their
Varna is a farfetched idea. The doors are closed. And the Gunas …
… …
He is rejected by higher Varnas on all counts. The closed
gates policy is clearly at work; so is the caste effect. These walls of
rejection are non-negotiable. Therefore, after facing the rejection
from all the sides he is back to being a Shudra; from where he has
never actually moved! Entry of a single man in a higher level group is
not possible. Therefore, the claim that a man born in a Shudra Jati
possessing Satvik Gunas belongs to Brahman Varna, is grand fable,
which falls flat on its face when applied against the facts. Hindu
society is full of such concepts which cannot be established. Such a
man exists in the foxy arguments of the defenders of the Varna
Dharma not in their hearts and hardly any of them is related to such a
Shudra. There he is - simply non-existent. Even the Gita does not
provide a way of handling the baggage associated with God-created-
Varnas or a way of entering into the higher Varna group by a
competent individual. Please, remember the unseen crippling walls of
the caste system. And people with an enforced penury are unable to
penetrate these walls. They are kept where they should be. A Shudra
having Satvik qualities can be a Brahman; but to whom nobody gives
respect, with whom nobody intermingles, has no rights to property,
has no right to education, not eligible for marriage into the Brahmans
and the one whom everybody insults without a fault - strange kind of
Brahman while only four Varnas are there.
There is also another misconception, which is advanced as a
defense of Varna Dharma by its defenders, that the deeds of a man
determine his Varna. Again, these people are confusing between
group and individual. They try to apply the individualistic analysis to
groups. There is no possibility of such a process by which, a person
performing related group activities, becomes a part of another group,
without taking birth in it. A Shudra will never be allowed to perform
the functions of Brahmans. To begin with, the Brahman (group)
would not be willing to teach him the Vedas and other ritualistic rites.
If a Shudra is brave enough, he should be included in the Kshatriyas
(group) and have the privileges available to that group. The deeds
speak for themselves but unfortunately not in the Hindu society.
Again, there would be problems because no Kshatriya would be
willing to give him a girl in the marriage. No Kshatriya would be
willing to sit and dine with him. So he is back to being a Shudra. The
Varna system comes with attached baggage - not alone. At the most,
a brave Shudra would be called a goon, a rogue or a robber but
nothing more than that. On the other hand, a Kshatriya is called the
brave and the warrior since his birth. A brave Shudra lives among
Shudras, and marries among them. But can he be called Kshatriya
Shudra? No, he cannot be called Kshatriya-Shudra because there are
only four Varnas and Kshatriya-Shudra is not one of them.
The Gunas and deed hypothesis comes a cropper when
matched against the facts. They end up being mockeries.
Another misconception which comes out of forts of
defenders of Varna system is that everybody is a Shudra when born,
and the Sanskars (rituals) make him a twice born. So when born a
Brahman boy is Shudra. The thread ceremony makes him pure and a
Brahman. Any Shudra caste touch is not allowed to him when he is
Shudra! If it is that simple then all the Shudras can be converted into
Brahmans by investing them with thread ceremony. But the Shudras,
with their impure origin, are not eligible for thread ceremony - the
inherent impurities cannot be removed by thread ceremony. A
Brahman boy and a Shudra boy are two different entities since birth
and because of birth. A Shudra Brahman is a contradiction of terms.
And, again only four Varnas are allowed. There can be no Shudra-
Brahman Varna. Another defense which comes a cropper!
What is on offer from the defenders of Varna Dharma, is a
series of hypotheses, which are never established. In fact, these views
cannot be established.
There are some people who disown the Manusmriti
completely. They say that the real Hindu Dharma is not given in
Manusmriti but in the Rig Veda. These people wear Rig Vedic
blinkers. However, we know that Hindu Dharma known as Sanatana
Dharma did not exist in the Rig Vedic times. The Rig Vedic religion
was called the Rta, not the Sanatana Dharma. It was a cosmic order
like Sanatana Dharma but it was different. The Rig Vedic people did
have the activities of butchering and skinning but these were not
called polluting or Untouchable activities. The Rig Vedic society was
characterized by the absence of Varnas or any such group claiming
privileges by inheritance. It was an egalitarian society without
agriculture. The inequalities of groups had no role to play there since
groups themselves were not there. Each tribe was made of people
who were kith and kin of each other. It was a commune system of
living where everything was shared equally on community basis.
It should be remembered that the Purusha Sukta does not
really belong to Rig Vedic times. The Rig Veda can be regarded as
rigged. The sanctity of the Rig Veda had been defiled!!! Though
Purush Sukta belongs to the Rig Veda, it was a later addition during
later Vedic times when the different Varnas had come into existence.
Do not know what punishments the defilers met with and what
punishments the followers of defilers are going to meet with? May be
they were reborn as worms. Anybody believing such a rigged
scripture is sure to got to hell or reborn as a vermin. Anyway,
anybody believing in the Rig Veda should be willing to inter-marry
with the scavengers and if all the Hindus are to be treated as a part of
single Rig Vedic community. If they are not willing to do it and show
it by trend setting examples then they do not believe in the Rig Veda
but in Chaturvarna system of Sanatana Dharma with its notions of
inherent purity and pollution and privileges and disabilities. The Rig
Vedic system and the Chaturvarna system are two completely
different systems - note.
If Rig Vedic religion is true Hindu religion then accordingly
the Varna Dharma was a simple division of labor where each one did
the job he was most suitable for. In this system any occupation could
not be imposed on any individual. It is interesting to note that we
have labor specialization in a community of cattle rearing people
where the only job was to graze the cattle!!! Labor specialization
means a technology of a very high level where as the Rig Vedic
people could not even master agriculture. However, according to
such a point of view all the malpractices crept in later due to vested
interests. If that is the case then they are discounting and disowning
what happened during last three thousand years, which is a very long
period of time, indeed. During this time, the real things have
happened to real people while the elites have enjoyed the Maya. They
should not have enjoyed the Maya while people (?) were suffering.
However, the argument goes further that we should go back to Rig
Vedic Dharma by discounting or removing the malpractices or
distortions which crept in later without talking about justice to
sufferers. However, in doing so they are making a jump from Rig
Vedic times to modern times - a jump of 3000 years!!! That also
amounts to saying that nothing has happened during last 3000 years
and everything should be forgotten. Willing to wipe out 3000 years!
Their ultra rationality is astounding; it leaves me bewildering! What
are called anomalies or rigidities are nothing but the natural results of
the crystallization of the Varna Dharma. For all the alleged
anomalies, they blame the vested interests; they do not blame the
original formulators of the Varna Dharma, its cruel perpetrators, the
lawmakers and the masters of statecraft. The original formulators of
Varna Dharma, the lawmakers, the Brahmans, lived not during the
Rig Vedic times but afterward. Then they went and rigged the Rig
Veda by inserting the Purusha Sukta to justify the newly formulated
discriminatory Varna Dharma and to claim divine superiority. It was
done after appearance of Shudra Varna on the horizon. This froze
the number of Varnas to four.
However, such people who advocate the purity of Rig Vedic
times do not make any attempt to identify the vested interests that
introduced malpractices in such a pure and simple system of division
of labor, in a cattle rearing economy, which was independent of any
inheritance factor. These vested interests developed it into an
inheritable set of privileges and crippling disabilities. But agreeing to
the existence of vested interests amounts to saying that their
ancestors who benefitted from such malpractices lived a life full of
lies, cheating and deceits for a period of about 2500 years because
they acted against the guidance of the Rig Veda or rigged it for their
personal and group interests. The punishment for defiling the
sanctity of the most sacred of the Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda,
should be considerable irrespective of any Varna involved in rigging
it. It would be interesting to note that how such a punishment is
meted out to such aDharmic people! However, coming back to the
malpractices, these were introduced to perpetuate their group
privileges and impose crippling disabilities on others. These provided
for committing the atrocities on the Shudras and the Untouchables,
in the name of Dharma, but actually, in their own interests – the
interests of Dharma means their own interests. Brahmans’ interests
and Dharma’s interests are the same. Try separating them. Anyway, it
is strange that people forget their Rig Vedic roots of equality and live
a life full of deceit and lies for the generations altogether without
feeling a little bit guilty. On the contrary, such people are proud of it.
These people cannot be said to be unwilling partners of the so-called
vested interests because they proudly and happily benefitted from the
alleged malpractices without raising any objections.
It also means that the later Hindu scriptures other than the
Rig Veda are big bundles of lies though they governed the lives of
Hindus for 3000 years. Managing the lives of people through lies!
Thus, it means that somebody is lying, either the defenders of the Rig
Veda or the people who created later scriptures. Clearly, it is not God
who is lying because God, if any, cannot lie and cannot discriminate.
It has to be people who created the Vedas and other Dharma
Shashtras. Thus, the present generations of these so-called vested
interests have inherited a culture which is full of deceptive, brutal,
cruel, sly, cunning, vile, crooked, devious, exploitative and insulting
ways. If they lived a life as enumerated in Manusmriti then still they
lived a life full of deceits, lies and cruelties. Such a culture gallantly
grew out of their malafide, perverted and cruel intentions.
These lower caste people insist on set-up that is contrary to
Dharma and utterly nonsensical rubbish. These people are doubting
Dharma which their condemned and ignorant ancestor never did.
Can their forefathers be wrong? No! Not at all! Their forefathers
might have taken the birth of worms, insect etc. But these people are
certainly going to hell, straight.
The grading of function/occupations also had effect on
people's marriages in general along with the developing of endogamy
and gotra (paternal lineage) exogamy. The endogamy and hypogamy
were developed, through emergence of higher Varnas, as the standing
symbol of subordination of lower Varna. Then it spread to other
occupations resulting in development of Jatis - the occupational
endogamous groups. Here the occupation/function also became
inheritable. The general rule is that the marriage should be among
equals and familiar though there may be exceptions to the rule. The
unequal or unfamiliar people generally do not marry each other.
When the occupations are not equal, the people engaged in them are
also not supposedly equal. The people belonging to different
occupations could not marry each other. It happened under the
dominant Varna doctrine which held that no man could hold two
occupations at the same time. Therefore, any man from any group
could not hold two jobs at the same time. This may be called the
inductive effect of the dominant doctrine.
Actually, the people were refused marriage by the people
occupationally superior to them. They themselves refused to marry
people occupationally inferior to them. Therefore, the only course
available to them was to marry the people from within their own
occupational categories. Thus, endogamous Jatis emerged through
mimicking the dominant Varna doctrine. The powers that be treated
others on the basis of occupations and thus graded the occupations
as they themselves were divided by the occupations. Let us recall that
according to grading three Varnas are on top as the Brahmans, the
Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas. The grading in the artisans had to be on
the need basis and skill basis. The goldsmith and the ironsmith
required higher skills and knowledge so they were higher level
Shudras and basket weavers were the lower level Shudras. The skills
of Chamars and scavengers were not needed by the Brahmans
directly (the Brahman refused to touch the leather and of course the
excreta) and hence these became the lower level jobs and ultimately
the Untouchable jobs. The refusal of the Brahmans to touch many
objects made them the lower level objects, and, their makers as lower
level people. The refusal of the Brahmans to touch people from
certain caste made these castes Untouchables. The Brahmans guided
society and the kings, and in addition the caste councils in the
insulated villages. The inequality of hereditary occupations was
automatically passed on to the gradation of people. An inherently
inferior occupation makes one inherently impure and inherently
inferior. These occupations or functions are not changeable. In the
Gita, these functions are called swa-Dharma. Each Varna has its swa-
Dharma which is unchangeable. Nobody ever thought whether this
swa-dharma served their interests!
The endogamy most probably started with Brahmans and
not with the Shudra artisans. The endogamy started most probably as
a matter of honor - to keep them away and above the heathen
people. The highest Varna was desirous of saving its women away
from the heathen people but kept an eye on others' women – highly
strange! It run contrary to their innate high-level ethics and morals.
Over a long period of time, the ratio of men to women is one to one.
All the Brahman girls were supposed to be married to Brahmans.
Thus, all the Brahmans got married and there was no need for them
to marry outside; they had sufficient girls in their group to marry.
Thus, a full-scale endogamy came into existence. The full-scale
endogamy was a forced feature of earlier Rig Vedic tribal society
because communicating with other tribes was impossible. At that
time, each person married within his/her tribe. From the Brahmans
the endogamy percolated down again as a matter of honor among the
lower Jatis. Each professional group had its relative honor to
maintain depending upon its social rank. Each professional group
refused to marry into professional groups below them and in turn
faced refusal to marry from higher professional groups – thus the
professional groups emerged Jatis or caste which was a
transformation from professional groups to social groups. Therefore,
endogamy became a basic feature without which the Varna system
could not survive. The guidance of Brahmans lent a helping hand as
they were the de facto lawmakers.
There are some people, who like to consider the immobile
caste system as a gift from the British and Muslim periods. In other
sagacious words, it was the result of foreign rule that corrupted the
virtuous Varna system. The caste system before them was not
supposed to be birth based in character. Wow! Never knew about it!
Needs deep meditation! The knee deep! But they never tell about the
fundamental structural changes brought about by these foreign
forces. Again, it is one of those sagacious suggestions they cannot be
established like the Karma Hypothesis. However, it seems that the
foreigners came and provided the endogamous basis of Hindu social
structure with retrospective effect; wow, not even the Absolute has
this power in the Hindu religious thought; the foreigners should be
actually worshiped for possessing such a power. Blaming them is a
fanciful and self-satisfying thinking; it shifts the blame away from
them also. Such an understanding of history and of Hindu social
structure is so overwhelming that even stones shed some tears. It
overwhelms the logic; here the convoluted logic comes into play. May
be one would have to take the result to be axiomatic and presuppose
the absolute existence of unimpeachable proof. And then do not try
to find it because it is not there. The higher level people are not
supposed to be questioned. Their words are the 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. Just to make their
lives easy - easy money, easy respect, easy domination, easy sexual
preys. Oh, I forgot about the high-level ethics and high-level morals
of high castes.
Now let us see that how it is possible to arrive at caste
through Varna system. The Varna doctrine had become the
dominant one due to the paranormal power of Brahmans. Under this
system, it is not possible for one individual to hold more than one
occupation. Each Varna is endogamous. All the Varnas can take part
in agriculture in various capacities. The Brahmans and the Kshatriyas
are the land owners/holders, the Shudras are tillers, cultivators and
the Untouchable are casual laborers. Apart from agriculture any
Varna can do one and only one job.
These Varnas were graded. If there were many groups in a
Varna then these had to be graded as well like in the case of Shudras
where many occupations exist. One more factor is that the marriages
take place generally among equals. We can take our starting position
that before the crystallization of the Varna system there were no
occupational endogamous groups and people generally married
irrespective of their occupations. Now after crystallization of Varna
system four major groups emerged which were endogamous and
grade on basis of the purity paradigm and their occupation. Once the
Varna became the dominant framework then the further
segmentation could take place under its wings. Thus further
segmentation led to emergence of groups where each individual
could do only one job under the dominant grouping system of Varna.
This individual could marry only among people who were following
the same occupation because of equality. The inequality in marriage
necessarily meant lowering the honor of one group; so it was to be
avoided. The people generally marry among their equals, and the
principle of one group one job, made people unequal; the people
were drawn toward marrying people one of their own kinds that is
marrying the person from the same professional group. Further
grading took place on the basis of relative purity of caste occupation
within the assigned Varna. He could not marry into other
occupational groups as they were unequal and different on the basis
of occupation. It was probably a long drawn out process. The same
occupation led to fraternity and which led to marriages and ultimately
sufficient marriages took place and there was no need to marry
outside. This was the caste where anybody could not hold two
occupations on the lines of Varna system; and it was endogamous.
This is actually indirect labor specialization through marriages among
similar people. The caste can be derived from the Varna and it is just
a detailed dissection of the Varna system where the main structure is
kept intact. They nicely superimpose on each other. There are more
similarities then there are differences. The banning of sagotra
marriage prevented the people from marrying the people from their
own tribe thus breaking down the tribal culture. The people now had
to marry in others gotras. The tribal bonds were no longer
dependable. The only dependable bonds were in the occupational
fraternity which led to development of caste system within Varnas.