Hindu justice -2

...The domination of Brahmanas is clearly evident in the judicial system of in Manusmriti. According to Manusmriti king who has no assistant cannot inflict the judicial punishment. So a king needed a single assistant or many assistants. Here it is evident that how these lawmakers devised the ways to transfer actual wealth and power to them. The highest social status alone was not sufficient. An assistant was mandatory for the king and as per the conditions the assistant had to be Brahman. This reserved judicial posts for Brahmans. The one who was administering could not be a fool. This effectively ruled out Shudras and those below them. He could not be greedy. This ruled out Vaisyas. He could not be a man given to sensual pleasures. This ruled out Kshatriyas. Only a learned man could be an assistant because delivering of justice meant handling sacred laws and which a Brahman could only do. Any learned Brahman was an appropriate authority in delivering dharmic justice.

Further in delivering justice, a king had to be lenient toward Brahmans. This meant that being a Brahman took precedence over justice from the very beginning. Of course it was very dharmic also. Here the concept of justice was diminished nicely. The justice became subjective from the very onset. The king had been declared to have been created for the protection of Varna dharma. When protecting Varna dharma it is necessary to keep in mind its hierarchy because otherwise the divine dharma would be corrupted and destroyed. In addition, anybody corrupting dharma faced the threat of hellish ostracization which meant no respect, no wealth, no money and a humiliating life with untouchables. No self-respecting, rational and sensible man could have taken that risk. It was the duty of king to see that all the Varnas discharged the duties ordained by dharma and especially the Vaisyas and Shudras. The king was supposed to follow the advice of learned Brahman. Further if he was not interested in discharging judicial duties then he was supposed to appoint a Brahman to do so. The heathen lower strata did not have the ability to do so. They lacked the social status and knowledge of sacred scriptures. Scriptures were the most important things in a scripture based society. Scriptures were in Sanskrit, a Dev-Bhasha or gods’ language thus the low people were grossly ignorant of their actual contents. All the men were subjected to the scriptures through their respective Varnas. A lower Varna man could not administer justice to higher Varnas because it would have been insubordination. Thus the only suitable candidate to administer justice without scratching dharma was the Brahman. A lower Varna man delivering judgement on higher Varna man went directly against the cosmic order created by man.

The suitors were to be examined in order of their Varnas which shows the importance of Varnas. The heathen ones could wait. The Brahmans knowing Vedas could not be forced to witness. And Chandals and outcastes were not allowed to witness. The inherent logic was that the four Varnas could not be convicted on the witness of the lowest stratum. In other words the witness was important in order of Varnas.

Also we have a judicial system which justifies the falsifying. Further, the witnesses were allowed to give false witness if it saved the life a man from any of the four Varnas. It may mean that the life of a man was very important; it could also have meant that the life of an untouchable or outcaste was worthless. This also meant that if someone from any of the four Varnas killed a man from fifth stratum he would be set free. This also means that in practice and theory the crimes against untouchables were not judiciable and punishable. The witnesses were also allowed to give false witness in favor of Brahmanas. This made it possible to escape from judicial net in a judiciable accepted way.

A Brahman could lie in the court but not other Varnas. Thus, a Brahman could be a bonafide liar and the dharma was upheld. This also gave the scopes to Brahmans to falsely accuse other Varnas to settle the personal scores. Thus any mild anger of Brahmanas could have been a matter of grave concern to others especially Shudras and outcastes if they were the cause of it. These conditions provided the scope for avoiding the prosecution of any Brahman. The system was internally fixed. Of course they were the lawmakers.

The real burden of justice or injustice fell on the Shudras and the untouchables. The untouchables could not expect any justice from the state. The crimes against outcastes and untouchables were not judiciable, which is clear from the fact that they were not allowed to produce any witness from their side. Their life was full of injustice since birth for no fault of theirs. The only crime they committed was to be born in the fifth stratum; it was a kind of inherited crime; their forefathers had also done the same. For this they suffered from life punishment.For this crime their life itself was the punishment; it was not necessary for the king to punish them; any judicial punishment was in addition to their life punishment. How much one could punish a man? Of course one could do it if one was dharmic enough. And it was done in a slowly and crushing manner. Sometimes simply crushing. When it comes to untouchables the society takes the law into its own hand. The whole of the society becomes either law abiding or lawbreaking. It was law abiding since king could not reach all the villages. It was not necessary for the king to do so because the local Panchayats were strong enough to corporally punish the untouchables. It is dharmically sanctioned. The killers or beaters are actually doing the dharmic job of upholding dharma so they are not punishable...

Hindu justice -1

...The Hindu society is an ancient society; it has stood the test of time. Being an ancient society has endowed it with an ancient system of justice. The justice in a Varna based society is without saying is Varna based justice. One’s guilt was measured through his Varna. The crime in Hindu society can be broadly divided into two categories. One type of crime is related with general crime like stealing etc. And other kind of crime is crime against dharma. If any activity is against dharma; it becomes judiciable and punishable. It is evident in the functions of Kshatriyas, which are to protect people, rule the land and above all to uphold the dharma - divinely ordained, pious and pure dharma with all its elements of eternal cruelties. The Kshatriyas could not rule over the Brahmanas indicating existence of double power centers in the Hindu society. If the Brahmanas were above the political power then they were obviously above judicial system. The state power had been vested in Kshatriyas but they did not necessarily wield it. It was so because the king was supposed to rule the land according to dharma which could only be interpreted by the learned Brahmans. The Brahmanical interpretation of dharma, which followed from Shastras, was final. Thus, Kshatriyas and Brahmans combined together wielded the actual state power. In doing so the Brahmanas did not face a risk to life like Kshatriyas. The Brahmans were safe under the divine cover of dharma - divine protection for divine people. In addition, king was inferior to Brahman whom he was supposed to worship. This means that the Brahman was granted the status of god or demigod. A king was free to rule but he was not free to frame his law. He was dharma bound to favor the Brahmanas and heap cruelties after cruelties on Shudras and untouchables. The Brahmans were the real lawmakers and wielded indirect and unassailable power in the society – the swindlers. They were the real source of cruel exploitation of untouchables in the society. In it, others proudly helped them. Absolutely nobody had any problem in playing in their hands. It was a matter of others’ superior social status over the untouchables. The Brahmans were the real sovereigns. They framed the laws and others obeyed. The real sovereignty was vested in dharma from where it got transferred to the Brahmanas. To what an extent the Brahmans prevailed over Kshatriyas is evident from an incident from Ramayana. When Lord Rama, the God incarnate, returned home and took over the kingdom then he was required to undergo the coronation ceremony to be formally promulgated the king of Ayodhya. At that time, the Brahmans present refused Lord Rama coronation in his court. And Lord Rama could not do anything; the coercive powers vested in state were powerless. Suppressing the Brahmanas was prohibited because that would have destroyed the pure, pious and divine dharma and could have brought divine retribution. Moreover, a king could not destroy anything which was supposed to be the reason for his existence. A king could not rule over whom he was not supposed to rule. And he did not. He was refused coronation on the ground that he was guilty of killing a Brahman, Ravana the demon king of Lanka. And slaying a Brahman was the highest possible crime in a society based on Varna dharma. The king had the coercive power and the Brahman had the dharmic power. The dharmic powers were always superior to coercive powers. Thus Lord Rama was not eligible for the coronation. A mere king could not defy dharma. Facing this difficulty the courtiers of king Rama approached a group of Brahmans who agreed to perform the coronation for some consideration. They carried the coronation Lord Rama as king. As a result these Brahmans were degraded by other Brahmans from their status for coronating a Brahman slayer as king. Supposedly these Brahmans are known as Saryupani Brahmans and are considered as inferior Brahmans...

The Untouchables - 7

...The Chandals were living a life like animals which is not very different from modern times. They were supposed to live outside the villages and that is where they are still living. The Brahmans were not supposed to touch them and still they do not. They were not allowed to wear good clothes and they are still not. They were not allowed to wear any ornament and they are still not. They were supposed to eat from broken vessels and they are still expected to do it. This is what makes Manusmriti an authentic source to study the social structure of ancient and current Hindu society. And this runs counter to the arguments of many people that the Manusmriti was never relevant...

The Untouchables -6

...According Manusmriti a Brahman should not eat from the vessels which are defiled or contaminated. Here the unclean is different from impure or contamination. The unclean can be cleaned but the impure has to be purified, it cannot be purified by merely a simple act of thorough cleaning. Further an impurity can be introduced by a simple touch of a super clean untouchable. According to Manusmriti a man can become impure due to births and deaths in his families. Further a Brahman is prohibited from taking food from Shudra. This can only be on account on impurities inherent in Shudra because of his impure origin. If the impurity does not spread by touch then here is no reason for a Brahman to not accept the food from any of the Shudra. From impure people comes the impure food which is unsuitable for superior and pure people. It is the fear of becoming impure which is indicated in Manusmriti and an obsession to maintain the purity of Brahmans. The people from whom a Brahman should not accept food are – a carpenter, a usurer, an outcaste, a tailor, a blacksmith, a stage player, a basket maker, a washer man and others. If he happens to take food from such persons then he has to purify himself. The method of purification is that he must fast for three days or must perform some other penance. The garlic, onion and mushroom are not to be eaten by a twice born because they are impure substances. This obsession with purity is overwhelming and not only that it made a living hell out of impure low caste people’s lives. If a twice born eats these things knowingly or deliberately then he has to be made an outcaste. If he does so unknowingly then he only has to purify himself. Therefore there are conditions under which a Brahman can become impure and has to purify himself. This continuous upholding of purity actually led to development of untouchability. There are notions of purity and impurity in Manusmriti along with spread of impurities through touch along with different methods of purifications. The method of purification for a Brahman who has seen impure things is sipping of water and chanting of sacred mantras. So merely seeing impure things can be a source of spread of impurities, touching them ought to be very serious.

A Shudra is not allowed touch the dead of Brahman. Such an act makes ineffective all the offerings made to the manes because they have been contaminated by the touch of Shudra. Thus a certain kind of untouchability exists in the case of Shudra also. In the same vein, the presence of Shudra is not required at the Shraadh ceremony because he may accidentally touch the Brahmanas invited for such an occasion. This will contaminate the Brahmanas and the offerings made to manes. Further the outcastes are impure so they cannot be offered the leftovers of offerings made to God. It seems that untouchability was a logical culmination of this assertion of power through this esteemed and almost divine system of purity and impurity.

Now we come to existence of untouchability in Manusmriti. Untouchability requires that the mere touch of a heathen man can contaminate a pure Varna man requiring his purification. Such a condition is found in case of Chandals who came to be known as scavengers in later times. According to Manusmriti if a Brahman has touched a Chandala then he can become pure by bathing. This makes Chandals a representative of untouchables in Manusmriti. The thing is to be noted that the purification requires not merely sprinkling of water but a full bath. Further, a Brahman should not stay with outcastes, Chandals etc., which again is a practice of untouchability. The Chandals and the outcastes were nearly similar to each other in terms of social treatment meted out to them. The Chandals were offered the remnants of food from a distance which means that going near them was prohibited for the fear of touching them and getting polluted. The food was to be placed at the ground from where they could pick it up. This means that Brahmanas were prohibited from touching Chandals at anytime. But the lawmakers were compassionate enough to throw food at the ground for them. To pick up the food the Chandals had to wait until it was no longer in the hands of twice born. It is also indicated that a pig, a dog and a Chandal must not look at a Brahman while he is eating. It makes Chandals equal to pigs and dog...

The Untouchables -5

...When did the practice come into existence? We have purifier in Rig Veda but not impure people in it. The lawmakers are also not there in it. For this we have to turn to Manusmriti which relate to the period prior to entry of temples into Hindu society. Though the word untouchable (Aspryasya) is not found in Manusmriti, all the signs of untouchability are present it. Manusmriti is dated to a period around 200 BC. It is the period when Manusmriti was finalized but it is most probably related to very early period. There is absence of temples in Manusmriti and the code of conduct regarding temple entry by untouchables. This issue is sufficiently addressed in later smritis. The later dharma Shastras prescribe the purification if an untouchable enters a temple and a suitable freightening punishment is to be meted out to him.

These untouchables keep on entering anywhere they want! Is there not any dharma? They try to enter our temples! We are upper castes and have sacred temples. They cannot enter into them. See our God will be polluted. In the entire world, only we have the gods who could be polluted! The God who can be defiled! We have the most pure God. Even the gods have degree of purity. Nobody else has defilable gods. We have the best religion in the world.

A defilable God! A strange case indeed! There is no such thing as defilable God; the God who can be defiled by the simple presence of a poor human being simply cannot exist by definition. The gods are supposed to protect the weak. But it is not so in Hindu dharma, here they are supposed to protect the strong – the dharma when protected, protects. Manusmriti refers to period when idol worship and temples had not come into existence. There were no idols of great Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. And Vedas were considered to be three in number not four.

Manusmriti relates to time when Atharva was not considered a Veda. It was assigned the status of word of God in later times. The Shudras were not supposed to be engaged in agriculture in the times of Manusmriti but they were allowed to do so in the times of Kautilya’s Arthshastra. Further Kautilya’s Arthshastra speaks about Aryan Shudra on which Manusmriti is silent. Emergence of Aryan Shudra is a later development. Therefore Manusmriti is prior to Kautilya’s Arthshastra.

We can turn to Manusmriti to find the prevailing notions of impurities and purification. According to Manusmriti a twice-born man has to purify himself in order to carry out his religious duties.

For untouchability to exist in Manusmriti, it is necessary that the concepts of purity, impurity along with a method of purification for the contaminated must exist. The idea must exist that the pollution can spread by mere touch...

The Untouchables - 4

...The Brahman being most pure cannot eat impure things, so he cannot eat food given by a Shudra because the food coming from an impure person is bound to be impure. This directly affects the purity of lawmakers. Here is inherent notion that a mere touch of an impure person can make the food impure. So the impurity spreads by touch. The impurity of Shudras and untouchables cannot be removed by any known process of purification. The impurity of untouchables ranks below the impurity of Shudras on account of their unclean jobs. Actually they are the polluting pollutants, spreading pollution by their very presence. This pollution also spreads by touch like the polluting of food by the mere touch by a Shudra.

Another contributory factor to development of untouchability was the system of ostracization. The system of ostracization was put in place to keep in check the recalcitrant members of the society. It was a controlling device of the society without the presence of police. In it there are features of double or multiple power centers in the Hindu society. There was a king, there are scriptures, there were lawmakers who were spiritual and priestly heads and there was a system of ostracization.

The system of ostracization enabled the local caste Panchayats (or Sabhas) or village level caste councils to impose the fines on recalcitrant members of the caste or if required then to ostracize them. Their decisions were binding on all the member of any particular caste in the village. These Panchayats worked on the principle of dharma to conduct their proceedings.

The threat of ostracization was like a hanging sword on the head of any rebelling member. The ostracization meant disinheritance of one’s Varna, land, property and money. And it also meant stoppage of any social or economic transaction with such person. No one from any of the four Varnas could sit, walk, talk or associate with an outcaste in any manner. This put the outcaste in tattered economic conditions. His Varna was snatched from him. He could not marry anybody from his Varna. He could also not profess his Varna occupation. He could not own any land. He could not get protection from king. He could not perform Vedic rites. For all the practical purpose, he did not have any Varna; he became a landless Avarna. The same was the conditions of untouchables. Nobody was willing to sit with him and eat with him. And an atonement was required if somebody unknowingly set with him or did any other such thing. Thus touching him was not allowed since sitting with him was disallowed itself. This is a practice of untouchability. His conditions were equivalent to untouchables which forced him to join the last stratum and take up its jobs...

The Untouchables - 3

...The degrading is also evident from degrading of onion and garlic from eatable to non-eatable category. Same is the case with beef eating. In Rig Vedic times, it enjoyed the place of pride in the food. However with passage of time it was degraded to non-eatable category. Its consumption by any of the four Varna came to be punishable by ostracization.

A further degradation in jobs category gave birth to fifth category which later came to be known as Antyajas or untouchables. This group was not known in later Vedic times but came into existence by the time of Manusmriti. These people dealt with butchering, dead bodies, skinning, garbage cleaning etc. These groups were butchers, skinners and scavengers etc. The butcher deal in selling the meat; the skinners or Chamars dispose the dead bodies of animals; the scavenges or Bhangis clean the city and village streets and dispose excreta. The jobs of Chamars (tanning the animal skins) and Bhangis (disposing human excreta) smell very badly and are really unclean. No one can stand in that environment for a long time. These jobs are really despicable jobs. Then we have a group of jobs which are shunned by people. In addition, since the jobs degrade the man to their level, the people engaged in such jobs are degraded and also shunned. And people go through a purification process after they come into contact with them. So a category was born called untouchables. Generally these people were force to live at the southern end of a village or a city. To maintain the purity of village, city and people belonging to higher Varnas, they were not allowed to stay within the city. It is noticeable that mainly those people were classified as untouchables whose services were not directly needed by the lawmakers, the Brahmanas.

Though untouchability cannot be traced back to Rig Veda, the existence of a purifier is very prominent in it. This purifier is water.

A purifying process, after a contact with an untouchable or his shadow, generally involves taking a bath, sprinkling sacred water on body and inanimate things and chanting Vedic mantras.

Another contributory factor for development of untouchability was to maintain the purity of pious Brahmanas, the lawmaker, who were constantly in touch with the sacred scriptures. If they got impurified then they were not eligible to chant or read the Vedas. So to make themselves eligible to chant and read Vedas and to remain equal to other pure Brahmans they had to purify themselves. If they did not purify themselves then their status within the Brahman community went down. So it was necessary for them to purify themselves every time they became contaminated by touch of a very impure person. One way out of this frequent purification was to direct these people to not to come in touch with them. So these very impure people became untouchables. The society was stretching itself at both the ends...

The Untouchables - 2

...There are some people who argue that untouchability is not a part of Hindu religion, if it is so then one must be reminded that neither Varna nor Santana dharma were part of Rig Vedic society. And even before that there was no Rig Veda itself. Hindu dharma was born with Varna dharma in later Vedic times and with its emphasis on purity of human beings it gave birth to dharmic practice of untouchability. A great dharmic tradition emerged to keep the society purer by keeping the polluted people outside the society.

When one tries to understand untouchability one has to understand the notion of purity and notion of pollution as separate from hygiene and cleanliness. Additionally one has to consider the notion of degrading jobs as separate from inferior jobs. One more thing has to be taken into account is the provision of ostracization to keep the recalcitrant elements in check.

The notion of purity itself comes from the divinity itself. The need to purify oneself comes straight from Rig Veda where water is considered as great purifier. All the religious things and activities are sacred in nature which is a level above pure. The source of purity in Hindu society is in the sacredness of Vedas. The Word of God has to be pure and sacred. The Vedas are the most sacred elements of Hindu religion. Even the temples and idol of gods are of later origin. The temples are manmade but not the Vedas. To handle the sacred and most pure Vedas one has to be pure. Impure people cannot handle Vedas. And in addition those who are preserving Vedas also have to be pure indeed the purest of them all. The presence of notion of purity is not sufficient for untouchability to exist; the notion of pollution and a process of purification is also required.

The notion of pollution comes from the notion of degrading jobs as separate from inferior jobs. The degrading jobs are the inferior jobs which degrade the persons engaged in them. The impure jobs make their performers impure. Then the children of such people get the impurity in inheritance. The notion of degrading jobs came into existence with the introduction of agriculture in Vedic society. The agriculture was known the occupation of defeated people. The Aryans, mixed or unmixed, were the ultimate winners in the struggle between native societies and Vedic societies for the political supremacy in upper north India. It created a mixed society of winners and losers, the superiors and inferiors, the higher and lower, the pure and degraded. The agriculture being the occupation of defeated people was degrading in nature. The impure nature of agriculture is evident in the impure origin of Vaisyas in Purusha sukta of Rig Veda. The Vaisyas were born from thighs which is an impure origin being below the naval. The impure people doing impure jobs were assigned the impure origin. Thus agriculture was a degrading job and this notion developed further with the spread of Vedic culture. Many more jobs were to be classified as degrading or impure. When the main activity was declared impure then how could the minor activities be left behind? They also had to follow the course. Thus all the activities involving manual labor became impure. And some were downgraded to still lower level of untouchable or polluting. Over a period of time even the Vaisya level activities of agriculture and cattle rearing in Vedic times were degrade to Shudra level. The pure Brahmans cannot take food from the impure Shudras. The impurity of Shudra is evident from their impure origin of being born from feet and lacking eligibility for thread ceremony...

The Untouchables -1

...The practice of untouchability is an integral part of Hindu society. Most importantly it asserts the divine purity and superiority of upper castes. A very big portion of Hindu society belongs to the category of untouchables. These are the people whose touch or their shadow’s touch is enough to pollute a man of higher strata requiring a purification process which includes usually taking bath and other atonement activities. Additionally it may also entail gross invectives used against these people and if desired then a corporal punishment. It all depends on the mood of upper castes but punishment is imminent. The mildest form is the reprimand. The severity may also depend on mood of upper caste and it may include dishonoring untouchable women and killing of males. It seems that the untouchables are always living under a low intensity hidden one-sided war, which raises its cruel face whenever it wants. It is similar to a war because dishonoring the women and killing of the males are the characteristics of a war. This war is waged by the landed castes on behalf of the lawmakers and dharma. Deeply entrenched in religious and social system they kill and oppress the poor untouchables for not doing their biddings.

These people, the untouchables, do not belong to any of the four Varnas though they have the jati system similar to the four Varnas. When the practice of untouchability came into existence, the Vedas had already been finalized and Purusha sukta of Rig Veda had become final word on the origin of Varnas, the Word from the mouth of the God himself, indeed. To add these people to Varna system required addition of one more Varna to Vedic society. However the number of Varnas had already been restricted to four. The creation of fifth Varna required alternation to Vedas and especially of Rig Veda which no mortal was allowed to do so. How could a mere mortal change the Word of God? But a fifth group had come in existence because of downgrading of certain occupations like butchering, skinning and scavenging to the lower unclean level by the pious and pure lawmakers – as a measure of infinite compassion of lawmakers. Further additions to this group were made through practice of ostracization. The ostracized and disinherited people were straightforwardly downgraded to the fifth stratum. Ostracization meant disinheritance of Varna and of ancestral property. This fifth group consisted of people from upper castes who were made outcastes and the Shudras whose occupation was downgraded keeping in view the increasing purity of the Sanatana dharma. All of them had to take the unclean jobs to sustain themselves. These jobs were not done by twice born or Shudras. The fifth stratum people were considered different form Shudras and given the lowest status in the society. This group of occupations and people related to it had to be given a name. So these people were given the name the Antayaj meaning the group that was born after all the other groups (Varnas) in the Vedic society or the last-born. They were assigned origin more impure than that of Shudras and hence the lowest status in the society. These people were allowed to live at the fringes of villages or out of it; which meant that they were consigned to live at the periphery of the society itself. They were more impure than Shudras because Varnas were born in a purity wise sequence. The purest were born earlier than all the others. And the rest followed in the order of purity. Those who were later in the sequence were relatively less pure or relatively more impure...

Shudra 7

...Not only this Karana had to suffer humiliation in his later days because his Shudra identity of impure origin - the people born from impure feet. How could he aspire to marry a princess? If a king wants to marry a commoner then it is properly proper. But a Shudra and a Kshatriya princess? The thought was sufficient to throw the lawmakers in a nauseating mental turmoil.

There was a princess in Mahabharata who played major part in the epic. She belonged to Panchala kingdom. Her father was the king of Panchala kingdom. He organized a Swayamvar for his daughter in question; her name was Draupadi. A Swayamvar was the occasion where only that Kshatriya who fulfilled the condition to marry the girl was permitted to marry her. It was a kind of choosing the most capable groom for the girl. The king Drupad invited all the Kshatriyas in the Swayamvar for his daughter. Karana along with Kauravas also went to Swayamvar. Many kings and Kshatriyas were present there to try their luck. There was a condition to marry Draupadi; only the one who could pierce the eye of a fish could marry her. The fish was placed on a top of a pole and a wheel was moving under it. One had to shoot the arrow while standing beneath the moving wheel near the pole by looking down at the reflection of fish in a vessel filled with water placed on the ground. If Eklavya’s thumb was not cut off and if the competition was open to all the warriors then he could have won it hands down. But that would have caused the pure lawmakers to suffer from nightmares. Their pure digestive system could not have digested it. Vomiting was certain indicating a high regard they had for the lower caste people. The kings after kings and Kshatriyas after Kshatriyas tried it but failed. So Karana got up to try his luck, he might have certainly done it. At once Draupadi objected saying that she did not want to marry a Shudra Suta-Putra. This made Karana stop then and there. No amount of bravery or skill or talent could convert a Shudra into a Kshatriya eligible to marry among Kshatriyas. He could have fought with them but not marry into them. None of the elders like Bhishma and Yudhister tried to justify the claim of Karana. Later in Mahabharata these two persons are found extolling the importance of deeds and Gunas in determining one’s Varna...

Shudra 6

...Then we have another example from another grand epic, Ramayana, which show how the people from lower castes were stopped from achieving spiritual peace. Not stopping them meant turning upside down the eternal dharma of intelligent people. Lord Rama, the king of Ayodhya returned after achieving a dharmic victory the demon king Ravana of Lanka and finishing a period of fourteen years in jungles. He is considered as a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu along with Lord Shri Krishna of Geeta fame. During his reign a Shudra called Shambuk started to perform the penance to attain spiritual peace. At the same time, a son of a Brahman fell ill. A group of Brahmanas joined together and took the ailing boy along with them to Lord Rama. Ram the king asked about the purpose of their visit. The Brahmans told him that the boy had fallen sick and therefore they had come to see him. Lord Rama said that the boy should have been taken to a physician to get the treatment and get cured. Then he was told that the boy had taken ill not due to natural sickness but because dharma was getting destroyed in his rule. Further the Brahmanas told him that a Shudra was performing penance as a result of which dharma was getting corrupted and destroyed. A Shudra was doing the adharmic deed of performing penance. His rule was becoming sinful. As a result of corruption of dharma the pious Brahman boy was taken ill. This was as simple as that. Nothing exponential logic was involved in that. The causation was there for any twice-born man to see. Only the heathen and brainless creatures could not see such pious logic. Only pious brain could give such a pious logic. The pious Brahmanas said that the only pious course of action was to kill this penance performing sinful Shudra to save the pious dharma. A single Shudra was posing grave danger to divinely ordained dharma. Somebody had to find a solution to this catastrophic problem. Any further delay would have resulted in the death of Brahman boy and king Rama would have been responsible that. The kings were supposed to uphold the dharma. A Shudra had committed the ghastly crime of transgressing upon the dharma of Brahmanas. The corruption of dharma had to be removed at any cost. Its sanctity had to be restored. A human being had defiled it. Therefore Lord Rama took his bow and arrow and went to forest where Shambuk was corrupting dharma by doing penance. Then Lord Rama showing his faith in Sanatana dharma killed armless and meditating Shambuk with a single shot. And behold, the Brahman boy got cured the moment Shambuk was killed thus justifying the causation of his sickness. In this story it is interesting to note that it was necessary for Brahmanas to ask Lord Rama to kill Shambuk. They themselves could have killed him but they chose a Kshatriya to do it to avoid committing the crime themselves. It also meant that the deeds do not define a Varna.

Then there is another example from Mahabharata where a Shudra (Suta-Putra, son of charioteer) was forced to fake his identity to learn the art of warfare. The Sutas were the Shudras and hence not eligible to learn the art of warfare. Karana was eldest of the Pandavas brothers. His mother was Kunti, same as mother of Pandavas of whom Arjuna is most famous. He was born before her marriage to Pandu. So she abandoned him to avoid social disgrace. He was brought by a Suta (a charioteer) of Kauravas who were cousins of Pandavas. Therefore he came to be known as Suta-Putra and hence dharmically ineligible to learn the art of warfare and wielding weapons. So it goes without saying that no high Varna teacher was willing to teach him. But he had a burning desire to learn the art of warfare and specially that of archery. So he went to a far away place where nobody knew him. He went to a renowned Brahman teacher who taught the art of wielding weapons to Brahmanas only. His name was Parshuram. He did not know the true identity of Karana. So Karana put on a sacred thread and claimed to be a Brahman before him. On knowing this Parshuram admitted him as his student. It is unethical to assume the identity of somebody else for personal gains but his inethicality paled before the inethicality of Brahmanas who gave false identities to all the people and prevented Shudras and those below them from fulfilling their dreams, their aspirations, their heart’s desire and their ambitions. The Shudras and those below them had to live a life without dreams. If their hopes were children then it amounted to gross infanticide. Their dignity lied tattered on the earth. One piece here and one piece there, the upper castes walked on them as they wished. And all the blame went to their Karmas.

Parshuram took Karana under his wings and started teaching him the art of wielding weapons. The time went by and Parshuram kept teaching him under the illusion that he was a Brahman. The Brahmanas were allowed to wield weapons to save the dharma under emergency. There came a time when Karana became a skilled exponent of warfare. His favorite weapon was bow and arrow. At that time, one day, Parshuram decided to take rest and Karana offered to his thigh to be used as a pillow. So Parshuram put his head in Karana’s thigh and went to sleep. Soon after a scorpion came there and stung Karana on his leg. The pain was piercing but Karana bore it with all the patience so as not to disturb his teacher. Soon this was going to result in his expulsion and a curse. When Parshuram woke up he noticed the wound on the leg of Karana and asked the reason for it. Karana told him about the scorpion. Then Parshuram doubted his identity since no Brahman could have bore such a pain, only a Kshatriya could have done it. He asked Karana his true identity. Karana in his all sincerity told him that he was a Suta-Putra. That was what he knew at that time. On knowing this Parshuram got angry that a Shudra had learnt the art of wielding weapons. He expelled Karana and cursed him that he would forget all the skill of warfare taught to him when the he needed them most. Justified was the anger of Parshuram and so was the inethicality of the Varna system. The righteous got righteously angry. There was scant regard for anybody’s natural feelings and emotions. The sub humans are not supposed to possess feelings and emotions...

Shudra 5

...Any participation or contribution to Yagya ceremony by a Shudra is prohibited because it contaminates the whole ceremony. Even contributions in his absence are not permitted. This means that ritually he was untouchable if not for the purpose of doing mundane tasks.

The Shudras were exploited as if there was no tomorrow. Also as if there was nobody answerable for their exploitation.

Further he is not to be encouraged, his talent is to be suppressed. Rather the talent of lower two strata is to be sacrificed at the alter of Varna dharma.

The Eklavya episode of grand epic Mahabharata shows that how the talents of natives of India; was supposed to be suppressed by the twice born. Eklavya was a Nishad boy. The Nishads fell outside the pale of Aryan or Vedic community. They were as good as outcastes. This community lived among forests. The five Pandavas were the sons of king Pandu. They were the Kshatriyas belonging to Kuru tribe. At that time they were learning the art of warfare from Guru Dronacharya. One of the arts he taught was archery. The best archer of the Pandavas was Arjun of Geeta fame. He was third of his brothers. Indeed he was one of the best archers among the Kshatriyas of Mahabharata. Dronacharya was also renowned for teaching the art of warfare. When Eklavya came to know about Dronacharya, he approached him with the purpose of becoming his pupil. Dronacharya refused him on the dharmic grounds that Kshatriyas should only learn the archery skills and since Eklavya was not a Kshatriya, he was not eligible to become his pupil. Eklavya was a boy with a burning desire. He went to forest and made a clay idol of Dronacharya under a tree and started practicing archery all alone without help from anybody. As it happened, one day Dronacharya took all the five Pandavas to forest for practicing archery. His favorite student Arjun was the most promising archer. All the Pandavas started practicing archery. A dog also happened to go with them. After some time the dog decided to take a walk. So it went there; chasing a rabbit or two. It was a matter of little time when it started barking. The barking of the dog disturbed the Pandavas. But soon after, the barking stopped. After sometime, the dog came back where Dronacharya was teaching archery to the Pandavas. When they saw it, its mouth was filled with arrows because of which it could not bark. It came to Pandavas and stood helplessly. Then the Pandavas and Dronacharya noticed that not a single drop of blood was coming out of its mouth. There was not even a single wound. It was an archery skill par excellence and certainly beyond them. The peerless and invincible warrior, Arjun, stood stunned. He was rooted to ground and totally numb. Here was an archer who had the potential of defeating Arjuna and Karana put together. They were curious to know that who was this archer who had put the dog in such a condition. So they went out and followed the dog to find out this mighty archer. Following the dog they reached a spot where a Nishad boy was practicing archery. He was Eklavya, the mighty archer who was never destined to become a mighty warrior. The Varna system was going to play tricks with him. If Gita is correct in saying that Varna of a man is decided by his Gunas then this Nishad boy should have married Draupadi the Panchal princess. However, the immediate events which followed, cast a doubt on the thinking given in Gita. Even of Gita is to be taken as correct than it was not followed by anybody. Dronacharya had forgotten the boy. He asked Eklavya that what he done to the dog. Eklavya replied that it was disturbing him by barking, so he had stopped the dog from barking by filling its mouth with arrows. For this purpose he had shot several arrows at the same time. The dog was not harmed because it was not his intention to harm the dog. It was a stunning blow to Dronacharya’s mind. Here was a boy who was not even a Shudra and more skilled than the best of Kshatriyas. His all worlds, previous, this and next were shaken at the same time. He understood that this Nishad boy could be troublesome for Kshatriyas and thereby to dharma. Dharma says that only Kshatriyas should wield arms. Then he asked the boy who was his teacher. Eklavya bowed to him and told that his teacher was none other than great Dronacharya himself. Dronacharya was surprised and introduced himself. He then added that he had never taken any Nishad boy as his pupil and had never taught any Nishad boy the archery. Then Eklavya pointed to clay idol of Dronacharya under the tree and said it was the idol of his Guru Dronacharya. Thus he was his Guru. Dronacharya still had not recovered from the stunning blow to mind, which was the result of superb archery skill of this non-Vedic boy. Soon he was going to set an excellent example of teacher ship. The basic principle of which is still followed. It is the principle of destroying the talent of Shudras and those below them by whatever means available to higher Varnas. This stupid boy was soon going to know that what it means to be to a non twice born but neither he nor anybody was going to learn anything from it. The talent of Brahmanas in imposing their superiority over others without the use of physical force is awesome. And stupidity exactly does not belong to them. However we come back to Eklavya and his story. He was indeed a threat to dharma. Dronacharya needed to find a way to save the spiritual Varna dharma. Eklavya was going to corrupt it by becoming a mighty warrior. Dronacharya then asked the boy to give him Guru Dakshina if he really considered him as his teacher. Eklavya’s heart was filled with unbound happiness. His wish was going to be realized. He thought that he was going to be accepted formally as pupil of great teacher Dronacharya. His happiness was set to disappear in thin air shortly under the greatness of his teacher. His teacher then asked him to cut off his right thumb and give it to him in Guru Dakshina. Truly the greatness of Dronacharya knew no limit, it was limitless like the sky, like a freely river, like the unselfishness of a fruit giving tree, eternal like Sanatan dharma. It was a trivial matter to decapitate a man. Now it was the turn of Eklavya to get stunned. Giving up his right thumb meant that he would never be able to practice archery which was his dream, love and ambition. So being a little, mean and cunning fellow he agreed to give up his thumb for the sake of the great and pious teacher. It was a fine part of instant malefic planning of this heathen boy. At once, he took a knife and cut off his thumb, the thumb that was going to give trouble to Kshatriyas, and offered it to Dronacharya. After that Dronacharya left the place along with Pandavas well satisfied in his heart that the dharma had been saved. None of the five righteous Pandavas objected to this cruel injustice. Sense of honor and fair play requires that your opponent be given a fair chance, not disabling him. Such sense of fair play and honor is missing from Varna dharma and Hindu culture. Later Sanatana dharma provided that lower two strata of population be demilitarized to avoid any encroachment on dharma by them. Brahmans and Vaisyas can take up arms in time emergency and necessity. It seems that Pandavas including Yudhister also agreed with the cruel act of Dronacharya. Later in Mahabharata, the eldest of Pandavas, Yudhister is found discussing ethics in the society. This is an example as to what an extent the upper three Varnas can go to suppress and destroy the talent from the lower castes as a matter of righteous was of life. This is the killing the problem in bud. This works on an enduring basis. Thus the appearance of an effective challenge from within the Hindu society is almost impossible. The upper castes nurture the talent only from the upper three strata of the society...

Shudra 4

...Further he is to be respected only when he reaches the tenth decade of his life or attain an age of more than ninety years while a Brahman attains respect by birth. Such is the natural Varna dharma process. Such a condition means that a Shudra never effectively gets the respect in his entire life. He was not created for that. And obviously, he cannot have a wife from any of the higher Varna as a mark of his subordination. Further the only way a Shudra can relate to a Brahman is as his servant. Any relations with upper castes on the basis of equality are prohibited. When a Shudra goes to the house of a Brahman, he is allowed to eat only with his servants. A Shudra cannot move with a Brahman.

A Brahman is prevented from doing many things in presence of a Shudra. First he cannot move with any Shudra. He cannot recite sacred text or Shastras in presence of a Shudra. He cannot go to any journey with a Shudra. He cannot eat food given by a Shudra. He cannot explain any of the sacred scriptures to any Shudra. This effectively prevents a Shudra from benefiting from the company any Brahman. And also prevents a Brahman from benefiting a Shudra. Further, if a Shudra refuses to serve the higher Varnas then the king should force him to do so since he was created by the God to serve the twice born. In doing so the king would only be fulfilling God’s will. If a Shudra accumulates property then the king or Brahman should seize it because if he earns his livelihood from property then he would forget his dharma of serving others. And he would create adharma by trying to become equivalent to higher Varnas. This is essentially a corruption of dharma which is to be avoided by king. The inequality in favor of higher Varnas was much desired by the esteemed lawmakers. If a Shudra causes a Brahman to suffer then he should be punished in an exemplary manner which puts terror in the heart of all the Shudras in an enduring manner. This should prevent other Shudras from harming the Brahmanas. This should also prevent other Shudras from rebelling for achieving equality. If a Shudra want to improve his next birth then he should serve the higher Varnas with all his humility. He should be virtuous servant to those in higher Varna.

Further for all his hard work, labor and serving the upper castes, he is to be rewarded with leftover food of his master, with his old clothes and refuse of his grain. This means that s Shudra having quality food and wearing nice clothes was supposed to be corrupting dharma which was to be punished suitably...

Shudra 3

...There are four noticeable things about a Shudra. The first is that he is not entitled to thread ceremony; the second is that he is not entitled to have any property; the third is that he cannot marry into higher Varnas and the fourth is that he has to survive only with the help of his manual and at the mercy of upper castes. And as usually all their coming generations have to eternally do the same. It is not called eternal religion for nothing. It has inbuilt eternal exploitation. They are the eternal servants of this eternal society. All these servants have earned their Shudrahood due to their bad Karmas. They have been working to attain this status all through their uncountable previous lives. After such a hard work they achieve the justified status of a servant. Their present status confirms bad deeds of their past lives. There is no other way to confirm the nature of deed of their past lives. Though being lowest in Varna they have been given a reason to feel superior when they compare themselves with those who were born at the end and do the unclean jobs - the untouchables. The lawmakers have given them a reason to rejoice. They refuse either to serve the untouchables or mix with them. They, their ancestors and their coming generations should be eternally grateful to lawmakers for providing them a reason to rejoice. They do not know that to what an extent they are indebted to considerate and compassionate lawmakers for such happiness. They have provided happiness even to servants. It speaks volumes of other worldliness of these lawmakers. However, this sense of superiority which gives them eternal joy evaporates when they come face to face with higher Varnas.

Now we turn to Manusmriti, the most celebrated of the dharma Shastras to know the abilities and disabilities imposed on them by the Varna system. A Shudra is a man without any rights in Varna system. His rightslessness starts from the birth itself. He has no right even to name himself. He cannot give any dignified name to himself. According to Manusmriti, a Shudra cannot have a respectable name. This denoted that he has no claim to dignity in the society. His indignity starts from birth itself and continues with naming; afterward it marches on. His first name is supposed to denote something contemptible and second name should denote service. It indicates that he was made to be insulted and serve others. And his job is to meekly serve the higher Varnas. The God created them to serve the higher people. They represent the God created servanthood. Further he is excluded from the duties of an Aryan. This effectively means that a Shudra is kept out of rituals, ceremonies and religious functions of higher Varnas. These upper Varnas controlled the social, religious, political and economical space between them. His job was to serve these socially, politically, ritually and economically dominant group of people. He was effectively kept out of important social, ritual, political and economical activities. In other word he was cut off from the dominant Vedic culture. He was a thoroughly unfit man for such purposes...

Shudra 2

...The Shudra were the original inhabitants of India. They were certainly not the part of Rig Vedic society. Even they are not visible in most of the later Vedic period. They came into existence at the end of later Vedic period. In the beginning, they were not in the majority in Vedic society which is evident from Manusmriti. According to later Vedas and Manusmriti the agriculture and cattle rearing were the jobs of Vaisya Varna and not that of Shudra. The agriculture and cattle rearing formed almost 90 percent of the economic activities in later Vedic times. So Shudras were supposed to supply their labor only for serving the higher Varnas and not to agriculture and cattle rearing. So they were not the essential part of later Vedic society. They were the latter import into Vedic society which had already internally developed three Varnas with entitlement to thread ceremony. They were the natives of India who were defeated and lost their land to Aryans. All of them did not leave the conquered region. Some of them stayed back. They were assimilated into Vedic society as landless laborers. They were classified as Shudras (the inferiors) and ranked below Aryans without any entitlement to thread ceremony. Being powerless they had to agree to these conditions. Initially there were so few of them so that they could not be assigned the jobs of agriculture and cattle rearing. However in due course of time these two jobs were degraded to Shudra level. All the artisans of native agricultural based village societies were included as Shudras without any right to land or to Vedic rites. The regions beyond Sapta-Sandhav and Ganga were still ruled by Shudra or native kings. Over a period of time, all these Shudra kings were either defeated or assimilated into Vedic society by granting them the status of Kshatriyas. These new Kshatriyas also helped in spread of Vedic culture by defeating the Shudra kings who did not believe in Vedic rituals and in superiority of Brahmanas. Aryavrat was not really the land where Aryans ruled but the area where Aryan way of life or Vedic cultural had become dominant. In other words wherever Varna system spread and where Brahmanas were safe and respected was called Aryavrat. Aryavrat did not necessarily mean the rule by imported Aryan communities. By 200 BC the Brahmanas were found performing Yagyas for Dravidian kings in deep South in lieu of land grants and acceptance of their superiority. The Brahmanas won the cultural war and controlled the society with the help of Shudra kings. The cultural hegemony of Brahmanas was complete with the local rulers accepting their supremacy. This is also called assimilation.

Over a period of time, the occupations of agriculture and cattle rearing were degraded to Shudra level. It indicates that the mercantile activities became very profitable and as result the Vaisyas gave up the inferior jobs of agriculture and cattle rearing because their involvement of the manual labor. As result they became disconnected from labor oriented impure jobs. Another thing which might have happened was that the Vaisyas who were involved in agriculture and cattle rearing were downgraded to Shudra level. Another possibility is that with the increasing cultural hegemony of Brahmanas and spread of Varna culture, the Brahmans did not upgrade local Shudras who were engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing to the level of Vaisyas. This may explain the inordinately large portion of Shudras in the current population whereas in the beginning they were in miniscule minority....

The Shudras - 1

...They are the forever servants for a forever religion. The eternal religion, Sanatana dharma, has a Varna meant for servants. They and their generations are born as servants, live as servants and die as servants. Their sole task is to serve meekly the higher Varna without accumulating any wealth or property; they always have to depend upon their labor. A Shudra with a property is considered as a grave danger to dharma.

The majority of Hindu society is made up of impure Shudras born from the feet of primal man and not entitled to thread ceremony and cannot perform any Vedic rites. Being born from feet of primal man they are impure also. And these impure men are not entitled to thread ceremony. Their actually impurity is related to the manual nature of work they are involved in and their inherent subordination. It is fourth of the five strata of Hindu society and at the fourth place in social order and powerless. It is a finely divided Varna with many occupations and thousands of jatis. All of these jatis are separate from each other. There is no common bond between these jatis. Each jati has its own universe though they have to follow the Varna dharma because of social, cultural, economic and traditional constraints. The jatis in higher three Varnas can come together for a common cause but not the Shudras because there is no common cause for people with widely different occupations. Each jati has its own need depending on its occupation. These different needs separate them and stop them from coming together. Actually, they are a disjointed group of numerous jatis which have been commonly defined by pious ancient lawmakers. There is no homogeneity between different jatis. They only come together when a temporary common cause presents itself for the time being. After that they back to being vastly different groups of people who willingly serve upper castes and make their living through labor. In terms of Brahmanical cultural hegemony, they are the eternal voluntary servants of twice born. In terms of Varna dharma, they are dependent on twice born for their livelihood. This Varna includes cattle herders, farmers, weavers, potters, carpenters, ironsmiths, goldsmiths and a host of other occupations. The division of labor is really evident in this group though they are not dependent on each other as in industrial specialization of labor. They are dependent on the land owning castes in their areas or higher castes that use their services. There was no multi stage production which could make them interdependent in modern sense. Because of this multitude of occupations no particular occupation is assigned to these people. They are assigned the general function of serving the twice born. And these artisans have to do it through their heredity occupations. However these people proudly refuse to provide their services to the fifth stratum people, the untouchables – this pride is not evident while dealing with upper castes. The Shudra are supposed to do all the jobs in the society which are not done by twice born and are also not unclean in nature. The unclean jobs belong to group of untouchables. They are supposed to do all the jobs involving the use of manual labor. The twice-born are not supposed to do the jobs involving the use of manual labor. The Shudra are supposed to supply all the labor for the use in agriculture and industry. All the material things are supposed to be produced by the use of their labor like crops, pulses, milk, metal, oil, vessels, instruments, pots, clothes, wooden material and any conceivable item which can be used and which requires manual labor. They cannot take up the higher level and purer jobs of twice born...

Varna Ashram -11

...There is also another misconception, which is advanced as a defense of Varna system by its defenders that the deeds of man determine his Varna. There is no possibility that a Shudra is allowed to perform the deeds of Brahmanas. Because to begin with no Brahman would be willing to teach him Vedas and other ritualistic rites. If a Shudra is brave enough he should be classified as Kshatriya. The deeds speak for themselves but unfortunately not in Hindu society. Again there would be problem because no Kshatriya would be willing to give him a girl in marriage. No Kshatriya would be willing to sit and dine with him. So he is back to being a Shudra. The caste system comes with a baggage not alone. At the most such a brave Shudra would be called a goon, a rogue or a robber but nothing more then that. On the other hand a Kshatriya is called brave and a warrior since his birth.

Another misconception which comes out of fort of defenders of Varna system is that everybody is a Shudra when born and Sanskars (rituals) make him a twice born. So when born a Brahman boy is Shudra. The thread ceremony makes him pure and a Brahman. If it is that simple then all the Shudras can be converted into Brahmanas by investing them with thread ceremony. But Shudras being of impure origin are not eligible for thread ceremony. So a Brahman boy and a Shudra boy are two different things since birth and because of birth.

Now we will see Manusmriti the most famous of timeless Hindu dharma Shastras. It is widely acknowledged as the most important and most authentic source of functioning of Hindu society. It is surprising that a scripture 2500 years old describes the current structure of Hindu society, with minor changes, so accurately that nothing seems to have changed. It is truly timeless. Its timelessness is legendry unlike that of Vedas. There are some people who disown Manusmriti completely. They say that real Hindu dharma is not given in Manusmriti but in Rig Veda. However, we know that Hindu dharma known as Sanatana dharma did not exist in Rig Vedic times. The Rig Vedic religion was called Rita and not 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 in a system without agriculture. The inequality of groups had no role to play there since groups themselves were not there. It was a commune system of living where every thing was shared equally on community basis. It should be remembered that the Purusha sukta does not really belong to Rig Vedic times. Though it belongs to Rig Veda, it was a later addition during later Vedic times when the different Varnas had come into existence. Anybody believing in Rig Veda should be willing to inter-marry with the scavengers 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 Rig Veda but in Chaturvarna system of Sanatana dharma with its notions of purity and pollution.

However even if their claim is taken on its face value or it is assumed it is right (which is contrary to facts), then according to them Varna dharma was a simple division of labor where each one did the job he was most suitable for. And any occupation could not be imposed on any individual. It is interesting to note that we have specialization of labor in a community of cattle rearing where 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 what happened during last 3000 years which is a very long period of time. During this time the real things have happened to real people. The argument goes further that we should go back to Rig Vedic dharma by discounting malpractices which crept in later. 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. For all the anomalies they blame the vested interests and not the original formulators of Varna dharma. But the original formulators of Varna dharma, the great Rishis the forerunners of Brahmanas, lived not during the Rig Vedic times but afterward. Then they went back and rigged the Rig Veda by inserting Purusha sukta to justify the newly formulated discriminatory Varna dharma. It was done after appearance of Shudra Varna on the horizon. 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 or made it an inheritable set of privileges and disabilities. But the agreement to existence of vested interests amounts to saying that their ancestors who benefited from such malpractices lived a life full of lies, cheating and deceits for a period of about 3000 years because they acted against the guidance of Rig Veda or defied it for their personal and group interests. The punishment for defying the most sacred of the Hindu scriptures, Rig Veda, should be considerable irrespective of any Varna. It would be interesting to note that how such a punishment is meted out to such adharmic people. However coming back to malpractices, these were introduced to perpetuate their group privileges and impose inequalities on others. They committed atrocities on others in the name of dharma. It is strange that people forget their Rig Vedic roots of equality and live a life full of deceit and lies for generations altogether without feeling a bit guilty. These people cannot be said to be unwilling partners of so the called vested interests because they proudly and happily benefited from malpractices without raising any objection. It also means that later Hindu scriptures other than Rig Veda are a big bundle of lies though they governed the lives of Hindus for 3000 years. Thus, it means that somebody is lying either defenders of Rig Veda or the people who created scriptures. In addition, clearly it is not God because God cannot lie and cannot discriminate. Thus, the present generations of these so called vested interests have inherited a culture which is full of deceptions. However, if it is other way round meaning that they lived a life as enumerated in Manusmriti then still they lived a life full of deceits, lies and cruelties.

Coming back to Hindu dharma Shastras we find that there are eighteen of them. The most prominent is Manusmriti; the rest are Parashara smriti, Vyas smriti and Narad smriti and others. The Vedas as such do not provide a set of coherent and comprehensive rules for lives of Hindus. Only dharma Shastras provide us with a full rules and regulations of social life. They are the commandments of Hindus. Others have only Ten Commandments or so, the Hindus have a full set of books devoted to this aspect. The Hindus were more serious regarding social behavior of people and control of dharma over them. They worked out more details than others and were more systematic. They defined the code of conduct in detail for five groups. The Manusmriti contains about 2600 shlokas which were written over a long period of time but formally compiled around 200 BC. It is the most authoritative text on rules and regulations of Hindu society. It contains an elaborate set of dos and don’ts for individuals belonging to different Varnas and untouchables. The dharma Shastras provide a formal concerted treatment of dharma. Dharma regulates the life of millions of Hindus. It also holds the world together like Rita of Rig Veda, a kind of cosmic or divine order.

The Manu dharma (the way of life permitted in Manusmriti) is also known as Manav dharma which is by its inherent purity and goodness is supposed to be applicable to all men, in all times and in all places. However one should expect that such a Manav dharma 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 Manusmriti, it is nowhere described that who is Manav (human) and what are his rights and duties. The definitions is simply is missing from it. It is not indicted that who is this Manav among all the four Varnas. If all of them are human beings then why they should not have the same dharma? If they have to follow the different dharmas then they are not the same. In that case Manusmriti cannot make a claim that it is a general code of conduct for all the men all the times. Actually it has five codes of conducts, one for each Varna. The universality is missing from Manusmriti. Instead Varnas are different categories of humans who have different codes of conduct. There is no underlying single basis of deciding the code of conduct instead it depends on the purity of origin of a man. The only single underlying need is the desire for power. Thus the people having different powers have the different code of conduct applied to them. The power of each group matches with the level of purity assigned to it and their relative occupations. The purity is supposed to be a theoretical basis of power of each Varna. It is also a standard of measurement of social status of each Varna.

The fifth stratum of untouchables is represented by Chandals in Manusmriti for whom a code of conduct is given.

It also provides civil and criminal laws, punishment and atonement. The main aim of codification of Hindu laws in various smritis was to ensure the security and welfare of different Varnas in descending order. This descending order is Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Shudras and Antyajas. The welfare of Brahmanas takes precedence over the welfare of Kshatriyas. The welfare of Kshatriyas takes precedence over the welfare of Vaisyas. The welfare of Vaisyas takes precedence over the welfare of Shudras. The welfare of Shudras and Antyajas is simply missing. However the disabilities imposed over Shudras were less than the disabilities imposed over Antyajas. For this the Shudras and their present past and future generations should be utmost grateful to swindling Brahmans. Actually Manusmriti completely destroys the welfare of Shudras and Antyajas. Their welfare is burned in the fires of social status and purity. The welfare of Shudras is completely destroyed and the life of Antyajas’ is actually made hellish courtesy the rules created by the pious lawmakers, the Brahmanas. The compassion of these sacred lawmakers is spread all over the Shastras and especially reserved for the last two strata. The social cruelties against Antyajas are all encompassing over the entire range of Shastras wherever they are mentioned. The low level of welfare available to Shudras and Antyajas is generally attributed to the law of Karma, no swindling lawmaker is supposed to have any hand in it. The existence of universal ethical principle and humanity in Manusmriti or other dharma Shastras is similar to the existence of Dodo.

Now we are back to the question of how the Varna of a man is to be determined. Manusmriti, the most authentic of dharma Shastras can help in this regard. Apart from the endogamous natures of different jatis we have the abhorrence for Varna-Sankar in Manusmriti and the great spiritual epitome of Sanatana dharma, the unestimable Geeta. 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 this causes corruption or destruction of dharma. The presence Varna-Sankars makes the world unsafe for dharma. Now what is the nature of dharma which can be destroyed or corrupted by the emergence of Varna-Sankar people? The concept and presence of Varna-Sankar is antagonist to dharma. Any Varna-Sankar is anti-dharmic. Dharma would like to see the extinction of Varna-Sankars and prevent them from emerging altogether. So 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 to be abhorred. An obsessive abhorrence to Varna-Sankar implies that only the people belonging to same Varna can marry. Manusmriti is very clear in this regard that only those offspring who have the father and mother from 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/she is a Varna-Sankar. The dharma Shastras are very clear that there are only four Varnas and there exists no fifth Varnas. Thus 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 ceremony. This also deprives them of any status in the society. This means that the Varna is decided by pure parentage or in other words by birth. The parentage of a pure Varna cannot come from any other Varna. Keeping in view the superiority of higher Varnas, Manusmriti allows, as a matter of subordination of lower Varnas, higher Varna men to marry lower Varna women. This is called Anuloma marriage. The children 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 twice born. This makes them affectively Shudras since the only job left is that of Shudras’. The children from such marriages have no place in the society 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 Shudra level and then remain there. This veritable threat of degrading to Shudra level prevents effectively the Anuloma marriages. The marriage in opposite direction, where father is from lower Varna and mother is from higher Varna is called Pratiloma marriage. Anuloma marriages imply the subordination of lower Varnas to higher Varnas and Pratiloma marriages imply an insubordination to higher Varnas. The Pratiloma marriages are straight forwardly outlawed by Manusmriti. The children born out of such marriages are classified as outcastes which ultimately makes them to degrade to the level of fifth stratum of untouchables. Anybody involved in insubordination is consigned to the level of untouchables, a punishment for life till death, which is carry forward to next generations. The ostracization which makes a person an outcaste is equivalent to 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 man of any inheritance. Thus the ostracized man is deprived of social interaction and economic means. He has no property; he is not supposed to be employed by anybody. Nobody is supposed to interact with him, not even Shudras. Thus he has untouchable for company and has to take up their jobs to survive.

Thus we find that the Varna is determined by birth because true Varna comes only from same Varna. The people with same level of relative purity are supposed to marry each otherwise the impurities will prevail which will impurifiy the dharma and the Varna...

Varna Ashram -10

...There are some people who claim that Varna of a man is not birth based but depends on Karmas and Gunas (deeds and nature). The strongest evidence that the caste is based on birth is the existence of endogamous jatis. People belonging to a particular jati refused to marry outsiders and thus make jati a birth based system. However we may see the arguments in favor of Guna (nature) based Varna. These people seem to imply that Varna is different from jati. However Varna is a socially ranked group of similarly ranked endogamous jatis as given in scriptures. If nature (Guna) of man is going to decide his Varna then endogamous nature of jatis has to break down. As far as Gunas are concerned there are three Gunas. These are Satvik, Rajsik and Tamsik. The Satvik guna denotes purity, calmness, intelligence and renunciation. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by Brahmanas. The Rajsik guna denotes power, vitality and dynamism. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by Kshatriyas. The Tamsik guna denotes darkness, ignorance and inertness. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by Shudras. And the third Varna of Vaisyas possesses a combination of Rajsik and Tamsik Gunas. It is like being a combination of pure and impure. This description is not necessarily right but let us assume that it is right. Different Varnas possess different Gunas. But it is not same as saying that Gunas determine Varna. Or nature of a man decides his Varna. Do the Gunas decide Varna of a man? Whether a man from any Shudra jati possessing Satvik Gunas belongs to Brahmanas Varna? Does he have the right the right to study and teach Vedas? Does he have the right to guide King in running his kingdom? Does he have the right to be revered by Kshatriyas and Vaisyas? Does he have the right to become priest of temples? And biggest of them all – does he have the right to marry a Brahman girl? This is the right which even the kings do not have. The Varna system does not come in isolation, it comes with a complete baggage. It would be interesting to note the number of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas willing to extend him all these rights. The number of such people would be zero. 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 physical form the problems start. First thing, he would have to go through thread ceremony to become a Brahman which no Brahman would perform. Secondly 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. None of the higher three Varnas would be willing to cross the first stage of walking and talking with him. So after facing the rejection from all the sides he is back to being a Shudra. Therefore, the claim that a man born in Shudra jati possessing Satvik Gunas belongs to Brahman Varna is grand fable which falls flat on its face when applied socially. Such a man exists in the arguments of defenders of Varna system not in their hearts. There he is simply non-existent. Nobody followed the teachings of Gita rendering it meaningless. Even Gita does not provide a way of handling the baggage associated with Varnas created by the God...

Varna Ashram -9

...According to some people Varna system is a simple division of labor. 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 Varna system was born in 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 engineering to perform any job. The job of potter or forger could have been performed by anybody. The endogamy most probably started with Brahmanas not with the Shudra artisans. This endogamy started most probably as matter of honor. The highest Varna was desirous of keeping its women away from the heathen people. 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. In addition, a full-scale endogamy came into existence. Then it percolated down again as a matter of honor among lower jatis. Each jati had its relative honor to maintain depending upon its social rank. Each jati refused to marry into jatis below them and in turn inviting refusal to marry from higher jatis. So endogamy became a basic feature without which Varna system could not survive.

It was not essential to be a specialist to perform any production activity in an agrarian economy. Further, the upper castes that controlled land and capital in the society did not provide any labor. Therefore, any division of labor if it was there took place within last two groups. If it was a division of labor then Shudras could have simply changed their Varna at will by changing their occupation, which did not happen. Any such move would have required a reallocation of land, capital and authority which no higher Varna was willing to do.

One more thing about division of labor is that it is need based and not based on birth. In division of labor any worker can change his occupation if he does not get enough to eat. Such a change is not permitted under Varna system. Varna was, in fact, power based with extreme strands of purity. This power had to be acquired by taking birth in a suitable Varna.

Function wise there was no replacement for Kshatriyas killed in warfare. There are only 5 percent Kshatriyas in Hindu society at present. Considering a family of five only 1 percent of population is available to maintain the law and order and defend the country. This gives a ratio of 100 to 1 for the army and police combined together. And if one considers the society where there are no guns only swords, spears and bows and arrows then this ratio is too low. One man with sword cannot handle 100 men with sticks. The minimum ratio, for such a sword-based society is 10 to 1, which gives a population of 10 percent for able-bodied Kshatriyas. Again considering a family of 5 we find that Kshatriyas should be 50 percent of total population and not 5 percent as at present. The present population of Kshatriyas is too low. Where have all the Kshatriyas gone? Why they were not replaced? If it were to be a division of labor?

Considering the case of untouchables one finds that they constitute about 20 percent of Hindu population. This means that Hindu society needs 20 percent of its population or labor force to provide it with unclean goods and services. No society can have such a high demand or requirement for such goods and services that it needs 20 percent of its population to provide them. Only 1 to 2 percent people are needed for such jobs and that too without untouchability. So 18 to 19 persons out of every 20 untouchable are redundant. How does the division of labor explain this? On the other hand Kshatriyas fall short by 45 percent. Clearly it is not a division of labor. It is a power structure where entry of outsiders is not allowed.

Hindu society is simply a caste based society where control of everything is acquired by upper castes by natural act of taking birth and crippling the lower castes. A newborn upper caste child is predestined to be a controller and a newborn Shudra child a servant. And nobody can change that. The control over lower castes is passed on heredity basis. The upper castes get this control through inheritance. The cosmic forces are said to be behind this...