The natural desire of a man is to be superior to others. This has twofold opposite results. One is that a man always tries to be superior to others and the second is that the same desire forces him to negate the superiority of others. The first one leads to formation of hierarchy and the second leads towards equality. Those who are able to assert superiority are able to form hierarchy and those who oppose them lead to equalization. The superiority is desirable and inferiority is undesirable...
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Status and Behaviour -1
The natural desire of a man is to be superior to others. This has twofold opposite results. One is that a man always tries to be superior to others and the second is that the same desire forces him to negate the superiority of others. The first one leads to formation of hierarchy and the second leads towards equality. Those who are able to assert superiority are able to form hierarchy and those who oppose them lead to equalization. The superiority is desirable and inferiority is undesirable...
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The tolerance of Hindu religion - 6
During the period of Muslim invasion and rule, the God created superiority of upper castes was nowhere to be seen. The God created superiority knows no reason; its sheer existence is the reason for it to rule over the others. It cannot be defeated - “never” is the word. The born superiority itself is the cause of ruling over the society. If the born superiority gets defeated then it is inferiority. If that happens then born superiority or naturally born pure Varna dharma ceases to make any sense. The purity becomes meaningless. With the Muslim rule the pure, pious and supposedly superior Hindus became subordinated to people not believing in Vedas - the adharmic, hated and cow-eating people. However, the upper castes maintained their position in Hindu society as the Muslim rulers did not interfere with its structure.
So the resources of state had shrunk considerably. Thus in the absence of resources it was not possible to raise a large army of soldiers which was necessary to fight it out with the new invaders. Invading India was never a new thing. Had the new invaders got converted to Hindu religion and undertaken to protect Brahmans, temples and dharma like the earlier invaders there would have been no problem. In that case the paeans would have been sung in their favor. But they did not. However, the Hindus lacked the might to holdout against the Muslim onslaught due to religious accumulation of wealth that was not available to defend the dharma.
During the period of Muslim invasion and rule, the God created superiority of upper castes was nowhere to be seen. The God created superiority knows no reason; its sheer existence is the reason for it to rule over the others. It cannot be defeated - “never” is the word. The born superiority itself is the cause of ruling over the society. If the born superiority gets defeated then it is inferiority. If that happens then born superiority or naturally born pure Varna dharma ceases to make any sense. The purity becomes meaningless. With the Muslim rule the pure, pious and supposedly superior Hindus became subordinated to people not believing in Vedas - the adharmic, hated and cow-eating people. However, the upper castes maintained their position in Hindu society as the Muslim rulers did not interfere with its structure.
So the resources of state had shrunk considerably. Thus in the absence of resources it was not possible to raise a large army of soldiers which was necessary to fight it out with the new invaders. Invading India was never a new thing. Had the new invaders got converted to Hindu religion and undertaken to protect Brahmans, temples and dharma like the earlier invaders there would have been no problem. In that case the paeans would have been sung in their favor. But they did not. However, the Hindus lacked the might to holdout against the Muslim onslaught due to religious accumulation of wealth that was not available to defend the dharma.
During the period of Muslim invasion and rule, the God created superiority of upper castes was nowhere to be seen. The God created superiority knows no reason; its sheer existence is the reason for it to rule over the others. It cannot be defeated - “never” is the word. The born superiority itself is the cause of ruling over the society. If the born superiority gets defeated then it is inferiority. If that happens then born superiority or naturally born pure Varna dharma ceases to make any sense. The purity becomes meaningless. With the Muslim rule the pure, pious and supposedly superior Hindus became subordinated to people not believing in Vedas - the adharmic, hated and cow-eating people. However, the upper castes maintained their position in Hindu society as the Muslim rulers did not interfere with its structure.
So the resources of state had shrunk considerably. Thus in the absence of resources it was not possible to raise a large army of soldiers which was necessary to fight it out with the new invaders. Invading India was never a new thing. Had the new invaders got converted to Hindu religion and undertaken to protect Brahmans, temples and dharma like the earlier invaders there would have been no problem. In that case the paeans would have been sung in their favor. But they did not. However, the Hindus lacked the might to holdout against the Muslim onslaught due to religious accumulation of wealth that was not available to defend the dharma.
During the period of Muslim invasion and rule, the God created superiority of upper castes was nowhere to be seen. The God created superiority knows no reason; its sheer existence is the reason for it to rule over the others. It cannot be defeated - “never” is the word. The born superiority itself is the cause of ruling over the society. If the born superiority gets defeated then it is inferiority. If that happens then born superiority or naturally born pure Varna dharma ceases to make any sense. The purity becomes meaningless. With the Muslim rule the pure, pious and supposedly superior Hindus became subordinated to people not believing in Vedas - the adharmic, hated and cow-eating people. However, the upper castes maintained their position in Hindu society as the Muslim rulers did not interfere with its structure...
Monday, July 6, 2009
The tolerance of Hindu religion - 5
The trade through Arabs reduced the margins on trade and thus taxes revenue of the Indian kings.
Another source of raising revenue was agriculture. By the time Muslims came to India the India had had inherited a tradition of wealthy and land owning temples, which were power centers in themselves. The new kings had continuously patronized the Brahmans and temples to raise their social status and attain the status of a caste divinely ordained to rule; in other words to acquire divine right to rule over everybody except Brahmans and temples. The land grants and donations by kings and Vaisyas made these temples so rich that many of them were richer than the richest Vaisyas. The Brahmans who were knower of Vedas did not have to pay tax on their land. Other Brahmanas were taxed at a lower rate. There was a large scale of transfer of wealth to Brahmans and temples. The temple wealth also indicated a devotion of Vaisyas to dharma. The life was not worth living if it was not for dharma. This automatically meant a paucity of resources with the dharmic kings. And no king could think of attacking temples to loot their wealth because that could have been adharmic and could have robbed him of divine right to rule. Large amount of wealth and socially powerful Brahmans were outside the control of kings. The temples enjoyed the wealth but did not provide army to kings in case of need. The Brahmanas, individually and through temples, had cornered a considerable chunk of wealth. This was going to be proved fatal to India but nobody learned the lessons. The importance of land grants to Brahmans and temples can be seen in the fact that the kings who did not do so offered better resistance to Muslim rulers; the Rajputs of Rajasthan...
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The tolerance of Hindu religion - 4
The society had multiple centers of power. These centers were kings, Brahmans, temples and village caste Panchayats. These power centers had their own existence independent of each other. And all of them helped in maintaining Varna dharma. Brahmans were not under the rule of kings. Similarly the temples were very wealthy and socially very powerful but not under the control of kings. They were by and large autonomous and received heavy land grants from kings and donations from others. The temples were accumulating fabulous wealth while the Shudras and untouchables were eating grains cleaned out of cow dung and bread made out of fodder and grass. There was divine and dharmic justice in favor of Brahmans and other higher Varnas. These temples did not provide army or resources to king in case of need. The wealth of temples became very famous outside India and attracted the attention of invaders who came earlier only to rob the rich temples of their fabulous wealth. The came and looted and destroyed the temples. They dug out their walls and foundations to find the gold buried in them. And the Brahmanas waited for miracles and/or reincarnations assuming that they had accumulated a very large amount of dharmic Karmas to help them out of the situation; however such hopes based on unfailing Shastras were belied. Their purity and their Karmas were not sufficient to save the temples. No king was powerful enough to stop the looting and destruction of temples....
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The tolerance of Hindu religion - 3
The emergence of tolerance seems to be the result of the relative lack of might of Hindu religion against Muslims. Showing intolerance and opposing Muslims and their mosques might have resulted in a quick and brutal show of might of state. Muslims were the rulers. The fear of reprisals helped the development of Hindu tolerance.
One of the reasons among several others for the Hindus losing out to Muslims was the finely divided and graded society along bloodlines and purity. Such a fine, scientific and divine division labor produced a society where people could not link to each other because the bloodlines separated them with in caste. A demilitarized society of thousands jatis could not produce a homogeneous group of warring people large enough in numbers to tackle the militarized society of Islam where people were linked to each other in the name of Islam – the worshipiing is secondary in Hindu society not the stratification. The linking of society in India was provided by the caste not by the religion. The new religion of Islam promised equality to its followers and a share in loot to soldiers. The Islamic soldiers did not most probably understand the concept of equality but they fully understood the importance of a share of loot that prompted them to join Islam and Islamic army and a promise to go to heaven and live there with the Hoors if they were martyred in the cause of Islam. And there was no concept of dying for a cause in India. Therefore there is no equivalent to word “martyr” in Indian languages. There was no cause worth fighting for except political cause. There was indeed concept of killing and mutilating Shudras and untouchables for dharma. But there was no concept of giving up one’s own life for dharma. The absence of such a concept was also the contributory reason for outward tolerance of Hindu religion and absence of crusades in Sanatana dharma. Some castes were wiling to die for their honor but not for a cause. Nobody was willing to die so everybody got subjugated. Why die for a cause or for others? Absolutely there was no point. Willingness to die for their religion separated Muslims from Hindus. The Hindus fought for money, the valiant but purely mercenary soldiers.
In the presence of such situation, one alternative to avoid defeat was to have a large army of mercenary Hindu soldiers though finely divided into different non-inter dining jatis. The sheer size could have compensated for the weakness created by the irrevocable divisions in the Hindu society. The army that was big enough to repel the attacks was the need of the honor. The people who could not eat together could not fight together on sustainable basis though they could fight together on a temporary basis until some real danger presented itself. The only motive to fight was to provide sustenance to oneself. These people deserted the army whenever defeat looked...
Monday, March 9, 2009
The tolerance of Hindu religion - 2
The mightless people of Hindu society (untouchables) have never experienced Hindu tolerance as widely claimed. The tolerance was reserved for Muslims and British. The controls of society, state and economy were reserved for the higher Varnas. Special favors were reserved for special people, not for the people from bottom of the heap. The intolerance of Hindu society and religion is pretty evident in the ever hanging sword of violence over the heads of untouchables under the eternal guidance of the pious lawmakers, the Brahmans - the swindlers. The untouchables are friendless, landless, weaponless, statusless, hungry, isolated and permanently exploited people at the bottom of the heap of Hindu society; victimizing them is the natural order of the things. It is the eternal dharma.
The king cobra always raises its hood to its full height whenever any mice raise their voice in favor of equality or challenge it. It no longer remains a suppliant and compliant rabbit. After all, its honor is at stake - the untouchables dare to raise their worthless heads. The honor on which the foreign rulers treaded with impunity gets a sudden upsurge and evidents itself in full form. A frequent, quick and decisive violence is inflicted at the bottom portion of the Hindu society by the upper portion; tradition that is. The worthless dirty thick red water that flows out dying untouchables’ veins is a foolproof evidence of tolerance of Hindu religion. It is just a routine, nothing much to be talked about. Just in a day’s work. The tolerance does not mean that the bottom of the heap can revolt. One has to be out of his mind if one thinks so....
Monday, February 23, 2009
The tolerance of Hindu religion - 1
The invaders were co-opted by giving them Kshatriya status and poor migrating communities were assimilated as Shudras. There were Shudras who never knew when they became Shudras and became a part of Hindu society. These Shudras either came from outside or lived in the region of India which had not come under cultural hegemony of Brahmans. The assimilative powers of Hindu religion have been grand but they were ineffective in case last two major rulers of this mammoth land. These assimilations have taken place without any involvement of violence. There have been no crusades. The Hindu religion is not proselytizing. Nobody has gone converting people to Hinduism. There has been no prescribed method of converting a man to Hinduism.
The spread of Vedic religion has been patronage oriented. By and large the concept of Vedic and later Hindu gods seems to have been superior to the local gods of local people. Additionally the reincarnations were already there to appropriate local and tribal gods. If one patronizes Brahmans or protects them and accept their superiority and scriptural authority then he becomes a Hindu and that too a Kshatriya if he is a ruler. However, there have been real conversions in history to Vedic religion. If a poor migrating community starts worshipping gods from Hindu pantheon then over a period of time, then they automatically become part of Hindus. They become Shudras, if they are doing clean jobs and untouchables if they are doing unclean jobs. The Muslims and British refused to accept the superiority of Brahmans and thus maintained their separate identity.
The Hindu society and religion itself consist of groups that worship different gods and still live peacefully with each other. This is idol mode of worship that cuts across caste and deity lines in the Hindu society. The only condition is that the deities worshipped must belong to Hindu pantheon or be a reincarnation of them. The deities may be worshipped singularly or in groups. The Shudras and women are prevented from studying Vedas but not from idol worship. The religious dictums of Hindus do not prevent them from worshipping any god from Hindu pantheon. This worshipping of different gods by different people does not create any antagonistic feelings among the followers of different gods. One of the reason for existence of peace is that mode of worship is secondary in Hindu society and acceptance of traditional stratification primary. A Hindu from any jati has the freedom of choice in worshipping the god/s and/or goddess/s of his liking from Hindu pantheon but with two restrictions; one is that the priest of a temple can only be a Brahman and second is that every fifth Hindu (untouchable) is not allowed to enter the sacred and pure temples for the fear of defiling the undefilable god. The faith in any of the gods or deities has no bearing on jati or Varna of any individual. This can also not be a basis for exclusion from caste; the most powerful weapon in the hands of Varna dharma. So any person from any caste can worship the holy trinity of Hindus, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh as long as he believes in superiority of higher Varnas. The grouping in Hindu society is on the basis of jati not on the basis of favored deity. The identification of trinity with the Absolute eliminates any basic differences between them. Thus there are no differences and no antagonism. The concept of reincarnation takes care of local deities and also eliminates basic differences of deities. The goddess have been taken as being complimentary to gods and are usually their wives otherwise reincarnation of their wives. Thus basic difference problem among followers of different deities is amicably solved. All the loopholes that can provide basic differences are plugged. And then what appears is a tolerant religion.
However this tower of tolerance stands on the cries of untouchables. Their cries go unheard. These people living barely at sustenance level hardly receive any iota of tolerance. They are invisible to this persona of tolerance. The acclaimed tolerance develops myopic vision when it comes to fifth stratum. At their sight the tolerance turns into a king cobra looking at mice; the fangs outstretched.
However, the Hindu religion did not react violently to the entry of Muslims and British. The presence of Mosques and Churches was peacefully tolerated. In this calm scenario of peaceful coexistence one thing must be remembered is the relative capacity of Hindu dharma to react aggressively under adverse conditions. It looked at the small presence of Parsis and earlier catholic Syrian Christians with passive indifference bordering on smugness. Secondly these people were not violating Varna dharma since they did not have any. There were always chances of assimilating them through the system of reincarnations. However such hopes were belied but not destructive. Such was not to be the case with Muslims. In the presence of Muslims; the smug, powerful, lazy constricting python got converted into pliant tolerating rabbit mildly hoping to convert Mohammad into a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. Again the hopes were belied. However it kept its king cobra character for untouchables. The Muslims always treated Hindus as heathen idol worshippers since the idols do not have any actual power. They refused to take heathen Brahmans; the idol worshippers; as their superiors unlike earlier invaders; they derived their mental strength from their own religious dictum; the Koran. The earlier invaders had their tribal deities with limited powers related to nature which ultimately lost out to ultra powerful Hindu deities namely the holy trinity. Muslims also had their concept of all powerful Allah that was more than a match to Hindu concept of God. There was no way in which one Absolute could be proved superior to another Absolute. Thus nobody yielded totally though Islam, over the course of time, came to occupy about one fourth of the Hindu turf...
Monday, January 5, 2009
Spirituality 13
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Spirituality 12
The concept of Bruhm is also imaginary, as nobody has come forward in thousands of years to show any evidence about it. Of course the truth depends on permanency. If the Bruhm exists then the proofs for its existence must exist. Simply the biggest entity cannot hide itself. The existence of Bruhm is axiomatic with unsearchable proofs that are supposed to exist. The theory of Karma is also without any substance. No propagator of this theory has been able to produce any evidences in favor of rebirth with any reliable statistics; barring some delusional people who claim to have taken rebirth. Exactly linking the specified rewards of this birth with the specified and confirmed deeds of last birth for a correctly identified soul has also not taken place. The speculative and deemed final results are axiomatic so one has to believe in the existence of evidences or proofs that nobody has been able to establish for thousands of years. They might not be verifiable. All the proofs are missing for thousands of years. One has to take the words of Vedas, Rishis and spiritualists as proofs for the existence of anything they say. However, this fertile piece of imagination of shifting of rewards to next life is a reality of Hindu psyche and has played havoc with the lives of uncountable people all through the Indian history. Actually this is a separation of rewards being reaped by higher Varnas from their actions in this life.
A Brahman is a man who can endlessly argue about the existence of non-existence (Bruhm) and the non-existence of existence (the world) and unification of soul with Bruhm and also about Karma theory. And through such evolved process he acquires spiritual knowledge sitting at the feet of his gurus. The greatest achievement here is the unification of non-existent (soul) with the non-existent (Bruhm). Second is the holding the victims responsible for their oppression through Karma theory. This spiritual development strengthens their social base where everybody acknowledges his superior and divine knowledge about the world and divinity. More was his spiritual authority more was his control over the society and its resources....
Spirituality 12
The concept of Bruhm is also imaginary, as nobody has come forward in thousands of years to show any evidence about it. Of course the truth depends on permanency. If the Bruhm exists then the proofs for its existence must exist. Simply the biggest entity cannot hide itself. The existence of Bruhm is axiomatic with unsearchable proofs that are supposed to exist. The theory of Karma is also without any substance. No propagator of this theory has been able to produce any evidences in favor of rebirth with any reliable statistics; barring some delusional people who claim to have taken rebirth. Exactly linking the specified rewards of this birth with the specified and confirmed deeds of last birth for a correctly identified soul has also not taken place. The speculative and deemed final results are axiomatic so one has to believe in the existence of evidences or proofs that nobody has been able to establish for thousands of years. They might not be verifiable. All the proofs are missing for thousands of years. One has to take the words of Vedas, Rishis and spiritualists as proofs for the existence of anything they say. However, this fertile piece of imagination of shifting of rewards to next life is a reality of Hindu psyche and has played havoc with the lives of uncountable people all through the Indian history. Actually this is a separation of rewards being reaped by higher Varnas from their actions in this life.
A Brahman is a man who can endlessly argue about the existence of non-existence (Bruhm) and the non-existence of existence (the world) and unification of soul with Bruhm and also about Karma theory. And through such evolved process he acquires spiritual knowledge sitting at the feet of his gurus. The greatest achievement here is the unification of non-existent (soul) with the non-existent (Bruhm). Second is the holding the victims responsible for their oppression through Karma theory. This spiritual development strengthens their social base where everybody acknowledges his superior and divine knowledge about the world and divinity. More was his spiritual authority more was his control over the society and its resources....
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Spirituality 11
Maximization of profit leads to neglect of spiritual side and values. In maximization of profits a man forgets his fellow human beings and maximizes the profit at others’ cost. Actually Hindu society is far ahead; it permanently neglects human beings. The higher Varnas maximize their gains at the cost of Shudras and untouchables who form the majority. The cruel, inhuman and permanent exploitation of Shudras and untouchables is a standing feature Hindu society. They do it eternally on eternal basis. Anything below permanent exploitation is below their dignity. They have a mixed standing army of forever servants on heredity basis. Since these servants come on the basis of heredity; the Hindu society never runs short of manual and still lower level servants. The more will come from where they came from. It simply takes a group of families of a servant jati to perpetuate itself to serve the dharma and higher Varnas without really getting anything in return.
In Rig Veda it is said that “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanti”. It means that there is only one truth (God) or Sat but wise men call him by different names. Or there is only one Absolute called by many names by knowledgeable men. However the same Absolute created a born servanthood in India and the same Absolute created brotherhood in West. These two Absolutes cannot be the same since a man created in West is essentially the same as created in East. This difference implies either a difference in men or a difference in Gods. According to scriptures of Hindu society the Varnas were created by the God with their inherent functions, which translates into inherent inequalities. Thus there have to be two Gods. If there is only one God then the differences in Varna dharma are created by man. Thus Hindu dharma has no divine origin and it is totally artificial creation of its lawmakers with scant regard to any kind of God. The God is falsely invoked to justify the Varna dharma. However, if the religion in West is artificial and the true religion of the world is Vedic dharma then the God is fascist. It is a difficult choice; take your pick or make and/or create another choice. An atheist would like to ignore the issue altogether. The Rig Vedic statement about only one God is more like a pretension to better understanding of the concept of God or a compromise between different sects. The exact nature of God is not told, neither the exact way of functioning of God. It was simply because the Rig Vedic people themselves did not know it...
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Spirituality - 10
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Spirituality - 9
The concept of Bruhm is also imaginary, as nobody has come forward in thousands of years to show any evidence about it. Of course the truth depends on permanency. If the Bruhm exists then the proofs for its existence must exist. Simply the biggest entity cannot hide itself. The existence of Bruhm is axiomatic with unsearchable proofs that are supposed to exist. The theory of Karma is also without any substance. No propagator of this theory has been able to produce any evidences in favor of rebirth with any reliable statistics; barring some delusional people who claim to have taken rebirth. Exactly linking the specified rewards of this birth with the specified and confirmed deeds of last birth for a correctly identified soul has also not taken place. The speculative and deemed final results are axiomatic so one has to believe in the existence of evidences or proofs that nobody has been able to establish for thousands of years. They might not be verifiable. All the proofs are missing for thousands of years. One has to take the words of Vedas, Rishis and spiritualists as proofs for the existence of anything they say. However, this fertile piece of imagination of shifting of rewards to next life is a reality of Hindu psyche and has played havoc with the lives of uncountable people all through the Indian history. Actually this is a separation of rewards being reaped by higher Varnas from their actions in this life.
A Brahman is a man who can endlessly argue about the existence of non-existence (Bruhm) and the non-existence of existence (the world) and unification of soul with Bruhm and also about Karma theory. And through such evolved process he acquires spiritual knowledge sitting at the feet of his gurus. The greatest achievement here is the unification of non-existent (soul) with the non-existent (Bruhm). Second is the holding the victims responsible for their oppression through Karma theory. This spiritual development strengthens their social base where everybody acknowledges his superior and divine knowledge about the world and divinity. More was his spiritual authority more was his control over the society and its resources...
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Spirituality - 8
However the Hindu society is supposed to be highly spiritual and non-exploitative. The Hindu thinkers say that amassing so much wealth is not good for society. It also alienates a man from God. Actually finding God should be his true goal. A materialist man deviates from his true path. In addition such man is also exploitative or indulges in anti-human practices; you see it is all adharmic.
Maximization of profit leads to neglect of spiritual side and values. In maximization of profits a man forgets his fellow human beings and maximizes the profit at others’ cost. Actually Hindu society is far ahead; it permanently neglects human beings. The higher Varnas maximize their gains at the cost of Shudras and untouchables who form the majority. The cruel, inhuman and permanent exploitation of Shudras and untouchables is a standing feature Hindu society. They do it eternally on eternal basis. Anything below permanent exploitation is below their dignity. They have a mixed standing army of forever servants on heredity basis. Since these servants come on the basis of heredity; the Hindu society never runs short of manual and still lower level servants. The more will come from where they came from. It simply takes a group of families of a servant jati to perpetuate itself to serve the dharma and higher Varnas without really getting anything in return.
In Rig Veda it is said that “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanti”. It means that there is only one truth (God) or Sat but wise men call him by different names. Or there is only one Absolute called by many names by knowledgeable men. However the same Absolute created a born servanthood in India and the same Absolute created brotherhood in West. These two Absolutes cannot be the same since a man created in West is essentially the same as created in East. This difference implies either a difference in men or a difference in Gods. According to scriptures of Hindu society the Varnas were created by the God with their inherent functions, which translates into inherent inequalities. Thus there have to be two Gods. If there is only one God then the differences in Varna dharma are created by man. Thus Hindu dharma has no divine origin and it is totally artificial creation of its lawmakers with scant regard to any kind of God. The God is falsely invoked to justify the Varna dharma. However, if the religion in West is artificial and the true religion of the world is Vedic dharma then the God is fascist. It is a difficult choice; take your pick or make and/or create another choice. An atheist would like to ignore the issue altogether. The Rig Vedic statement about only one God is more like a pretension to better understanding of the concept of God or a compromise between different sects. The exact nature of God is not told, neither the exact way of functioning of God. It was simply because the Rig Vedic people themselves did not know it.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Spirituality - 7
The separation of soul from body allows the concept of rebirth and reincarnation. The concept of rebirth makes room for Karma theory. The concept of reincarnation allows for appropriation of others’ deities as the deities of Sanatana dharma thus leaving others a little room to play. Others lose their gods also. This allows maximum room for Sanatana dharma. The appropriation of a Buddha as a reincarnation of Vishnu is a fine example. Thus Sanatana dharma becomes all encompassing.
The unification of soul with God, which is supposed to be the ultimate aim of Santana dharma, allows for the shifting of dreams and desires to next world. The ambition of Moksha is so high that it can only be achieved in next world. Thus the general population need not be ambitious in this life. The real world and its wealth could be left to twice-born while the born servants can go around doing the extremely necessary job of serving the people born to rule. The born to be dishonored can go around respecting the people born to be honored.
The separation of rewards of this life from efforts of this life led to justification of permanent exploitation in the name of Karma. The theory Karma shifts the causation on to victims and their previous lives thus absolving the oppressors. This enabled the Brahmanas to righteously enjoy power and comforts at the expense of impure Shudras and polluting untouchables. Actually it is their heredity function or right. The Karma theory successfully prevents creation of any sympathy for the untouchables and their divinely ordained wretched lives. The untouchables do not have to de to visit the hell; it is created for them here only; this life is a veritable hell for them. In terms of current life the Karma theory amounts to reward without work (Karma) for Brahmans and punishment without crime for lower two strata.
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Spirituality - 6
In Gyan Marg which is the knowledge path to salvation, a man can achieve Moksha by gaining the knowledge that the soul and Nirguna Bruhm are non-different to each other as told in non-dualism or Advaitvad. There is no need to die to achieve Moksha and there will be no next birth. This kind of Moksha is available only to Bruhm Gyanis who can only belong to three threaded Varnas. Shudras are not eligible for achieving Moksha in this way.
In Karma Marg (or path of action) which is propagated in world renowned Gita, a man can achieve Moksha by following the Karma related to his Varna which is known there as Swa-dharma. Here all the Varnas are eligible for achieving Moksha provided they follow swa-dharma. The untouchables are not included. Here somebody is allowed Moksha because following Swa-Varna-dharma-Karma is following divinely ordained order of the society. Therefore anybody following God’s desired social order is helping the God in his work. This makes him eligible to attain Moksha. However a Shudra who is desirous of raising his standard of living by leaving his Varna dharma and following the dharma of higher Varna is not eligible for Moksha. For example a potter cannot achieve Moksha by studying Vedas; only a Brahman can achieve Moksha by studying Vedas. All the Shudras have to stick to their heredity profession.
In Bhakti Marg or path of devotion to attain Moksha, a devotee is eligible to attain Moksha through intense devotion. This follows from Saguna Bruhm School. Lord Vishnu represents Saguna Bruhm in this world and can grant Moksha to a devotee if pleased with his devotion. The Bhakti movement had Gurus from various castes. Incidentally the followers of each Guru usually came from the caste equivalent to him or from the castes lower down the scale. It is difficult to find the followers of a Guru who belong to higher Varna than him. It would have been totally adharmic subordination that goes contrary to Varna dharma. Varna dharma appears everywhere. None of the untouchable saints of Bhakti movement were eligible to enter any of the temples; the practice of untouchability continued with the spread of spirituality....
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Sunday, July 20, 2008
Spirituality - 5
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Spirituality - 4
Let us consider the second case where the crimes are committed by the soul, the indestructible one. It can only perform any action through body but that is also not possible since soul is not brain. A soul which has left the body cannot perform any action. It can keep wondering about in the world until it acquires a body to perform some action. However let us assume the soul has performed the crimes through a body in previous life. So by taking birth in painful life the soul is punished. But the soul by its nature cannot be punished. There is no way in which it can be punished. The soul is indestructible so it cannot be destroyed. It cannot be hurt so hurting does not imply punishing it. It cannot be burnt, cut or killed. It is immune to everything, including pain and pleasure. So actually by punishing soul nobody is really punished. Actually it is the body which gets punished and which never committed the past deeds. Thus the divine justice system enshrined in Karma theory does not really punish the really real guilty. It gets its victims in Varna dharma; at its bottom. It is a concept devised to absolve the lawmakers, the Brahmans, of their sins. If it holds good which it is supposed to then it absolves the Brahmans of their crimes and the atrocities that have been committed under their eternal guidance. It also absolves them of crime of practicing untouchability. Simultaneously it absolves the Muslim invaders of the atrocities committed on the Hindus. The Hindus suffered under Muslim rulers due to their bad Karmas. Similarly any oppressor can be absolved of his sins since the victims suffered due to their Karmas of past lives. Therefore Genghis Khan stands absolved. It is all in the Karma; the individuals do not matter, the soul does. The Karma theory also grandly fails in the case of genocide of Jews in Second World War. If it is not applicable there then it does not have general applicability...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Spirituality - 3
It is claimed that the soul is subtle in nature therefore the modern science is not able to find its existence. However, it is not known that what the subtlety means in this context.
The soul is indestructible in nature. The indestructibility of soul is axiomatic in nature. So far nobody has explained that why it is indestructible. It cannot be born. It cannot die. It cannot be burnt. It cannot be cut. On death it leaves one body and acquires a new body. The soul cannot be disintegrated further. The fire cannot burn it. The sword cannot cut it. It is never born because it never dies. It is neither organic and nor inorganic because in both the cases it would be destructible. It is always preexisting to a body and also postexisting. It has a separate existence than a body. The real thing is soul and not body because body is temporary in nature. It exists as long as soul exists in it. The moment, a soul lives the body, it is dead. The body is only a temporary abode for the soul. However, it is not known that why should the heart stop beating when the soul leaves the body. A soul may change an infinite number of bodies during Karmic cycle on its way to merger with Bruhm. The soul cannot be divided because in such case it has to be degraded to biological level. Only higher level things are considered here; not biological or materialstical. It is Hindu spiritual world. However, the soul can be hurt as is clear from the statement “I am hurt”. It can die also as is clear from the statement “I am dying”. It can be hungry also as is clear from the statement “I am hungry”. And so on. In short it can have all the biological properties as “I” can feel or desire or complain about etc. The description of soul in Gita seems to be a bundle of contradictory wrongs. For the soul to be indestructible; it necessary to show that “I” in “Who am I?” is different than “I” in “I am dying”. However, a soul being a higher level entity cannot have lower level biological functions and processes allotted to it. It is getting convoluted; the logic may stand on its head but the spiritualists are not bothered about it; you see these are higher level things and normal logic cannot be applied to it. It is convoluted means it is convoluted. Nobody should expect to find an iota of logic in Hindu spiritual logic. It is a logicless spirituality. The existence of a soul and Bruhm can only be realized or felt through higher level unknown faculties of higher level people not amenable to the laws of science. Of course if somebody is under peer pressure or social pressure then one can just nod, nod and nod - and long live the non-understandable and unidentifiable Bruhm......
Friday, June 20, 2008
Spirituality - 2
Now we are told that the Bruhm is superior to gods and they are its manifestations only; so we discuss the things which belong to higher level then the gods; still raising the level higher. However there are said to be two kinds of Bruhms. One Bruhm is called Saguna Bruhm, which has physical form and this entire world is his body. The representative of Saguna Bruhm is Lord Vishnu in this universe. The soul is small and subtle but different than Bruhm. This is also known as dualism or Dvaitvad. The soul or jiva ultimately gets merged with the Ultimate, the Bruhm. This also connects Bruhm with gods and idol worship and temples. This can convert polytheism in Hindu religion into monotheism. There is another Bruhm known as Nirguna Bruhm. This is formless and indefinable God in any sense of dimensions or power or anything else; it is truly indefinable. It is attributeless Absolute. It is all pervading; nothing pervades it. However most of the experts agree that the Nirguna Bruhm is the final thing and Saguna Bruhm is to enable layman to worship it. The soul and Nirguna Bruhm are not different from each other. This is known as non-dualism or Advaitvad.
The quest for soul is the quest for “I”. This “I” is not considered as pronoun but an entity in itself; like in the sentence “Who am I?” This soul (Aatmaa or Jiva) is separate from body and is indestructible. The life in a body exists because of existence of soul in it. The life is not the basic property of live bodies. The life is due to soul. When this soul is combined with the permanent absolute soul (the Bruhm) then the Hindu spiritual theory is complete; salvation or Moksha is achieved. One may add Karma theory to explain the sufferings in this world.
However, it would be difficult to quest for the identity of “my” in “my soul” and for the identity of “you” in “your soul”. These pronouns can acquire entirely new meanings in Hindu spiritual discourse. It may be akin to saying that you are not you but something else. Or your soul is not your soul but something else. However, this kind of supposedly higher level logic helps in maintaining the supremacy of Brahmans and who destroyed the life of the fifth stratum
However, this sense of spirituality never gets offended by the inhuman practice of untouchability of thousands of years. The overwhelming pride in the purity of Varnas enforces the separation between society and the people doing unclean jobs. These untouchables would like to have a society of their own but they are not traditionally and dharmically permitted to have any means of sustenance. Thus they have to live insulted lives at the bottom of the heap of the society and live through their hard labor doing despicable jobs...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Spirituality - 1
What is soul is to body the Bruhm is to universe and more than that. Anybody talking about Bruhm with authority surely qualifies to be a Guru. Of course, the lower strata are not supposed to talk about these higher level things and especially not about the Bruhm which is the sole prerogative of Brahmans. As soul is preexisting to a body the Bruhm is always preexisting to any universe. There might have been many universes and Bruhm is always preexisting to them. As soul is always post-existing to a body, the Bruhm is always post-existing to any universe. A soul sees the birth and death of many bodies; the Bruhm also sees birth and death of many universes. All the gods are physical manifestation of the Bruhm including famous trinity of Hindu pantheon, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. However, there are many souls but only one and only one Bruhm. A soul is never born and never dies; the Bruhm is also never born and never dies. Both of them have permanent existences. The ultimate aim of a soul is to unite or merge with Bruhm. That is Moksha or salvation. The Bruhm is the substratum of this entire world, solar system and galaxies, past, future and present. Everything has come out of Bruhm and will finally merge into it. Anything, which exists, is due to Bruhm. Anything that existed in the past existed due to Bruhm. Anything, which will exist in future, will exist due to Bruhm. The Bruhm is eternal like eternal Sanatana dharma. However, it is not clear that how the Bruhm manifests itself as this world. There is an utter silence about this process. There is a creation. There is creator. But there is no process of creation. Anyway, it is all fantasy in the air. It explains nothing.
In Hindu spirituality the truth is defined by the permanency of an object. So falsity is defined by impermanency of an object. Here the talker can claim to be talking about still higher level thing or things at a still subtler level. And has better knowledge about the truth or permanent things. The sun will not exist forever therefore it is false. So is this earth. The life is not permanent so it is also false. The word “Sat” gets translated into English as “really real” but the true meaning is truth. So the only thing which is “Sat” or really real or permanent is Bruhm. Everything else is impermanent or a mirage or temporary. If one can claim to understand this concept based on the permanency of an object then one can claim to be real knower of truth; the knower of the Ultimate; the Bruhm. Thus the talker belongs to highest level of higher things. That is the way it works out to be. In this way all the scientists will never catch up with the level attained by the ancient Rishis who possessed the knowledge about the Ultimate. However if the truth cannot be identified with the permanency then the claim about Rishis falls flat on its face...
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Caste mobility - 7
...However, in relation to upward mobility, the downward mobility of individual was the norm. All the outcastes descended to fifth stratum so that purity of society could be maintained; the dastardly caste Panchayat was the tool for this. The Hindu society contains an inordinately large numbers of untouchables. Every fifth Hindu is untouchable. All the untouchables are supposed to provide unclean goods and services to rest of the society. This means that 20 percent of Hindu population or labor force is meant to provide these unclean goods and services. By no measurement or by no stretch of imagination any society needs 20 percent of its strength for such purposes. These so many untouchables are not needed though some people call caste system a specialization of labor. Then what explains their numbers? In ancient times nearly 10 percent of population was employed in the army. So all of them had to be Kshatriyas. With an average family of five, the fifty percent of population had to be Kshatriya. Now they are barely 5 percent. Where have they gone? The Vaisyas of ancient Hindu society were engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing. These formed about 90 percent of the total productive activities. There should have been about 40 percent Vaisyas but they are barely 5 percent. For Shudras there was no proper occupation; they were not connected with agriculture and cattle rearing which was then the work of the Vaisyas. Thus they were insignificant in numbers where as they are now about 60 percent of Hindu population. Where have they come from? This means that there have been large scale but slow degradations in the Hindu society. One of the degradation was the degradation of the occupations of agriculture and cattle rearing. These occupations were degraded from Vaisya level to Shudra level thus degrading a very large number of people. Or the Shudras in new Vedic areas engaged in these jobs were not upgraded...
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Caste mobility - 6
...The Marathas of Maharashtra have also risen on social scale in Hindu society. In their case it was newly developed warriorship which enabled them to acquire higher status starting from Shudras status. As we know all the Shudra kings were granted Kshatriya status provided they agreed with Vedic religion; the only thing remaining was the patronage of Brahmans and they would be assimilated in Hindu society. Before that the Brahmans of Maharashtra refused to coronate Maratha king on the grounds that he was not a Kshatriyas; the same pious and other worldly Maharashtrian Brahmans were later to usurp his throne under Peshawa raj. However when Maratha king was refused coronation by the simple, pure, pious and religious Brahmans them his courtiers arranged for a poor Brahman from Kashi who agreed to do the coronation for some consideration. The fables were created to assign the Kshatriya origin to Maratha king. Then the similar assimilative pattern followed which had been followed through Vedic history; the Shudra kings came to be defenders of Brahmans forgetting their own people. With this the Marathas acquired Kshatriya status and became a land owning caste with jobs in the army. However the Brahmans raised themselves to the status of demigod; they came to be known as Bhu-dev or Brahmandev.
The upward movement limit for whole caste mobility is set by Brahmans. Whatever Kayasthas, Jats and Marathas do; they can never be equal to Brahmans; let alone becoming superior to them.
Then there are Nadars and Ezhavas of south
More examples of upward caste mobility are found in 8th and 9th centuries and onward. At that time there was no big ruler in
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Caste mobility - 5
....To begin with the Jats were most probably Scythian who entered India sometime after entrance of other Scythians who invaded the Western India and established their rule. These other Scythians rulers were later co-opted by the Brahmans and given Kshatriya status. They came to be known as Rajputs who were to overlord over valiant Jats for a long time. The Jats, when they entered India, were a pastoral people. They were not the agriculturists as they are now. Though they did not lack quality of bravery but they did lack the capacity to organize on a sustainable basis. Their organized defenses or the resistance to big armies never lasted long enough and they always capitulated to strong rulers. But they were occasional source of local troubles to rulers. They were poor pastoral people who moved from place to place in search for greener pastures. They kept mainly camels, cows and buffalos in their cattle stock. Till the advent of modern medicine system from West they were the best vets and breeders. They sold milk and dairy products they got from their cattle stock. Occupation wise they were equivalent to Ahirs. However they also did engage themselves in the pursuit of plundering and robbing and thus always creating law and order problems for the local rulers. However, by 10th century they also took up cultivation on temporary basis and came to be classified as low level Shudra. Though they have traveled a long up the social scale they are still regarded as Shudras, only the highest level Shudras. They lived a pastoral life and moved from here to there in search of greener pastures. They also plundered and robbed the people; this reminds of Rig Vedic Aryans who were pastoral as well as plunderers. Both of them took to agriculture. However like the Kayasthas their rise is also linked to the coming of Muslim rulers. Here again we find no help from within the Hindu framework. The lowly people took the help of adharmic invaders. The Jats joined the Muslim armies in large numbers. However, other Jats with their robbing and plundering ways were a constant source of trouble to Muslim rulers. However, this trouble was converted into asset by giving these poor, landless, ostracized but brave people jobs in the Muslim army infantry and making them cultivators. Not withstanding all the claims to Jats’ opposition to Muslims one finds that the largest conversions took place among Jats; they appear as cultivators only during Muslim rule; they formed big groups under Muslim rulers; their bravado was recognized only by Muslim rulers; afterward by British. Still one can see that there was no help from within the Hindu framework. The Jats proved to be efficient tillers but no more than that. Whatever they produced was taken away by the landlords leaving them barely with enough food to survive. However they were better than untouchables because the untouchables could at most be casual labor but not the tillers. The landlords exploited them. The Rajputs who in Rajasthan were the landlords, forcible took away their womenfolk frequently - not really a surprise from the cultured elites of Hindu society. In Rajasthan many disabilities were imposed on them not long ago. However the converted Jats maintained for a long time intermarrying into Hindu Jats and smoking or inter dining with them. Thus they probably became a favored group with Muslim rulers. Thus the Kayasthas did clerking and administrative jobs along with maintaining land records for Muslim rulers. The Jats on the other hand did the tilling and army infantry jobs for them. Even after becoming tillers, they were rarely able to accumulate anything in their entire lifetime (Jutt di joon buri- the life of a Jat was bad and fruitless). A Jat was supposed to be a person who could toil on others’ land all his lifetime without really hoping to get anything in return. All his sweat or bravery was not sufficient to raise his social status; he was bound to remain an impure Shudra. But he had become higher than untouchables. They had relatively stable source of income through tilling and jobs in army. The Jats unlike Rajputs were unable to make a forced entry into higher status of Hindu society. Under Muslim rule they were upgraded to Shudra level. After Mughal rule decayed they formed armed groups around the region of Agra; attacking the Mughal armies. At that time they established some small, kingdoms like Bharatpur and others. However they never got the status of Kshatriyas and were branded as unruly plunderers and bandits by the Kshatriyas and Brahmans. The Jats and Brahmans have traditionally ignored each other. The British classified them as martial race and gave them jobs in the army. This helped them further financially. Here joining the army as infantry indicates bravery as well economic pressure. They mainly did the tilling and joined army till the independence. After the independence the land reforms took place and the tillers became the owners of the land. Here was the real jump, they had become resource owners and highest among Shudras. Now they have the land and muscle power with them in rural upper north India but still have not acquired the status of Kshatriyas. But they are still regarded as uncultured by the cultured elites of the Hindu society.....
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Caste mobility - 4
...Another example of upward caste mobility, are the Jats of upper northern India. The Jats are hardy farmers. At present they are landowning people in rural areas but they were not like this earlier. In 8th and 9th centuries they were treated as near untouchables. By 12th century they came to acquire Shudra status. This was also the time of Delhi Sultanate, the Muslim rule in north India. With the advent of Muslim religion almost a third of Jats got converted to Muslim religion. It gave a real boost to Muslim religion and to Jats an occupation of soldiers with the Muslim rulers and also a tiller status with them. It looks like that they really disliked their Shudra status. Instead of improving their status by working with Muslims they chose a direct path of becoming Muslims outright. Now the Jats are dominating community in the Muslim state of Pakistan.
In 8th century the Jats were ordered by Brahman king (the Brahmans could wield weapons and rule to save the dharma) of Sindh to go barefoot and do all other things applicable to untouchables. This would have reduced the nomadic Jats to the level of untouchables. We know that still in villages the untouchables are required to go barefoot this is an indication of their untouchable status. Had the situation prevailed for a long time say about 100 years or so; the now proud Jats would have become permanently untouchables – the lowest status people. As we know the lawmakers were the lawmakers. But fortunately for them the descent to fifth stratum was prevented by an event. The Muslim invaded the India for the first time. A young Muslim boy attacked the king of Sindh on the instruction of his king. And defeated and killed Brahman king. This was the king who gave the orders for Jats to go barefoot thus reducing them to untouchable level. However after the death of this Brahman king, the Sindh was ruled by Muslims and Jats were avoided the ignominy of going barefoot. They also joined the Kasim army and fought against Brahman king. Had this Brahman dynasty continued for 100 years the Jats would have become permanently untouchables. But the Muslim political interference stopped the logical course of action within a short period of time. The Jats were free again, back to their nomadic ways.....
Caste mobility - 3
...There is another way in which an endogamous jati can move up. This also includes a change to higher-level occupation along with a solution to problems of marriage and inter-dining. In this the whole jati moves up the social scale. The Kayasthas have moved a long way from being to near untouchables to be near to twice born. It has been a long difficult and arduous journey achieved with the help of Muslim invaders. The Kayasthas were the court musicians and dancers. The women and girls danced for the ruler and his courtiers. The men played musical instruments while their women danced. Not having their own means to survive they had to depend on the mercy of court and courtiers. It was an occupation of utmost subordination. Their women were more important as the skills of men were secondary to that of dancing. The men held secondary position. Their women danced to please. They were also the targets of exploitation. This exploitation passed from generation to generation. It was not one of the grandly respected occupations especially with the exploitation of women that went with it. In the ancient purity based society their social status was almost insulting. There was no purity to be maintained. Then came Muslim invaders and everything changed for them. At the same time dharma hid itself in unknown places under the onslaught of Muslim invaders. The Muslim rule was god-sent opportunity for them. The heaven changed its mood for the Kayasthas; it became benevolent in the form of Muslim rulers. After all, the Muslim rulers controlled the resources of the kingdom. The pillars, which crushed dharma, provided solid and strong support to Kayasthas. The Kayasthas progressed while dharma suffered under the rulership of idol breaker Muslims. Whose fault it was anyway? The lowly court musicians surviving on their dancing women were destined to become high-rise under the Muslim rule. As it happened, the rulers were predisposed to ruling the people only but somebody was required to do the administrative work. The Muslim rulers wanted all the record to be kept in Persian, the language was not known to people here. One had to know the Persian to gain employment with the rulers. High caste Hindus were generally averse to do the work for Muslim rulers because dharma was suffering. They were also not used to being subordinates. Thus by and large they avoided working for foreign rulers. Like earlier foreign rulers the Muslim were not interested in accepting cultural hegemony and superiority of Brahmans. They believed that worshipping idols was meant for heathen people since idols did not have any real powers. Thus they were disinclined to accept the superiority of heathen people. However they ran short of people to run the administrative. The Brahmans and other high castes were not coming forward to learn the Persian and take up the court work. The lowly Kayasthas grabbed the opportunity with both the hands. They learnt the Persian and took up the court work. The study of Persian spread in the community of Kayasthas and with that the employment with the rulers. They handled the court records first then land records. The land record work was very heavy; heavy enough to give a significant number of Kayasthas work with the court. Then slowly they were elevated to the ministerial jobs which was as good as being Brahmans in Varna dharma. This opportunity could have never been provided to them by the time tested ancient Varna dharma. When British came they got land Zamindari under their rule - it pays to be on the side of rulers. Then they acquired the modern education and got plum jobs with English rulers. Now they are as good as twice born. Some even claim Kshatriya status and get accepted as such...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Caste mobility - 2
...A man interested in raising his status in Hindu society raises a whole lot of problems. Where this man and his offspring would marry? With whom he would dine? With whom he would socialize? What should be his occupation? What should be his place in power structure? Such a man would thrteaten the existing social structure and its beneficiaries. This threat itself is a corrupting influence. It would be desirable to ostracize this man to avoid theses problems that transgress upon Varna dharma or cosmic order of the society. Such an ostracization would result in avoidance of an introduction of filthy impurities in the society. For example, for a Shudra to become Brahman it is essential to teach him Vedas; he should be eligible to teach Vedas to higher Varnas; he should be able to marry a Brahman girl; all the Kshatriyas should pay him respect by touching his feet or accept their secondary position to him; he should receive the same respectful treatment from Vaisyas and other section of the society without any questions. It is near impossible to find even one person from any of the Varna who agrees to treat him as such. The impossibility keeps on increasing as one adds more people and more Varnas. Thus in the total absence of extension of such facilities which are available to born Brahmans, the Shudra in question remains where he was. The insurmountable questions are raised in the process - the questions which do not have any solutions within the Varna dharma.
However, the downward mobility was automatically implied in the ostracization process which created the outcastes. Automatically, all the outcastes, who were without any ceremonial, social and property rights, became members of the fifth stratum.
The caste system does show some flexibility when it comes to movement of full jati because it automatically solves the main problems of marriage and inter dining. A group moving up can always marry within the same group. Thus the bloodlines and purity of other groups or jatis are not affected. This upward movement of a jati is an extremely slow process but it does happen. One way for this to happen is the learning of new higher-level occupational skills by some members of caste. Thus two occupational groups in the same caste are created. The number of such newly skilled people in a new occupation keeps on growing. After a considerable gap of about three or four generations the number of such people grows considerably. The people belonging to new group start intermarrying and leave out the people still following the old occupation. This process is carried forward in time till the new group becomes totally endogamous and separates. This causes a new endogamous occupational jati to emerge. For an example, some Chamars may learn a new occupation of weaving due to reasons beyond the control of anybody. The reason may be the wiping out of weaver community in that area due to any epidemic leaving nobody to weave. Or it may be due to foreign invasion that caused the weaving community to migrate totally to some other area. Or because the foreigners have created a new power structure which has created a new class of religious converts willing to employ the skinners as weavers. As long as new skinner-weavers are few in number they continue to align themselves with their skinner caste. As the time goes by these skinner-weavers grow large into numbers. They start intermarrying and a time comes when these skinner weavers become an endogamous jati in their own right. Then they cut off all the links with their previous skinner caste and separate. And a new weaving jati comes into existence. The weaving occupation becomes their heredity occupation. In due course of time the society also starts identifying them by their new endogamous occupational group at a relatively higher social status....
Caste mobility - 1
......The Hindu society is famous for its watertight five boxes of people, four Varnas and one Antyaja. These are five straight hierarchical strata with no overlapping in between. There are clear-cut four Varnas only and Varna-Sankars are outlawed. An individual is born in an endogamous jati with his inherited Varna, inherited occupation, an inherited social status, inherited disabilities and inherited priviliges. One is born in a jati; marries within jati and dies within jati. The caste or jati is social world in which one lives. The people from other castes are outsider to him; with them he interacts only on the basis of unequal social status and economic needs; no permanent relationship bonds them and no possibility thereof. His all relatives and father and forefathers are from within the same jati only. It is only a dharmic way of living or righteous way of living.
An individual in his lifetime has no chances of upward mobility in group based caste system that does not really recognize any individual. Any individual is recognizable only through his heredity group or caste. Without knowing the caste of a person one cannot really place him in Hindu social, economic and power structure. The knowledge about his caste helps others in showing appropriate behavior toward him. An individual has to behave according to his caste and the castes of others; he has no really individual behavior or personality; his behavior is always relative. A person becomes mentally meek or aggressive depending upon his caste in relation to others’ castes. The caste of a man molds his life. The caste enforces social, economic and power structure around him.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Village -18
....In the not so old Hindu Peshawa raj of Marathas, the untouchables were not allowed to walk on the streets of Pune city in morning and evening. This avoided the falling of polluting shadows on caste Hindus of the city. In evening and morning the shadows become larger and their chances of falling on Brahmans increased manifold that would have polluted them and their sacrosanct self. There are people who still yearn for those times when everything was in its proper place; when the movement of polluting shadows was under control. These are the people who think that India is going to dogs because of not following such traditions. In some places the untouchables were required to carry a small earthen pot around their necks so that they could spit in it to avoid contaminating the streets on which the uppity nosed high castes walked. However, the spitting of high caste did not pollute the streets; their spiting was unhygienic but not polluting. There is a difference between pure and clean, one can be clean and still impure and unclean but still pure. Some spiritual aspects of Hindu religion are fathomless. The logic stands on it head. There is rationality in irrationality. Somebody still has to isolate any polluting substance in the saliva of untouchables and which is not found in the saliva of high caste people. And still somebody has to find out the reasons for which the saliva of upper caste could not pollute the streets of Pune while that of untouchables’ could. In some places they had to tie a broom around their waists to automatically sweep the streets that became polluted by their walking. For the untouchables the veritable hell was in this world only; others had to die to see it. For them the arrangements to live in hell are made here itself - the eternally privileged untouchables! Otherwise who would go to such an extent to do this for them? Is it the law of Karma or something else? It was courtesy the pure, pious and powerful lawmakers. In some places they had to wear a black thread around their necks or wrists for quick identification by the upper caste people who then could keep safe distance from them. They could only talk to Brahmans from a distance so that their polluting breath did not touch them...