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What You Should Not Know About India

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What you should not know about India

By

Rajendra Kumar

Published by Rajendra Kumar Copyright © Rajendra Kumar, 2010

All rights reserved

This book may be, without any change, freely stored, used, copied and distributed in the present form that is in PDF form in

5.5x8.5 size, 464 pages for noncommercial purposes. For commercial purposes please contact the Author on mobile phone

+918860557298 or at address B-5/159, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi, India - 110063

No part of this publication, except as given above, may be printed, published or reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the Author. However, it can be freely quoted by giving reference.

Copyright © Rajendra Kumar, 2010

All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi, India only

Dedicated to one known face and all those unknown faces who made the writing of this book

possible

CONTENTS

Preface i 1. UNOFFFICIAL INDIA 1 2. ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS 16 3. EMERGENCE OF VARNAS 25 4. SPIRITUALITY 44 5. VARNA EXPLOITATION 70 6. THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY 77 7. THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM 98 8. HONESTY, FAIRNES, SENSTIVITY AND OTHER TRIVIA FRIVIA ` 110 9.IN THE DEFENSE OF VARNA DHARMA? 128 10.THE VILLAGE 150 11.THE SHUDRAS 186 12.THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES 209 13. CASTE MOBILITY 236 14. HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED? 250 15. THE TEMPLES 275 16. THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELIGION 284 17. WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY? 298 18. THE CITIES 305 19. CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS 318 20. THE DHARMA 341 21. THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE 358 22. THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY 383 APPENDIX A. THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR A-1 B. THE BINDING FORCES A-15 C. THE STRATA A-18 D. THE WILL AND INTEREST THEORIES A-29 E. THE CLAIMS A-34

F. THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES A-43 G. JUSTICE AT WHAT COST? A-51

i

Preface India, a large country in south Asia, is a perplexing and

mammoth land with a long history. Its population is more than one billion. It is a home to many languages, religions, cults, ethnicities and not the last – the Hindu caste system. Its inhabitants follow Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim religions. About eighty percent population follows Hindu religion. The diversity found here is amazing. Some consider it a power house of spirituality with gross disregard to Western materialism. Its still ancient society is based on caste. The caste system is still the unofficial system of India. Any individual is a derivative of his caste and any caste cannot be derived from any individual. The caste of an individual is fused with him. Therefore, it is difficult to separate the individual from the caste – the lines here are blurring. But the lines are thick and dark for everybody to see, between the different castes.

This book is about the caste system in India with particular

emphasis on the treatment of the fifth stratum in the Hindu society. The caste system has been successfully exported to other major religions in India – the Islam and the Christianity. Or rather the converts took the caste system along with them to these religions. In this way the Hindu religion exported the casteism and the untouchability to other major religions in the region. The converts brought this baggage to their new religion. This baggage provided them with an innate superiority over the low caste entrants in the new religion. Therefore, the caste system in one form or other form prevails nearly all over India. There is no escape from it. And it is not a small thing.

There have been many books on the Hindu society and its

functioning. This book is more about the manner in which the Hindus society reacts to the lowest stratum. This book aims to provide a different aspect than the dominant views. On the one hand, there are views and books extolling the caste system treating it as a good system barring some blots on it. On the other hand, there are self-delusory views from the fifth stratum about their grand past history and their fall to present status due to unknown reasons. This book will try to read the things as they are. The approach in this book is normative rather than empiricist. This book does not aim to quote the specific instances as proof of its views. However, those

ii

interested in the fieldwork may explore the literature and data of which plenty is available. It is hoped that the readers would bear with the language keeping in view that English is second language for the author.

This system which stratifies and segments people is an

extremely old one as compared to modern religions and modernity. It is about 2500 years old and surpasses other existing large systems may be excepting Judaism and Parsi religion. The stability and extent of this system is surprising which most probably due to insulated villages and ghastly village caste councils. The possible rebellion was, most probably, thwarted by the policy of not allowing the lower stratum to wield the arms. This left them defenseless without any option to rebel. The European kind of Renaissance was never to hit this ancient land which took pride in its ultimate knowledge (?) of the Vedas beyond nothing was supposed to exist. Even if something was supposed to exist, it was given a quiet burial.

The caste system or the Chaturvarna has four born Varnas

viz. Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Shudra in socially descending order. There is one more, large group, below the Shudra, called the Untouchables. There are thousands of endogamous castes/jatis belonging to these Varnas. The Untouchability is a supposed to be a blot on the Hindu society by modern standard; otherwise it was/is a matter of pride, unofficially.

Each group drives its strength/weakness from its respective

jati and Varna. Any individual is as strong as his jati/Varna. These strengths are decreasing downward starting from the Brahmans. If left to itself, it is an unchanging system and tends to keep some specific people permanently at the top. And some deprived group, permanently, are kept at the bottom. It operates through a birth-attached system, where not only the wealth, but also social status and occupations are forcibly and directly/indirectly transferred to an individual at the time of birth. Any deviation from this birth-attached system was punished by the ghastly caste councils. The social/economic disabilities and other things which are deemed to be the qualities of the caste are inherited by an individual by virtue of taking birth in that caste. This process is supposed to be divine in its origin. This process proved to be crippling for nearly every fifth Hindu. The marriages also take place on endogamous basis at the

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level of sub-caste. The endless matrimonial advertisements in media are a proof to endogamous nature of caste. This system has kept the millions of people at the bottom and out of mainstream. These millions of people live a wretched life. These untouchables are not supposed to take breath properly for the fear of breaking the social equilibrium. They were (or is it “are”) supposed to speak properly with downcast eyes and a humble tone in low volume. They were supposed to look away when the honor of their womenfolk was in danger; it is unofficial India. The walls of rejection they face, in society, are non-negotiable.

The practice of Untouchability has been outlawed by Indian

Government by making provision against it in its Constitution. Why should we harp on it when it has been legally abolished? The answer lies in its all pervasiveness, in the affairs of Indian society, despite being illegal. This illegal practice persists in many forms. Its total unofficial eradication has proved to be a mirage.

The traditional system is rooted in plethora of Hindu

scriptures and Indian State is helpless is in removing this stinking features of Hindu society. The Indian Government remains committed in removing this blot on humanity. But it is only partially successful. And that is not enough and that is why this book is there. Had the Indian state been successful in its noble intentions this book might not have been necessary. The caste system is still the unofficial system of India whether one believes in its existence or not. The results obtained by any study would point to its existence. It governs the lives of a billion people and easily makes life hellish for people at the bottom. The greatness of the unofficial India lies in perpetuating this abhorring system through traditions whoever might be the ruler. These traditions should not be broken. The spirit of equality as propounded in Constitution does not lie at the heart of people who benefit from the caste system. Therefore whatever is written here is generally applicable to unofficial India or private India. There are two versions of India official and unofficial. Here we are mainly concerned with the unofficial India. There are some other things in the Appendix which may have more general applicability.

Constitution of India bars the discrimination by the state on

caste and religious grounds but it does not say that the caste is illegal. It does not bar any discrimination against fifth stratum barring

iv

practice of untouchability. The caste becomes private and presents a different picture of India than the official one because it carries the bag and baggage of the glorious traditions and heritage. The traditional Indian society carries in itself a large element of inhumanity. The state is committed to abolition of Untouchability but not the society.

Before we embark on further enquiry, we should make few

things clear – Untouchables – here it means the unofficial Untouchables

who are Untouchables in traditional or unofficial sense not in terms of Indian Constitution. In terms of the Indian Constitution it means the numerous castes includes in 42nd schedule of Indian Constitution and were formerly known as Untouchables. The Untouchability has been outlawed by the Government. To benefit the Scheduled castes the Government has devised many schemes but as everybody know the monetary implementation carries a gaping hole of 90% and only 10 % reaches to these poor people. The ninety percent is devoured by the crocodile known as corruption. When we say Untouchables it should be taken as the unofficial Untouchables. These people prefer to call themselves as Dalits or Crushed people. This nomenclature is of recent origin.

In India, the present and past reside together and it becomes difficult to separate them. Like modernity and tradition live together, entwined. Thus the writer has taken the liberty to use the tense (as in grammar) as it is juxtaposed and leaves the reader to draw his own conclusion. There are certain bumps here and there. The book is full of danglers. Sometime it moves to and fro and sometimes in a zigzag manner. Otherwise, the book could have become very bulky and in turn could have produced disinclination in the potential readers towards it.

Then the writer has depended on the suffocating atmosphere and has avoided the inclusion of data by and large. This book rather depends on abstraction, reasoning, logic and creativity and an attempt to produce somewhat different perspective. Those who are interested in data bound proof would find plenty of sources from they can gather the data. They just have to be interested in deep digging. And it may not be surprising that they find my conclusion as true.

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The Untouchability exists. There are laws against it to prove it. And it would be foolish to make law against something which does not exist.

Then at last, the author would like to express his gratitude to

other authors whose works have deeply influenced author’s work. First and foremost are Louis Dumont, Emmanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Nash, Hobbes, Lockes, Russeou, Jeremy Bentham, B. R. Ambedkar, Witzel, M. N. Srinivas, Karl Marx, Gramsci, Weber, Durkheim, Sarvpalli Radha Krishan, Rawls, – the list endless. There are various authors whom have not been mentioned above. You can imagine that how big is the list! Next time the author would do his best to give the readers a complete list. Some other authors are given in bibliography which is by no measure complete. Other works which have influenced in similar way are yet to be taken into account. However, it is not necessary that the author agrees with all the above mentioned thinkers/authors.

1

1. UNOFFFICIAL INDIA

They belong to the lowest stratum of Hindu society. They are untouchables. It is forbidden to touch them. It is even forbidden to let their polluting shadows fall on people. Born with everlasting insulted and polluted status, they are denied the village well water. They cannot fetch water from the village well lest it gets polluted. Utterly insignificant - traditions of two and half thousand years - small time! And pure traditions cannot be wrong! Can they be?

The grim wounds wait painfully for another harsh blow. The internal bleeding injuries wait for more internal injuries. The excruciating broken bones wait for more broken bones. Each blow is not inferior in intensity to previous one. The desperate thirst does not wait for the village well water. The insulted status does not wait for any respect. The insulted self waits only for heaps and heaps of more insults. The painful bruises wait for more and more bruising blows. The tattered clothes wait for scarce arrival of only tattered clothes. The sunken and sagging faces wait only for more despair. The still eyes expect only static and horrible life. The drooping shoulders do not wait for any upright spirit. The lowered heads do not wait for courage to raise them. The painfully lowered eyes gaze at the ground without any intent. They wait for high caste people to move so that after them, they can move. The downcast eyes remain downcast. The trembling legs do not gather any strength. The tearful eyes look carefully on the ground lest any calamity visits them. The hanged desires dare not come to life. The butchered dreams lay scattered on the ground. The throttled voice dies inside inch by inch. The death is rarely far away and dark fear is always lurking nearby. The suffocated cries expect no help. The creaking hope is ground to dust. The tears wait for more tears before rolling down, and, then they dry up altogether. The consolations received from higher castes are not worth more than the crocodile tears. The empty bellies stay ready for another night without food. The famished bodies dare face no one. The tattered dignity dares not hide its holes or raise itself from the ground. Trembling they get up when any high caste man passes them by. No aid is expected from any quarter in case of any natural calamity. The sun of hope is covered by eternal clouds, dark.

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No money or assets are to reach them. The food that is just enough to keep them alive is supposed to be sufficient for them so that they can serve humbly the high castes. This food is very near to starving level. The cattle deserve more - the optimum use - not amazingly – the strong cattle would not rebel. The Untouchables are the eternally insulted people of the Hindu society. A way of life!

Any humiliation is followed by another bitter humiliation, making an unbroken chain. The insulting eyes follow them everywhere. Their small thatched huts or hovels or small houses constantly lurch under the shadow of dark terror. Disrespect visits them with an unbroken stream. Scarcity of food is perpetual. The blank eyes look into dark, staring at airy nothing. Their trembling bodies hardly have any reason to stand firm. That is the lot Untouchables in the traditional Hindu society. Mind-boggling achievement! Isn't it? Not appalling at all! Is it?

Nevertheless, the Hindu society boasts of great glorious and wonderful culture, traditions and heritage. It claims a spiritual, compassionate, tolerant, harmonious and humane society going back to thousands of years; no wonder. One might as well stop counting the uncountable and glorious properties of the Hindu society and might as well bow before it. You may run out of magnificent and superlative adjectives and may never realize the stinging bottom. It is also thought to be the spiritual powerhouse of the world. Pretty evident! The things are impeccably nice! And all those who open their mouths in protest should shut them up. It is the traditional Hindu society!

These Untouchables belong to the fifth major layer of the Hindu society. They are the people with guttered destinies. Let us now try to understand, briefly, these five layers. The Hindu System or Sanatana Dharama has Chatur-Varna system: the Brahmans are (the law makers, preservers of Dharma and priests) at the top, below them are the Kshatriyas (the rulers and upholders of Dharma), below them are the Vaisyas (the businessmen and traders) and below them are the Shudras (the servants). However, below these layers is the last layer - the layer of Untouchables. This is the stinking bottom of the heap. Or say the dustbin of the Hindu society. The lower two Varnas are completely dehumanized in Hindu scriptures. Do I see high caste people smugly smilingly somewhere in their safe caste cocoons?

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Each Varna has a specific function in the traditional Hindu society or the traditional India. These functions are birth-attached and non-transferable in nature. These functions could only be inherited.

In Hindu society there is plethora of dharmic scriptures. The oldest of these are the four Vedas. The oldest is the Rig Veda then comes the Sama Veda, the Yajura Veda and the Atharva Veda. The Vedas are the most sacred of Hindu scriptures. The most ancient Rig Veda is the most sacred of Hindu scriptures. The rest of major scriptures are the Upanishidas, the Brahmanas, the Puranas, the Gita and Dharma Shastras. Then there are the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana

How the Varnas were developed? No, no, no; how they were born? Yes, how they were born or were created, not developed? According to the Purush Sukta of the Rig Veda, the most sacred of the Hindu scriptures, in a bygone time the gods sacrificed the primal man. After the sacrifice, the Brahmans were born from his mouth, the Kshatriyas from his arms, the Vaisyas from his thighs and the Shudras from his feet. This is not a piece of fiction; it comes from the most authentic source, the Rig Veda; and stamps it with the divine authority- no mere mortal Hindu can question it. However, the important point to note is that it is the birth of the groups and not that of individuals. Now you know how the Varnas, the groups, were born! Any objections please?

Now we have a paradigm of purity in the Hindu society. According to this paradigm, some people are born good (pure), and some are born dirty (impure). Each Varna has its own degree of born purity. This born purity is the most crucial and determining factor of life in Hindu society. This purity paradigm was the creation of the Brahmans. The social position of each Varna is directly related to the purity of its place of origin in the body of the sacrificed Purusha. The mouth, arms, thighs and feet are the four places of origin here. In Hindu scriptures, the body parts above the naval are considered as pure, and those below are considered as impure. The purest part, of these four, is considered to be the mouth; so the Brahmans born from it are considered the most pure and have the highest social position. The second most pure parts are the arms; so the Kshatriyas who were born from the arms have the second highest social

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position. The Vaisyas were born from the thighs which are considered as impure. They were impure is also evident from their earlier manual labor occupations of cattle rearing and land tilling. However, they were partly pure and partly impure as they were entitled to the thread ceremony making them eligible for the Vedic rites. The Vedic rites include the purification rituals implying the existence of impurities. Only pure people could take part in the important functions of society. The feet are the most impure of these four, and the Shudras originating from them were considered as the most impure. They were denied the thread ceremony making them ineligible for the Vedic rites. The ineligibility of undergoing the Vedic rites is known as the state of being ritually impure, but the implications are dark, and, the implications are yet to be understood by the lower strata. It is long way out. The snail of understanding may never reach home. Over a period of time another group with impurities, more than the Shudras also emerged. This group was of the Antyajas or the Untouchables. They have the lowest and the permanently insulted status in the society.

Hindu religion is called the Sanatana Dharma or the eternal religion. This so-called righteous system is supposed to last forever - from the beginning of the Universe to the end of the Universe. That is why it is called the eternal religion. And, they have eternal untouchables, righteously.

But who is who in the eternal Hindu society? Who is a Brahman? A Brahman is a person who is born in the Brahman Varna.

Why was he born in the Brahman Varna? He was born in the Brahman Varna because of the virtuous accumulated Karmas of all his previous lives! The Karma Hypothesis is here to enforce the birth-attached system. The Karma Hypothesis was probably born out of necessity to attach the Varnas to birth discarding the individual merit. The concept of immortal and transmigrating soul moving through several bodies became extremely necessary to carry the accumulated karmas to the next life. The soul laden with Karmas moves from body to body, from this birth to next, in search of another body until it attains the salvation. It has played havoc with the lives of Untouchables. The concept of immortal soul has been excessively developed to justify the birth-attached Varna. In the

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absence of the Karma carrying soul, the Karmas become non-transferrable and the Karma Hypothesis falls apart. The Karma factor is the spiritual factor in justifying the social set up in the Hindu society. This is the spiritual link between the Varna and the birth, and between the occupation and the birth. It is the spiritual upholder of the caste system. This is the metaphysical, unquestionable and indispensable connection between the Varna Dharma and the spiritual philosophy of the Sanatana Dharma.

Anyway, we were talking about the Brahmans. The Brahmans had the exclusive birth-attached irrevocable functions of preserving the scriptures and Dharma, of making the laws and of guiding the kings. The latter aspect is rarely given the importance instead you would always hear about a poor and humble priest or a priestly class, but their underlying control over the Hindu society is grossly undermined. They had the birth-attached right to marry any girl from the lower Varnas. They had the birth-attached right to guide the Kshatriyas according to their self-created, and the divinely ordained, Dharma. They had birth-attached right to make laws for people behind the veil of God's "Word”. The veil is indeed there. Or is it not? And this gave them a pious chance to dehumanize the lower strata of the society. Did it not? This has not been made very apparent, so far; but the lives of low caste people have been devastatingly affected by the resultant dehumanization. The low caste people are still ignorant of it. Ignorance is bliss - you know. The Brahmans had the religious powers behind them because of their strong hold over the Dharma written in Sanskrit. They had the social power behind them because they enjoyed the highest social status - others followed. They had the state powers behind them because they were the guides to the kings. Thus, they had the religious, social and state powers behind them. This made them virtually unbeatable.

Then who is a Kshatriya? A Kshatriya is a person who is born in the Kshatriya Varna. Why was he born in Kashtriya Varna? Unknown Karmas man! The unknown Karmas supported by the ultra powerful spirituality! He was born in the Kashtriya Varna because of the virtuous accumulated karmas of all his previous lives but were little less virtuous than those of the Brahmans. The Kshatriyas had the exclusively birth-attached irrevocable functions of upholding Dharma, and, to rule over everybody except the

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Brahmans. They had birth-attached right to marry any girl from any lower Varna but not from the higher Varna. They had to protect the Dharma and not the people- note.

Who is a Vaisya? A Vaisya is a person who is born in the Vaisya Varna. Why was he born in Vaisya Varna? He was born in the Vaisya Varna because of the good accumulated karmas of all his previous lives but these Karmas were less in goodness than those of the Kshatriyas'. Vaishyas had the exclusive birth-attached irrevocable functions of doing the business and trade. They had the birth-attached right to marry any girl from the lower Varna but not from the higher Varnas.

Who is a Shudra? A Shudra is a person who is born in the Shudra Varna. Why was he born in the Shudra Varna? He was born in the Shudra Varna because of wicked accumulated Karmas of all his previous lives. The Shudras had exclusive birth-attached irrevocable function of serving higher Varnas with all the humility they could muster. They have not moved much from that position – normal traditions. The Shudras carry the birth-attached deprivation of thread ceremony. They had the birth-attached right to marry any girl only from their own Varna. The heen Jatis (the low castes people) are required to marry within their Jatis. These heen Jatis were the Shudra Jatis. Shudra was a residual Varna meant for the non-Aryan people. It is nothing very serious, just a sniff of subordination percolating down to next generations.

And who is an Untouchable? And with whom this book is largely concerned. An Untouchable is a person who is born in the Antyajs category below the Shudra Varna. Why was he born in the lowest and polluting category? He was born in the condemned lowest category because of the accumulation of the worst kind of Karmas of all his previous lives. See the spiritual link! Don't miss it otherwise how would you call India the spiritual powerhouse of the world! It should not be missed at any cost. The Antyajas or the Untouchables had the birth-attached irrevocable function of doing dirty jobs and keeping away from the society - this separation kept the society pure and clean. They could marry among their own people. They are ignominious people with birth-attached condemnation and deprivations. They are deprived of any good thing and to compound their good fortunes they were awarded the penury. The grandiose

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Dharmic crippling deprivations govern their lives that keep them in their place. The lawmakers led to their degradation; some people call them the vested interests. They happily maintained that the immutable law of Karma could explain the unavoidable miserable lives of the Untouchables. Surely, the people who devised this system must be simpletons. Nothing of this should assault your senses because it assaults nobody's senses. The gross expletives hurled at the lower strata refuse to assault their good senses. Why bother the senses in a stale but vicious system? Everything that is thrown at lower most stratum is received graciously. The serenity prevails.

How does this eternally vicious system work? The functioning of eternal Chatur-Varna system of eternal Sanatana Dharma depends on the abilities and privileges granted to the exclusive people, along with, the duties and crippling disabilities imposed on the excluded people. The privileges and crippling disabilities depend on the Varna of parents of the person in question. The duties, disabilities, rights and privileges are combined into one word - function. This hides the duties and rights making them appear to be as one. There are implicit duties and implicit rights behind the thick veil of the functions assigned to each Varna.

The Chatur-Varna provides for a power structure in which the purity has the power to easily grate the impurity and remains unaffected. In this righteous game, as we will see, the impure or lower strata are the game and the pure are the hunters. The good people hunt the dirty people. The hunter and the hunted - the game is still on, unofficially and silently.

In understanding the Varnas and caste, it does not pay much to study the Vedas because any crystallization of Varna not given there. However, the study of the Dharma shastras gives one a real understanding when compared with the broad realities in the Hindu society. The broad dos and don'ts, as given in the Dharma Shashtras, provide the broad framework of Hindu society. Referring only to the Vedas at the cost of the dharma shastras would be akin to misguiding the people and there are persons with proven expertise in this area. These persons take a student to the Vedas and then to the Upanishads and the Gita and end it there. At the most, they would go to epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. This hides the true functioning of the Hindu society; it gives only superficial knowledge

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of the Hindu system. Any international discussion or discourse on Hindu Dharma does not contain any serious inclusion of caste and Untouchables. The Varnas do not mean anything in themselves until they are studied in conjunction with Dharma Shastras. The Vedas provide only the fictitious origin of Varnas. They do not provide their function or definition or their respective codes of conduct. The functioning of the Hindu society is traceable to the Dharma Shastras and not to the Vedas, though the beginning was made by the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda. All the functions (a disguise for rights and duties) of Varnas and their definitions are given in the Dharma Shastras which are the real commandments of Hindu religion. Repeat - Dharma Shashtras are the real commandments of the Hindu society. There are different commandments for different birth-based groups; one single set of commandments applicable to all the people. All the groups are not the objects of a single set of commandments; they are subject to different unequal commandments. These commandments can still be seen, broadly working, in the Hindu society whereas even the traces of Rig Vedic elements are missing. It may be mentioned here that the Purush Sukta is a later addition to the Rig Veda. The codes of conduct for the different Varnas (Varna Dharma) are given only in the Dharma Shastras. There are multiple Dharma Shashtras; eighteen of them are important. These are the numerous commandments for Hindus. Others have only Ten Commandments or so (poor fellows!). Hindus have full sets of books devoted to this aspect with uncountable commandments. It shall not drive you crazy. The Lawmakers, who were in control, were a trifle more serious regarding social behavior of people and controlling on them through Dharma. Dharma, incidentally, is a divinely ordained order of all the things in the world; the cosmic order, it is. The scripture composers had a devastating effect on lower strata. They worked out more details than others did. They were more systematic. They made cruelties systemic. Not at all horrible! Is it? They defined the separate codes of conduct in detail for the five groups. The rules/commandments of the Sanatana Dharma certainly outnumber the commandments given anywhere else in the world. It is hardly surprising when you have generations and generations of the pious lawmakers who are hell bent on making the life of lower strata more and more hellish to improve their own welfare. Logically, the

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comforts and purity of minority required more and more demilitarized, servile, deprived, socially disabled, and more and more impure servants. Deprivation makes one a better servant.

These commandments were composed in such a way that the mean and vicious thoughts of choice, equality and liberty were not allowed to breed. Do you mind it? It is a sacred eternal society.

Which Dharma Shastra shall we chose to tally the social situation with the scriptures? Our choice is the Manu smriti. The Manu Smriti is widely acknowledged as the most important and the most authentic source of depicting the broad functioning of the Hindu society. It is awesome that a scripture two thousand five hundred years old describes the current structure of Hindu society, with minor changes, so accurately that nothing seems to have changed. The main thought behind it still works - to each according to his birth-attached Varna. Everything is to be assigned on the caste/varna or birth basis. It is truly timeless. Its timelessness is legendry unlike that of the Vedas. It beats the Vedas hollow in broadly describing the Hindu society. The Manu Smriti contains about two thousands six hundred shlokas written over a long period of time but formally compiled, probably, around 200 BC. It does not mention the temples so it relates to the situation prior to the entry of temples in Sanatana society. It largely mirrors the Hindu society with minor changes here and there. To emphasize again, it is the most authoritative text on the rules and regulations of the traditional Hindu society. The underlying thoughts of Manusmriti stand established in Hindu society. The foreign influence is taken as polluting. It contains an elaborate set of dos and don'ts for people belonging to the different Varnas and the Untouchables. The Varna Dharma, or for our purpose Dharma, regulates the lives of millions of Hindus. It also, supposedly, holds the world together like the Rta of Rig Veda, a kind of cosmic or divine order. Holding the world together! Awesome man, awesome! Now you know how small can you feel!

The Manu Smriti has five codes of conducts (or ways of life), one each for each Varna and one for the Untouchables. The Varnas are different categories of humans who are assigned different codes of conduct. There is no underlying single human basis of deciding the code of conduct; instead, it depends on the purity of

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origin of a Varna. The single underlying need in the Manu Smiriti is the unusual craving for power by the highest and the purest stratum. The power of each group matches with the defined level of inherent purity/impurity for it and its relative birth-attached occupation. In the purity paradigm, the inherent purity is theoretical basis of power of each Varna. It is also a standard of measurement of social status of each Varna. The superior most purity of the Brahmans allows them to bring down the divine retribution on the people antagonistic to them or Dharma. They are the paranormal supermen. Even the kings had to make concession for their divine retribution bringing power. These paranormal supermen were not under the kings though they were bound to the Dharma created by them.

Functions of each Varna were connected to its inherent purity. The most pure Varna reserved, for itself, the function of preserving the sacred and pure Vedas and other scriptures. They also made the laws on perpetual basis. There are multiple scriptures in which the laws are given, each stricter than the previous. They also guided the state – now you know they were unbeatable. They guided the kings in upholding the Dharma which essential meant the maintaining of Varna Dharma. This also amounted to preserving the Dharma. The second most pure Varna of Kshatriyas was given the second most sacred functions of upholding the Dharma; note it is not protecting the people. People were not to be protected but Dharma. The Brahmans were to decide the sacred Dharma; the Kshatriyas were to uphold this sacred Dharma through their force; the rest of the people were to do the mundane jobs. The partly pure and partly impure Vaisyas were given the job of trading and impure job of cattle rearing and land tilling. In a due course of time the cattle rearing and agriculture, were reduced to the Shudra level (the mundane level) and the Vaisyas' activities became limited only to the trading and business. The cattle rearing went down from being the glorious occupation in the Rig Vedic times, to the Vaisya level and then to the Shudra level. What an awful disgrace! The agriculture, the activity of the then natives of India, went straight to the Vaisya level and from there to the Shudra level. The Shudras, being most inherently impure, were given the menial job of serving other Varnas without a right to accumulate any wealth; it was a sign of their subordination. The Untouchables being polluting in nature were

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assigned the unclean or polluting jobs and were asked to not to touch anybody from any of the four Varnas. Their mere presence near others made the environment polluted. There were many means designed to keep them away to maintain the cleanliness of the main society.

Most probably, the pure and impure grading or scaling of occupations started with the introduction of agriculture in the post Rig Vedic society. Agriculture was assigned a degraded status because it belonged to inferior people – the defeated natives of India. Thus, agriculture (land tilling) was decorated with a degraded and degrading status. This occupation was forced by the emerging Brahman and the Kshatriya groups on common people (Vaisya - the one belonging to Vis - the tribe - or common to a tribe) who were given the bottom place by default at that time. Later on, a Shudra (servant) Varna emerged replacing the Vaisyas at the bottom. This bottom place later came to belong to the Untouchables without any efforts. It all depended on the wise and pious law makers – the humble simpletons. These humble men of wisdom could not harm anybody. Or could they?

The degradation of jobs had been taking place in Hindu society - a rather dynamic society. The jobs of butchering and skinning were carried down from the Rig Vedic times. At some point of time the jobs of butchering, skinning and scavenging were downgraded to the fifth level - this was the indication of rising relative purity of other jobs. This was purity paradigm in action. This most probably happened after the Vedic period when the Varna system was being crystallized. Slowly, slowly the people attached to these jobs became downgraded. In Hindu society man and his job are the same. If the job is degrading the man is also degraded. Slowly, slowly the Hindu society got purer and purer by throwing out the impurities.

The fifth stratum of Untouchables is represented by the Chandals and the Outcastes in the Manu Smriti for whom a code of conduct is also given. This is the code of exclusion and utter poverty. The glorious way of life! Drive on, drive on! Drive on these beasts into a code of utter subjugation. The pious and pure people could not treat these people more than the animals; it hurt their compassionate nature. After all, purity and control has to be

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maintained eternally. And, it can be done only be keeping the impure away and depriving them of everything.

Manu Smriti also provides civil and criminal laws, punishments and atonements. The main aim of codification of Hindu laws in various Smritis was to ensure the security and welfare of the different Varnas in the descending order. This descending order is Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Shudras and Antyajas. The welfare of Brahmans 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. The welfare of impure people is absconding due to the fear of purity of people at the top. The impurity is afraid of purity.

The four Varnas contain many scaled occupational groups that are endogamous. These groups are called castes and these are further grouped in sub-castes. This division takes place until an endogamous group is reached which is not further divisible. This last endogamous group is composed of many exogamous gotras. The gotras are paternal lineages. All the Jatis are finely divided along the bloodlines. There are thousands of Jatis (castes) in India. Each Jati is supposed to follow a particular heredity occupation (its stamp for life) which is passed down from father to son (it cuts across generations). So everybody is stamped in the Hindu society; some are stamped as pure and some are stamped as impure. Each sub-sub-Jati is supposed to follow the occupation of its main Jati. A temporary change in occupation in emergency, generally, has no effect on the caste of any individual because his blood links are within his caste only; these links hold him back. The Shudras being the largest group have the largest number of Jatis. Further, these sub-Jatis are limited to a given region, and, people generally do not marry outside their geographical area. Any two endogamous groups following the same occupation are regarded as two sub- Jatis of the main Jati or the sub-castes of the main caste.

In downward subordination in Varna system the different endogamous Jatis or castes are graded on vertical scales of hierarchy depending on their control over society and people and thus on its resources. This control is maintained through the caste effect. It is a system of exclusion in which the lowest two strata (the Shudras and

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the Untouchables) are excluded from enjoying the resources of society, eternally, to teach them a lesson for being born.

Any given main Jati or caste may or may not be prevalent all over India. All the Varnas also may or may not be prevalent all over India. The Shudras have largest number of Jatis so it is difficult to give the names of their Jatis but some of them are the carpenter, barber, potter, gardener, vegetable seller, milkman, oil presser, ironsmith, goldsmith, weaver, basket maker etc. These various endogamous groups cannot be identified on the basis of Varna only. The professions within the Shudra Varna vary to a great extent. The Jati indicates an endogamous group within a Varna, which has its specific heredity occupation. These Jatis are identifiable only on the basis of their heredity occupations.

The Antyajas or Untouchables, the condemned people, are also divided further into different Jatis which are further arranged on a hierarchical scale. These Jatis are further subdivided mainly on the basis of region or other factors. Each sub-caste or sub- Jati has the social status of the main caste or Jati only. The Jati is placed on a social scale on the basis of its relative purity and the relative purity also defines its particular power in society. It also defines the occupation and thus the economic condition of any given Jati. The people, belonging to a higher level of heredity functions, have higher social status, higher level occupations and a relatively higher level of earnings. The people are caged into different categories on the basis of birth. The disabilities increase progressively down the social scale and cruelly engulf the Untouchables totally; they are the bottom - the stinking bottom.

Varna is decided according to heredity function in Hindu society, and, caste is decided according to heredity occupations within the Varna functions. Each level of functions may contain many occupations and no occupation cuts across Varnas. Caste can actually be defined as sub-varna but people hesitate in doing so - the scriptures forbid; they do not talk of any sub-varna. Caste is usually subordinated to Varna until something terribly goes wrong like natural calamities wiping off the entire caste in the region causing somebody else to take up that function and occupation. Other factors which interfered were the Muslim invasions, the British colonization and the modern education.

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Anyway, the Varna/caste system assigns various things on the basis of caste - for example

1. Law making - available only to Brahmans and some to kings.

2. Land - to each according to his caste. 3. Capital - to each according to his caste. 4. Religious privileges - to each according to his

caste. 5. Social privileges - to each according to his caste. 6. State powers - to each according to his caste. 7. Social Status - to each according to his caste. 8. Money - to each according to his caste. 9. Justice - to each according to his caste. 10. Labor extraction - from each according to his

caste. 11. Water - to each according to his caste. 12. Respect - to each according to his caste. 13. Insults - to each according to his caste!!! 14. Karmas of past lives - to each according to his

caste. (Wonder of Wonders - they assign something which is not

identifiable. Past lives' Karmas??? Do you know that in the traditional Hindu society all litmus papers are soiled!)

Dharma Shashtras impose the disabilities on the lower strata and provide the privileges for the upper strata. However, the disabilities imposed on the Shudras were less than the crippling disabilities imposed on the Antyajas. For this, the Shudras and their present, past and future generations, should be utmost grateful to the pious Brahmans.

As far as welfare is concerned, the Manu Smriti completely destroys the welfare of Shudras and Antyajas. Their welfare is burned down and reduced to ashes in the fires of social status and birth-attached impurities. The welfare of Shudras is completely destroyed, and, the life of Antyajas' is made hellish courtesy the rules created by the pious, pure and unimpeachable lawmakers, the Brahmans. It assigns to them, the utter poverty. It enforces the penury on the Untouchables. Compassion of these sacred lawmakers is spread all

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over the Shastras and especially reserved for the last two strata, and it is conspicuous by its absence.

Enough of condemnation! It is not proper to condemn the traditions and the scriptures without looking at the good points in them. It imbibes the Untouchables with an insulted status at the time of birth. It fulfills their insatiable desire for the status. The elusive status is given to them without putting any efforts. How altruistic! Giving status without efforts! Without any work! It satisfies the insatiable demand for status at birth itself and forever. Who can do it? Only a very altruistic society can do so. It is a very altruistic society. Expunge all the remarks against the absence of altruism in Hinduism. However, after that you will not see any sensitivity. It dissolves itself with the spirituality in Sanatana Dharma and becomes totally invisible - the ghost, it is.

The bottom graded Untouchables are born insulted. Their status talks about it. Hatred they face in society also speaks volumes about their dignity in society. Not disgusting at all! Is it?

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2. ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

A little knowledge about the Aryans may help us in getting the initial ideas about the initiators of Varna dharma based on the purity paradigm.

Around 1500 BC, the Aryan tribes, who were without agriculture and caste, arrived with horses and cattle stock, in the Northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent. They moved in search of greener pastures for the cattle stock. With their cattle, it must have been an arduous and awfully slow journey. They had to move at the speed of their cattle and not at the speed of horses. The tribes came after tribes in slow successions, most probably having about two thousand members in each. All the Aryan tribes, living without agriculture, lived a separate life until they combined. However, this process took 600 years to be really effective. These largely egalitarian, casteless, meat-eating people, later created the Chaturvarna system with related notion of birth-attached purity and birth-attached impurity along with the related social and power structure. This system, with paramountcy of purity, in the due course gave rise to heinous, cruel and eternal system of untouchability which made the life a living hell for millions of people; no qualms about it. These eternal exploiters took pride in developing such an eternal system. They still take pride in it. And, occasionally the blood of the Untouchables is splattered on the earth for its cause. This makes terror to be entrenched in the victims' minds forever. We will see in the chapter related to the Karma hypothesis that, these victims, whose blood is splattered on the ground, are the culprits!!! Criminal cruelty? Hardly at all.

To begin with there was no Sanatana Dharma or any of the Vedas or any such cosmic order that could be called the Dharma. The Aryan people lived in nomadic communities worshiping the gods related to natural powers like the Indra (the war god), the Agni (the fire god), the Vayu (the air god), and the Varuna (the water god) etc. The Aryans tribes entered into low intensity wars with each other and with the natives of India. Without agriculture, the Aryan tribes depended on the meat of their cattle stock making the plundering of others' cattle an utmost necessity. The cows were in those days not

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reared for milk. Later, these experts in beef eating gave up the beef eating, and, degraded it to the prohibited level. They forgot their roots - amazing! Is it not!!!

They descended in the region of Sapta-Sandhav (the land of seven rivers). In the east this region was populated by the village-based communities and most probably the agriculture-based small communities of native people each ruled by a chieftain. These natives of India were later to be defined as Shudras - the lowest order in the Varna system.

The Aryans moved out of their homeland in southern Russian steppes around 1500 BC. These steppes are generally identified with the Aryan homeland because it tallies with the description of large green land of Aryans. It is the place where the horses and chariots could run freely. There are signs of outward movement of people from this region around 1500 BC. Some of them moved in the direction of Southeast, arrived in the present day Afghanistan, and settled along the banks of river Saraswati (Harhawati). These tribes separated from each other and formed two groups. Most probably, they separated after a violent quarrel, which is indicated in demonizing one's deities by the other. The Aryan groups that came to India came to be known as the Indo-Aryans. The other groups that went to Iran came to be known as the Indo-Iranians. The groups that came to India claimed Devas as their deities and Asuras as demons. The Aryan groups that went to Iran claimed, in reverse, the Asuras as their deities and the Devas as demons. These two groups went on to develop separate life styles. They lost touch with each other. However, there are four common links between them: the language they used was almost the same - old Rig Vedic Sanskrit; the thread ceremony that was performed when a boy comes of age; the fire worship; the intoxicating drink of Soma/homa. The common language and common culture indicate that they were the same at sometime.

Among the Vedas, the Rig Veda is the oldest one and written in the old Sanskrit similar to the Sanskrit of Avesta or Indo-Iranians. The word Veda is derived from word "vidit" which means "told" or as told by God. Thus, the Vedas are the word of God and hence immutable. Another word for Vedas is "shrutis" which means "heard”. Accordingly, the Vedas were heard by the Rishis from God

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in the solitude of forests. The Rishis supposedly did not compose the earliest of the scriptures; they merely heard them from God and then they remembered them verbatim. This idea of “heard from above” gave Vedas the divine origin and served the dharmic cause in later times.

The period during which the Vedas were composed is roughly divided into two phases. The first phase is called the Rig Vedic period during which Rig Veda was composed. The second phase is called the later Vedic period during which other Vedas were composed. During the Rig Vedic period, the Aryans borrowed words from local language due to some interactions with local people. The Rig Vedic period is taken to be from 1500 B.C.E. to 900 B.C.E. and later Vedic period is taken to be from 900 B.C.E. to 600 B.C.E. There are two main differences between these two periods. The first is that the language of Rig Vedic period is the old Sanskrit which is similar to the Sanskrit of The Avesta, the language of Indo-Iranians - the separated brothers of the Indo-Aryans. The Sanskrit used in later Vedas is different. The second important difference is the importance of agriculture in the Aryan society.

The cattle stock in Rig Vedic period was wealth of whole tribe; it was commonly owned. In Rig Vedic society, the assets were cows, not the land. The Rig Vedic Aryans were dependent on plundering, hunting and cattle rearing. When required they plundered other Aryan tribes and native people. The cows were important, and, to acquire them by force was justified, though it put one's life in grave danger. Any attack that means a danger to life can only be justified if cow meat was used as food. In those days the cow was not used for its milk. The eating of cattle was mainstay of life which is indicated by its perennial short supply and the resultant wars in Rig Vedic society. It was starvation or plunder. The word "Gavasthi" is used for going to attack to plunder others’ cattle. These attacks were lightening in nature that caught the enemy by surprise. The reason for lightening attacks was the small size of each tribe which limited the number of warriors available. There was no grading based on birth in the commune-based society. The private property institute was absent. No claim on the land could be made since the tribes kept on moving from place to place. All the cattle belonged to the whole tribe. There was one king who sometime doubled as the priest also.

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He was above others but had to function under the regulation of Sabha (committee) of the tribe. At that time, he did not have the divinely ordained inheritable position of the later day Brahmans and Kshatriyas.

The cattle ownership and the plunder distribution were common to whole tribe. Therefore, there was no question of division of society into different functional Varnas or castes. It was necessarily a community-based living which prevented the formation of castes. The kith and kin of the chieftain did not enjoy any special powers because whole of the tribe was made up of extended kith and kin only. The concept of gotra still had not come into existence. The Aryans tribes engaged in cattle rearing and warfare over cattle. It is futile to look for the hereditary groups having different graded occupations in the Rig Vedic society because of its commune nature.

The fire was an object of worship. It was also important for roasting the killed animals for food. Any oblation to fire went straight to sky where gods lived; it appeased them. The gods were appeased with the fumes. With every oblation, they became very happy and started dancing at the chanting of the mantras. The wrong chanting could have easily invoked the divine retribution. This fear of divine retribution has been milked for all its worth since then, and, it can only be proven by coincidences. Its statistical significance is nothing.

For worshiping, they had Indra, Varun, Agni, Vayu and other gods. These powerful gods were invoked to assure the victory in a war as well as for improving the general welfare of the tribe. The importance of war preparing ceremonies and fire's part in it was extreme - almost beyond the describable point. These extremely and crucial activities were Yagyas. The incomplete yagyas had horrible consequences because it meant insults to the powerful gods which invited their wrath or the divine retribution.

The Rig Vedic life of Aryans was a very tough life filled with poverty. It was the poverty which forced them to plunder others. Their life was tough because of the intertribal wars and the dependence on low subsistence nomadic economy. Another reason was the tough resistance faced by the Aryans from the local population. In fact, they were chased from place to place due to their defeat at the hands of local chieftains which is evident from their frequent requests for divine help from gods to be victorious in wars

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and plundering. The natural and forced movements from place to place prevented the Aryans from taking up a settled life. The Yagyas were of no help. The Rig Vedic people lived among Dasas, Dasyus, the noseless people, Panis, Aja, Shigru, Yaksha, Matsya, Kiril and the people who spoke bitter language. Therefore, it cannot be said that the Rig Vedic people were living in a vacuum or they came and populated the Sapta-Sandhav region. Panis were much hated people who stole the cattle of Rig Vedic people. The other great enemies were the Dasyus who had frequent wars with the Aryans at that time. The word "Dasyu" was probably a generic term used for the people who plundered the Aryans. And when they plundered others it was called a victory

The Rig Veda is full of low intensity warfare which indicates the existence of continually fighting small groups. Due to small size of tribes, no large attack on the natives was possible. There could be only low intensity warfare which meant running away after a defeat and coming back with plunder after a victory. There were low intensity wars because sustained wars required an uninterrupted supply of food which was not available to the Aryans due to lack of agriculture. After launching any attack, they had to retreat. The horses could provide them with speed but not the sustainability. Even with the discovery of iron, they could score facile victories but not the sustained one. Each tribe was small in number and unable to permanently occupy the conquered land. They still had to combine with each other to form a large group of occupiers. They still had not learned the agricultural technology from the natives and, hence unable to conquer them because of lack of sustained food supply caused by the absence of agriculture. From this, we can decipher that the agriculturist natives had a higher level of civilization. A stable life was not possible in such a state of warfare for the pastoral people. This life style was the result of neglecting agriculture by the Aryans. The people involved in agriculture generally live much better settled life with a relatively assured supply of food. They live in well-settled villages among other agriculturists avoiding the bloodshed.

Agriculture was nearly absent from the life of the Rig Vedic people for full 600 years. Agriculture, as compared to cattle rearing, is a superior occupation. In turn, the cattle rearing is superior to hunting. In pastoral economy one has a ready supply of meat but it is

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not as certain as in agriculture. The difference lies in the relative control over nature. In agriculture, the assured supply of surplus food comes from the relatively higher control over the nature. It gives more benefits when compared to the pastoral life. The pastoral life is barely a subsistence life with little surplus. The food available in the cattle stock economy depends on its natural growth rate. The nomadic life also necessitated movement from one place to another place in search of new pastures. The migration from place to place had inherent uncertainties attached to it. It also resulted in waging small wars with the other Aryan tribes and the natives. It also meant poverty as compared to agricultural societies. Agriculture allows one to have sufficient surplus and a well-settled relatively comfortable life avoiding hardship of moving from one place to another. It is surprising that the Aryans who were surrounded by the agriculturist communities refused to take up agriculture for an extremely long period of 600 years. The Rig Vedic Aryans were surrounded by the small village based agricultural communities. The then presence of agriculture in Sapta-Sandhav cannot be denied since it was the place of earlier urban Harappan civilization which was based on agriculture, manufacturing and trade. The Rig Vedic people supposed to have broken water dams of native people which were most probably used for agriculture. Though the Harappan civilization had declined, the agriculture had survived. It is strange that those who claim that the Vedas contain knowledge about everything had the ancestors who did not know much about agriculture. This perfect knowledge had the imperfection of ignorance about agriculture. They had to learn agriculture from the natives of India. This land taught them the agriculture. The agriculture teachers in India were set to become the impure Shudras.

The Rig Vedic people were not able to take up agriculture because of resistance from the natives. This resistance kept them on move preventing them from settling down. The other reason for not taking up agriculture might have been that the Aryans considered themselves superior to native people and refused to follow their mode of living, which they might have considered as inferior. This feeling of superiority might have been due to their fair skin. This possible mode of thinking indicates a kind of racism, and it might have provided seeds for the germs of later discriminatory and

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crippling Varna system. Another reason might have been that they considered agriculture an inferior occupation because manual labor rendered it below the level of people used to fight with arms - the warriors. This also indicates the seeds for development of discriminatory Varna system. There seems to be no reason for not taking up agriculture by the Rig Vedic people, which was quite beneficial as compared to the nomadic life that barely provided a sustainable life without any comforts. These comforts became available to later day Kshatriyas and Brahmans.

The shifting of Aryans from place to place indicates a strong resistance offered by local people to Aryans. Only when the small Aryan tribes combined to form big tribes then they became large enough to subdue the local kings or chieftains. After subduing the local kings or arriving at a compromise with them, the Rig Vedic people were able to take up agriculture and start living a relatively comfortable life as compared to their original professions of cattle rearing and plundering. In other words – they became civilized. The agriculture in the Vedas is known as the occupation of the defeated people, which also indicates a long drawn out low intensity warfare for the control over upper north India. It also tells that the agriculture was the technology of natives of India.

Astonishingly, the Aryans avoided the agriculture for a long period of 600 years but not more than that. And when they did that the entire polity of this subcontinent changed.

The Rig Vedic Aryans took up the agriculture with an inordinate delay of 600 years. They came to India in about 1500 B.C.E. and took up agriculture only in later Vedic period, which is taken to start from 900 B.C.E. onwards. But with taking up agriculture and forming large village-based communities one more event had to happen in the culture of Vedic Aryans. This was the demise of the Rig Vedic way of life of communes. It was the end of Rta, the cosmic order, which was the religion of the Rig Vedic people. The Rig Vedic religion emphasized on commune living, common ownership of the tribal wealth (the cattle stock) and equal distribution of tribal wealth and captured cows. In addition, it meant devotion to Vedic gods and fire mode of worship and the cosmic order Rta. Only fire worship, thread ceremony and the Rig Veda were to survive, and rest of the features and characteristics of the Rig

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Vedic society were confined to the dustbin of history. The transformation took placed under the aegis of newly acquired agricultural technology. Agriculture killed Rta, the religion of the Rig Vedic people. The then divine order called Rta was later to be replaced by the eternal Sanatana Dharma based on the Chaturvarna system.

The great Harappan urban civilization had already declined before the Rig Vedic people entered India. In its glorious days, it was two steps ahead of the nomadic Rig Vedic Aryan civilization. Earlier, the Harappan civilization had already passed the nomadic and agricultural stages and established itself at the next higher stage of civilization - the urban civilization. The Rig Vedic Aryans had not even come up to the next higher level of agriculture, which is clear from the absence of agricultural words from their vocabulary. The next step of developing urban centers for Vedic people was far ahead; they were backward in this sense. In terms of civilization, the Aryans were inferior people. They did not even know the agriculture.

We have already mentioned that with the introduction of agriculture in Vedic society that they learned from local people, the Rig Vedic divine order called Rta met its demise. This religion was not the same as Sanatana Dharma as at present but a cosmic or divine order it was indeed. Any confusion between Rta and Sanatana Dharma should be avoided- note.

Over a period of time especially in the later Vedic period (or the period in which the later Vedas were composed), agriculture came to acquire a prominent place in the Aryan society when they took up the superior occupation of the defeated native people. By this time, the Aryans had lost the character of a race and got intermixed with the local people through mixing of blood and alliances with the local kings with whom, the Rig Vedic people had won and lost many wars. Nevertheless they were winners, ultimately, through the diplomatic and war like means. Their region extended from Sapta-Sandhav to Ganga and Yamuna including many Janapadas and Mahajanapadas (small kingdom like territories). Because of intermixing of blood, the color of Aryan skin had changed from white to light brown and to other darker versions. The nomadic Vedic people settled on the land copying the technique of agriculture of native people. The small tribes combined and formed

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the big tribes. These big tribes in turn formed the small kingdoms in the upper northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.

With the political supremacy in upper north India there was a need to assimilate the original people of India into Aryan thread-based communities. The agriculture made it possible to produce more than the people’s need. The people having social and political dominance extracted the food surplus from those working on the land. The introduction of agriculture started the division of Aryan society. This division was new to the Rig Vedic people and with it, the Rig Vedic society also ended.

These backward tribal Aryans were destined to move from the lower level of nomads to the higher level of city culture. For this, they had to take up agriculture and had to start living a settled village life. The nomadic life is normally characterized by the absence of regular food surplus. Ultimately they took up the higher level of agriculture and then the city culture but in the process they classified certain people (Shudras) as inherently impure and some as inherent impure and polluting (Antyajas). It was indeed a great achievement with an obsessive insistence on purity, supremacy and sacredness of the Vedas. As we will see that for the purpose of giving divine authentication to their Varna system they rigged the most ancient and sacred of the scriptures - the Rig Veda. It was a pure sense embedded with the highest level ethics and morals.

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3. EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

Now we will present our view about the development of Varnas and caste system which does not tally with the account given in the Hindu sacred scriptures. This is adharmic you know? It is complete heresy.

The term Varna does not lend itself to any easy translation in English language. The term used for both Varna and Jati is caste in English, which is unable to impart any real meaning of the word and/or its implications. Varna is a permanent dividing, subjugatory, unequal and lopsided distributing system. It was a permanent system devised to perpetuate the comforts and super ordination by the birth based divided elites. The elites achieved their aim by excluding all the future generations of birth based divided non-elites from the benefits of society and economy, forever. Both the elites and non-elites are, further permanently divided, based on birth.

The Varna system in India was not born in a day. No sacrifice was made. Nobody was born from any part of the Brahma or any primal man. This is just a glorified crap. It was developed and crystallized slowly over a long period of time. This system was not brought from outside because it is not traceable in the places where the Aryans were supposed to have gone from their home place of Russian steppes. Its non-existence outside India implies that it was developed within this subcontinent. The Varnas emerged after one another in the order of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Shudra after the end of the Rig Vedic Period.

The appearance of Varnas coincides with the introduction of agriculture in Rig Vedic society. It also coincided with the formation of big tribes through merger of small tribes. With the introduction of agriculture, the Rig Vedic society met its demise. It was transformed. The cow and plunder based economy slowly disappeared into oblivion. Now, the agricultural surplus made it possible for the higher level groups to emergence in an egalitarian society. The structure of Rig Vedic society was broken and a slow power struggle developed between the Rishis and the warriors. There were the clear-cut two groups that emerged in this power struggle. Those who did not take in part this power struggle were later assigned the manual occupations and a low Varna by the emerging

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lawmaker. But first the dominant groups, these were the Rishis having divine power to curse and power to bring victory to a tribe by invoking gods and on the other side were the warriors. The warriors lost to Rishis ' underlying powers over common people. Thus first group of Rishis emerged on the top and in the due course called itself the Brahman Varna. The second group which was of warriors came to be known as the Kshatriya Varna. Then the Vaisya Varna and the Shudras Varnas emerged, one after another in considerable time. The strata emerged in the form of Varnas. Another stratum emerged in the post-Vedic period in the form of Untouchables or the Antyajas. The lawmakers assigned the Varnas for rest of the people, defined their functions and implemented them through the Kshatriyas.

To understand the emergence of Varnas it is necessary to understand the warring and plundering society of the Rig Vedic period, appeasement of gods, fear of divine retribution caused by human errors and its avoidance. It was a period low intensity warfare which continued till the end of the Rig Vedic Period. In warlike conditions, the warriors should have emerged at the top but that did not happen.

The existence of too many sovereign entities made the situation warlike especially when the Aryans were not prepared to take up agriculture and live in relative peace. In the absence of agriculture, the only recourse was to plunder other communities. The attacks on other communities and tribes became a necessity. The survival of a tribe depended on its capacity to repel successfully frequent attacks and capacity to successfully attack others. The uncertainty of survival made the warring ability a necessity. There were no standing armies as there was no money to be paid. The small size of tribes and native communities made the results of wars very uncertain. For this purpose, the divine help was invoked. When it was a matter of life and death, it was natural to call for the divine help, especially when they knew the trick of appeasing the gods.

The Vedic people lived in a society where the appeasement of gods was supposed to determine the welfare of tribe and success in wars. It played a very important crucial role in the development of Varna system and in the spread of cultural hegemony of the later Brahmans. The appeasement of gods became a sacred, specialized and necessary function in society, well, at the top of society. It

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involved long intricate complex rituals and chanting of the mantras. These had become so complex that they had to be rigorously learned from the people who had already specialized in them - the Rishis . They were important because the welfare of the tribe, supposedly, depended on them because only they could invoke the divine help, with their paranormal powers, without which no war could be won. Perhaps. So much dependence on the gods in the wars means that opposing sides were more or less equally matched, and thus nobody was confident of the victory. The invocation of divine help was a must. The confident people do not need gods but for uncertainty! The lightening wars in the absence of assured food supply, surely, needed divine help. The godless people, meaning people without any faith in Vedic gods, were known to have lost wars due to their lack of belief in the Aryan gods.

This trick of appeasing gods was in the form of Yagyas. The trick was to offer the oblation to gods through fire, in Yagyas, which burned the oblation and carried them upwards to heavens. And, in heavens there are gods. The almighty gods were hungry so they needed the sacred food sacrificed in any Yagya in the form of fumes. Wow, the fumes! The gods require fumes as food! They survive on carbon dioxide! Only requirement was the correct invocation of gods through chanting of the sacred mantras. This made the Yagya complete. Obviously, the divine help did not come cheap. A high price was extracted by the divine help invokers from the divine help seekers. The Rig Vedic gods needed to be invoked; for invocation, the Yagyas were necessary; for Yagyas the Rishis were necessary. A Yagya was essentially a fire ceremony where animals were sacrificed to appease the hungry gods who otherwise had everything for them. The gods could manage their own food; otherwise, it is pointless to be a god. However, the animals sacrificed went mainly to the priests. The mantras or hymns were used in the Yagyas for invocation of gods and asking favor from them in war. The appeasement of gods was a necessary cultural feature of Vedic society. Any improper invocation of gods or any erroneous Yagya was supposed to bring a certain deadly divine retribution which could have devastated the chieftain or the tribe. The Vedic people lived in perpetual insecurity, as outcome of any war was very uncertain, and sought divine help. The divine power was feared and revered. The divine power was

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required to be handled very carefully unless it exploded on the tribe itself. The war god Indra was most in demand and next was Agni (the fire), then follow other nature gods. The divine retribution was much feared beyond known limits; it found its ultimate expression in the much esteemed Gita.

The complex rituals and mantras came into existence; those who knew them attained a high indispensable position in the Vedic society because without them no war could be initiated. These were the people with paranormal powers of invoking the gods. The army could move only after the Yagya had been completed. The more important people, the people who actually fought, became secondary. The actual warriors could have fought the enemy but they could not have invoked the gods to help them without inviting the divine retribution as their invocation was bound to be faulty. Therefore, they needed the Rishis - the forerunners of the present day Brahmans - the people with the paranormal powers. Still there are people who claim that the Vedic mantras have paranormal powers and still there are people who believe it. And by no stretch of imagination their number or their control is insignificant in the traditional India. The veracity of paranormal powers of Vedic mantras is never verified. Anyway, the stupidity has no claim here. Or does it?

The appeasement of gods was mainly in the form of performing the Yagyas and offering of animal sacrifices. The Yagya was a kind fire worship used to invoke Vedic gods. The Yagyas involved chanting of complex mantras and the sacrifice of animals appeased or invoked the gods like Indra, Varun and others. The mantras chanted in Yagya were required to be correct to last detail including pronunciation. Anything out of sequence in chanting of mantras was a terrible disaster along with any wrong pronunciation, terrible enough to bring the retribution. You cannot play with divinity. A small error in chanting mantras was supposed to make the gods angry. It was sufficient to bring the wrath of gods on its performers, the king, and also on the tribe; so wide were its effects. A faulty invocation of gods was supposed to be sufficient for bringing divine retribution and only very skilled Rishis could have avoided it. The divine wrath had to be avoided and at the same time the blessings of gods were required. The route to success went through the Rishis .

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This increased the importance of the Rishis who could verbatim recite the mantras without a single pronunciation error and without a single small error. The importance of people possessing such skills became paramount. Their supposed paranormal powers helped them to attain the highest position in society. However, non-performance of Yagyas by a king meant defying Rishis and as a result God. Defying people with paranormal powers was not in the best interest of the chieftains. Any war devoid of the Yagyas was only half prepared and was sure to be lost. Such a chieftain was not supposed to be looking after the welfare of the tribe and he could have been held responsible for bringing the divine retribution on the tribe or his people. He was supposedly putting his tribe at risk. This could have weakened the king’s hold over the tribe. The non-performance of Yagyas meant displeasing the gods resulting in an invitation to divine retribution. No tribe (Visha) member (Vaisya?) could possibly have a faith in a chieftain who was harming the welfare of the tribe by displeasing the powerful gods. Such a chieftain was putting his tribe in a peril. Any defeat in war could have been easily attributed to non-performance of war winning Yagyas or faulty invocation of the gods during Yagyas. This means politics at work. The importance of the Rishis and Brahman followed from the need of persons needed to perform the war winning Yagyas for the chieftain and tribe. Facing the irrevocable curse from people with paranormal powers was supposed to be beyond even the kings. Even the kings could not evade these curses. A cursed king or chieftain was doomed. There were some struggles between the divine lawmakers and the kings but ultimately the Brahmans emerged at the top thanks to their paranormal powers. In the later Vedic period and slightly afterward the emerging Kshatriyas asserted their supremacy as in most of the civilizations where rulers prevailed over the priestly class. Nevertheless, the proximity to gods increased the purity and thus God invoking power of the Rishis . It brought God fearing general population under the control of the Rishis . Most probably, the people were less willing to fight the wars not backed by Rishis ; the king had to compromise with Rishis by giving them a higher status. One added factor was that the Rishis acquired the sole right to coronate the kings. It seems of little significance but a king who was not coroneted seemed to be little out of place. So a king had to,

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invariably, undergo the coronation ceremony or ritual and for that Rishis or Brahmans were needed who had monopolized the rituals. As the influence of Brahmans increased, the coercive power of state became less and less effective against them, and then disappeared altogether.

Thus, invariably the king had to perform the rituals. Performing of war winning Yagyas became a cultural and political necessity. These rituals became religious elements as well as political weapons at the hands of Rishis who had monopolized the rituals. These Rishis became the most powerful people in the Vedic society. The mantras they chanted were supposed to possess the awesome paranormal power of invoking the gods. They were powerful as they could always refuse to perform Yagyas and make the chieftain look like anti-tribe because he could not get the Rishis to perform the Yagyas for the welfare of the tribe. The chieftains also could not force the Rishis because they were supposed to have paranormal power of putting an irrevocable curse on them also. The natural or divine calamities were certain to visit the kings and the kingdoms which did not appease the Rishis and the later day Brahmans. The faith in them was overwhelming. Such a faith should break anybody's heart. It gave them leverage over the kings. It is clear from the killing of Shambuk in the Ramayana. The curses were really effective in an indirect way. The cursed chieftain lost the confidence of his people resulting in weakening of his kingdom. The coincidental divine calamities were touted as the sure proof of paranormal powers of the enraged Rishis and Brahmans.

The fear of divine retribution always helped the Rishis and gave them the enormous power. The metaphysical forces were always with them. Only they could manage the gods correctly. The threat of divine retribution kept the chieftains in check, and they could not use force against the Rishis to force them to perform the rituals. Nobody could have touched them because nobody could have escaped their curses and their paranormal powers; nobody else knew the sacred mantras. The monopoly on mantras concentrated the ritual powers in few hands and it was duly taken advantage of. They were supposed to have the divine power to give curses and punish the opponent. Further, there was no way to escape the curse; it could not be taken back. The divine anger or retribution could have resulted in grave but

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assumed danger to people. However, these paranormal supermen never destroyed the opposing armies through their divine powers.

These priests possessed the awesome talent of cramming. Or rather they developed methods of memorizing the mantras. They kept them secret to maintain their monopoly on performing Yagyas. They also kept, the teaching of Sanskrit in which the mantras having paranormal powers were composed, away from the local population. Over a period of time Sanskrit came to be known as dev-bhasha or gods' language and it died leaving only the Brahmans to interact with gods. The Brahamans became the ritual monopolists without whom, a ritual based society could not move. All this is hardly selfish! Is it?

The idea that divinity dances at the correct chanting of mantras got fused into people's mind. Few people knew the art; they kept it secret, limited to their progenies. At the same time, the terror of divine retribution brought by the curses of Rishis also got fused into people's mind. Maybe the Rishis did it by frequently reciting the coincidences of successful wars with performing of Yagyas and forgetting the losses. This technique still prevails in the Hindu society - especially in the sphere of miracles of godmen. One or two miraculous coincidences and you are a godman after repeating them as examples repeatedly. There are other ways to become the godman.

The most impressive point is the existence of fear of divine retribution from the divine powers dancing at the chanting of mantras. This divine retribution could only be stopped by the esteemed Rishis and their future progenies - the Brahmans! It is a holy cow which has been milked all it’s worth in the social, religious, economic and carnal spheres since eternity.

The threat of divine retribution is also very clearly indicated in the Gita - the showpiece of Hindu religion to the outside world.

Any cursory look at the Hindu Shastras and Puranas would tell that the Rishis came to wield enormous power in the later Vedic society and post Vedic society. These Rishis made rules which others had to follow including kings and queens. They were the main beneficiaries of Niyoga system which gave them temporary conjugal rights over others' women including the queens. No kidding! The rituals performed at the Ashwamegha Yagya are clear indications of their power. The Rishis came to acquire the highest status in society because of their indispensability in performing the war winning

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Yagyas - the supposed lifeline of a tribe. They were the preservers of a tribe's welfare with their extraordinary paranormal abilities of invoking the gods.

Thus they enjoyed the extraordinary status, in lieu of their paranormal powers, in society, and they passed it down to their coming progenies, the Brahmans. They were the ones who got the Vedas straight from the mouth of God and thus a direct connection with God. No one was as near to God as they were - and no one could be as nobody was allowed to access the sacred mantras written in Sanskrit. They could marry any woman of any social status without any objection or question from anybody. Or at least they had temporary conjugal rights over any women or girls without any objection from anybody - as usual the highest owed no explanation to the lower ones. It was a form of temporary Anuloma marriage, which was later, sanctified in Dharma Shastras. They were considered superior to chieftains and kings who in turn ruled over the rest of the people.

The Rishis who occupied the highest status were the forerunners of the Brahmans who formed the first Varna to appear on the scene. It is also indicated by the fact that all the Brahmans trace their paternal lineage (gotra) to these Rishis only and to nobody else. Small tribes were combining to form the big tribes under the aegis of agriculture. People were combining also and forming influential groups. Some of these groups were probably the forerunners of the future Varnas. This first Varna was a group of people with paranormal powers; over a period of time they became an endogamous group. These progenies of Rishis maintained their superior position in the Aryan society. They retained the right to marry the woman from any stratum from Aryan society. In other words, they retained the rights to marry the best of women in society irrespective of her social status, and that subtly conveyed the lower Varna (rest of society) males of their subordination.

They memorized the Vedas fully by taking cue from the earlier or from the previous mantra for the current mantras and the process flowed on. It took years to master it under a competent teacher. The teachers chose their pupils carefully and finally they chose only progenies of people knowing mantras. Thus, they passed

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on the benefits of wealth transfers to their progenies. These people became the Brahmans.

These very people were later going to claim themselves as otherworldly people. For their livelihood, they made the dharmic provision of transferring wealth from the kings and other people. They became masters in transferring of wealth from others to them. They reserved the state administrative jobs for themselves. They devised various methods of transferring the wealth from others to them. They also religiously claimed the animals sacrificed in the Yagyas. They also got cows in gifts for performing the Yagyas. In the due course, they also claimed the land grants, gained the control over the temples, temple-wealth and temple land in later times. Their power to coronet the ling yielded rich dividends. It was very simple. They refused to teach the coronation rituals to anybody and fear of curse and divine retribution saved them from the wrath of the kings - not a mean achievement. They also came to possess the right to consecrate idols in the temples gaining the leverage over the segmented religious masses. Very innocent and pious people indeed! Not indeed sly! Not indeed sly!

The religious and indirect political control led to the formation of a group of people interested in safeguarding their privileges. They were the holders of the sacred and exclusive knowledge of the Vedas originated from the mouth of God - exclusively for them. They denied others the right to marry a woman from their group. A paternal society. Awesome and wonderful superiority! And unworldly people! It was because any such move could have undermined their controlling social position. They were the special people, with power to curse, knew about God through the Vedas and became superior most at the end of the post-Vedic Period.

Brahman itself means the knower of Bruhm (the Absolute) - the incomprehensible being. So, only the Brahmans could marry the Brahman women, which was most probably the start of endogamous Jati system. They also limited the teaching of Vedas only to their kith and kin to the exclusion of others. The Vedas became their and their coming generations' exclusive property from which all the sacred power flowed. That also meant taking care of their future generations through their monopoly on the Vedas and scriptures.

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The next Varna to appear on the horizon was the Kshatriya Varna. The word "Kshatriya" is derived from the word "kshatar" meaning rulership. Another meaning is the group of people holding land (kshetra, kheta - field, land) - the warrior landlords. We have already mentioned that in the then dynamic society another group formation of the chieftains and the warring heads of the tribes was taking place. They formed a kind of coalition as a reaction against the Rishis. They also entered into matrimonial alliances across the tribes to strengthen themselves. There were no standing armies as the money had not come into circulation. In these circumstances, they could depend only on their paternal relatives, maternal relatives and in-laws for their protection because being a chieftain or king was a risky job. This group was warlike in nature and controlled the society with their might. The kings who emerged generally depended on the army made up of largely their kith and kin because they were the most reliable. There was no standing army but the kith and kin of the king formed an ever-ready army. During later Vedic period, the tribes were merging and becoming amalgamation of different people. A king could more securely rely on the people who were near and dear to him. Thus, they formed a group, the members of which depended on each other to defend their political position.

These kings and their kith and kin were the forerunners of later day Kshatriyas. As usual as it happened, they prevented commoners from marrying their woman or their girls. Only a Kshatriya could marry a Kshatriya girl. It was a matter of honor in a paternal society. Thus, another birth based endogamous Varna occupying the second highest position in society came into existence. They ceded superior position to Brahmans due to widely held deep belief in the divinity, divine retribution, sacredness and superiority of the Vedas over everything else. The sacred Vedas became the monopoly of the Brahmans - the preservers of Dharma. If they were to appear to be interested in the welfare of the tribe, they had to perform as many Yagyas as possible. Thus, they needed the learned Brahmans. The Brahmans became the source which could legitimize the rule of a king; thus, they were high in demand. The Brahmans in turn provided them with the blessing of the Gods by invoking the gods with the sacred mantras and protected the kings from any divine retribution. The act of being interested in welfare of the tribe got the

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kings acceptance from the tribe. It was a kind of indirect acceptance. For indirect acceptance, they had to depend on the Brahmans who legitimize the rule of the king. For Brahmans, it was a kind of indirect control over the common people through the scriptures, whose authority and efficacy very few people denied. Being any Brahman involved little risk to life. Everybody was below the Word of God which was exclusively in the hands of the Brahmans. Brahmans, the ritual monopolists, were the exclusive people who could save the tribe from the divine retribution by performing accurate rituals. And this has been the trend ever since. Kshatriyas accepted the Brahmans as superior and, provided them with land, the state administrative jobs and other gifts. Brahmans in turn provided the social acceptance and divine legitimacy to the kings and upheld their divine right to rule. There was a kind of reciprocal exchange of benefits. Rest of the population could go to hell.

We can clearly see that in trying to dominate society both the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas engaged in status seeking which is give in the appendix.

The third Varna to appear on the scene was the Vaisya Varna. The term "Vaisya" is derived from "Vish" which means the tribe. Therefore, the Vaisya meant the one who belonged to the tribe or a common man. Actually, it was a residuary Varna made up of people not having any other Varna. The Varnas were defined by the Brahman and concretized by the kings; the lower most Varna of Vaisyas was not allowed any state power; they were kept reserved for performing the manual jobs. The Brahmans and Kshatriyas needed each other but they did not need the Vaisyas. The state coercive power could be used against the Vaisyas to bring them in line with the thinking of the Brahmans. They were not part of any dominating groups in society of combining tribes. They did not know the Vedas and did not take part in the warfare. The Kshatriyas trusted only their kith and kin for safety, not the common people of other merging tribes, the Vaisyas. Thus, the Vaisyas were kept out of the Kshatriya hood. However, the common people of other tribes which were either merged or were defeated were made to engage in cattle rearing and land tilling by force - the job of native people - all by default since upper two Varnas were not interested in labor; the natives had left the place. Brahman Varna was interested in earning on the basis

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of its devastating (to others) intellect. Kshatriya Varna was interested in income from taxes in kind. Both upper Varnas were interested in owning/holding land tilled by the Vaisyas where the main proceeds went to the landholder. The Vaisyas were filling the vacuum left by the local cultivating communities who had left the conquered areas. In the emerging inter-Aryan-tribal-native-chieftain matrimonial scenario, the Vaisyas were left unconnected to the emerging powerful groups across the tribes and communities. The Vaisya Varna arrived there by default. Somebody was needed to grow the food for the new powerful groups. So far, there were no Shudras; they made their appearance later on. The Varna system was in its crystallizing stage. While considering the agriculturists in India, it should be kept in mind that there were two types of agriculturists - the one who held the land and another who tilled, the latter were called tillers who had no stake in the land. Therefore, an agriculturist Brahman is not the one who tills the land but the one who holds the land. One should not develop a notion of the humble Brahmans in the name of agriculturists – they were the landholders not the humble tillers.

The Vaisyas also became endogamous by force because they could not marry into higher Varnas. They could marry only the Vaisya girl or non-Brahman or non-Kshatriya girls in the combining tribes where the chieftains were losing their identities and the new stronger kings were emerging. The upper groups did not want any encroachment on their conjugal areas; the vaisyas were powerless to stop any encroachment on their conjugal areas. The Vaisyas were common people without any special power in society. Their name suggests that they still belonged to tribes (Vis) and had no access across the tribes when the tribes were combining. Most probably, they started marrying outside the tribe when sagotra marriages were banned; the merged tribes then lost their independent identities losing their tribal character; the tribes disappeared and Varnas emerged; so far only three. Most probably, the access across the tribes was available only to the Rishis and the kings. Vaisyas were left out of higher-level activities like politics and the sacred Dharma. The sacred Dharma was, invariably, a political tool. The religion was a part of politics. Vaisyas were engaged, at that time, in the lower level activities of cattle rearing and land tilling. The trading activity had not come into existence by the end of later Vedic Period.

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The currency had not come into circulation by and large. The activity of trading was a later addition to their occupation. The Vaisyas had the lowest position in three Varnas because they did not have any power; they were engaged in the powerless jobs of cattle rearing and land tilling, now inferior jobs involving the use of manual labor, heavy human and animal secretions; all abhorred and despised by the emerging pure people. The higher two Varnas were not interested in performing manual labor. Another reason for Vaisyas' lower ranking was that they were also doing the inferior job of agriculture which was earlier done by the defeated, and thus by implication the inferior natives of India. The inferiority hops onto to the defeated people and the superiority follows the winners, naturally. Or the victors were superior and the conquered were inferior. The conquerors were superior to the conquered. But, the paradigm of purity sneaked in, devastatingly, through the backdoors of rituals, spirituality and Sanskrit. The portion of Aryan society that was forced to take up the job of inferior people, came to be regarded as inferior – the Vaisyas. The occupations became graded - agriculture being the lowest and the communication with gods being the highest. Nevertheless, the Vaisyas were still allowed the thread ceremony meaning that they were Aryans but doing the degraded job. The jobs of Vaisyas were also going to be degraded to Shudra level in the due course of time when the commercial trading was to emerge as a sustainable activity. The Vaisyas might have been the Aryans of the tribes defeated by the main Rig Vedic Aryan tribes; thus, they were ordained with inferior jobs.

The Shudra was the last Varna that came into existence. The word "Shudra" is derived from the word "kshudra" which means inferior. And, they were exactly like that because they had been defeated. The natives of India, brown or black, were inferior because they have been defeated politically or culturally. The defeated natives of India ran away to other places. It is indicated by the facts that the Aryans (Vaisyas) had to take up the agriculture implying the absence of native people from the conquered areas. The natives were dispossessed of their land, which in turn went into the hands of Kshatriyas who gave it to Vaisyas to till it and pay the taxes in kind. The Shudras ran away to the kingdoms or areas of other Shudra chieftains or kings.

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Some of the Shudras stayed back. These Shudras had lost their land and became landless laborers in the land of Aryans. They were assimilated at the lowest level in Varna system and were denied the thread ceremony implying that they were not Aryans. It also indicates that the Shudras earlier did not agree to the Vedic rules. Over a period of time the Varna system degraded many twiceborn (the upper three Varnas entitled to thread ceremony) to Shudra level and also below it through the system of ostracization. Over a period of time, many Aryans lost their land and came down to the Shudra level. There were many Shudra occupations: blacksmith, carpenter, skinner, charioteer, goldsmith, potter etc. The important point was that the Shudras were disconnected from land or from any kind of assets through dharmic edicts. They were to be kept into penury courtesy the laws made by the pious people having eternal paranormal powers. They had to live by their labor alone. How touching! The star occupation of Rig Vedic people, cattle rearing, was degraded to third level of Vaisyas and in the due course of time to fourth level of Shudras. Another star occupation of Rig Vedic people, plundering, was made a crime. The status of these activities moved a great deal from higher to lower level. Their sad degradation was not noticed by anybody. The Varna system was crystallizing. The amorphous mass of tribes got amalgamated from which the Varnas emerged and crystallized. The stage of amalgamation is often obtusely forwarded as an immutable proof of flexibility of Varna system though the carnal desires of powerful Rishis were very apparent in this stage. The totally crystallized Varna system was never flexible. Insertion of Purush Sukta in the Rig Veda was also a part of this crystallization. Total crystallization was completed through the Dharma shastras.

The superiority of the paranormal Brahmans, slowly got converted into their cultural hegemony, in the developing Hindu society. Varna Dharma became the dominant doctrine helped by spiritual thinking through the Upanishadic Karma hypothesis. The broad and central culture, by and large, moved on their fingers. The Shudra kings who could not be defeated were assimilated into Aryan society by granting them Kshatriya status provided they agreed to the superiority of the Vedas by implication of Brahmans, and agreed to Vedic rituals. If you agree with the Rig Veda, you agree to their

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superiority; there is no way out; you have to live a second rate or third, fourth rate life; take it if this degradation by birth suits you. This kind of assimilation is a recurrent theme in the history of this subcontinent. The Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda was the unquestionable proof of Brahmanical superiority. What else do you want? Their cultural hegemony is evident from the fact that by 200 B.C.E. the paranormal and ritual monopolists Brahmans had spread down to the deep end of south India where they were found performing the magnetic Yagyas for the south Indian kings who were not interested in Varna Dharma at that time. They were interested only in the paranormal powers of Yagyas, which were supposed to protect kings and ensure success in wars. The Yagyas acted like strong magnets and the new and ambitious kings were strongly gravitated toward the Brahmans who could perform the Yagyas. These kings invited Brahmans to their kingdom and granted them land in lieu of coronation and performing of Yagyas. The most ambitious Yagya was the Ashwa-megh Yagya. In it, a horse was left in the fields and whatever area it could cover was deemed to be the territory of the king on whose behalf the Yagya was performed. If any king harbored territorial ambitions then the horse sacrifice Yagya was performed. It was a warning to weak kings that a strong king was coming to claim their territory and they should give up without a fight. On the other side, the Brahmans performed Rajsuya Yagya as a preparation to war. Both the sides invoked the gods through Yagyas and imported the Brahmans for this purpose. The faith in the paranormal powers of Brahmans was overwhelming. It has been the source of the underground rivers of tears for the Untouchables. The Hindu religion developed from top to bottom. The top was decided earlier, and which in turn decided the bottom. The Brahmans got the land grants and power jobs from the Dravidian kings in lieu of their divinity related services. They always upheld, the king's right to rule and protect the Dharma. The superiority of the scriptures had become unquestioned strengthening the hold of Brahmans over the society. The scriptures became society-controlling instruments. From top, the Brahman guided the society to a dharmic path of salvation. No, sorry, guided to an exalted path of eternal dharmic subordination. There was no separation between the religion and the politics.

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The Shudra kings and chieftains in India had been assimilated into Sanatana dharma fold by granting them the Kshatriya status. The most prominent example of a Shudra king being assimilating in Vedic society is that of Krishna. Krishna was a Shudra as he was the nephew of Shudra king or chieftain, Kansa who was a Shudra himself who did not believe in the Vedic rituals. Kansa is known as Rakshasha (demon). He did not believe in the Vedas and always prevented the Rishis from performing the Yagyas. If he had agreed to the Vedic rituals then he would not have been called a Rakshasha (the demon) and could have earned the Kshatriya status. The Varna system was still crystallizing. Thus, Kansa was a Shudra king and Krishna being his nephew comes automatically to be qualified as a Shudra. He was elevated to the Kshatriya level and then to God level and then to the Absolute level in Gita. May be the saviors of local culture called themselves the Rakshaks (saviors) which in due time got converted to Rakshasha (demon). Being the native agriculturists, they were most probably against the Vedic rituals and the superiority of lawmakers over the kings. The importance of Krishna suggests that the local Shudra chieftains played a crucial role in politics at that time and the natives of India were not without any culture or polity as has been suggested by the assumption that the Aryans brought the culture to India. Well, the Rig Vedic Aryans had nothing to offer but plundering, oblation of fumes to gods and some speculation on the existence of supreme being.

The defeated native population moved south but, most probably, they did not cross the Vindhyas because in that case they should have taken agriculture with them, which in all probability did not happen at that time. The agriculture, most probably, went to South India with Buddhists and Jains in later times.

The non-Aryan natives were given a new Varna- the Shudra. With the arrival of Shudra Varna, still more inferior and landless, the status of Vaisyas rose relatively. Now they had somebody to lord upon. God turned in their favor. They came to enjoy their occasions of jubilation now and then. Now the Varnas had become endogamous which automatically means that the Varnas were birth based and under this dominant philosophy, the further segmentation of society led to development of endogamous caste. No person could hold two occupations in different functions which were Varna

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assigned. The Shudras did not have any land which they could pass on to their offspring. They were to live in the penury and die in the penury. As a result, their offspring remained landless and hence remained Shudras – grand provision – no land or assets for them so that they are forced to serve the higher Varnas - it is a non-violent religion, so to speak of – see, no use of force and forever elimination of the problem of short supply of servants. They also had no means to acquire the land since only twiceborn could acquire any property in Vedic and post-Vedic society. Turning any Shudra into higher Varna required a redistribution of resources and respect, which was not in the interests of higher Varnas.

Thus, the power of higher strata, their endogamous nature and the existence of non-propertied Shudras made them exclusive and it assured that the Varna was birth based. However, the intermixing of blood was still possible because the higher Varnas had the right to marry the women from the lower Varnas. There are hardly any examples of lower Varna men marrying higher Varna women in the Hindu scriptures. The only examples were the Shudra kings who were always assigned the status of defacto Kshatriyas. The Shudra soldiers were not allowed the status of Kshatriyas most probably because they could not pay the fee to Brahmans to perform the Vedic rituals.

The functions (a disguise for duties and rights) or Varna Dharma of each Varna came to be defined. Brahman Varna function was to study the scriptures and guide the Kshatriyas in ruling the kingdom according to Dharma. Kshatriya Varna function was to rule the kingdom according to Dharma (not general law and order or general safety). Vaisya Varna function was to engage in agriculture, cattle rearing and trading. Shudra Varna function was to serve the upper three Varnas. These Varnas became heredity in nature under the guidance of the Brahmans. Whole of the society was structured toward the welfare of paranormal Brahman Varna. No function was assigned on individual basis but on group basis.

Thus, the four Varna system emerged in the post-Vedic society. This system was called the Chaturvarna system. It need not be reminded that these Varnas in the descending social order were the Brahman, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya and the Shudra. The Brahmans were at the top, the Kshatriyas at the second place, the

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Vaisyas at the third place and the Shudras at the fourth place. The paranormal Brahmans were the lawmakers, social authority and priests. The Kshatriyas were the rulers or the kings. The Vaisyas were the traders and agriculturists. And the Shudras were the eternal servants or landless people. The artisans were also Shudras since in absence of currency they had to work for higher Varnas for paltry payment in kind. This most probably led to the emergence of Jajmani system. Or a system where the Shudra castes got a small piece of land in lieu of providing services to the village. They worked on this small piece of land to grow food for themselves. These Varnas were not created in one day through the Purusha Shukta of Rig Veda. Brahmans after defining themselves defined others and as a measure to prove their exclusivity formed a different endogamous group at the top. They occupied the risk free highest position in the Hindu society. This crystallization culminated in the development of Dharma shastras. A further culmination took in the form of development of sub-varnas or castes.

The spread of Sanatana Dharma owed a lot to magnetic nature of the Yagyas. The culture of performing mystique Yagyas became most in demand for which the Rishis or Brahmans were needed. The assumed abilities of Rishis and Brahmans, of invoking gods through the Yagyas, helped in a significant manner, in spreading their influence and the Sanatana Dharma. These paranormal powers behaved like magnets. The new kings were drawn to them in no insignificant number. The belief in Brahmans' paranormal power got converted into their cultural hegemony.

By the time the Untouchable category came into existence due to degrading of jobs by the pious Brahmans, the Vedas had been finalized. The inserted Purusha Sukta of Rig Veda had become the final word on the Varna origin. Any addition to Varnas meant changing the Rig Veda or the Word of God, which nobody could do. It was not possible to add anything to the Vedas. The degrading was not objected to because those who suffered were the people without any means of subsistence who survived merely by their labor. These ignorant people did not know when they became Untouchables. Only the passage of time told them so. One indication that they have come down from the Varna system is that like the people of four Varnas these people also have their own Jatis. This category emerged after

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the entry of each Varna into the Varna system. Therefore, they were called the Antyaja. The word "Antyaja" means those who are born at the end, or the last-born. Emerging after everybody, they were also placed at the end of everybody, meaning at the bottom of social structure - nice and logical. The Hindu social structure evolved from top to bottom; the bottom was always residuary and was at the mercy of higher Varnas. The top people kept with them the most important functions and power and left the degrading jobs for the low castes. Like the Shudras they were also supposed to have an impure origin. Their origin was supposed to be even more impure than that of the Shudras. Thus, they were placed at the end. The impure people were always linked to impure jobs. A man born in Hindu society inherits his parents' Jati and the occupation of Jati also. Thus, we have seen that the Varnas emerged on historical scale and not at a point of time as given in the Rig Veda. The development of Varnas in direction from top down was a race to control the resource of society. The lawmakers were the winners. The others were losers.

Then there arose the question of guarding the privileges of Brahmans and Kshatriyas in the post Vedic period when the purity based Varna system was crystallizing; then the hypothesis of Karma was developed to safeguard these comforts till eternity. Hence, this is an eternal religion.

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This chapter should be avoided by all the rationalists because of the absurd logic involved. Anyway, the spiritualists agree that they depend on realization, not on logic. Indirectly they are agreeing that they do not know what they are talking about!

The lame duck impure man with impure destiny descends on the earth to serve the pure people with smart destinies - not without an assumed cause. And, Hindu spirituality assists and tries to rationalize it!

India is supposed to be the spiritual powerhouse of the world. Both the Buddha Dharma and the Sanatana Dharma claim spirituality. The Buddha Dharma advances the Sunyata of world and Sanatana Dharma presents the world as a manifestation (Maya) of Nirgun Bruhm. The Santana Dharma or the Hindu Dharma is very spiritual religion. It contains bottomless discussions on the nature of soul (self or jiva), world and Absolute or Bruhm.

The soul in Hindu spiritualism is immortal; it was never born; it can never die; it cannot be cut; it cannot be burnt etc. etc. It changes the bodies as a body changes the clothes; it transmigrates from body to body along with the Karmas- note. Therefore, it is superior to body as a body is superior to clothes. Period.

In Hindu spiritual thinking, there is Atman, which is different from body. Atman resides in a body though it is not the same as body. At the time of death, the body dies but not the Atman, which leaves the body and acquires a new body next time. Ultimately, it leaves the illusion called world, its cycle of birth death and rebirth, and meets and dissolves into Nirgun Bruhm. This is the Moksha, the objective of Hindu spirituality. Soul does not die with the body neither it goes to the kingdom of God.

Soul being the real reality lies at a higher level than the biological body. The destructible body is not real. Anything that can be destroyed is not real. Thus if one wants to talk of higher level concepts in Hindu spiritual thought then one should talk about soul, its existence and its immortality and its superiority and its transmigration from body to body etc. etc. If one, still, wants talk to at a still higher level, then one can talk about Bruhm. If one wants to go to still higher level, then Nirgun Bruhm is there to discuss about.

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Please do not discuss anything at biological level because it is lower level material and lowers the dignity of Hindu spiritual thought. All the biological entities and events are illusions; so birth is an illusion as well as death; so all the births and all the deaths do not take place at all; they are in a dream sequence of some ultimate power. This ultimate power actually does nothing but dreams! Well, dreaming is doing nothing! This knowledge is also known as the ultimate knowledge and nothing is supposed to exist beyond it. What! Do not smile from ear to ear! And laughing is outlawed!

There are few major points developed in Hindu spiritual philosophy. The first is the separation of soul from the body. The second is the rebirth through soul. The third is carrying forward the accumulated karmas through the immortal (non-existent?) soul. The fourth is the disconnection of the rewards of this life from the efforts of this life, or sufferings in this life from the deeds in this life (through disconnecting Karma theory - the master stroke - exonerating the crass exploiters!). The fifth is defining the world as illusion (with which they stick like leeches -they won't leave until they have their share of blood that is not unsubstantial!). The sixth is the identification of soul with Nirguna Bruhm and their ultimate unification.

The separation of soul from the body allows for the concepts of rebirth and reincarnation. The concept of rebirth makes room for the disconnecting Karma hypothesis which justifies miseries and sufferings of the low castes. The concept of reincarnation allows for appropriation of others' deities as the deities of Sanatana Dharma thus leaving others' cultural little room to play (the Muslim and British did not fall prey to this!). Others lost their gods also - note. It allows maximum room for the Sanatana Dharma. The appropriation of the Buddha as a reincarnation of Vishnu is a fine example. The Sanatana Dharma becomes all encompassing. One has to be thankful to Rishis for this. And the supremacy of the Vedas maintains the superiority of Brahmans; the rest are secondary class people.

The disconnecting of the rewards from the efforts absolves the exploiters and justifies the wretched condition of the low caste people. There is an illogical shift of causation of the conditions of this life to the events of previous lives; the conditions in this life are

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due to events of previous lives – and everybody swallows it! There is hardly any connection between two lives and karmas. The events of previous lives determine the privileges and the disabilities of this life! But how? Any direct or indirect evidence is missing – no transparency because none is owed. All the litmus papers are soiled. But it poses no problem for the super-conscious and pious people with a pure conscience. The Karma hypothesis is called an immutable Law whereas it is no more than an unverifiable hypothesis. But the sizzling ignorance persists; it sizzles whenever under attack.

According to Hindu way of life, the ultimate aim is to attain the Moksha, Mukti or salvation. The Moksha is a state where the soul of a man gets unified or merged with the Bruhm; it becomes free of all pains and sorrows. It combines with the Bruhm to never to return to cycle of life and death. It is released from the Karmik life cycle and Moksha is attained. No more rebirths. Period. None has seen it. Period.

One peculiarity of the Hindu society is that no explanations come forward and at same time any accountability is missing. Therefore, passing the buck is a prime pass time here. The buck stops either at the disabled god and/or at the Karma. The only thing that matters is the "Word" and derivations and corollaries there of wherein all the welfare points toward pure direction. It means in the direction of pure people.

It is told that the soul is subtle in nature. It is a "Word" so it must be a fact! Modern science is unable to find its existence because of its subtle nature. However, it is not known that what the subtlety means in this context. Again, it is an example of the fact that they do not know what they are talking about. Everything that they say is not established and cannot be established. It stands on speculations – the foundations are strong. These are merely hypotheses which are forwarded as established theories. And, all the Hindus agree to them in practice if not apparently. Say aye, aye sir - aye, aye sir.

Any soul is indestructible in nature. The indestructibility of soul is axiomatic in nature. So far, nobody has explained that why it is indestructible. It is not born. It does not die. It cannot be burnt. It cannot be cut. On death it leaves one body and acquires a new body. Any soul cannot be disintegrated further. The fire cannot burn it. The sword cannot cut it. (I am not sure about the efficacy of guns - not

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given in the shastras or scriptures.) It is never born. It never dies. Nevertheless, this indestructible entity is made to suffer in hell! It beats my little head! But Hindus do not mind living in contradictions! Or the scriptures where the concept of hell (Narak) is given are pure lies! Or the soul! Atman is probably neither organic nor inorganic because in both cases it would be destructible. It is always pre-existing and post-existing to a body. The body is just a temporary for the indestructible soul. It has a separate existence than the body it inhibits. The real reality is soul and not the body because the body is temporary in nature. It exists as long as soul exists in it. The moment, a soul leaves the body the body is dead. But for such a separation it needs the stoppage of working of the body organs. May be there is no place for it in the body when the body meets with a fatal accident. The body is only a temporary abode for a soul. However, it is not known that why should the heart stop beating when a soul leaves the body? A soul may change an infinite number of bodies during its Karmic cycles on its way to merge with Bruhm. Soul cannot be divided because in such case it has to be degraded to biological level. Only higher-level concepts and realities are considered here; you dumb wit; not the biological or material; you cannot lower yourself to abysmal depths by talking about such low things! It is a Hindu spiritual world! Remember the next life of a worm is awaiting you if you do so!

However, 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. For a soul to be indestructible, it is necessary to show that "I" in "Who I am?" is different from "I" in "I am dying?”. In "I am running," the soul is running or the body? And does a soul talk as in "Who am I?”.

However, the soul being a higher-level entity than the body cannot have lower level biological functions and the processes allotted to it. The statement that "I (self - soul) am dying," implies that the soul is dying but it cannot die! It gets more and more convoluted; the logic may stand on its head but the spiritualists are not bothered about it. You see! These are the higher-level really real reality, and the normal logic cannot be applied. It is convoluted

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means it is convoluted. Nobody should expect to find an iota of logic in Hindu spiritual logic. It is logic less spirituality or realized spirituality. The existence of a soul and Bruhm can only be realized or felt through the higher-level unknown faculties of higher-level people. These concepts are not amenable to the laws of science because they are superior to any kind of science – surely, it is not nonsense! 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 - proofless. Anyway, the Bruhm and soul are only illusions because they always exist in minds of their proponents, not outside. And absolutely no absurdity exists; impossible to think of its existence if you have righteous way of thinking; to grasp it one should have higher level faculties whose existence is doubtful.

The results in Hindu spirituality are axiomatic beyond which nobody can argue. There remains nothing that can be argued about. When you have agreed on the results then nothing remains to argue about. You can simply agree, simply gape with awe and amazement at the achievements and intelligently ignore the anomalies which disestablish the axiomatic results. And none cares.

The idea of Moksha or ultimate unification of a soul with the Absolute successfully diverts the attention of people away from their present problems when combined with the unestablished Karma hypothesis.

Let us see what is Bruhm - the supreme being? What a soul is to body, the Bruhm is to universe and more than that. Anybody talking about Bruhm (Supreme Being) with the authority surely qualifies to be a Guru, the functioning of which he does not understand. A guru can talk about the non-existence of the Himalayas or the Andes without batting an eyelid. Of course, the lower strata are not supposed to talk about these higher-level things and especially not about the Bruhm; talking about such issues is the sole prerogative of the Brahmans. I know you will not understand it. How can you understand it unless you have a realized mind? As a soul is pre-existing to a body, the Bruhm is always pre-existing to any universe. It is all given in the Vedantas or the Upanishads which are ancient beyond estimation. The Rishis were great! To hell with the Big Bang theory or any other theory - the Hindu scriptures know the

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best. There might have been many universes and Bruhm is always pre-existing to them. A 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. Did you notice that how grand the things are? Now you know why the believers in the Vedas and the Upanishidas are derisive of Western knowledge? Their Rishis knew everything in advance! And please do not mention James Watt.

All gods are physical manifestations of Bruhm including the famous trinity of the Hindu pantheon: Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. However, there are many souls but one and only one Bruhm without a second. A soul is never born, and it never dies; the Bruhm is also never born, and it never dies. Both of them have permanent existence. The ultimate aim of a soul is to unite or merge with the Bruhm. That is Moksha or salvation. The Bruhm is the substratum of the entire world, solar system and galaxies - past, future and present. Everything has come out of Bruhm; and everything will finally merge into it. Everything means everything - no exceptions. And, dumb man, you believe in Newton, Einstein and other scientists! Your belief is overwhelming especially when the "Word" from Hindu scriptures stares at you. Your belief is worth a penny or two. Your existence is miserable! Anyway, we move forward. Anything, which exists, is due to Bruhm. Anything that existed in the past existed due to Bruhm. Anything, which will exist in the future, will exist due to Bruhm. The Bruhm is eternal like the eternal Sanatana Dharma. The gracious and esteemed Rishis and Gurus came to know about it through deep meditation, knee deep. However, it is not clear that how the Bruhm manifests itself as this world? There is an utter silence about this process – the dumb silence. There is a creation. There is a creator. But there is no process of creation. Anyway, it is a moronic fantasy in the air. It explains nothing. The explanations about working of Bruhm by the esteemed and revered seers are merely speculations or guess works. It explains nothing, graciously. The explanatory powers of the concept of Bruhm are worthless and the predictive powers are still more worthless. Nevertheless, the Hindu spiritualists have faith in their system. It is the faith that moves the mountains. It keeps the mountain of ignorance in its hallowed

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chamber of two feet by two feet by two feet. May be I am wrong about the dimensions.

In Hindu spirituality, the truth is defined by the permanency of an object. Therefore, falsity is defined by the impermanency of an object. Here the talker can claim to be talking about the still higher-level concept or concepts at a still subtler level. And the talker has the better knowledge about the TRUTH or really real reality. The sun will not exist forever and therefore it is false. If you do not understand this then you are ignorant. Therefore, this earth is false. The life is not permanent so it is also false. All the necessary things in the life are false. Period.

This life is not real; this we know from the superiority of soul over the body. Period.

The word "Sat" gets translated into English as "really real" but its true meaning is TRUTH. Therefore, the only thing which is "Sat" or really real or permanent is the Bruhm or the supreme being. Everything else is impermanent or a mirage or of temporary nature. If one can claim to understand this concept based on the permanency of an object then one can claim to be a real knower of truth; the knower of the Ultimate; the knower of the Bruhm – the knower of the indestructible Bruhm. Thus, the talker belongs to the highest level of the highest-level reality! 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 - the Bruhm. However, if the truth cannot be identified with the permanency then the claim about the Rishis falls flat on its face. The mystique is miraculously extrasensory; it can only be experienced by the TRUE TRUTH SEEKERS. The sense is conspicuous by its absence. No, no, no, please do not talk about self-delusions or any other such thing. These highly realized people cannot suffer from self-delusions. Period.

Anyway, we are told that Bruhm is superior to the gods; they are its manifestations only; so we discuss at a level which belong to higher level than the gods. And this raises our level. Still, raising the level higher!!!. However, there are said to be two kinds of Bruhms. One Bruhm is called Saguna Bruhm, which has a physical form and this entire world is his body. The representative of Saguna Bruhm is Lord Vishnu in this Universe. Lord Krishna and Lord Ram are the

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incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Soul is small and subtle but different from the Bruhm. This is also known as dualism or Dvaitvad. Any soul or jiva ultimately gets merged with the Ultimate - the Bruhm. This also connects Bruhm with the gods and the idol worship and the temples. This can convert the 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 the Absolute without attributes. It is all pervading; nothing pervades it. It is the substratum of everything. However most of the experts agree that the Nirguna Bruhm is the final reality and Saguna Bruhm is to enable laymen to worship it. The soul and the Nirguna Bruhm are not different from each other. This is known as non-dualism or Advaitvad. This is the highest level - the highest pinnacle.

Therefore, we got a pairing of body with soul, a pairing of world with Bruhm and pairing of soul with Bruhm. Things are very pithy – not rambling at all. Here the impermanent body and world belong to lower level, the soul to higher level, and the Bruhm to the highest level. If somebody is finicky and is not satisfied with this level then still raise his level then he should know that there is no difference between soul and the attribute less Nirguna Bruhm - that is non-dualism - this is the highest level; the end. Blame your senseless mind if you cannot comprehend it. And this grand spiritual knowledge is not supposed to reach to the Shudras and the Untouchables. One needs to go into deep meditation to realize the Bruhm which is a fantasy in the air without any litmus test. Whenever the question of any litmus test arises, the proponents of the SOUL and the BRUHM take to their heels - their heels are more mature than they are.

Well, one can say that there is always a never-extinct existence which is always pre and post existing to any extinctable existence, the former being the substratum of the latter. And the existence of never-extinct existence can never pass the litmus test.

I told you in the beginning of this chapter to avoid reading it; and you are still reading it! If you are the knower of the highest level, then this chapter also does not exist. What kind of higher level faculties do you have!!!

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When it comes to self-delusions, I am still backward. Blame it on my thick brain. I still cannot fathom who is running? The body or the soul? What is the state when somebody is running? Somebody - Oh! That again takes us to the turbulent waters. And I am looking for some litmus papers – all of them are soiled – bad luck!

Comprehending the incomprehensible being (the concept which, incidentally, grossly lacks any transparent explaining power; but does not lack worthless explaining and predictive powers) requires a grossly intelligent mind balancing itself delicately on its belief. Also, the deep meditation and realization are extremely necessary. These grossly intelligent minds are able to understand the subtlest reality (according to them) which is supposedly beyond the realm of science and that too without transparently linking anything to anything. The transparency of this understanding is shrouded under the thick veil of realization. It is a very thick situation about the subtlest things.

However, this sense of spirituality never gets offended by the thousands years old inhuman practice of crippling untouchability. The insensitivity prevails everywhere as if it is air. The overwhelming pride in the purity of higher Varnas enforces the separation between the society and the people doing unclean jobs. The Untouchables would like to have a society of their own but they are denied the resources required for this purpose through traditional and dharmic means. They do not have any means of subsistence on their own, courtesy Dharma. It strengthens the Dharma. Thus, they have to live insulted and isolated lives at the bottom of the heap of society, and live through their hard labor doing despicable jobs. Marvelous and sacred! You should not be surprised if you find compassion crying in any isolated corner, silently.

Further, there is one soul existing per body barring the souls that are wondering in this world in need of bodies. How the wondering souls are going to trace the bodies having zygotes formed in their respective wombs? The process is a mystery to me; and it is not known to anybody including the great grand masters in matters of soul and body. Do these souls have advanced sensory organs? It cannot be because it would render them to organic level and hence destructible. These wondering souls are waiting for the births to take place. A soul is not organic in nature; so it cannot multiply, but the

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bodies can multiply. The population keeps on increasing. Bodies die also. Population then decreases. In a growing population, the birth rate is higher than the death rate. In a state where there is absolute growth in population the number of souls has to increase to provide the lives to the new bodies. From where does the increase in souls, come forth? There is no mention of any method of increasing the soul numbers in any scriptures. The increase in the number of souls essentially requires creation of new souls. Any soul creation would make a soul biological in nature and hence divisible. There is no question of release of new souls from the Bruhm because those souls that merge with Bruhm do not come back to the cycle of life and death. If this were allowed then the meaning of Moksha would have to be changed. This would also change the meaning of life for a Hindu. The scriptures would have to be rewritten contradicting their earlier versions. This would require convoluted logic that can be produced at a very high rate by the proponents of the Hindu spiritual thought. Umpteen kinds of souls may be developed. Many kinds of Moksha may be developed. The meaning of "eternal" may itself undergo a change. One never knows the possibilities. But one point is clear that you will have to take their words for it, their "word" as the proof; yes the proof. Period.

Their final statement is itself axiomatic in its nature thus precluding any scope for arguments. The higher-level thoughts are not amenable to criticism from the lower strata people. It would be totally adharmic. Anyway, the separation of soul from body allows for the reincarnation or rebirth, which is very useful in carrying forward the Karmas and justifying exploitation.

According to Hindu spiritual philosophy there are three states. These are the Awaken state, the Dreaming state and the Deep Sleep state. Most important is the dreaming state on which the concept of Maya or the world as illusion stands. In the dreaming stage, a man is the master of his dreams, which he has created (Really?). And as soon as he wakes up, the dream world disappears. Therefore, the experience is relative to the state of the observer. Underline that!!! Suppose there are three observers and one stone. One of them goes into deep sleep then the stone does not exist for him but it exists for other two. So, we have a stone which exists and does not exist at the same time. The state goes on moving as one

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after another observer closes his eyes and others open. The logic stands on its head but nobody cares. Anyway, we move ahead. In the deep sleep mind experiences nothing and in that he is nearly one with the Bruhm; one takes a stick hits the observer in deep sleep very hard and low the connection with Bruhm is broken. Therefore, stick is very useful; it can disconnect you from the Bruhm. In the awakened state whatever he observes or experiences is the illusion created by the Bruhm and this illusion appears as world. The real thing is the Bruhm and not this world, which appears in the dream of Bruhm. Here the dependence of logic on the dreaming state is remarkable. Just like everything appearing in the dreaming state is illusion; so is everything appearing in the awakened state- the illusion and the illusion only, not worthwhile giving a damn. Nevertheless, here is difference, if one loses a relative in the dreaming state then nothing happens but if one loses a relative in the awakened state then it has emotional and other tangible repercussions in the life. Here deriving the nature of the real and tangible world from the nature of dreams is a mistake. Since the mistake is made in the beginning, the results are liable to be wrong. There exists no illusion but the real world and there is no Maya as propounded. And if there is Maya then it is all owned by the upper castes and nothing is left for the lower castes. Strange! The higher-level people having highest level of ethics and morals are hell bent on acquiring the illusions! Strange, man strange!

This dream world in the dreaming stage is illusion therefore the real world in the awakened state must also be illusion. How? This beats my little brain. It is like deriving the nature of a real elephant in the awakened state from the nature of an imaginary elephant in the dreaming state. To me it all seems incorrect. The foundations of the Hindu spirituality seem to be standing on the illusions - the human dreams.

And, then we have the example rope and snake. Only the true knower knows the difference between the rope and the snake and similarly the difference between the World and the Bruhm. We know that the Bruhm exists only in minds of believers not outside it. But as far as the example is concerned there is no need to be a true believer or a realized person, one can simply take a stick and stir the object to know whether it is a rope or a snake. But remember no

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litmus tests. You should give arguments only to prove the "Word"; anything else is ineligible to enter the argument.

Then there is the much acclaimed hypothesis of Karma. This is the philosophical justification for the oppression due to Varna system. The onus is shifted from the known to the unknown! Indeed, it is a masterstroke, a stroke of genius. Period.

According to Karma Hypothesis an individual reaps the benefits of virtuous deeds performed in the previous life in the present life. Similarly, an individual suffers in this life on account of the bad deeds performed in previous life. Your lame duck destiny is due to unfolding of your accumulated bad Karmas! The previous lives' Karmas with imaginary existence dwell upon your lame duck destiny. Nobody has any malicious intentions against you - you understand, you heathen people. The destiny of this birth is decided without its proven relationship with the untraceable Karmas of nonexistent previous lives! The scriptures on this should not be doubted. You unfaithful, a low caste unbeliever! The people who wrote scripture were extremely innocent, virtuous and genius people with altruism deeply embedded in their psyches for the welfare of the upper Varnas. But what do you care? You, heathen people, care for your trivial and frivolous selfish interests! How bad! How unworthy! How ignominious! How criminal! How incredulous! How incriminating!

Their inability to establish a relation between two is overwhelming. One is left awestruck and gasping at the ignorance of the lower strata about the inability of the upper strata to provide the proof. But they choose to ignore it out of deliberate foolishness. Anyway, they are proud of it! The inability to provide proof is spread all over the scriptures but people in all their innocence overlook them. The reasoning weeps. Anyway, the pure people are supposed to overlook them dutifully and emphasize the divine authority of Karma hypothesis. It is amazing that this divine authority which knows everything does not have the proof of the Karma hypothesis. Marvelous. May the sky fall on all impure people if they lurch away from the dharmic beliefs. They should always be entangled in the web of ignorance which has been spun around them with the closed-gate policy and the thick veil of ignorance. The famished people can hardly get out of it. The entanglements in dev-bhasha (Sanskrit) and

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status seeking were too much for the people living on day-to-day accessibility of food.

The pure people are not ashamed of assigning the wretched untraceable Karmas to impure people! Why should they be ashamed of it? It is only logical, and there is no accountability in the Hindu society. Only low level scum can doubt their sincerity. The pure people with the pure intentions! Piousity rules. You will not be disappointed if you are looking for the lack of sincerity. They are not beneath butchering sincerity.

The shining and crippling Dharma is backed by the unestablished hypothesis of Karma. It takes a believing heart to tell the right from the wrong. The objectivity can easily be consigned to a dustbin. The objectivity which is not dharmic is not really objectivity; you would not understand it; it takes higher level of understanding to understand it. You see!

There is a mismatch between the time of performing the deeds and the time of getting the results when two bodies are considered for a single soul. However, the concept of birth and rebirth allows for this. Anyone who commits appalling deeds in this life suffers in his rebirth. The Karmas are carried forward to the next life through the soul. This allows for the disconnection of the rewards in this life from the deeds or action in this life. The rewards and efforts become disconnected. This also means that the efforts of present life would not bring you anything tangible; whatever you have is the result of past lives Karmas. Many frequently miss this point. This also disconnects the exploiter from the exploited. But for whose benefit? There is no verifiable link between the cause and the effect in the Karma hypothesis; it never passed any test. There are unconnected causes and effects. The birth in high Varna is the proof of the virtuous deeds performed in the past lives of the individual concerned. The accumulated Karmas have enabled the individual in question to take the birth in the higher Varna. Unfortunately, this is the thought that cannot be verified like all other hypotheses in Hindu spiritual system. It is all metaphysical and metaphysical and metaphysical which has physical effects via the control of the elite castes. One needs deep meditation to realize the veracity of the Karma hypothesis. And the individual who has taken birth in the lowest stratum is assumed to have a record of worst accumulated

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deeds in his past lives. I wish there were higher degrees then the "worst”. On a scale of 1000 to -1000 the Untouchables must score -1000. The only problem is that we do not have any verifiable records of such bad deeds and their hypothetical linkages. But this causes no problem! This should be taken as true because it is said so. Nobody should question them and especially not the heathen ones. The results themselves are axiomatic and unquestionable.

However, such a profound thinking creates no human sympathy for the people of the lowest stratum because they are suffering on account of their own actions and nobody is responsible for their wretched lives. Look, it is not personal at all; we only wrote the scriptures in which it is given; after all, we are the most pure of Hindu Varnas; we cannot write any untruth at all. Establish the results? The word “Establish” is not in our dictionary along with the word “honesty”. See! These kinds of words do not exist in our dictionary - the pure dictionary of pure people. We are pure people. This is divine justice, and along with the dharmic justice, it mutilates and kills without any established basis. The temporal injustice combined with the divine injustice makes the life hell for people at the bottom of the heap. And their crimes are not even known! Hanged for the unknown crimes! Condemned for the unknown crimes! These crimes are assumed. There are assumptions and assumptions. The Karma hypothesis predicts nothing in empirical terms. Even the grand masters of meditation possessing the ultimate knowledge, the Bruhm-Gyan, do not know. Now an Untouchable suffers due to the sins committed in previous lives. A Brahman enjoys all the worldly comforts in the form of land grants and the patronage of the Kshatriyas and the kings because of his extremely virtuous deeds in his past lives which nobody knows! The Karma hypothesis disconnects the rewards of this life from the actions of this life. This is a genius masterstroke. According to this, a Brahman who enjoys comforts does not enjoy them at the cost of crippled Untouchables or Shudras; though it is their labor that makes his life comfortable. The pure people have taken birth in the pure castes due to their untraceable but worthy Karmas. But who knows? Nobody! A Brahman or Kshatriya or a Vaisya can enjoy the worldly comforts at the cost of the crippled Shudras and the crippled Untouchables without feeling a wee bit guilty. They can even enjoy it righteously

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and unconditionally. And they do not lose any sleep over it; they sleep soundly and righteously with a clear conscience; and they sleep with caste pride; Zzzz… Zzzz… Zzzz… Nobody loses sleep even for a single night, you see! Hinduism is a righteous way of life! Is it not? It contains a crippling discrimination via incrimination. And the purest people ar at peace with themselves.

The eternal exploitation becomes righteous because there is an eternal cycle of birth and rebirth because of bad and good Karmas. The Shudras and those below them should follow Dharma unconditionally. The crippling of lower strata is just. The sufferings of the Untouchables and the Shudras are just; the comforts of high Varnas are also just. The righteousness prevails everywhere, even in the presence of heaps of miseries and sufferings and insults. The sufferings of the Untouchables and the Shudras are clearly visible in the comforts enjoyed by the higher Varnas. Nevertheless, the efforts have been disconnected from the results! Gains have been disconnected from pains. Thanks to Hindu spirituality. According to the Karma hypothesis, the wretched lower strata people themselves are responsible for their hellish conditions because of their accumulated bad Karmas of their past lives. Perfectly sensible! Is it not? The victims are held to be responsible for their sufferings! Don't look for logic; it is Hindu society. This made the humanity to evaporate from the Hindu society though everybody talks about Dharma frequently. Inhumanity is justified with the help of spiritual and philosophical thoughts. The Karma hypothesis incriminates the Untouchables and the Shudras and the righteous society exploits them! This is the place where spirituality laughs at the tears of humanity. In the end, it is the victim who does not matter. Everybody else goes home happily. Nice happiness. Is it not?

Where are the bad karmas of an Untouchable child, for which he gets the birth-attached insulted status and empty belly? And what are they?

How the high castes, with the highest-level ethics and morals, sleep? Well and Soundly. Zzz…, Zzz… Period.

Will somebody stand up and explain and concretely establish the reasons behind the insulting status of newborn Untouchable children? Are the inherently pure people without any proof for this? I would be interested in seeing if one of them has it.

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And, see, the unfounded, untraceable, incorrelatable and disconnecting Karma hypothesis is a matter of overwhelming pride!

In the Karma hypothesis there is an illogical shift of the causation of the conditions of this life to the events of previous lives. The deeds of previous lives determine the privileges and disabilities of this life. If that is so; the victory of the Muslim invaders over Hindus, must have been due to virtuous actions of Muslims and sinful deeds of Hindus of all their respective past lives! Therefore, there is no need to shed any tears about it. It was divinely ordained. And Bruhm was its bedrock. The Saguna Bruhm sent the Muslim invaders to punish the sinful Hindus. So, Hindus were punished for their past sinful actions; rightly and justly. The same past sinful lives invited British also. If this explanation is not proper then the vague explanatory powers of the Karma hypothesis are very limited and it has no general basis. The Karma hypothesis is standing on speculative foundations – just imaginative and exploitative guesswork. It is simply moronic, atrocious and worthless. Shifting the cause from unknown A to known B! The unknown A causes known B! A great logical turn related to ultra rationality! I think both A and B should be known but I have such a thick brain.

One point is not clear in Karma Hypothesis. Who performs the deeds? Surely, an individual performs the deeds. Does the body or soul perform them? The deeds are performed either by the body or by soul. Let us consider the case where the deeds are performed by the body. Here the body should be punished for the deeds performed by it in the past life. The body in each birth is new; it is unrelated to previous birth. Both the bodies are separated by time. In such a situation the body is punished for the crimes committed by a different body. Thus, the present body has not committed the crimes it is being punished for. The previous life's crimes were committed by an already extinct body. Thus, the divine punishment which depends on the hypothesis of Karma is wrong. You cannot punish an entity for the crimes it never committed but you can if you are a high caste Hindu in the unofficial India. Forget about the crimes the new body has yet to produce any Karmas.

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

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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. The Gita implies that 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 - NOTE. It cannot be burnt, cut or killed - it is said in Gita. It is immune to everything, including pain and pleasure. So punishing soul is really no punishment. In fact it is the body which gets punished and which never committed the past deeds; it could not. In other words, the body gets punished without committing any crimes. Thus, the divine justice system enshrined in the Karma hypothesis does not really punish the really real guilty. It gets its victims in the Varna system, in its bottom and below. Do I see beaming and twinkling eyes with proud faces having smug smiles? These are the high caste smiles for being victorious forever! This righteous way of life should not make you sad. It should not drench your heart in tears. Merely illusion! Why bother?

The Karma hypothesis is a disconnecting concept devised to absolve the lawmakers, the Brahmans, of their sins. If it holds well, which it is supposed to, then it absolves the Brahmans of their crimes and the atrocities that have been committed under their eternal and sacred guidance. It also absolves them of the crime of practicing the 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 karmas; the life does not matter and the soul does. The Karma hypothesis also grandly fails in case of genocide of the Jews in the Second World War. If it is not applicable there then it does not have general applicability; we know it already; – it has no legs to stand on. It is a grand lie.

However, we have to see that why the Moksha is necessary? Basic to Hindu society are the scriptures, the crippling caste system, the concept of soul, the Absolute God, Karma hypothesis and the

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Hindu pantheon. An eternal cycle of birth and death, and birth and death, and rebirth and rebirth, goes on and on and on, in this world. The indestructible soul keeps on moving from one body to another with each rebirth. From where this soul has come, nobody knows! In between two births, it keeps on wondering in the universe. The problem is created by the sufferings in this physical world. Anybody who enters this world has to suffer from body and mental pains. The world is overflowing with pain and sorrow. These are different pains and sorrows: the pain of not having enough to eat, the worry of safety to body, the pain of losing one's relatives and near and dear ones, the pain of sickness, the pain of wound, the accidents, the death etc. And the final pain is the pain and fear of one's own death. It is a never-ending chain of pains and sorrows. It is a chain because a soul sleepwalks through a chain of lives, one after another. Everybody wants to live a painless, sorrow less, comfortable and happy life. Everybody is bound by the non-existing Karmas so he has to suffer from his share of sorrow and pain. Secondly, if everybody tried to find out the solution to his sufferings in the present life then this would result in corruption of Dharma. The social order or Varna Dharma would break down. Now we have a situation in which a man is in search of peace; or he is in search of ways of getting rid of all his sufferings and sorrows. It is quite reasonable also. The hypothesis of Karma implies that a man would never get peace in his lifetime; may be except the high caste people. Therefore, the only way to get rid of pain is to get out of the cycle of birth and rebirth. Oh, this is the solution! The final death!!! Another rebirth means another round of sorrows and pains. If rebirth could be avoided then all the pains and sorrows would be avoided. This is possible only when the soul loses its existence altogether making any rebirth impossible. The only way to a peaceful existence is to have no existence at all - it should be plain clear - die, die, die and die the final death – dodge the pains and sorrows by dying finally and forever – so simple. According to Hindu spiritual thought a soul can lose its existence only by merging with the Absolute or Nirguna Bruhm. To a lay Hindu, it is a permanent visit to the Vaikunthdham. Vaikunthdham is the abode of Lord Vishnu who represents Bruhm in this world. It is a one-way ticket. This unification of soul with Bruhm is called Moksha or salvation. After this unification, the soul leaves the painful cycle of birth and

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rebirth, and lives (?) eternally in the eternal bliss in Bruhm or Bruhmlok. Or one may say it merges with Nirgun Bruhm. The mere thought that his soul would keep on wondering in this painful world forever can be quite unsettling to a devout Hindu; then he has to have the aim of achieving the Moksha. It is a thoughtful way of keeping a Hindu man bound with his Varna Dharma and still be hopeful of ungainable gains! Wonderful, is it not? Any hope is graciously deferred to next life or to the unseen future of somebody else. Yes, it is some other body with hardly any clue of identification with the previous one! It is foolish for nonbelievers, and, a stroke of genius for its profound proponents. It should not smack of any fraud to anybody; everything comes from the sacred sources; anyway, some evil minds harbor this thought and smell a gigantic fraud spanning only a few thousand years. Why bother over small things? In the Hindu scriptures, everybody is asked to follow properly his Varna Dharma to improve his next birth; there is always hope but shifted to next unknown birth. This hope is actually never available to anybody; this is the real mirage and illusion in the Hindu society. It is the result of fantastic thinking of meditating Vedantic seers. Some seers! And there is no fraud.

Conjuring up the vision of attaining illusionary Moksha helps Dharma a lot. It is brought within everybody's expectations and then is denied because it is beyond this lifetime. The pure Varnas do not have to pay for the costly Moksha – only the low castes have to pay through their labor and a sacrifice of their desires. The belief in Moksha replaces the absconding reason. The desire to attain Moksha and/or improve next life fools all the people by replacing reason.

There are three specific ways prescribed to attain the Moksha: the Gyan Marg, the Karma Marg and the Bhakti Marg.

In the 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 the Bruhm Gyanis who can only belong to three threaded Varnas. The Shudras are not eligible for achieving the Moksha in this way.

In the Karma Marg (or the path of action) which is propagated in the world renowned Gita, a man can achieve the

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Moksha by following the Karma related to his Varna which is known there as Swa-Dharma. Here all the Varnas are eligible for achieving the Moksha provided they follow the Swa-Dharma. The Untouchables are not included. Here somebody is allowed the Moksha because following the Swa-Varna-Dharma-Karma is following the divinely ordained order of society. He is following the path shown by divinity. Therefore, anybody following God's ordained social order is helping God in his work. This makes him eligible to attain the Moksha. However, a Shudra who is desirous of raising his standard of living by leaving his Varna Dharma and following Dharma of higher Varna is not eligible for the illusionary Moksha. For example, a potter cannot achieve Moksha by studying the Vedas; only a Brahman can achieve Moksha by studying the Vedas. All the Shudras have to stick to their heredity professions if they want to achieve the Moksha. For any Shudra the Karma Marg is Seva (service or servitude) Marg. Or for these servants the Karma-yoga is Seva-Yoga or Servility-Yoga or Servant-Yoga. The Gita exhorts a man to perform his caste duties without caring about its consequences; one should follow his swa-Dharma (own duty meaning the caste duty) even if it is inimical to his interests. It is a blatant casteism in a spiritual disguise. But Gita is esteemed! Who can argue with that?

In the Bhakti Marg or the path of devotion a devotee is eligible to attain the 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 or caste than his. Following a low caste Guru is totally adharmic subordination that goes contrary to the Varna Dharma. The 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 spread of spirituality! The lower castes are asked to wait for change in their next lives until then they should virtuously perform their swa-Dharma (caste-function). Nothing was given in this life. Only poverty, hunger, sufferings and

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insults were given in this life! You could be careless. May be you couldn't! There must be some more ways to make permanent fools out of people. Nothing in this life and everybody is convinced! Beats my little brain.

In the 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 the different names. Or there is only one Absolute called by many names by knowledgeable men. However, the same Absolute created a born servant-hood 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 the Gods. According to the scriptures of the Hindu society the Varnas were created by 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 lawmakers with scant regard to any kind of God. Anyway, we know that, already. 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 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. It still does not have any explanatory and predictive powers. The exact nature of God is not told, neither the exact way of functioning of God. Why? It was simply because the Rig Vedic people themselves did not know it. They always talked about the things, which they themselves did not understand. The vagueness prevails. And, it is the greatest knowledge in the world, according to some people who are exploding with inner joy!!!

The Karmas, which cannot be found, are the basis of punishment. Beats my little brain - few things cannot get into my thick head. What kinds of karmas, a newborn Untouchable child has performed, to get an insulted status right at the time of birth?

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Further, the Vedas are certainly fallible since they contain imperfect knowledge as evident in the Purusha Sukta. The divinity certainly cannot be said to possess the imperfect knowledge. Therefore, the Rig Veda along with the Purusha Sukta has to be a handiwork of mortal men; which it is; it is totally artificial and there is nothing divine about it along with other three Vedas. Certainly, there is no reason to believe the fantasy of Purusha Sukta. The imagination of Rig Vedic people was fertile but it was that only - fertile, vaguely fertile.

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 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 Word (?) is taken as proof. The hypothesis of Karma is also without any substance. It has not passed any tests. No propagator of this hypothesis has been able to produce any evidences in favor of rebirths 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. Therefore, one has to believe in the existence of evidences or proofs that nobody has been able to found or establish for thousands of years. They are supposed to be beyond verification – for the benefit of the Brahmans. All proofs are missing for thousands of years. One has to take the words of the Vedas, the Rishis and the spiritualists as proofs for the existence of anything they say. In other words, one has to make a complete fool of him in order to appear sensible in the Hindu society. It is a normal occurrence. Nothing to worry about!

The unification of soul with God, which is supposed to be the ultimate aim of the Santana Dharma, allows for the shifting of dreams and desires to the next world, which leaves no room for the aspirations of the lower strata. The life in this life be damned! The ambition of Moksha is so high that it can only be achieved in the next world that actually means never, but this "never" is not worth bothering about. Or is it? The present world is redundant; it is all

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Maya (illusion), which benefits only the high castes. The Maya is structured to suit the elites of Hindu society. The closed gates and high walls with spiritual foundation, are crippling; the crippled lower strata people live in a land of insults and poverty beyond these gates and walls. The general population need not be ambitious in this life. The real world and its wealth could be left to twiceborn. The born servile servants can go around doing the extremely important job of serving the people born to rule. The born to be dishonored can go around respecting the people born to be honored. And blah, blah.

The pure people give all the lectures about the sanctity of the scriptures because they are devoted to them. These sermons have the powers to kill the dreams of lower strata. Their power should not be undermined. The life in this life be damned! Get ready the leftovers - here come the low caste people!

Then the pure and pious handle the Dharma deftly and take no chances with the shackled destiny of the heathen born. All the loose ends are closed. The eternally ruined lives are the sacred achievements of the scriptures. Be thankful to their creators.

And, Karma hypothesis justifies the sufferings of lower strata. The Karma hypothesis is amazing. The exploiters stand exalted. Be worried not about it.

You should not make premature conclusion about the concepts developed over 2500 years. Two thousand five hundred years is a small Period.

Is it not? You should give it some more time; perhaps you should give it 250000 years. That is cool! Give them 250000 more years to exploit.

The sense should abdicate to make any sense of spirituality. Your logic should cede graciously. Or, better, if you ditch it right away! The logic lurches and finds itself without support. Hardly matters.

Wait a minute what is going on here. A false tirade against the pure people! We, the pure people, tell you that all this is a grand lie. Some vitiating minds are poisoning the mind of lower strata people. Stop that herewith.

What? You want proof of the Karma hypothesis? You doubt the word of supremely pure and pious people whose entire philosophy is founded on illusions? No absurdity please, the pure and

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pious people cannot be absurd by any definition. So kill any such thoughts if you are harboring them. You doubt the words of the sacred scriptures! Only the impure people with impure thoughts can doubt the sacred scriptures! Where is sacredness? Where is purity? Sure, you are going to suffer in hell in boiling oil. Your fireproof soul will burn in it! Then you will feel the pain of the stings of Dharma. You will be deprived of your body on this earth and only your lamentable, unpunishable and insufferable soul will be punished in the hell. But for the time being few broken bones would do. Anyway, the closed gates policy is most suitable for you, which cripples you and keeps you in an enforced penury. You should be lucky to be born in such a dharmic society that condemns you from birth to death. Have you seen such a perfectly insulted eternal life of the impure people? No. You have not seen such a perfection but you have experienced it yourself, you heathen people in Hindu society. From this end to that end, it is perfect; nothing is left out! No part of your life is left that is not insulted. Perfection man! It is called the perfection! What do you know? You people with empty bellies!

The wretched people with wretched karmas dare to question the pure people! They are trying to destroy our delightful and pitiful disposition. You are born as impure people because of your bad karmas, and you should be servile; you should serve the sacred Dharma created by us! There is no other task for you!

The uncouth and impure people are lying about falsity of Karma but nothing in this world is truer than the infallible Law of Karma. The people with wisdom know it. And our Rishis and sages knew it. Any finger pointing at out wise people and Rishis would be broken into pieces by direct or indirect means. You see, any opportunity going toward chamaarwada is butchered with bonafide intentions. You should understand that. Our bonafides should not be doubted about. Whatever goes against our pious Rishis is false. Away with it. Out with it. And we are at peace with ourselves. Do we mind it? Not, at all.

These devious, lowly and impure people want to defame such a benign Dharma! Such an aDharmic and devious desire is beyond understanding. Accusing people without a cause is a nefarious vice imbibed in them. But you see, higher caste people are not hurt by this; they have solid accumulation of the virtuous karmas

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to enjoy their comforts; anyway, we would settle the score with the lowly impure people. Just let a chance come.

The bad karmas of impure people cause wretched destinies for them, we the pure people, are only instruments. It is only divinity playing its role; we have nothing to do with it. We, the pure people, were born with pure intentions only. These always reside in our crystal clear conscience and hearts. Always means always; you fool. And how do we get sleep? Oh, we sleep well and soundly! Why do you ask this question?

The impure people do the impure work; the question remains unanswered. They live the hellish life depending on the unfound, unidentifiable and untraceable Karmas, which is actually a boon for the low caste people as it provides them the opportunity to improve their next life by humbly serving the pure people and improve. They can improve next life by following swa-dharma, virtuously and righteously. The crippling structure of society has nothing to do with it. By virtuously serving pure people, the impure people reduce their untraceable wretched karmas and improve their unknown next life. That means there is nothing for them in this life. No cause of worry should it be; only a source of unseen happiness, it is! Nice spiritual arguments flow from pure people! How involuntary pure people do it in the name of faulty but the untraceable Karmas! Nothing personal about it! Period.

We, the pure people, are offended and insulted when the Karma hypothesis is applied to the success of the Muslim rulers and the British colonizers. Every pore of our body is offended and the face burns along with the eyes. The black clouds gather. The minds fume. And you should talk about patriotism not about the Karma hypothesis here. No, no it is not a diversion; it is only a proper thing in its proper place as it suits us. You unpatriotic, uncouth and condemned people, we have every right to exploit to you. We swear by the Gita that you should follow your swa-Dharma. Long live the patriotism of upper castes. The patriotism always presents itself as a strong defense whenever the welfare of low castes raises its deserving face. See, the welfare of low caste divides the nation; it cuts into the share of upper cases creating tension between low and upper castes. The veil of patriotism hides the true intentions of the upper castes that the low castes should get only leftovers.

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Anyway, the crookedness is conspicuous by its absence. It is not meant to be there and it is not. And the same goes for slyness. Plain and simple. And, altruism, the absence of crookedness and the lack of deception are very clear and only a person with developed conscience can sense them here. By logic, the purity can only be altruistic without a whimper of crookedness. This altruistic purity cannot be responsible for wretched destinies of the low caste people. Only their wretched hypothetical karmas are responsible for all this. Got it?

The Varna system and the Law of Karma can be put together as discrimination via incrimination; the Law of Karma incriminates and the Varna system discriminates. The solid ground, stable system, eternal crippling exploitation and the eternal miseries – everything is perfectly all right.

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5. VARNA EXPLOITATION

Dharma is the righteous way so simply it should not contain exploitation. It should not have had the people eating the grain cleaned out of cow dung. No exploitation is what the defenders of Varna system claim. The spiritual Hindus regard the modern civilization as a Western civilization rooted in the materialism without acknowledging the eternal exploitation that is taking place in their backyard. The modern materialism with its pursuit of maximum profit is regarded as dehumanizing by the spiritual Hindus. A dehumanization in which the fellow human beings are seen as instruments of furthering one's own material interests. The spiritualism is supposed to be superior to materialism with its emphasis on the spiritual side, and, thus implying the inherent absence of exploitation. Is it so? Hindu society with its spiritual development is supposed to be superior to the dehumanizing materialism of the West. In fact, many defenders of the Varna Dharma regard the West, and, its modern ideas of equality and liberty as contaminating source, which have actually polluted this grand, ancient, sacred, pure, innocent, spiritual, and divinely ordained civilization. Whatever these people say, it is clear from the experience of Untouchables that even the modern ideas from the West were unable to reign in the vicious animals of Varna Dharma and untouchability.

However, Hindu society is supposed to be highly spiritual and non-exploitative. Who said that? Hindu thinkers say that amassing so much wealth is not good for society. It also alienates a man from God. Finding God should be his true goal. All money chasers are chasing Maya. The Maya whose social and material parts are stretched to benefit a few. All upper caste people cling to Maya as if though it was created for them only; others are left with the leftovers only. A materialist man deviates from his true path. In addition, such a man is also exploitative or indulges in anti-human practices; you see it turns him into an adharmic person.

All the materialistic things were in the hands of upper castes. It is an undeniable proof of their pure and sacred spirituality, and, a concrete belief in the Maya hypothesis. With control over people's lives and with the benefits of cozy caste comforts - they are, indeed,

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spiritual! Any doubts please? Moreover, spiritually the destinies are connected with past lives' Karmas!

Exploitation is a demeaning word for the higher Varna people. Do not insult them by using these kinds of words unless you want to serve a term in hell or to born in next life as the Untouchables or the dogs or the vermin etc. Never been sure which one is better! But definitely you will not be born as the cow - the sacred animal. Do not be heretic and please bow to this sacred animal.

Maximization of profit leads to the neglect of the spiritual side and values, so one says. In maximization of profit, a man forgets his fellow human beings and maximizes the profit at others' cost, so one continues. Actually, the eternal Hindu society is eternally far ahead; the Western materialistic snail cannot compete with it; the Hindu society arrogantly, unapologetically and permanently exploits human (subhuman?) beings in a disparaging way; one is interrupted. The higher Varnas maximize their gains at the cost of the Shudras and the Untouchables who form the majority. Remember, the cow dung grain! The cruel, inhuman and eternal exploitation of Shudras and Untouchables is a standing feature of the Hindu society. They do it on eternal basis and in disparaging ways. Anything below insulting permanent exploitation is below their dignity. It is Varna exploitation which is far complicated than the feudal exploitation. They have a mixed standing army of forever servants on heredity basis. Hindu society never runs short of manual and still lower level servants since these servants come on heredity basis. 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 Dharma and the higher Varnas without really getting anything in return. I was under the impression that where there are duties there are rights and zero rights imply zero duties! How foolish of me! I will never understand Dharma as it is supposed to be understood - by ditching the reasoning. A human life is supposed to be a boon in itself. Yes, an insulted and subjugated life of enforced penury, empty bellies, and in dumps! Yes, unforgettably, a lot humane about it. Hardly a tinge of remorse in the high castes! Normal, everything is normal.

The exploitation in the Hindu society can be called the Varna exploitation. It has all kinds of exploitations. For religious

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exploitation, born Brahmans are there. For labor exploitation, born Brahmans, born Kshatriya and born Vaisyas are there. For insulting lower Varnas, the upper Varnas are there. For social exploitation, all the upper three Varnas are there. The same goes for sexual exploitation. For the eternal exploitation, birth-attached Varnas and birth-attached castes are there. There is no running away from exploitation for the low castes. The feudal exploitation does not include so many perspectives so it would be incorrect to term caste/Varna exploitation as feudal exploitation. The term feudal exploitation, simply, does not cover all the angles of exploitation. Nothing is excluded in caste exploitation except the slavery that was not allowed since the polluting Untouchables and the impure Shudras could not enter the houses of pure upper castes. The ancient slavery could not be firmly established as the purity moved in slowly but with full intensity in the pure houses. It pushed the impure slaves out of existence. Slavery was not needed as an alternative was available to Hindu elites in the form of a socially captive and caged servile army of servants residing within village limits and always at their command. These crippled sections could have no wish of their own. They could any time be summoned to perform the unpaid labor at the discretion of higher castes. And killing and lynching can still be seen in India - the spiritual land. The crippling of a large section of society made the slavery unnecessary. The crippled section could do all the work which the slaves were supposed to do.

The separation of rewards of this life from efforts of this life through the Karma hypothesis led to the justification of permanent exploitation. The Karma hypothesis shifts the causation onto the victims and their previous lives thus absolving the current oppressors. Disconnecting - purely disconnecting! Incriminating – purely incriminating. Without proof – totally without proof. This makes oppressors happy. They sleep nicely with a clear ankle deep conscience. They sing the paeans of the Karma hypothesis - rightly so. This enabled the Brahmans to righteously enjoy the power and comforts at the expense of the impure Shudras and the polluting Untouchables. This privilege is the inherited normal right of upper castes, disguised as function. The cruelty is all in the game. This is inherited and implicit cruelty. The Karma hypothesis successfully prevents the creation of any sympathy for the Untouchables and their

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divinely ordained wretched lives. The Untouchables do not have to do 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 disconnecting Karma hypothesis amounts to reward without work for the upper castes and punishment without crime for the lower two strata. All the Maya is created for others but not for the last two strata. They do not have any claim on benefits of the Maya - such rascals they are!

However, the fertile imagination that shifts the rewards to next unknown life is a social reality in Hindu society. It has played havoc with the lives of uncountable people all through the Indian history. In fact, this is a clear disconnection of rewards from the deeds that benefits the higher Varnas. The results are due to one's free actions - there is no such occurrence in Hindu society because there is no free action!

A learned Brahman is a man who can endlessly argue about the existence of non-existence (Bruhm) and the non-existence of existence (the world), and the unification of soul with the Bruhm, and also about the Karma hypothesis. Through such an evolved process, he acquires the spiritual knowledge sitting at the feet of his guru. The greatest achievement here is the unification of non-existent (soul) with the non-existent (Bruhm). Society be damned. If society is not bothered about itself then it is not their worry. Their worry is only maintaining their dharmic status that brings them all kinds of material and carnal benefits. In the latter context, the institution of Devdasi should be kept in mind. The Devdasis were the maid servants of gods in many temples and were available for the carnal pleasures of the unworldly priestly castes. Great renunciation!

This spiritual development strengthens their underlying social base where everybody acknowledges their superior and divine knowledge about the world and divinity. The more was their spiritual authority the more was their control over society and its resources. And the victims are perpetually held responsible for the oppression.

The absence of Untouchables in the controlling groups is also explained in the terms of Karma hypothesis - very spiritual. And yet the exploitation is completely and proudly disowned. Exploitation? What exploitation? You should not expect exploitation from such pious and devout Hindu high castes. After all, they are

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high castes with the highest-level ethics and the highest-level morals. Who can question them?

Anyway, such a spiritual community required a full community of born servants (the Shudras) to serve it. The Shudras are supposed to serve the Brahmans because of their fault of being born in an impure and powerless sinful Varna that is due to the faulty accumulated Karmas of their past lives. Nice logic! The Shudras and the Untouchables are supposed to provide them with the same material comforts in which they are not supposed to be interested in! That is the irony of ironies! But it just goes on as integral part of the traditional India. The Hindu spirituality imbibes in itself the crass materialism. They needed all the land grants in the world for such otherworldly purposes. They needed all the plum administrative and judicial jobs to maintain their spiritual needs. The otherworldliness circulates around them and raises them to a higher material and spiritual level, from where they can watch people committing atrocities on their behalf without sharing a bit of responsibility. It is all for the cause of Dharma. They sleep nicely with a clear conscience. They had to had all the top jobs with the kings and in the state administration. They have to be their guides. And the superiors guide the inferiors. Is it not? You see how astoundingly unworldly it is to be the guides of kings, to have all the land grants and to enjoy the facility of Niyoga! You, with your contaminated thinking, would never get it! Niyoga is included in the righteous way of life, you dimwit. They were provided all these jobs and facilities through the non-materialistic scriptures. The humbleness never left them. It stuck to them like a leach. The king who upholds Dharma has to be secondary to them. Like all true materialists, they did not believe in the jobs giving them a pittance - state administration is all they want. These poor unworldly and spiritual fellows! All the powerful jobs were reserved for them. Like all coward and manipulative power hungry people they wanted indirect power through Dharma and kings, and through transfer of wealth, and of course through building up of traditions in their favor. And after all this, they piously maintain their unquestionable and unimpeachable spirituality and otherworldliness. They have never been answerable in Hindu society. They never will be. Calling them materialists would be a gross insult to materialism. Anyway, they are known for these kinds of

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remarkable feats where they convert everything useful to them into some kind of spiritual requirement. The impure sinful (the sin of being born in sinful Varna) lower strata did not have the right to question these pure, pious, truthful, unimpeachable, simple and spiritual people! Anyway, nobody had any such right. Why bother? And statecraft and social craft was their Varna function, monopoly.

These heredity priests were unlike in any other civilization; they knew and practiced the statecraft and social craft; these skills are also among the reasons behind the longevity of Varna and caste system.

These ancient lawmakers and their progenies through their birth-attached right would not hesitate in classifying their land and power jobs as essential requirements to preserve Dharma, and hence spiritual. It is the real magic; everything is fair under the cover of Dharma and Varna-functions. And mutilating justice is also spiritual because it helps in upholding Dharma. Thus, all the material things can be endowed with spirituality if they help in the maintenance of divinely ordained Dharma. The crime committed by a Brahman is not a crime, so no punishment. But the same crime committed by a Shudra is a ghastly crime. It is just incidental that they are forced to use all these rules in the cause of Dharma which in turn causes subjugation. This combination of spirituality, materialism and indirect internal political power (by being the guides of the kings) was hard to beat. The last two strata bore the brunt of it. Probably they toiled very hard in their previous lives to accumulate suitable Karmas for their present wretched conditions. And these ignoble fools do not know their past Karmas! And they do not know that their humiliations, miseries, suffering and pains can be wrenched, if required; their experience should tell them all. And no tinge of guilt ever runs across their minds, faces or hearts; they are pure people after all.

The materialism, which is much hated now, was much endearing to the Brahmans, as evident in the land grants to them, in their control over the sacred, the money guzzling temples, the power they yielded in society and in the existence of caged groups of the born servants to serve them indirectly. Many temples had become richer than the richest Vaisya and even the small kings. At the same time, they accuse the Western society of being materialistic? The

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spiritual Brahmans were as near to crass materialism as a scavenger is near to a stinking garbage dump.

One of the underlying assumptions behind criticism of Western (modern West) exploitative materialism is that they (higher Varnas) give a very humanistic treatment to the Shudras and the Untouchables. However, it was a case of permanent inhuman exploitation for the lowest two strata. The masters of hatred could not do anything else. How much maximally humanistic they can be toward people whom they hate and despise? The answer is near to Nullity. The graph of their magnanimity moves in southward direction from that point onwards, and progresses further down without break, until the sustenance level of the Shudras and the Untouchables is reached. These people were forced sometimes to eat the grain cleaned out of cow dung and bread made out of fodder. All this for the purpose of avoiding aDharma! Totally sublime, totally transcendental! See, the Hindu culture is depthless. The charge of cruelty and inhumanity are totally ridiculous.

The higher Varnas follow the policy of live and let die, and, lower two strata follow the policy of sleep and let sleep. It is a simple world! Is it not? Sleep, sleep, sleep and sleep man! It suits some people.

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6. THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

In the Hindu society, there is a caste effect. Every aspect of the Hindu society is full of caste effect. The caste effect is there in any sphere: social, educational, economical, political, marital or religious. A caste effect is the effect that a caste has on the individuals belonging to it. The caste effect is different for all the castes. To some caste effect is beneficial and to some it is harmful. However, in the absence of any viable alternative the lower castes cling to it. Caste is beneficial to Brahmans and harmful to Shudras. In the case of Untouchables, it is totally crippling and devastating.

The caste effect may be beneficial for examples in the case of upper castes and harmful in the case of lower castes. The outsiders may not see it apparently but if they study the disparities, the segregation and the disparaging ways of high caste Hindus and also the fact the certain people are not found in some places where as they abound in other places, then they would notice it. It is all due to voluntary actions of different castes. These voluntary actions also produce the caste effect taking the cues from Dharma Shashtras which have built the traditions. The Untouchables are stopped from drawing the water from the village well, and this is a caste effect. The Brahmans are respected everywhere - that is a caste effect. One is harmful and other is beneficial.

There are thousands of Jatis/Castes so there are thousands of caste effects. The overall function of caste effect for each caste is the same; it is to keeps each caste in its place. The main result of the caste effect is to keep individuals in the respective born-places, which mean keeping an entire caste in its place; and when it is done for every caste, then the whole caste system is righteously aligned with the divinely ordained order; and that is the Dharma. The harmony, then, prevails.

A man has to follow a particular profession. He has to marry in a particular group of people. He has to dine with a particular group of people. He has to refuse to follow any other occupation. He has to refuse to marry outside particular people. He has to refuse to dine with particular people. He has to refuse to teach others his

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occupational skills. He has to hate certain group of people. He has to respect certain group of people. He has to fear certain group of people. He has to show deference to certain group of people. He has to boycott certain group of people. He has to go out of his way to please certain group of people. And …, so on. All these are caste effects and there are many more. Certain people may have done nothing to earn or deserve this kind of reaction from him. Nobody has done anything to be despised; nobody has done anything to be hated. Nobody has earned respect or deference. In unofficial India - these are birth-attached. There are caste merits and caste demerits; there are no earned merits and no actualized demerits.

The caste effect does not depend on the deeds or actions of any individual; it depends on his birth-attached caste or Varna. It is the caste that determines the course of action for its members; the members do not have much say on this. The caste or Varna does not depend upon the deeds or actions of any individual. Anyway, the caste is a group entity not individual. Any individual action is not taken into consideration. It does not matter much because any individual action is mandatory caste bound. It has to be in accordance with the caste system; the caste effect ensures it. Any individual course of action follows from his caste. We know that the caste gives one a well defined standing and place in society with minor deviations in practice. The characteristics of an individual are simply derived from his caste. Any stark positive difference between the characteristics assigned and the actual, is seen with unbelieving wide and surprised eyes. The high caste eyes bulge out of sockets whenever such a difference is seen. The Sanatana Dharma did not create a society where the fruits depend upon the deeds or the results depend upon the actions - note. The fruits are bestowed by the caste institution on the high castes. There is no such feature as earned merit in Hindu society but only caste-bestowed merit or caste-imposed demerit. This is the traditional India, which unabashedly impinges upon modern India. Its foot prints, some clear, some hidden, can be found all over modern India. So much so that at times the modern India seemed to lose its existence at all. Abhorrence prevails. All the actions of lower castes are thwarted by the caste effect; so there is no access to resources; the result is the blunting of the efforts of the lower strata. The efforts of lower strata go waste.

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The Hindu society is a closed sections and closed actions society. The options for individual action are a closed set. All the action courses existing in society are not available to him. The actions of an individual are enclosed by the limited functions assigned to his caste. His choice of actions is limited. Therefore, everybody is found following a particular course of action that is defined by the factors external to him. The external caste forces are very strong for him to oppose. These choicelsss actions predetermine the course of action of life of an individual depending upon his caste. This makes the mode of life as a predetermined one. No really fateful event takes place in his life so as to make any change. In this traditional society, the moment for an individual belonging to lower strata, never comes. No moment is his moment! Their life is changeless. And the snail of change is killed as many times as possible.

One might be tempted to bring the Gita into consideration. But the esteemed Gita talks about following swa-Dharma (own Dharma) which is in fact a Varna Dharma or a caste-duty (sub Varna duty); no other course of action is open to him. The Gita says that it is better to follow swa-Dharma then to follow others' Dharma; the transgression on others' Dharma is not allowed. Swa-Dharma is nothing but Jati Dharma. In fact Gita insists on casteism. No other course of action is open to an individual other than his swa-Dharma or caste duty. Therefore again it is a closed set of actions which an individual has to follow. There is a specified set of actions open to his caste. Different castes have different sets of actions open to them.

Another way to counter is to bring Karma Hypothesis into consideration. Again the situation remains the same. The disconnecting Karma hypothesis talks about the accumulated actions of all the past lives. And these are, obviously, cannot be performed again; so these are not open to him- obviously. The actions of this life can only be caste-bound or Dharma would be corrupted. This cannot be allowed. The greatest Dharma is the Jati-Dharma or caste-Dharma; that is to be taken into account. Therefore, the actions or deeds of an individual which can change his life are not available to him; so everything is predetermined or predestined or static. Therefore, the deeds do not determine his present position. He does not determine the set of actions available to him; this determination is beyond him. His birth-attached position determined the set of

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actions open to him. As an individual, he is quite useless. He remains where he is. He has no choice over the actions that he can perform.

The caste effect follows from the functions assigned to each Varna or caste. There are certain dos and don'ts. All the castes follow them and produce the caste effect. In the traditional Hindu system, an individual is a derivation of his caste. He and his caste are the same. All the attributes applicable to his caste are applicable to him. The fingers of a hand are unequal so the castes must be unequal; so goes the argument. But the members of a caste are treated as equal. How come? The principle of inequality is not applicable to individuals only to groups! The people in a given caste must be different as no two individuals are the same. Any direct comparison of individuals across the castes is disallowed; any comparison cannot take place without bringing in the caste. The individuals are equals within the group but unequal across the groups. Even within caste or sub-caste seniority matters and provides a leading edge advantage to people with wisdom and experience which can only be gained through time.

In caste system, the sub-caste is the strongest binding force. The caste comes next and then comes the Varna. In Shudra Varna, the binding forces due to Varna are extremely weak - almost non-existing. The fifth group binding forces are also very weak. The strongest binding force due to Varna exists in the higher three Varnas. The caste system heaps and heaps tonnes of insults on the fourth and the fifth stratum. It cripples them forever with no chance. It condemns them to a hellish life.

When a high caste man moves in Hindu society, he receives respect and valuable opportunities without any effort at all - these are the cozy comforts of belonging to high castes at no cost. On the other hand, when a low caste moves in society he faces contempt and closed opportunities. This is the caste effect. The caste effect keeps any low caste as low caste and any upper caste as upper caste. When an unknown man enters a group and reveals his caste, then various expressions move across the faces of people. The expression may be full of awe or contempt. There may be happiness or pangs of pain. Hindu society is a rather secretive society. All the castes keep their secrets to themselves (keep their gates closed) and guard them zealously and especially the castes belonging to higher three Varnas.

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The caste effect closes the gates of society for the Untouchables and also for the Shudras; for them the gates to valuable opportunities are closed. Therefore, one may say the gates are opened or closed depending on one's caste. This makes caste an extremely important factor because it means that its harmful effect would stop any valuable opportunities from reaching the lower strata.

The caste effect keeps the Untouchable outside society. The outcaste remains outcaste for unknown reasons. Wherever the Untouchables go, they face the closed gates. Their ineligible caste does not act as a key to these closed gates. The gates to reading scripture were closed by the Brahmans through the edict that the molten lead should be put into the ears of any Shudra or Untouchable if he happens to hear the words of the sacred Vedas. Nothing barbarian at all! When he cannot listen to Sanskrit than the question of reading and studying it does not arise. These gates are closed for anybody except the Brahmans. The gates of warriors are closed, by not allowing him to use the weapons. His entry is closed in the merchant market by not allowing him to buy a shop if he can. The rates of interest charged to him are exorbitant; he cannot pay the interest let alone the loan. All helping hands draw back suddenly the moment they know that they are dealing with an Untouchable. That is the caste effect. It is not due to individual but because of his caste. The individual may be a genius but futile and useless.

The caste is the key to a respected life with means, and it is also an enforced route to a forever insulted life full of penury. If you just do not have the correct caste or in other words the key, you may be indirectly forced through the unwanted gates. The good keys fit the good gates and bad keys fit the bad gates.

The Jatis in the caste structure are endogamous groups following a given heredity occupation and have a given position in the social structure. Each caste is a further segmented group of Varna under latter's dominating philosophy. Each Jati is included in a given Varna. Each Jati exists in a given Varna; it cannot exist in two Varnas at the same time. Therefore, it is a sub part of Varna. The individuals belonging to different Jatis cannot intermarry. The individuals belonging to different Varnas, also, cannot marry. The Varnas are graded according to purity, the basis for which is provided in the scriptures – that is the paradigm of immutable purity. All the

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particular Jatis belonging to a given Varna may also be ranked according to hierarchy depending upon the gradation of its specialized occupation. Even the people outside the Varna system, the Untouchables have their own Jatis which are also ranked according to relative purity of their occupations. The Varna system is, in fact, an all encompassing social, political and economic system which divides all the powers among different Jatis on the basis of a paradigm of immutable purity. This allocation of power was decided by the pious, humble and poor (?) lawmakers adept in statecraft. Their humbleness is legendry – completely unrivalled – no disparaging arrogance touches them. The endogamous nature itself indicates that a Jati is acquired by birth and so is its related Varna. Nobody can choose his caste or Varna because one cannot choose his parents. His all social, religious, political and economic rights, and obligations, follow from his Jati. He or anybody else has no control over them. The privileges/disabilities have been decided for an individual forever before the time of his birth. If one is born in a low Jati then he is destined to live a low-level ruined life forever bereft of any freedom or liberty or benefit available to upper castes. There is no choice for him. It is all predestined. Hardly surprising! Eternal comforts for eternal born-elites! Eternal insults and eternal empty bellies for eternally born-impure Untouchables. Humanity can be found weeping in ditches, forever.

Let us recall that the functions in Hindu society were defined on Varna basis; Varna is a group of people or a group entity. Or rather the highest Varna, with paranormal powers, decided it for others. The functions were not assigned to individuals but to the heredity groups. The functions of Brahmans were to study and teach scriptures and help the Kshatriyas in upholding Dharma. It is normally not emphasized that they were the lawmakers and state administrators also. Such a move would undermine their legendry image of great renunciators. All the laws were made by them in the name of God but for their own benefit. The functions of Kshatriyas were to rule the land, protect the people (varna wise) and uphold the divinely ordained Dharma. The functions of the Vaisyas were trading, cattle rearing and being engaged in agriculture. The function of Shudras was to serve higher three Varnas without accumulating any property or assets. The Antyajas were below Shudras and without any

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Varna. The wretched Antyajas were more disabled than the Shudras and were given unclean jobs in society. They lacked the freedom to walk with their heads held up high. They lacked the freedom to walk on the roads and still lack it when it comes to the village streets - the ghastly village streets.

There are some major dos and major don'ts in the Hindu society: a man can marry within only his caste; he can follow only his caste occupation; he can teach his occupational skills only to his sons or boys from his caste; he has to accord a certain respect to higher castes and dominate over lower castes; he should hate the lower castes and the Untouchable; he should socialize or dine with own caste people only. The don'ts are opposites to dos: a man cannot marry outside his birth group; he cannot follow the occupations of other castes; he cannot learn the occupations of other castes; he cannot show disrespect to higher castes and respect to lower castes; he should not socialize or dine with other castes; he should not love the lower caste and should not stop hating the Untouchables. Any deviations from the above are punishable by the ghastly caste Panchayats and the authorities that be - there is no scope for free will - it is a predetermined system. If the authorities that be, are not Hindus, then, they do not interfere in the internal matters of the Hindus. All the dos are related to his own caste and all the don'ts are related to other castes.

The people belonging to higher three Varnas are called the twice born because they have the right to undergo the thread ceremony at the time of coming of age. The fourth Varna of Shudras was not entitled to thread ceremony and hence not eligible to perform the Vedic rites. It is also called being ritually impure. It seems simple but it has devastating effects. It meant a kind of exclusion from the resources of the Vedic society. They were needed only for their labor. Similar was the fate of the fifth group also known as the Untouchables. The last two groups lived by their labor alone. For them the body was sufficient as a possession. They did not have any right to possess any property or land; the disability of not owing any land or assets was imposed on them to cripple them, successfully. Owning the land/assets/wealth was the sole prerogative of the twice born. It was a commanding privilege with sacred effects.

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We know that the Brahmans were the people who controlled the kings and society. They knew the statecraft, rituals and society very well – needs no repetition. There was no need for them to have a direct desire or indulge in any activity to own the resources. The king was not supposed to rule over the Brahmans - the supposedly divine entities. During the Vedic sacrifices they got the largest share of the animals sacrificed leaving a few bones for their patron or king. When the sacrifices were stopped then they got a significant number of cows in donation that ultimately came from the kings and the Vaisyas. When the land became important then they got the land grants from kings, and nothing valuable escapes them. When temples came into existence, they controlled them, and, also, the wealth that came in the form of donations from the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas. No temple could be started unless the idol was consecrated by the Brahman. They also controlled the land given to temples in grants. They were not answerable to anybody except Dharma that never asked them any question. How could it? It was busy putting other people in their respective places. Truly, the unworldly people are not answerable to anybody! Nobody found them losing any sleep over anything except the corruption of Dharma – the Dharma that wrenched the miseries and sufferings of low caste people. Few tears rolled inside down the throats of Untouchables; they dare not roll down outside on the sunken faces, mostly.

It cannot be said that the Brahmans were the poor people of society. Those who guided the kings, held the state administration job, made the laws, controlled the temples and got huge land grants could not be poor. They were indeed powerful; the powerful people are rarely poor; it contradicts nothing, only the legendry renunciating image. May be I am wrong and these were the poor people from low caste and not the Brahmans who benefitted from state administration jobs and kings – you never know. They wielded the power in society along with the kings. One can say that the Hindu society was characterized by more than one power center. The king could also not rule over them meaning that they were beyond any questioning. In other words, they were not responsible to anyone except the scriptures created and interpreted according to their sacred pious likings, whims and the fancies. The integrity of their likings was beyond question. In addition, they got all the administrative jobs with

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kings. The state was a virtual fief for the Kshatriyas and the Brahmans. The Brahmans enjoyed the resources of the state without doing any labor (unlike the Shudras) or without running the risk to life unlike Kshatriyas. All that caste effect!!! In later times, the risk to kings' life was also reduced to some extent by demilitarizing the general population. Only Kshatriyas and the soldiers were allowed to hold the weapons. The much-acclaimed virtue of renunciation of Brahmans is a grand facade that went deceptively and quietly behind the dense veil of scriptures. The renunciation – the magnificent piece of fiction!!! They sanctified all the transfers of wealth to them through the scriptures. Therefore, any such transfer of wealth was beyond the questioning by the heathen castes. This lasted for more than 2500 years. The current trend in this direction is weak but one never knows when it might become strong. The caste structure has survived many bad times in the history by cowardly hiding in the interior where the cowardly villages moved from here to there to avoid the invading armies and any outside contact.

The Vaisyas being mercantile caste owned all the capital in the economy though they had no say in the state and its coercive power. The Kshatriyas owned all the land. Apparently, the highest endogamous group of lawmakers Brahmans, was not supposed to own anything, but it devised various means to transfer the wealth from Kshatriyas and Vaisyas to itself; they returned nothing; not at all sly. It got the land grants from Kshatriyas and donations from Vaisyas through temples. After all, those who were guiding and handling society and the state could not be poor, barring some exceptions.

The Shudras and Antyajas had to remain without any property or any wealth all their life for the cause of the sacred Dharma. The Varna Dharma trampled on their rights, freedom and personalities - nicely. Nothing personal about it - merely caste effect - and no Dharma is involved in it. Really? All the non-labor resources of the economy and society like land and capital were eternally under the control of higher three Varnas. These were supposed to be in their hands until eternity in line with the eternal nature of the Sanatana Dharma or Hindu Dharma. The arrangements were made under the Hindu Dharma on forever or eternal basis. It takes pride in its eternity. The last two strata were eternally crippled to make them

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be eternally dependent on the higher Varna for their survival. They could not live a really independent life. Their wretched survival was impossible without total servility. The meek and the slavish obedience better be offered or else it would be extracted by the pure people through various means - direct or indirect. If one is born in a low Jati then one has to live a low-level subsistence life devoid of any self-respect. The self-respect is a privilege bestowed on the upper castes only, by the divinity. It is all caste effect. Divinity inspired! Divinity, man, divinity! It is a righteous way of life!

There is hatred, on not a small scale, in the Hindu society. Don't be aghast! The high castes do not suffer from the ability to love the low castes; they love disparagement, derision and vilification more. This may be news to you but this is merely a common situation for the low castes - to be the permanent objects of hate - reasons unknown. The modern law against untouchability is a proof of downward hatred against the Untouchables. Their liberty is confined, their lives are crippled and their psyches are thoroughly holed with social insults. The disrespect is a permanent visitor to them. A pious society, unarguably! Well, the glorious and stabilizing caste effect. It is the best society - goes without saying!

There is inherent purity/impurity in jobs, which can only be measured relative to the purity of Brahmans. The concept of sacredness has left a lot of people scarred at the bottom of the Hindu society. Behind the notion of purity and divine retribution was the power play by the highest Varna derived from their created illusionary paranormal powers. This paranormal power is on display even now when they perform Yagyas for the benefit of one political leader or another or for any cause or another. Through this, they could control the kings and society. You can add the ghastly Panchayats, caste councils, to that. The inherently pure people do the inherent pure jobs and inherently impure people do the inherent impure jobs - that is the Varna Dharma – and implemented by the village caste Panchayats.

The sub-castes or sub- Jatis also do not inter-dine or intermarry because these are divided fundamentally along the bloodlines prohibiting any kind of interaction. There are very few people among non-twiceborn able to remember the bloodlines beyond three generations. The illiterate (forced illiteracy?) people do

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not keep the genealogical data. The Shudras and the Untouchables can hardly remember the names up to their three generations. Some can do but they are exceptions.

The heredity castes are hierarchal with hereditary hierarchal occupations. Each caste is supposed to have some predefined inherent or birth-attached qualities which make it fit for its defined occupation - made by god fit for that. The heredity privileges, crippling disabilities, boycotts and mutual non-cooperation are characteristic of this system. The walls of mutual non-cooperation are non-negotiable; everything is treated as internal matter of any caste; nobody interferes. All the castes are inward looking where their support and linkages lie. The stratified unchanging caste system is a social, economic and political system. It engulfs the society like a boa constrictor. In it, killing the freedom of a lower caste man is a natural and dharmic act. It bounds him from all the sides in the interest of social stability and/or Dharma but in favor of few people. It is an elites' religion- note; it has nothing to do with general population- note. This is clearly very ancient and crystal clear elites' system. It sits on the heads of lower castes like a mountain of burden. It was developed in rigorous way over a long period of time for performing the righteous acts like eternal exploitation of lower two groups, the Shudras and the Untouchables - indeed, it is also defined as the righteous way of living. The higher castes or Jatis come together, in a righteous way, when it comes to opposing the weak Untouchables. Bravo!

With all the humiliating power at their command, the lawmakers guided the lame duck destinies of the low caste people in logical direction - straight into the dungeon deep with the help of Dharma and Karma. The pure people live and love the hate spreading traditions. Any objections please? Please, take care to define the hate and love, derive the related actions and tally them with actual situations. Absolutely, no problem with the tradition of hate emanating from the Hindu Dharma Shastras. The profundity just hangs down their faces. Their sacred logic hangs down from their profound and wise faces. There shall be no arguments about that. After all, they are the most pure and sacred. Crooked! Who said that? Straight to hell, please.

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There was no intention to permit the Untouchables to keep them clean because water and clean clothes were denied to them - this would have been an affront to Dharma. Even the doors to cleanliness are closed to them in the unofficial India.

Different methods were used to ensure the balance in society. These follow from the dos and don'ts and the related punishments which in turn follow from the Dharma Shastras. Along with the coercive powers of the state and the grisly caste Panchayats, the Varna system uses the weapons of collective non-cooperation, collective boycott and collective excommunication to perfection. The perfection matters, you silly man, learn a few things from the high caste people! These weapons are honed to perfection. These ingrained weapons kept everybody in his place and provide stability in society in favor of upper castes throughout the centuries. These allowed the caste effect to be really effective. The last three weapons are perfect in a sense that no blood is shade and the work is extracted from the lower two social groups by closing all other avenues to them – force people to starve and they will do your bidding. This was low castes' encagement in their occupational specialized areas; which yielding nothing; it was not meant to yield anything. These are totally non-violent ways of controlling society and movement of resources. If the Shudras and Untouchables choose to opt for other avenues then they face non-cooperation, boycotts and excommunication from the Rest of society, sometimes even from within their own castes. The face of rest of society would keep on changing relative to a caste. The rebellion of a caste is put down by the rest of society; quickly or slowly; directly or indirectly – methods pure dirty. Most of these rebellions die a slow natural death because they do not have any sustaining power because of meager resources. Whenever some particular lower caste person makes a move, which is not in consonance with his caste, it is opposed by the rest of people through the use of abovementioned non-violent weapons. Sometimes violent methods are also used when the social fabric is under the danger of being broken by undue aspirations of underprivileged castes. The breaking of social fabric is unjust from the point of view of upper castes. They are the grand masters of justice. Who can argue with them?

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The collective excommunication is the eternal weapon which provides this system stability along with the ghastly and dastardly Panchayats. It has been making the lives miserable for the millions of people in religious and spiritual India. India is the legendary land of thirty three million gods but not one of them powerful enough to mitigate the sufferings of the lower castes! The divine, exploitative, hereditary caste system persists in India. This persists in the face of industrialization and introduction of democratic political system. The principle of to each according to his caste operates efficiently for the benefit of Dharma.

The unreliable and disconnecting Karma hypothesis helps in explaining many contrivances in the Hindu society. The pure people spectacularly thrive on the accumulated good and virtuous karmas of all their previous life although all this stuff is untraceable. This illogical and moronic stuff has persisted due to the ignorant people full of pride. The stupendous stupidity is entangled in a mushy web of ego and pride and refuses to acknowledge itself.

Additionally, the different castes refrained from teaching each other their occupational skills. It could only be learned by a son from his father. Thus, the skills were handed down from one generation to next generation. The castes are mutually non-cooperative in occupational terms; they may be complimentary but not cooperative. Therefore, any individual cannot have two or more professions at the same time. This became natural as the endogamous nature of caste prevented any effective communication between different castes. The wall between each other was a crucial factor in maintaining the identity of a caste over a period of time.

One more specific attribute of Varna or caste system is the closed-gate policy. It is clear when one studies the caste effect. In closed-gate policy, we know, that the gates of all other professions are closed for the Untouchables and the Shudras other then the gates of their heredity professions; anyway they were born within their walls; these walls form their outside limit also - the social and occupational encagement. Well - made by god fit for that! The closed-gate policy deprives the low castes of any entry into any productive field or any field where value added is high. At every gate the caste of the man is verified by direct or indirect means and the social network is always here to sense and reveal the true caste of a

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man; see, a case of network having senses. Only when the gatekeepers are satisfied that the man in question has the required caste which makes him eligible only then he is allowed entry. Anybody can play the role of gatekeeper as and when the situation arises; anybody can take up the arms to save Dharma and destroy the aDharma - anytime. The system holds itself and adds to its longevity. Nothing malicious in this; people are free to choose with whom they interact and enter into beneficial transactions; and they cannot enter into any transaction with crippled Untouchables except regarding their heredity job. See, the caste has nothing to do with it! Only the victims are from the low castes - merely coincidence, millions of times. The famished people are hardly able to get out of the web of poverty due to the closed-gates policy; all the gates are closed for them. This encloses them in a hellish poor life where egos are crushed to bits on daily basis. All gates, which lead outsides, are closed and they cannot get out. Certain people call it a job by birth. How merciful to keep people in the rotten jobs! Touches my heart! Crippling low castes economically and socially, is no mean job, after all they are the pure people with the pure and effective means to carry out the cripplization. The gates of upper caste people are closed, and, poverty and impurity are kept outside. Impure people are no match for the pure people. No amount of begging, crying, weeping, imploring would open these closed doors which are opened only for the high caste people.

Caste provides bonding and anti-bonding factors. The people within a caste bond with each other. The people of different castes are repelled by each other unless there is a separate common interest. Caste is all prevalent. You move left; it is there. You move right; it is there. You move horizontal; it is there. You go vertical; it is there. You move down; it is there. You make a big jump; it is there. You run fast as you can; it is there. You move in a zigzag manner; it is there. You make an awkward angle to escape; it is still there right in front you. You go from village to village; it is there. You move from city to city; it is there. You go from the bottom to the top of society; it is there. You leave the country and join the India Diaspora; it is there. Please do not rub your eyes with disbelief; it is the belief that sustains the caste system. You go to education field; it is there. You go to any profession; it is there. There is no sphere of society beyond

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its reach. You go to any temple; you go to market; you go to any business; it is there. One has to do what it tells one to do. It is such a powerful unseen force. The caste effect is not a myth. It is simply invisible to the outsiders. It cannot be seen but can only be felt when its tangible effects strike you with a silent thud. There is no escape from its effect. It is felt only when it stops you from undertaking any particular activity because traditionally you cannot do it. One simple proof of its existence is that the Untouchables are not allowed to take water from the village water well. Touching a chord? You must be joking! But it suits high caste people very well! Very sympathetic people, they are!

The inherent impurities in caste system are different from cleanliness; it is not related to hygiene. All the hygiene in the world cannot remove the impurity which is in blood. The disconnecting sense of purity and impurity prevents people from intermingling. The purity can only be maintained through its disconnection from the impurity. Therefore the purity can only be maintained if people are kept separated from each other. As impurity spreads by touch then the only way to maintain the relative purity, is to not to communicate with relatively impure people; the safest way is to communicate only with people of your own kind and disconnect others; this results in closed gates policy. Everybody closes its gates for people less pure then them. Period.

Ultimately, the extreme non-communication, the untouchability, results, all the gates are closed for them. The filth can be washed away, but not the inherent or birth-attached impurities that become fused with an impure man from birth if he belonged to the impure category of Shudras and the one below them. It gave rise to a long living caste based society where everything was decided by the caste. The caste decides what would be his social status, what would be his economic status, what would be his mode of living, whom would he marry, with whom would he talk and all other sundry issues, which you may normally considered mundane or private. See! The culture differs, purely! Thus, life in general was predestined, static or choicelsss.

The Untouchables gain insulted status with birth, and without sweating it out. See, no effort in climbing to the insulting status. What an amazing feat! They simply have to be born and

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everything is accomplished. Astonishingly simple, simply astonishing! Without learning to walk, without learning to speak, they gain this insulted status - very indolent. It is all dharmic way. The insidious hunger for status of man is satisfied at the time of his birth. What an altruism! He has to bear it like a cross across his body all his life. The birth-attached insulted status speedily engulfs the Untouchable's life; he is not given even a chance to learn to walk. Fairness goes for a walk in the dharmic labyrinth and loses its way out. Perhaps it never comes out of fear of being killed so the labyrinth is a safe place for it. The streets of Chamarwada are littered with the blood of butchered chances. Free will? What kind of bird is that? It is butchered in the egg itself in this self-proclaimed non-violent and sublime society.

Mercifully, they are kicked around right after the kids start to move out of the Chamarwada or Untouchable house cluster. What a way of dealing with a child - telling him where he belongs! You cannot accuse the high caste people of malicious intention; they do it out of mercy. It is only for the good of Dharma. Any complaints about the lack of mercy in Hindu society should be expunged herewith. Obviously, it is matter of delight for the pure people. God is great who has given them such position or is it their karmas? You know the vagueness prevails. The transparency is out. It was never there being butchered before the time of its birth.

A permanent closed gates policy, dependence on dos and don'ts and the requirement of maintaining relative purity help in maintaining the Dharma on a permanent basis. It is, also, of great help in maintaining the purity of haloed circles.

Such kind of crippling caste effect is not monstrous. It is very civilized way. Calling them monstrous would not be fair otherwise how do you deal with the subhuman? These subhuman beings ought to know their birth-attached place in society. It is in their collective destiny to be our servant, and nobody can alter it. Since it is their destiny, we do not have any personal grudge against them. After all, we are the pure people. And crookedness and slyness cannot touch us even with a bamboo stick.

A dark and cruel world waits for the Untouchable children who are yet to be born, to make them enjoy society's crippling ways, which are co-terminus with the death. It should not be a small

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consolation that they were born - born to be insulted and to be servants.

The caste effect is the result of hatred and closed gates in line with the Dharma Shashtras. The Untouchables are crippled economically, socially and religiously as they are kept outside these areas deliberately. A man with no land, no possessions, with no access to resources like water and money, and lack of knowledge, is effectively crippled. He is without any means to sustain himself. He has to depend on others for keeping life in the body. The born-insulted should not hope for anything more. Their hope is mangled beyond any chance of identification. They are kept in the dumps and all the gates of coming out of it are closed for him. This makes him effective bonded labor in the traditional society. The man of pit remains in the pit - better a dustbin. This is social and occupational encagement. After all, the caste effect is the caste effect. The Untouchables are herded in the bottomless pit of quagmire with all the gates to escape closed, forever. They face the indestructible and unseen walls of collective boycotts. They butt, butt, butt and butt their heads against these walls but the result is the same. The walls never give way. Ultimately, they make peace with them. The strengths of the caste walls are stronger than the butting power of their heads. The butting strength of the famished people is not exactly overflowing with the power. There is no doubt about this. The undented boycott has lasted for thousands of years, and, the pure people are happy with it - the time tested system. The ghastly and grisly caste Panchayats were very effective along with the civilized people suggesting the pouring of molten lead in the ears of low caste people. Society maintained its harmony and fabric.

Two square meals a day is a matter of serious and grave concern for the hopeless and famished Untouchables. They cannot think of anything else. Swerving away from servility can cause a serious arrival of violence resulting in sufferings. These sufferings are fresh and free. There is always a fresh stock in the cue. Now you cannot complaint about lack of freshness in the Hindu society. You only have to know where to find it. The free and fresh sufferings bleed the Untouchables dry. The fresh atrocities are ever standing to jump into action whenever required. Actually they never leave their place and grow always fresh in dharmic waters.

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But their labor is a much required factor. The grain sown, watered and harvested by the labor of the Untouchables is not defiled; amazingly, it remains pure; strange are the ways Hindu scriptures. They should be unseen but their labor should be visible. They should labor away, away from their sight. The concept of sacredness leaves a lot of people scarred at the bottom of society. They are to be kept away while the society enjoys their lowly paid labor. The concept of purity is a devastating tool in the hands of its cruel wielders at the top.

Only closed gates policy along with intermittent violence can keep them in their righteous place, not the wretched and poisonous modernity. The rotten and insulted status is meant to be forever; it is not supposed to exist for a given period of time; the word is “eternal” not “temporary” . The abnormal concept of sensitivity finds no place here. Our exalted and luxuriant lives have no meaning until you, the impure people, crawl on the ground and tremble at the hint of our mere presence. They should be crawling supplicants. Yes, that is it.

The opportunity does not take a walk through the Untouchables' area. It is thoroughly controlled by the high castes and resides within their castle hardly daring to venture out for the fear of being butchered. It hardly makes sense if you are an outsider but for insiders it is way of life - thoroughly understood to the last bone.

If the opportunities are allowed to take free walks in the Untouchables' areas then how can Dharma and Karma affirm their lofty images? Both of them would prove to be liars – one is incriminating and the other is discriminating – the compliments when taken together tend produce a clear picture of Sanatana Dharma by cutting through the dense veil covering - created by the pure people.

The enforced penury provides conducive conditions for the victory of dharmic forces. Agony, misery and penury dig their heels in the Chamarwada. They refusal to move is a measurement of strength of pure and dharmic forces. Anyway, one is never in doubt of it. If you are, please, remove your doubts and come to terms with the harmony prevailing in the Hindu society. Agony, gloom and despair start shuddering with fear even if they are miles away from the upper caste areas; such great repelling forces emerge from these areas. Thus, agony, gloom and despair hid in the nearest Untouchable

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area where they are safe. And smug smiles evolve into sadistic smiles in the upper caste areas.

The bewildered lower strata never knew what cruelly and beastly hit it below the belt in this fair society, where everything is decided by the unknown karmas, and, the exalted and unselfish intentions of traditional and dharmic forces, created by the pure and pious people. All the boycotts and non-cooperation come from the closing of gates which is simply natural - a part of caste society. Whenever an Untouchable makes an entry anywhere; dharmic whispers of boycott move swiftly from ear to ear. The sacred whispers move, and they move to keep the peace. They move to conspire tacitly to keep the Untouchables out. And the caste-ineligibles are kept out. Everybody in the mainstream is happy. After all, it has done a great and sacred service to Dharma.

The art of crippling forever is no mean achievement! Or is it?

The sea change can wait, wait and wait… And low caste people can endure, endure and endure… Grasping this is necessary to understand this system frozen

in time. The Untouchable dreams are convinced by the broken bones

that they are meaningless. So, they take to their heels and disappear into oblivion. The standing caste terror lends a helping hand in their disappearance. A happy ending - before any social disaster begins because of them. The dreams are nipped in the bud preventing the impending disaster. The magnanimity of Dharma should not be doubted at. All the way sublime it is.

But, stop and listen! What is this ranting? Your nice and condemned forefathers never ranted like this. How nice they were! They accepted everything we, the pure people, gave them whether it was leftover or beating or insults. You name it; we gave it; everything wretched available, see. They never objected to their indirectly enforced squalid living conditions. Your impure and polluting rants are of no use. Get real man. Get used to your wretched life.

There is a malefic, malicious and covert conspiracy against Dharma by the mean people. What else can you expect from such lowly people who have birth-attached eternal lowliness! What do you expect you from the low caste people? They should virtuously work

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in our fields and factories at the lowest possible level of wages without selfish interests. Otherwise how they are going to get the salvation or improve their next life? Adharmic fools! They do not know what is dharmically good for them. Servility man, the servility! The Crawling and crouched servility is good for them. That is meant for them. That is why they get punished from time to time for not following the divinely ordained Dharma. That is the truth whether you like it or not. What you again want proof? This paranoid obsession with proofs! Your doubt about the sacred words will surely take you to the hell where your unpunishable soul would be punished! Be aware of the punishment. Rewards? There are no rewards for you – we have disconnected rewards from efforts and from you!

The closed gates successfully prevent the opportunities from knocking at the gates of lower strata. Imprisoning the opportunities in caste castles effectively cripples the lower strata. This is only to preserve Dharma. Only a little harmless practice, we the pure people would say that it is beneficial and is a boon; after all, we are the pure people.

The gates are closed for the lower strata out of charity. We want them to follow Dharma and what a greater achievement in life than virtuously following the Dharma! We want them to develop loyalty to their birth-attached lowly, menial occupations, and, the relative dependent thinking so that they serve us better. It is all for their benefit. It is to make them dharmic so that they do not forget the Dharma. They should get Moksha according to the Gita provided they perform their caste-bound duties without any self-interest. Only when all the avenues are closed for them except the one meant for them only then they would willingly do their servile and condemned jobs and get the Moksha which no one has seen. Is it crime to help somebody in attaining the Moksha? Is it? We, the pure people, are doing them a charity by forcing them to follow their birth-attached jobs. It is all for their benefit. It is all charity - the selfless charity. We are famous for that - the eternal standing charity. Only the fools would think it otherwise. All the remarks about absence of charity in Hindu Dharma should be expunged herewith. The fools making such remarks do not know the altruistic qualities of pure people. Only out of charity, these people are made to work under the scorching sun

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for crumbs to attain the Moksha/salvation. They can achieve the Moksha only by serving us with humility. We leave them with no choice but the route to Moksha.

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7. THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The scriptural justice system is a maiming and mutilating system, which subverts justice and, of course, dharmically gives preference to lying over truth. What a quest for truth through lying!

The Hindu society is an ancient society with an ancient system of justice. The justice in a Varna based society, without saying, has to be Varna based justice. One's guilt was measured in terms of his Varna but the punishment varied inversely with the Varna. The higher guilt did not mean a higher punishment! Beats my puny brain. Please do not harbor any illusions here about the greater guilt resulting in the greater punishment. The mystique world of Hinduism does contain many illusions. For example, it alludes to provide justice but provide none. Please ditch your harbored illusions.

The crimes in Hindu society can be broadly divided into two categories. One type of crime is related with the general crimes like stealing etc. The other kind of crime is the crime against Varna Dharma. If any activity is against Dharma, it becomes judiciable and punishable. Let us recall for a while the functions of different Varnas. The Varna based nature of justice is evident in the functions of the Kshatriyas, which are to protect the people, rule the land and above all to uphold the Dharma; the Dharma that was pure, divinely ordained and containing elements of eternal cruelties. The Kshatriyas could not rule over the Brahmans, which indicates existence of multiple power centers in Hindu society. If the Brahmans were above the political power then they were obviously above the judicial system also; it goes without saying. The state power had been vested in the 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 Brahmans were also expert at statecraft, at not only law making or ritual making. According to them statecraft is possible only through Danda (punishment). Dharma also holds through Danda (punishment). The Brahmanical interpretation of self-created Dharma was final in any judicial issue. Thus, the Kshatriyas and the Brahmans combined together wielded the actual state power. In doing so, Brahmans did not face a risk to life like Kshatriyas; indeed, it was a very smart and clever scheme. Nobody can accuse the

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Brahmans of being foolish. Brahmans were safe under the divine cover of Dharma; the divine protection was meant for the divine people. In addition, the king was inferior to Brahmans whom he was supposed to worship. This means that the Brahmans granted themselves the status of god or demigod. The kings were free to rule but not free to frame their own laws. Sometimes they did but they seldom encroached upon the Varna laws. If they encroached upon the Varna laws then it was hardly effective beyond their tenure. They were Dharma bound to favor the Brahmans and in that process, they were supposed to heap cruelties after cruelties on the Shudras and the Untouchables, which they did. The Brahmans were the real lawmakers and wielded indirect unassailable power in society. No, no swindling at all. Accusing them to be swindlers would be heresy; one might be sent to hell in literary sense for this. They were the real source of cruel exploitation of Untouchables in society. In it, others proudly helped them. A dharmic cruelty was no cruelty at all; it was well justified; remember the Word. Absolutely, nobody had any problem in playing in their hands; others were the living tools and fools. 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 - a real voluntary slavery. The real sovereignty was vested in Dharma from there it got transferred to Brahmans.

It is dharmic right of pure people to receive the duties of impure people. We know, already, that both rights and duties go under the name of function. It is Dharma of impure people to give their duties to pure people without any consideration. The Gita says not to think about the fruit but only work and duty; the fruits would be reaped by the high castes. Why worry?

To what an extent, the Brahmans prevailed over the Kshatriyas, is evident from an incident from the Ramayana. The Ramayana is a much respected epic of Hindus and reflects the dominant thinking in society. Lord Rama, God incarnate, returned home, after killing Ravana - the demon king of Lanka, and took over the kingdom. Then he was required to undergo the coronation ceremony to be formally promulgated as the king of Ayodhya. At that time, the Brahmans present refused to coronate Lord Rama. And Lord Rama could not do anything; the coercive powers vested in the

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state were powerless - simply useless. God incarnate stood helpless! Dharma ruled over the state. Suppressing the Brahmans was prohibited because that would have destroyed the pure and preserved Dharma. A king could not rule over the people he was not supposed to rule. And he did not. He was refused the 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 the Varna Dharma. The king had the coercive power and the Brahman had the dharmic and paranormal powers. These powers combined were superior to the state's coercive power. Thus, Lord Rama was not eligible for coronation. A mere king, though a divine incarnate, 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 of Lord Rama as king. As a result, these Brahmans were degraded by other Brahmans from their status for carrying out the coronation of a Brahman slayer. Supposedly, these Brahmans are known as the Saryupani Brahmans and are considered as inferior Brahmans. This might as well show that Lord Rama was not reincarnation but a mere mortal.

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

In Hindu society, the absence of fairness is a fact and the alleged presence of fairness is a piece of fiction. No doubt about

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that! We can see it all through earlier and coming pages. We will see that how the justice is butchered and eliminated!

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. You would not be disappointed if you are looking for the absence of justice. You are in the right place - the sacred Hinduism. Of course, it was very dharmic also; anyway it is foolish to expect justice from such system. Here the concept of justice is mutilated nicely and nobody is bothered. Bothered? Why? The justice became subjective from the very onset. Most probably, the objectivity is offered as oblation to the gods in the Yagyas. The king had been declared to have been created for the protection of the Varna Dharma. When protecting the Varna Dharma, it is necessary to keep its hierarchy in mind, because otherwise the divine Dharma would be corrupted and destroyed, creating pangs full of pains in many hearts. The hierarchy must remain untroubled and unblemished. There shall not be any trace of corruption. In addition, anybody corrupting Dharma faced the threat of hellish ostracization which meant no respect, no wealth, no money; and a humiliating life with the 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 the Shudras. The king was supposed to follow the advice of learned Brahmans. They had to guide him on the path of Dharma even when some people were converted into human animals. The crowd listening to divine and dharmic teachings goes into ecstasy. Further, if he was not interested in discharging judicial duties then he was supposed to appoint a Brahman to do so - good, very good, everything slips nicely into the hands of Brahmans.

The heathen and lowest stratum did not have the eligibility to take part in the judicial process. They lacked the social status and knowledge of the sacred scriptures. The justice delivered by them would have been polluted, polluting and demeaning which would not have been acceptable to anyone. The scriptures were the most important objects in the scripture based society. They were the most important factors in determining the destiny of people - privileging or crippling. The cruel destiny always visited the lower two strata - courtesy scriptures via the upper three Varnas. The scriptures were in

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Sanskrit, a Dev-Bhasha or the gods' language which the heathens were not allowed to learn. Thus, the low people were kept grossly ignorant of scriptures' actual contents and intentions. Who can or could question the intentions of Dharma? All people were subjected to the scriptures depending upon their Varnas. A lower Varna man could not administer justice to higher Varnas because it would have been cruel insubordination and cruelly aDharmic; soul of Dharma would have suffered; it would have been ruptured. Thus, the only suitable candidates to administer justice without scratching Dharma were the Brahmans. A lower Varna man delivering judgment on the higher Varnas went directly against the cosmic order created by man, and, it also wounded Dharma. Every Untouchable knows how dangerous a wounded Dharma can be!

The suitors in court were to be examined in the order of their Varnas; thus, showing the importance of Varnas. And I was given the grand impression that the Varna was an abstract entity amounting to nothing! Anyway, the heathen ones could wait. The Brahmans who had studied the Vedas could not be forced to witness. And the Chandals and the 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. You are mutilating either the Dharma or the justice! You should be clear about it; and Dharma wins. In other words, the witness was important in the order of Varna Dharma. The inequality of witnesses had a profound effect on deliverance of justice. The lower caste people could not give witness against the higher caste people; they could not be the cause of conviction of the higher castes. It was a grand dharmic loophole which was created keeping the paradigm of purity in mind and it allowed the upper castes to go scot-free. The guilt of higher castes was supposed to be maximum but the punishment minimal - a complete mismatch - logically dharmic. Dharma rocks! Let us sing paeans about it.

We have a Hindu judicial system which justifies falsifying; the justice stands on it head, tramples on the lives of the lower strata, and especially the Untouchables. The witnesses were allowed to give the 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 an Outcaste

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was worthless. It also meant that if someone from any of the four Varnas killed a man from the fifth stratum he would be set free. It also means that in practice and theory, the crimes against Untouchables, were not judiciable and punishable. The witnesses were also allowed to give any false witness in favor of Brahmans. Any doubts about unimpeachability of the Brahmans! Please, remove those doubts. We are in the virtuous company. The loopholes made it possible for the criminal Brahmans to escape from the judicial net in a judiciable accepted way. Oh, I forget, there is no such entity as a criminal Brahman in the traditional India. Their existence is non-existence. Got it? No matter, falsifying turned out to be grand cultural institution below the surface. Do not scratch the surface, please! Honesty is not the best policy; anyway, a Hindu is always in search of truth, honestly. To confirm the absence of honesty, you just have to ask the Hindu spiritualists.

A Brahman could lie (the privileges seem to be endless - truth and honesty are useless things, fit to be thrown in stinking garbage dump or gutter, that is where they lie) in the court but not the other Varnas. By this time, nothing should surprise you! Thus, a Brahman could be a bonafide liar but it did not go against Dharma. Honesty - my foot! Here one important point to note is that there is no word for "honesty" in Hindi or Sanskrit. The absence of word also points toward the absence of honesty in Hindu society that is matched by the facts. And intellectual honesty is just a crap - it is a tissue paper, just wipe yourself off, throw it off and move away and be pure and pious. It also gave scope to Brahmans to falsely accuse the other Varnas to settle the personal scores. Thus, any mild anger of any Brahman could have been a matter of grave concern to others, especially the Shudras and the Outcastes, if they were the cause of it and even if they were not. These conditions provided the scope for avoiding the prosecution of any Brahman. The system was not internally rigged, it was totally transparent, crystal clear; honestly, I swear by Nirguna Bruhm. Just avoid the knowledge of Dharma Shastras and believe the defenders and the proponents the Sanatana Dharma and you will realize the value of transparency in Hindu society. The Brahmans were the lawmakers - fair or not. The crookedness bypassed them by several miles; they did not know even its meaning. They still do not know. Their twisted mind did not work

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out the crooked justice system; they did not have twisted minds. No matter, it was a divine matter. Just ask them.

Honesty! What kind of bird is that? It is found in the form of white crow flying in the skies of the land known as the spiritual powerhouse of the world. It matches with the state of honesty in the Hindu judicial system.

A dharmic lie is not a lie. By this time, you must know this eternal truth. A lie does not have separate existence from Dharma. Only in conjunction with Dharma, it can be truly evaluated. Everything else is false. Amazing Dharma! Is it not? It can convert a lie into truth and a truth into a lie with transparent and ridicules ease. And the implications are grave for the suffering lower strata for whom the ignorance is bliss; and, in reality, a disaster. Con men. What conmen? You are having hallucinations.

The real burden of justice or injustice fell on the Shudras and the Untouchables. Only the people, endowed with the stupendous stupidity, cannot see the honesty and the spirituality involved in the traditional Hindu justice. Develop a dharmic eye man! The Untouchables could not expect any justice from the state; the justice system was useless or even harmful for them. The crimes against the Outcastes and the 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 until death for no fault of theirs. The only crime they committed was to have been born in the fifth stratum. Their forefathers had also gone through the same process and left the world with their mental and body wounds oozing out tonnes of agonies. Due to their caste crime, they suffered from the life punishment of severe and inhuman cruelties, from cradle to death. They lived a life equivalent to that of human animals or just animals. For this great and sacrilegious caste 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 cruelty did not count like honesty did not count. And it was done in a slow crushing manner. Sometimes, simply swift crushing was enough. When it comes to Untouchables, society takes the law into its own hand. The whole of society becomes either law abiding and/or law enforcing. It was law abiding

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since king could not reach all the villages. It was not necessary for the king to do so because the local caste Panchayats of the dominant castes were strong enough to corporally punish the Untouchables. It was dharmically sanctioned. The killers or tormentors were actually doing the dharmic job of upholding the Dharma so they were not punishable. The pity goes for a pittance. And the tormentors reserve a cozy seat in heaven for themselves.

If any Untouchable transgressed the Dharma then he was simply killed and a Shudra was only mutilated. Most probably, the pious lawmakers thought that the mutilation was mild so they allotted it to Shudras and a more severe punishment of death to Untouchables. The Varna difference had to be maintained.

If a man from a higher Varna killed a Shudra then he was required to perform a penance for six months or give ten cows and a bull to a Brahman. It is strange that a man (?) - no, no a Shudra - is killed, and, one unrelated Brahman is benefitted; grand sense of exalted justice! It was a fine way to transfer wealth in favor of the pious, honest and unselfish people. Hardly contains an element of slyness! This punishment does not have even an iota of justice in it any way; whichever way one might look at it. It is another example of how the paranormal Brahmans devised the ways to enrich themselves even when people were living miserly. Nothing offensive about it, merely dharmic. And higher Varnas slept well; they did not lose any sleep over trivial things and issues! They were all at peace. And the same kind of punishment was prescribed for killing a dog, a cat, an owl or a crow - so died a dog - so died a Shudra! The equivalent of life of a Shudra was the life of a dog, most probably a street dog. A dog walking on its four legs, wagging its tail to please, hoping to get some food, and scavenging for the leftovers in the garbage, was equivalent to Shudra who was also supposed to depend on the leftovers of his master and serve him with all the humility and wag the tail likewise. The relations between a Shudra and his master can be explained as the relation between a dog and its owner. The lot of Untouchables had to be worse; they had to wag their tails from a distance because they could not go near them; they had to wag it rapidly so that the upper caste people could see it. And so rapidly that it pleased Upper castes enough to withhold their anger and leave

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something for the Untouchables on earth. Acting in submissive way was their way of escaping the wrath of the upper Varnas.

Further, a Shudra could not give evidence in a suit involving higher Varnas. It was so because he could not derive enough power from his lower status to be a party to judge a high Varna man. How shameful! A low caste man is a party to judge the higher Varnas? How low can you go! A Shudra was to be treated in insulting terms in the court if he was allowed to give evidence; here, one may get a lesson in caste etiquettes in Hindu society. His lowborn origin was always to be reminded to him lest he forgets his proper place in this harmonious society. The born insulted was treated abusively - a great harmony in a great heritage!

If a Shudra defamed a Brahman then he had to suffer corporal punishment while others got away with a fine only. One does not spit at sky! If he offended the twiceborn then his offending part was to be cut off leaving behind a mutilated Shudra. If he grossly insulted a twiceborn then his tongue was to be cut off. If he contemptuously mentioned the Jati of twice born then a red hot iron rod ten inches long was required to be shoved in his mouth. If he arrogantly taught a Brahman his duties then hot was oil was required to be poured into his mouth. If he falsely claimed performance of rites to sanctify his body then he was to be fined two hundred coins. If he assaulted a twice-born then his offending limb was to be cut off. Such was the force of the sacred Dharma; bow before it, you dumb wit. In case he raised his hand or a stick to beat higher Varnas then his hand was to be cut off. It was a righteous religion. Was it not? If he kicked them then his foot was to be cut off. Mutilation was a very normal punishment in his case. And none could hurt the single strand of hair of a Brahman. If a Shudra tried to sit with them on the same seat with high Varnas then he was to be branded on the hips and his buttocks were to be gushed. The offending parts here were the buttocks. If out of arrogance he spit on a high caste then his lips were to be cut off. Thus, there were different efficient ways devised to keep a Shudra within his dharmically imposed limits and righteous place. As far as Shudras were concerned, it was a maiming and mutilating justice system. The justice appears to be a vicious animal controlled by the lawmakers Brahmans who unleashed it on the Shudra and the Untouchables whenever the occasion required. The

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righteousness just keeps on increasing through such acts. It brought more and more stability in society; thus, maintaining the social fabric and social harmony!

A Brahman could not be given a corporal punishment. Nobody could hurt a single strand of hair of Brahmans; sorry, I am wrong; his hair could be cut as a maximum punishment; only hair and none of the body parts was to be harmed. A king could only ask him to leave his kingdom without hurting him. If a man committed a crime to save a Brahman then it was not considered a crime. Marvelous! Because saving a Brahman was equivalent to saving Dharma. A Brahman was Dharma personified. Therefore, he could not be convicted. The conviction actively avoided him lest Dharma be offended. When a capital punishment was well justified then he was to be tonsured only. It was the height of justice! The paranormal hanging threat of divine retribution ruled. So, the maximum punishment for a Brahman was to hurt the hair on his head! Superb, excellent! It was the maximum punishment that could be given to him after a deliberate and long discussion; after all punishing a Brahman was a very risky action; it was the biggest sin on the earth. It was given only when Dharma was endangered due to some gross criminal act of some Brahman, which justified a capital punishment in case of others. The gravity of crime received lowest priority. There was no greater crime than killing a Brahman. Therefore, all the kings avoided punishing the Brahmans. The fear of divine retribution cozily placed, protected the sacred and pious Brahmans.

The system of justice in Hindu society was completely Varna oriented without any tinge of equality. The same crime by different Varnas was viewed differently. The gravity of crime was related to the social status of the accused and the aggrieved. This kind of logic is unfathomable but it seems that the Brahmans were saved because of so many dharmic services they provided to the kings, the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas, and not the least, to the Dharma. The seriousness of the crime increased with the Varna of the victim and reduced with the Varna of the accused. The crimes were unequal depending upon Varna. The witnesses were unequal depending on their Varnas. The punishments were unequal and caste graded or Varna graded. The lower the caste of the accused the graver was the punishment. The caste of the accused and the victim played a role in different way. It

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was so because only the witnesses of the same caste were allowed to give the witness for the same caste. If the accused were from a higher Varna then the lower Varnas witness could not give evidence against him. The act of the lower Varnas giving any evidence against the higher resulting in any punishment was adharmic.

This made the position of Brahmans very safe; they were immune to judicial system and its power to convict. The judicial system was buried under their feet. In a suit between the higher Varnas accused and the lower Varnas victims, there was no possibility of conviction because no higher Varna person was willing to give evidence against his own Varna. And lower Varnas could not give any witness against the higher Varna. Thus, the justice process was heavily diluted in the favor of higher Varnas, and the pious and pure lawmakers were the main beneficiaries. The justice system was diluted to the extent that the real justice flowed down the river Ganges not to be returned back; only the injustice remained. The actual justice was secondary to Dharma - note. The justice was merely the tail of Dharma but it stung Shudras and Untouchables with ferocity as if all the lower caste people were despised people; they were. The concept of such a justice is truly enthralling, soothing and jubilating to Brahmans who yearn for return of the same kind of days. The justice was more like a private enterprise of the Brahmans, the fruits of which they and their generations alone enjoyed. These are the vested interests usually described as responsible for hardening of caste system. But none dare name them out of religious cowardice. And the beneficiaries exploded with inner joy.

The injustice masquerades as Dharma and justice in traditional India. When the Shudras could not get justice from the state, the question of justice to the Outcastes, the Untouchables or the Chandals is grossly irrelevant though his life becomes hell in the process. Actually, the Shudras and Outcastes were invisible to state. And the state was not visible to the Shudras and the Untouchables who could only see a cruelly discriminating society and traditions. They lived in a perpetual state of cruel dharmic injustice and fear. It was a system where the impure, polluting cries for justice from lowest two strata were lost in the soothing wilderness of the Varna Dharma. It was a system of cruelties and mutilations par excellence. It was a great deterrent for the potentially rebelling Shudras and

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Untouchables. It provided a stable Dharma and a stable society. After all, the impurity cannot accuse the purity having paranormal powers or anything else. That would be a travesty of the dharmic justice.

For the Untouchable, the justice died a dodo death before the last dodo actually died.

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8. HONESTY, FAIRNES, SENSTIVITY AND OTHER TRIVIA FRIVIA

Hindu society is not a breeding place for any sense of humanity. Hindu society is cremation ground for sincerity, sensitivity, fairness, compassion and honesty. When it comes to lower strata, Hindu society can be divinely trusted upon to burn these notions to ashes. Fairness goes for a toss right into the gutter. Sincerity, what kind of bird is that? The creator, if any, just forgot to put this quality into the Hindu society. Compassion - my foot! About honesty, we know, it is as extinct as dodo. Don't put Hindu society to shame by talking about these notions! The human life is, no doubt, valuable in Hindu society but it depends on whose human life is it? If it is of higher strata then it is valuable and higher you go higher is its value. The lower you go the lower is its value and when you reach to worthless people it is worthless.

Hindu society converts unfairness, dishonesty, insincerity, cruelty and insensitivity into impressive qualities because these help in maintaining the sacred Dharma. And must you not doubt the people full of wisdom! The divinity would visit you with all its terror.

Traditional Hindu society or unofficial India does not care about honesty as we have seen in previous chapters on Hindu justice. The concept of honesty does not exist in the graded society because there was no need to be honest with the lower strata people. Anyway, cheating in the name of Dharma is allowed. A screaming lie renders itself into a loud dharmic truth if given in the scriptures. The very fact that the Vedas and Dharma Shastras were kept away from the general eyes means that there was some deliberately hidden in them harmful to the lower strata forming majority. If they were made open, and reasoning was applied, then they would have been rendered useless, dissolving the comforts and privileges of the higher Varnas.The majority was crippled, righteously and not without reason – maybe it was done in the national interest; they are, undoubtedly, the greatest patriots on the earth. Along with honesty, the answerability is also missing from Hindu society because upper caste people are not answerable to lower caste people. Let alone asking question the lower strata could not call higher Varnas people by their

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name - only honorifics were allowed to be used while addressing the upper castes. Surely, the answerability cannot make a presence here. And there is no pretence about it. Now these dirty filthy low caste people will ask the questions!

Fairness can be found buried several feet under the ground so the fair chances are not available to the lower strata. It is preferred treatment for preferred people where Shudras and Untouchables were, certainly, not the preferred people by any stretch of imagination. What the higher Varnas want is easy money, easy respect, easy rule, easy intellectual achievements, easy domination and easy labor that can only be achieved by demolishing the competition – crippling them. And fairness? You must be joking. Please, stop cracking the deep jokes. Such a thing is not supposed to exist in this righteous and spiritual society having sublime thinking. Out, out with fairness.

And sensitivity? How can this be available to the condemned, polluting and dirty people? Low castes facing disdainful attitude could not expect any sensitive treatment at the hands of pure and high caste people. And in that attitude you can add the tones of extreme hatred with impunity and without any problem. Surely, if you are dharmically sensitive then you should have any problem about disdainful attitude. Conscience? What is supposed to be that?

Sympathy and empathy make a dive together for the oceanic depths and disappear in the lowly depths; it is an essential feature of Hindu society when dealing with Untouchables. Nobody shall complain about lack of any depth in Hindu society. Expunge it right now when you know the truth. It should not be a cause of complaining. Sensitivity, honesty, fairness and justice are also habitual sinkers to lowly and disgraceful depths whenever the occasion calls for it.

Sensitivity gets agitated; conscience develops paralysis; and any kind possible means are used to bring any heathen errant man in the line; nothing is demeaning, nothing. Serenity prevails only when such an errant man is brought down to his righteous demeaning level. Otherwise, convulsing serenity creates a horrible scene. In order to bring peace to convulsing serenity the divine order must be restored. Their conscience is amazing; it sleeps in the sleepers and the shoes which are sometimes used to leave their marks on the bodies of

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Untouchables if the occasion calls for it. Or even if the occasion does not call for it. Entertainment, man, pure entertainment! Do not you want the high castes to be happy? Do you not want them to gloat? Do not you want them to be full of joy? The pain it causes is not worth mentioning because it is the impure and polluting pain of worthless people. Polluting people - polluting pains. So the machine grinds on silently.

Sometimes the conscience lies in the bamboo sticks, knives, swords and guns. All the same, it lies in the respected eternal status assigned to high castes. Evocatively it rides the expletives hurled at the Untouchables. It also rides the mudslinging whispering campaign against the Untouchables. It touches the Himalayan heights easily, and won’t mind touching the still higher heights below the sea bottom. All that sublime it is. Their conscience is in full bloom.

The sight of Untouchables draws out the divine sensitivity of pure people. Few expletives aimed at the Untouchables are used as oblation to their agitated mentality. The furious sticks in the pure hands land on heathen bodies with burning ferocity. Hardly matters! A way of life! Then the minds rest in peace.

It strikes their sensitive hearts; it strikes their delicate feelings; it strikes their soft minds; and all this, it does painfully. What is it? It is the presence of lower strata people among them. The pain of pure minds and hearts is not a trivial issue. It puts Dharma in distress. Hurting the powerful has its own cost.

At the mere sight of Untouchables, the compassion of Dharma dries up and ruthlessness rears its ugly head. Beautiful, oh, beautiful! This beauty lies in the glowing faces of the upper castes. The hunter got an easy prey. The glow betrays their inner feelings of appreciation of ruthlessness and callousness of Dharma toward the lower strata. What a beautiful ruthlessness! It helps in maintaining the divine harmony and the divine Dharma. The crawling, prostrating and supplicating Untouchables make for a beautiful sight. Do not they? Relish it. It satisfies the sacred egos. The egos gloat.

Any venomous desire of rising up should be flogged until the venom is out. Without desires these people are very productive; they can work like donkeys for hours together. And it is also said in the Gita that one should not desire anything. They should follow such sacred books. Their flogged desires provide solace to society.

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The caste system has the robust limiting and unseen walls. You can see through it but cannot pass through it. You can only go through gates which are closed if you do not have any eligible caste. Only the caste-eligible can go through these gates. The dirty and filthy questions of liberty, equality and choice do not arise in a pure and pious society where a man is fused with his caste and its purity or impurity. The limiting nature of the caste and the purity paradigm, flog and burn these harmful and shameful questions alive. It is a shame to raise questions like these! It is a righteous society. You do not know? Sometimes the eyes are gauged out of such contagious things raising such questions, verbally or through body language. The closed gate policy kills the opportunities without a sound. It is a purely non-violent and spiritual society. The blood of opportunity and fairness can be found splattered all over the Chamarawada and the roads leading to it. So is the fate of choice. And the spreading smiles on the pure faces happily indicate a cause well served. The pure minds and hearts drool - not amazingly. Their purity has stings. Their piousity is ruthless. Their compassion is acrimonious. Their pity is crocodilian. After all the upper castes want an easy life which they can get through crippling the lower strata. There is no earned merit in Hindu society; only caste merit is allowed.

The cries of impure people are fused with innate impurity. These cries are, therefore, polluting. Hearing these cries would only bring pollution. Their weeping and imploring are also innately fused with impurities; these can only bring the pollution. Therefore, the pure people, sensitively and wisely, ignore these cries for help. The hatred rules. Humanity is under a cloud; it was always, anyway. What is new about it in the Hindi society? The gates are firmly and dharmically closed. In eternal religion is eternal exploitation. The impure and polluting, cries and tears, should die out a miserable, stinking and stanching death, silently and unknowingly. Giving something worthwhile to lower caste people who have nothing is a great sin in Hindu society, and the grand dharmic donations to well off people in the temples is a great virtue. The cries of impure people can only be heard with impunity. Famished and filthy people why you cry now? You should have been careful about committing the bad deeds in your unidentifiable, unknowable and untraceable previous lives. You fools! Look, what these untraceable Karmas have brought

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you? A wretched life! You got what you deserve! And the purity gets furious at the begging and the crying coming from the lower strata which are full of impurities because they are coming from the impure people. And they are the pollutants! The doors remain shut. The abhorrence rules; it disparagingly glances at impure people with arrogance and develops a smirk. The life goes on - hellish for some, heavenly for some. The happy satisfaction floats behind the closed-gates and grim sadness on the other side. Who is going to treat the grim wounds of impure people? Of course, not the pure people. They are not so foolish!

On the basis of merely false statements of scriptures they send the low caste people to hellish life. Their statements are sufficient to justify their superiority. Then why do they need a crippling closed-gates policy? The policy results in caste effect, very humane, and very effective - the sublime crippling.

The social and economic cruelties against Antyajas are all encompassing over the entire range of Shastras. The low level of welfare available to the Shudras and the Antyajas is generally attributed to the law (the law?) of Karma - see, no swindling lawmaker is supposed to have had any hand in it!!! Anyway, these were actually designed for the low castes by the minds who took a certain delight in it. The existence of universal ethical and moral principles and humanity in Manu Smriti or other Dharma Shastras is not much better than the existence of a square-circle. The ethics in Dharma Shastra mean imposing cruel and crippling disabilities on the Shudras and the Untouchables and making them subservient to the twice-born. Not a mean achievement!!! Do I hear somebody say, "Hurray"!

One side glooms; one side blooms. Dharma spreads its wings for a chosen few. Its shade is not

available for lower strata. Rather, the lower strata are clawed by its claws. They are bled dry. A divine serenity prevails among them who are under its wings, not the claws. The unsuspecting low caste people do not even know that they are under its claws. They are food for it to sustain it. No doubt, it is a divinely ordained system. Only the divine people understand it; the ignorant follow them.

Dharma is truly compassionate toward its beneficiaries in all the spheres. In their case, sensitivity knows no bound. Dharma is so

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sensitive toward the pure people that it does not hesitate to give them gross unfair advantage through the closed gates policy and, also, the advantage of attaining the objective of crippling the lower strata. May be it does so out of sheer sensitivity which shears the lower strata. The heathen ones are given their just deserts - a life full of insults and gruels - don't look for insulting looks - they are there everywhere.

Those who do not understand the importance of birth in the Hindu society do not understand it. Their understanding would be marked by a gracious superficial knowledge bereft of any depth. They would not understand that how it feels when the doors are closed at people and the insulting looks follow them; and under deprivation of any kinds of resources.

All the groups are born unequal so they need unequal treatment of fairness and sensitivity. Quite logical! Is it not? Some people are divine and some are not. The fairness is among equals not among born unequal. Fairness is not available to the lower category human beings who are not eligible for fairness; they can be shot through the back from the hidden places. They can be killed even when they do not have weapons. Out of fairness the Hindu society does not allow the lower strata to yield weapons to defend themselves. What! These insects are going to defend themselves! How shameful!

In spite of all the injustice, the lower castes are forced to make peace with Dharma otherwise, the worst life would turn into a corpse through direct or indirect method as a matter of compassion. The pure, pious and high caste people cannot be accused of being cruel. The high castes have high ethical and moral principles. Nobody can deny that. Thus, they cannot be cruel directly or indirectly; calling them so would be slanderous. And the lives at bottom keep on being crushed. Hardly matters.

Hindu society does not suffer from diseases of equality, honesty, fairness, sensitivity, sympathy and empathy. These rightly belong to gutter. The opposites of these are embraced with sacred eagerness when these favor the elite castes. All the scruples about the abovementioned notions go into the gutter. It is a normal occurrence. Surely, this does not make Hindu society of people without scruples. That would be an underwhelming statement.

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Out with chances, choices, equality, fairness and freedom! These filthy and indecent words should remain in the Constitution. The presence of these outside the Constitution is dirty and stinking.

Should you talk about sincerity, sensitivity, compassion, honesty and fairness without filtering through Dharma, you should be talking absolute crap. You shall take birth of worms and cockroaches in your next life. Do not you know that these notions can be properly understood only when filtered through Dharma?

On their own these notions are simply trash. You have to have the help of Dharma to understand these notions; otherwise your life is worthless. Dharma is the microscope through which one must look at sincerity, sensitivity, sympathy, compassion, honesty, fairness and humanity. The direct approach to these notions would yield pernicious results - Dharma which is holding this world and other worlds, the known and unknown worlds, would collapse and the world would collapse along it - a major catastrophe in the history of mankind. Do you want this?

These qualities are not allowed until they have been filtered through Dharma. Only desirable and selected sensitivity, fairness, sincerity, honesty and humanity are allowed to pass through the Dharma filter. These are allowed on case by case basis. If they help pure people then they are in otherwise they are out. Crass, obtuse and simple.

The lofty concepts of equality, honesty, fairness, sensitivity and humanity have to be seen through the still loftier Dharma and Karma; only then their loftiness can be truly realized only by the realized people. The insensible, contaminated and contaminating people should keep out of it. And if you are unable to comprehend it then you are insensible and contaminated with malicious thoughts. Without Dharma, these rubbish concepts are merely diseases. These diseases are imported from the decaying West.

The ethics, morals and principles are meaningless word without Dharma. Only when the divine Dharma is used to erudition of these notions then only then these senseless words make any sense. Got it? Wake up man, wake up to the call of Dharma under whose burden the Untouchables live an insulted and crumbled life.

All the opportunities for the Untouchables are killed by the razor sharp weapons of collective boycott and non-cooperation. The

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Untouchables live in an environment of deadened opportunities. Only the impure opportunities are guided in their stinking direction.

Equality! What a disgusting idea! Do not you see the frown on the pure faces, their eyes burning with hatred? It is very clear even when all the efforts are made to hide them sometimes. How aDharmic you can be to forward the perverted idea of equality! It numbs the main sensory system of the Hindu society. You just do not have any sense of aesthetics, history and the traditions. And history, by the way, was taught to us by the beef eating colonizers. Anyway, if you had any sense, the really real sense, you would not raise this perverted idea. You should get checked your mental disposition. All these kinds of things are harmful for Hindu society. After all, we are sensitive people; we can just beat out all these ideas out of these low category people. And brain washing also helps. You should know, anyway, that purity is purity and impurity is impurity - no subtlety is required here. And purity deals with impurity with ruthless impunity.

The idea of equal Shudras or Untouchables is appalling, atrocious, despicable, disgusting, horrid, loathsome, obnoxious and repugnant to higher castes. It cracks their psyches. It creates fissures in Dharma. The cracked pure psyches can be extremely furious. It can result in few broken bones. The broken bones mend the cracks in Dharma and pure psyches.

The shriveled happiness of Untouchables dare not show its face for the fear of affronting the upper castes. Even the shriveled happiness is a repulsive factor for upper castes. The happiness of Untouchables should not move out of their houses. Even a trace of such happiness is enough to sink the happiness of upper castes, and to convert the happiness into heartfelt sadness. The impure and polluting are smiling! Why such a wretched and impure act? Why, indeed, why? The bottoms of upper caste hearts sink. The cause of this conversion should be rooted out. The appropriate action is taken as and when time arrives - sooner the better.

The polluting but desperate tearful eyes look through the shut doors wherefrom the cold and pure eyes look back without any iota of sympathy in them. Out, out, out you impure people spreading pollution through your presence; you are crying and that pollutes the environment! The impure heavy eye, heavy heart, heavy feet and

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heavy limbs limp away from the closed gates, and curse their lame duck destiny. There is nothing to eat tomorrow - the things are getting better and better and there may be no end to it. The pure people grin and enjoy it. The impure and contaminating people grimace and bear it. From cradle to cremation, their life is hell. What can be the worth of impure cries of impure people? What can be the worth of impure sufferings of impure and polluting people? What can be the worth of impure tears of impure and polluting people? These are totally harmful and pernicious and should be kept away from the eyes of high caste people. These people cannot be left to their destinies. Their condemned destinies have already been decided by the pure and pious people having smart destinies. The crippling also means obliterating the effective competition and opposition and an easy life for upper castes – do not forget that. In traditional India, the competition is a gravely serious and sinful activity. Looking for fairness? Go to some place elsewhere. This wretched piece of Western thinking is not found here. It is the traditional Hindu society.

The absence of holes in clothes of impure people creates holes in the delicate egos of the pure people. The sensitive pure hearts go to pieces at the sight of somewhat better clothed Untouchables, and, only tattered clothes can rejoin them. Happy? The holes in correct place can stitch the holes somewhere else.

Whenever the all sympathetic Dharma gets angry, the Untouchables get soaked in fear, and, tremble like leaves. They have to face the wrathful smiles of high caste people backed by the crippling policies and weapons. The upper caste thundering eyes throw a silent blood curdling scream that freezes the blood of the Untouchables. The bleeding wreckage of their hearts would vanish when the Untouchables are shown their place. And they would have their tranquility. An open ended chain of boycotting events subdues the lower strata without violence. If lower strata presses further then they get violence inflicted on them as bonus. Somebody has to maintain the law and order in society. True? Is it not? Adharmic demands simply cannot be met.

Take your chances? The butchered chances that lie in the gutters for the lower strata? The taking of which burn the hands of lower strata? The taking of which burns the high caste minds! You

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must be joking. Surely, you are not serious! You do not know that there is a thing called the backlash, which is brutal, vicious, ferocious, sadistic and dharmic. Well, the Untouchables know it; it is a deterrent for them.

The Untouchables have no help. Their voice is broken by denying the food and water aided by the use of force. Part of life man, part of life! Their wounds cry out for help but no help comes. Their wails are buried. The emotions are charred to death except those which dared not born alive. The sky does not weep for them. The wind is insensitive to their scream. The night looks darkly at them. The spring sings no songs for them. The winter freezes them. Their life is full of frozen egos and chilly events. The summer scorches them. It is much enchanting to pure people. It is not all in offensive taste! Sir, it is all righteous.

And how puzzling? These uncouth creeps do not intend to follow the sacred Dharma! Dharma does not bother a bit about them, and, their oppressed, famished and condemned life. But it wants loyalty from the condemned people. This is the Dharma that spares only crumbs and leftovers for them but reserves a lot of punishment if they transgress on others' Dharma. It is a simple matter of digression. It is to be taken trivially for the victims are insignificant without a stake in society and completely lack any ability to cause any harm to their tormentors. These victims have everything to lose. And this everything contains nothing. Hardly surprisingly! Dharma cannot work without the people who are without anything. These people ought to follow their Dharma of remaining famished and insulted all through their life. That is what they are made for. Eternally insulted and eternally famished these people had to eat the cow dung grain out of their sweet will! See, nobody forced them to eat the cow dung grain; it is their free will. You cannot say that free will does not exist in Hindu society. But they were offered nothing else; so they had no choice. So enforced lack of choice can be converted into free will! See, no hands! And they should devote themselves to devotion to gods with empty bellies. And they should not divert their minds toward materialistic things (Maya) which are prerogative of the pure people. These people are simply no match for the pure people. And who is talking about malicious intents? Out with him! Away with him! Put him behind the bars! So the pure

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hearts can rest in peace and serenity. Let the thousand thorns breed for the impure and polluting people. And let the thousands flowers bloom for pure people. Happy?

Unjustifiably, they are heathenishly engaged in colossal offences like harboring, in their minds, the vile and corrupt thoughts of fetching water from the village well. Ungrateful heathen idiots pursue superior dreams unsuitable to their level in society - the pure and pious society. The thought is unable to come out of their mouth because a ruthless barrage of loathsome expletives containing dharmic elements awaits those who dare to do so. A dharmic corporal punishment follows. The case is judiciable and fit for punishment. They can only murmur complains to themselves. These dirty rotten scoundrels. This is the unofficial India.

They also harbor the mean thought of offending the streets of villages by walking over them! It shows the cruel tendencies of heathen minds which are rated higher in meanness than the crippling tactics of the higher castes.

More important notions those opposites of honesty, sincerity, sensitivity, fairness, humanity and compassion are like a boon to us, which like a big hill press down on the lower strata. It keeps them in their place when used under the umbrella of Dharma. Why not show them their place? They are getting out of their skins. Just take their skins off! And they will get back into their skins with a lightning speed! What? You have done it! Congratulations! They should not get too big for their boots.

The things should not get out of their place. There is place for everybody in society - predetermined. Everything should be in its place. Do not play with the predetermined placing! You would be playing with fire! Wow! Burnt hands! We told you so but you would not listen, you seem to be apathetic to wise suggestions.

Everything should be in its due place like table, chair, cupboard, clothes, doors, walls and Varna! What would you do if something gets out of its rightful place in a righteous society? You force it back - the higher things in higher place and the lower things in lower place! Right answer! The famished people should be kept famished. The impurity should not be given a chance to mix with the purity. They have been dharmically incriminated for taking birth in the low castes. Therefore, they shall pay through their blood, sweet

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and mutilated honor. And they start paying right from birth. Such a nice arrangement! Their whole life is spent in making payment to this dharmic society. That is the discrimination via incrimination. Long live such a wretched system.

These howling lowly creatures are under the impression that their howling will scare us. How can an impure and famished howling scare the pure people? And the same goes for the impure and famished barking. Can an elephant be afraid of a dog? Never! The purity rules!

We, the pure people, know the malicious intents of these rascals. We will face these malicious intentions, and show them who is who! After all, we have to live an easy life.

Their happiness, if any, pierces our hearts, our minds and souls. And do not forget our charitable disposition. Straining such charitable disposition is not a pious act. Their happiness, if any, should be deeply buried or cremated. It looks better that way - dead. That is certainly the righteous way. They should do their caste duties as indicated in the Gita, and, not harass us. They do not have any other work than harassing us!

Any accusations of dishonesty, insincerity, unfairness, crookedness, ruthlessness and insensitivity cause embarrassing and heartfelt pains to us, the pure people. After all, the pure and pious people cannot possess these impure attributes. The impure attributes belong to the impure people, not to us. The accusations are not at all harmonious acts and logically they should be in reverse direction. These lowly and born insulted people have started thinking too much. Growing too big for their boot! Certainly the divine retribution would visit them. Since, we, the pure people do not possess any such bad qualities, they are aiming at nothing. They are spitting at the sky, which would come back down to them. Since the accusations are aimed at nothing; the embarrassments and pain should not exist. But the accusations are opposed vehemently! For the reasons not known! The grandeur of logic dazzles brightly which blinds the eyes and minds.

The happiness, the crooked and impure happiness, which spreads all over the faces of the Untouchables at the sight of modernity, should be demolished at once. We do not want any crooked and impure things to exist in our pure society. But anyway

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we have appropriated the modernity also and use it as a facade for our true and pure feelings. They are still at the stinking bottom of the heap where we intend to keep them eternally. After all, we have the eternal Dharma on our side. And who says there should not be economic development? It must be there; but we, the pure people, would leave them only the leftovers in industrialization; see, that is what they are made for - the leftovers; it has been purely dharmic for thousands of years, we will maintain our Dharma even in the case of stupendous industrialization. Those who undermine the pure people are living in a world full of fantasies. And surely we would keep some lower strata people in good condition to show the world that we believe in the modern world and there are no crippling discriminations but those would be pure exceptions. By and large the situation would not change. They stay where they were and are. And the exception proves the rule. The industrial economy or the agricultural economy - the Untouchables get the leftovers. Period.

We, the pure people, do not want anything for ourselves. We want only the purely divine Dharma to be maintained. We want only glorious traditions which are hall mark of our culture to be maintained. We want glorious heritage which rains glory on us and insults on the lower strata. These are our roots. What is the sense in living without the roots? A rootless man is lost in society forever. What is a rotten man without rotten roots? What is a pure man without pure roots? What is an impure man without impure roots? Being without roots is meaningless and that is what we, the pure people, want to erase. Without roots? The roots are what matter! Actually, we are doing favor to people without asking anything in return. We want only birth-attached rights for everyone. It is for the good of everyone and for harmony. We have the welfare of society at the core of our hearts. It is a totally unselfish act. There should be some meaning to life, and that can only be attained by behaving according to one's root. That should make this world very beautiful and fabulous, and, without any conflict. The peace would reign anywhere along with the harmony. Don't you want that?

We want the change to come at the speed of a snail to cover the distance of thousands of miles. The speed of a tortoise would be very fast and uncomfortable to us. And, trust the snail to do it; we the pure people believe in snail's abilities, and, in the eternally delayed

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change. Long live the society of thousands years and of injustice and of insults and of the penury; there should be no break in between!

God has sent these people to serve us. We did not ask them to be born as the Shudras and the Untouchables. It is the bidding of God; we cannot be at fault. Purely faultless we are. It comes from the highest authority in the Universe and you dare to defy it!

Doubting the pure people and their intentions is outlawed unofficially and also officially. Anyway, plainly speaking, it is banned.

The divine Dharma is built on the fabulous and formidable foundations which are not shakable by the efforts of these dirty and filthy people who always harp on the silly and sly notion of equality and respect. We are not against the modernism but we will take only that portion which is beneficial to us. Or to say we will take only what is good in it. We shall have benefits of its technology to the exclusion of anything else. Nice policy! After all, we are nice and pure people we only believe in what is good for us and Dharma. The notions of equality and fairness we do not include because these are meant for creeps. Always remember you are dealing with the pure people; and, impure people should take this into consideration while dealing with us. You worms and vermin! The leftovers for you!

Crude people with crude and crass mentalities are out to destroy our beautiful world. These people with banned entry into our beautiful world are jealous of us. The beauty of the wonderful caste world (for us the pure people) shall not suffer. Deeply logical and aesthetic thinking! Is there any idiot who disagrees with this? Those who disagree with it are fools and we have nothing to do with such fools. Any sane person would do this. They are jealous of our intelligence, bravery and business acumen because they have none of these. We have crippled them enough so that can have none of these. Clap, clap - the silent sound of no hand clapping follows - clearly evident in the twinkling pure eyes. All this gives them an easy life. After all, all this is birth-attached though artificial.

This unnatural and freak concept of equality is a ploy to usurp our rightful place. We do not want his. We want to maintain our rightful place and give others their traditionally rightful place. Everyone should be in his rightful place. That is all we want. This is nothing much. Only little we want. This little traditional and

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righteously right demand should not cause any uproar! We want only serene and harmonious society.

Do not poke your dirty nose in the higher-level schemes. Insects do not have important places in the higher level designs. You would get a bleeding nose which would bite the dust.

Our sublime heights are too much for these wretched empty bellied Untouchables placed at the bottom of society because of their sinful karmas of all their past lives. It is another thing we also have not been able to exactly find any such karmas. But that is not needed because in Hindu society the word is proof. Any hypothesis which helps Dharma is a great divine law. And we use the litmus papers to clean ourselves after serving a nature's call. That is righteousness. That is the perfect use of litmus papers of any kinds.

The turpitude of these modern thoughts is despicable. Our ancient wise people knew this. Therefore, they kept these out. Don't know, where from these despicable people learn all these things! It must be from the decadent West. It is another thing that all of us pure people want to send our children to decadent West. Some things are really unfathomable! To fathom, all these, this you must know the subtlest art of differentiating the things - one thing is one thing and another thing is another thing - simple! If you do not understand this then your stupidity is boundless. Period.

The serenity of dharmic waters is under threat from the turbulency of such insidious thoughts. These worms dare to turn! They must be under the influence of dark forces. They are intoxicated by the ideas of equality, fairness and respect; they are not in their senses; their senses should be brought back. They are forgetting their servility! In our time tested system; they have never turned. Our cowardly villages moved from here to there to avoid facing the enemy, but that does not matter. Now they dare? But don't you worry. The history is on our side. They have never won. They never will. These rotten filthy dirty rascals!

Actually, they should follow the rules of Dharma, and create a friendly, dharmic and harmonious society which is good for everybody, and where they are forever condemned servants. They should follow the principle of greatest good for all. Don't they know the crippling Dharma is all inclusive! Dharma includes lower strata people as condemned servants! They should not undertake any

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activity which creates heartburn and anger in the pure people. See the pure people should not suffer, whatever happens to others. The crux of the matter is Dharma, under the cover of which the interests of everybody who matters are safe. Surely, the lower two strata matter as much as insects.

And, if you impure people do not follow Dharma, then, we will see to it that the peace deserts your crippled lives and trouble takes its place. Beware of the wrath of Dharma. It seems that you have not been crippled enough as you are forgetting your true and righteous place in society. You insects dare to break harmony in the pious society! We will break your heads. How many? It depends on how many takes it to quieten you. Make room for harmony in society or else! What? You think that you things have become dignified? That is the funniest joke we have heard in thousands of years! Don't make us laugh. Get real, man! Face the reality. You are the dustbin of Hindu society. Such a dream is not good for your well being. See, the shoe cannot be worn on the head even if it is invaluable. The legs cannot be above the shoulders. You cannot follow this simple logic! No matter, you are such an ignorant fool. You should better stick to the rules of society. Learn to live with Dharma - you insects, vermin! A dharmic harmony is what we need and that is what matters! The shoe and feet should know their true place in society and trust it. Trust it and it will bring you salvation as given in the Gita.

Their overwrought hearts should not suffer because of adharmic acts of the lower strata so a few impure, polluting men should die bringing grieving in high caste hearts to an end. All is well that ends well, dharmically.

Their deep feelings should not be hurt otherwise the blood should spill on the road. Not theirs - you fool! It is others' blood which should flow on the earth. Got it? It is a one sided show. This is enforcement of harmony at its best. Now do not sulk like a child in the corner - come and help to maintain the harmony. Be a sport, and smile in the cause of Dharma - you sinful man. We are not asking much, only a little respect, which you should show by crawling on the ground and by not growing beyond your skins. Is this too much to ask from the insects?

These uncouth, impatient and heathen people cannot wait until their next birth? They shall not be in such a hurry. Do not they

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know that serving Dharma with servility is their birth-attached function? They must virtuously follow their Dharma function until they die. And they die. What an escape! But no cause of worry because their next generation is there to be servants again of pure people!

You see, the pure people are so sensitive and compassionate that they allow these people to serve them! A divine level humanity!

The pure and fine brains are unable to believe that the low caste can be incredulously ungrateful to divine Dharma. What else do they want other than Moksha, not the Maya which is meant solely for us - easy life, easy money, east respect and what not. Their forefathers waited for the next birth. Why cannot they? Why are they in such a hurry? It must be due to modern education which came from the decadent West. And we send our children to English medium schools – simple to understand.

The crystal-cut clarity about the notions of Varna and Dharma given in Dharma Shashtras is impressive. What makes it important is that its sickening persistence can be seen till date. It is due to coercive forces of village caste Panchayats, insulated, isolated and cowardly villages, and, control of high castes over the resources. Add the use of paranormal powers of the Brahmans for this great cause.

Who knows humanity better than we do? Every day we hang it outside the temples, in any villages, at any village well and in the village streets.

We hang it anywhere we want. Their welfare is held in abeyance for a while; the while that

extends up to eternity. This while is worth waiting for. The improvement in their welfare is eternally deferred to next birth that is hardly tangible; it is not a fraud; it is not swindling; it is not a hoax; it is not deception; you should know. This eternal deferment of welfare comes from the unimpeachable divine sources - from the top of Hindu society. Doubting them would be an affront to their unimpeachable integrity, honesty, intents and piousity - it would be purely blasphemous. The history of India is a rock solid proof of it.

Anyway, it is a ploy to fool people. And famished people are willingly fooled. It is not surprisingly at all. From where the famished people are going to get the real education when the gates are closed?

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What they teach is the curtailment of ambitions, aspirations and dreams of the lower strata so that they can have easy life. The lousy dreams of equality should be shunned by the virtuous Shudras and the virtuous Untouchables. The vitiating thoughts about freedom and choice should be tracked and thrown into the dustbin after cutting their necks. It is good for society controlled by the pure people. Is it not? It is the traditional and unofficial India.

The mitigation of sufferings does not exist. Why should it? It has no reason to exist. Out with this mitigation. After all, the tradition is something. The sufferings of the Untouchables are always increasing and are co-terminus only with death. Please, not a drop of tear should roll down your cheeks because it would hurt the divine Dharma. These heathen people deserve it for the unknown reasons. Dharma knows the best.

All the scriptures and traditions are slandering campaigns by the higher strata against the lower strata that aim to launder the image of the higher strata. The whole system is a slandering one against the lower strata. The hate is spread all over.

There is no pleasing of Dharma. Only the total servility of lower caste people can appease it. This is stone hearted divinity created by the cruel and ruthless lawmakers.

The absence of honesty, fairness and sensitivity is never felt in Hindu society because it is a way of life. You will not find many people desperately missing them. Righteous, are they not?

And the lower strata should not forget about the incredible gratitude they owe to the sensitive and fair upper castes, for eating the cow dung grain.

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9. IN THE DEFENSE OF VARNA DHARMA?

The Varna system is highly exploitative, discriminatory, derogatory and crippling but according to some people, it is a simple division of labor. It never runs short of defenders. Everyone is doing the job he is most suitable. However, it can be a division of function between rulers, traders and servants etc. It cannot be division of labor in industrial sense. It is so because the Varna system was born in primitive agrarian conditions where no particular specialization of labor was needed. Anybody could do any job with little learning. The ancient technology did not require an advanced degree in rocket engineering to perform any job. The job of potter or forger could be performed by anybody. In case it was a simple labor division then the labor or function should have determined the Varna but it does not. Remember, according to the scriptures the Varnas were born neither developed nor evolved out of any historical process.

Then there are some defenders of Varna Dharma who claim that Varna of a man is not based on birth. Here, the first issue is that the Varna is a group and defining any individual separately makes little sense. We will examine it but before that, it is necessary to show how the Varna is actually determined.

There are some people who argue that the real Sanatana Dharma or Hindu Dharma is as given in the Rig Veda little forgetting that religion of Rig Vedic people was called Rta which died along with the Rig Vedic mode of life with the import of agriculture into the Aryan society from the then natives of India. We know that the Rig Vedic religion Rta is not the same as the Sanatana Hindu Dharma.

There are people who don't even talk about the Varna Dharma or Jati Dharma. They simply stick to their own definition of Dharma which excludes any notion of Varna or caste. Their Dharma is made up of normal Dharma that means only normal duties and other normal bad activities or vices like cheating, stealing, being virtuous etc. But all these normal duties (Dharma?) are given elsewhere also like cheating is bad, stealing is bad, killing is bad, conspiracy is bad etc. And for this, they try to take all the credit of

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teaching all the good things to all the civilizations in the world. They are very fond of quoting and discussing the epic Mahabharata and define their Dharma on its basis and define all the duties based on it - son's Dharma, wife's Dharma, father's Dharma, brother's Dharma, king's Dharma etc. They define the justice based on the events given in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. For them the eighty percent of Hindus are non-existent, and you do not write anything about non-existent people. Do you? This may also be a ploy to hide the true nature of Dharma which includes the Varna Dharma. The lower strata do not exist for them and they try to hide them from the students of Hindu religion. They try to pass Dharma as applicable to individuals as the real Dharma. Normally they are successful also but any discussion about Dharma is not complete without the inclusion of Varna Dharma. These epics and these commentators do not discuss the dos and don'ts of Varna system as applicable to different Varnas and castes. It is very odd since the greatest Dharma is said to be the Jati Dharma (caste-Dharma).

Now we may turn to determination or predetermination of Varna. Were the Varnas birth based or not? When the Varna of an individual is determined is very simple. It is defined at birth time. A toddler has a Varna of his parents and caste of his parents. Both the parents should be from the same Varna. Two Varnas cannot combine and form a Varna because there are only four Varnas and fifth Varna does not exist. Such a combination is called Varna-Sankar or a hybrid which is a lowly term in the Hindu scriptures. The Varnas are defined as groups and not as individuals. You cannot choose your parents and thus you cannot choose your Varna or caste; you are born with it. There is no process given in the scriptures of changing someone's caste and/or Varna. Whatever is given is applicable to kings who were in a position to give the land grants.

The Manu Dharma (the way of life permitted in Manusmriti) is also defended as the Manav Dharma which is by its inherent purity and goodness is supposed to be applicable to all men, in all the times and in all the places - what grandiose ambitions! A crippling system and so ambitious! It is beyond understanding. A general way of living without any justice causing insults to certain groups for no cause! Remaining within the limits of eternity is not its goal. It goes beyond. It is limitless, but within the limits of understanding of the logicless

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proponents of Varna Dharma! However, one should expect that such a Manav Dharma treatise should include a definition of Manav or man or at least man in the form of an individual should be at its center. But it is not so. In the Manusmriti, it is nowhere described that who is Manav (human) and what are his rights and duties. The rights and duties are combined in one term which is "function”. The definition is simply missing from it. It is not indicated that who is this Manav among all the four Varnas. If all of them are human beings, then why should they not have the same human Dharma and follow the same commandments? Why should they follow unequal commandments?

If they have to follow the different Dharmas then that does not really make them the same? In that case, the defenders of Manusmriti cannot make a claim that it is a general code of conduct, for all the men all the times. Or they may have bypassed few pages of dictionary when finding the meaning of “general”.

The Hindu society is a caste-based society where the control of everything is acquired by the upper castes through the natural act of taking birth. This society is very effective in crippling the lower castes. A newborn upper caste child is predestined to be a controller and a newborn Shudra child a controlled servant. And nobody can change that. The indirect control over the lower castes is passed down on heredity basis. It cuts across the generations. The upper castes get this control through inheritance. The cosmic forces are put forwarded as the deciding and unquestionable reasons behind this.

Now we will see how the Varna of a man is to be determined? Well, the question how and when? Is it determined or predetermined? The Varna system regulations are described in the Baudhayan sutra and the Apstambha sutra. The tradition of these is carried on in the Manusmriti. The later Dharma Shastras carried on the cruel and derogatory traditions with an unparalleled vengeance. The Manusmriti, the most authentic of Dharma Shastras can help us in understanding the determination of Varna. Apart from the endogamous nature of different Varnas, there is loathing abhorrence for the Varna-Sankars (people having mixed Varnas or parents from different Varnas) in the Manusmriti. This abhorrence also exists in the great spiritual epitome of Sanatana Dharma, the inestimable Gita. A Varna-Sankar is an offspring of parents belonging to different

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Varnas. According to both the scriptures, the emergence of Varna-Sankar should be prevented as it causes corruption, contamination or destruction of Dharma. The presence of Varna-Sankars makes the world unsafe for Dharma. It offends Dharma. Dharma can be destroyed or corrupted by the emergence of Varna-Sankar people. The concept and the presence of Varna-Sankar are antagonists to Dharma. Therefore, any Varna-Sankar is anti-Dharma in nature. Dharma would like to see the extinction of the Varna-Sankars and prevent them from emerging altogether. Therefore, Dharma aims to prevent marriages between two different Varnas, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly by calling them aDharmic. A Varna-Sankar person is without Varna and not entitled to one. Also, he is not entitled to any Vedic rites. The Varna-Sankars are unwanted. A dharmic and obsessive abhorrence to Varna-Sankar implies that only the people belonging to same Varna can marry; else Dharma would be destroyed. Dharma as given in the Mahabharata, simply, does not talk about this - but by closing the eyes, the Varna Dharma does not disappear. The subjugation does not disappear in the unofficial India.

The Manusmriti is very clear that only those offspring who have the father and the mother from the same Varna can inherit their Varna and not the others. A person has true Varna only if he has the parents from the same Varna. Otherwise, he is a Varna-Sankar. Dharma Shastras are very clear that there are only four Varnas and there exists no fifth Varna. Therefore, no additional Varna can be created through inter-Varna marriages. A Varna-Sankar is without any Varna and is deprived of any Vedic rites and ceremonies. It also deprives them of any status in society. It means that the Varna is decided by the pure parentage, or, in other words purely by birth. The parentage of a pure Varna cannot come from any other Varna; note.

As a derivation of Varna, the caste (sub-varna) can only be determined by birth. The Manusmriti allows the higher Varna men to marry lower Varna women, as a matter of subordination of lower Varnas. It is a clear indication of who rules over whom! It is called Anuloma marriage. The children born out of such marriages are not allowed to have their father's Varna. They are Varna-Sankar and they are called base-born. They are assigned the jobs which are not done by the twice born, which makes them effectively Shudras since the

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only jobs then left to them are that of the Shudras'. The children from such marriages have no place in society, as no family from pure Varna would be willing to marry them. So their lineage stops or to find life partners they are forced to go to the Shudra level and then remain there. This veritable threat of degrading to Shudra level prevents effectively the Anuloma marriages though it is kept as a symbol of demeaning and disparaging subordination of lower Varnas to higher Varnas. The respect of lower Varnas bites the dust.

The marriage in opposite direction, where man is from lower Varna and woman is from higher Varna is called the Pratiloma marriage. The Anuloma marriage implies the subordination of lower Varnas to higher Varnas and Pratiloma marriage implies an insubordination to higher Varnas. The Pratiloma marriages are straight forwardly outlawed by the Manusmriti. The children born out of such marriages are classified as outcastes and such a classification ultimately makes them to degrade to the fifth stratum of the Untouchables. Anybody involved in such an act of insubordination is consigned to the level of Untouchables, a punishment for life until death, which is carried forward to the next generations through inheritance. They are condemned forever. The eternity in this eternal religion has some meaning!

Thus, we find that the Varna is determined by birth because true Varna comes only from the same Varna. Anybody violating the endogamy of Varna was punished by outcasting, pauperizing and excommunicating for whole life including his progenies and their progenies and so on; whole coming lineage was affected. The people with the equal level of relative purity were supposed to marry each other; otherwise the impurities would prevail which would corrupt the Dharma and the Varna. Otherwise cosmic order would become under a threat and may ultimately collapse. Do I see the tears in pure and pious eyes whose ethical owners do not mind crippling the lower castes?

Some people claim that the Varna system is simply a division of labor. Actually, it is enforced labor division; any diversion from the division is directly or indirectly punishable. It was an occupational and social encagement caused by the non-transferability of occupation or Varna. The non-transferability of occupations across the castes presents itself as labor specialization – the illusion; the real

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thing is non-transferability. If it is simple division of labor then why there are limitations on Varnas about education and studying sacred scriptures? Anybody crossing these limitations was punishable. The crippling limitations tell that it was not a natural and free division of labor with a choice; there was no choice; the blood of butchered choice is spread all over Hindu streets. The movement of labor was caged by the isolating caste system. No lower castes were allowed to transcend their social space and economic space. This is a scientific (?) and forced, if any, division of labor, without any logical movement labor!

In the natural division of labor, there are no artificial crippling limitations to make easy the life of certain people – these people got everything without efforts. Further, it was not essential to be a specialist to perform any production activity in an agrarian economy. The upper castes that controlled the land and the capital in society did not provide any labor. Therefore, any division of labor if it was; it was within the last two groups. If it was a simple division of labor then the Shudras could have simply changed their Varna at will by changing their occupation, which did not happen. And that was not allowed. Even the Buddha could not bring it about in society. Any such move would have required a reallocation of land, capital and authority which no higher Varna was willing to do. This division of labor was eternally binding. Anyway, the worth of a child is defined at the time of birth without having any idea about the abilities of the child. I told you earlier that the Hindu Society is very altruistic. It gives away the insulted status at the time of birth without asking and the cow dung grain is nothing to talk about! Here some are born insulted and some are born respected. The question of earned merit within closed doors never arose, and it was always bestowed irrevocably by birth. Now you know the importance of birth in Hindu society. It is not only a biological process; it predefines the life from cradle to death depending on your caste. And there is no such thing as earned-merit in the unofficial and traditional India. There is only caste merit. The caste merit meant easy money for high castes.

The division of labor is need based, not birth based. In the division of labor, any worker can change his occupation if he does not get enough to eat. Such a change or luxury is not permitted under

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the Varna system - it was binding - no choice. Any dumb Brahman was a genius because he had no choice! Any genius Untouchable was dumb because he had no choice! The real abilities of people were hidden under a veil called born-abilities. The job does not determine the Varna but the Varna determines the job. The determination is in sequence of birth, Varna, Caste and then occupation. How the number of Shudra children required to serve the higher Varna was going to be known? Was there any excess or not? If ironsmiths were more required then they were to be born in higher number and only gods could guarantee it - no doubt it was called divinely ordained system. If the barbers were needed in fewer number than required then what was the alternative? The heredity occupations caused such anomalies and created economic inefficiencies. It was actually unmatched division of labor with actual demands for it. This created inefficiencies in society and economy. And the lower strata paid for it while upper strata earned the rent. It was also a birth-based socially captive and caged labor system. A static system requires a static state or the anomalies would be created. Yes, that is called a state of harmony and social stability. It was enforced division of labor and thus a criminally enforced division of labor. Or the encagement, it was.

Now we will take into account is the non-transferability of occupations among different castes. This may throw some light on non-duality of caste and Varna. Each Varna has its related function in the Hindu society. Similarly, each caste has its function in society. The functions of castes and Varna are the same. Varna decides which caste is higher and which is lower, and then within the Varna the caste decides which occupation decides which caste is higher and which is lower. In Hindu society the scriptures (the traditional laws) define the Varna first and then their functions; it shows that the Varna is not function dependent but the functions are Varna dependent and Varnas were born. The functions are heredity specified for each inherited Varna; the actual occupation within a given Varna is dependent on the inherited caste. The non-transferability of jobs means that it was a forced and fake labor specialization. The Hindu religion has always been the religion of elites by birth.

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If the functions of castes and Varnas are the same and they are non-transferable then they have to be the same. The caste, being its derivative, resides within the Varna system. Nowhere in Hindu scriptures, it is said, that the functions are transferable among the different Varnas or castes. This non-transferability of functions implies that Varna and caste are the same; the caste or Jati is a further division of Varna as occupations are further division of functions. Similarly, the heredity nature of occupations implies that Varna and caste are not only the same; they are based on birth also. The endogamous nature of Varna and caste coincide with each other which reduces any further difference between them. There are four main Varnas but they are also divided into further castes, sub-caste and sub-sub-castes which belong to their respective Varna. There are many occupations related to any given function of society. The caste should be called sub-Varna. The stipulation that the molten lead should be poured into ears of a Shudra who has heard a single word of the sacred Vedas, points toward this non-transferability of function or occupations. In the absence of transferability of functions, it is impossible to port a man from lower Varna into any of the higher Varnas. His Varna remains what he was born with it. The further segmentation of society under the dominant Varna doctrine led to development of endogamous caste where the jobs became non-transferable.

The highest Varna was, in fact, blessed with the power with extreme strands of highest purity. The paranormal power and purity had to be acquired by taking birth in a particular Varna.

These people are decrying our time tested caste system. We, the upper castes with high ethics and high morals, and who are paragons of virtue, know that what these heathen people can do.

The dismal depths to which these lower caste people can descend under the influence of the slimy, sly and insidious creature called modernism is despicable. Under its influence, they turn aDharmic or heretics. It is a matter of grave concern to the pure and sacred Dharma. We, the pure people, are purely unselfish and do not care about ourselves. Our one and only one and unselfish concern is Dharma. We have such a pure and sacred objective. We do not want anything for ourselves. It is only Dharma we want to save. We have nothing against the low castes. We only want that they follow the

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sacred and the divine Dharma. And nothing more we want. Is it wrong to ask people to follow the sacred Dharma? This birth-attached ascendancy and descendancy is a piece of pure fiction. We have the immutable law of Karma according to which everyone gets what he deserves depending upon his cumulative karmas of past lives. We are not to be blamed. What? You want this to be established? You profane people! Do not you trust us? Do not you trust the integrity of our ancient Rishis and sages? Do not you trust the divinity? So what! If we created the specific divinity that favors us! How aDharmic can you get! We, the high caste people with unimpeachable integrity, ethics and morals, pass the judgment for the good of everyone in society. And don't look back into eyes - behave yourself. No doubt, you are suffering because of your past Karmas! In our pure and sacred system, the results decide the logic. The present defines the unseen, unconformable and unknown past. What you want exact linkage? You are getting too far! The divine retribution will get you in the direct form or indirect form. You get your just desert then why complain? It is the gruel waiting for you! We do not cause any atrocity; it is the divinity which punishes you for the aDharmic and bad deeds of your past lives; we the pure people are simply means to attain the divine objectives. It is gods’ will. You do not know! Why are you not as foolish as your ancestors? Those virtuous, nice, servile and condemned fellows never asked for any explanation! Anyway, we are not answerable to lowly scum.

The ostracization that makes a person an outcaste is equivalent to a prison system in society where the presence of a king is not needed to carry out the sentence. The society could collectively impose the punishment of ostracization which also deprived a man of any inheritance of any kind. The cruel and ghastly Panchayats were the handy tools to do this. The ostracized man was deprived of any social interaction and any economic means. He had no property and no employment. Nobody was supposed to interact with him, not even the Shudras. Thus, he had the Untouchables for the company and had to take up their jobs to survive. As the ostracized person lived among the Untouchables, and out of the village; he was effectively boycotted, he was no threat to Dharma and hence everybody was happy. Good riddance, it was.

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There are some defenders of the Varna Dharma who claim that Varna of a man is not birth based but depends on Karmas and Gunas (deeds and traits). Here, the first problem is that the Varna is a group entity and defining an individual separately makes little sense. Anyway, the strongest evidence against, dependence of Varna on karmas and Guna, is the endogamous nature of caste. If you completely break the endogamy, you break the caste. People belonging to a particular Jati refuse to marry outsiders and outsiders refuse to marry them. This makes Jati an enforced birth based system. However, we may see the arguments in favor of Guna (nature) based Varna. These people seem to imply that the Varna is different from the Jati. They put the Jati first and then try to allocate a Varna to it. Most probably, the Jatis have come out of Varnas. They consider the Varna a passive and theoretical structure only. But, they forget that any inter-mixing of Varnas is not allowed so an inter-mixing of castes is also not allowed. The Varna and caste superimpose upon each other nicely, as if though they are one and the same thing; the caste just has more details. They share more attributes in common with Varna then the differences.

Sanatana Dharma is full of hate. Its dirty proof is that certain people are kept outside the villages as they are considered as possessing polluting properties. Another proof is that the Untouchables cannot fetch water from the village well. And another proof is the anti-untouchability law of the Indian Constitution which represents the official India.

The silent lamenting of higher caste minds, can only be heard, by a truly empathic mind, when their right to look down on the low castes, is snatched. Their birth-attached right of demeaning the people is not a trivial one; it is the foundation of Sanatana Dharma. It is the spine of the caste and Varna system. They can go to any length to impose this demeaning traditional right. How can you take away the right which God has given to them? Certainly you cannot be so aDharmic or unrighteous? Can you be? No, no - it is a big and divine no. Did not somebody tell you that looking down on people is perfectly righteous and virtuous? It is. You should be aware of the sacred and pious ways of Hindu society. Only people with crass and insensitivity mentality would not be sympathetic to the pathetic conditions of upper caste minds when they have to take a

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retort from the low caste people. Any talk of equality brings grimaces and frowns across the scowling caste proud faces of pure people; any talk of equality should be shunned. Their minds groan and growl. Their soft hearts are cruelly crushed. These people! These heathen people would talk back now! The world is going to collapse. And many ways are created to explain their pious and sacred society which is supremely expert in throwing people out and disparaging them. It is a hallmark of a society where divisive forces operate along with the forces of hate.

The wheels of dirty minds of impure people turn and churn out the thoughts which demand the dirty and filthy equality, and squalid freedom from wearing tattered clothes, and want assured food supply - sheer dirty thoughts. The dirty people can have only filthy thoughts; their viciousness is beyond bounds. Must be some dirty aspects of modernism! The baseness of impure minds is limitless. Believe it!

The Guna defenders of Varna Dharma do not explain how a man born in lower caste can be allowed to have the privileges available to higher Varnas? The Varnas and privileges go hand in hand - separating them would be a mockery of the thousands of years old divine system and culture. The defenders do not consider it as mockery but treat it as a stout defense which cannot withstand the harmony of Varnas with the functions. Considering any Untouchable as Brahman is useless until Brahmanical functions, privileges and comforts are allowed to him. Do you want to mock a divine system? You would not if you were having pure, pious intentions and totally unselfish intentions at heart. And how a low born is to be included in the Brahman group? The Varna-Sankar progenies are abhorred in all the scriptures; the stress on purity of bloodlines is almost obsessive; inter-mixing of blood can destroy Dharma by pushing out the pure Varnas. It is simple, the more are the Varna-shankars meaning the less of the pure Varnas, and hence fewer people are eligible for performing of Vedic rituals. It should be remembered that there is no fifth Varna. However, Varna is a socially ranked group of similarly ranked endogamous Jatis as given in the scriptures with unchanging occupations. If nature (Guna) of man is going to decide his Varna then endogamous nature of Jatis has to break down. Anyway, the defenders of Varna Dharma may play this argument as joke on

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unsuspecting people - and there are many such people. When people are listening with the empty bellies, they cannot understand the joke.

These people want to rise up in society? In the Hindu society??? These filthy louts and fiends think that they can be equal to us, the pure people. What a miserable misunderstanding they are living in! They are just dreaming - pigs cannot fly. For your information, we, the pure people, are pleased to inform that you are just day dreaming on empty bellies. One day you will wake up. By that time, you must have banged your heads against invisible caste walls for a very long time, and realized that you do not have the purity to gain the entry, by that time you would be in the last stage of your life with little chance to do anything. Your dreams would be torn asunder. And your next generations will also undergo the same process. Period.

What a marvelous and delightful world! Is it not? Well, it is for pure people! Repeat - this world is for the pure people - the Sanatani world.

As far as the Gunas are concerned, there are three Gunas - Satvik, Rajsik and Tamsik. The Satvik Guna denotes purity, calmness, intelligence and renunciation. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by the Brahmans. The Rajsik Guna denotes power, vitality and dynamism. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by the Kshatriyas. The Tamsik Guna denotes darkness, ignorance and inertness. These qualities are supposed to be possessed by the Shudras. The third Varna of Vaisyas possesses a combination of Rajsik and Tamsik Gunas. It is like a combination of pure and impure. Different Varnas possess different Gunas. But it is not the same as saying that Gunas determine the Varna or the nature of a man decides his Varna and allow him an entry into higher Varna and provide him with all the functions of higher Varnas. Again, the causation as usual is wrong! Any Varna is a group entity. How to get included in that? Since the Varnas were born, the qualities were also born with them. Do the Gunas decide the Varna of a man and related privileges, discounting the group-based nature of castes/Varnas? Can the Gunas discount the group-based nature, which is blood related, of the castes and Varnas and make a hole in it for the entry of others? Can the individual Gunas override the caste and varna Gunas? The answer is a resounding series of “no”. Can a

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man from any of the Shudra Jatis possessing the Satvik Gunas belong to endogamous Brahman Varna? Answer is “no”. Does he have the right to study and teach Vedas? Does he have the right to guide a king in running his kingdom? Does he have the right to be revered by the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas? - No. Does he have the right to become priest of temples? – No. And biggest of them all - does he have the right to marry a Brahman girl? – No. This is the right that even the kings did not have. The Varna system does not operate in isolation. It comes with a complete baggage of privileges and crippling disabilities. All the Varnas are attached with respective privileges and disabilities. Defining the Varnas without privileges and disabilities is snobbish mockery. The conmen playing the tricks. It would be interesting to guess the number of Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas willing to extend him all these rights or privileges; it is a man against the higher level groups. The number of such people would be zero. In other words, the function of a Satvik Shudra remains to serve the higher Varnas with servility. And no Guna-based hypothesis can change that. The doors are closed. Period.

As long as such a man exists in the arguments of defenders of Varna system there is no problem. However, the moment such a Shudra possessing Satvik Gunas presents himself in the physical form, the problems start. The first problem, he would have to go through thread ceremony to become a Brahman that no Brahman would perform. The second problem, all the Brahman families would refuse to give him a girl in marriage. They would even refuse to dine with him. The Kshatriyas would refuse to honor him and refuse to touch his feet. The Vaisyas would also refuse to honor him and refuse to touch his feet. The Kshatriyas and Vaisyas would refuse to dine with him, walk with him and sit with him. Offering a girl in marriage cannot even be thought of. What a despicable thought! None of the higher three Varnas would be willing to cross the first stage of walking and talking with him. And marrying him in their Varna is a farfetched idea. The doors are closed. And the Gunas … … …

He is rejected by higher Varnas on all counts. The closed gates policy is clearly at work; so is the caste effect. These walls of rejection are non-negotiable. Therefore, after facing the rejection from all the sides he is back to being a Shudra; from where he has

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never actually moved! Entry of a single man in a higher level group is not possible. Therefore, the claim that a man born in a Shudra Jati possessing Satvik Gunas belongs to Brahman Varna, is grand fable, which falls flat on its face when applied against the facts. Hindu society is full of such concepts which cannot be established. Such a man exists in the foxy arguments of the defenders of the Varna Dharma not in their hearts and hardly any of them is related to such a Shudra. There he is - simply non-existent. Even the Gita does not provide a way of handling the baggage associated with God-created-Varnas or a way of entering into the higher Varna group by a competent individual. Please, remember the unseen crippling walls of the caste system. And people with an enforced penury are unable to penetrate these walls. They are kept where they should be. A Shudra having Satvik qualities can be a Brahman; but to whom nobody gives respect, with whom nobody intermingles, has no rights to property, has no right to education, not eligible for marriage into the Brahmans and the one whom everybody insults without a fault - strange kind of Brahman while only four Varnas are there.

There is also another misconception, which is advanced as a defense of Varna Dharma by its defenders, that the deeds of a man determine his Varna. Again, these people are confusing between group and individual. They try to apply the individualistic analysis to groups. There is no possibility of such a process by which, a person performing related group activities, becomes a part of another group, without taking birth in it. A Shudra will never be allowed to perform the functions of Brahmans. To begin with, the Brahman (group) would not be willing to teach him the Vedas and other ritualistic rites. If a Shudra is brave enough, he should be included in the Kshatriyas (group) and have the privileges available to that group. The deeds speak for themselves but unfortunately not in the Hindu society. Again, there would be problems because no Kshatriya would be willing to give him a girl in the marriage. No Kshatriya would be willing to sit and dine with him. So he is back to being a Shudra. The Varna system comes with attached baggage - not alone. At the most, a brave Shudra would be called a goon, a rogue or a robber but nothing more than that. On the other hand, a Kshatriya is called the brave and the warrior since his birth. A brave Shudra lives among Shudras, and marries among them. But can he be called Kshatriya-

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Shudra? No, he cannot be called Kshatriya-Shudra because there are only four Varnas and Kshatriya-Shudra is not one of them.

The Gunas and deed hypothesis comes a cropper when matched against the facts. They end up being mockeries.

Another misconception which comes out of forts of defenders of Varna system is that everybody is a Shudra when born, and the Sanskars (rituals) make him a twice born. So when born a Brahman boy is Shudra. The thread ceremony makes him pure and a Brahman. Any Shudra caste touch is not allowed to him when he is Shudra! If it is that simple then all the Shudras can be converted into Brahmans by investing them with thread ceremony. But the Shudras, with their impure origin, are not eligible for thread ceremony - the inherent impurities cannot be removed by thread ceremony. A Brahman boy and a Shudra boy are two different entities since birth and because of birth. A Shudra Brahman is a contradiction of terms. And, again only four Varnas are allowed. There can be no Shudra-Brahman Varna. Another defense which comes a cropper!

What is on offer from the defenders of Varna Dharma, is a series of hypotheses, which are never established. In fact, these views cannot be established.

There are some people who disown the Manusmriti completely. They say that the real Hindu Dharma is not given in Manusmriti but in the Rig Veda. These people wear Rig Vedic blinkers. However, we know that Hindu Dharma known as Sanatana Dharma did not exist in the Rig Vedic times. The Rig Vedic religion was called the Rta, not the Sanatana Dharma. It was a cosmic order like Sanatana Dharma but it was different. The Rig Vedic people did have the activities of butchering and skinning but these were not called polluting or Untouchable activities. The Rig Vedic society was characterized by the absence of Varnas or any such group claiming privileges by inheritance. It was an egalitarian society without agriculture. The inequalities of groups had no role to play there since groups themselves were not there. Each tribe was made of people who were kith and kin of each other. It was a commune system of living where everything was shared equally on community basis.

It should be remembered that the Purusha Sukta does not really belong to Rig Vedic times. The Rig Veda can be regarded as rigged. The sanctity of the Rig Veda had been defiled!!! Though

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Purush Sukta belongs to the Rig Veda, it was a later addition during later Vedic times when the different Varnas had come into existence. Do not know what punishments the defilers met with and what punishments the followers of defilers are going to meet with? May be they were reborn as worms. Anybody believing such a rigged scripture is sure to got to hell or reborn as a vermin. Anyway, anybody believing in the Rig Veda should be willing to inter-marry with the scavengers and if all the Hindus are to be treated as a part of single Rig Vedic community. If they are not willing to do it and show it by trend setting examples then they do not believe in the Rig Veda but in Chaturvarna system of Sanatana Dharma with its notions of inherent purity and pollution and privileges and disabilities. The Rig Vedic system and the Chaturvarna system are two completely different systems - note.

If Rig Vedic religion is true Hindu religion then accordingly the Varna Dharma was a simple division of labor where each one did the job he was most suitable for. In this system any occupation could not be imposed on any individual. It is interesting to note that we have labor specialization in a community of cattle rearing people where the only job was to graze the cattle!!! Labor specialization means a technology of a very high level where as the Rig Vedic people could not even master agriculture. However, according to such a point of view all the malpractices crept in later due to vested interests. If that is the case then they are discounting and disowning what happened during last three thousand years, which is a very long period of time, indeed. During this time, the real things have happened to real people while the elites have enjoyed the Maya. They should not have enjoyed the Maya while people (?) were suffering. However, the argument goes further that we should go back to Rig Vedic Dharma by discounting or removing the malpractices or distortions which crept in later without talking about justice to sufferers. However, in doing so they are making a jump from Rig Vedic times to modern times - a jump of 3000 years!!! That also amounts to saying that nothing has happened during last 3000 years and everything should be forgotten. Willing to wipe out 3000 years! Their ultra rationality is astounding; it leaves me bewildering! What are called anomalies or rigidities are nothing but the natural results of the crystallization of the Varna Dharma. For all the alleged

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anomalies, they blame the vested interests; they do not blame the original formulators of the Varna Dharma, its cruel perpetrators, the lawmakers and the masters of statecraft. The original formulators of Varna Dharma, the lawmakers, the Brahmans, lived not during the Rig Vedic times but afterward. Then they went and rigged the Rig Veda by inserting the Purusha Sukta to justify the newly formulated discriminatory Varna Dharma and to claim divine superiority. It was done after appearance of Shudra Varna on the horizon. This froze the number of Varnas to four.

However, such people who advocate the purity of Rig Vedic times do not make any attempt to identify the vested interests that introduced malpractices in such a pure and simple system of division of labor, in a cattle rearing economy, which was independent of any inheritance factor. These vested interests developed it into an inheritable set of privileges and crippling disabilities. But agreeing to the existence of vested interests amounts to saying that their ancestors who benefitted from such malpractices lived a life full of lies, cheating and deceits for a period of about 2500 years because they acted against the guidance of the Rig Veda or rigged it for their personal and group interests. The punishment for defiling the sanctity of the most sacred of the Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda, should be considerable irrespective of any Varna involved in rigging it. It would be interesting to note that how such a punishment is meted out to such aDharmic people! However, coming back to the malpractices, these were introduced to perpetuate their group privileges and impose crippling disabilities on others. These provided for committing the atrocities on the Shudras and the Untouchables, in the name of Dharma, but actually, in their own interests – the interests of Dharma means their own interests. Brahmans’ interests and Dharma’s interests are the same. Try separating them. Anyway, it is strange that people forget their Rig Vedic roots of equality and live a life full of deceit and lies for the generations altogether without feeling a little bit guilty. On the contrary, such people are proud of it. These people cannot be said to be unwilling partners of the so-called vested interests because they proudly and happily benefitted from the alleged malpractices without raising any objections.

It also means that the later Hindu scriptures other than the Rig Veda are big bundles of lies though they governed the lives of

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Hindus for 3000 years. Managing the lives of people through lies! Thus, it means that somebody is lying, either the defenders of the Rig Veda or the people who created later scriptures. Clearly, it is not God who is lying because God, if any, cannot lie and cannot discriminate. It has to be people who created the Vedas and other Dharma Shashtras. Thus, the present generations of these so-called vested interests have inherited a culture which is full of deceptive, brutal, cruel, sly, cunning, vile, crooked, devious, exploitative and insulting ways. If they lived a life as enumerated in Manusmriti then still they lived a life full of deceits, lies and cruelties. Such a culture gallantly grew out of their malafide, perverted and cruel intentions.

These lower caste people insist on set-up that is contrary to Dharma and utterly nonsensical rubbish. These people are doubting Dharma which their condemned and ignorant ancestor never did. Can their forefathers be wrong? No! Not at all! Their forefathers might have taken the birth of worms, insect etc. But these people are certainly going to hell, straight.

The grading of function/occupations also had effect on people's marriages in general along with the developing of endogamy and gotra (paternal lineage) exogamy. The endogamy and hypogamy were developed, through emergence of higher Varnas, as the standing symbol of subordination of lower Varna. Then it spread to other occupations resulting in development of Jatis - the occupational endogamous groups. Here the occupation/function also became inheritable. The general rule is that the marriage should be among equals and familiar though there may be exceptions to the rule. The unequal or unfamiliar people generally do not marry each other. When the occupations are not equal, the people engaged in them are also not supposedly equal. The people belonging to different occupations could not marry each other. It happened under the dominant Varna doctrine which held that no man could hold two occupations at the same time. Therefore, any man from any group could not hold two jobs at the same time. This may be called the inductive effect of the dominant doctrine.

Actually, the people were refused marriage by the people occupationally superior to them. They themselves refused to marry people occupationally inferior to them. Therefore, the only course available to them was to marry the people from within their own

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occupational categories. Thus, endogamous Jatis emerged through mimicking the dominant Varna doctrine. The powers that be treated others on the basis of occupations and thus graded the occupations as they themselves were divided by the occupations. Let us recall that according to grading three Varnas are on top as the Brahmans, the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas. The grading in the artisans had to be on the need basis and skill basis. The goldsmith and the ironsmith required higher skills and knowledge so they were higher level Shudras and basket weavers were the lower level Shudras. The skills of Chamars and scavengers were not needed by the Brahmans directly (the Brahman refused to touch the leather and of course the excreta) and hence these became the lower level jobs and ultimately the Untouchable jobs. The refusal of the Brahmans to touch many objects made them the lower level objects, and, their makers as lower level people. The refusal of the Brahmans to touch people from certain caste made these castes Untouchables. The Brahmans guided society and the kings, and in addition the caste councils in the insulated villages. The inequality of hereditary occupations was automatically passed on to the gradation of people. An inherently inferior occupation makes one inherently impure and inherently inferior. These occupations or functions are not changeable. In the Gita, these functions are called swa-Dharma. Each Varna has its swa-Dharma which is unchangeable. Nobody ever thought whether this swa-dharma served their interests!

The endogamy most probably started with Brahmans and not with the Shudra artisans. The endogamy started most probably as a matter of honor - to keep them away and above the heathen people. The highest Varna was desirous of saving its women away from the heathen people but kept an eye on others' women – highly strange! It run contrary to their innate high-level ethics and morals. Over a long period of time, the ratio of men to women is one to one. All the Brahman girls were supposed to be married to Brahmans. Thus, all the Brahmans got married and there was no need for them to marry outside; they had sufficient girls in their group to marry. Thus, a full-scale endogamy came into existence. The full-scale endogamy was a forced feature of earlier Rig Vedic tribal society because communicating with other tribes was impossible. At that time, each person married within his/her tribe. From the Brahmans

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the endogamy percolated down again as a matter of honor among the lower Jatis. Each professional group had its relative honor to maintain depending upon its social rank. Each professional group refused to marry into professional groups below them and in turn faced refusal to marry from higher professional groups – thus the professional groups emerged Jatis or caste which was a transformation from professional groups to social groups. Therefore, endogamy became a basic feature without which the Varna system could not survive. The guidance of Brahmans lent a helping hand as they were the de facto lawmakers.

There are some people, who like to consider the immobile caste system as a gift from the British and Muslim periods. In other sagacious words, it was the result of foreign rule that corrupted the virtuous Varna system. The caste system before them was not supposed to be birth based in character. Wow! Never knew about it! Needs deep meditation! The knee deep! But they never tell about the fundamental structural changes brought about by these foreign forces. Again, it is one of those sagacious suggestions they cannot be established like the Karma Hypothesis. However, it seems that the foreigners came and provided the endogamous basis of Hindu social structure with retrospective effect; wow, not even the Absolute has this power in the Hindu religious thought; the foreigners should be actually worshiped for possessing such a power. Blaming them is a fanciful and self-satisfying thinking; it shifts the blame away from them also. Such an understanding of history and of Hindu social structure is so overwhelming that even stones shed some tears. It overwhelms the logic; here the convoluted logic comes into play. May be one would have to take the result to be axiomatic and presuppose the absolute existence of unimpeachable proof. And then do not try to find it because it is not there. The higher level people are not supposed to be questioned. Their words are the proof. The caste system has always unleashed powerful and controlling social, economical, political and religious forces to safeguard the heredity privileges of privileged people since ancient times. Just to make their lives easy - easy money, easy respect, easy domination, easy sexual preys. Oh, I forgot about the high-level ethics and high-level morals of high castes.

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Now let us see that how it is possible to arrive at caste through Varna system. The Varna doctrine had become the dominant one due to the paranormal power of Brahmans. Under this system, it is not possible for one individual to hold more than one occupation. Each Varna is endogamous. All the Varnas can take part in agriculture in various capacities. The Brahmans and the Kshatriyas are the land owners/holders, the Shudras are tillers, cultivators and the Untouchable are casual laborers. Apart from agriculture any Varna can do one and only one job.

These Varnas were graded. If there were many groups in a Varna then these had to be graded as well like in the case of Shudras where many occupations exist. One more factor is that the marriages take place generally among equals. We can take our starting position that before the crystallization of the Varna system there were no occupational endogamous groups and people generally married irrespective of their occupations. Now after crystallization of Varna system four major groups emerged which were endogamous and grade on basis of the purity paradigm and their occupation. Once the Varna became the dominant framework then the further segmentation could take place under its wings. Thus further segmentation led to emergence of groups where each individual could do only one job under the dominant grouping system of Varna. This individual could marry only among people who were following the same occupation because of equality. The inequality in marriage necessarily meant lowering the honor of one group; so it was to be avoided. The people generally marry among their equals, and the principle of one group one job, made people unequal; the people were drawn toward marrying people one of their own kinds that is marrying the person from the same professional group. Further grading took place on the basis of relative purity of caste occupation within the assigned Varna. He could not marry into other occupational groups as they were unequal and different on the basis of occupation. It was probably a long drawn out process. The same occupation led to fraternity and which led to marriages and ultimately sufficient marriages took place and there was no need to marry outside. This was the caste where anybody could not hold two occupations on the lines of Varna system; and it was endogamous. This is actually indirect labor specialization through marriages among

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similar people. The caste can be derived from the Varna and it is just a detailed dissection of the Varna system where the main structure is kept intact. They nicely superimpose on each other. There are more similarities then there are differences. The banning of sagotra marriage prevented the people from marrying the people from their own tribe thus breaking down the tribal culture. The people now had to marry in others gotras. The tribal bonds were no longer dependable. The only dependable bonds were in the occupational fraternity which led to development of caste system within Varnas.

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10. THE VILLAGE

This mammoth land with mammoth social, religious and economic cruelties land cannot be described without any mention of its inhuman, callous, insensitive, brutal and cruel villages. They are the epitomes of servility and disparaging wretchedness. The cowardly villages, with stinking caste system favoring elites, are spread all over. It is a shining proof of the glorious heritage of this spiritual land which mocks at the sunken faces of the lower strata; it mocks at their humiliation; it laughs at servile bowed down heads; it exploits them with Dharmic claws. And nobody cares. The villages are different in sizes; some are large and some are small. There are under populated and overpopulated villages. Some have housing clusters adjoining each other and some have disjointed housing clusters. The villages are imbibed with casteism that is the soul of the Hindu Dharma. The thrashed psyches of the Untouchables are buried under it. Their personalities are suffocated, their lives unbearable, their conditions hellish, their dignity tattered, their shadows polluting, their bellies empty, their selves insulted, minds uneducated, and they are followed everywhere by the insulting high caste eyes. And all this, is, under the name of divine, pure, sacred and eternal Sanatana Dharma. And the mainstream is proud of its heritage. The born-insulted have never experienced the pride. They are the worthless human beings.

A large part of population lives in rural areas - a little less than seventy percent. These villages, where the worth of certain human beings is equal to trash, were considered the epitome of self-sufficiency. The villages were thought to be stable, and, without any violence - peace reigned grandly in the favor of upper castes. The roaring railway engines pierced the calm, peaceful and serene soul of these villages, during the British period - it is alleged. The cruel roar of cruel engines harbored the voices of modernity that played the havoc with the independent ancient Varna Dharma, tormenting and gashing the soft and pure psyches of believers in superiority by birth. Earlier the people in the villages were perceived to be mutually cooperative while living in natural peace and harmony. They lived in a kind of innocence - away from the manipulative materialism of the West. And everything was in contrast to that except enforced tranquility. In such a system, everybody was well adjusted to his

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position in the eternally exploitative caste system. The social, economic and religious powers of the twiceborn were unchallenged - across the generations. The fort of the caste system was unassailable for thousands of years because of isolation and insulation of its villages where the wretched caste system thrived and thrived and thrived... The Untouchables were (or is it "are" and not "were") not supposed to take the breath properly for the fear of breaking the social equilibrium. The engines came and people buried under the crass social system started to take some breath, which caused unbearable and excruciating pains to the pious defenders of the Varna Dharma. Their souls creaked and ached.

Anyway, it was quite a merciful system where the lower castes lived at the mercy of the compassionate and pure upper castes. They were born in this system; and they accepted it as their true living condition, which was not far away from reality. It was a fait accompli. Their honor was ground to dust. It still is. The lower caste people lived a life resigned to their fate, and, a permanent piercing downward social thrust. Their cruel, twisted and wrenched destinies were written by the pious lawmakers, years ago, in the time unknown. The powerful towered above the wretched ones. The life, absolutely, produced no upward bounce. The life was quite lifeless for the Untouchables. Allowing the upward bounce would have been stinkingly aDharmic. Any summons from the high caste people created the trembles in the impure hearts. The trembling spread from head to toe. The skin shrank sensing terror. The fear along with uncertainty engulfed them and their families. The fear instills wisdom in impure people. The divine retribution fear, the fear of going hungry, the physical fear and the fear of paranormal power instilled the wisdom - the wisdom to be servile and be resigned to a condemned fate. The usefulness of servility dawns upon them very early in life - an Untouchable child is well prepared for servility in an environment of terror, ever lurking fear and the insults round the corner. The frightened legs move hastily with all the strength they could muster to the safe destinations and follow the orders. The fear takes a special liking for the frail, famished and utterly defenseless people. It fuses with them fully. And anything that can separate them is prevented by the closed gates policy of the Hindu society. Help them? You must be insane! Keeping them condemned was totally

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rational. And it was the sacred aim. The Hindu society cannot be said to be irrational when it comes to the interests of the elites. It is a righteous society!

Everybody knew his place in society and behaved accordingly. The lower caste people showed deference to higher caste people who showed it to still higher caste people. Contempt moved piously in the opposite direction. The Untouchables prostrated or crawled on the ground on which the upper caste people moved. They walked with their eyes downcast, head bowed down, shoulder stooped, meek gait, and sunken and hungry bellies, and torn out clothes; so that the Dharma was maintained. Their upright posture hurt Dharma; so it was avoided scrupulously. Contempt and hatred flowed downward and respect flowed upward. In this exchange the time stood still across the generations altogether. It is a dharmic way of exchanging pleasantries - few kicks at the backsides of the Untouchables. The insulting eyes follow them across the generations. And ears are ever ready to hear the expletives. The contemptuous looks also easily moved across the generations. The time stood still. The still time cuts across the generations. The still time needed a stiletto which arrived in the form of a railway engine.

It was a time of eternal exploitation and eternal bliss for the permanent dharmic exploiters across the generations. It was eternal Varna exploitation. At the bottom of society were the Untouchables who lived at the inauspicious southern end of the village or outside the southern end of the village. Or otherwise they lived in the areas which were least beneficial. For example, in the flood prone areas, they live on lower land; the higher castes live on high land. In water scarce areas, they live far away from the water source; the water abundant areas are occupied by the high castes.

Tempering with the soft and velvety temper of the higher castes can cause a terrible storm in their self-discipline. One should be mindful of it. The frowning pure faces are not good for the Untouchables. They start quivering when they face such frowning faces. The elusive, impure and malicious impure people with their wretched karmas dare to raise their heads against the pure and pious people with untraceable accumulated virtuous karmas of previous lives! There is no match - the pure would win.

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These people with slandered status dare to slander the people who have reached the sublime heights by crippling others! This ingratitude has no limits and should not be tolerated. They better know about our famous tolerance otherwise thick blood flowing on earth would be used to remind them of reality. The harsh gates of hell wait eagerly for the impure people who dare to slander us.

You impure people should kneel. Kneel and kneel, and drop your honor at our feet; it is righteous behavior for you. Behave properly. These lowly are fit to lick our shoes; after all we are the pure people. How can you forget your culture and tradition? A rotten man has rotten roots. But one should not forget his roots. After all, a rotten root is still identity and deeper it is better it is. You squalid fellows, you are not destined to rise up in life. You never had a stomach for this. The knowledge, the knowledge - you are never going to get it in the traditional India.

Any elegance refuses to creep in any transaction between the Untouchables and the pure people. The hidden contempt for the condemned people is all too evident no matter how sweetly the upper caste people speak. The transactions are embedded with pure silent malice. And lower strata people cannot afford malice against the pure people and pure dharmic intentions of the pure people.

Their compassionate souls cringe with pain at the mere sight of any Untouchables. The gashed hearts and slashed minds would not allow them to sleep. The damage caused by such mental torture should be compensated. Their well-disposed sleep should return. Their pure hearts should not be spiked. The cries for help from the Untouchables drive spears through their hearts. The spears long enough to penetrate the mighty Himalayas. The high caste people with high morals and ethics take the pain of savagely beating Untouchables for the cause of Dharma. It is their sacred caste duty. And it is highly ethical and moral also. Due to the sacred and unadulterated priorities, the impure blood flows on the earth mingled with the dirt.

These lowly creatures should not be ashamed of taking birth in servant castes. Their crooked accumulated karmas are responsible for this. Nothing is personal about it even though the alleged karmas are not traceable and not linkable with the present life. It is all

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unknown. After all, who could fathom the divinity and especially the divinity that dances at the chanting of the mantras?

The people lived like the masters and the servants. The slavery was avoided because of the captive labor and the barred entry of the impure Shudras and the polluting Untouchables in the houses of the upper castes. The purity had to be maintained. This encaged labor could be summoned at the whims of the upper castes. There was no escape from the system for the Shudras and the Antyajas. If an Untouchable wanted to escape from caste system then he could go nowhere as caste system and the untouchability is, unofficially, pan-Indian phenomena. An Untouchable remained Untouchable wherever he went. And if he had to require the conjugal bliss then he had to come back to Untouchables of his caste who were known to him. Without his caste identity no conjugal bliss was possible for him; nobody was willing to marry a person with unconfirmed caste identity. Even the conversion to another religion was useless because the earlier converts (who were generally from high caste relative to him) refused to provide him a girl in marriage; the casteism had been exported to other religions also. The Shudras and the Antyajas need not be kept in invisible chains because they were already crippled. The higher and lower Varnas were like the eternal masters and their eternal obedient servile servants. Any objections please! The servants were generally kept at a safe distance. The consideration of purity kept them separate from each other. The castes were internally closely knit but were not the disparaging societies. The higher ones lorded over others. There was little violence in the village – not needed because of servility of empty bellies. The land owning castes usually maintained a private army of musclemen who were tillers on their land. The violence, anyway, was unnecessary because the Shudras and Untouchables were not allowed to carry the arms; it was a demilitarized society where the lower strata had no right to defend themselves. They could not create rivers of blood where as the Kshatriyas had free license to create the rivers of blood. As there were no Kshatriyas in South India the role of Kshatriya was played by the land holding Shudras. These Shudras (land holding - the pseudo-Kshatriyas) are called dominant castes that played the role of Kshatriyas of saving the Dharma; their dastardly caste Panchayats decided everything for the still lower castes and the Untouchables -

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we call these people as the pseudo-Kshatriyas. They could kill anybody except the Brahmans. Creating a river of blood is not necessary to force the defenseless people into submission; only a threat could do; and coming from the weapon holding people the threat was real. The general population was demilitarized. The disarmed local population was standing meat for any army. Therefore, the villages after villages moved away, along with their born-brave people, from the path of coming and returning armies. The village came back to its original village when the army left. This avoided the outside contacts; the pure and innocent villages remained untainted (?) from the onslaught of any foreign army! Sense of loyalty to the local ruler? What sense of loyalty! Well, as a sign of loyalty to the local ruler the villages ran away, with its Kshatriyas etc., and refused to face the armies! After that, everything continued as if though nothing had happened. These tactics made the villages insulated where the caste system thrived under the ghastly institution of Panchayats. The villages remained the same and essential the caste system in villages remained the same - this isolation made the caste system to flourish as any outside interactions were avoided and the village layers stayed in equilibrium with each other be exerting equal average pressure on each other. A demilitarized society served the purpose, silently. The meekness in lower strata is a Dharmic virtue. Only the Kshatriyas, the soldiers and the land holding castes were allowed to carry the arms. Any conflict between the land holding castes and the lower castes would have been one-sided show of arms. The demilitarized population contributed significantly to a stable and harmonious society. The three ancient, stable and still existing civilizations; India, China and Japan have one thing in common. The general population in all three civilizations was demilitarized. This, by and large, prevented the successful rebellion by general population. The lack of arms and land or any kind of any other asset hardly provided the Shudras and the Untouchables with any force or motivation or platform to rebel. They had to face the enemy with bare hands, empty bellies and without any support from anywhere. Their curled up sagging bodies ready to meekly answer any call from the masters make for a perfect picture - hardly any rebels.

In absence of weapons, how did the Shudras enter into a serious argument with each other? Both the weak parties used

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agriculture equipments and bamboo sticks for such purposes. Entering into a serious argument with the Kshatriyas was beyond their capabilities. God created bravery and rulership of the Kshatriyas needed a disarmed population to lord over! Hardly strange! The population had to be weakened to affirm the strength of the Kshatriyas. The amazing bravery, it was. The lower castes willingly acknowledged their servility because of the crippling handicaps imposed on them by the Vedic Dharma; over a period of time this servility became inductive behavior; this was inducted in lower caste children since childhood through observing the behavior of their seniors – in this way the traditions were developed. Only when they grow up, they know the real cause; they come to know that their forefathers were right. They did not have much alternative. Bare handed it was difficult to rebel against the armed people on whom they depended for their sustenance. The lower castes did not dare to show any violence because they knew the horrible consequences of such an act. The retaliation would have been swift, cruel and murderous. Any show of violence was a self-defeating proposition for the dependent people living in the mud huts, hovels and wearing torn clothes. Thus, they avoided violence. All the low caste people lived peacefully under the fear. Speaking one's mind out! You must be joking! Tell me it is not true, no? It is a joke only and nothing less.

The sole aim of the Untouchables was to minimize their wrenched sufferings. To be in dire strait is a normal existence for an Untouchable. The miseries; eternal, manmade, predestined miseries follow them even in their mud huts. The miseries follow them while they work on others' land. The miseries of being born insulted. The misery of watching their women being dishonored under the great culture of the great land pierced their numb minds. The miseries followed them while they walked. The miseries of half-filled bellies; the miseries of being denied water to drink; the miseries of wearing the ragged clothes; the miseries of watching the whole family being insulted; the miseries of watching their whole community being insulted – it is a hot river of the never-ending miseries. The twisted pains, the twisted miseries, the twisted sufferings, and you call it a human life?

The miseries existed prior to birth and will exist after death. The lowest stratum is always predestined to swim in the swamp

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gutter of the miseries - all this indicates what a great Dharma it is? If anybody talks too much then the his miseries would be wrenched. Further, the sufferings would also be wrenched so do not talk too much.

The powerful did not, actually, use the violence frequently but always kept it ready in their armor - wrenching the miseries was usually enough. The weak could not resort to violence. Therefore, the violence was minimal and Dharma was happy. It was an eternally Dharmic situation - across the generations. Apart from each other, the Brahmans chanted the mantras and the skinners tanned the skins. And never the skin tanners crossed, willingly, the paths of the pious, pure, powerful and paranormal lawmakers. They deliberately kept away from the Brahmans; desired by the Brahmans; safe for the Untouchables. There was smooth and rampant treading of crippling casteism on the lives of lower caste people which did not create any backlash but only ineffective and silent murmurs, silent cries and silent sobbing which were not destined to go beyond their mud huts.

And this was the innocence that was broken by the roaring steam railway engines. It is alleged! Indeed, the chilling innocence was killing.

In an Indian village, the segregated people of different castes are found who live separately. Hate and respect move in the opposite directions. All the innumerable castes in India are not found in a single village. From outside one can never guess the caste nature of an Indian village. From outside it looks like a random cluster of houses. However, there is a strong caste pattern in this apparent randomness - the divine pattern which defeats this seemingly randomness. There are many adjoining clusters of houses in the village. There are clusters alongside the clusters. The people belonging to a given caste live in the houses or huts that are clustered together - the helmet. Sometimes there is a considerable distance between clusters of houses. The high caste people live in the important area of the village which is usually the middle of it. Their houses are usually big and large. Other castes live around them and in clusters. The Untouchables usually live at the inauspicious southern end of the village or outside the southern end of the village. The inauspicious people live in the inauspicious direction - a simple harmonious condition. Such positioning meant that they absorbed all

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the bad vibrations coming from the inauspicious southern direction. This direction is considered inauspicious probably from the Rig Vedic days when the settlements of the Vedic people were prone to violent attack from the southern side where the natives of the land lived. Considering the history of this land, the northern direction should be the inauspicious because all the attacks on land come from there.

The Untouchables, generally, have their small mud huts in an isolated corner as an indication of their poverty and isolation. These hamlets have mud huts with hardly anything inside them. They have hardly anything to sleep on; few torn and ragged clothes to put on, few old cooking utensils and a small box. And a constant worry of how to keep the impure bellies full next day. This small box can hold inside it more things than they can ever hope to accumulate in their lifetime. The earning abilities granted to them by the sacred and pure Varna Dharma can easily be dwarfed by a handful of grains - and they desperately seek a handful of grains. An altruistic perfectionism! They were awarded the eternal penury. This should not come like a bolt from blue to the reader. The moist eyes will have no effect here. The Untouchables have been living under these conditions for thousands of years. And the heritage glows and glows.

The segregation is a natural characteristic of the caste system. Castes themselves are segregated groups of different endogamous people. There is hardly any intermingling; even they do not take the food together - a strong show of disparaging disunity! The area of one caste starts at the end of wall of the last house of a cluster of another caste. These areas never intersect each other though many areas may be adjoining. The people belonging to a given caste hardly talk to people from another caste in real terms because they have nothing in common to talk about. Any talk should be only on the caste basis otherwise it has to be salutations and their acceptances. All socialization among different castes is only pretension because those who cannot eat together cannot talk together. Any conversations among different castes are need based only. The high castes with high morals and ethics show a disparaging behavior in relation to lower strata and the lower castes are not so far behind when dealing with still lower castes. There is complete dissociation as they do not take part in each other’s social functions. Only religious,

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ritual, economic transactions take place between them. The lower strata cannot address upper strata by their proper name, only honorifics (in English these could be: sir, my master, my lord, the compassionate food giver) are allowed anything else results in the process of showing them their rightful place in the righteous manner. And that results in holy violence and few broken bones of Untouchables.

In this great cultural heritage and purity, the underground sacred stream of hatred and contempt flows freely. These streams come over ground when the two castes meet together. The steam of respect moves in upward direction. The hate and respect never cancel out each other. The environment in the village usually appears to be cordial and friendly; everybody goes around doing his job according to his place in the social and economic system. Each caste is a society in itself; insulated and isolated. It is logical because for the marriages they do not need other castes. The absence of relations means insulation. This insulation and isolation provided the purity in society, exactly the disconnected bloodlines. People are separated from each other in their hearts, minds and blood. The Indian villages are actually a net of different villages in which the aspirations of the Untouchables are throttled. As far the social connections are concerned, the Indian villages are not independent. The social society is pan-villagic because people marry outside their village. Thus, the people are connected to the people of same caste in other villages through paternal relations.

People from different castes do not have any affinity with each other. A man from a given caste is friendlier with a man from same caste and not with a man from a different caste. The same caste men from different villages are treated like kith and kin by each other. In fact, caste is an extended kinship that cuts through the village limits and goes beyond. And it is simply because of extended blood ties. The village people can always be undermined to favor the caste - anyway that is the rule. This loyalty to caste is maintained from place to place, from cities to cities, from villages to cities and even to foreign countries. The Indian Diaspora is known for its castiest nature. Anyway, the caste has been exported to Muslim and Christian populations in India. It might be due to the fact that the high caste people who converted insisted on maintaining their high castes

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status. The Muslim ruling class also insisted on keeping itself separate and higher than the native converts.

In any group, the moment the caste identity of a man is revealed the feeling within a group undergoes a metamorphosis. It changes to affinity if the person is from the same caste and to contempt and hatred if the person is from a lower caste and to respect if the man is from an upper caste. The caste space is the actual place where one mentally and emotionally lives. The village is the physical reality. The village is not an emotional and mental construct to which one can relate to and have loyalty to. The attachment in the villages is mainly to their caste (extended blood ties) and the caste cluster of houses and to their piece land, if they have any; other things are irrelevant. The Indian Diaspora maintains its loyalty to caste; it is inherent in their well-honored roots.

The Untouchables are segregated outside the village, and, prohibited from taking part in any the village social functions. If they are allowed then they are allowed in such way as to confirm to their insulted status in society. Their major contribution is the unpaid labor for which they are paid with leftovers in a separate corner. Glorious! Is it not? Nobody can accuse the high caste people of treating the Untouchables as human beings. Try it!

The land was held or controlled (as representatives of the state) by the high castes but all the people depended upon it for their survival. The land holding castes owned the lifeline of the village. The land was held by the high caste people and tilled by the Shudra tillers who are the forever-servants in Hindu society. In South India the land was held by the dominant castes (pseudo-Kshatriyas) among the Shudras in the absence of the Kshatriyas. The casual labor was provided by the Untouchables; they were the eternal polluted bottom of the glorious heap - whether in South India or North India. They provided lowly paid labor and worked from field to field.

People from different Jatis provided different equipments and services to be used in agriculture. They were mainly ironsmiths, carpenters and leather workers. The carpenter and blacksmith provided the plough. The leather workers provided the large water carriers made of full size buffalo skin for carrying the water from well to fields, along with the shoes. The potters provided the pots to be used in the homes. In exchange they were given their share at the

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time of reaping the crop. Those who were not directly related to land got their share directly from land owning castes in exchange of their services. Sometimes the artisans were given a small piece of land to till to provide its services to the entire village.

All got their shares does not mean that they got equal shares or enough food. If you expect enough food then you are making grotesque expectations form Hindu society because that would corrupt the Dharma and force it to make grotesque faces. Your demands scar the face of the Dharma. The share was usually fixed for every Jati. The share they got was barely sufficient for survival. It was a fine show of non-cruelty by the landed castes; it goes by the name of mercy and responsibility of the upper castes; it resulted in half starving low castes; empathy goes to the dustbin. It is difficult for a fully bellied man to adjust to insulted status, so they were kept with half empty bellies to facilitate the smooth march of the wheels of exploiting Dharma. The food was not sufficient for the Untouchables and the Shudras. Sometimes they had to eat the bread made out of fodder or grass. Sometimes they had to eat the grains cleaned out of cow dung. Glory of glories! This cow dung grain was given in wages and not free. Glory does not seem to fade away. It insulted the lower two strata but added fine shades of superiority to the personalities of the higher Varna people. Such a spiritual treatment was never seen; nothing like freezing and demeaning inhumanity or a burning desire to humiliate the lowly human beings; but simply an ancient river overflowing with eternal compassion for the two lower strata; and a cool, calm, soothing, self satisfying breeze flowing in the superior and purer clusters of high caste houses; there the ethereal selves walked a dozen feet high in the air with ever broadening radiant smiles; the quiet jubilation knew no bounds; after all their superior selves could force the Shudras and the Untouchables to eat the grains cleaned out of cow dung. Such a show of unsaid eternally tormenting superiority was quite common in the Hindu society. This goes to show that there was more than sufficient food to feed the animals of high castes but not for the human beings. Human beings? I must be joking if you go by the treatment met out to lower strata. It is a fine piece of Varna exploitation. What a gracious animalistic treatment!

Did anybody say anything about the exploitation of human beings in the materialistic Western societies?

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Frequently, the Untouchables had to go to the houses of the upper castes and take the leftovers at the gate itself like the servile servants or beggars. They move from house to house and get it wherever it was available; - the permanent Varna exploitation in an eternally pious, pure and sacred Dharma. They were grossly underpaid, which forced them to go to the houses of permanent sacred and pure exploiters to beg for the food with servility. Sometimes, they had to compete for the food directly with the animals like dogs and cows in an utter show of equality with animals in a dharmic manner - this destroys the absence of the notion of equality in Hindu Dharma - animals and low caste people were equal - thus equality was there. Was it not?

The Untouchables were required to take out the carcass of dead cows and other animals out of village, and throw it, at a far away place. However, they were forced to eat the meat of the dead cow out of poverty. They could not afford to buy the meat of a butchered goat. This was the meat of a cow that was not butchered or slaughtered; but the one that had died due to old age or some kind of disease. It came for free. It was the carcass. The carrion was left for them out of dharmic pity; watch for the over abundance of pity here. And for this, they had to compete with the vultures and kites, a grand and predestined event leading to equality between them. This equality is evident in the glowing faces of the upper castes.

Of course, the Varna Dharma does not know anything about humanity or equality. Does it? Why should it? Find a reason man!

The harsh insulting voices in the ears persuade the Untouchables to develop the servility in them in order to survive. The burning polluting eyes run the fear of being gauzed out. The courage is throttled by the poverty.

The atrocities against the Untouchables were not very infrequent even when they had to bear the eternal insults along with economic and social crippling in order to survive. What a fearless society! The brave upper castes in the villages were not afraid of anything! They were not afraid of anything except the invading armies; then their bravery tucked its tail between the legs and ran away, hurriedly. The invisible hanging sword of atrocities deters the Untouchables from making any noise or move. The sacred sword of atrocity was always hanging over the heads of the Untouchables.

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Whoever dared to go against the confirmed rules of the dharmic society was punished severely along with his Jati people in that particular area. The Hindu society does not differentiate much between a man and his Jati – told you a man and his caste are the same. A man is judged according to his heredity group. The crime of man from one of the lowest Jati is the crime of his Jati; the punishment is collective with an aim to teach the exemplary and cruel lessons, whose effects could be sustained, to these people. Of course, the high castes can commit no crime; whatever they do is all for the benefit of society and Dharma. Actually, the unsafe and insulted Untouchables have faced the Hoodlums rule (goons' rule) for 2500 years; a small period of jubilation for the upper castes; they earnestly desired it to be interminably extended; just to make the life easy for higher strata. They are not satisfied with ninety nine percent of the bread they want the whole bread - they want it till eternity. The more the atrocities were committed on Untouchables, the more pious were the upper castes, and more was the dharmic content of society. Their hands are smeared with blood but they are clean and pure because smearing them for the cause of Dharma is a sacred act. This is the beauty of the caste system. Committing atrocities is a finely devised way to increase the dharmic contents of society. The grisly and self-gratifying details are left to those who play like instruments into the hands of pious lawmakers - earlier the kings used to be among their puppets. One more noticeable and crucial feature is that the lawmakers rarely move a finger in these cruel atrocities - look, no hands; and they get away with it. They sleep well, soundly and peacefully; their conscience is clear – very scruples people. Why bother? Why lose sleep over worthless people instead, it is a time for celebrations. And you know there are no grisly acts in a pious and pure society. Are there? What you see is a thousand years law and order problem; a simple problem that is solved at local level; totally unconnected to any other issue. Local inhuman laws and local inhuman customs, you know. It all local and small; it is not a big deal in Hindu society. Therefore, mind your own business. Leave it to pure and good people who are the grand masters in compassion in this quagmire. We, the pure people, are never bogged down by the trivial problems of the worthless people.

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The dirty hopes of these despicable people of escaping from the atrocious caste system will be hanged to nearest tree or tied around its trunk, and burnt alive. What a marvelous, fabulous and awe-inspiring scene that would be! After all, we are high caste people with high morals. Nobody can beat us in ethics and morals! Got it? We sleep soundly! We have no problem in getting nice and satisfied sleep! Guilt feeling? What is supposed to be that? And they grin from ear to ear.

At the time of atrocities, the most trusting things are legs. With the help of legs, they make a valiant run to escape and save their life from the brutal people. What the people, without any means to defend themselves, are supposed to trust? They depend on their legs in hope to run fast to avoid a broken leg or two or a dead body. It is a competition between busting and crumbling legs, and the will to live. The drizzling fear turns into a pour. The running legs gather some more power. But if they fall then the deadly end may be near. The mortified wounds stay in a stupor that is clearly reflected in hapless eyes when the blows come. Anything can win but the Dharma always wins. A savage thrashing is enough to clear the clouds of gloom from the pure faces.

Their retrograde desire of not having trembling knees must be expunged from their minds. Having impure knees which tremble at the sight of the pure people is a desirable attribute in this traditional society.

As far as the leftovers are considered, it looks like that there was a pact between the high castes and the Untouchables that if the Untouchables did not compete for the food with the animals like cows and dogs then the high castes would break their heads. Or the Brahmans were given a boon by the almighty God that the Untouchables would compete with the animals to get food from them. How sensible it is! This very soothing element of Varna Dharma sinks deep down the hearts of lawmakers and others. The consequences of not competing with the animals for food were self-destructive for the Untouchables. They should treat all the crumbs we throw at them with respect. After all, the dogs treat these crumbs with respect! Do you, the impure people, not have as much as understanding as the dogs? What a disgrace! Also they should treat

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the insults we throw at them with respect. That is the way the world should work - the righteous way.

If they did not depend on the leftovers and the cow dung grain, they could have starved to death. Additionally, any violence from the weak people was immodestly punishable - may be the punishment was modest because being holy it upheld Dharma. If few heads were broken and brains splattered on the streets, it hardly mattered. The atrocities committed in past and present are the proofs of highly cultural and spiritual attitude of the highly spiritualized people. The hatred flowed like an overflowing Amazon. Amazingly, the hatred is borne out of purity. Any doubts? This hatred infuses the environment. In India, one moves in this hate infused climate so long, that, one begins to be acclimatized. But, remember you are always moving in a hatred fused environment. Hatred, hatred, hatred, …

The purity is repulsive of impurity. The purity repulses away the impurity; it also shrinks away from impurity. That is it, the repulsive force of hate. Period.

Next, we will see the traditional human treatment of Untouchables in the innocent villages. Some people consider the villages as innocence personified, far away from the bad effects of the exploitative modern materialism. Of course, the inhuman villages are devoid of any element of humanity, but even after that they are considered to contain an inbuilt pure, pious and ancient innocence. Strangely, this pseudo-fact can be easily digested by the Hindu activists and the intellectuals - it nourishes them, adds a layer of lard over their bodies and minds. The use of the idea of “innocent villages” is to sustain the cultural superiority and hide the reeking wounds and the warts of the isolated village society which piously crunches away the tattered dignity of Untouchables. The disappointment eagerly awaits those who are looking for any sensitivity or humanity in the Indian villages. You might come with some hope and might leave with a feeling of wretchedness. The traditional Hindu society is a crunching machine that crunches away any element of humanity.

The Untouchables do not have the reach up to the common village well. This keeps the standing water in the village well pure. They have to have their own well or they have to use any other

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source of water. Animals like dogs and buffalos may share this other water source - see the equality - no room for complaint is left to the dogs and the buffaloes! According to the Rig Veda the water is a great purifier; however, the touch of an Untouchable can pollute the standing water. Now what happens when the purifier is polluted?

Then, these evil famished people have a heinous thought of drinking water from the village well. The village well! How vile and impure are the thoughts of the impure people! What a devious way of thinking! These conniving Untouchables want to quench their thirst for water by drawing water from the village well! These deceptive rascals are on a treacherous mission. Their thinking is poisoned. Their minds are vitiated. They are misguided. They are our brothers but do not ask for water; they can share the water with the dogs, cats, cattle and pigs etc. Sacrilege it should be if they draw water from the village well. Sacrilege and pure sacrilege, these people should care for our purity and sensitivity. Look at our sensitivity. Out of our sensitivity we keep them out of villages and majestically treat them with crumbs and expletives – the legendary sensitivity and compassion. Or the coercive methods can be used to extract our pound of flash. These impure and polluting people are totally crude, insensitive and insensible; few kicks or a savage thrashing should push back the sense in them.

Their venomous thoughts must be buried at all costs. It does not matter because all the cost would be borne by the Untouchables. An atrocity is in order. No mean shade. Everybody lives happily after. Only some people are left with crippled limbs; there are some bodies lying here and there; and all of the Untouchables have fled the village. Thanks to the untraceable, unknown karmas and the man created divine Dharma. The people with dark karmas have dark lives and future. But even with the stupendous lack of evidences all the dark karmas are confirmed! Nothing strange about it.

The delighted hearts jump several feet in the crowning glory. They have just set the things right. A minor aberration in the form of an atrocity has just taken place bringing the harmony in the system. How beneficial is this, only pure minds can understand! Its understanding is not meant for the foolish people. The use of force and other methods are a part of dharmic ways of creating harmony;

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these forces force the behavior of the lower castes in harmony with their low status.

Back to polluted water now, we are. If the basic need of life, the water, is polluted then it can play havoc with Dharma of people in general. Everything will be thrown out of gear. Anybody using polluted water would get polluted. Many would use it. Then the Dharma of many people would get corrupted or destroyed or infected. This would result in lowering of dharmic and social superiority of the concerned people. The dharmic content of society would go down. How aDharmic! How sinful! Some would still be pure and some would be impure. The people belonging to the same caste would no longer be equal because some would be pure and some would be impure. Their understanding of each other would get adversely affected. They would not know how to treat each other. Nobody would be sure about Brahmans' purity for reciting Vedas and worshiping the gods. Nobody would know who is high and who is low. There would be total dharmic confusion. This sinful chaos should stop at once! There would be nobody pure enough to teach Dharma and complete the rituals. If highs become low then what would happen to lows. It would be total chaos if allowed to happen; the order, the divine order would break down. It would be catastrophic down to the last pore of Dharma; a greater tragedy than that cannot happen; it is a catastrophe. Thus, the Untouchables should be kept away from village well water to maintain the social fabric, social stability and harmony - nothing personal about it; it is to maintain peace and stability in society - a much wider cause then the cause of the heathen Untouchables. Dharmically ruined life of an Untouchable should not ask for more. He has got four limbs. And that should be enough of a possession! Do not get greedy; see, all this world is Maya, reserved, for the pure people! And the low castes shall have none of it.

What one should expect of people who are denied water, food and clothing? And then a slandering campaign is always on against these people across the generations. Dharma Shashtras are the standing proofs of this slander.

A look at the Untouchables and pure hearts are torn asunder. The fear of pollution is, almost, terrorizing. These torn and soft

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hearts must be sewn. Bring some thread and needle! Or the blood of the Untouchables should be enough?

The Untouchables are still searching for their crimes, which caused this exclusion, forcing them to use the water shared by the animals. Nobody is coming forward with any proof. However, the Untouchables dare not approach the village wells, not meant for them, as few splattered brains here and there do not matter. Few bloodstained bodies lying here and there on the ground assure the high castes of their superiority, and the purity of their Varna, and their ability to defend the Dharma. The flash of Untouchables looks good only when it is torn and crushed in the cause of Dharma. The blood flowing on the earth is merely dirty red thick water that comes dirt cheap. It waters the dharmic roots, and the compassionate tree of Dharma grows few inches taller. This would assure the souls of tormentors thousands of years in heaven for such brave and dharmic deeds against the totally helpless people. A resounding and self assuring success is achieved. Even some of them would get the Moksha straight away within this life. Sanatana Dharma would be eternally thankful to them. No, that is wrong; the Brahmans can never be thankful to any Hindu; see it was their (the tormentors') Varna job they were doing - so the pious people are not obliged. The impure souls of the heathen Untouchables would be separated from their impure bodies, and, would take the birth of jackals, dogs, lizards and insects etc. in their next life as a due punishment for taking the water from the high caste well, resulting in violation of Dharma. The heavens had never been happier.

Therefore, the Untouchables have to search for another source of water other than the upper caste wells. They may have to tread for miles altogether but they would do it even if it were scorching sun. They have to avoid the death at the hands of Dharma defenders. They have to minimize their sufferings.

Then a few people going without water is immaterial; Dharma is supreme. Otherwise, the bitter trenches are dug in the hearts of pure people. The horrendous wounds they cause are unimaginable. The trivial sufferings of pure people are more important. The pious thinking is totally impervious like a thick stone.

This infallible and supreme Dharma suddenly developed paralysis when it faced the Muslim invaders and the British

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colonizers. It immediately went into a mode of capitulation and submission. Egoless cooperation with such adharmic people - the cow-eaters! The Cow-eaters!!! The divine superiority abjectly mingled with the dirt and nobody objected but everybody objected to the use of the village well by the Untouchables; perfectly logical; only the weaponless people with half-filled bellies could be shown Dharma but not the adharmic people backed by full armies. The village well cannot be used by Untouchables though Dharma can be buried under the feet of Muslims and British. The priorities were clear-cut; rule of Dharma in case of the Untouchables, and subordination to Muslim rulers and British colonizers; a clean and crystal clear piece of thinking; knowing which side of the bread is buttered; bending with the wind and hunting the hare.

The smirk on pure faces grows and grows until it is thrown away by the sight of an upright Untouchable. Spontaneously, a huge frown sticks to their faces. Dharma is in danger!

You wicked fellow, by not getting up in the presence of higher caste people, you tear asunder our psyches, and the divine forces should now show their divine face to heal our psyches through various means that may also mean beating you to the pulp. The elegant and aesthetic means like burning down their homes, breaking their bones, killing them with impunity and dishonoring their women would be used. A very sensitive society, indeed! Do not say you were not forewarned. And do not say we are not civilized! You have no right to complaint! Indeed, you have no right at all! Got it! The pain which our minds suffer is beyond ordinary sensitivity. All these rascals are trying to trample upon our honor by raising their voices and walking on the streets in our presence.

And should an Untouchable stand up without servile attitude? The heavens would creak. It would be quite contrary to dharmic ways. An Untouchable is supposed to talk, walk, wear, eat, sleep and behave his insulted Jati. Or his divinely allocated permanent social station in the life. Who is he to interfere in this cosmic plan laid out by the pure people? All his acts should be in perfect alignment with his lowest status/station in society. It is quite painful and mentally destabilizing for an upper caste to see an Untouchable getting out of this alignment. It cruelly wrings their minds. Their soft minds are battered by such acts of Untouchables which are above

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their station in life. The perfect geometry of alignment of the caste with the behavior has to be maintained. No cracks should appear therein; it looks dharmically ugly; and no high caste aesthetic man can tolerate that. Harmony is harmony no matter what. The way of living of an Untouchable should be in harmony with his insulted status. Otherwise, it makes pious high castes maniacal and emotional wrecks. It makes them stupendously angry with a perfect degree of righteousness. It is sufficient to send them in a maniacal mind set, causing grave injuries to Untouchables and total destruction of their huts. They are very sensitive! No? Nobody can ever accuse them of not being geometrically aesthetic. And they cannot also be accused of not believing in harmony. The low caste tyrants go around, smartly dressed! It is a cruel piece of tyranny which excruciates the soft and delicate minds of the upper castes. This tyranny brings grief to Dharma. Therefore, it must be stopped. Now a dazzling piece of bravery should appear in the form of an attack on the defenseless Untouchables caste people. And the grief in the hearts of high caste people is brought to an instant end.

Whenever they find that the Untouchables are going out caste geometry alignment or breaking the harmony between their heredity status and behavior; they take the appropriate and righteous actions. These simple, effortless and trouble free acts are arson, killing, burning the thatched huts of Untouchables and raping their women. Should one take it seriously? Seriously? You must be joking! Please spare some compassion for the tradition and the glorious honor of the upper castes. If it pierces your brain then spare your compassion for the lawmakers. That is the way it should be - traditionally and unofficially. This does not mean sparing your compassion for cruelty embedded in the Dharma Shastras - not, at all. We, the upper caste people, tell you that cruelty in Dharma Shastras is a piece of fiction. Evidence? What evidence? What stupid evidence? Are you going to believe our Dharma Shastras or the mountains of evidences? The worthless evidences of worthless people, you are going to believe them!

The desire of impure people is hanged on the nearest tree. O' impure man, look closely, it is there and hanging. If you still do not see it, then please, please and please, see it. Otherwise, you may find yourself hanging there.

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The upper castes do not see any meaning in seeing a well-dressed Untouchable. They think it is purposeless, and, the particular Untouchable is aspiring for too much, unnecessarily getting out of alignment with the dharmic social structure and thus tormenting their pure mind and genetic system. Why should they not do the job they are born for or made for? It is an affront to upper castes and their dignity. It wrecks their pure hearts and minds to pieces; here you will hear the sound of broken hearts and cracked minds - all upper castes! And all this happens because some Untouchable has done the dark deed of wearing the decent clothes. The order must be restored. The tattered clothes should be back only then these pierced minds will come to a tranquil state. Any Untouchable ought to be satisfied with getting two square meals a day; filling his belly should be the highest ambition for him. That is the limit imposed on him by the Varna Dharma. If he is dressing himself well then he is crossing the ethical limits; it is unethical to hurt the dignity of the higher castes; no Dharma-abiding Untouchable should do it. It is demeaning for higher castes to see a polluted man going around the village in decent clothes. By wearing decent clothes, he is being indecent to others. The decency incorporates indecency. The honor of the Untouchables implies dishonoring the high castes. And the dishonor of the Untouchables means honoring the high castes. Some Untouchable has been indecent enough to wear the decent clothes? Now he has to be fixed for that. His forefathers never dared to do it. No high caste can bear such social indecency; it is a matter of honor. The Untouchables were never in a position to face the wrath of the upper castes and they are still not. It is not for him to fill the gap in clothing between him and the upper castes; he is supposed to know his wretched place, his insulted self, his twisted Karmas. He shall not dare to come out of his wretchedness. Otherwise, breaking few bones of such a recalcitrant Untouchable is quite satisfactory to righteous, moral and ethical high castes. Thrashing badly an Untouchable is like thrashing the wheat to get the best out of it. It takes them out of an agitated state of mind caused by the clean clothes of a recalcitrant Untouchable. The tattered and dirty clothes are to be brought back if Dharma is to be saved. The respected higher caste people are humiliated by the sight of stood up and non-servile Untouchable. And if there are many such Untouchables then the humiliation gets

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compounded. See, these heathen people are so cruel; they go to any length to humiliate the pure people.

The Varna Dharma morality dictates that the Untouchables shall behave their divinely ordained guttered status. The Untouchable shall not indulge in such acts which offend upper castes, and, that is dharmically final and settled. He shall never try to become equal to an upper caste; that is the bare bone essential. He shall never indulge in the unethical act of hurting social sensibilities of his superiors. He shall willfully submit to all the humiliation heaped upon him, his family and his Jati. He shall always be servile to the upper castes. He shall possess no ego. He shall not study. He shall not walk in an upright posture. He shall not talk back. He shall never assert himself. He shall never enter into temples. He shall endure with the insults heaped on his womenfolk. That is the culture. It is not short of commandments.

He has committed the involuntary and ghastly crime of being born in an Untouchable family and goes on to compound his sins by wearing a decent set of clothes, and, thus treading upon the dharmic and sensitive egos of the upper caste people. Very sensitive people! He ought to be taught a lesson and he will be. It will be an enduring lesson. It should set up such a cruel example so that it prevents other Untouchables from following the same anti-social path of dishonoring the upper castes by trying to become honorable. The depth of the example should enter downright into their minds. He is guilty of tearing the delicate and meticulously built social fabric of society where preponderant servility of low castes passes as a proof of social harmony. He is guilty of challenging the social authority. He is impurifying society by trying to mix his polluting self with others. A nice piece of ruthless thrashing, at least, would be forthcoming, in order to maintain the divinely ordained Varna Dharma. This should make him to desists, in future, from any such anti-social act amounting to interference in the cosmic order. He shall not wear away from the path God set for him. He should wear only old, unclean and torn out clothes. He shall extend all his servile cooperation in maintaining the Varna Dharma or it should be extracted from him. The punishment also assures the high caste people of their great dharmic heritage. A river of such assuring and soothing feelings runs through the psyches of the upper castes. If the

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punishments were not deemed to be sufficient then dishonoring their womenfolk would be next in order; the order of subordination should be maintained. And they shall be the mute witness to this; cursing their helplessness, destiny and their twisted Karmas. Only their non-existent and unknown Karmas are to be blamed for dishonoring of their womenfolk; nobody can be held responsible for this; especially when the high caste people are not answerable to low caste people. And they are the people of high morals and high ethics; they sleep soundly with a clean and clear conscience. Social responsibility? What is supposed to be that? You do not know it means keeping people traditionally subjugated, empty bellied and dishonored! Sometimes, the upper caste people do not need any flimsy reasons, for committing, this highly cultural dastardly act. This dastardly act has long been culturalized in the Hindu society. Since ancient time, there has been no law and order as far as the Untouchables are concerned - for them it has always been a lawless society. It has been a Goon's rule for them from the very beginning. They are like the preys to be hunted upon by the dharmic people, the righteous hunters. This helps in spreading the fragrance of the Varna Dharma.

Anyway, the higher castes laugh heartily at tattered dignity and tattered clothes of the Untouchables. The twinkle in their eyes, the gleam on their faces and the smug smiles which never stop tell the true story.

When it comes to the Untouchables, the Hindu society acts like a thrasher. It thrashes everything out of him - pride, ego, desire, ability and capability to name a few. The only thing he can remember is his guttered destiny.

An insolent Untouchable is an eyesore to high caste people. Any insolency on the part of Untouchables plucks the egos of the pure people and roasts them alive. These cruel insults would not allow the pure people to eat, talk or sleep; a fit case for persecution. And this persecution would definitely come when the time comes for it. You can be sure about that.

And wearing sleepers is also a great offence. It is out of touch with their social status. This simple act is also an absolute act of insubordination. Thus, it is punishable by the dharmic high caste people. Anybody can take the unofficial law into his hands to save

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the Dharma which amounts to saving the Varna Dharma. The Untouchables have to take off the sleepers, if they have any, when passing by upper castes or their houses. They cannot wear them in their presence. There should be no quarrel with that. They have to appear totally helpless with a bare minimum covering on their bodies. Any Untouchable assertion is dharmically prohibited; such assertions are the cause of appearance of blisters in Dharma. The minds of higher caste go into a painful spin, the fragile and ultra sensitive minds. Nobody should doubt that! For a proof, one should look at the harmony which prevails in the Hindu society, and, which threatens to break down with every Untouchable assertion.

And taking an Untouchable groom on a mare during a marriage procession can play havoc with the mental peace of the upper castes. It is a pure disaster. The man, who is supposed to go barefoot and wear unclean, old and torn clothes, dares to ride a mare which is the sign of a ruler, and brings so many people to show it off! From such a height, he dares to look down upon the upper castes - dare to make en eye contact from the top! He can never raise himself to their heights. And going through the cluster of houses of upper caste where he is not supposed to wear the sleepers! It is pure sacrilege. It may cause serious law and order problems for the Untouchables. It seems that the heathen people have slapped the upper caste people right in the face; anybody superior to them doing it would have been all right; but the Untouchables??? They are not allowed to get away with it though the beef eaters were. However fleet footed they might be in the face of invaders (remember the full village moving away from the route of any coming army), the status and Dharma are, now, in danger. Therefore, the mentally tortured upper castes decide to save Dharma by taking recourse to arms. A brave display of bravery takes place. Please shade the rivers of tears in the cause of endangered dignity of the upper castes; display your sensitivity; and make it look like real. The violence erupts against the unarmed people. The troubled conscience of upper caste people does not take rest until the blood of unarmed Untouchables flows on the earth like polluted thick red water. Few Untouchable dead bodies are sufficient to give the feelings of serenity to their agitated conscience. So some of the heathens are killed; and, this continues until all Untouchables have run away to save their lives. Some people miss

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the good old days prior to the entry of the railway engine - where everybody knew his righteous place. After killing, they safely go to their large houses while the cries of bereaved people can be clearly heard from the small Untouchable thatched huts. The honor of upper castes has been saved and they are satisfied; a sense of eternal bliss prevails; the tinge of a smile, the tinge of an achievement, the tinge of serving the dharmic duties and the tinge of serenity are there, all of them; you can stop your tears now; anyway; these capable men never needed your tears. The heathen people cannot play with their honor. The gaping hole that was about to appear in the delicately woven fabric of Dharma has been embroidered with a few corpses. They cannot be accused of not being aesthetic. Everybody on the side of Dharma heaves a sigh of relief. The twangs of pains on the faces of Untouchables are equally matched by the radiant smiles on the faces of the tormentors, the protectors of the divine Varna Dharma. The Brahman lawmakers appreciate themselves in an appreciating way; the self-satisfied grins spread on their faces, and the silent appreciating glances are exchanged which never seem to stop. And Dharma would surely appreciate the deathly silence in the Chamarwada caused by the mighty Karma hypothesis and the divine Varna Dharma.

However, all this, fabulous display of bravery, is, reserved to be used against the helpless, weak and unarmed people who can barely manage to eke out a measly living. None of this fabulous, legendry and god created, inherently superior and unbeatable bravery, was on display when it met with the Muslim invaders and the British colonizers. Then their righteous mightiness disappeared into unknown places with its tail tucked deep inside. At that time, they gladly adjusted to their subordinated status; not an iota of an effective unbeatable born-bravery was on the display. All the bravery was trampled upon by the foreigners with ridiculous ease. Hindus could, only, rule over a disarmed, unclothed and hungry population. Only a handful of foreigners were needed to bring this ancient and mammoth civilization down to its knees, and, that too, with effortless ease. Absolutely at that time the question of their honor or honor of their womenfolk did not arise. The Muslim warriors who came without women acquired families here meaning they married or took the Hindu women by force as wives. For the first time the upper

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caste Hindus realized the feeling of their womenfolk being dishonored and God did not come to their help as given in the sacred Gita; strange, it is.

The much acclaimed permanent threat of the divine retribution, when the sacred and pious people are insulted, never materialized. The pious people with the paranormal powers ran away to the rural side.

The question of honor or Dharma, wonderfully, did not arise at that time. How wonderful! How fantastic! How brilliant! Actually, the concept of immutable Dharma became malleable instead of being permanent or divine or eternal. The mighty cow-eater non-Hindus could easily play with this divine Dharma - Karma or no Karma, Varna or no Varna. This malleability or a tendency to capitulation enabled this immutable Varna Dharma to survive. They opted for submission to avoid further damage. Had they taken a brave and rigid stand at that time then the Dharma would have been destroyed totally. The authority of Muslims was submissively acknowledged; the number of supplicants increased. Therefore, it was not desirable for the Muslims to push the servile Hindus too far. The sheer arrogance of higher Varnas got completely reduced to dust. Their exalted pride crawled on the ground like a worm. At that time, the eternal Dharma went to pieces in the dirt, and nobody effectively objected to it. God created unbeatable intelligence, God created unbeatable bravery, which were used with killing effects against the Untouchables refused to essay anything other than complete, abject and crawling servility. A paralysis developed in the innate superior unbeatable qualities. After all, God created them to rule; they turned out to be miserable failures. Dharma survived by accepting the meek position of servitude and subordination. The divinely ordained intelligence and bravery hid themselves under the dust raised by the mighty hooves of the horses of the Muslim invaders. These unbeatable and immutable qualities readily mingled with the earth on which the foreigners treaded with their mighty boots. The half-baked bravery and half-baked intelligence were kept in reserve to torment the landless, hungry, weaponless, isolated Untouchables living in the small mud huts without any viable means of subsistence. Keeping people in utter poverty had its divine benefits.

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And getting education also qualifies to be a major offence. One reason is that it involves sitting of high caste children with the Untouchable children which pollute the upper castes. One should know this dharmic fact. This can make all the high caste children impure which require bathing at home or risk the spread of impurities in other members of family, and thereby in whole of the village society - very dharmic society. This can pollute the whole of the village, endangering the pure, sacred and innocent Dharma. Secondly, it goes against the major rule of the Varna Dharma of subordination of Untouchables to the higher Varnas. The education enables the Untouchables to fill the gap between themselves and others. Thus, it is a major move toward their emancipation. And high castes do not like them to get nearer; the lower down they are, the better it is. The education among the Untouchables jeopardizes the entire Dharma. However, the education to them is considered purposeless especially when the traditional education specialists in other Varnas are available. Only the higher three Varnas are eligible for education. After all, there should be labor specialization! You heathen man, do not you even know that? You should limit yourself to the manual labor. The Untouchables are deemed to be fit only for their respective ancestral occupations like the leatherwork, scavenging etc., and at best for doing the agriculture labor or lower level unskilled work. This is the maximum talent they are supposed to possess, and, not the awesome and overwhelming talent of cramming the Vedas. They are supposed to be unfit for any higher-level work like education. There were the golden times for Brahmans when the molten lead was poured into the ears of impure people who happen to hear even a single word of the sacred and divine Vedas. Such times of non-competition are looked upon by the upper castes with nostalgia. Tears after tears are shed for disappearance of such dharmic times. These tears come straight from the cores of pious, pure and innocent hearts. It hurts them as if some arrows have pierced their compassionate and soft hearts - the hurt feelings are very deep. These are not shallow like the broken bones of Untouchables or their hungry bellies. If Untouchables are allowed to study then it is an indication that the civilization has since degenerated to the abysmal depths. The education is not supposed to be the part of the life of these lowly people, and, it should not

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become one. Horrors of horrors - it enables the polluting people to argue with the pure people! The mighty Himalayas having famed Mount Everest should tremble at the mere thought of it; they should tumble down. The sacred river Ganges would totally dry up if aDharma persists.

Also, getting the education means going to school, which means encroaching on the dharmic monopoly of the high castes. This encroachment is strongly resented in the village society. It is needless to say that the schools are deemed to be meant for the upper caste people only. It is getting to be repetitive but the crippled lives of people from the lowest stratum have been integral part of the Hindu civilization for 2500 years and that requires to be told repeatedly. The people from the lowest stratum are supposed to follow their traditional jobs only for which they are supposed to have birth-attached appropriate talent. They should not cut off themselves from their traditional roots of their cultural heritage. What is a man without roots? The crippling roots! In addition it was Dharma which their ancestors followed faithfully. And they should do it likewise. In getting education they are supposed to be flouting the rules by which their forefathers lived. They are going against the way of living of their forefathers thus going against their culture.

Then there are meaningful ways devised to prevent them from attending the schools. In grand and glorious tradition of separation between Jatis the students from the weakest section of society are made to sit separately. They are also not allowed to draw water from the school taps for the purpose of drinking for the fear of contamination. They have to wait for somebody from upper caste to open the tap so that they could drink water, and, who would close it afterward. Further, to add insult to injury, the teacher never misses a chance to scold or punish them in a humiliating manner in front of the class or the school on flimsy grounds. The other students of the school never miss a chance to beat up them; it is a part of social beating that the Untouchables have to take; if the Untouchable students cannot take it then they have to stop going to school; Dharma prevails. Nobody bothers. It is logical to insult the already insulted people after all that is what they had earned through all their previous lives. The cruel scolding is repetitive in nature which insults the student continuously. The scolding or corporal punishment is

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always caste exemplarily. The insults are added after insults as if though the ever present insults in their lives are not enough. The more they are insulted the more soothing it is to others. Rubbing the salt into wounds seems to be a favorite pastime of the upper castes - however crude or sophisticated it may be. The clouds of insults always hover over the heads of the Untouchables ready to pour furiously, anytime. At times, the punishment can be corporal and so severe and so frequent that the student stops going to school; Dharma prevails. Even the social insulting is sometimes sufficient for them to leave the school. Had it not been for the British and their egalitarian outlook the Untouchables would have never got the education. The British with an attitude of superiority about their educational system overrode the dharmic and social objections of the upper castes in allowing the lowest stratum to enter the schools. They did the greatest damage to the sacred, pure and divine Varna Dharma by forcing the upper castes and the low castes to sit together in schools. Not even the Muslims did try that with the Hindus! Anyway the people whose Dharma got contaminated must have gone straight to hell or must have taken the birth of jackals, lizards, insects, worms and other lower level form of lives.

Just out of context, there are people who consider the Vedic Rishis to be superior to Newton and Einstein on the grounds best understood by them. They agree with each other and live in eternal bliss; they nod to each other in affirmation of each other's opinions. The explanations they offer are restricted to themselves which are not to be told to the lower strata people or anybody else. They also, illogically, consider the Vedic education to be superior to modern education. Anyway, the explanatory powers of Vedic knowledge are worthless. And this man, Newton, must have gone to the hottest place in the hell, where his fireproof soul would have burnt, for telling that the earth is holding the moon; and also all those who follow him and all the Indians who learn such things. And the men who landed on the moon must go to hell for defiling their Moon god. That is their faith which moves the mountains or the weaklings.

And in the rural areas there is a system of two tumblers. It is matter of preventing the contaminations of different castes through touch. It is a matter of keeping away the clean from the unclean. It is such a good cause and people object to it? What the world is coming

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to? The village restaurant is a small dingy makeshift arrangement of dirty wooden work. It is akin to a shanty. All broken, uneven and unequal pieces of wood are joined together to give it a semblance of a room. The gaping holes are covered with the dirty and torn clothe pieces. No cleanliness ever enters there but they keep the clean separate from the unclean – considering their filthy surroundings, it is not a mean task. One set of tumblers is meant to be used by the higher caste people. There is one more lone tumbler to be used by the lowest stratum. A member of the fifth stratum has to drink the tea in the tumbler marked for the Untouchables. After that, he has to clean it and keep it back. Then another fifth stratum member can repeat the process. If there are many of them then they have to drink the tea in sequence. No staff from these dingy and dirty restaurants would ever touch this tumbler and neither would clean it. The higher caste people would not drink from this tumbler to maintain the sanctity of their higher social status and Dharma. Such loftiness lies within them due to their lofty status! It is an indication of the wisdom of the ancient seers who categorized the people into different disparaging compartments and made their dwellings and other things separate to keep the pollution at bay. However, the new generation of the lowest section of society does not believe in such wisdom, they are infused or contaminated with the ideas of the modern world and considers it to be inhuman thereby questioning the entire philosophy of the Varna Dharma.

The high caste people are always ready to shed the blood if their Varna Dharma is destroyed or corrupted. The only condition is that it should not be their blood. They have the glimmer in the eyes with a cruel streak. This blood should belong to the weak and poor Untouchables who are not in a position to retaliate. If it is somebody stronger then they rapidly develop the tolerance with electrifying speed and claim the greatness about their tolerance and spread such claims. For them, the bread is buttered on both the sides. The unbeatable divine bravery, intellect and arrogance evaporate into thin air and transform into tolerance and pliability because the only alternative is the death – the supplicants were produced. However, when it comes to the fifth stratum, they are effectively able to show them their place in society and make them to behave in a degrading

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manner. They maintain the eternal ways of their grand cultural heritage.

A twinkle in the eyes of Untouchables creates gashes in the heart and minds of pure people and their eyes burn with righteous anger. You can even see the flames. You might discover that ferocity of purity is not just fiction. For this mental torture, the responsible should be punished. And punishment is given - few corpses.

The police are deeply disinterested in filing the report and taking any action. A self induced paralysis develops in the police force when it comes to taking any action in any case of atrocities on the weak and isolated people. After all it amounts to taking action against their extended kith and kin, and people of their own status or people who are having the same solidarity with the Varna Dharma. A complete farce is carried out which starts from filing of the report which lasts till completing the investigation. The final report generally is that the atrocity actually did not take place or the criminals could not be identified because of want of any witnesses. After this charade which may last up to court hearing, the culprits are usually honorably discharged. However, highly feigned seriousness runs throughout the course. And the Varna Dharma runs deep down in the Hindu society - needless to repeat. It is deeply embedded in the psyche of Hindu society. You can see the official system of India trying to impart some justice which is held in bondage by the strong traditional forces. Or you can view it, the victims being torn apart under the water by the crocodile of tradition and the official system beating the waters with sticks so as to show that they are doing, all they could. The crocodile wins most of the times while the official system is beating the waters; nobody dares to face crocodile in Dharmic waters. Everybody nicely goes through the motions until all the requirements have been satisfied.

The collective nature of caste should be seen in this context when the conflicts take place. It is pure atrocity. In any conflict between higher caste people and the Untouchables, all the people belonging to the particular Untouchable Jati in the area are collectively punished for the supposed fault of a single man. This fault may be like raising the voice against the injustice or walking in an affronting manner or not getting up in the presence of higher castes or trying to assert their rights given by the Constitution of

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India. This group oriented punishment helps in preserving the purity of caste system by teaching the weakest group a solid lesson, and dharmic justice must prevail. Their economic boycott follows after the violence against them. Only the physical violence is not deemed to be sufficient against them. The threat of death due to total starvation must also hang over their heads. The Untouchables are generally landless laborers who have to work on the fields of land holding high castes to make a living. In any boycott, no farmer would give them any work on his fields. No shopkeeper would sell them any grocery item or anything else. They are also not allowed to cross the high caste fields to go to work. Therefore, they cannot earn and cannot buy anything to eat. The alternative is to go hungry or temporarily migrate to some other areas where their relatives live. Or capitulate before the high castes. Physical subjugation is not enough; they have to be broken down mentally. The famed, cruel and ghastly Panchayats play a critical, pure and pious role in it. They decide and regulate this boycott. Any high caste person defying the boycott is fined by the Panchayat; and the threat of his ostracization looms large over his head. The ghastly and dastardly Panchayats are the grand upholders of the grand inhuman tradition of suppressing the lower castes and the Untouchables; they keep them in their insulted place. All this happens for the divine cause of maintaining the pure and divisive order in society. The social harmony has to be maintained. The absence of social harmony stings the senses of pure people which when stung retaliate with all the cruelty at the command. Hang the humanity, equality, honesty, sensitivity fairness, sympathy, and empathy etc. - totally worthless things in the traditional Hindu society.

After exhaustive and deep mediation, the wise people of scriptures reached to the conclusion that the shadows of Untouchables have polluting qualities. For this awesome piece of fiction, they made the rule that the polluting shadows of these lowly people should not fall upon the pure people. Really? The wisdom of these people cannot be questioned; they were the seers! Their pious integrity can vouch for that. The thousands years of wisdom weighed down heavily in their favor, and, onto the shoulders of the lower strata - crushing them. Dharma should not suffer. It should not be turned turtle.

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In the not so old days of Hindu Peshawa raj of the Marathas, the Untouchables were not allowed to walk on the streets of the Pune city in morning and evening. This was to avoid the falling of polluting shadows on caste Hindus of the city. In the evenings and mornings the shadows become larger, and their chances, of falling on the Brahmans, increased manifold, and that would have polluted them and their sacrosanct selves. The tender heart and minds of pure people creak at the mere thought of polluting shadow falling on them. Only ignorant people do not know that the shadows can be polluting only an obtuse belief in the scriptures can reveal this knowledge - no proof is needed. Pity thyself if you lack the sacred knowledge that no proof is needed. The shadows of the lowest stratum are infused with impurity and possess contamination stings. Even the pigs could have figured it out!!!

Then there are people who still yearn for those times when everything was in its proper place, when the movements of polluting shadows were under control. These are the people who think that India is going to dogs because of not following such logical traditions. The blisters on their minds are clear from the rage on their faces. The cure is needed at once. The sublime thinking, which banned the entry of the Untouchables in the temples, needs a cure at once. The things are set right by getting the legs and bones of Untouchables broken at once. Complete sublime thinking!

Do not be anxious and weep for few bodies. We are only setting Dharma right which was getting out of alignment with its divinely ordained structure because of the people whose bodies are lying on the ground - no compromise with the weaklings. Some more punishment should not mean anything and more punishment is what they need! Few smelling bodies are immaterial. In fact, these smelling bodies fortify the Varna Dharma fort. They should be satisfied with the gruel they get! Getting too big for their boots is bad for them. It may have disastrous consequences. They learn it right from their births but sometimes they are needed to be taught a lesson in caste etiquettes for which the traditional Hindu society is a fine school. We can enforce the discipline if required. One should not be without etiquettes to live a civilized life. And, as a matter of charity, compassion and sensitivity we teach them the true etiquettes. For this, they should be thankful to us while lying in beds with few

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broken bones and crying due to unbearable pain. And we laugh heartily and sleep well. It is our birth-attached right. We can laugh at them as and as when we want. We can insult them as and when we want; our conscience is clear like clear water of a sacred lake - never doubt that. Anyway, their caste name is a standing insult. The time stands still till eternity.

The still time needs stilettos! Then these crippled people brew malicious thoughts of

freedom, equality and choice? They should do with whatever the pure people throw at them. Choice of what? Their lame duck destiny should be enough for them. All their malicious thoughts should be killed and they be crippled so that they writhe in pain and crawl on the ground.

The lower strata people should not fight with their guttered destiny; their guttered destiny which is our sacred creation; the best so far. They should let the untraceable karmas do their duties. Karma laughs at their stupidity. The Varna Dharma guffaws at the remarkable idiocy. Humanity weeps at the ruined lives.

Dharma would surely appreciate the deathly silence in the Chamarwada caused by the mighty Karma hypothesis.

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 and spitted. 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 but still impure; and unclean but still pure. Some aspects of Hindu religion are fathomless - the basic logic stands on its head but nobody cares! There is rationality in irrationality. This kind of irrationality enabled them to serve the self-interests and serving self-interests is rationality. Somebody still has to isolate any polluting substance in the saliva of the Untouchables and which is not found in the saliva of the high caste people. Still, somebody has to find out the reasons for which the saliva of upper castes 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 - just see how

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lucky Sanatana Dharma made them! Miracle of miracle! The Untouchables could see the hell in this life! For them the arrangements to live in hell are made here itself - the eternally condemned Untouchables! Otherwise, who would go to such an extent to do this for them? Is it the law of Karma or something else? Whatever it was, it was made by the pure, pious, paranormal 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. Dharma is great. Long live its ashes.

High caste people are not known for being callous, brutal, malicious, sly, vicious, cold blooded, inhuman, malevolent, pitiless, ruthless, manipulative, cripplers etc. How can these attribute touch the pure people? It would be an affront to accuse them having all these attributes. But the facts of society tell somewhat other story. The pathetic conditions of lower strata tell a different story if you do not bring the untraceable and false Karma hypothesis in between. Is there anybody to prove that it is true? The compelling interests of Dharma require that the lower two strata remain in humble, hungry and crouched position.

In the Hindu society the humanity has been mortified for 2500 years which is a period not worth bothering about. These 2500 years have seen the Hinduism rising to celestial height while dealing with the Untouchables.

Nobody can accuse the high caste people of treating the Untouchables as human beings. This rootless and whimsical accusation will, simply, not withstand any impartial inquiry.

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11. THE SHUDRAS

The fourth and the last Varna in the Varna system, is called Shudra. This is not the last group in the Hindu society; the last group is that of the Antyajas or the Untouchables. The Shudras were the forever born servants in an eternal religion. The eternal religion, Sanatana Dharma, has a Varna meant for the born-servants! They and their generations are born as servants, lived as servants and died as servants; hardly a beautiful life but some would like to call it a spiritually fulfilling life ordained by God himself. I never knew that God, if any, believed in born servants. They live in servitude and die in servitude. Their sole task is to meekly serve the higher Varna without accumulating any wealth or property. They always have to depend upon their labor. A Shudra with a property was considered as a grave danger to Dharma - the cosmic order. That is the traditional India. There have been Shudra kings but they were co-opted by the lure of Kshatriyahood either in Sanatana Dharma, Buddhism or Jainism. The vast majority was until independence was dependent on the higher Varnas for their lively hood.

The Shudra Varna was supposed to be for the servants of twiceborn but ultimately the artisans and heen Jatis (low castes) also came to be included in this. In Hindu Dharma who does not belong to higher three Varnas or Untouchables can be labeled as a Shudra. It is a residual group where non-twiceborn and non-untouchables can be grouped together. This is indeed a complicated Varna because it has given the kings as well as the landlords in the areas which were not known as Aryavrata. In south India the Shudras were the kings as well as the landlords but only kings came to be qualified as Kshatriayas and not their respective castes.

There are numerous castes and numerous occupations in the Shudra Varna. If one is not twice-born or Untouchable then one is Shudra by residual logic as there is no fifth Varna. Since these Shudras had taken to save Dharma and thereby the Brahmans and follow them, they can be called Sanatani Hindus. It poses no problems as the Hindu Dharma allows anybody including the Shudras to take up the arms to save Dharma and the Brahmans. One could not save Dharma without saving the Brahmans. Thus, any upgradation in Varna was not required. If Shudra kings were ready to

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save Brahmans and fight religious wars (common in south India until 2nd and 3rd century C.E.) then there was no problem because they were doing it willingly. The problem of birth-attached Varna was solved by allowing anybody to take up the arms to save the Brahmans thereby obviating the needs for the Kshatriyas in certain areas. Anybody, who wielded the weapons, ruled a kingdom, saved the Brahmans and Dharma was a defacto Kshatriya. We prefer to call these landlords and weapon holding castes as the pseudo-Kshatriayas. And those were doing the function Vaisyas we prefer to call them pseudo-Vaisyas. It may be remembered that both the pseudo-Kshatriayas and pseudo-Vaisya were/are ritually impure. The myth of Parshuram annihilating the Kshatriyas twenty one times was created to explain the absence of Kshatriyas in the south India. Twenty one times! Again beats my puny head!

The landless people living only on their labor by producing goods meant for general use or by providing their services, lived in caste-based system within the Shudra Varna.

There were various factors responsible to development of the caste system. Here we make further enquiries. The caste system was, most probably, developed due to the gradation of the Varna functions which, in turn, led to development of graded occupations in a given Varna. The functions in society are graded in Varna system but what about the occupations within a given function? These also had to be necessarily graded otherwise the overall gradation gets contradicted destabilizing society but this was an eternal society which could not be destabilized. The banning of sagotra marriages caused the breakdown of tribes because each tribe was having similar paternal lineage and hence the marriage could not take place within a tribe. Therefore, the tribes had to break up or merge. Its place was taken by the emerging castes because of professional fraternity. The heen Jati people (low caste - Shudra Jati) also became graded because of the gradation of occupations. This gradation of occupation is quiet clearly given in Pali literature. The occupational gradation might have resulted in a kind of fraternity among people having the same occupation. This fraternity might have got stronger along the line of strengthening of fraternity in higher Varnas. Then in marriage, the trust is a very valuable. This could be found only among people you know better. These people could be from the occupation fraternity

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under the dominant Varna doctrine. Most probably, the ban on freedom of movement of marriageable boys and girls in the Brahman Varna also had its effect. As the time proceeded, a Brahman girl had to be married before coming of age to keep her purity and chastity to be suitable for a Brahman boy. This ban on freedom of movement percolated, most probably, down and prevented the inter-mixing of gender. The emphasis on purity of a girl increased and thus she was kept separately from boys. The importance of purity of girls reached its zenith during the period in which the Ramayana was written where, there is total avoidance of polyandry unlike Mahabharata. Most probably, the responsibility of finding a suitable match for boys and girls fell on the parents. The arranged marriage seems to have appeared on the horizon, and it is still a pillar of Hindu society. And the most suitable match any parent could find was among his/her fraternity two grade occupations were the same. Each occupation refused to marry into any other occupation because it was either superior to or inferior to it - and as a result, most probably the caste or sub Varna was born. The examples of the occupational fraternity were the Shrenis (guilds) which were cooperatives dealing in only a single good. We can see one Varna one function and one Shreni one product. We can see the one group one specialty resulting in the so-called labor specialization. The labor specialization took place because of grading of occupations, which followed from downgrading of agriculture, and prevention of inter-mixing of genders.

Even within Shudras there were infinite grades of occupations. If any labor who does not have any land or weapon to raise his status, then the only course for him, is to look within his Shudra Varna. Within Varna (the landless people) he chose people of his occupation because he was equal to them and he trusted them because of the occupational fraternity. Of course, this process took a longtime, but, by the time of the Buddha, the caste was there, within a Varna. The landless man bonded his blood with his occupational fraternity and over a period of time the caste emerged in the landless people where it should not have but who can stand up to dominant doctrine of that time - the divine Varna doctrine allotting one function to one group and allowing marriages within one group. The status seeking has been the old game for Hindus where the low castes

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really have gone downward only. The grading occupations in the Shudra Varna, was probably due to the element of purity introduced by Brahman Varna. Otherwise, skill wise grading in primitive agriculture seems to be impossible. In a low grade agriculture society the grading on the basis skills only cannot be very discriminating. But enter the paradigm of purity which graded the occupation on the basis of purity grading which associated the status with the pure and impure grading. The definite caste groups emerge where people having impurity refusing to marry people having still lower level of impurities or occupation. This was more discriminating. There were impure occupations; there were more impure occupations; and so on. The people having similar status (the marriages are usually among equal) or similar purity married each other, as the yard scale of equality was the equal occupation.

The Vedas, the main religious scripture, are so sacred for the impure Shudras and Antyajas that they could not even listen to them. Any such voluntary or involuntary act was punishable by making them to lose their hearing power by pouring the molten lead in their ears - very touching! The hearts roll in the quagmire of hatred. Any utterance was punishable by making them dumb by cutting off the tongue. It should melt your heart. Blessed were such lawmakers who provided for such punishments - in a literal sense. They fulfilled their responsibilities competently and smugly. And condemned were the victims who were the culprits also. In fact, these paranormal lawmakers had the highest and sacred position in society and came to acquire the land grants, which supported them. In addition, they guided the kings without being under their subordination - the knowledge of statecraft helped. They enjoyed the unfettered social powers for their religious and state status being answerable only to the self-created Dharma. They wielded state power by the virtue of being guides to the kings. They had religious, social and state powers behind them.

Let us recall that the majority of Hindu society is made up of, among other Varnas, the impure Shudras born from the feet of the primal man. They are not entitled to the thread ceremony, and they cannot perform any Vedic rites. Being born from the feet of the primal man makes Shudras impure. These inherently impure men are not entitled to thread ceremony. This is called being ritually impure

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with a destructive effect on their lives. Their inherent impurity is related to the inherent impurity of the manual work (and thus heathen). They lived under their birth-attached subordination to the higher Varnas. It is the fourth of the five strata of Hindu society and it is powerless. It is a finely divided Varna with many occupations and thousands of Jatis. The rule of the Varna system that no one should hold two functions, is applicable to the castes also; no two Shudra castes have the same occupation. All of these Jatis are distinct from each other. There is no common bond between them. There could not be because endogamy makes their bloodlines separate from each other. There is total absence of blood ties. Each Jati has its own universe though they have to follow the divine Varna Dharma under social, cultural, economic and traditional forces. The Jatis in higher three Varnas can come together for a common cause but not the Shudras as there is no common cause for people with widely different occupations and distinct blood lines. Each Jati has its own different occupational jobs. These different needs separate them and stop them from coming together. They are a disjointed group of numerous Jatis or castes which have been commonly defined by pious and ancient lawmakers; this common definition is the only link between them. There is no homogeneity between different Shudra Jatis. They only come together when a temporary common cause presents itself for the time being. Afterward, they go back to being vastly different groups of people who willingly serve the upper castes and make a living through labor. In the terms of Brahmanical cultural hegemony, they are the eternal, voluntary and dharmic servants of twiceborn. In terms of Varna Dharma, they are dependent on the twiceborn for their livelihood – indirectly enforced penury.

One point should be noted about the South India - there are no Kshatriyas and Vaisyas in South India. Here the role of Kshatriyas was played by the land holding Shudra castes that lorded over others except the Brahmans. We have already identified these dominant Shudras as pseudo-Kshatriyas because they played the full role of Kshatriyas without being elevated to Kshatriya status. There are mercantile castes in South India which have not been upgraded to Vaisyas status; technically they remain the Shudras. These we have already identified as pseudo-Vaisyas because they completely played the role of the Vaisyas. The pseudo-Kshatriyas and the pseudo-

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Vaisyas follow all the caste rules, venerate the Brahmans, consider the Vedas as supreme, consider the low caste as low caste, follow the rules made by the Brahmans and worship the gods from the Hindu pantheon. For our purpose when we talk about the Shudras we do not include the pseudo-Kshatriyas and the pseudo-Vaisyas.

The Shudra Varna includes cattle herders, land tillers, potters, carpenters, ironsmiths, goldsmiths, garland-maker, plasterer (mason), weavers, tailors, painters, sharpener of weapons (armorer), blacksmiths, bangle-makers, coppersmiths, barbers and hosts 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 all worked for the land holding castes under the Jajmani system and got a pittance for it.

What do you think, we the pure people, should give it to them? They deserve gruel; they get gruel. They remained alive! Did they not? Under our magnanimity! Magnificent, is it not? For their livelihood, they are dependent on the land holding castes in their areas or on utilization of their services by the higher castes. There was no multi stage production, which could make them interdependent in modern sense. Because of multitude of occupations, no particular Varna-occupation was assigned to these people though a Varna with general function was assigned to them. The function of serving could include anything - cattle rearing, tilling for the upper caste and producing anything, which could be used by the upper castes. For all the labor, they got a pittance since accumulation of wealth was banned for them. This general Varna function was to serve the higher three Varnas. These artisans have to do it through their heredity occupations. However, these people proudly refuse to provide their services to fifth stratum people, the Untouchables - and the same glorious pride is naturally not evident while dealing with the upper castes. The servility visits them whenever they are dealing with the upper castes. In South India, the function of upholding Dharma was taken up by land holding Shudra caste which is not really an anomaly since anybody can take up the arms to save Dharma which essential means saving the Brahmans – remember the ideas behind the Hindu judicial system. It caused no problems to the Brahmans. These dominant Shudras in South India doubled as Kshatriyas as well as Shudra; they were never upgraded to

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Kshatriya level but they became virtuous Shudras; the kings in South India were converted as Kshatriyas through the Hirangarbhya ritual. Bribe the Brahmans and be Hindus.

The Shudras are supposed to do all the jobs in society that are not done by the twiceborn and these jobs are also not unclean in nature. The unclean jobs belong to the group of Untouchables. The Shudras are supposed to do all the jobs involving the use of manual labor. The twice-born are not supposed to do jobs involving the use of manual labor; they want easy money, easy domination and easy respect. Shudras 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. If they do that then the non-cooperation and boycott visit them along with the necessary violence.

Shudras were the original inhabitants of India. They were certainly not the part of the 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 the Manusmriti. According to the later Vedas and the Manusmriti the agriculture (land tilling not the land owning) and cattle rearing were the jobs of Vaisya Varna and not of Shudra. The agriculture and cattle rearing formed together almost 90 percent of the economic activities in later Vedic times. Therefore, the Shudras were supposed to supply their labor only for serving the higher Varnas; and they were not to be engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing. Thus, they were not the essential part of later Vedic society. They were the later import into the Vedic society which had already internally developed the three Varnas with entitlement to thread ceremony. They were the natives of India who were slowly defeated and lost their land to the Aryans. Most probably, 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 the Aryans without any entitlement to the thread ceremony. Being powerless,

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they had to agree to these conditions. Initially there were so few of them that they could not be assigned the jobs of agriculture (land tilling) and cattle rearing. However, in a due course of time, these two jobs were degraded to the Shudra level. All the artisans of native agriculture-based village societies were included as Shudras without any right to land or to Vedic rites. He land went into the hands of Aryans.

In the initial stages, the regions beyond the Sapta-Sandhav and the Ganga were, most probably, ruled by the Shudra kings or the native chieftains. These people at that time most probably buried their dead in graves or big earthen pots. They started cremating their dead after assimilation into the Vedic fold. 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 the spread of the Vedic culture by defeating the Shudra kings who did not believe in Vedic rituals and in the superiority of Brahmans. Aryavrata was not really the land where the Aryans ruled but the areas where the Aryan way of life or the Vedic culture had become dominant. In other words the region where Varna system spread, and, where Brahmans were safe and respected, was called the Aryavrata. Aryavrata did not necessarily mean the rule by imported Aryan communities.

By 200 B.C.E., the paranormal Brahmanas are found performing Yagyas for the Dravidian kings in the deep South in lieu of the land grants and the acceptance of their superiority. They went there on the invitations from the local kings or chieftains. For these regional rulers, the Yagyas with their war winning qualities, acted like magnets, and they could not stay away from them; they had to have them at any cost. They accorded all the respect to the Brahmans and invited them to their kingdom. The Brahmans were welcome everywhere. The paranormal Brahmans won the cultural war through their paranormal powers and controlled society with the help of Shudra kings, divine Vedas, and magic, mystique and magnetism of the Yagyas. The Yagya culture should not be taken lightly; it took the Buddha and the Mahavir (of Jain religion) to wage lifelong struggles to reduce their importance. The way of non-violence of Buddhist religion has been nicely usurped by the Hindu religion. The cultural hegemony of Brahmans was complete with the local rulers accepting

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their supremacy. This process is also called assimilation or cooption. However, only the kings were converted to Kshatriyas but not their relatives.

Over a period of time, the occupations of agriculture and cattle rearing were degraded to the Shudra level. It indicates that the mercantile activities became very profitable and as result, the Vaisyas gave up the inferior manual jobs of land tilling and cattle rearing and avoided their involvement with the manual labor. As a result, they became disconnected from the labor oriented impure jobs. It was a relative rise in Varna due to accumulation of wealth by the Vaisyas after the emergence of currency system. Vaisyas undertook the newly opened trading which upper two Varnas were not willing to do, and the Shudras did not have the resource to engage in trading. The trading activities increased and these were cornered by the Vaisyas. Another possibility is that the Vaisyas involved in agriculture and cattle rearing were downgraded to the Shudra level. Another possibility is that with the increasing cultural hegemony of Brahmans and spread of the Varna culture, the Brahmans did not upgrade the local Shudras who were engaged in agriculture and cattle rearing to the level of Vaisyas. This may explain the inordinately large portion of the Shudras in the current population whereas in the beginning they were in minuscule minority.

Let us recall some noticeable conditions 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 labor and at the mercy of upper castes. And as usually all his generations have to eternally do the same. This is the inherited burden of Varna system. It is just not called the eternal religion for nothing. It has inbuilt eternal exploitation. The Shudras are the eternal servants in the eternally pure society. All these servants have earned their Shudrahood due to their bad Karmas. They have been working extremely hard to attain the servile status all through their uncountable but accountable previous lives. After such hard work, they achieve the justified status of a permanent servant; it not a matter of joke; they needed several life times to attain this. Their present status confirms the bad deeds of their past lives. However, nobody has found a single actual connection of any

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specific Shudra with his identifiable and confirmed previous lives' identifiable Karmas; anyway, we are dealing with extremely intelligent and impeachable people, not the conmen or frauds. There is no way to confirm the nature of deed of their past lives. Still, some consider the justification through Karma Hypothesis as scientific. These people are usually twiceborn or people having blind faith in the failed Karma hypothesis.

And the Shudras have something to crow about. It is the superiority over Untouchables. The Shudras are the lowest in Varna but 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 made them superior to Antyajas. The proud Shudras refuse to serve Untouchables or mix with them. They, their ancestors and their coming generations should be eternally grateful to the pious and pure lawmakers for providing them such a divine reason to rejoice. They do not know that to what an extent, they are indebted to considerate, compassionate and altruistic lawmakers for such happiness! They have provided happiness even to the servants!!! Somebody is dying somewhere due to internal explosions of happiness due to the imploding stupidity of the lower strata. It speaks volumes of other worldliness of these lawmakers. However, this sense of superiority which gives the Shudras eternal joy evaporates when they come face to face with the higher Varnas. Happiness is a relative matter here; it becomes negative or positive depending upon whom one is facing. The scriptures play big cruel jokes on the Shudra and still bigger and still crueler jokes on the Untouchables - the profound crippling jokes. And they treat pure people luxuriantly. Divinity, man, the divinity which dances at the chanting of the mantras! Need I remind you?

The ignorance of lower strata is wonderful. It blooms the flowers in the hearts of pure people. And it does wonder to the sustainability of Dharma. It soothes the collective heart of upper three Varna and causes extreme happiness there. The lower strata are caught in the dark knot of vicious ignorance. Their ignorance is overwhelming; and their condition is pathetic. They can do better.

Now we turn to the Manusmriti, the most celebrated of the Dharma Shastras, to know the abilities and disabilities imposed on

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them by the Varna system. The righteousness, wisdom and sagacity are spread all over the Dharma Shastras in overwhelming overabundance. A Shudra is a man without any rights in the 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. It breaks the harmony between his name and Varna-function which is dangerous to a society in harmony with the divine order. This denotes that he has no claim to dignity in society. I have already said that the lower two strata are born-insulted and the lowest are the most insulted. His indignity starts from birth itself and continues with naming, afterward, it marches on relentlessly. His first name is supposed to denote something contemptible and the second name should denote service. The people born in the contemptible Varna should, logically and dharmically speaking, should have the contemptible names! You cannot beat the logic here! It indicates that he was made to be insulted and to serve others. Enforced labor division? And his job is to meekly serve the higher Varnas. Nothing should come as a shock; Hindu society is shockproof if the inhuman traditions are followed. When the inhuman traditions are not followed then it goes into a state of shock, even into a coma. Anyway, God created the Shudras to serve the higher level beings, the twiceborn people. They represent God created servanthood and this servanthood never created brotherhood. Further, they are excluded from the duties of an Aryan. This effectively means that a Shudra is kept out of rituals, ceremonies and religious functions of the higher Varnas. These upper Varnas, who are in minority, controlled the social, religious, political and economical space among them. In other words, they form a majority in resources controlling people. A Shudra's job was to serve these socially, politically, ritually and economically dominant groups 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 supposed to be a thoroughly unfit man for such purposes. It speaks volumes about the wisdom of lawmakers - Rishis, sages and Brahmans. Fitness or unfitness of any person for any job was decided by his Varna not by abilities. There is no such thing as earned merit in the Hindu society but only the caste-merit – this makes the life

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easy for the high caste people; this suits them; this makes them suitable candidates in high value added areas. The different castes have different merits, suitably so.

Further, any Shudra is to be respected only when he reaches the tenth decade of his life or attains an age of more than ninety years while a Brahman attains respect by birth – no anomaly at all; only adharmic and foolish people can see any anomaly here. 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 - if there are doubts in your minds, please, remove them; scratch them away. 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 - note. Any relations with upper castes on the basis of equality are prohibited. It goes against the implicit concept of the divine Varna Dharma of insulting the lower two strata. There is no such thing as respecting Varna Dharma. If Dharma is unable to insult the lower strata then it suffers from the loss of self-respect. When a Shudra goes to the house of a Brahman, he is allowed to eat only with his servants. Naturally, any Shudra cannot move with a Brahman.

A Brahman is prevented from doing many things in the presence of a Shudra. First, he cannot move with any Shudra. He cannot recite the sacred text or the Shastras in presence of a Shudra. He cannot go to any journey with a Shudra. He cannot eat food given by a Shudra (shades of limited untouchability!). He cannot explain any of the sacred scriptures to any Shudra. This effectively prevents a Shudra from benefitting from the company of any Brahman.

Further, if a Shudra refuses to serve the higher Varnas then the king should force him to do so since he was created by God to serve the twice born. In doing so, the king would only be fulfilling God's will because God purposely created the Shudra to live in servitude in perpetuity. Not doing so, should be a contempt of God. And it may bring divine retribution on the lower strata through higher strata. One should be afraid of people having paranormal power to invoke God. Should not one be?

If a Shudra accumulates property then the king or Brahman should seize it because if he earns his livelihood from any property then he would forget his Dharma of serving others without caring for

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fruits or gains. It is quite a dangerous proposition. If he accumulates property then he would create aDharma by trying to become equivalent to the higher Varnas. Equality is aDharmic in Hindu society. Equality is kicked around in scripture to scripture. Any equality is essentially a corruption of Dharma which is to be avoided by king. The inequality in favor of higher Varnas was much preferred and edicted by the esteemed, pure and pious lawmakers with unimpeachable integrity. It was a hallmark of the Hindu society.

If a Shudra causes a Brahman to suffer then he should be punished in an exemplary manner which puts terror in the hearts of all the Shudras on perpetual basis. This should ensure the endurance of Dharma. This should prevent other Shudras from harming the Brahmans. This should also prevent the other Shudras from rebelling for achieving equality. If a Shudra wants to improve his next birth then he should serve the higher Varnas with all his humility, without raising his voice. The high castes get served whether the Shudras gets better next birth or not; it might as well be a false promise; and there is no dearth of false promises in a dishonest society, and also no dearth of knowledgeable fools. He should be a virtuous servant to those in the higher Varna. A subservient and supplicating voice is music to twiceborn ears. And a virtuous servant could provide that. Let the music begin which draws the dark clouds over the lower strata.

Further, for all his hard work, labor and serving the upper castes, he is to be rewarded with the leftover food of his master, his old clothes and refuse of his grain. Be virtuous man, be virtuous! And, accept all this, graciously! A Shudra having quality food and wearing nice clothes was supposed to be corrupting Dharma which was required to be punished suitably. It was a manner in which indignities could be heaped upon the Shudras. Anyway it should not have mattered because the heathens are made to be insulted. They can be buried under the heaps of insults.

Any participation or contribution to Yagya ceremony by a Shudra is prohibited because it contaminates the whole ceremony. His contributions even in his absence are not permitted. This means that ritually he was Untouchable if not for performing the mundane tasks.

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Shudras were exploited as if there was no tomorrow. It seems nobody was made answerable for their exploitation and sufferings.

Shudras are the impure people with impure destinies and the Untouchables are polluting people with polluted destinies. All manmade, and the fate stands still.

The impure people pursue the servility like eager beavers; claims to contrary are much abounding, but, are nothing more than the trifling boasts. These self-congratulating boasts are without any basis.

Further, a Shudra is not to be encouraged; his talent is to be suppressed. Rather the talent of the lower two strata is sacrificed at the altar of the Varna Dharma. A talented lower strata man is an insult to Varna Dharma. It should make for a grand sacrifice doctrine; well seemingly, there were no beasts; anyway, what is the difference between beasts and lower caste people; both carry the burden for unknown reasons. And the leeches feast on the sacrificed labor or efforts.

The Eklavya episode of the grand epic Mahabharata shows that how the talents of natives of India, was supposed to be suppressed by the respected twiceborn. Eklavya was a Nishad boy. The Nishads fell outside the pale of Aryan or Vedic community. They were as good as outcastes from the perspective the Vedic society. This community lived among the forests. The epic Mahabharata is a story from the times when the Varna system was taking shape. It could have been the real history also. The story might be set around 900 B.C.E. This is the epic in which the influences of gambling, polyandry, polygamy and temporary conjugal rights of Rishis or seers or sages are quite evident. And this epic is also, sometimes, known as the fifth Veda! Now, do not stretch your imaginations, please.

The five Pandavas were the sons of impotent king Pandu. I might be exaggerating and may be unreasonable but there is a possibility that there was a curse on Pandu by the Rishis . And this curse prevented Pandu from enjoying the conjugal bliss. And, it is just guesswork, that Rishis spread this canard to prevent any union between Pandu and Kunti, so that they could enjoy the Niyoga benefit with Kunti. And any canard coming from the unimpeachable

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source having paranormal powers can only be true - remember the word is enough. This might have enabled the Rishis/sages/seers to enjoy the conjugal bliss with Kunti by disguising themselves as different gods. Kunti got all her six sons including Karna from various people. Pandu and Dhritrashtra were the Kshatriyas belonging to the Kuru tribe. At that time, the Pandavas, sons of Kunti, were learning the art of warfare from Guru Dronacharya. One of the arts that he taught was the archery. The best archer of the Pandavas was Arjun of Gita fame. He was third of his brothers, a son of warrior god Indra, so it is said; it also said that actually he was fourth son of Kunti, Karna being the eldest and disowned because born before marriage. Indeed, Arjun 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 then developing dharmic grounds that only Kshatriyas should learn the archery skills and since Eklavya was not a Kshatriya, he was not eligible to become his pupil. Eklavya was a stupid boy with a burning desire. He went to forest and made a clay idol of Dronacharya, put it under a tree, and started practicing archery all alone without any help from anybody.

As it happened, one day Dronacharya took all the five Pandavas to forest for practicing the 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 and here, chasing a rabbit or two. It was a matter of little time, when it started barking. The barking of the dog disturbed the Pandavas. 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 the 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 the ground and absolutely numb. Here was an archer who had the potential of defeating Arjun and Karna put together. They were

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curious to know the archer responsible for putting 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 stupid Nishad boy was practicing the archery. He was Eklavya, the mighty archer who was never destined to become a mighty warrior. The developing Varna system was going to play tricks with him. Dronacharya had forgotten the Nishad boy. He asked the stupid Eklavya that what he had done to the dog. The stupid Eklavya replied that it was disturbing him by barking so he had stopped the dog from barking by filling its mouth with arrows. For the 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 the 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. He did not know that this boy was stupid also. Or did he? Dharma says that only Kshatriyas should wield the arms. Then he asked the boy who was his teacher. Eklavya, the stupid, bowed to him and told that his teacher was none other than the 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, the stupid, pointed to the 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 the non-Vedic boy. Soon he was going to set an excellent example of the highest-level Dharmic teachership. The basic principle of nipping in the bud is still followed. It is the principle of destroying the talent of Shudras and those below them by whatever means available to the higher Varnas. This stupid boy was soon going to know that what it meant not to be a twiceborn. But neither him nor anybody else was going to learn anything from it - the stupidity proved to be continuous and contagious. It is still continuous and contagious. The talent of Brahmans in imposing their superiority over others without the use of physical force is awesome. The stupidity of any kind exactly does not belong to them.

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However, we come back to the stupid Eklavya and his story. He was indeed a great threat to Dharma. Dronacharya needed to find a way to save the spiritual and divine Varna Dharma. Eklavya was at the threshold of becoming a mighty warrior leading to corruption of Dharma. Dronacharya then asked the boy to give him Guru Dakshina if he really considered him as his teacher. Stupid Eklavya's heart was filled with unbound happiness. The stupid and a moron though a matchless self-taught archer, Eklavya was! His wish was going to be realized. He thought that he was going to be accepted formally as a pupil of the great teacher Dronacharya. He was on the ninth cloud. How stupid one can be? Hoping the stealing bitch to guard the cake!

His stupid happiness was set to disappear in the thin air shortly under the unparalleled greatness of this great teacher. His teacher then asked him to cut off his right thumb and give it to him in Guru Dakshina (the teaching fee). Truly, the greatness of Dronacharya knew no limit. It was limitless like the sky, like a freely flowing river, like the unselfishness of a fruit giving tree, eternal like the Sanatana Dharma. It was a trivial matter to decapitate a man. Now it was the turn of stupid 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, sly, scheming, 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 by this sly 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. Was he totally stupid? After that Dronacharya left the place along with the Pandavas well satisfied in his heart that Dharma had been saved. None of the five righteous Pandavas objected to this cruel injustice - Note.

The sense of honor and fair play requires that your opponent be given a fair chance, not crippling him. Such sense of fair play and honor is missing from the Varna Dharma and the Hindu culture. Later Sanatana Dharma provided that the lower two strata of population be demilitarized to avoid any encroachment on Dharma by them. The Brahmans and the Vaisyas could take up arms in time emergency and necessity to save the Dharma. And where the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas were not there then even the Shudras

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could also take up the arms to save the Brahmans and Dharma like in the South India.

It seems that the Pandavas including the legendary truthful Yudhister also agreed with the cruel act of Dronacharya. Later in Mahabharata, the eldest of Pandavas, the legendary truthful Yudhister is found discussing ethics in society. This is an example as to what an extent the upper Varnas can go to suppress and destroy the talent of the lower castes as the matter of a righteous way of life; and afterward they can discuss ethics and morals of caste or Varna system without batting an eyelid. Nipping the problem in the 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 strata of society.

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 Panchala princess. I can see nauseating feelings developing instantly at this thought among the higher Varnas.

However, the immediate events which followed, cast a doubt on the thinking of the Gita. Even the Gunas idea of Gita is taken to be correct than it was, obviously, not followed by anybody. Then we have another example from another grand epic, the Ramayana, which show how the people of lower castes were supposed to be stopped from achieving the spiritual peace. Not stopping them meant turning upside down the eternal Dharma of divinely intelligent people. This story may be dated later to Mahabharata because traces of polyandry are not found there. The purity of women had become a prime concern. The upper castes had been born.

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 the jungles. He is considered as a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu along with Lord Shri Krishna of the Gita 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 died. A group of simpleton, innocent, pure and pious Brahmans joined together and took the ailing boy along with them to Lord Rama. Ram the king asked about the purpose of their visit. The simpleton, innocent, unworldly and unimpeachable Brahmans told him that the boy had fallen sick which had brought them to see him.

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Then he was told that the boy had taken ill not due to natural sickness but because Dharma was getting corrupted and destroyed in his rule. Further, the simpleton and innocent Brahmans told him that a cunning Shudra was performing penance as a result of which the divine Dharma was getting corrupted and destroyed. Well performing penance corrupts Dharma!! Unlimited innocence and unimpeachable integrity! What else do you want? A Shudra was doing the adharmic and dastardly deed of performing a penance. Lord Ram's rule was becoming sinful. A sacred masterpiece of great reasoning, it appears to be! And all the likeminded people benefitting from the Varna Dharma would agree to it. Watch out for the innocence here! And you can innocently believe that the shadows can pollute also! You are in a strange world that has existed for a long, long time. There was no miracle, only causation. You are not supposed to think of “how’ and “why”, never; the word you should accept without question is “Therefore”. And eliminate any “process” from your adharmic thinking.

As a result of the corruption of Dharma, the pious Brahman boy was taken ill. In traditional Indian society, the causes are not found but created. It was as simple as that. Nothing exponential logic was involved in that. The causation was, crystal clear, for any twiceborn man to see; crass, obtuse, simple and asinine. Only the heathen and brainless creatures cannot see such pious logic! Only pious brains could give such pious logic. The pious Brahmans said that the only pious and righteous course of action was to kill this penance performing sinful Shudra to save the pure Dharma, the cosmic order. The deed theory of Varna by deeds is consigned to the dustbin - note! A single Shudra was posing a grave danger to the divinely ordained Dharma, the will of God. Somebody had to find a solution to this catastrophic problem. Somebody had to save the will of God from disintegrating. Any further delay would have resulted in the death of Brahman boy and the king Rama would have been responsible for it as the kings were supposed to uphold the Dharma, not protect the people. He would have been a failed king if he did not save Dharma.

A Shudra had committed the ghastly crime of transgressing upon Dharma of the Brahmans. The corruption of Dharma had to be removed at any cost. Its sanctity had to be restored. The

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interference in the divine functioning of system was to be extinguished. A human being had defiled the Dharma and challenged the cosmic order. Therefore, Lord Rama went to forest where Shambuk was corrupting the Dharma through his penance. Then the Lord Rama showing his faith in the Sanatana Dharma killed unarmed and meditating Shambuk with a sword. And behold, the Brahman boy got cured at the very moment Shambuk was killed thus justifying the causation of his sickness- theory proved. It is not at all sickening. It brings happiness to some people. It also proves that the Brahmans were simpleton and innocent with unimpeachable integrity.

The compelling interests of Dharma required that Shambuk be killed. In this story, it is interesting to note that it was not necessary for Brahmans to ask Lord Rama to kill Shambuk. They themselves could have killed him but they chose a Kshatriya to do it to avoid the committing of crime themselves. The hands of Brahmans are clean; clean enough to handle the sacred Vedas, the Word of God. It also meant that the deeds do not define a Varna. Shambuk's deed could not define his Varna; his Varna was decided by birth.

Then there is another example from the Mahabharata where a Shudra (Suta-Putra, the son of a charioteer) was forced to fake his identity to learn the art of warfare. The Sutas (the charioteers) were the Shudras and hence not eligible to learn the art of warfare. Karana was eldest of the Pandavas brothers. His mother was Kunti, the same as mother of Pandavas of whom Arjun is the most famous. He had been born before her marriage to Pandu. Therefore, she abandoned him to avoid the social disgrace. He was brought up by a Suta (a charioteer – a Shudra) of the Kauravas who were the cousins of the Pandavas. Therefore he came to be known as Suta-Putra and hence dharmically ineligible to learn the art of warfare and wielding weapons. Thus, it goes without saying that no high Varna teacher was willing to teach him. But he had a scorching desire to learn the art of warfare and specially that of archery. Therefore, he went to a faraway place where nobody knew him. He went to a renowned Brahman teacher who taught the art of wielding weapons to the Brahmans 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

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his student. It is unethical to assume the identity of somebody else for personal gains. Nevertheless, his unethical behavior pales before the unethical behavior of the Brahmans who gave the false identities to all the people, and prevented the Shudras and those below them from fulfilling their dreams, their aspirations, their heart's desire and their ambitions. What a really dharmic excellence! The Shudras and those below them had to live a life without the dreams. Their dignity lied tattered on the earth. One piece here and one piece there, the gloating upper castes walked over them and their egos got bloated. And all the blame went to the unknown Karmas - poor karmas.

Anyway, Parshuram took Karana under his wings, and started teaching him the art of wielding the weapons. The time went by and Parshuram kept teaching him under the illusion that he was a Brahman. The Brahmans were allowed to wield weapons to save Dharma under an 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 his thigh to be used as a pillow. Therefore, Parshuram using Karana's thigh as pillow went to sleep. Soon after, a scorpion came there and stung Karana on the leg. The pain of the sting 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 endured 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 the weapons! He expelled Karana and cursed him that he would forget all the skill of warfare taught to him when he needed them most. How dharmic! Justified was the anger of Parshuram and nobody questioned the unethicality of the Varna system. The righteous got righteously angry. Nothing astonishing about it? Is there? There was scant regard for anybody's natural feelings and emotions. The subhuman are not supposed to possess feelings and emotions.

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Karana had to suffer humiliation in his later days because of his Shudra identity of impure origin. How could he aspire to marry a princess? If a king wants to marry a commoner then it is properly proper. But a Shudra man and a Kshatriya princess? The thought was sufficient to throw the lawmakers in a nauseating mental turmoil. And we see that in Dharma Shastras the children of such Anuloma marriage were straight forwardly made the Untouchables or the outcastes. It satisfied the Dharma.

There was a princess in the Mahabharata who played a central part in the epic. She belonged to the Panchala kingdom. Her father was the king of the Panchala kingdom. He organized a Swayamvar for his daughter in question; her name was Draupadi. A Swayamvar was the occasion where only the 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 horizontally 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 by looking down at the reflection of the 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 without trouble. But that would have caused the pure lawmakers to suffer from nightmares with hard nail piercing their soft and angel like sacred brains! Their pure digestive systems could not have digested it. Vomiting was certain indicating a high regard that 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. And, Varna by deeds, Gunas? Do not crack these sly jokes anymore. He could have fought with them but not marry into them. In the due course of time, the lower strata were disallowed to carry the arms so

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that they could not fight against the higher Varnas. Splendid! None of the elders like Bhishma and Yudhister tried to justify the claim of Karana. Later in Mahabharata these two persons of grand principles and integrity are found extolling the importance of deeds and Gunas in determining one's Varna!!! Beats my puny brain.

Then, there is this sinking feeling that goes with the fused insulted status. The Shudras and the Untouchables live their lives with unborn dreams and unborn ambitions and unavailable choices. The presence of these would lend quaintness to their lives. So would the notions of equality and freedom. For harmony, these quaint features ought to be removed. Don't think, sleep man sleep. A life lived in total servility, is best, as it serves the cause of Dharma. They should find solace in that. And what can be better than that? Be happy. Why should others sacrifice their comforts for you? It is highly illogical. And that is the truth.

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12. THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

The Untouchable group was the last to appear in the Hindu society. These people face untouchability from the rest of society. The untouchability means that some people are considered so heathen that it is forbidden to touch them. Their touch corrupts the Dharma. Their mere touch is supposed to pollute others and render them unfit for mundane tasks. Believe it or not, nobody has so far proven this so called polluting property but it is taken as the scriptural truth! And you cannot beat the scriptures in truthfulness; these were written by the sages, the seers, the Brahmans and the Rishis with the unimpeachable integrity. Do not you believe them? You should believe all their unproven statements and then believed these statement to be pinnacles of facts and the truth; do not any inquiry please. Only then you should able to understand the intricacies of the Sanatana Dharma. Nobody has so far proven the property of purity assigned to some paranormal and cruel Lawmakers. Even the touch of the shadow can corrupt (???) the upper castes; therefore, the provisions were made that these people did not cross the path of the upper castes and if needed interacted with them at a distance. They were excluded from any meaningful parts of the life. Shadow pollutes!!! Must be some geniuses at work for the development of concepts like this one - Rishis, seers, lawmakers - the revered geniuses at par with Newton and Einstein!!! And their souls which have attained the Moksha never convulse out, out of shame or for the foolishness for providing these idiotic, moronic, perverted and morbid concepts. No the cannot be called perverted or morbid in any sense; their high ethical and high moral status prohibits it. So out with any perversion and any morbidity, as far as the high caste people are concerned. But the high castes they seem to be rather proud of achievement of their Rishis or Brahmans. Yes, proud of their exclusivity, after all, they are the pious and pure people! And morbidity? It cannot touch them, by definition. The Untouchables are not the part of the pure Varna society. They are too impure to be included in the divine Varna society. Society does not interact with them but it bleeds their labor dry. (As if the

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different segments of Hindu society, truly interact with each other.) They have to stay outside the villages out of hatred develop for them in society. The purity is repulsive of extreme impurity. Hatred runs from top to down, but reaching the bottom this hatred becomes extreme, and, wrenches the miseries of the bottom people. The twisted miseries can be quite shuddering. Society consistently reaps this hatred for the benefit of the pure people. The lowest stratum has to earn living by doing the unclean jobs which are considered too dirty and polluting by others including the Shudras. It is easy to see these as simple discriminations and somewhat harmful, but the actual results are shuddering and shaking. This crippling disability is passed off lightly as "some disabilities" and "some discrimination" as though it is of no consequences, by the defenders of Hindu society; these are simple trivia on which the time should not be wasted. And everything is terribly nice.

The untouchability is passed down through heredity. It is birth-attached. There are about two hundred million Untouchables in India forming twenty percent of the Hindu population. The stake of these people in society and country is almost negligible. They are actively deprived of any rights to participate in any beneficial social and economic activities. This crippling and spiritual society could do nothing else. No doubt, it is quite sustainable in the absence of internal opposition, which is so weak that it cannot walk straight. In the absence of any link with the profitable activities, these people remain poor, and live a wretched life. It is simple awarding of the penury by the Dharma Shashtras. Society actively participates in the process which makes them weak, poor, hated, despised, disabled and effectively crippled. It cuts them off from anything beneficial in a bid to keep them in perpetual servitude and submissiveness. This wretchedness forms twenty percent of Hindu society while supreme purity lies at the top forming three-four percent of society. If you add three Varnas then this creams forms eighteen percent of the Hindu population.

The practice of untouchability is an integral part of the traditional Hindu society. It is effective as crippling the lower caste people makes them unable to raise their heads, ever. Most importantly, it asserts the divine purity and superiority of the upper castes. A very big portion of Hindu society belongs to the category of

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Untouchables. These are the people whose touch or their shadow's touch is enough to pollute a man of higher strata requiring a purification ritual which includes usually taking bath and other atonement activities. Additionally, it also invites use of gross invectives and expletives against fifth stratum people and if desired then a corporal punishment which leaves the victim writhing in pain. It all depends on the mood of upper castes but the punishment is imminent. The mildest form is the reprimand. The severity may also depend on the mood of upper castes and it may include the dishonoring of Untouchable women and the killing of males. The crimes against them are not judiciable in the traditional Hindu society. There is no authority in Hindu society where they can complain. As far as they are concerned the Hindu society is a lawless jungle - the barbarians have not improved. Their complaints are not judiciable in the Hindu society. It seems that the Untouchables have always lived under a low intensity hidden one-sided terror war, which raises its cruel face whenever it wants. It is similar to a war because dishonoring the women and killing the males are the characteristics of a war. They perpetually live under fear and hunger which have induced servility in them. This continuous war in pieces is waged by the landed castes on the behalf of the pure and pious lawmakers and the Dharma. The upper castes are deeply entrenched in religious and social system which sacredly sanctifies the oppression against the fifth stratum. And they sleep soundly with a clear and deep conscience. The dominant castes kill and oppress the poor Untouchables for not doing their biddings. This is an eternal source of happiness for them; thousands of flowers bloom - and smirk. The upper castes live happily under the umbrella of the Dharma Shashtras.

There are some people who argue that the untouchability is not a part of Hindu religion. If it is so then one must be reminded that neither the Varna nor the Santana Dharma was part of the 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 paradigm of purity which emphasizes on inherent purity of human beings, it gave birth, logically, to dharmic practice of untouchability, in the due course of time. A great dharmic tradition emerged to keep society purer by keeping the polluted people outside

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society. Keeping dirty and polluting people outside society, was a definite way to maintain the purity of Hindu society.

When did the practice come into existence? We have a purifier in the Rig Veda but not impure people. The lawmakers are also not there in it. The untouchability existed at the time of the Buddha. However, for our purpose we will turn to Manusmriti which relates to the period prior to entry of temples in Hindu society. Though the word Untouchable (Aspryasya) is not found in Manusmriti, all the signs of untouchability are present in it. The 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 along with the absence of code of conduct regarding temple entry by the Untouchables. This issue is sufficiently addressed in the later Smritis. The later Dharma Shastras prescribe the purification if an Untouchable enters a temple then a suitable frightening punishment should be meted out to him. They are not above killing the Untouchable daring to enter the temples. These are only frivolous trivia, nothing much to talk about. They kill them with a clear conscience. There are no holes in their consciousness.

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 that could be polluted! God can be defiled! You know! We have the most pure God. Even the gods have degrees of purity; if they are defiled, they become less pure and sacred. Nobody else has the defilable gods. We have the best religion in the world because it privileges us with everything with a stable society with a cowering lower part of society which means eternal benefits for us.

A defilable God! A strange concept indeed! There is no such thing as defilable God, if any; 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. Such nasty schemes do not exist in Hindu Dharma, here they are supposed to protect the strong - Dharma when protected, protects. The Manusmriti refers to a period when the temples had not come into existence. There were

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no idols of great Trinity: the Brahma, the Vishnu and the Mahesh. And Vedas were considered to be three in number not four.

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 the untouchability to exist in Manusmriti, it is necessary that the concepts of purity, impurity and a method of purification must exist. The idea must exist that the pollution can spread by mere touch and can be removed.

According to Manusmriti a Brahman should not eat from the vessels which are defiled or contaminated. Here the unclean is different from impure or contaminated. The cleanliness is usually on the surface but the impurity is embedded. The impurity is supposed to get embedded in the vessels touched by Shudras and the Untouchables. The unclean can be cleaned but the impure have to be purified, it cannot be purified by merely a simple act of thorough cleaning. To remove the impure state the rituals are required to purify. The Untouchables are not eligible for going through any Vedic rituals, purifying or otherwise; so they remain the polluting impure. The lower two groups are defined as being innately polluted - the impurity is fused with them - hence no cure. The innate impurity cannot be washed away. Further impurity can be introduced by a simple touch of an ultra super clean Untouchable. But any impurity can be removed from the polluted high caste person since he does not have any innate impurity. The impurity in question has been hoisted upon him. Further, according to the Manusmriti a man can become impure due to births and deaths in his families. Further, a Brahman is prohibited from taking food from a Shudra. This can only be on account on impurities inherent in Shudra because of his divinely impure origin. If impurity does not spread by touch then there is no reason for a Brahman to not accept the food from any of the Shudras. From the impure people comes the impure food which is unsuitable for the superior, pure, pious and paranormal people having the mouth which recites the sacred Vedic mantras on which the divinity dances. The impure food should enter the pure mouth reciting sacred and divine Vedas! Sacrilege, man pure sacrilege - it is pure sacrilege! There is a fear of becoming impure as indicated in Manusmriti and an obsession to maintain the purity of Brahmans.

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Also it is necessary that the Brahman wives remain really pure and chaste so that the purity of the Brahman husband is not affected. The Brahman girls and wives should be really chaste else the Brahmanical purity would be in danger. At the top, these fears and desires dominate the Hindu society.

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 the others. If he happens to take food from such persons then he had 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 twiceborn because they are impure substances. It may be because they smell foul and mushroom (kukur-mutta) was thought to grow where dogs had urinated.

If a twiceborn 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.

The obsession with purity is so overwhelming that it made, impure low caste people's life, a living hell. No recourse is given to the lower two groups to remove their embedded impurities. May be it was the superior wisdom of the lawmakers which did not provide such a recourse. If purity has to increase then impurity also has to increase because without impurity there is no purity. The purity repulses the impurity; the higher the purity higher was its repulsive power and higher repulsive power pushed impurity down and own. Pushing down impurity meant pushing down the impure people down and own because impure people and their impurity was the same. You push down the impurity you push down the related people. The average pressure of the networked Brahmans increased and pushed the bottom people down and down. The continuous increasing purity and ostracization led to the development of untouchability.

There are notions of purity and impurity in Manusmriti along with transfer of impurity through touch and the different methods of purification. The method of purification for a Brahman who has seen the impure objects is sipping of water and chanting of sacred mantras. Ah! The sacred mantras turned out to be scarring weapons,

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indirectly. So merely seeing impure things can be a source of spreading impurities, touching them ought to be very serious and grave. I told you we are dealing with the super geniuses who ruled the traditional society for thousands of years - may be the impurity moves through sound and light waves and these super geniuses knew it since time unknown. You cannot underestimate them. They occupied most of the social space and from there they guided people's destinies.

A Shudra is not allowed touch the dead body of a Brahman. Such an act makes, all the offerings made to the manes, ineffective because they have been contaminated by the touch of a 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 Brahmans invited for such an occasion. Such a touch would contaminate the Brahmans and the offerings made to manes. Further, the outcastes are impure so they cannot be offered the leftovers of offerings made to God. Here they are even ineligible for the certain leftovers! From this position, one can easily reach to untouchability. The untouchability was a logical culmination of Brahmanical assertions of power through the paradigm of purity and ostracization. The denial of rituals was used as a weapon. It was possible because they occupied larger social and religious space above the chieftains or the kings. This in turn was made possible by the mystique of the Yagyas which vested them with the divine powers.

Now we come to existence of untouchability in the Manusmriti. The untouchability requires that the mere touch of a heathen man can contaminate a pure Varna man which requires his purification. Such a condition is found in the case of Chandals who came to be known as the scavengers in the later times. According to Manusmriti if a Brahman has touched a Chandala then he can become pure by bathing. Logically it implied that a Brahman could not touch a Chandala; and if unknowingly touched he has to purify himself; thus implying the practice of untouchability. The Chandals were the Untouchables. This makes Chandals a representative of the Untouchables in the Manusmriti. The point to be noted is that the purification requires not merely sprinkling of water but a full bath and chanting of sacred mantras. The intensity of purification

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depended on the gravity of impurity. Further, a Brahman should not stay with the outcastes, Chandals etc., which again is a practice of untouchability. The Chandals and the outcastes were nearly similar to each other in terms of the 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 the Brahmans were prohibited from touching the Chandals at anytime. And the Chandals were also prohibited from touching the Brahmans. Great Rishis with great science! But the lawmakers were compassionate enough to throw the food at the ground for them - a grand and gracious act of mercy. To pick up the food the Chandals had to wait until it was no longer in the hands of twice born. The human dogs waited faithfully and with full gratitude for their masters to throw some food on the ground. They were fully indebted and wagged their tails. It is also indicated that a pig, a dog and a Chandala must not look at a Brahman while he is eating. It makes Chandals equal to pigs and dog - they leave no scope for pigs and dogs to complain. Thus, we can conclude that the untouchability existed in the Manusmriti times.

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 the 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 the Manusmriti an authentic source to study the broad social structure of ancient and current Hindu society. And this runs counter to the arguments of many people that the Manusmriti was never relevant. But how can we disagree with high caste people having pure ethics and pure morality? The piousity and purity have to be right all the time - till eternity. And for disagreeing to that the Untouchables would go to hell - as if though it would make any difference!!!

These people were given the name Antyaja meaning the group that was born after all the other groups (Varnas) in the Vedic

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society had been born or had come into existence. These people, the Untouchables, do not belong to any of the four Varnas though they have the heredity Jati system similar to the four Varnas. When the practice of untouchability emerged, the Vedas had already been finalized and the Purusha Sukta of Rig Veda had become the final word on the origin of the Varnas. The "Word" from the mouth of God himself - indeed! To add these people to Varna system required addition of one more Varna to the Vedic society. However, the number of Varnas had already been restricted to four. Therefore, the creation of fifth Varna required alteration to Vedas and especially to the Rig Veda which no mortal was allowed to do. How could a mere mortal change the Word of God? The Word of God that was created by the man! Nothing strange about it!

But a fifth group had come in existence because of untouchability (as a result of required ritual purification after touching a Chandala and coming into contact with the bad smell etc.) and because of downgrading and separation of certain occupations like butchering, skinning and scavenging to the lower unclean level by the unselfish, pious and pure lawmakers. The creation of the fifth stratum was an immeasurable measure of the infinite compassion of the lawmakers which resided in their clean, soft and compassionate hearts! Any cruelty never touched them!!! Not by several thousand of miles!! They always had the welfare of all the people in their hearts. And if you think that the Untouchables are human beings - you might be wrong. Just ask them. Or just ask the traditional Hindu society which is in the hands of the caste elites. The Chandals were the Untouchable. Further, when the Brahmans became the most sacred, pious and pure then they could not bear the smell of blood, smell of tannery, rotting garbage and human excreta. Therefore, all the Shudras involved in such activities were downgraded to further lower level - they became unseeable and unapproachable lest any impure smell touches them and corrupt the sacred and pure Dharma. The repulsive factor is in full bloom. However, the Shudras dealing with excreta of cattle remained the Shudras. Further, additions to the Untouchable group were made through the practice of ostracization. The ostracized and disinherited people were straightforwardly downgraded to the fifth stratum. The ostracization meant disinheritance of Varna, its related heredity occupation and of

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ancestral property. The fifth group consisted of people from higher castes who were made the outcastes and the Shudras whose occupation was downgraded keeping in view the increasing purity of the Sanatana Dharma. All those who were ostracized had to take up the unclean jobs to sustain themselves. These jobs were not done by the twice born or the Shudras. The fifth stratum people were considered different form the Shudras and given the lowest status in society. They were asked to live outside society. This group of occupations and people related to it had to be given a name. They were assigned origin more impure than that of Shudras and hence the lowest status in 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 society, forever. The Varnas were evolved in a purity wise time sequence; so they were more impure than the Shudras and placed below them. The purest were born earlier (came into existence) than all the other Varna. And the rest followed in the order of purity. Those who were later in the sequence were relatively less pure or relatively more impure. When the purity occupied the decisive social and political space then the impurity (as defined by the pious and pure lawmakers) had to terribly suffer, and the infectious impurity emerged in the form of untouchability. The opposition of purity had to be downgraded as much as possible. The principle of boycotting on the basis of ritual purity led in many stages to the development of untouchability.

Again, one should note that the notion of purity and notion of pollution are distinct from hygiene and cleanliness. The notion of polluting jobs is distinct from the inferior jobs. The upper caste man whose Dharma has been corrupted by touching an Untouchable can be purified through purification rituals but the innate impurity of last two strata cannot be purified through these rituals. The polluting job infuses its doer with the impurity that cannot be cleaned away - these jobs were available to the downgraded people. And the job of a man and man were the same. The provision of ostracization has been used to keep the recalcitrant elements in check thereby increasing the numbers in the fifth stratum.

The notion of purity itself comes from the scriptures. The need to purify comes straight from the Rig Veda where water is considered as great purifier. All the religious objects and activities are

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sacred in nature which is the level above the most pure. The source of purity in Hindu society is in the sacredness of the Vedas. The Word of God is considered as pure and sacred, undoubtedly! Chanting the Vedic mantras makes the mouth purer and purer. The Vedas are the most sacred elements of the Hindu religion. Even the sacred temples and sacred idols of the gods are of later origin. The temples are considered to be manmade but not the Vedas. To handle the sacred and most pure Vedas one has to be pure otherwise we know that the impurity spreads through touch like infection. Please, find the bacteria responsible for this and justify the scripture; and after doing all that you would find that the Hindu scripture already knew that! But what if such a bacteria could not be found?

What if the divine purity itself could not be found? What if the purity was self-created by the Brahmans?

There is an implicit belief that the impurity can spread through mere touch. Therefore, an unclean Brahman cannot touch or recite the Vedas. The uncleanliness of any Brahman is treated as temporary impurity, not the inherent and fused impurity. It is a case where temporary purity has been superimposed on the permanent inherent and fused purity. Thus, the unclean Brahman has to remove his temporary impurity or purify himself in order to recite the Vedas. The temporarily impure people cannot handle the Vedas though they can be inherently pure! In addition those who are preserving the Vedas (or Dharma - otherwise Dharma would not remain pure and its supremacy would be questioned along with the supremacy of Brahmans.) have to be pure, verily the purest of them all. The presence of the notion of purity is not sufficient for untouchability to exist. It also requires the notion of pollution, and a process of purification, and the principle of boycott on the basis of purity (defined in the righteous Hindu way).

The polluting jobs are separate from the inferior jobs. The polluting jobs have inherent quality to degrade the persons engaged in them. The impure jobs make their performers impure. Here, the crucial precaution is taken by the pious and pure people - the impure jobs are kept reserve for others - the master stroke. The children of Untouchables get the impurity and loathsome polluting quality in inheritance. Perhaps the notion of polluting jobs, as separate from the pure job of reciting the sacred Vedas, came into existence with

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the introduction of agriculture in the Vedic society. The physical smell separates the divine purity from the earthy impurity. The purity follows from the Vedas which are divine; and the impurity comes from the body secretions and the stinking material; and the notion that a man and his job are not separate. How do metaphysical and physical are able to contact each other is anybody's guess. You will not find any clarity on this issue. It happens so it happens - that is their word - and the pollution spread by touch, by shadows, by presence, by seeing etc. - that is the virtuous and great thinking of the pure pious wise and intelligent men which are believed by the less pure and the less intelligent men. Period.

The less intelligent men never thought it proper to put these ideas to litmus tests. Well, one can be lucky for thousands years while facing foolishness!

The tilling of the land was known as the occupation of the defeated people; additionally it was physical work involving heavy physical secretions. And all secretions are bad in Hindu Dharma. The Vaisyas were engaged in agriculture but it did not mean that they owned the land; they did not. The land was owned by Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. The agriculture words have been imported into Aryan languages from the languages of the native people. The agricultural words are very scarce in the Rig Veda. And the few words which are there may indicate that the grain was plundered from the native farmers. This shows that the natives were more conversant with the agriculture than the Rig Vedic people. We know that the Aryans, mixed or unmixed, were the ultimate winners in the struggle between native societies and Vedic societies for the political supremacy in the 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. Let us recall that the Vaisyas were born from the thighs which are impure being below the naval - it was below the parts excreting the urine and excreta, so they were impure and the same goes for the Shudras born from feet - that is the view of extremely venerated people. The impure people doing the impure jobs were assigned the impure origin - this is also called harmony; a group's nature is in harmony with the

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job it is doing. 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 under the dominant doctrine of purity. When the main activity was declared impure then how could the minor activities be left behind? Minor activities also had to follow the course and became degrading. Thus, all the activities involving manual labor and excreta of man and also of animals became impure. And some were downgraded to still lower level of Untouchable or polluting. This is the principle of boycott (or disconnection) on the basis of scripture defined purity - the more impure face more boycotts, and the most impure or polluting, face the most extreme boycotts. Over a period of time even the Vaisya level activities of agriculture and cattle rearing in later Vedic times were degraded to the Shudra level. The pure Brahmans cannot take the food from the impure Shudras. The impurity of Shudra is evident in their impure origin from feet and lack of eligibility for thread ceremony. So they were boycotted but not intensely.

The degrading is also evident from degrading of onion and garlic from eatable to non-eatable category; it is smell and taste based; the smell is bad and the taste is pungent. The same is the case with beef eating. In Rig Vedic times, it enjoyed the place of pride in the food. Even in later Vedic period, a guest had to be honored by offering him the beef. However, with passage of time it was degraded to non-eatable category. Its consumption by any of the four Varnas came to be punishable by ostracization. And the Untouchables could eat carrion only. Strange are the ways of Sanatana Dharma. Now it is difficult to deny that the dharmic crystallization of Varna system was not taking place.

A further degradation of jobs gave birth to the fifth category that later came to be known as the Antyajas or the Untouchables. This group was not known in later Vedic times but came into existence in later times. They were in existence in the Buddha's time. These people dealt in butchering, dead bodies, skinning, garbage cleaning, and lower level jobs then tilling and cattle rearing. These groups were butchers, skinners and scavengers etc. The butchers deal in selling the meat; the skinners or Chamars dispose the dead bodies of animals; the scavengers or Bhangis clean the city and village streets, and dispose excreta. The jobs of Chamars (tanning the animal

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skins) and Bhangis (disposing human excreta) smell very badly and are really unclean. No one can stand in their workplaces for a long time. These jobs are considered as really despicable jobs. These are the jobs shunned by people. And shunned are the people engaged in them as the job of a man and the man are the same.

We shall not forget, in any condition, that in the Hindu society a man and his job are the same; that is the implicit notion of the Hindu society. Therefore, high caste people cling to their jobs and deny entry to low caste people. The most polluting people face the extreme boycott. In addition, since the jobs degrade the man to their level, if carried down from generation to generation, the people engaged in such jobs are degraded and also shunned - without their knowledge. Pure people go through a purification process after they come into contact with them. And boycott them. The Brahmans could add to the group of boycotted people by boycotting some specific people - that was their underlying power - note. These people were added to excommunicated outcastes and Chandalas. As a result a fifth category was born called the Untouchables. Generally, these excommunicated and polluting pollutants (people?) were forced to live at the southern end of a village or a city. This arrangement was perfect to maintain the purity of village, city and people belonging to the higher Varnas. The Untouchables were not allowed to stay within the city; after their work was over, they had to go back to their dwellings outside the village or city. It is noticeable that mainly those people were classified as Untouchables were the people whose services were not directly needed by the pure and pious lawmakers, the Brahmans. If required these activities were performed by the Untouchables without touching the upper castes - from a distance. Or the upper caste could bring in Shudras to talk to them.

The untouchability cannot be traced back to the Rig Veda, the oldest of Hindu scriptures, but it gives a very prominent place to water as a purifier. A purifying process, after a contact with an Untouchable or his shadow, generally involves taking a bath, sprinkling sacred water on body and on sacred inanimate objects along with the chanting of the Vedic mantras. The impurity that passes on through any contact can be removed by using water, but not the birth-attached impurity of the Untouchables; a man and his traditionally inherited job were the same, non-differentiable or fused.

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They were the inextinguishable source of birth-attached polluting pollutants.

It is already mentioned that all the excretions of the body are considered impure in the Hindu Shashtras. All the secretions of body have bad smell. Therefore, anything that stinks or smells foul is impure. Therefore, a Brahman after completing a nature's call becomes temporarily impure and hence temporarily ineligible to teach the scriptures. To again become eligible to perform the sacred acts he has to purify himself by cleaning himself and sprinkling sacred water on his body and chanting the Vedic sacred mantras.

Another contributory factor for the development of the untouchability was the need to continuously maintain the increasing purity of the pious Brahmans, the lawmakers, who were constantly in touch with the sacred scriptures and guided society, with least efforts. The Brahmans repulsed away the impure people. If they got polluted then they were not eligible to chant or read the Vedas. Therefore, to make themselves eligible to chant and read Vedas and to remain equal to other pure Brahmans, they had to purify themselves continuously. If they did not purify themselves then their status within the Brahman community became seriously questionable. Thus, it was necessary for them to purify themselves every time they became contaminated by the touch of any impure person. One efficient and less cumbersome way out of these frequent purification was to direct the impure people to not to come in touch with them and ask the king and the main society to keep a safe distance from them. Or repulse them away or boycott them - the easy way out for the resourceful people. This light work could be done against the resourceless people doing lower level jobs; this could be done with the help of paranormal power, state power and societal power at the command of pious and pure people. The extremely impure people were branded as Untouchables. The Sanatana society was stretching itself at both the ends under the process of maximizing superiority and minimizing inferiority. Those at the bottom had no resource to minimize their inferiority. The right to accumulate the resources had been taken away from them which made their efforts at self improvement worthless. Under the dominant doctrine of Varna system, the further segmentation led to the development of endogamous and graded caste system. In the same manner the

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dominant doctrine of purity led to development of the untouchability; it is clear from the fact that even the poor Shudras practice it.

The Brahman being the most pure cannot eat impure eatables because impurity flows from the impure to pure not in the opposite direction; purity does not flow from the pure to impure. Therefore, he cannot eat food given by a Shudra fearing that the food coming from an impure person is bound to be impure. This directly affected the innate (birth-attached) purity of the lawmakers. The implicit notion is that a mere touch of an impure person can make the food impure. The repulsive nature of Brahmans is pretty evident here. It is difficult to believe but such are the repulsive, scientific, time tested and the realized ways of the Hindu society. Thus, the impurity spreads by touch which is a cultural and civilizational fact. The inherent (birth-attached) impurity of the Shudras and the Untouchables cannot be removed by any known process of purification - only cleanliness can be superimposed on their inherent impurities. The impurity of the Untouchables more than the impurity of the Shudras on account of their unclean jobs. In fact, the Antyajs are the polluting pollutants, spreading pollution by their very presence and suffering most. The pollution due to Untouchables also spreads through touch like the polluting of food by the mere touch. Their presence is polluting due to their breathing and exhaling of air which gets mixed with the impurity present in their bodies. Yes, even the air is treated as polluted and we should not forget the shadows. It is not a piece of fiction. It is a social fact.

Another major contributory factor to development of untouchability was the system of ostracization. The system of ostracization was put in place to keep, the recalcitrant members of society, in check; the masters of society needed this ghastly instrument for their complete control. It was a controlling device of society without the presence of police. There were double or multiple power centers in the Hindu society. There was a king; there were scriptures; there were lawmakers who were spiritual and priestly heads; and the most powerful at village level were the ghastly and cruel caste Panchayats (the village caste-based councils).

The system of ostracization enabled the local caste Panchayats (or Sabhas) or the village level caste councils to impose

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the fines and corporal punishments on the recalcitrant members of the caste or if required then to ostracize them. Their decisions were binding on all the members of the particular caste in the village. The members not following the Panchayat's dictum run the danger of facing the boycott themselves. These Panchayats worked on the principle of Varna Dharma to conduct their proceedings. There are times when the caste Panchayats award the death penalties. This is the unofficial India.

The threat of ostracization was like a hanging sword on the head of any potentially rebelling members. The ostracization of a man meant, as we know, the disinheritance of one's Varna, land, property and money. And it also meant the stoppage of any social and economic transactions with such people. This also meant snatching away his occupation and thus his livelihood. No one from any of the four Varnas could sit, walk, talk or associate with an outcaste in any manner. This puts the outcaste in the tattered economic conditions. His Varna was snatched from him. He could not marry anybody from his Varna or any other Varna. He could, also, not profess his Varna occupation. He could not own any land. He could not get any protection from the king. He could not perform the Vedic rites or undergo them. For all the practical purposes, he did not have any Varna then he descended to the level of landless Avarna and ultimately became one of them. The same were the conditions of the Untouchable. Nobody was willing to sit with him and eat with him. And atonement was required if somebody unknowingly set with him or did any other barred activity. Thus, touching him was not allowed since sitting with him was disallowed itself. This was, in fact, a practice of untouchability. The untouchability is inherited or birth-attached extreme boycotts implemented by society. His conditions were equivalent to Untouchables that forced him to join the last stratum and take up its jobs.

The pure people are extremely conscious of their dignity and purity. The dignity followed from purity and paranormal powers; for others the dignity followed from purity and state power; for others the dignity followed from purity and money power; and the rest were left to fend for themselves without any resources. The dignity and purity undergo a trial whenever any upright Untouchable walks past

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them. Such an Untouchable leaves them aghast. What astounding sensitivity! For creating this trouble, the Untouchable in question would have to go under trouble sometime.

There are commandments for the Untouchables culled out from the Dharma Shastras and the traditions. These are not straight in the scriptures but have to be culled from them. We work upon the premise that the opposite of Dharma is aDharma, and the opposite of aDharma is Dharma. And whatever is punishable dharmically, is adharmic, and, is judiciable. Any such activity which is adharmic becomes a desisting commandment for the Untouchables. They should desist away from such activities or bear the cost. All the while, others laugh at or look on with embedded antipathy and sadism.

They shall stand in a servile manner or sit on the ground in the presence of the high caste persons. They shall not make eye contact. They shall speak only when spoken to. Otherwise, they shall keep their dirty mouth shut in the presence of high caste people - the pure people. They should not speak on their own. Their insolency is not tolerable in this pure, pious and sacred land beaten by the cow-eating invaders and the cow-eating colonizers. A kind view of everything is taken in this sacred land so they should not complain. Hold your tongue and not one word against Dharma. The caste discipline or protocol shall be maintained. Have you forgotten traditional protocol which has been practiced for thousands years and given in the scriptures? If you do not follow the caste protocol then blood would be shed in volumes, yours - heathen people. A pool should be made of it where your desires and dreams are drowned. Your lousy wishes and lowly ambitions can be absorbed by your broken bones and broken psyches so that they never come out. Filthy things! Are not these? Not required, at all, in a pure society. A beautiful world indeed it is.

The traditions tread majestically on the destinies of the Untouchable leaving behind eternally crumpled and tattered destinies. Hardly, something to bother about! Why should somebody bother when somebody is getting his just dessert? Remember the false hypothesis of disconnecting Karma. Pure and pious people! Are not they? And gruel!

They shall wear only the dirty and torn clothes. They shall eat only gruel. They shall not walk ahead of upper caster people and

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avoid any contact unless absolutely necessary. They shall not talk back. They shall not make eye contact or look back. They shall not show any insolent behavior. They shall lower down their neck and shoulders when facing the upper castes. They shall sit on ground in their presence. They shall not sit on a place higher than the upper castes. They shall not draw water from village water well. They shall not retort. They shall not wear sleepers while passing by an upper caste house. They shall calmly take any insults which are thrown on them and their caste. They shall never raise their voice in the presence of upper castes. They shall take all the beating humbly - and of their caste-people. They shall keep quiet when their womenfolk are molested. They shall look other way when their womenfolk are raped or dishonored. Any resistance means insubordination and hence aDharma which needs to be punished further. They shall not object to any kind of beating, insult, atrocity or oppression - because they were born for it. They shall never complain.

Dharma looks on brazenly at the sight of the plight of the wretched Untouchables while humanity weeps in ditches. It is bereft of any pretence of nuances. It smiles benignly at the pure people, and crassly at the impure people. Dharma rocks. And the social harmony is joyous.

And what a life the Untouchables live! The following is only a tip of the iceberg.

A life of dark future - with hanged desires, hungry bellies and insults, it is. It is an insulted and empty-bellied life from birth to death. A life of despondency without a pause, the pause comes sometimes in the form of atrocities. This appalling and hideous pause accentuates the beauty and the unity of the Hindu society along with the social harmony; the social fabric becomes finer and finer, and firmer and firmer. No doubt, it is a holistic society. Expunge these doubts if you have any. After making its mark, the pause goes away leaving behind devastated polluting people. The despondency gets its rightful place again. The joyous harmonization takes its place again.

An Untouchable child asks for food, and its father looks away with all the dignity he can muster in all his insulted life and lets the tears roll down his face. He knows that when the child grows up he would know that why his father could not manage food for it - the incompetent and insulted father. The child's fate would be the same -

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it cuts across the generations. A dirty, filthy toddler cries for milk and mother looks blankly in the air then up in the sky and then looks down and weeps. There is nothing she can offer - she herself has been hungry for two days. A child in tattered clothes asks for something to wear; father and mother try desperately to look for something in the crumpled rags; they have to find something and give it to the child if it is there; - the clothes can be managed only when the hungry bellies are not crying. A famished child looks at the sunken face of the mother and defers its demand - its maturity grows fast for its years if not the frail body. It knows that its family is hapless; and so are others in his known circle; and there are grown up people who would thrash him if he goes near them - the high castes. It knows it has to move bare footed in all the seasons because the sleepers cannot be afforded. It is winter and all the ragged clothes are joined together to ward off the cold and frail and famished children are shivering while mother and father look haplessly, they know it is the fate awarded to them. It pours and everybody is drenched in the water seeping through the hut roof and valiant efforts are being made to save the grains, if any are there, from being soaked. The ragged and crumpled clothes are passed from one to another child when they grow up. A child's eyes are never happy; he has not seen really happy pairs of eyes except of the high castes who thrash him as and when they want. He knows society's love for him which taunts him through forbidden water, insulting eyes, forbidden roads, expletives and through whacking sticks, hands and shoes. The poverty looks through the tattered rags and the Untouchable family puts up with it. It is all predestined. The toys, a child can only see in dreams. The other things which can only be seen in his dreams are the respect, an environment without fear, good clothes, tasty foods, an untaunted life, a bed to sleep on, the clothes that can save him from the winter cold, the shade which can save him in scorching sun. The scorching sun which he has to face when under scorching sun while his family is working on field. All the family is working and he cannot be left at home alone. A sense of fear always follows them as if though the insulted lives and hungry bellies were not enough.

At the sight of angry high castes the fear leaps out of sunken eyes of Untouchables; the throats dry up; the tongues stutter and the frail bodies tremble. And they give way to mightiest power they have

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ever seen on the earth. Haughtily, the bravery pounces on the famished people with delightful vengeance. They are delighted to get the easy targets. Showing the heathen their place without suffering any harm themselves is a great victory for higher caste people.

The Untouchables are wretched and crippled people. Their desires, dreams and freedom are buried as soon as they are born. The scissors of system shrivel them to suit their insulted born status. The harmony requires that. Else, the ferocity of Dharma would fall on them. The unshaken conscience of scrupulous of pure hearts need not be doubted. The unscrupulous and malicious intentions do not reside in the pure hearts of high caste people. Do they?

Crumpled clothes, crumpled skin, crumpled ego, crumpled bellies and crumpled face - that is the attire of an Untouchable. The benign Dharma stands unfazed and Karma treads majestically – both of them are happy since no competition in the traditional India. All of it rocks. Choice, liberty and freedom of speech are crushed and buried six feet under. Anyone who raises his voice runs the risk of walking with a body six inches shorter.

And the honor of the Untouchables is meant to be devoured. The heaven's conscience never seems to be troubled by the plight of the Untouchables. It seems that it never intends to do any measly thing about it.

Nobody can see the turbulent turmoil of inner minds of the transcendental people when they watch a low caste man with upright shoulders. Only a man with drooping shoulders can understand it when he has been beaten into submission by the fury of turbulent transcendental minds. A small show of magnanimity in the forms of kicks and blows puts the order back into the system. The indolent low caste people need to be shown their place. In all the graciousness and compassion - the transcendental order is in order. The place of pure people is safe along with their honor. Everything is all right. What else do you want?

If you bore holes in the superior psyches then somebody would have to pay for that.

Just get out of the way, the Untouchables and modern thoughts. And do not insult higher level people by looking at them. Lower your eyes pick up your slippers in hands and move past. You should know your value which is near about the value of the dustbin.

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Their lives go from bad to worse and from worse to worst. A simply logical course, which no one, who is dharmic, should mind. The good life is not meant for them, even momentarily. It is reserved for the high castes, the pure people - the exalted people. The mental disposition of pure people has a very high fragile health. Their mental health goes through a thorough lynching, so a physical lynching is in order for whoever causes it. Only then, their mental disposition comes out of the intensive care unit.

Impure people, what do you know about the pious and pure people? You know only insults from birth till death. What do you know respect is, since you have never tasted it! You low level demons, you have not realized your actual worth in society. Anyway, it is equivalent to the material in the dustbin, you scum! Nonchalantly, the system grinds their lives to dust. It is inhuman for a subhuman to dress smartly and trample upon the fragile egos of the ultra sensitive upper caste people. It is inhuman to hurt the ultra sensitive people - no matter what they do. Got it? If impure people do it then they do not have any mind at all and if they do not do it, again they do not have any mind at all - it is a lose-lose situation. In any case, the impure people have to lose. Two sides of the coin are the same.

What? Treat the subhuman as people? Next you would bring fairness; next you would bring equality; next you would bring honesty… What! You want to bring an end to this great culture and civilization? How low can you fall? Is there any limit? You lowly scum!

Why do you want to bring all these poisonous things? You want to kill Dharma - the sacred Dharma! Surely, you are going to take birth as lizards, worms and canines in your next life. But you will never take birth as cow! Got it? I do not know where from these cows come? Anyone with bad karmas cannot be born as a sacred entity and those with no bad karmas attain the Moksha. And cows from where?

Loyalty to their birth-attached status, destiny and humility is their Dharma. They should live for the cause of Dharma in tattered clothes. Long live Dharma! After all, Dharma sustains the world for us.

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Only sensitive people can feel the inner turmoil the upper castes go under whenever they come across a disobedient lower caste person. It is a huge blot on their ego! And some low caste people wear this insolence as medal. Great aDharma! Where is the promise made in the Gita?

The filled up bellies of impure people cause undue and totally avoidable harassments and pain to the pure castes. It is a cause of worry for which a solution can easily be found in Dharma that can be put to good and dharmic use!

The appalling and grisly act of looking into the eyes of pure people murders Dharma. It gores their hearts which bleeds internally. The immutable Dharma, it is. Their pain can be removed but it can be accomplished only by seeing the tears and helplessness in the eyes of famished, impure and crippled people. And it is a great achievement. It is no mean task to put defenseless people in this humiliating situation. The clouds of happiness bulge out and burst. So do the clouds of sadness on the other side of the fence.

The insults fill up their lives from birth till death. Not a moment is without the thorns, which anyway is rib tickling for the high castes.

The bouquet of expletives greets the Untouchables, said and unsaid. The unsaid are embedded in his birth-attached insulted status. Certain insults are to be understood.

The wretched lives of Untouchables come with timeless guarantee. Nobody can assure that but you do not know Hindu society? Do you? The wretchedness prevails without a pause. Dharma can vouch for it.

A damp despondency prevail all their lives. Barely a moment is lived without it. Hardly worth mentioning!

In case of any atrocity the cruel cries of violence smear the landscape leaving behind the Untouchables frozen with fear. The fear enforced harmony must prevail.

In the presence of Untouchables who dare to look back into eyes the hearts of pure people are roasted alive. How come any sensitive and sensible people put them in such an agonizing state? How brutal you can be? You do not have any limits? The people who are supposed to survive with leftovers and cow dung grains are not supposed to look back! It pierces the heart of Dharma and the hearts

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of high caste people. Lower your eyes and behave your status. Don't you dare to put the divine Dharma in trouble! You do not know what kind of mental agony you are putting Dharma into? The pure and sacred Dharma! You, the people whose caste name itself implies insults, should pay for it. For roasting the heart of pure people, you shall be roasted in hell. Get ready for an atrocious treatment. That is what you deserve o' impure man.

The clouds of atrocities hover over the heads of the Untouchables and ready to burst to uphold the Dharma. A fine system indeed! It was never in doubt.

Any Untouchable with self-respect excruciates the minds of pure people. The turbulent minds of pure people need some succor. So the standing terror moves devastatingly leaving an aftermath of destruction - if not now then whenever the time comes. Some people call it atrocity. Some call it a minor deviation in a harmonious society - how nice of them! Anyway, it is a time tested system.

A swift malicious whisper reaches every event in which Untouchables tend to benefit. And the events end then and there - sometime with silence and sometimes with a loud stunning sound. All Dharma Shashtras are the malicious whispers against the lower strata written in Sanskrit.

The environment is made so suffocating that they grasp for breath and then at that somebody smiles. Hindu society never runs out of smiles in this way.

The Untouchables live many types of lives some of which are the skinned lives and the guttered lives. Much obvious if one looks deeper.

Anyway, you cannot say that there is no escape - the death comes to their succor when they can no longer bear it. Definitely, the death is there to help them out of this world. There is a light in the form of death. Nothing peculiar, it just happens. Who can stop death? All the arrangements have been made by the pure people for its early arrival. Oh no, sorry, by the divine people full of wisdom. The compassionate wisdom has been fully utilized to curb the anti-social rebellious tendencies among the lower strata. They have been buried under the heap and heaps of disabilities. The disdainful attitude is matter of crux. The disparaging ways are the righteous

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ways of life. There are spiritual minds in the spiritual world. So nobody should feel bad about it. Just a way of life, it is.

They are born insulted and die insulted. Who says that the death is a great equalizer? This thought would simply hide itself into dust in the Hindu society. A supremely great culture!!

The pile of shit on the heads of scavengers sends the hope into stupor and mind into frenzy. The sweat mixes with human excreta and drips down on the skin of face. The bundle of freshly skinned skins on the heads of skinners dashes all the hope and dignity. The sweat mixes with blood and drips down the skin of face. The hope goes into wilderness along with self-respect. Any complaint about lack of smoothness in Untouchables' lives should be thrown out, with retrospective effect. Away with it! The liquids are smooth! Do not you know? The reeking sweat mixed with human excreta or animal blood is smooth. Is it not? So out with rough lives of the Untouchables. Perish the thought. The caste system is divinely benign.

As implied in the Gita, one should do his caste-duty (swa-Dharma.) Do not run away from your dharmic submissive duties! It is meant for you heathen Untouchables, also!

A state of despair is ever engulfing the minds of the Untouchables. The Untouchables bear the folly of being born in lowest insulted stratum. The assignment of insulted status is astounding and can beat the finest brains but not the deft pure brains. And there are brains covered with pithy ignorance. The denseness of brains is staggering.

The Untouchables experience the sinking feeling that goes with the fused insulted status, forever.

If they walk in hazardous uptight posture then a hazard would certainly pay a cruel visit upon them. If they wear dangerously decent clothes then the danger would also pay a cruel visit to them. If they speak in a firm tone then the firmer blows would fall on them. No mercy. See, they are simply asking for it. It is not the fault of upper castes! Is it? No, not by a mile!

The memories of insults since birth scar their psyches forever. The fear stalks all their lives silently but sometimes it makes a thundering sound.

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Heel men, lower your eyes, bow your frail bodies and shiver your egos because the impure egos of impure people are not supposed to exist in the first place. You do not know this logic of purity? What an abysmal knowledge!

They are not lost in wilderness because they live in the abusive chamber created by the casteism. All the gates which lead outside are closed, they know it. They know their actual place with acute pain and exactness. The eternal torture chambers are in the hands of the eternal tormentors.

They make peace with their humiliation. They make peace with their tattered clothes. They make peace with the closed gates. They make peace with their subhuman and insulted status. Thus, the peace prevails in society. And prevailing of peace is called the harmony. It is the harmony that dwells in hearts of pure people and not anywhere else. Long live the deadly and insulting peace!

The trouble can always walk over them. And happiness can never come near to them. The social fabric has to be maintained.

The cries of bottom are suppressed by the top of the heap with everything at its command. The suppressed cries bleed inside.

The lame cries crawl and never reach the oasis in the cruel desert of apathy. They die. The desert absorbs them. Graciously. Well, the apathy rocks. Hindu Dharma is superb. It tolerates no nefarious activity.

A screaming lie renders itself into a screaming dharmic truth if given in scripture. You must know it.

To oppose all these one needs bravery for which certain preconditions are necessary.

Who can be brave under grossly deprived and crippling conditions? Amassing bravery in the famished and dismal conditions is nearly impossible task. The brute enforced penury can take the stings out of the trampled and battered egos.

The Untouchables live all their life in a third degree mental torture chamber. Anything less would be an affront to the skills of the lawmakers. It is the unofficial India.

Who gave you the right to criticize Dharma and the traditional ways? Who gave you the right to talk back? Who gave you the right to deviate from servility? Who gave you the right to speak your mind? Who gave you the right to walk in an upright posture?

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Who gave the right to wear decent clothes? Who gave you the right to amass wealth? Who gave you the right to be happy? Who gave you the right to dignity? Who gave you the right to defend yourself? Who gave you the right to feed yourself fully? Who gave you the right to cry when you suffer due to high caste pure people? Who gave you the right to sob? You can sob within your hut where nobody hears you. The only thing you can do is writhe in pain; you cannot cry in pain; make no sound; got it! Above all, who gave you the right to complain against the high caste people? This is the traditional Hindu society remember. Period.

Writhing in pain is all that allowed! And this is only the tip of the iceberg! And the purity of the Brahmans still remains to be proven.

It is only hearsay. No litmus test. No poof. Strange! Or it is a piece of fiction. It is a supreme truth, in the absence of honesty.

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13. CASTE MOBILITY

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. We need to recall that an individual is born in an endogamous Jati with his inherited Varna, inherited occupation, an inherited social status, inherited disabilities and inherited privileges; all are said to be divine. One is born in a Jati; he marries within Jati and dies within Jati. The caste or Jati is social and emotional world in which one lives. The people from other castes are outsider to him; with them he interacts only on the basis of caste protocol of unequal social status; and economic needs; no permanent relationship bonds them and there is no possibility of that. His all relatives and father and forefathers are from the same Jati only. It is only a dharmic way of living or righteous way of living - separate and unequal from birth till death. Instances of social distance are not known for their scarcity - instead it is a way of life.

An individual in his lifetime has no chances of upward mobility in the group based caste system that does not really recognize any individual. Any individual is recognizable only through his heredity group or caste. Any Hindu man is fused with his caste and its purity or impurity. These cannot be taken apart in the traditional India. Without knowing the caste of a person one cannot really place him in the Hindu social, religious, economic and temporal power structure. It has been mentioned earlier that in the Hindu society, implicitly, the man and his heredity job are the same. The knowledge about his caste helps others in showing appropriate behavior towards 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. His behavior is based on the caste protocol. A person becomes mentally or physically meek or aggressive depending upon his caste in relation to others' castes. The caste of a man molds his life - as we know there is a caste effect - and an individual can only follow a limited set of predefined courses of actions, nothing else. Or else? The grisly system would get him. The caste enforces the social, economic and power structure around him

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in a direct or indirect way. An individual is a derivative of his caste; you can derive a man from his caste because they are the same. The caste system endows the Untouchables and the Shudras with the lowly paid birth-attached jobs, which is unable to fulfill their bellies. It awards them penury out of sheared altruism.

In the vertically stratified society of five strata, an individual is higher than some and lower than some. Some individual may not accept their heredity social ranking in the caste system and may claim that he is superior to those above him. To be effective the claim of an individual for upward mobility in the caste system has to be approved (ratified?) by the collective might of traditional social groups; the power of Brahmans underlies it. A Vaisya may claim that he is superior to Brahmans. However, this claim is without any effect until tacitly ratified by the people belonging to other Varnas, though in an indirect way, which should be seen in the changed behavior towards him. There is no proper procedure prescribed for such ratification. One always needed the permission of society or its guides. For their own welfare, people would not recognize any such claim. It is necessary for moving up on social scale that all other people agree to it, behave accordingly and provide him with all the privileges available to his now raised caste or Varna. The higher Varnas would not appreciate it; the lower Varnas would not recognize it. If they were to do so then their own social ranking would be adversely affected. No required privileges would be extended to him in the absence of which his mobility is meaningless. Nobody would change his behavior in response to such an assertion of gaining increased social status. So, he remains where he was, simple. Even the almighty (?) God with his unlimited power cannot raise and change a born scavenger into a Brahman and make the society to accept him as such. God may propose it but society may dispose - sheer show of strength – the winner takes all. The lawmakers have disabled the almighty God through the Karma hypothesis. It was a master stroke. A disabled God is contradiction of terms. However, it is a reality in the Hindu framework. Really wonderful, mind-boggling and amazing, is it not? God cannot help the people from the low castes in raising themselves; they have to do it themselves. Has HE granted them these disabilities deliberately? A biased God! Anyway, there is no ritual prescribed in the scriptures to

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raise the Varna of a man. It was not the horrible intention of the honorable, pious and unimpeachable lawmakers having undoubted integrity to make it available to lower strata; any such provision would have undermined their sacred ritual monopoly in society and religion and that would have adversely affected benefits attached to such a position. No Ghure (garbage dump) Lal or Kachara (garbage) Mull was supposed to make the laws; one needed the purity of blood for such sacred purpose. Of course, the inherent indirect cruelty was also a necessary requirement. And they are not nefarious at all. Indeed, they are not. Born-respected, they are!

It is necessary to know the social opinion about a caste group to know its real position. Any enquiry which is limited to the caste in question would yield unrealistic results which would not match with reality because each caste would boast to be better than any other caste. And that is not possible. Anyway, the social scientists in India gather the opinions only of the caste in question and churn out their theories.

A man interested in raising his status in the traditional Hindu society creates 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 the power structure? Then all the comforts of this Maya (earthly comforts) or illusion (this world) should be unnecessarily made available to him cutting into the comforts of the high caste people. Maya is to be made available to him!!! It is a gross insult to Dharma. How gross can you get? Such a man threatens the existing social structure based on the caste groups, and its beneficiaries. This threat itself is a compelling influence to maintain the purity of society. It would be desirable to ostracize these types of men and women to avoid the problems that transgress upon the Varna Dharma or the cosmic order. These heathen dreamers unreasonably think that they can disturb the cosmic order! Such an ostracization would result in avoidance of an introduction of filthy impurities in the pure areas of 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

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respectful treatment from Vaisyas and other section of society without any questions. He should get all the donations and the land grants. It is near impossible to find even one person from any of the Varna who agrees to treat him as such. The possibility keeps on drastically reducing as one adds more people, more castes and more Varnas. Thus in the total absence of extension of such facilities (or maintaining the caste effect) which are available to the born Brahmans, the Shudra in question remains where he was. The insurmountable questions, as enumerated above, 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 that created the outcastes. Automatically, all the outcastes, who were without any ceremonial, social and property rights, became the members of the fifth stratum.

The caste system does show some flexibility when it comes to movement of a full Jati because it automatically solves the main problems of marriage and inter-dining. The castes have been increasing in number and these castes, beyond a point, can come only from the existing castes but they have to remain in the four Varnas. The additional high caste will come from high castes and the additional low castes will come from the low castes. The caste dynamics in Hindu society is a very slow process and happens rarely. Due to change in production process, new occupational activities may come up. There may be no caste having it as its heredity occupation. There may be no caste laying its claim over it. The Hindu Dharma allows for a temporary change in occupation in case of need or emergency (Aapaadkalin Dharma) so such a small change in occupation by few people in the beginning does not affect their caste. A portion of caste A may be attracted towards this occupation. In the beginning, this portion may intermarry with the rest of portion but as the number of people increases, this portion may cease to intermarry with the rest of the caste portion and became a separate caste C. If a portion of caste B is also attracted towards this activity they would form caste D in due course of time. Both C and D would now be known as sub caste of new occupational caste but they would not marry into each other. As the caste effect persist the new high value occupational castes may only come from the existing high caste and

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the new low value occupational castes only from the existing low castes. There may be some exceptions like the current kayasthas who are not the kayasthas of pre-Muslim Period.

The development of new castes is difficult in the traditional India because it is averse to any change in traditional technology or methods of learning or teaching; in it the time stands still. Still the development beyond its control can gave rise to new castes.

One more way to mobility of caste is to break the conditions of demilitarization and take up the arms. This is possible in absence of strong ruler in the area. Break the Dharma, take up the arms without bothering about the caste, form a kingdom with the help of mercenary soldiers (of your caste or lower castes than yours; if you can) and then bribe the Brahmans to come back in dharmic order at a higher level. One can leave those people of earlier caste who did not dare to take up the arms. But save the Dharma and the Brahmans when you have everything in control. And you have acquired a raise. What an aDharmic way! Break the Dharma to join it again!

A group moving up can always marry within the same group. Thus, the bloodlines and purity of other groups or Jatis are not affected. The 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 due to the reasons which are beyond the control of anybody. 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 six or more generations the number of people having new skills grows considerably. The people belonging to new group start intermarrying and leave out the people still following the old lower level occupation. This process is carried forward in time until 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

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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. Then a new weaving Jati comes into existence. The weaving occupation becomes their heredity occupation. In due course of time, say five or six generations, society also starts identifying them by their new endogamous occupational group at a relatively higher social status.

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 near to Untouchables to be near to twice born. It has been a long difficult and arduous journey achieved with the help of the Muslim invaders. The Kayasthas were the court musicians and dancers. The women and girls, danced and sang, for the ruler and his courtiers. The men played the musical instruments while their women danced and entertained. Not having their own means to survive they had to depend on the mercy of the court and courtiers. It was an occupation of utmost subordination. It was an exploited community of dancing girls and male musicians where the girls were more important than the boys. Their women were more important as the skills of men were secondary to that of dancing. The men held secondary position. Their women danced and sang 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 open 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 the Muslim invaders and everything changed for them. At the same time, Dharma hid itself in unknown places under the onslaught of the 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 the Muslim rulers. After all, the Muslim rulers controlled the resources of the kingdom. The pillars, which

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crushed Dharma, provided solid and strong support to the Kayasthas. The Kayasthas progressed while Dharma suffered under the rulership of the idol breaker Muslims. Whose fault was it 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 records 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; they ran to interiors. They could not fight with them - it was hardly possible to fight with the help of a demilitarized and disparagingly disunited society. They left for interior places. Unlike the earlier foreign rulers, who were assimilated, the Muslims were not interested in accepting cultural hegemony and superiority of the Brahmans. They believed that worshiping idols was meant for the heathen people since idols did not have any real powers. Thus, they were disinclined to accept the superiority of the 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 the Kayasthas and with that the employment with the rulers. They handled the court records first then the 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 the Varna Dharma. This opportunity could have never been provided to them by the time tested ancient Varna Dharma. For such an aspiration, the Varna Dharma could have killed them but it was hidden in the unknown places with tail tucked inside; it did not get the chance. When the British colonizers came, the Kayasthas got the land Zamindari under their rule - it pays to be on the side of rulers - Dharma be damned. Then they acquired the modern education and got plum jobs with the

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British rulers. Now they are as good as twice born. Some even claim Kshatriya status and get accepted as such. The divine retribution was dancing on one leg! It should not remind you of Gita, the esteemed and unlying.

Another example of the upward caste mobility, are the Jatts of upper northern India. The Jatts are hardy farmers. At present they are landowning people in the rural areas but they were not like this earlier. In 8th and 9th centuries they were treated as near Untouchables. By 12th century C.E. 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, a significant number of Jatts got converted to the Muslim religion. It gave a real boost to Muslim religion, and to the Jatts also in the form of 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. Even when the Jatts got into Muslim armies they remained at a lower level, barring few exceptions, they remained the foot soldiers while the cavalry was in the hands of the Turks or Afghans. Now the Jatts are dominating community in the Muslim state of Pakistan.

In the 8th century the Jatts, in Sindh, were ordered by the Brahman king (the Brahmans could wield the weapons and rule to save Dharma) of Sindh to go barefoot and follow all other things applicable to the Untouchables. This would have reduced the nomadic Jatts to the level of Untouchables. Still in many villages, implicitly full of innocence, the Untouchables are required to go barefoot. This was an indication of the hovering near the Untouchable status. Had the situation prevailed for a long time say about hundred years or so; the now proud Jatts would have become permanently Untouchables. As we know the lawmakers were the lawmakers. But fortunately for them the descent to fifth stratum was prevented by an event which originated from outside of the Sanatana Dharma. This event is much despised by the Hindus. The Muslims invaded the India for the first time. A young Muslim boy attacked the king of Sindh on the instruction of his king. There he defeated and killed the Brahman king. This was the king who gave the orders to Jatts to go barefoot thus reducing them to the Untouchable level.

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However, after the death of this Brahman king, the Sindh was ruled by the Muslims and the Jatts were avoided the ignominy of going barefoot. They also joined the Muslim army and fought against the Brahman king. Had this Brahman dynasty continued for one hundred years, the Jatts would have become the permanent Untouchables! But the Muslim political interference stopped the logical course of action within a short period of time. The Jatts were free again, back to their nomadic ways.

The Jatts were most probably the Scythian who entered India sometime after 7th century C.E. The Jatts, when they entered India, were a pastoral people. They were not the agriculturists as they are now. They were poor pastoral people who moved from place to place in search for the greener pastures. They kept mainly camels, cows and buffalos in their cattle stock. Until the advent of modern medicine system from the 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 in the pursuit of plundering and robbing, and thus creating law and order problems for the local rulers. 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. They were occasional source of local troubles to rulers. However, by 10th century they also took up cultivation on temporary basis and came to be classified as the low 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 one of the Rig Vedic Aryans who were pastoral as well as the plunderers. Both of them took to agriculture. However, like the Kayasthas their rise is also linked with the rise of the Muslim rulers. Here again we find no help from within the Hindu framework - that is to be noted; the Hindu framework, in this regard, is worthless and rubbish. The Sanatani framework is good at rubbishing people under the false veil of divine order and the false Karma hypothesis. The lowly people took the help of the adharmic invaders. The Jatts joined the Muslim armies in large numbers as foot soldiers. The cavalry was still in charge of the Afghans and the Turks. However, other Jatts with their robbing and plundering ways were a constant source of

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trouble to the 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 also by making them cultivators or tillers. Notwithstanding all the claims to Jatts' opposition to Muslims one finds that the largest conversions took place among the Jatts; they appear as cultivators only during Muslim rule; they formed the big groups under the Muslim rulers; their bravado was recognized only by the Muslim rulers; afterward by the British. Still one can see that there was no help from within the Hindu framework. The Jatts proved to be efficient tillers but not more than that. Whatever they produced was taken away by the landlords leaving them barely with enough food to survive. However, they were in a better position than the 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 the Hindu society. In Rajasthan, many disabilities were imposed on them not long ago. However, the converted Jatts maintained for a long time intermarrying into Hindu Jatts, smoking and inter dining with them. 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 and the Jatts 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. A Jatt 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 the Untouchables. They had relatively stable source of income through tilling and the jobs in army. The Jatts unlike the Rajputs were unable to make a forced entry into higher strata of Hindu society. Under the Muslim rule, they were upgraded to Shudra level. After the Mughal rule decayed they formed armed groups around the region of Agra; attacking the weak 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 the Brahmans. The Jatts and the Brahmans have traditionally ignored

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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 poverty. They mainly did the tilling and joined the army until 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 the Kshatriyas. They are still regarded as uncultured by the cultured elites of the Hindu society. Though they have traveled a long up the social scale they are still regarded as Shudras; only the highest level Shudras. They never got the credibility among the Hindu elites who are incredibly credible.

The Marathas of Maharashtra have also risen on the social scale in the Hindu society. They did it by breaking the Dharma, by becoming militarized on the caste basis by serving in the armies of nearby Muslim rulers. But after getting sufficient powers they turned to Dharma by undertaking to save the Brahmans, the Dharma and the holy cow. They bribed the Brahmans, as has been the trend in the history. In their case, it was newly developed warrior skills, in the armies of nearby Muslim rulers, which enabled them to acquire the higher status starting from the Shudras status. We know the Shudra kings were granted the Kshatriya status provided they agreed with the Vedic culture of accepting the superiority of Brahmans. This has been the trend since the times of Krishna and Kansa. The Marathas required the ritual patronage of the Brahmans. In this regard, it might be noted that the warring skills were learned by the Maratha king under the people of his caste who were employed by the Muslim ruler of the region. The son whose father was employed by the Muslim went the separate way after learning the warring skills and crafted a small kingdom; the Muslim influence is evident here also. The Brahmans of Maharashtra refused to coronate the Maratha warrior as king on the grounds that he was not a Kshatriyas; the same pious and other worldly Maharashtrian Brahmans were later to usurp his throne and form the Peshawa raj. However, when the Maratha warrior was refused coronation by the simple, innocent, pure, pious and dharmic Brahmans in his area, then his courtiers arranged for a poor Brahman from Kashi who agreed to do the coronation for

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some consideration – same old story, all over India. This consideration came handy for the lord Rama in the Ramayana also. The fables were created to assign the Kshatriya origin to the Maratha warrior and he was coroneted as king. Then the similar assimilative pattern followed which had been followed through the Vedic history; the Shudra kings came to be the defenders of the Brahmans forgetting their own people; the Vedic religion spread along with the Varna Dharma. With this the Marathas acquired the Kshatriya status (they had armies of Marathas only and gave their caste people the land etc.; in short they moved together as caste and moved ahead) and became a land owning caste and acquired jobs in the army. However, the Brahmans raised themselves to the status of demigod; they came to be known as Bhu-dev or Brahmandev. Extremely unworldly people - deeply interested in spiritual matters!

The upward movement limit for whole caste mobility is set by the Brahmans. Whatever the Kayasthas, the Jatts and the Marathas do; they can never be equal to Brahmans; let alone becoming superior to them.

Then there are Nadars and Ezhavas of south India who have also moved up the social hierarchy but only a little. The Nadars have also not received any help from inside the Hindu society. They had to take large scale help from the Christian missions to rise up with their funds and education. Even now, the caste ties are very strong in Nadar community. The marriage across religion within the same caste are preferable than the marriages outside the caste. The Ezhavas of Kerala have also been dependent on the British plantation jobs and the education of a foreign system to rise up. Here again no help was received from inside. Then gulf money has also funded their slow movement up the social scale. The external critical factors are always evident.

More examples of the upward caste mobility are found in 8th and 9th centuries C.E. and onward. At that time, there was no big ruler in the northern India. This led to rise of uncertain conditions in the north India. Many new local rulers arrived on the scene; each claiming suzerainty over a small area. These were, by and large, small kings of obscure origin – they adopted the aDharmic route to rise in status – anyway there is no other route. The flouted the Dharma, took up the arms became small sovereigns with the help of their caste

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men and the mercenary soldiers and formed small kingdoms and bribed the Brahmans to come back at a higher level – the only route is of violence and bribery – no corruption at all. As usually, these small kings did not have popular acceptance and neither the divine nor the social right to rule. They required acquiring of the Kshatriya status which could have made them as the divinely ordained rulers. They badly needed the Brahmans. The Brahmans, the ritual monopolists, could only provide this. Thus, exchange of favors among the new rulers and the Brahmans took place; these new rulers were granted the Kshatriya status by the Brahmans in lieu of patronage and acceptance of the Brahmanical superiority. And the administrative jobs for Brahmans with these new kings were assured or reserved. It was an unchallenged affirmative action or reservation system. The reservations have lasted and lasted since long, long ago. The reservations are as old as the Sanatana Dharma is, in the Hindu society.

However, in relation to upward mobility, the downward mobility of individual was the norm. All the outcastes descended to fifth stratum so that the purity of society could be maintained; the dastardly and ghastly caste Panchayat institution was the tool for this. The Hindu society contains an inordinately large numbers of Untouchables. Every fifth Hindu is Untouchable, graciously. All the Untouchables are supposed to provide the unclean goods and services to rest of society. There have been but slow degradations in the Hindu society. One of the degradation was the degradation of the occupations of agriculture and cattle rearing. It may be because of handling of excreta which got mixed with earth. These occupations were degraded from the Vaisya level to the Shudra level thus degrading a very large number of people. Or the Shudras in new Vedic areas engaged in these jobs were not upgraded. The function of cattle rearing and tilling lost out to functions of god invocating and function of ruling society. The caste supremacy reigned.

There was one ritual available to Shudra Kings to get raised to higher level of Kshatriya but his caste people remained the same there was no change in their status. There have been attempt by some kings to raise the social level of some of their favorite people but they were successful in raising the level of a few individuals and most probably, these people went back to their earlier social level after the

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demise of the king in question. The Patels' of Gujarat rose in social status when one Solanki king granted them the land rights. But they became land holding Shudras only - the proper Kshatriyahood avoided them.

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14. HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED?

There is no central authority in Hindu religion. There is no priest or head priest who controls the religious activities in any given region. No priest is under the control of any other priest from any other temple. All the temples are independent. The Brahmans were not under the control of any king so naturally they were not under the control of each other also. Only one thing could control them was the self-created Dharma and their teacher (the Guru), if any. All the authority was vested in the scriptures. They did not need any other authority. The divine fear or their paranormal power did all the work. All the basic tenets of Varna Dharma derive their authority from the timeless scriptures composed after 1400 B.C.E. The Shastras in turn derive their authority from being the Word of God. They are the dicta of God. None could dare defy the Rishis created "Word of God"! Such was the immovable faith - ignominy was acceptable under the Varna Dharma!

No supreme controlling authority on the earth is envisaged in the scriptures. One reason for the absence of this authority is the multitude of persons involved in formulating the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and Dharma Shastras etc. the Hindu scriptures are not the handiwork of a single man - note. These scriptures, sacred to Hindus, have been composed over different overlapping periods running into hundreds of years each. Whatever was produce by one Brahman could have been added to or altered by another Brahman in the coming generations. When this process runs into hundreds of years, we have an output where contributions have been made by different Rishis and Brahmans. In addition, there are many outputs like that - all of them sacred though with different levels of sacredness. An older scripture is usually more sacred than the others are. Therefore, the Manusmriti being one of the oldest of Dharma Shastras is more sacred than the other Dharma Shastras.

Therefore, we have many composers of the Vedas, many contributors to the Upanishads and many authors to each of Dharma Shastras and Puranas. Any man in his lifetime did not start and finalized any portion of the scriptures. These writings were carried on from generation to generation through oral traditions. This situation lasted until the scripture in question was finalized and a final word

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was said on it; it was then fossilized as the Word of God. It was a long time before any of the scriptures was finalized and written down. Thus, each scripture has the contribution of innumerable authors - or may be the gods. Thus, there is no single author or individual who can be claimed or identified as the most important or as the central authority in any of the scriptures. And, when all the scriptures are put together the difficulty of finding a single formulator becomes insurmountable. This explains why Hindu religion or Hindu society does not have a central authority or personality like the Buddha, Jesus or Mohammed. In the absence of such authority or personality, any learned Brahman who knew the scriptures became the local authority on the matters pertaining to Hindu Dharma and the Panchayats of isolated Villages became the instruments to implement it along with the local rulers. The absence of a central authority forced a kind of decentralization in Hindu society where biased scriptures were taken as the final authority. These scriptures in turn were monopolized by the Brahmans. Thus, the authority of scriptures got translated into the authority of the Brahmans with a significant element of divine fear. Therefore, a Brahman in a village in the South India was a local religious and social authority at village level and a Brahman in a village in North India was a local authority there. The Panchayats in independent / isolated / insulated villages became the instruments to uphold the Dharma. It automatically passed through inheritance from one generation to another. If one has to be a Brahman then one has to inherit the Brahmanhood. It is not an acquirable commodity - only the fools think otherwise. One needed to be born to cruel and dishonest lawmakers to make the cruel laws.

The Brahmans can be regarded as a well-trained and self-interested army in the scriptures, possessing ultra-rationality, ever ready to defend their well-swindled privileges. They did an indirect impenetrable defense through the scriptures that were inaccessible to others. The fort of scriptures was impregnable. All the social and religious attacks on others came from this fort where Brahmans were safe. There was Sanskrit also. There was God and Sanskrit in between the Brahmans and the lower castes. Nobody from the lower strata could criticize the religious authority vested in the lawmakers for the

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fear of acting aDharmically and thus becoming judiciable and punishable by the society itself.

The village headman was the only link between the kings and the people of villages; he was responsible collecting and paying the taxes to the powers that be. Rest of the village was insulated from the temporal power and was in awe of it; demilitarized it was. The kings were interested in the cities and the boundaries of kingdom. The villages were of no concern to them. The villages were managed by the village headman, the biggest landlord, generally and in time of disputes by the village councils (the Panchayats) largely made up of five people. They held up the traditions of villages, which were the same as the Dharma. The kings came and went but the local authority which managed the affairs of villages, collected and paid taxes, remained unchanged. Thus, the local authorities were not affected and as a result the power structure in the villages remain unaffected. As long as they paid the taxes, the dominant caste and/or family went unchallenged from within village providing the stability to caste based Dharma. All the bickering took place at the level of kings only. The village society normally appeared in an organized way in the form of the Panchayats and socially and economically adjusted different castes. The Panchayats could organize the village people on the basis of caste, Varna and Dharma. These Panchayats were made up of largely of the dominant caste people who ruled in their own favor - obviously, and in the favor of Dharma, to appease the dominant paranormal powers. Anybody in society could take the law into its own hand to save the Dharma which meant saving the Brahmans hiding behind the scriptures and the myth of divinity.

As already mentioned, the spread of the Varna system, which was against the majority right from the beginning, was not due to any conquest but because of the magnetic mystique of the Yagyas and their supposedly paranormal war winning qualities and the paranormal reputation of Brahmans as the people who could correctly invoke the gods without inviting the divine retribution. The culture of Yagyas was so strong that it could not be defeated through wars; for its defeat, it needed the cultural wars that came in the form of the Buddhism and the Jainism. In due course of time, the Yagyas impressed the local rulers so much that they scrambled for the skilled Brahmans for performing them. The kings patronized the Brahmans

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for performing the yagyas having paranormal powers to make them win the wars. They invited the Brahmans to their land, and gave them land grants, and accepted the superiority of the Vedas, and, thus of Brahmans in lieu of attaining the Kshatriya status and the promised victories in the wars. The Varna Dharma became the dominant doctrine. Thus, the Vedic religion spread all over India - from king to king and thereby from region to region. For calling Brahmans in their kingdoms, the local rulers offered them land grants and acknowledged their superiority. The Vedic Gods were invoked through the fire worship, mantras and offering of animal sacrifices. The invocation of war gods through fire worship played a major role in the spread of coming Sanatana Dharma. This invariably meant fighting a war with gods on their side, courtesy the Brahmans, which they could not lose. They had to be grateful to the Brahmans for the great selfless and compassionate action in performing the Yagyas. It was not necessary to convert the common people; only the kings needed to be converted; others were to be defined; then it was the function of kings to impose the Varna Dharma in their areas. The lower class people could be defined in terms of castes/Varnas as given in the scriptures. The Varna ashram notions of purity and pollution became dominant under the fog of Gyan (knowledge) of pure and pious people knowing the Vedas. And, it cut across the generations.

The all prevailing presence of the Brahmans all over India is the result of their cultural hegemony and not of any conquest. They were desperately sought after for their paranormal powers of making the gods dance at the chanting of the sacred mantras. As far Rishis were concerned those people who had not performed Yagya before a war, definitely, stood to lose; the canard was effective beyond the wildest dreams. The paranormal powers were more potent than the power of weapons thus overriding the kings' coercive power. The cultural hegemony of the Brahmans is very ancient and evident from the fact that by 200 B.C.E. they were performing Yagyas for the Dravidian kings in the deep South. We know that this cultural hegemony was provided by their paranormal power of invoking the blessing of gods and avoiding the divine retribution. For this, they gained land grants and acceptance of their superiority. If one agreed with superiority of the Vedas then one automatically agreed with the

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superiority of Brahmans. This superiority was imparted to them by the Purusha sukta of Rig Veda. That is why the necessary condition of being a Hindu is to have faith in the infallibility of Vedas; this cements their supremacy and thus by implication one has to follow them. No canards here. How could pure pious and sacred people spread the canards? Anyway, nobody could argue with the Word of God - the Vedas. It is also clear in the performance of Ashwamedha ceremony in the Yajura Veda. This ceremony adds nothing to the respect of either kings or queens. However, it tells that the Veda-Vakya or Veda statements were taken as the Word of God and followed to the last detail. This was a matter of faith in the divinity of the Vedas and also a matter of faith in the divine retribution - the divine fear loomed over largely and effectively - even the kings and queens were ready to suffer the ignominy. If the kings/queens could be made to go through this insulting ceremony then the honor of other Varnas had to be worthless. It was! All this, indicates general absence of pride within the Hindu society. It would be interesting to know many lower caste people have pride in relation to their caste status - empty unsubstantiated and unrecognized self-boasting claims not withstanding!

Any lower Varna individual worth his ego was a dangerous threat to Dharma and had to be moulded into a meek follower by the sustained invocation of the authority and the divinity of the Vedas. And also by invoking the meek dharmic conduct of his forefathers, whom he revered; add to that the fear of paranormal powers, the wrath of god that would visit the adharmic people and adharmic kings; and everybody believed that with open eyes and got moulded. Effective canards, you would agree. Of course, the threat of mutilation by the dharmic kings was also there along with a threat of ostracization. The mutilated Shudras gave a sense of jubilation to the higher Varnas. Many mutilations were not needed. Actually, few mutilated Shudras were sufficient to put an inductive sense of helplessness and fear among the unarmed Shudras. The Shudra kings were a different preposition; they were pacified and convinced by the granting the Kshatriya status. Of course, the Brahmans got the land grants in return for elevating their status. However, the soldiers or kith and kin of these Kshatriya kings were not granted the Kshatriya status because most probably they could not offer the land grants.

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Brahmans spread from land to land through invitations to them by the Shudra kings interested in the Yagyas and elevation of their status. These established social, religious and spiritual authorities were invited by the local rulers to help them in ruling their land according to Dharma and gain victory over their enemies. The Brahmans not only raised the status of Shudra kings but also upheld their divine right to rule over everybody except the Brahmans.

There was a gigantic but peaceful reaction against the Vedic religion and the Yagyas that was started by the Buddha. The Yagyas culture could only be fought through the cultural means. The Buddhism became widely prevailed over the country and a dominant religion but mainly to the cities. It did not get stronghold in the insulated villages that remained within the stronghold of Vedic Dharma and from where it came back in full strength. However, ultimately the Buddhism lost to the Sanatana Dharma of Vedics. One of the reasons for the ultimate victory of Sanatana Dharma over Buddhism was the relative importance given to the welfare of king by the former. The Buddhism does not believe in the authority of the Vedas and denies the very existence of God or soul. The Buddhism became widely prevalent all over urban India because of its opposition to Vedic philosophy of animal sacrifice in performing the Vedic ceremonies. The upsurge and great popularity of Buddhism, and its strong opposition to useless animal sacrifices indicate an excessive animal sacrifices. These sacrifices were excessive and the defenders of Varna Dharma are in a constant state of denial of practice of meat eating and beef eating in the Vedic society. If they are correct then it only means that the Brahmans performed the Yagyas involving the sacrifice of innumerable animals excluding cows; after that, the dead animals were thrown away! However, these offerings never reached the gods until the paranormal Brahmans ate them. If they were thrown away then the gods could not be appeased. The road to appeasement of gods was through the Brahmans and Brahmanwada or Agrahara. To appease the gods one had to visit the pure area of the pure Brahmans where the polluting Untouchables were to be killed if they gained an illegal entry. And, there was no legal entry for them. A thrown away rotting sacrifice could not have appeased the gods. It was impossible. If they threw it away then they were fools but we know that they were anything but the fools.

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Therefore, it means that the sacrificed animals were necessarily eaten by the crucial middle men - the paranormal Brahman without whom any ceremony or ritual was not possible. Since there is no Rig Vedic mention that the cows should be excluded from these, it can be safely assumed that the cows were eaten also. Such a great destruction of cattle stock meant a great loss to agriculture because it used animal power extensively. It created resentments among Vaisyas who were still agriculturists and cattle herders. All the animals to be sacrificed ultimately came from the Vaisyas which increased the burden of taxes on them. The philosophy of Ahimsa (nonviolence) of Buddhism attracted them since it reduced taxes on them by prohibiting the animal sacrifices. The sacrifices under the influence Buddhism and the Jainism became abhorred (taking life was sinful!) activities. This reduced the importance of sacrifices and that in turn reduced the importance the Yagyas. But the Yagyas did not lose their mystique forever. Further, the Yagyas served the purpose of piously augmenting the wealth and welfare of the Brahmans, and the Kshatriyas. The real producers stood to lose from such ceremonies. Further, Buddhism promised Nirvana or salvation to Shudras that was denied to them under Vedic Dharma. However, the salvation was available only when they joined the Buddhist Sangha; joining the Sangha meant giving up family life and becoming ascetic. There was no Varna within the Buddhist Sangha. Anybody from any Varna could join Sangha and aspire for Nirvana. However, Buddhism did not deny the existence of Varnas altogether. Buddha held that the Kshatriya was a superior Varna compared to the Brahman Varna. The Varna was supposed to be dependent on Karma. Buddha denied the determination of Varna by birth but ultimately it amounted to the same. Further, according to Buddhist tradition the Bodhisattvas could take birth only in the Brahman or the Kshatriya Varnas. The lower castes were excluded from this event. Thus, the Varna Dharma was not denied; it only became based on the deeds or Karma. That essentially meant a Varna system based on birth decided by the Karmas of the previous lives. Buddhism was an attack on unnecessary sacrifices in Vedic ceremonies but it did not lead any fundamental attack on the Varna system. Any Buddhist criticism of the Varna system was not sufficient attack on the Varna Dharma. There was no fundamental attack on the Varna Dharma. There was

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no special emphasis on alleviating the sufferings of the Shudras and the Untouchables. The Brahmans exploited the weakness of this attack and returned with full vigor. Even Buddhism could not solve the problems of occupations, inter-dining and marriages that were outside the Buddhist Sangha. There was equality within the Buddhist Sangha (of ascetic - the ascetics (monks - Bhikkus) could be from any castes) but out of the Sangha there were degrading inequalities. The Varna was not important in the Sangha because the occupations and the marriages were not involved. If one did not marry then it was mainly useless from the point of Varna Dharma; there was no threat of Varna-Sankars or to Varna system in reality. If one got his food through begging or donations then there was no question of transgressing on the occupations of others. Becoming a monk or a member of Sangha was like becoming an ascetic. One who was in Sangha cannot affect the bloodlines in society. All the Buddhist people who remained outside the Sangha retained their inherited Varna. There was no way in which they could give up their inherited Varna in a situation where the blood ties were exclusive. The first two Varnas were not willing to give up their Varnas for obvious reasons. The Vaisyas, the third Varna, could become Buddhist but could not get, generally, the rulership like Kshatriyas because it needed the use of arms. They also could not become the lawmakers and attain the highest social status. They could not raise their Varna if the higher two Varnas who still had respective powers were not willing to accept them as their equivalent. The problem of acceptance is perennial in Hindu society - note. It is built on exclusiveness and exclusion. The position of higher Varna was exclusive and the position of lower caste was that of exclusion from any stake in society. The higher Varnas were/are not ready to accept the lower Varna as their equal. Why should this nasty and nefarious question of equality arise at all?

However, the Buddhism became popular among the general urban population because of anti-sacrifice stand. It was taught in Pali, the people's language, and not in Sanskrit, the Deva (gods') language. Buddha showed that the Moksha or Nirvana (if any?) was achievable without animal sacrifice and that undid the Brahmans. The Brahmans felt threatened. Their cultural hegemony was at stake. Many kings also started patronizing the Buddhism. This led to a reduction in the

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Yagyas and a loss of income to the Brahmans. The Buddhism was able to convert the sacrifices into abhorred activities; this led the sacrifices to be included into impure activities and that made the Brahman somewhat less pure or less respected; the aim of the Brahmans was to regain the lost purity due to the sacrifices and accepting the sacrificed animals' meat as food. It was quite logical. When the sacrifices were important they got the biggest share from them; when agriculture became important then they got the land grant and cows in donations; when temple became important they got all the donations to temples; they kept shifting their stand as per their interests and situations. With the development of Buddhism, the stupas came to be constructed and along with that, the temples made their appearance. These temples overseen by the Brahmans were another source of income so they did not need sacrifices on regular basis; only occasional sacrifices for the kings would do. Then in a purity-based society, the emphasis on purity was increasing; many jobs had been degraded and, now, the meat which involved the blood was degraded. It was not a question of life; they never bothered about others' lives; it was a question of purity and self-interest. Therefore, they refused to deal with any kind of impurity including the blood and that meant a refusal to eat the meat; we know that the onion, garlic and mushroom were already prohibited and the meat joined the prohibited list. Brahmans retaliated by joining the enemy; unsurprisingly, by doing a grand somersault; once a while it looked like that they were answerable. If they could not beat the Buddhists then at least they could join them. They went one-step ahead and completely stopped eating any kind of meat; an incredible somersault and there is no dearth of such somersaults. The Buddhists still allowed people to eat meat and also ate it themselves. It was a difficult somersault in the eating habits but a tough competition from the Buddhism and emphasis on purity forced them to do it. They had to remain more pure than the Buddhist if they had to beat the competition. In it, they were helped by the ideas of Upanishads. The Upanishads also discounted the philosophy of animal sacrifice of the Vedas. The immediate effect was that the anti-Brahman feelings among the Vaisyas and the Kshatriyas went down. There was no dharmic danger to agriculture and to the income of Vaisyas, and also that of kings. Ultimately, the Brahmans gave up all the meat eating

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including the beef. It was a great historical somersault that was extremely crucial. Nevertheless, they still retained the mystique Yagyas with the minimum sacrifices and that too on occasional basis. The cow sacrifice was changed to the donations of cows in the Yagyas. Still it was a pious and sacred transfer of wealth but not to the required extent. The cow was elevated to sacred level from being important and slaying of cow was later made the second highest crime next only to slaying of a Brahman. It was an evolving society along the lines of purity paradigm.

Then one more factor is that the Buddhist philosophy had some common points with the Sanatana Dharma though it denied the existence of God and soul. It believed in rebirth like Sanatana Dharma. It also believed in Karma theory like Sanatana Dharma. It believed in the concept of Nirvana that had its counter part of Moksha in Vedic Dharma. It also believed in Varna like the Vedic Dharma. The rebirth in Buddhism took place through Chetana (Conscious) while in the Vedic Dharma it took place through the soul. The counter part of soul in Buddhism was Chetana. The medium to carry forward the Karmas in Buddhism was Chetana while in Vedic Dharma it was the soul. The Varna in Buddhism was decided by Karmas and by birth in Vedic Dharma; both of them are essentially the same. Both the religions believed in the concept of reincarnation. The world according to both the religions was not permanent. The only change was the negation of God, the Vedas and the sacrifices. Simply by negating God in one and accepting God in another you will get the other philosophy. Why Buddha negated the existence of God and found the Vedas useless? It was so because accepting the supremacy of Vedas meant accepting the superiority of Brahmans that he was not willing to accept. He is stated to have said that as far as the Varnas were concerned the Kshatriya Varna was better than the Brahman Varna. Further he is believed to have said that a Vassal (Virshal - outcaste) was a vassal because of his Karmas. All the other things were almost similar. Thus, there was not much philosophical departure in Buddhism. Nevertheless, that was its undoing. When the occasion arose, all the Buddhists again became part of the Sanatana Dharma. In other words, they got reassimilated.

The Buddhists remained confined to the cities and the Brahmans dominated the isolated, insulated and independent

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taxpaying dharmic villages. For the rulers the villages were important from the point of view of collection of taxes; the rulers were otherwise not interested in the villages because being demilitarized the villages were rarely a source of trouble; so the villages were left alone in the hands of caste councils and the land holding high castes. This kept the Sanatana Dharma alive till today. The existence of the ghastly Panchayats, which made outcastes and awarded punishments for transgressing the Varna Dharma, provided the durability to the heinous caste system. Their stronghold in rural areas was the main reason for survival where no foreigners usually moved. The invaders normally confined themselves to the cities hardly interfering with the structure of the Hindu society. Moreover, the high castes headmen collected the taxes and dutifully paid to the powers that be; this left them unaffected at the local level; in turn the local level societal caste structure remained the same; this was probably due to the system laid out by Chanakya in 3rd century B.C.E. The rulers were not deeply interested in the villages as they were never the source of any serious trouble – note the effect of demilitarization. They held the cities and the borders. It was sufficient for them. The preserving of Dharma became the sole task of the Brahmans and the ghastly Panchayats. It means that all the people who matter were defending the Varna Dharma. How did these Panchayats maintain Dharma and suppress any rebellion? It was simple. The people they had to keep in line were famished and defenseless as society has been demilitarized, disarmed and dispropertied. It was as good as keeping a flock of sheep together with the help of a stick; and the people terrorized by the divine retribution were no match to the defenders and preservers of Dharma. Even in the war time society was not affected. The whole cowardly village society moved away from the path of the coming army, and, came back to its original place when the army left. In this way, the villages insulated themselves, from any outside influence; they retained their chilling innocence. Thus, political wars did not have much impact on the villages. The villages remained untouched and so did the caste and the casteism.

The Varna system was maintained outside the Buddhist Sangha. The Bodhisattva could only be born in either the Brahman Varna or the Kshatriya Varna indicating the importance of Varna - no place for lowly people in the high places! There is no indication

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that the Varna system and endogamy had disappeared during the Buddhist Period.

It was easy to maintain equality within Sangha because Buddhist Bhikshus were not allowed to marry. They were also not required to follow a profession, thus the caste lost much of its significance within Sangha. However, the acceptance of Varna outside the Sangha even on basis of Karmas allowed the discriminatory Varna Dharma to flourish. It was so because if one had to change his Varna then one had to change his occupation. If the Shudras wished to change their occupations then it essentially meant that they had to take up the occupations of other Varnas. A change to higher-level occupations required the acquisition of the resources of society which could be had from the higher three Varnas, and their willingness to teach them high Varna skills, which was not forthcoming. It was not possible without bloodshed. It required the Shudras to improve their might which they could not do. Further Buddhism required that there should be no killings. The violence was prohibited by it for the welfare of society. Therefore, the Shudras remained where they were. And society was stabilized. Harmony prevailed. Hail the non-change in society!

When the Brahmans became vegetarian to be purer than the Buddhists, then it became the question for the kings so as to which religion to support or patronize? It was essential because an irreligious king had an inbuilt weakness affecting his durability. One alternative was to patronize the religion which he got through inheritance. The other alternative was to choose the religion which suited him best to further his territorial ambitions and which solidified his grip on the state. In this respect, the Vedic religion scored heavily over the Buddhist religion. It provided direct divinity to the Sanatani or Hindu kings. The Brahmans always extolled the virtues of kings who upheld Dharma and performed the Yagyas - no canards at all. They performed Rajsuya and Ashwamedha Yagyas for the welfare of kings while the Buddhist did not have any such concept. The Buddhism also eschewed the violence; the violence in fact was essential element of the coercive power of the state. Thus, the Buddhism was not attractive to the newly emerging kings because any violence was indispensable to formation of a new kingdom and a subsequent increase in its territory. However, it was a god sent

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opportunity to the Brahmans who were ever willing to grant the Kshatriya status to new kings of obscure origin in return of land grants and plum postings with the kings and to save Dharma - nothing personal about it. In addition, they used the performing of Yagyas as a mighty weapon. The magnetic Yagyas in themselves had a fascinating and a beneficial mystique around them. The kings who did not aspire to be Kshatriyas opted for the Buddhism. The Buddhism automatically granted them Kshatriya status on the basis of presumed deeds of past lives. However, their kingly ambitions suffered because of the non-violence principle of Buddhism. Thus, the new kings were more oriented toward the Vedic Dharma and that ultimately led to its victory over Buddhism. There was a shifting of patronage towards the Brahmans. Over a period of time, Vaisyas also shifted to Vedic religion to be on the safe side of the political powers that be. After that, the Shudras also followed; they did not have much of a choice. There was a complete reversal to Hinduism. The insulated villages were already Vedic. The policy of the Brahmans of being deeply interested in the welfare of kings through performance of Yagyas paid rich dividends. At the same time, Aadishankarachrya defeated the Buddhist philosophy by borrowing heavily from the Buddhist concept of Sunyata and representing it as Nirgun Bruhm. For this Aadishankarachrya is also known as the Crypto-Buddha. It straight forwardly indicates toward plagiarism. Hardly demeaning!

Buddhism was in dying stage when Islam entered India. The Muslim invaders in later centuries only destroyed the monasteries of a dying religion in the north India.

It may be mentioned here that there have been many Shudra kings notably the Maurya dynasty. The Gupta dynasty was a Vaisya dynasty. But, unfortunately, all these changes took place at the top only. The local (village) authorities remained the same indicating no change in the Varna groups. The eternal caste system in villages was never really defeated. All the land was held by the state, courtesy Chanakya, and the middle men (upper castes) remained comfortable by collecting taxes from the village and paying to the powers that be.

However, we find that by the time of Gupta kings (4th century C.E.), the Brahmans had been successful in getting prohibited the slaughter of cow - the divine and pure animal giving purifying sacred excreta and sacred urine. Therefore, they were the

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ultimate victors. Killing this animal (the Cow) with the sacred excreta and the sacred urine was made the most serious crime, after the crime of killing/slaying a Brahman. Nobody can say that the Sanatani society was not dynamic. Any religion which raises the cow to sacred level cannot be static.

We recall that the Hindu religion was a system of inherent division of the hereditary occupations. The Brahmans were engaged in lawmaking, statecraft, intellectual and priestly work. The Kshatriyas were engaged in statecraft, military and administrative work. The Vaisyas were engaged in the business activities. The Shudras were engaged in manual labor activities. The Untouchables were engaged in impure and unclean jobs. Everybody was supposed to be doing the job he was naturally (by birth) most suitable for - a great kind of dharmic harmony. It was birth-attached suitability. There is no earned merit in Hindu society but only caste merit. That is the unofficial India

Let us see how the limitations imposed in Varna system worked. On the face of it, it looks like scientific division of labor; the most suitable job goes to the most suitable man. Only condition was that this suitability had to be acquired by birth. Actually, the most suitable jobs went to the most suitable castes. The status of a man also appeared to be job related. The man and his heredity job were the same; and, thus the status of the heredity job was his status. The Higher was the job; higher was the status. Or higher the inherent status the higher was the actual job. Actually it works from birth-attached status to job and not otherwise. The Brahmans doing the supposedly intellectual job got the highest status. The Shudra doing the blue-collar jobs had the lowest status among the Varnas. The Untouchables doing the lowest level unclean jobs got the lowest position in society. This state where everybody is doing his divinely ordained function is also known as the cosmic order - with its all pervading divine harmony and cruelties. However, the question was how to maintain this cosmic order if the Shudras were to aspire to become the Kshatriyas and the Brahmanas? If such aspirations of Shudras were to be realized then the cosmic order of the things would have broken down. The harmony was to get converted into disharmony at the hint of mere threat of demand for equality by the Shudras. But how come the Shudras, who were reciting Vedas, and

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ruling over the people like Kshatriyas, would have been responsible for a break down in the cosmic order of the pure and sacred Sanatana Dharma? Nobody knows! Or will somebody please tell me? Please, please!!! I beg of you!

Here one has to understand that the Varna system is not a system of allocation of jobs on the basis of individual merit. There is no earned merit but caste merit in the Hindu society. The talents or merits of ineligible individuals were to rot in the garbage as they were impure coming from the impure people. Nurturing impure talent was not the idea of higher Varna people; it was self-destructive. Indeed, the individual on his own and as an independent identity does not figure anywhere in the Varna Dharma. It is a group oriented system where the allocation of jobs to individuals is not possible; the group has to be considered first then the individual. The individual is a derivative of his caste; he and his caste are the same. The job of an individual is derived from the occupation of his caste group; and so does his status. The Varna system is actually an artificially inherited group meritocracy where merit is birth-attached; and that is the proof. No further confirmation is needed other than caste of a man; there is no litmus test. The merit of an individual is derived from the supposed merit of his inherited group. One has to do the jobs postulated for his Varna in the scriptures. To be considered as meritorious one has to take birth in a particular group. No proof is needed for merit and/or eligibility other than birth. In practice no individual is intelligent enough to deliberately take birth in a particular Varna, but, this is precisely one should do in Hindu society; it does not make sense; yes it does not; but it does to some on the top, by the birth. But who can make sense of the divinely ordained cruelty! The unintelligible and unknown Karmas of his previous lives are supposed to decide it for him - this gives it a spiritual touch - please do not forget this spiritual element. The cosmic order in Hindu society is the state where people belonging to all the Varnas are doing birth-attached jobs ordained to them in the scriptures - a picture perfect harmony. It was king's duty to see that all the Varnas were doing the jobs allotted to them cosmically. He had to see that the Vaisyas and the Shudras were doing the jobs cosmically ordained for them. Thus, maiming and mutilation of Shudras and killing of Untouchables were perfectly in order if they defied Dharma. The

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king also had to separate the Untouchables by forcing them to carry an identification mark on their bodies and dwellings in the city and out of the cities; in the villages the ghastly Panchayats were there to bring the correct alignments in society. It was done so that the people from the higher Varnas could get away from them, and thereby avoided getting polluted - so much emphasis on the unproven purity of Brahmans - underwhelms me. Further, the Untouchables lived outside cities in marked huts to differentiate them from others. In addition, the Shudras and Untouchables were not allowed to carry the arms. They were forced to do so by the kings. Thus, we see that so called natural division of the so called specialized labor was achieved under the maiming, mutilating and killing force of the Kshatriyas, kings and the Panchayats. Any deviations from this divine division of labor were adharmic which impinged like the blood sucking creatures on the minds of the lawmakers.

Further, the pure and inherited Varna was maintained by outlawing the inter-Varna marriage. Any attempt for inter-Varna marriage meant ostracization. This ostracization was to be done by the caste Panchayats (a committee of five prominent people in a given caste in a given village). These Panchayats did wield considerable power and helped in maintaining the Dharma. These were another power centers - each committed to Dharma. These Panchayats do wield considerable influence in Indian rural areas. Further discouragement to such marriage was in the form of branding their children as outcastes because they did not inherit any Varna. The existence of only four Varnas precluded the possibility and existence of any mixed Varna. The Varna-Sankars were a grave and serious threat to the existence of Dharma. They were mutual antagonists. We know that already.

The provision of making a person outcaste helped in maintaining the caste structure of society. This limitation limited the role of an individual. An outcaste person was permanently boycotted because he flouted the rules or became impure by not following the rules of his caste. It was a very potent weapon and effectively wielded by the Panchayats. The ostracization, we know, meant the loss of his family, disinheritance of Varna, disinheritance of property and occupation, and a prohibition from entering the village. Any person found to unknowingly associate with the outcastes was heavily fined

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along with atonement or penance and purification. If somebody did associate himself with the outcastes then he himself ran the risk of becoming an outcaste and stood to lose his family and property. Any person flouting the rule of his castes or Varna was punishable with excommunication. Very few people were willing to take the risks of flouting the caste Panchayats.

This provision gave authority to caste and the caste Panchayats. Therefore, it was not voluntary to follow the rules of caste but it was mandatory. Any recalcitrant person defying the rules of his caste or Varna could have been easily made an outcaste. It maintained the purity of the caste and society. The people who dared to defy the Varna Dharma were thrown out of the villages. And there was no appeal against it. The man who lost his property due to becoming an outcaste could not appeal to the king for restoration of his property. As far he was concerned, the decision of his caste was final. As we have already said that, the Hindu society was characterized by multiple power centers. It was one of the reasons for the sustainability of caste system because at least the local caste authority was always there to regulate the caste conduct of a man. The absence of king hardly mattered in the caste matters. The dominant caste regulated the caste system. Thus, the caste system did not disintegrated when the kings fought with each other. It remained safely hidden in the isolated and insulated villages. We can see the caste or Varna forces at work.

It is needless to repeat that all the doors of society were closed for an outcaste – the most important limitation for smooth working of the pure society. His social privileges and duties were taken away. He was barred from communicating with the people. The village caste council or the Village caste Panchayats usually enforced the collective excommunication. The man was deprived of sustenance means. Then he had no alternative but to join the Untouchables and take up their occupation because other occupations were closed to him. Usually these people were a couple who took fancy of each other and produced the Varna-Sankar offspring. The only punishment was to make them outcaste and throw them out of the village. It maintained the purity of Varna system by expelling the adharmic and impure people and their progenies. It also increased the population of the Untouchables.

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Thus, the Panchayat and its authority to ostracize acted as a very crucial and ever ready weapon to maintain the purity of caste system and stop people from rebelling; it provided the stability in society by imposing the life long sentences which through inheritance were applicable to next generations. This weapon greatly contributed to the survival of the caste system. The system of community boycott and non-cooperation was used in the independence struggle of India.

The caste structure, caste effect and caste mechanism of the Hindu society make the better jobs available to higher Varnas and lower level jobs to lower Varnas – that is how they function. A lower Varna within the Hindu framework is allotted the job; which is in consonance with his heredity status. A person belonging to higher Varna is trained for the higher-level jobs and a lower Varna person is trained for the lower-level jobs keeping in view the utmost necessity of maintaining social harmony. Here social harmony essential means - not making higher caste people angry. It is so because in inheritance oriented society the training for jobs is also based on inheritance. The only persons available to teach somebody are his parents or the persons belonging to his caste. Others would not teach him because of caste non-cooperation or exclusion.

Any Brahman would never teach Vedas to a Potter who provided the pots for the village. The caste effect is in operation. The socially disparaging disassociations take place. A Shudra artisan would never teach his job to higher Varnas because nobody would be interested in his job, which infringes on his Dharma. The pure (powerful controller) should not learn the impure (manual and unclean) jobs and the impure (landless and powerless) should not learn the pure (pious and power) jobs. These are the intricacies of Varna Dharma. Either way would be adharmic and hence extremely desirable, a heavenly sign of the corruption of Dharma. If the pure and impure got mixed and spread impurities and contaminating Dharma then it was a highly undesirable and despicable activity. The social disassociation given in the Dharma Shashtras enforced the rule that the only training one got was the hereditary one. It was natural also that the son was taking up the father's occupation; it is another point that no other option was available to son. Who cares? The optionless son got the occupation as if though it was predestined for him. By now you must be knowing that how everything is made

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predestined in Hindu society barring the accidents. His birth-attached occupation was supposed to be in harmony with his birth-attached qualities. Harmony, harmony everywhere! The purity based harmony! And the purity is unproven!!! But it is supposed to exists and it produces the repulsive forces in society – hardly worth bothering about when the high castes are living an easy life at the cost of the lower strata. Who is bothered about repulsive force? Nobody. In fact, the life of the son was predestined; the selfish and cruel lawmakers ensured it. It was a predestined birth-attached allocation, which was supposed to last till eternity; it was a hallmark of the eternal system. It was the vision of the lawmakers, which took account of all times to come till eternity. They aimed to provide the eternal solution to the problems of all their coming generations. Nobody was really bothered about society as whole as such. The societal bonding needed identification with society which was conspicuous by its absence; it place was taken by the caste bonding which had no effect outside the caste in question. And in midst of so much purity in Hindu society, the purity is still unproven. The unproven purity rules along with the unproven Karma hypothesis in the traditional Hindu society. And all the litmus papers are missing.

Where does the fault lie responsible for the hellish lives of the Shudras and the Antyajas? The fault of being a Shudra or an Untouchable lies with himself! No kidding! No God, no scripture, no Brahman, no king, no Kshatriya, no Vaisya no caste council are responsible for his wretched existence. The wretched existence in which he lived from birth to death was entirely of his own making. Not surprisingly – nobody takes any responsibilities in Sanatana Dharma. He should look first inside him then blame others; it is another thing that whenever he looks inside him he finds no evidence of the Karmas of his previous lives. The emptiness is remarkable. All his sufferings are blamed on his unintelligible previous lives' unknown Karmas. The Karma hypothesis was probably developed around 700 B.C.E. when it was deemed necessary to relate the higher Varna birth with the hypothetical karmas, to justify the unearned merits of the upper castes or the Varnas. And as a corollary, the demerits were imposed on low Varna/caste that were dependent on the unknown accumulated bad Karmas. Since he was the doer in his previous lives, now he is the sufferer. Thus, he is the agent of his

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own sufferings. He is the creator of his own wretched life. And for that he was born into the same kind of wretched people who had performed the equally bad Karmas. All the members of the groups of low caste people are guilty of committing ghastly deeds in previous life – no, no, no fraudulent incrimination at all. You should not have any delusions like that. Blaming Dharma and Karma, the upper castes and the pious lawmakers are the acts of simply barking up the wrong tree. Is it not logical that one should suffer for his unknown, unconfirmed, unintelligible, assumed and accumulated bad deeds of all the unknown previous lives? It is a backward logic. The rigors of logic are thrown into dustbin. The causes do not decide the results. The result decides the existence of unspecific and unverifiable causes - there is no litmus test for the confirmation of these causes. The Hindu society has always shied away from the litmus tests - very shy society! You see! It depends upon realizations. Dharma is supreme without verifying its divinity. The existence of present wretched conditions implies the existence of previous bad Karmas. Nobody has actually seen or experienced such Karmas that directly result in a particular type of completely identifiable next life of the related individual. The Karma hypothesis is an unspecified exercise that establishes nothing, but establishes the comforts of high castes in concrete terms; it has some benefits, you see. The high castes sleep soundly, with a clear conscience. Nobody has seen any individual with his past Karmas and nobody will see; there is eternal non-existence of such person. The precision is also not even in the backward logic. This unestablished backward logic (deriving the reasons from results as opposite to deriving the results from the reasons) has played havoc with the millions and millions of lives in the Hindu society. These are the strange kinds of unconfirmed previous life’s bad Karmas that are not remembered even by the doer himself. It would be better if somebody were actually able to produce a man with his actual, precise and confirmable records of his previous life Karmas and their effects on present life. These actually verifiable Karmas should be precisely linked to the conditions of the present life. It should be possible to trace the previous life along with the Karmas, and, the life before that and the life before that and the respectively related karmas, and so on. It should at least applicable to seven cases out of every ten. Until then the previous life Karma

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hypothesis would be merely a figment of imagination. A dangerous doctrine used by the spiritual tormentors to justify the oppressed lives of the lower strata. Yes, the oppression is justified for unknown reasons! Oh, I forgot the Dharma!

However, according to the defunct and disconnecting Karma hypothesis, the birth of man in a particular Varna is justified and binding. This is given in the Brahman created divine scriptures. This prevents the emergence of any empathy and sympathy for the wretched lives of the Untouchables. Their present wretched conditions are due to the wretched Karmas of their previous lives; so no sympathy or empathy or any such kind of crap. Thus, the conscience of people goes to sound and selfish deep sleep under the dharmic guidance. The present life and its conditions are beyond the control of anybody because nobody can go back to his non-existent previous life and correct the Karmas. So everybody has the excuse of not doing anything about pathetic conditions of the lower strata.

Therefore, the cultural hegemony of the paranormal Brahmans, upholding of Dharma by the kings, demilitarization, total separation of blood ties, the mutilating system of justice, ostracization, Panchayats (the dominant caste council of five nominated people) and the junk hypothesis of previous life Karmas, kept the Shudras and the Untouchables in their places and served to make the Varna Dharma eternal. Any desire to rise up is killed by the Karma theory and any actual action in such direction was punishable by society, the Panchayats and the kings.

Now, we will see how the system worked as an economic unit. One way for the economic system to work was to give small pieces to non-land owning caste man to grow the food for his family and provide his goods or services to whole of the village. For example, a Chamar family supplying the shoes to whole of village or a Kumhar (potter) family providing the pots for all the villages in lieu of the small piece of land received. Second was the Jajmani system.

The Jajmani system is probably borrowed from the later Vedic period Yajmans. The Yajmans were the Kshatriya patrons of the Brahmans. The Yajman or Jajman was the Kshatriya landholder or king for whom the Brahman performed all the Yagyas and ritualistic ceremonies. The Jajman and the Brahman were tied personally to each other with generational ties. Once tied together,

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the Jajman and the Brahman did not normally part company through mutually unstated agreement among the Brahmans for not poaching on each other's patrons. The relationship continued for the generations altogether until some natural calamity occurred or when the patron or client became spatially separate due to some reasons. In the south India the role of jajman was played by the dominant land holding castes in the absence of the Kshatriyas; these people were higher level Shudras who took up the role of Kshatriyas without any upgradation in their Varna status. These people we call as the pseudo-kshatriyas. The faith of these people in the caste system is unfailing.

This Jajmani system was also carried in the villages where the Jajman was the patron of the village artisans also. The Jajmani system did the job of distribution of agriculture produce among the non-land owning castes. The principle of distribution was to each according to his caste provided the Dharma was maintained. They controlled the distribution of food and with it the lives of the village people. There was no money transaction. The Jajman not only had the land but also an army of musclemen to help in maintaining the Dharma in the innocent village society. These musclemen were the tillers on his land. They were ready to perpetrate violence on the demilitarized village society. This provided the Shudras enough persuasions to fall in line. The muscle force, the socially dissociative forces (mutual alienation) and the economic forces were really persuading factors that effectively prohibited the Shudra and the Untouchables from rebelling. This eliminated the use of frequent violence in the village. The subordination of low castes was naturalized. The caste councils played a regulatory role. The traditions were created which induced subordination in coming generations with little efforts. It is another thing that cowardly villages moved out of the route of the coming armies with all the brave people of the village thus displayed the absolute loyalty to the land and the local ruler and the born unbeatable bravery by running away. The naturalized subordinated next generation took place of the earlier generation until the forces of modern world were unleashed by the history contaminating the spiritual and dharmic society of the sacred Sanatana Dharma.

However, the Jajmans owned/held the land. Thus, they owned all the food supply in the village. It induced servility in the

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lower castes that served the cause of Dharma. Those who tilled their land and those who provided the labor were paid in the form of grains and other agriculture produce. However, this was not sufficient to put nice clothes on them but enough for a wretched and servile survival. The provision for the food of Shudra artisans was also to be made so that they did not die of hunger. With all the servility, they had to look up to the Jajmans to fill their hungry bellies or obtain their sustenance. The dignity was reserved for the upper castes by Dharma. What could the insulted others do? The Shudras and those below them were born undignified; with indignity fused in them. The Shudra artisans those who were not connected with the land as either tillers or labor got the food by permanently connecting themselves with the Jajmans - with all the induced servility at their command. The Jajmans on their own needed the servants to do all their menial non-agriculture jobs. When they did not do the agriculture labor then it was unrealistic for them to do other menial jobs especially when a full community of heredity servants was available to perform such divine vocation. If the Shudra artisans did the work for each other then any income (in kind) was not possible because they did not have enough land or resources to pay each other – the Varna Dharma ensured that. Therefore, the only alternatively was to perform the jobs for the landed upper castes. The upper caste Jajmans lived a comfortable life while the Shudras did all the menial jobs. Thus, the Shudras gave their services to Jajmans to get their undignified sustenance. It was a really, real merciful system where all the Shudras lived at the mercy of the Jajman. The richer was the Jajman, the better off were his clients or workers, as they got more to eat. A richer Jajman performed many more ceremonies that needed all the services of the Shudra artisans like barbers, potters, carpenter, ironsmith, goldsmith, weavers, construction workers, actors, the washer men and others. All the ceremonies related to marriage, birth, death, festivals and social functions were performed smoothly, and, everybody got his share, barely enough for sustenance. No desire was there to the leave the surplus with the artisans and others as it could have made them to forget their Dharma of serving the higher castes. It would have been too cruel to higher Varna if any surplus was left with low castes, yes too cruel. Everybody left in happiness after the function or ceremony - now they had something to eat until next

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time. Then they blessed the Jajmans. They showed their reverence by prostrating on the land, a highly virtuous act. The helplessness and indignities in their lives were a normal part of their lives, a fait accompli since birth.

Many consider the Jajmani system as a socially amicable system where the relations between Jajmans and Shudra artisans and others (or between independent patrons and dependent clients) were amicable. These clients were known as the Kaamwale - the work doers (or Kammens). There was a mutual understanding in the dependent Shudras that they would not encroach on others' Jajmans. It had become a relationship, which neither patron nor dependent clients could relinquish. They were almost bound to each other. The Jajman would not easily get another Kaamwale and Kaamwale would not get any other patrons. The Kaamwale almost had an exclusive right to work to the exclusion of any right of other Kaamwale. It was an internal arrangement of the serving castes. It was a kind of agreement of non-competition between all the Kaamwale. It seems everybody adhered to one caste one occupation rule like the Varna system. It also evolved into one Jajman and the fixed attached workers. Anybody defying the caste rules of non-competition had to face their respective caste Panchayats. The Jajman was virtually the social and local government. His authority was not limitless but he was the main deciding voice in the caste councils where he had his due weight for belonging to dominant caste; even though he also could not go against the caste rules; and there was no point as the caste rules favored him. He believed that it was necessary to give grains and other things to work doers enabling them to survive and serve him. The dead man serves nobody. If the Jajman chose to neglect the Kaamwale then they were bound to suffer. In Jajmani, the links of generations developed familiarity between the two parties. But the bonding did not develop to the point of nurturing the status aspirations of the Shudras and the Untouchables. They knew their undignified limits and thus in the absence of any effective rebels the system was stable. It was a matter of survival. It was a dependency of the Shudra workers on the powerful Jajmans. The Shudra workers had to walk, talk, and wear their respective caste while working or any other time, as usual. All of their dignity was fractured and torn up. The Jajmani system maintained the status quo in a rigid caste system.

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No Shudra worker ever became a landlord due to Jajmani system. No Shudra or Untouchable became a Sahukar or moneylender under a Jajman. It was not designed for that. It was designed to maintain the servile dependence of lower castes on the higher castes. In the Jajmani system, the Chamarins did the job of midwives; they helped in delivery, cleaned up the child and everything else, and could not touch the child afterward; the untouchability moved in. The scavengers beat the drum in front of the Jajmans' house. There was no possibility of happening it the other way round. It was an unequal system that appeased the Dharma. The permanent interests of unimpeachable upper castes created insurmountable obstacles for the Karmically incriminated lower castes.

You can sincerely expect a pure man to carry his heart on his hand showing the pity and mercy he has for all the mankind - yes, all the mankind. Or can you? Yes, you can except in the matters where it does not matter. And Jajmani system was not one where it did not matter. The basic and permanent interests of lower strata play a subsidiary role to the trivial desires, impulses, whims and fancies of the higher strata. In Hindu society, the provision of basic necessities reaches its nadir when you reach the bottom of the caste system. A dying and hungry Untouchable hardly matters. The divinity pours down through all their pores and cripples the Untouchables to the core. The divinity is too cumbersome for some people. The lower you go down the more cumbersome it becomes. The bottomless pit of Hindu compassion keeps the scavengers in the bottom of stinking pit.

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15. THE TEMPLES

The temples are an integral part of the Hindu society. Untouchability is also part of traditional Hindu society. Wow! What a coincidence! Whole of the India is littered with temples, big and small, old and new, rich and not so rich and also the Untouchability. Some temples are very well known and rich beyond normal imagination. Balaji Tirupati and Nathdwara temples are quite rich, and, have very large following of devotees, along with the barred entry for the Untouchables. These devotees, excluding identifiable Untouchables, come from every nook and corner of India. The temples are beyond the reach of Untouchables in the traditional Hindu society.

The temple system is very old in India, but not as old as the elite created Vedas, the word of God himself, which are not older than the multiple Vedic gods. There are no temples mentioned in either the Vedas or the Manusmriti. The temples made their entry about the same time as the Buddhist Stupas. The temple apparently emerged by borrowing the idea from the Buddhist stupas, the cave temples or their chaityas. The Vedic gods had gradually lost their importance along with the animal sacrificing rites of Yagyas. The useless sacrifices were consigned to the abhorred category and thus rendered impure. With the entry of temples, one thing happened; it was the reduction in size of the Vedic gods like Indra, Agni, Varun and Mitra etc. But the magnetic Yagyas maintained their mystique and fascination though with limited animal sacrifice; the number of animals sacrificed became minimal and the cow slaughter was prohibited but the magnetic powers of the Yagyas remained the same. More powerful and significant gods then the Vedic gods came into existence having the native background. There are hardly any temples of Rig Vedic gods.

With the growing importance of the agriculture and the kingdoms in the Vedic society, there was a need for the gods who could look after the whole affairs of these ever enlarging areas. The known world had enlarged from the divergent tribes to a comprehensive agriculture based society. The hunting and plundering lost their importance. The scope of nature had enlarged from shifting on land to the expanded stable state territories. The world had

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become more complex, and the Vedic gods like Indra, Agni and Varun, were not sufficient to explain it. The earlier divine order seemed to have collapsed. The explanation of this new complex world required invention or introduction or reemergence of the gods who were more powerful then the nature specific gods. The more powerful gods without any cravings for the sacrifices were needed to look after this newly enlarged universe. The tribal gods like Indra and Agni, who were mainly nature related, lost their importance. So, there goes Indra in a corner - his fault being the Rig Vedic god. One alternative was to increase the powers of Vedic gods but it meant rewriting the Vedas, which was not permitted. Thus, the gods needing animal sacrifices fell out of general use. The general people needed other kinds of gods for their religious needs in this world and here after, with little cost attached to them.

The most famous of the then new gods is, now, known as the trinity of Hindu pantheon - Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. These gods were not nature specific like Indra (war and then rain god) and Agni (fire god) but all powerful and capable of looking after the affairs of the whole of the world. It was akin to a king looking after welfare of people of his state. What was the state to the king was the world to God. The society enlarged from tribal to agricultural one and gods changed from specific to general. These gods did not need animal sacrifices for their appeasement; only worshiping them through mantras and Aartis could please them. Still all the rituals to please the gods were to be performed exclusively by the Brahman priests. The priests became the divine intermediaries between man and god like in the later Vedic times. At the same time, they did not give up their role of lawmakers; they continued to write the Dharma Shashtras - one crueler then the other - may be with divine help. Additionally, they kept on honing the skills of statecraft.

The functions of the trinity of the gods are creating, nurturing and destroying the world. Lord Brahma is the creator of the world, Lord Vishnu is the nurturer of the world and Lord Mahesh (Shiva) is the destroyer of the world. The followers of Lord Vishnu are called the Vaishnavites and those of Lord Shiva are called the Shaivites. Initially there were disagreements and tensions between these two cults; but with the formation of trinity, the tension and disagreement disappeared. Now there is no discernible antagonism

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between them. The followers Lord Vishnu are in majority and the Shaivites are in minority; but generally, the worshipers cut across the line - without any antagonism. The worshiping of a different Hindu god is not a major or minor issue because the greatest issue is the Jati Dharma or the caste duty or function. The issue of worshipping, of secondary importance in the Hindu society, is proclaimed as an indicator of the lofty tolerance of the Hindu religion notwithstanding the intolerable fact that the defiling Untouchables are not allowed entry into the pure and sacred temples; there are times they are killed for that; hardly matters in the tolerant unofficial India. The intolerance to the mere presence of Untouchables in temples touches the Himalayan heights. A tolerant religion, indeed, with a standing proof! You will have to agree! Any doubts? It is absolutely, not demeaning, but a matter of tremendous pride for the high caste Hindus. Any Hindu is free to worship any deity from Hindu pantheon, which is full of innumerable deities. And the lower strata are free to suffer in the ways devised for them. With the increasing importance of the minor Vedic and non-Vedic gods the idol worship came into existence. The idol worship seems to have been borrowed from the native culture. The kings had to be paid the obeisance and the gods had to be paid the obeisance. The divinity seemed to have reflected the state.

The decline of the Vedic gods was also related to the decline of the popularity of the animal sacrifice due to intense competition from Buddhism. Any invocation of the Vedic gods involved the fire worship essentially meaning huge animal sacrifices; all the fumes going into the sky to the gods; you see! This made the Yagyas very costly. The Yagyas, which were earlier performed for whole of the tribe, became limited to only the kings and the Kshatriyas who were landlords and could afford costly sacrifices. The Yagyas were still important to the kings. The Vaisyas could not do it because if they sacrificed the animals then their survival would be at stake. And definitely, it could have angered the Kshatriyas because it meant that the Vaisya in question was harboring the territorial ambitions. By the time, the Vaisyas gave up the agriculture (tilling) and the cattle rearing the Brahmans had also given up the animal sacrifices and shifted mainly to the temples, land grants and state jobs but kept the Yagyas as weapons in their armor. To counter the Buddhism and attract the

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general population, mainly the Vaisyas, the Brahmans gave up their Vedic gods and took up the different gods to please and to use them as veil for their divine and pious activities. It was not necessary to offer animal sacrifices to please these new gods. The rituals in the temples did not, generally, involve animal sacrifices. One can see the transformation taking place but the Brahmans did not lose their importance. The conditions of lower strata did not improve. The tenets of the Sanatana Dharma had to cut across the generations. They also had to cut across the industrialization in modern times.

The donations in temples were voluntary which did not impose involuntary cost on people like animal sacrifices. Thus, the costly Vedic gods needing costly animal sacrifices like Indra, Agni became minor or small deities or fell out of use. However, the costly gods who ensured victories in the wars continued to be popular with the kings. New gods were happy with the worship and devotion of a devotee and, of course, a lot of offerings which as usual went to the unworldly Brahmans. The temples also had the advantage of getting donations round the clock whereas the Yagyas had to be actually performed on a given occasion to get the donations and fees. It simplified the donation system and enlarged the scope of receiving money etc. from the kings, the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas. The donations pertaining to Yagyas were related to certain specific activities. There was an enlarged scope of taking donation. The Stupas and temples were actually a regularization of worship that did not need any special occasion; they were open all through the year with continued daily rituals. They never came to a stop. The goodies never stopped – a continuous source of income.

The priests in the temples were the Brahmans only - they maintained their exclusive hold on the religion; they knew the spiritual philosophy (soul, Karma and Moksha); they knew the code of conduct (Dharma); they knew the statecraft; and they had the paranormal powers. The people from other Varnas were not eligible to become the priests. It was in accordance with the Vedic Dharma where the pure and pious people of highest social stratum, the paranormal lawmakers, controlled the divinity and all the sacred things like God, and of course do not forget the broad control of society. The habit of forgetting should be given up. But keep this habit if it is fruitful. These lawmakers were the only exclusive people

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who could recite the mantras and Aartis and therefore appease the gods. They were the only exclusive people who could worship the sacred temple gods. They were the only exclusive people who could guide the kings in administering the divine Dharma - the cosmic order. The Brahmans created the Sanatana Dharma after the demise of Rta, the Rig Vedic religion; we know it already.

Over a period of time, the temples became highly popular. They came to enjoy the patronage of the kings, the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas making them quite resourceful. The magnanimous donors to temples become megalomaniac and tyrants when it comes to Untouchables; here they can offer only expletives with eyes disdainful. However, the temples received various land grants. Everybody was desperately and unquestionably interested in improving his unseen and unconfirmed next world, which nobody had seen. Do not you see stupidity absconding? By making donations to the temples people expected to prevent their rebirth in the lower categories lives like jackals, cats, dogs, vermin, scum, worms, slimy things and others. They believed that by donating to temples, they could atone for their sins and for all the injustice, they had caused! That happened or not, the unworldly priestly class enjoyed the worldly (all products of the Maya - the illusion - this world) comforts, because of the donations – sticking to Maya like a leech – and this contradicts the teachings. Not only that, their social status, within their Varna, also increased directly in proportion to donations made by them. It was a transfer of wealth from the kings, the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas to the simple, pious, pure, deviceful and spiritual Brahmans, who needed all the unworldly wealth for the unworldly needs. Any kind of guile never touched them; any kind of trauma never touched them; any kind of slyness never touched them; any type of cunningness never touched them; any deviousness never touched them; any nefarious tendencies never touched them; and that I swear by you. They only soared and soared higher and higher up in the otherworldliness composing the sacred Dharma Shastras like the Manu Smriti and the Vishnu Smriti. Questioning the high ethics and high morals of the high Varna people was out of question; the gross insubordination it was. The lawmakers were very happy, the heavens were happier. The dharmic content of society stood to increase.

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With the resource controlling people attaching themselves with the temples, the temples became centers of religious and social activities - a parallel power enter. The Brahmans who controlled the temples were not under the rulership of kings. As a result, the temples emerged as the parallel power centers in the Hindu society. This was the section of society that had accumulated ample wealth, and without being under the purview of the kings. The development of the super rich temples under the renouncing and sovereign Brahmans had its harmful effects. By and large, no Hindu king or robber dared to attack the temples with a view to take away the wealth without hurting the supreme Dharma and inviting the divine fury. The divine fear has been the most crucial factor in the Hindus society, which runs just below the surface with full force; but it has been grossly discounted and hidden by the so-called spiritualists. The attack on temples could have angered the gods and any chance Brahman killing would have landed the attackers to lower categories like dogs and donkeys in their next lives. And who would dare to spoil his next life? Not any sensible and rational Hindu! Unfortunately, the coming Muslim invaders did not think so. How bad of them! You see! They believed neither in the Hindu gods and nor in the Hindu dharmic hypothesis of the divine retribution. Oh! The assimilative powers of the Sanatana Dharma failed (failed??? – cannot believe it) miserably and crawled on the earth! The divine retribution did not visit in the form of any Avatar of Vishnu!!! The hypothesis of divine retribution is inherent in the Sanatana Dharma; without it, it cannot stand. This divine retribution is well enunciated in the Gita where the Lord Krishna promises to return to earth whenever Dharma suffers, and restore it to its pristine glory. And, Muslims met with no such divine retribution thus falsifying the Hindu hypothesis of the divine retribution. No, no, no, we do not want any litmus test we are pure and high caste people; we do not believe in nonsense. This disestablishes the divine retribution theory where god comes down to earth in the human form and reestablishes the divine Dharma. This divine retribution had to come in the form of the British colonizers - the cow eaters! The cow eaters!!! Unfathomable are the ways of God!

However, the distribution of wealth went in favor of the temples and thereby in favor of the renouncing, spiritual and

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unworldly lawmakers, who were forever interested in the welfare of people through Dharma by awarding the penury to the Shudras and the Untouchables. Strangely extraordinary, is it not? Or maybe it is amazing? Or it is very normal- this is what is expected of elites' religion; quite rational. These epitomes of spirituality happily enjoyed all the wealth that came their way. Such a high level of rationality was never seen! It was a divine reward for their social and religious control. It resulted in a stupendous reward to the lowborn - this reward was being the eternal lowborn condemned servants through all their generations. The Dharma smiles benignly. The Karma doubles up with laughter.

The temples were the places of worshiping God, spiritual realization and the salvation of soul. Being the abode of gods in the form of idols, the temples were as sacred as they could be. These pure places also served as the carnal pleasure centers for the priestly class through the institution of Devdasi. These religious places were sacred and pure therefore the entry of polluting Untouchables was prohibited. Here, we have a case of the strange kind of God who could be defiled by the mere presence of human beings. Any defilable God has to be less powerful then the defiler; all this goes contrary to the notion of all powerful God; actually such a weak God by definition cannot exist. There is no defilable God but the Sanatana Dharma marvelously insists upon it.

It looks that the assumed sacredness of the Vedas has permanently visited the temples all over this huge country. Dharma Shastras prescribe severe punishment for the Untouchables daring to enter the temple/s. They also prescribe purification of temples that have been defiled by such an entry by a human being, and cow excreta is the best material for purification - no kidding and please do not laugh. However, any purifying act after a contact with any Untouchables actually meant a defilement of the Untouchables, not the purification of deity/deities. The Untouchables who dared to enter the temples were severely punished sometimes even with death - trivial matter it was, was it not? May be the nice, spiritual and cultural people thought that it was a nice way to help them by getting rid of their wretched lives. The legendary lack of sensitivity can only be compared to the compelling concerns that bind the carnivores with herbivores. And this comes at the cost of human beings (sub

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human beings?)! Hail, the holy cow! The respected Ms. Cow towers above the human beings in Hindu society. And stop laughing. This should be no reason of surprise. And don't you worry about it! Because nobody bothers! Concern? What concern? Loony must you be if you think sensitively; it is traditional Hindu society which show ultra rationality when it comes to the interests of elite castes.

Still an Untouchable who dares to enter a temple runs the risk of his life in many parts of this spiritual land of saints and seers. In the same tradition, the great Untouchable saints of Bhakti movement were not allowed to enter the temples; notwithstanding the large supposed spiritual enlightenment they had achieved. The spiritual equality that was taught by the Bhakti movement gurus was in respect of personal attachment to God. The benefits of devotion were to be reaped in next birth only which is correctly in nice alignment with the Karma hypothesis. No amount of Bhakti (devotion) could make them innately pure and thus eligible for the temple entry; no amount of bhakti could infuse them with the purity required. The pollution embedded in them could not be removed by any kind of devotion to any god. It could not be removed by any kind of impurity removing device; no such devious device exists to the benefit of pure castes! The gods could not do anything for him - such helpless gods!!! The so-called spiritual enlightenment lost out to the cosmic Varna Dharma. The spiritual enlightenment was received on this earth but the Varna Dharma came from the above - Brahman created the divine authority. And you think that you can beat such people? It was superior to earthly achievements. And the divinity was in total harmony with the egos of the elites.

The Religion and faith in God is essential part of life of a man who is not an atheist. It gives him the reason for his existence. It gives him mental, emotional support and solace. For his own satisfaction, a religious man can complain to God or ask him to alleviate his wretched conditions. The support of religion is essential for a religious human being. It provides him support in his troubled times. The troubled times always accompany an Untouchable from street to street, from birth to death. By denying him the reach to the temples, the mental well being of religious Untouchables was destroyed, thereby wrecking their emotional state. Anyway, the actual

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effects of Bhakti movement on Untouchables' lives have been worthless. Nothing moved not even an iota of an inch.

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16. THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELIGION

The paeans are sung in the praise of the tolerance of Hindu religion. Its tolerance is in contrast to intolerant stand of other two major religions, Christianity and Islam. The tolerance of Hindu religion is said to be very high (?). All the people coming to this subcontinent were assimilated into the Hindu religion with the exceptions of cow-eating Muslims and British. The Greeks, the Scythians, the Huns, the Parthians, the Kushans and others who came to India as invaders or migrants were ultimately assimilated in the Hindu society to the extent that now they are not separately recognizable. They have lost their original and cultural identities.

The invaders were co-opted by giving them the Kshatriya status and poor migrating communities were assimilated as the Shudras. There were Shudras who never knew when they became Shudras and became a part of the Hindu society. These Shudras either came from outside or lived in the region of India which had not come under the cultural hegemony of the Brahmans. The assimilative powers of the Hindu religion have been grand but they were ineffective in the case of 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 person to Hinduism. Well, unofficially, one can bribe the Brahmans, touch their feet on regular basis, and, become Hindu, and he has to arrange for his own marriage. His Varna will be decided by the function in which his occupation falls. His caste would be where he marries. It may take minimum five generations by which time the people have forgotten his ancestors.

The spread of Vedic religion has been patronage oriented. It evolved from top to down. This has grown under the patronage of rulers who were impressed by paranormal powers of the Brahmans; no saints set out to convert the people. By and large the concept of Vedic and later Hindu gods seems to have been superior to local gods of local people; however the native modes of worship had to be

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incorporated into the Hindu system - most probably the idol worship of Shiva and the goddesses. Additionally, the reincarnations were created to appropriate the local and tribal gods. If one patronized the Brahmans or protects them and accepted their superiority and scriptural authority then he became a Hindu and that too a Kshatriya if he is a ruler; and all his deities could be explained as the reincarnations of the gods and goddesses having the recognition of Hindu Dharma. There have been slow assimilating conversions in the history to the Vedic religion. If a poor migrating community starts worshiping the gods from Hindu pantheon then over a period of time; then they, automatically, become the part of the Hindus. They become Shudras, if they are doing clean jobs and Untouchables if they are doing unclean jobs. The Muslims and the British refused to accept the superiority of Brahmans and thus maintained their separate identity. They did not suffer from any illusions about the paranormal powers of the Brahmans. Very bad! Very bad!!! But in India the Muslims and Christians have successfully imported the caste system from Hinduism.

The Hindu society and religion itself consist of groups that worship different gods and still live peacefully with each other. These gods are worshiped in the idol form. The idol mode of worship cuts across the caste and deity lines in the Hindu society. The only condition is that the deities worshiped must belong to Hindu pantheon or be a reincarnation of them. The deities may be worshiped singularly or in groups. The Shudras were prevented from studying the Vedas but not from worshiping the idols. The religious dicta of Hindus do not prevent them from worshiping any god from the Hindu pantheon. Anyway, this internal tolerance developed when the concept of trinity emerged about fourth century C.E. and removed the animosity among the gods. The worshiping of different gods by different people does not create any antagonistic feelings among the followers of different gods. One of the reasons for existence of peace is that the mode of worship is secondary in the Hindu society and the acceptance of precedence of traditional stratification as given in the Purusha Sukta of Rig Veda is primary. The Jati-Dharma is the highest of all Dharmas like the King-Dharma, husband-Dharma, wife-Dharma, father-Dharma, son-Dharma and daughter-Dharma etc. The Jati-Dharma (caste-Dharma or caste

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protocol) is the highest Dharma and God is also called Dharmeshwer (God of Varna-Dharma ). A Hindu from any Jati has the freedom of choice in worshiping the god/s and/or goddess/s of his liking from the Hindu pantheon. However, there are two restrictions, one is that the priest of a temple can only be a Brahman, and, second is that any Untouchable cannot enter the sacred and pure temples for the fear of defiling the undefilable god. The Yagyas can only be performed by the Brahmans - the misuse of their secret knowledge about Vedas stands out; it was an enforcing way of restricting others from becoming the Yagya performers; they never taught Sanskrit and the Vedas to anybody except the Brahmans - nice ever standing rationality.

The faith in any of the gods or deities has no bearing on Jati or Varna of any individual. This cannot form a basis for exclusion from the caste and the caste is the crux of matter, not the mode of worship. The collective excommunication is the most powerful and enforced weapon in the hands of Varna Dharma. Therefore, any person from any caste can worship the holy trinity of Hindus, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh as long as he believes in superiority of the Vedas and the higher Varnas (by implication). The group identity in Hindu society is based on Jati not on the favored deity. The identification of trinity with the Absolute eliminates any basic differences between the gods. Thus, there are no differences and no resultant antagonism. The concept of reincarnation takes care of the local deities and eliminates the basic differences of deities. The concept of reincarnation acts like a boa constrictor that suffocates the separate cultural identities of local gods to their death and merges them with itself. The goddess have been taken as being complimentary to gods and are usually their wives otherwise reincarnation of their wives. Thus, basic 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. But it is far from being tolerant as a society.

However, this tower of tolerance stands on the cries of the writhing Untouchables. Their cries go unheard. Their cries are non-events. These people living barely at sustenance level hardly receive any iota of tolerance. They are invisible to this glorified persona of tolerance – maybe it is blind. The acclaimed tolerance develops

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myopic vision when it comes to the fifth stratum. At their sight the tolerance turns into a king cobra looking at mice; the fangs outstretched. This king cobra moves in the villages and the cities in various forms. An Untouchable cowering in fear and drenched in tears would not appease the upper castes and their grisly anger. The crawling or prostrating would do it along with the understanding that the upper caste will not be affronted again in the future.

Hindu religion is not tame. On its walls, you can find sincerity, honesty, fairness, humanity and sensitivity - all in frames. It is a result of Hindus possessing the caste zeal. The Hindus do not possess the religious zeal but they are never short of pious and sacred caste zeal.

The Hindu religion did not react violently to the entry of Muslims and British. The presence of the Mosques and the Churches was peacefully tolerated under the coercive power of the state. In this calm scenario of peaceful coexistence, one feature that must be remembered is the incapacity of the 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. The Varna Dharma acted like a smug lazy python waiting for its prey to come near it and be devoured. It waited for them to come near as the Brahmans waited patiently for an invitation from the kings, especially the emerging new kings who needed the Yagyas to be performed. But these small preys never came near to it. These people were not violating the Varna Dharma since they did not have any. There were always chances of assimilating them through the system of reincarnations. Have they been kings, the Brahmans would have, directly or indirectly, approached them; the stories (canards) of the success of their Yagyas would have been definitely, made to reach them. And the rest would have been peaceful assimilation! But the python waited and waited. But in vain. Well, not in vain; actually it did not need them; it needed the kings through whom they could spread the Varna Dharma. The hopes of assimilation under the superiority of Brahmans were belied. Also these communities were not big enough to be destructive. Such was not to be the case with the Muslims. In the presence of Muslims; the smug, powerful, lazy constricting python got converted into a pliant tolerating rabbit mildly hoping to convert the Prophet

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Mohammad into a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. Again, the hopes were belied. However, it maintained its king cobra character for the Untouchables. The Muslims always treated the Hindus as heathen idol worshipers since the idols do not have any actual power. They refused to take the heathen Brahmans - the idol worshipers; as their superiors unlike earlier invaders; they derived their mental strength from their own religious dicta; the Koran.

The earlier invaders had their tribal deities with limited powers related to nature that ultimately lost out to ultra powerful Hindu deities that emerged later as the holy trinity. Muslims also had their concept of all powerful Allah that was more than a match for the Hindu concept of God. There was no way in which one Absolute could be proved superior to another Absolute. Thus, nobody yielded totally though the Islam, over the course of time, came to occupy about one fourth of the Hindu turf.

The Hindu society had multiple centers of power. These centers were the kings, the Brahmans, the temples and the village caste Panchayats or caste councils. These power centers had their own existence independent of each other. And all of them helped in maintaining the Varna Dharma- this was the meeting point. The isolated, insulated and cowardly or so-called autonomous villages with ghastly caste councils played a part in its survival.

The Brahmans were not under the rule of kings. Similarly the temples were very wealthy and socially very powerful but, by and large, not under the control of the kings. They were, by and large, autonomous and received large land grants from the kings, and the donations from others. The temples were accumulating fabulous wealth while the Shudras and Untouchables were eating grains cleaned out of cow dung and the bread made out of fodder and the grass. Why bother? Concern is burnt to pathetic ashes in the realm of the Hindu society. There was divine and dharmic justice (all man created) in favor of the Brahmans and other higher Varnas. The rich temples having land grants did not provide any army or resources to the kings in the case of war, as opposed to feudal system of Europe. The fabulous wealth of the temples became very famous outside India and attracted the attention of invaders who came initially only to rob the rich temples of their fabulous wealth. They came, looted and destroyed nearly all the temples in the north India. They dug out

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their walls and foundations to find the famed gold, supposedly, buried in them. And the paranormal Brahmans waited for miracles and reincarnations to appear assuming that they had accumulated a very large amount of dharmic Karmas to help them out of the situation; however such hopes based on the infallible Shastras were belied; the Shastras stood like the hollow trunks; Karma hypothesis failed them, miserably; it did not pass any actual test. Their purity and their accumulated Karmas were not sufficient to save the temples and Dharma. In the absence of resources and commitment, no king was powerful enough to stop the looting and destruction of the temples. The Karma hypothesis is quite moronic, atrocious and worthless, as it has no observable effects.

Now, we have to see that why the high caste Hindus who cannot tolerate the presence of an Untouchable, capitulated pliantly before the Muslims as if it was their favored wish or it was in their destiny? Why they became so tolerant while maintaining intolerance to the entry of Untouchables into temples? The Muslims invaders came and plundered as they wished. And came ultimately to rule over the Hindus. Nobody really offered any effective resistance. The outsiders were welcome but not the people of their own villages! Not strange at all!

The Karma hypothesis has induced a strong virtue among people of not wasting a tear or two at the plight of the fifth stratum. Empathy for subhuman beings? Or sympathy for them? You must be fond of cracking jokes. The pure and powerful are dharmic. They do not connive. They are not vile. They are not sly. They do not cooperate with the Shudras and the Untouchables. They do not allow them any resources to prevent them from having an independent sustenance! And what else do you want? Do you want upright Untouchables? In which world do you live? The unofficial India goes by its own rules. Any such kind of foolishness does not touch the high castes; they are the ultra rationalist. Even the herbivores do better; the strong animals always try to protect the weaklings of the group. The Hindus do not have any such destructive tendencies; they are blessed with the ultra rationality!

The unseen terror always floats in the pure air to the benefit of the higher castes. The pure people, pure air and pure terror - unarguably.

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The powerless people of Hindu society (the Untouchables) have never experienced famed Hindu tolerance as is widely claimed. The tolerance was reserved for the Muslims and the British who were mightier than them - totally rational behavior. 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 the stinking 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 Untouchables are friendless, landless, unarmed, with the lowest and insulted status, hungry, isolated and permanently exploited people at the bottom of the heap of the spiritual Hindu society. Victimizing them is natural order of the scheme. But, shamefully, it was the sacred and unbeatable eternal divine Dharma that lost out to impure invaders - both of them cow eaters! Strange are the ways of God! Who can understand them? Maybe only extremely realized people can understand them but it had hardly any visible effect on the outcome - the pure born-undefeated became the defeated, easily.

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 evidences 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 the tolerance of the 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 to thinks so. Well, the intolerance of Hindus acts inward and tolerance acts outward. It is all relative. The tolerance is bent.

The Brahmans were more pliant than all the others were! They simply disowned the idol worship (?!!!?) to avoid the Jaziya tax imposed by Muslim rulers on the Hindus. The Jaziya tax was not to be imposed on the people of the Book like the Koran and the Bible.

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The Brahmans, with all their unimpeachable integrity, disowned the holy trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh and the temples and the rest of the Hindus and claimed that their sole allegiance was to their Books - the four Vedas which made them the people of book - ahle-e-kitab. The Brahmans are very simple, innocent, truthful and the sacred people; they do not know the meaning of ditching or treachery or betrayal; you see. Dumping of gods and people was not beneath them; so simple they were! They are not answerable to any Hindu. Any objections, please? The people of Book were not liable to be taxed under the Jaziya tax. Thus, they avoided the Jaziya tax. They became non-Hindu or non-idol worshipers for the payment of Jaziya tax. Long live Dharma! It is a classic example of their flexibility and of not having any answerability towards other Hindus who are lower than them. What? Responsibility towards lower human beings? You must be insane to believe its existence in the traditional Hindu society! They disowned the Hindus and their gods and nobody thought of questioning them! There was a complete lack of indignation at betrayal; people are religiously coward in Hindu society; see not a voice! Accountability is not the thing desperately sought after in the Hindu society. You cannot question their integrity, commitment and innocence. Can you? After all they are pure, pious and the sacred epitome of the selfless service to Dharma! Are not they?

In the light of intolerance of Untouchable and Shudras, their own village people, the emergence of Hindu tolerance seems to be the result of the relative lack of might of Hindu religion against the Muslims. You bow to the mighty, do not you? Showing intolerance and opposing the Muslims and their mosques would have resulted in a quick and brutal show of the state might. The Muslims were the rulers. The fear of reprisals helped the development of Hindu tolerance; it nurtured the tolerance. And social stability was maintained!

The pure birth-attached unbeatable courage dropped dead in the face of invaders and British. What else it could do?

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 or a complete socially disparaging dissociation of different castes - the caste cuts off individuals from other castes or

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people in society and degrades them in relation to higher ones. Such a fine, disparaging, scientific, static and divine division of labor produced a society where people could not link to each other because of the segregated bloodlines disconnected them even within a 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 and there was no religious edict against the intermingling of blood. We have to remember that the worshiping is secondary in importance in Hindu society to the divine stratification - the ordained division or the Varna Dharma. The linking of society in India was provided by the caste, not by the religion, and the caste cuts off other castes! The new religion of Islam promised equality to its followers and a share in loot to the 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 the Islam and Islamic army; and they had a promise to go to heaven and live there with the Hoors if they were martyred in the cause of Islam, which helped. And there was no concept of dying for a cause in India. Therefore, there is no equivalent of word "martyr" in Indian languages. There was no cause worth fighting for except a political cause and the caste pride. 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 concept like martyrdom was also the contributory reason for the outward tolerance of the Hindu religion and the absence of crusades in the Sanatana Dharma – but the holy violence persists in the form of atrocities against the Untouchables. Some castes were willing to die for their caste honor but not for a general cause. The general cause? What is that? There are only dharmic and caste causes in the unofficial India. Nobody was willing to die so everybody got subjugated. Why die for a general cause or for others? Absolutely, there was no point. Willingness to die for their religion separated the Muslims from the Hindus. The Hindus fought for money. They were valiant but purely mercenary soldiers. The Muslims soldiers were committed to Islam and to a share in the loot.

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In presence of such situation, one alternative to avoid the defeat was to have a large army of mercenary Hindu soldiers though finely divided into different disparaged non-inter dining and non-intermingling 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 hour. 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 slightly possible. Therefore, a mighty army which had confidence in its size was necessary.

There were historical reasons rooted in the past and the structure of the Hindu society for the absence of any big army in the north India. There was no big king in north India at the time of Muslim invasion. This indicates that no king could command loyalties of a large number of people. And the loyalties were related to caste and to sustenance. To have a big standing army or to have the local rulers supply a large number of soldiers, one needed to have a command over a large number of resources. The army had to be paid in kind or money; larger the army larger the payments and larger the resources required. The resources were locked in the temples for sacred purpose and hence unavailable to defend he dharma. The taxes from the trade with Europe were low as the Muslims had blocked the direct trade connections with Europe. The Arabs monopolized the trade between India and Europe until Vasco-de-gama broke this hold.

There was no big army which indicates that the small kings were lacking resources. The small kings with small dharmic kingdoms did not have large resources to raise the large armies to repel the adharmic invaders. Of course, they could have united to fight the invaders, but that meant willingness to die for others, the concept that was quite lacking in Hindu society. The overwhelming pride of Kshatriyas in their bravery, which was a direct result of atmosphere of by and large of a demilitarized society, was no substitute for the need of a big army. The valiant and non-retreating Muslim armies were not in a mood to be cowed down by the presence of God

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created unbeatable bravery in the Hindu society and they did not fear the cows. And they had a cause to die for and a unity to fight with. The concept of God created unbeatable bravery of the Kshatriyas' could have terrorized the weaker segments of the Hindu society but the outsiders were a different proposition. The Muslims looked for weaknesses in the fractured Hindu sides like disunity and the lack of loyalties. The loyalties were caste related and not village or land related. And in bravery and resources the Muslims were second to none. Not even to the holders of God created unbeatable bravery - the Kshatriyas. The bestowed attributes according to the cosmic Varna Dharma were simply useless; they were fit to be thrown in dustbins where they stayed until the British came on the scene. The victories of Muslims simply rubbished the claim of inherent or Varna bestowed unbeatable bravery. The Muslim rule made a mockery of the divine right to rule of the Kshatriyas. And, still, nothing happened to the Varna Dharma. The Delhi Sultanate, by and large, limited itself to urban centers and the Mughals made a peace with the upper castes. The bottom of the heap remained, by and large, unaffected and stayed in dumps. The ghastly caste Panchayats ruled in the rural areas and maintained the Varna Dharma. The villages were far away from the effects of invaders; the village headman paid the taxes and that was that.

The rise of Islam cut off the trade between India and Europe. Europe depended on India to provide spices and clothes. A large portion of the gold of Roman Empire flowed to India through trade. The Roman Empire was not in existence when the new invaders came to India. However, the trade continued. The rise of Islam brought a stop to that. Europe was the main source of income through trade. After the rise of Islam the Arab traders monopolized the trade between India and Europe. They paid minimum to Indian sellers and charged maximum to European buyers. This had an adverse effect on both India and Europe. The prosperity of both declined. The cities and urban centers in India declined during this period.

Some part of this wealth of Arab traders might have gone to finance the Islamic wars and the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. The extremely high cost for Indian goods ultimately forced the Europeans to find a sea route to India indicating the vital importance

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of trade for both India and Europe. The Arab traders monopolized this trade for about seven hundred years during which Islam spread and enjoyed its golden Period.

The Golden period of Islam incidentally came to an end with the discovery of sea route to India - due to Vasco-de-gama.

The trade through Arabs reduced the margins on trade and thus reduced the tax revenue for the Indian kings. This directly affected their military resources.

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 continued to patronize 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 the Brahmans and temples. Let us recall that the land grants and donations by the kings and the Vaisyas made these temples so rich that many of them were richer than the richest Vaisyas and even the small kings. The fabulous wealth was locked in them unavailable for the safety of the state and Dharma. The Brahmans who were the knower of Vedas did not have to pay the tax on their land. Other Brahmans were taxed at a lower rate. There was a large scale of transfer of wealth in form of donations to Brahmans and temples but that was not used to finance the defense against the invaders. This hardly can pass as an indicator of traitorhood; you know. On these silly and trivial evidences, you cannot hold anybody as traitor. Well, the gold that should have been used to finance the wars that would have saved Dharma and thwarted the invasions was ultimately looted. Surprised! Why!? 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. By and large, 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. The large amount of wealth and socially powerful Brahmans were outside the control of the kings. The temples enjoyed the wealth but did not provide any army to kings in case of war. The Brahmans, individually and through the temples, had cornered a considerable chunk of wealth. This was going to be fatal to India but nobody learned the lessons. Who cares?

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The Indians are not capable of learning from the history because they do not keep history - that is the unofficial India. The history of India was destined to be taught to the cow-worshipers by the cow-eaters. That came with the modern education. The things are getting stranger and stranger!!!

The resources of the state had shrunk considerably. The trade had reduced. The temples accumulated the gold. Thus in the absence of resources it was not possible to raise a large army of soldiers necessary to fight against the invaders. Invading India was never a new event. Had the new invaders got converted to Hindu religion and undertaken to protect the Brahmans, temples and Dharma like the earlier invaders, there would have been no problem. Everything would have been impeccably nice! But that did not happen. Had it happened then the paeans would have been sung in their favor by the Brahmans. But they did not assimilate. Very bad! Very bad! The doctrine of reincarnation to appropriate prophet Muhammad did not work. However, the Hindus lacked the might to holdout against the Muslim onslaught due to the religious accumulation of wealth that was not available to defend Dharma. The enriched Dharma fell victim to its locked wealth and its disparaging disunity.

During the period of Muslim invasion and rule, God created unbeatable superiority of the upper castes was nowhere to be seen. God created unbeatable superiority knows no reason; its sheer existence is the reason for it to rule over the others. It can never be defeated - "never" is the word; unconditional bravery and intelligence are these. The unconditional born superiority itself is the cause of ruling over the society. If the born superiority gets defeated then it is a farce. 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 the Vedas - the adharmic, hated and cow-eating people. However, the upper castes maintained their position in the Hindu society as the Muslim rulers did not interfere with the Hindu society structure; and by and large kept its influence limited to cities. The upper castes made peace with the invaders, gloriously. And the god bestowed uneatable intelligence and the god bestowed unbeatable bravery

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withdrew into the interior, where they were safe in isolated, insulated and cowardly villages which tucked their tails in and moved out of way at the hint of any invading army. The villages in India have done a lot of cowardly zigzag movements to avoid any touch with the armies and kept the Hindu Varna Dharma unaffected. A grand, glorious and stunning achievement! A perfect example of loyalty to the land! Need one ask more?

One more reason for the defeat might have been that they fought without the benefit of any God reincarnation. Lord Vishnu thought that it was not proper to help the pious, pure and dharmic Hindus. Strange are the ways of God! Indeed!

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17. WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

Now, why do all the Shudras who themselves are considered as impure, practice untouchability against the people ranked below them? These people do so even after being very poor and landless themselves. Some of them have recently got the land after India became independent. Therefore, it is basically poor against poor. It is antagonism between the poor; the poor are made of different blood separated caste groups; the poor most and the poor little less, - and the concept of unproven purity creates insurmountable barriers between them. Long live the wretched caste system and the worthless paradigm of imaginary purity!

One reason for them to practice the untouchability is status seeking which we will explain in the Appendix. The social, religious and economic combination produce this rational behavior - the central to which is the unproven concept of embedded or innate relative purity which is not found in all the castes in equal measure. One of the reasons for such a situation to exist is the traditional belief in the Varna or Jati system. The most impure are ranged against the polluted and polluting people. There are differences among poor. Not all of them are of the same kind - the Sanatana Dharma scores over every other system in this respect. The second reason is that they themselves are very poor and depend upon the high castes for the livelihood. The land owning castes are in a position to adversely affect their means to livelihood. If higher castes are displeased then the sources for sustenance for these people may dry up. Thus, if a Shudra intermixes with the Untouchables, and it comes to the knowledge of the ethical and moral upper castes, then the concerned Shudra receives a polite indirect warning to desist from such practice or face action. Normally this is sufficient to restore the traditional dharmic practice and harmony. Even otherwise, the concerned Shudra has to agree to their dharmic advice because his economic sustenance is at stake. The dependent people cannot take independent action. The rest is taken care of by the traditions. Thus, for his economic sustenance he has to behave like

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low caste against the higher castes and like high caste against the lower castes.

Another reason is the fear of losing his social status when mixing with the still lower category people. A Shudra considers him as superior to the Untouchables and does not intermix with them on his own. Then there is always a threat hanging over his head of excommunication from his own caste people who also fear the loss of status through such an adharmic acts - the heavens would be very angry. His caste people control his conjugal bliss; he may have to remain unmarried if he has to go against their wishes; this is the traditional India. If he has children then they may have to remain unmarried. Also there would be no agreement on intermixing with the Untouchables within his Jati.

As it happens, their acceptance/approval among higher castes is a very valuable factor because it sustains their superiority over the still lower Jatis. The people have been dancing on one leg to gain the acceptance from the Brahmans. The acceptance is not to be treated as equal but as near equal. Nobody can be equal to higher castes. It is the acceptance to be treated as fit enough to enter into a social discourse with the Brahmans without being made to feel inferior. If Brahmans talk to somebody without any element of disrespect then it is sufficient. Even if there is an element of disrespect, it remains sufficiently hidden, not really observable to an inattentive observer. And there are many of them.

Now let us consider that why the land owning Shudras should practice the untouchability? The category of the land owning Shudras emerged strongly after the independence in India. Before independence when the British ruled India, the land was mostly held by the twice-born people or the pseudo-kshatriyas. The rulers had, most of the time, nothing to do with the tillers and casual agriculture labor and they dealt with only revenue collectors who were mainly the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. Sometimes the rulers dealt directly with the high caste (the pseudo-Kshatriyas in south India - relatively speaking where there were no Kshatriyas or Vaishyas) large tillers holding large tracts of land who gave it in turn to others for tilling. The people who worked on the land were more inferior Shudras and the Untouchables. The Shudras were mainly tillers and the

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Untouchables mainly the casual laborers. The Shudra tillers got a share of crop at the time of reaping the crop.

The landless casual laborers who were mainly Untouchables got payment in kind on daily basis on the day they got the work otherwise it was hunger all the way, hardly matters; they get their just gruel. The Untouchables worked from field to field on irregular basis while the tillers worked on a given piece of land on more or less permanent basis. The Untouchables were rarely the tillers since tilling was a relatively higher-level job and could not be given to them since it would have meant that the fifth stratum was better off than the fourth stratum - to each caste according to its status. To each according to his caste is one of the principles of Dharma. The caste effect was at work. It would have been aDharmic. It would have been the travesty of Dharma - Dharma says to each according to his Varna. This violated the Varna Dharma. Then one more factor was that the landed upper castes did not want to come into direct contact with the Untouchables and thus avoided becoming contaminated. Going around with the contaminated Dharma is not a nice thing! Therefore, the Shudras were kept between the upper castes and the Untouchables. The divinely ordained order could not be contravened. Thus, the Shudras having a relatively higher status got the higher-level tilling job which assured them a regular income. Their income was pittance but more than what the Untouchable casual workers got. The Untouchables did not enjoy the status of tillers because being the poorest they were not in a position to supply the agriculture equipments like plough and animals like bullocks to work as tiller on the fields. It was the result of Varna Dharma forces which aimed at keeping the Untouchables in the most pathetic conditions bereft of any resources - cruelty has many faces - Hinduism is very compassionate, clearly! One can see the fine mechanism of caste system here. The caste effect is, clearly, at work here.

However, this system entirely in tune with Dharma was considered as unequal and exploitative by the people, who had acquired the moderns education courtesy British, and, not attached to land for their sustenance. Please, watch the non-traditional effect that was foreign and non-Hindu. The landed gentry were not in the good books of the freedom fighters as they sided with the foreign rulers.

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Thus, the land reforms took place after the independence. The aim of the land reform was to redistribute the agricultural land to remove the associated inequalities within such a spiritual and exploitative dharmic system. Another aim was to weaken the landlords politically by snatching away their resources. With their influence and musclemen in the rural areas, the landlords were in a position to change the political fortunes position in country. Their musclemen could have been used for booth-capturing and forcing fake voting for all the voters in the favor of their candidates. Clearly, the people who did not participate in independence movement could not be handed political powers so easily. Somebody had to disarm them. An individual land ceiling was mooted for the agricultural land and the surplus land was redistributed freely among the Shudra tillers after paying the compensation to upper caste landlords. The guiding principle of the land reforms was the land to the tiller. This looks quite egalitarian in nature but this overlooked the existence of the still poor landless Untouchables who worked as casual laborers on the fields for their sustenance. This meant that the beneficiaries of the land reforms did not come from the bottom of the heap though they were related to the land through their daily casual labor.

The Untouchables were in a position to offer their labor only. After all, the dharmic and spiritual society allowed them to have their bodies as their whole sole possession only; out of divine compassion flowing in upper castes' heart and blooming on their faces. Only relatively well off Shudras could afford to own the majestic plough and a smart pair of bullocks which enabled them to get the job of a tiller without any right to land. The Varna Dharma ruled but the grain produce by the labor of Untouchables never became polluting because the dry grain is classified as unpollutable in Dharma Shastras - a stroke of genius by the lawmakers. Nobody can accuse the lawmakers of foolishness or being sly; it was all clear cut. Also, they cannot be accused of not having the sense of discriminating between pollutable standing water and unpollutable dry grains; or between the pollutable standing water and the unpollutable running water. Both of them are necessities of life. One of them, the grain, is the reason for living of high castes, touching it by an Untouchable causes no pollution; no question of aDharma arises -beautiful, clap man clap. The other one, the standing water, if

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touched by an Untouchable may cause mayhem, the holy violence - merely a common contradictory occurrence designed to save the Dharma. Anybody can take up violence to save Dharma. Indeed, any atrocity is a holy violence that targets the people who are unable to retaliate.

Before the independence, the Shudras were the tillers of land for the upper castes without any land rights. Even the landlord did not own the land they were the agents of the state who collected the land revenue on the behalf of rulers but they enjoyed unlimited powers in choosing their tillers. They were the middlemen between state and tillers, with both state and tillers being dependent on them. The state hardly bothered about the people who actually labored on the land. The tilling Shudras were under the obligation to landlords for their survival since they had no right on the land. The landlords could ask them not to come on the other season if displeased. It was as simple as that. This was sufficient to make the tiller shudder with cold in winter as well as in the scorching summer. How he was going to feed his family? The tillers could be changed according to the wish of the landholders. Therefore, these Shudras kept themselves attached to their landholders owners as firmly as possible; using all the humility they could muster. To please them they also doubled up as musclemen of the upper castes to fix the recalcitrant Untouchables whenever needed. This obviated any need of the high caste people to move out of their houses to fix the Untouchables. They had their tillers to do that. They could always enjoy the serenity of their large houses. They could get the heads of the Untouchables broken with heavy bamboo sticks without moving a finger. The Shudras could not use the arms but a bamboo stick is not a weapon though it can be used with devastating affect against the famished people. They were utilized to quell any voice of dissent from the Untouchable cluster. With the piercing of dharmic innocence (?) and peace (?) of the villages with the entry of railway steam engines, such protesting voices had started to emerge out of the Untouchable mud hut clusters.

Actually, it was the innocence of Untouchables that was destroyed not the thick, impenetrable, insensitive, exploitative, merciless, sly, cruel and deeply ruthless psyche of the higher Varnas or castes. They disliked it since it interfered with their permanent

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exploitation of the lower strata. It pierced the ears and psyches of upper castes to listen to the voices of assertion from the fifth stratum. To protect their interests and to keep their lives beautiful it was necessary to suppress these polluting voices of Untouchable dissent on an enduring basis. So the means used for this purpose had to be such that they had an enduring effect. The acts of merely scolding, rebuking and infrequent violence were not enough. The frequency had to be increased. The atrocities, tortures, murders, deaths and rapes were more enduring in their effects, to name a few. These weapons were used earlier also but now the frequency and intensity increased. Thus, these weapons were used for the holy purpose of maintaining the Varna Dharma.

The Shudra tillers had the highest status among the Shudras because they were connected with land and enjoyed the proximity with the local level ruling class. However, they still got only pittance. Any Shudra with a fully filled belly was considered as a grave danger to upper castes or Dharma. Thus, the question of leaving enough food with them did not arise. Their sole possession was the body they were born with. No addition to that with any skill or knowledge was considered dharmic or pure or pious - any such addition, could send Dharma in a fuming anger and there could be fire.

The result of the policy of land to the tiller was that the Shudra tillers were given the land rights free and the Untouchables landless laborers were left standing. May be it had to do something with the mentality of policy makers or there was not enough land to go round. The Untouchables were compensated in the form of reservations in the government jobs and the education. The twice-born people whose land had been taken after giving them due compensation moved to cities and the landed Shudras became the land owning castes in villages. They became the dominant castes in the countryside. The different castes were dominant in different areas. These different landowning castes did not become a class after their relative rise in status. They maintained their caste identities and endogamous nature, and continue to keep their dining separate from others. But, now they were the new overlords in the rural areas though not as big as the earlier ones. The non-land owning Shudras continued to be in their same wretched conditions without the benefit of the free land or the job reservations. However, the new

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land owning Shudras behaved in an exemplary way to justify their newly acquired status. Their past of utter poverty and servility was soon forgotten. The human memory is very short but the history cannot be wiped out. They continued with the atrocities on Untouchables; this time on their own behalf. The oppressors changed but not the oppression and neither did the dharmic philosophy behind the oppression of defenseless Untouchables.

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18. THE CITIES

The modern cities of India were developed due to modern industrial and commercial activities. The capital cities have also played a part in it. The capitals of different states (India is a Union of states) needed the state machinery to be set up and this required the construction activities. The Untouchables moved to the cities to escape the social indignity, the caste oppression and the innocence of villages overflowing with hatred. The failure of rural system to provide them with enough means of sustenance also lent a causative hand. The insulted, tormented and hand to mouth living Untouchables moved to cities in much more number than the other castes. After land reforms, the upper castes also moved to cities. There they got entrenched, with the help of their social network, in all the important activities where the social value added and economic value added were the highest - to each according to his caste. Their entrenchment in the controlling positions was helped by the fact they were the only people with the abilities in a largely crippled society. Others also moved out of the villages out of necessities but most of them stayed back. They stayed back due to the attachment with their piece of village land and their relatives who lived there. One more reason to stay back in the villages was that the people did not have any linkage with the cities in the sense they did not have any relative living in the cities who could offer them a place to live and offer guidance. Their social network did not spread up to the cities.

For the Untouchables, one added comfort was the broad anonymity provided by the cities. They could move in the city crowd without any chance of being insulted. They did not have to feel tormented while moving on the streets. They could become simply another face in the crowd. There was nobody to call them by their derogatory caste names thus unable to remind them of their insulted selves. To hell with the hellish villages - the ghastly caste system managed by the ghastly and dastardly caste Panchayats in the ghastly and cowardly villages.

Another movement of the Untouchables to the cities was of those, who acquired education against all odds, got the government jobs, and moved to the cities, as these became their workplace. The

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upper castes are very angry at this kind of movement. A move to the bottom of city society was acceptable but into middle and lower middle class - adharmic totally adharmic, man.

The Untouchables, broadly, can be divided into two groups. There are those who have benefitted from the policy of reservations and those who have not. Those who have not benefitted from reservations are doing small and lowly paid jobs. They live in slums. The other group is that which has taken the benefits of the reservations and enjoys relatively well paid government jobs. These people are the elites of the Untouchables. Generally, these elites live in the middle class areas. Many of them are highly educated and hold high government posts.

The distribution of benefits of quota system has been uneven within the Untouchable community which is itself uneven. The Untouchables themselves consist of many Jatis and sub-Jatis. Some have benefitted more than others have. This is an issue of concern within the Untouchables. This issue is serious among those who have been left behind. By and large, the main beneficiaries of reservation system are those people who got the education earlier than others did. There were also the people who moved earlier to the cities. The higher education was generally available in the cities only.

The unskilled and uneducated Untouchables moved to cities and started living in slums. It started with one man moving to a city to escape from the innocent village. There he settled in a slum and got the job as casual laborer on any of the construction sites or any lowly paid unskilled job in a factory. The cities were developing, construction of building, and building and running small factories needed unskilled labor. These were lowly paid jobs and that was all they could do; they had their unskilled bodies as their sole possession, curtsey the spiritual Sanatana Dharma. There, this man occupied a piece of land, and, made a small temporary room to dwell. Otherwise, he took a single small room on rent. After he got settled in the city, his brother followed and joined him. After sometime, the brother also got the lowly paid job, and rented another small room or constructed one for him. These dwellings were very small so a newcomer had to move out invariably. Then other relatives followed, the chain was repeated, the slums grew larger and larger; the one who came to a city brought many more migrants; as an induction effect

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others also came; they heard about the opportunities and broadly anonymous non-insulting (the Untouchables are not respected in the cities barring few exceptions, if any) environment in the cities. This increase in slums is highly objected to by the middle class society that comprises mostly of the high castes. They abhor them due to the tradition of hatred, their unhygienic conditions; and the unacceptable social behavior which does not match with the standard set by the highly ethical and highly moral high castes; the crippling effects notwithstanding. The slums do not have any civic amenities. There is no water, no electricity and no sewer system. The sewer system is open.

How could these uncouth, filthy, illiterate people with low level of intelligence live in the cities?! But the cities needed their unskilled labor.

In the slums, the absence of individual water lines forces people to get water from a common tap. The absence of proper sewer system forces people to defecate in the open. Thus, the situation is very common where one is defecating in the open and the other person is going to fetch the water from the common tap. They come across each other - the life just goes on. The roads are narrow. The unending dingy lanes and by lanes which move on their own, have their own way of turning around the corners and sometimes stopping suddenly. The slum people are normally despised by the middle class people for their uncleanliness, rude behavior and all the other similar things – or just for being the slum dwellers. Nobody can get admission in the English medium schools if he happens to be the one from the slums or their equivalent areas. No need to worry. That is the unofficial India.

The Untouchables who got some education were drafted into the state jobs through a system of reservations. Under this system, a certain percentage is reserved for them where only they can apply. This is a provision made for them in the Indian Constitution for the welfare of historically deprived people. The Jatis of such people are included in 25th schedule of the Constitution so they are also known as the Scheduled Castes. Or the bloody scheddus, as they are known in the premier knowledge and academic institutes dominated by the ethical and highly moral upper castes. The honorable members of these institutes, who take pride in calling

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themselves members of modern civil society, do not call them Untouchables, and, thus do these people a great favor. They use other terms, which are not used traditionally, and, are also not offensive according to the Indian Constitution; they have developed other terms to escape the limitations imposed by the law of the land. The law of the land is mocked at by the use of these new derogatory words. The new derogatory terms like "bloody scheddus" seem to be a very civil way to address the fifth stratum people. It must be civil because it is coming from civil and intelligent people. These people are highly responsible people of society. The Untouchable students dare not raise their voice because the faculty belongs to upper castes and they dare not displease them. In internal examinations, these honorable members of the faculty have the power to make their education duration an unduly long one. An Untouchable student gets 55% to 60% marks in written examinations and 1 (one) mark in interview or viva voce. In the same institute, in another department, another Untouchable student gets 55% to 60% marks in written examination and 1 mark in interview or viva voce. Coincidence sir coincidence! Another Untouchable student gets 55%-60% marks in written and 1 mark in interview or viva. The multiples such coincidences need only a nonchalant treatment. And these multiple coincidences are looked at with soothing eyes by the high caste faculty and students. Their hearts are now at peace. The high caste faculty are supposed to favor their high caste students. If not, then what is the use of kinship? And injustice! What injustice! There has never been any injustice in the history of Hindu society of high caste people; everybody got his just dessert; the Karma hypothesis says so. You must be hallucinating! There is no hatred, no bias, and, what you see are pieces of fiction deliberately created by the vested interests or you are hallucinating because no such things exist. The existence has no existence and non-existence has existence.

The other things are like the Chamar corner in the mess room or the Chamaar floor in the hostels; SC fauna; hardly matter. Throwing bones at the table in front of Untouchable students in hostel mess is matter of great pride asserting their glorious past and heritage. These are just cruel features of a cruel society.

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The usual refrain from the high caste students is "Ye #@%$*@&, &^@%$#@ Chamar, Bhangi, kya kar lenge?"(What these #@%$*@^, &^@%$#@ Chamars, Bhangis can do?).

What an uproar their presence and aspirations cause in the saintly minds! These impure people do not know! These people are highly insensitivity in contrast to our, the high caste people's, marked compassion. This compassion is spread over all their lives they should know. These dumb wits do not even know that!

The arrogance of the upper castes is a disparaging show of disparaging disunity in Hindu society. We already know that.

The untouchability is long prohibited by the law but it is still the unofficial system of India. The Upper castes find a lot of ways to humiliate the lower castes and show their real feelings. Most of this is evident in their smug smiles when then have achieved their purpose of insulting the lower castes. One beaming smile lights another which lights another till whole of their network is beaming with the inward smiles; then outwardly they can maintain their mask of being casteless; the speech hardly matches the actions; when it matches, it is in derogatory terms - the purpose of insulting and preventing the fifth stratum people has been achieved. There have been many instances where the room has been cleaned and purified because earlier an Untouchable officer occupied it - the fresh cow dung and fresh cow urine come handy for this purpose and, of course, the Ganga Jal (the Ganges' water). There have been cases where an Untouchable student had to vacate his room because his high caste partner did not like his presence. There have cases in the premier educational institutes where the Untouchable students have been forced in a corner that is called the Chamar corner or blood scheddu corner. A corner in the mess usually reserved for them and beyond which the Untouchable students can go at their own risk. Complain! Complain to whom? Complain to the patrons of the tormentors! Hardly worth the efforts! In one incidence one Untouchable student was forced to drink the water from the shoe. The untouchability persists though unacknowledged; this is the unofficial India.

The anti-untouchability law is not enforceable beyond two kilometers of any city limits in India. It buries itself in the dust thereafter out of shame. It cannot show its face to higher castes out

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of shame; it is unable to defend the Dharma! It shows no inclination to hurt the inherent pride of the superior people.

Only the Scheduled Castes candidates can compete for the jobs reserved for them. They have reservations because of being socially, educationally and economically backward. However, the real reason is their active historical deprivation in all the three spheres not the backwardness - cripple them man, cripple them. It is actually compensation to them for being paralyzed or being crippled by the dharmic society. Their paralyzed state made it easy for the atrocities to be committed upon them by the dharmic people. They were excluded from the main functioning of society for thousands of years; having their unskilled bodies to support them while others had land, weapons, ritual education, purity, education, knowledge, state, judicial system, capital, money and mutually supporting networks. All these resources were used to thwart the fifth stratum. The resourceless people could have only resource less network with the little worth, hence unable to forward their cause. The educated Untouchables got the education and jobs with the help of the state but without the help of society - this should be noted. Their presence in the education, government jobs and middle class is resented by society; in short in every area dominated by the upper castes. Their presence tends to compromise the relative superiority of everybody else, which is in fact a matter of utmost concern to all. The social structure and its harmony feel threatened by it.

However, when the Untouchables enter into any educational institute or any non-slum area then they tend to hide their caste. The reason is that they are in minority at that level where they can be easily isolated and made to feel inferior. They are ignored with smugness, with grand elements of non-cooperation and with the nonchalance. The unsaid boycott and the insults prevail everywhere. They are the easy targets of the sophisticated taunting by the upper castes, which is designed to remind them of their low origin - the rotten and the stinking roots. However, the technique of hiding caste does not work. If the caste of one man is known then the caste of all his relatives is known. The active and extra-sensory social networking reveals their true caste sooner or later. It may work occasionally in the areas where the people of his village or relatives have not reached. In case of government employees, it never works since it is given in

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their office records. And, of course, no one is going for any arranged marriage without knowing the caste of the boy or the girl.

The people benefitted by the reservations or affirmative action live among the higher caste people. These people reside normally in the lower middle class and middle class areas. However, many of them try to hide their caste and take up the surnames of upper castes very well knowing that the upper castes resent their tormenting presence. In the beginning, this creates some confusion, but, sooner or later, the social networking senses and reveals their true castes, and, everything is back to normal. This social networking spreads from village to cities and then backward and from cities to cities and to outside the country. This social networking includes offices, work places and educational institutes etc. Indeed, there is no escape from this active social network; it automatically detects the caste of everybody. It feeds on information and curiosity. Especially the curiosity whether somebody has arrived to contaminate their neighborhood or not! The moment an upper caste man comes to know that his neighbor is an Untouchable he curses all his past lives, his fate and all his accumulated Karmas. After that, he keeps a safe distance from him. He avoids any active exchange of any eatables on any occasions. If it is not avoidable then he takes them and silently dumps them in the dustbin afterward. In big cities, generally, nobody asks the caste directly. Here people depend on the active social network (this active social network works as if though it is a being and can sense the things) and discreet inquiries. If the caste is asked then it is asked in an indirect manner. Normally people ask others' caste in case of marriage. When asked about his caste an Untouchable would not reveal his true caste if pushed further then he would feign to belong to a higher caste. Here, the person from the upper caste would nod his head in agreement very well knowing the true caste of the man in question, and would return the feigning.

The reservations in the government jobs and education in the government educational institutes are strongly resented at every hierarchy level in the system. The unofficial system within the official system is biased against them. Hence, there are no chances of anybody getting any promotions without the reservations in the promotion scheme.

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The elites of the Untouchable society have not been able to do much for their more unfortunate brethren. It looks like that they tend to shrink away from their responsibilities or have taken to individualism, whole heartedly, in a group oriented society much to the detriment of their own castes. All the gains of reservations seem to have been frittered away on their own families only. The resources that they have gained from reservation system have not been ploughed back into society and neither have they provided an effective leadership to their people. This may be due to the absence of any will on their part or it may be because the government servants are not allowed to take part in political or commercial activities. Their steadfast refusal to combine and do really something effective is stunning. Their mind numbing isolation from their suffering brethren is a matter of grave concern. Additionally, the people who have not benefitted from the reservations have not shown any initiatives to take the guidance or help from their elites, and back it with sincerity and hard work. Both the groups seem to have gone into a kind of inaction or rather in a sleeping mode and once a while they would make some murmuring voices against the injustice done to them and then again go to sleep. The injustice done to them seems to be none of their real concern. The frozen minds are accompanied by the frozen actions and the frozen initiatives. They appear to believe in the Karma hypothesis. The destiny is set for them. They have to go beyond simply formation of associations and the resultant useless meetings and the resultant nothings.

The caste orientation of Hindu society makes the Untouchables feel inferior. It regularly ignores their opinions. For this society, all the sufferings of the lower castes are non-events. In the haloed circle of the upper castes, these intruders are judged according to the rules made by the upper castes. Therefore, they constantly have to strive to come up to the standards set by others. In other words, they simply have to keep on jumping while the upper caste people watch from the sidelines. It is a tedious job but practice makes a man perfect. The one, who jumps correctly for a longer period, stands a better chance of gaining somewhat acceptance. Their mode of living must be similar to others, on a continuous basis, until others accept them. Simply a good education, obedience to law and simple hygiene are not sufficient to gain the acceptance. It is not

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good living or hygienic living but living according to them that matters. For acceptance by others, it is necessary that the newcomers are identified as the members of upper caste society which is itself divided. Somewhat acceptance can only be achieved when the mode of living and cultural behavior are very similar. The nuances of the way of living of the upper castes are acquired by the low caste aspirants to help them in the upward direction but they come across an unseen wall. Period.

Thus, the intruder Untouchables have to live and behave in a manner similar to the upper castes. They have to copy their culture and imbibe their cultural values that may take an extremely long time. It is a fact that the educated Untouchables are not in a position of gate-crashing into the upper echelons of society. After a due process the intruder may be accepted as somewhat being equal just below them but never equal. He does not have the purity of origin to be granted such an exalted status of being equal to them. This process may stretch itself into a time span of many generations. It is heartening to watch many white-collared Untouchables performing the social calisthenics for gaining the acceptance. These social calisthenics may involve berating their own caste men, criticizing the government policies for the welfare of the Untouchables, ignoring the injustice done to their people and many others. They may sometimes end up harming the interests of their fellow Untouchables. So much of their energies are used in this process of gaining acceptance that they end up working much below their own true capacities. Another major part of their energies is spent in finding the cause for being the Untouchables. Due to this extra use of energy, it is very difficult to find any Untouchable who is working at his true efficiency.

A special mention has to be made of the manual scavengers in the Hindu society without which any discussion on untouchability would be incomplete. They are the people at the end of the fifth stratum. They are the really rotten bottom of the stinking heap. They are the lowest of the lowly. They are dirt of the dirt. They are marvelous examples of this strange scientific heredity division of labor based on purity paradigm which says - to each according to his caste/Varna. It is a showcase of the process of how to make people's life worse than the hell and be proud of it. Every Hindu takes

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advantage of their dirty services and then disowns them in a dharmic manner. They are the recipients of contempt, disdain and hate from all the dharmic sections of Hindu society. Often I wonder whether it is the lowest end of Hindu society or it has to go further down. If one end claims to be most spiritual, renunciating, unworldly and pure then the other end, which is bereft of any benefits of Maya (or materialism), is condemned as the dirtiest, dealing in human excreta. They find no place in any kind of social discussion. They are the proud Karmic unacknowledged medals of the dharmic and caring society. Without the assigned impurity of lower strata, the assigned purity of upper strata cannot be ascertained. They are simply invisible to the exalted and pure defenders of the Varna Dharma who are extremely disinterested in looking at the dirty and unclean people with born impurities; they cannot do so; their thinking is sublime; from above you can look down only with disdain and smirk. Everybody in the high caste Hindu society is born with a disdain for the lower strata. They, the scavengers, work in a stinking environment. The presence of the Untouchables and especially that of the manual excreta scavengers, makes the Hindu society a stinking society. They shall not learn any lesson till they eternally languish at the bottom of the heap. That is their Dharma and that is their Karma.

Wonder of wonders, this stinking society, is one of the most enduring societies. The unprovable Karma hypothesis gets hold of everybody except that of the pure lawmakers because they know it is a false one. And it rains with all its dirt on the manual excreta scavengers when combined with the purity based scientific heredity division of labor and the art of crippling the lowest stratum of society. The impurities after impurities are permanently heaped upon them with all the rigorous righteousness existing in the world. Every additional higher level of impurity shrinks the social, economic and religious place for them of which they already have none. These people are involved in cleaning and carrying human excreta in a basket or pale on their head. The rotten people are doing rotten jobs while the pure spiritual and merciless people turn their heads away with utmost disdain. They cannot bear the sight of these social lepers. Their unproven purity forbids it. The disdain, here, reaches its sublime height in Hindu society - the righteous and spiritual society

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as opposed to the decadent and materialist West. This is the permanent ruthlessness and cruelty of the spiritual and pure Hindu society.

These scavengers do their work with bare hands and with a broom only. They collect the human excreta from houses in baskets or pales, carry it on their heads or in their hands, and throw it in a faraway place. This stinking greatness of Hindu society is a permanent part of its daily life. There is no way in which one can feel the worthlessness, indignity, rottenness and stinkiness of their lives. We simply lack the required sensitivity for the purpose; we have never been in their shoes. They are the ultimate Untouchables next only to the actual untreated lepers. They do their work in a place where the open or covered sewer system is not in place. In such places, they and their generations are involved in cleaning the toilets full of human excreta. In other places where such sewer system is in place, they have to dip their bodies in the blocked sewer system to clear the blockage there. This blockage of sewer system does not happen infrequently. Their lives are actually guttered. They do this without raising their voice in protest as if they are predestined to do this work submissively. Well, it is, with all the gates closed to them. Their attitude seems like that they have been born for this purpose; forced since birth and it is natural. You see everybody has got a purpose in his life. They also have one. Rather they were born with one, quite naturally. And their next generation will do the same and the eternity just goes on without even a feigned concern for these people. It cuts across the generations.

They may feel like raising their voice against their indirectly forced oppression. However, the voices they raise are never heard. Their feeble voices ultimately turn into ineffective murmurs and into silence at last - the silence burnt to ashes in the sublime system. They are very poor and do not have means to sustain their fight and we know that the Hindu society provides for crippling a full group of people not only individuals. Their murmurs are ignored jointly by the upper castes and others. And why should it matter? This is a righteous society, so feel nothing and be happy!

For a civil society, which consists mainly of the upper castes, such a thing does not exist; it is a piece of mere fiction or apiece of rotten thinking aimed at defaming the Hindu society. All the higher

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castes, relative to scavengers, are in total agreement in disagreeing to the objections of the scavenging caste. Why they? Why not others? It is all in the unproven Karmas, my dear! They pay for their unseen, unconfirmed and unverifiable Karmas - the Karma hypothesis without any litmus test stands on the hollow foundations and on the destinies of scavengers. Besides, other society groups get exclusive, indirectly enforced specialized cheap heredity labor to get the unclean stinking jobs done for them. Such an arrangement also means that others are spared from doing such jobs in their lifetime. What a relief! And everybody lives happily!

Everybody washes his hands off them. They are without any real friends in society even among the rest of the Untouchables who have different heredity occupations. They fight a losing battle every day. Their plight is not shared by anybody else and it is not possible. Only those who experience it can feel it. They live in a highly pressurized, insulted, and hungry bottom of society, which is closed horizontally as well as vertically. They have neither horizontal nor vertical escape. All such adharmic escapes are not provided in the spiritual pure pious and eternal Hindu Dharma. The society doubles as the market so a manual excreta cleaner does not find a place there. Its closed doors policy plays havoc with the lives of the lower strata. For example, he cannot put up a tea stall in the areas where his caste is known. There are simply no customers for his tea. His tea is considered dirty and polluting. Therefore, he is back to work as the manual excreta cleaner. Here, the Hindu social system shines in all its glory. He is the veritable prisoner of the veritable excreta house of society of highly cultured and spiritualized people boasting a great traditional and cultural heritage. Everybody is busy asserting his status superiority over this most polluted human being. He is absent from all the social cultural and economic discussions. It is a stark example of permanent and intelligent cruelty. And you should listen to the soundless scream of cruelty which prevails in Hindu society.

The high caste people innocently ask or enquire about his caste and then close the gates leaving him aghast and despondent. It is pure sensitivity and depicts the harmony along with the degree of divisions in Hindu society. To each according to his caste, that is the motto; there are born insulted castes and born respected castes, a very thoughtful order.

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In this caste bound society, an educated Untouchable with a white-collar job is never treated as equal. He is always treated as an intruder in the sacred and haloed sections of the upper castes. His presence has to be endured, tolerated and any contacts with him have to be avoided. They are even supposed to contaminate their haloed environment. Any Chamar or Bhangi having an officer level job remains what he was, a Chamar or a Bhangi. He is really never accepted in the haloed circle of the upper castes. They are made to feel inferior through various means devised for such purposes. In the middle class of the big cities, the crass untouchability is out; the subtlety is in. The indirect and subtle untouchability is in. These new subtle means are devised to circumvent the anti-untouchability law. New indirect taunting remarks are created. New actions, which indicate his inferior status, are also created. Sometimes the indirect force is also use; the direct force is not used if not required; and it is used if required. The civil society maintains its civil face while maintaining its casteist character. Slowly, slowly they burn, internally, inch by inch due to adharmic acts of the low castes. And these uncouth adharmic low caste people do not show any sign of remorse! No guilt feelings - these heathen people have!!

However, there is sprinkling of some moderns and liberals in Hindus society here and there. There are some foolhardy individuals who go on trumpeting the absence of faith in caste and go and practice their views in ditto. One would be hard pressed to find a difference in what they say and what they do. Generally, these people are the idealists who have their childhood friends among the Untouchables. Some are appalled by the casteism since their childhood; they do not find any difference between two human beings through their own experience. They remain unconvinced of the arguments of the casteist forces and casteist structure of the Hindu society. And then there are others who naturally develop sympathy for these people, Karma or no Karma. But their encouraging and brave presence is not enough to make a serious dent in the caste orientation of the Hindu society. After all what a bottle of scent or two can do in a stinking gutter?

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19. CASTE - MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

Caste? What caste? There is no caste! This is the usual refrain from the mainstream. The academics, the newspapers, the television and other printed media deny the existence of caste while living in the quagmire. Their objectivity is remarkable or just say pious and pure. They do not believe in caste. And the current honor killings in urban India are no proof for them. But upon their word you should believe - pure people do not lie. Caste is a thing of ancient past. It was abolished with a stroke of a pen with the enactment of anti-untouchability law after independence. It disappeared into thin oblivion as soon as the law against came in force. The practice of thousands years disappeared within a second - sheer magic! Thousands years simply disappeared! It needs to be reminded that the anti-untouchability law was not against caste; it was only against untouchability; it does not stop people discriminating on the basis of caste. Now everybody is equal before the law. The discrimination by the state based on caste is prohibited by the law. However, the discrimination in society (the caste effect) is not subject to state law except in case of untouchability. The anti-untouchability law is regarded as the instrument which ends all the related crippling discriminations. The state is silent on the discrimination by individuals against individuals on the basis of caste except untouchability. Caste is a thing of ancient past. Ancient ? How ancient? This ancient is very current.

There should be equality before law. They work strictly on the basis of merit and efficiency. There is no place for the caste in their views. The caste as a matter of grave consideration does not exist. It is a wholly backward concept and they do not believe in it. And neither does anybody else. So people should stop making caste an issue. What is this fuss all about? Since caste is nonexistent, the issues related to it should also be nonexistent. These lower caste people do not know this simple logic. Stop all that crap and no talk about the untouchability, discrimination and casteism and exclusion. And these low castes scum… !

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The pangs of their hurt honor are undesirable; their honor gets hurt when they see a filled belly among Untouchables. Anyway, their perfunctory tirade against the caste just goes on and on; as if it would last till eternity. The events happening here and there and all over India are really nonexistent. Adi Sankaracharya also said this world is really nonexistent - so the life really does not exist. What absurd logic filled with purity! Therefore, the atrocities must also be nonexistent except honor, purity, bravery, magnanimity, compassion, sensitivity and pure righteousness of the high castes. Right? Is it not? It is matter of being immaterial with the material things. Are you going to hang our culture over the fate of some grossly irrelevant and expendable people having grossly irrelevant issues? What is new about it, the gates of society were always closed for the Untouchables! Is anything new???? So, caste? What caste? Nothing is new about the untouchability, and it should not make news. Just a way of life! Please, do not disturb us.

No caste - no caste - they talk as if they are in a trance. The trance of transcendental people is self-imposed so it cannot be broken. While in a denial mode, they seem to be in a trance - a clear cut case of self-hypnosis. It is an outward lapse of memory while underneath the caste serenity prevails. The twinkle in their eyes betrays their anti-caste oratory. Wretched low caste man, you must be hallucinating about the caste because there is no caste. You are bothered about your condemned, trivial and expandable lives. You small people are always bothered about some small issues - small people small talk - irrelevant people irrelevant talk -useless people useless talk - foolish people foolish talk. We the high caste people know that you are dumb wit low caste people. You are there to make our lives easy. That is all the purpose for your existence.

Their voices are well orchestrated; in fact, so well orchestrated that they can beat any damn orchestra in the world. Their combination is unbeatable. The web they spin is mind boggling. The thread they make is amazing. The can leave you gasping with amazement. And you are awe struck by their underwhelming resonance which craves to search for imaginary equality in the Hindu society. The people living in slums are avoided in their discussion. Innocent they are; they are living in the quagmire of caste and not believing any iota of it! How innocent they are? How

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naïve they are? However, it is difficult to deal with their acrimonious innocence and naivety. Their welfare is the result of their hard work and not that of permanent crippling of the major portion of the Hindu society. They have contorted and frowning faces with contrived and convoluted logic to prove their point.

The acrimonious naivety of these people is overwhelming. The garlands await these people in their haloed circles. They are the prime candidates for the Moksha. They will surely not take the birth of jackals, lizards, dogs etc. in their next lives. And they were never dinosaurs in any of their earlier lives. Or maybe they were T. Rex. They always ruled. And the all knowing Vedas and scriptures are silent about T. Rex - very strange considering the belief that the Vedas contain all the knowledge in the world! The all-knowing Vedas are also silent about the internal combustion engine. Anyway, living in air conditioned rooms, riding the vehicles with the internal combustion engine and using electrical gadgets is a strange and dark betrayal of their own pure heritage. The purity has been corrupted by using the technology of heathen people! Honestly speaking, the element of honest faith in their culture and heritage does not exist, but they desperately and dharmically want all benefits which the caste system bestows on them and also the technological benefits of the West! What a combination of old and new wants! No wonder - the past and present exist at the same time in India! Goodies from any sides are desirable. Well, only the goodies…

And what is a goody? That depends on whether it serves your personal interests or not? So, the internal combustion engine serves the self interest and equality does not, for the high castes. Therefore, former is a goody and the later is not.

Their feigned naivety can leave any serious student of Hindu society speechless notwithstanding the awesome convoluted theories and awesome pseudo empirical researches of the high caste Hindu scholars.

The output of overwhelmingly innocent and unimpeachable high caste Hindu scholars and researchers can lead people into forming lofty ideas about the Hindu society. The ingenious facade they present before the world does not contain any idea about the crippled lives of millions of people. The bad and ugly sores are artfully kept hidden, covered, or just plainly ignored with all the

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sensitivity and compassion imbibed in the high caste people; and please do not forget about their high ethics and high morals. No misery of lower strata can penetrate their ultra sensitive eyes and minds. They see nothing and find nothing. They cannot be accused of being crass. They forget about the lower strata after a single line mention. And this single mention is made with a sinking heart.

Their gullibility is remarkable. Or the guile is remarkable. They can be taken for a ride by an eagerness to present a flowery, spiritual and egalitarian image of the Hindu society. These individuals, full of innocence, with inscrutable faces and minds, do not leave any iotic place for the views of the lower strata. They do it for the benefit of whole society - society that heavily treads, with boots having nails, upon the welfare of millions of people without any guilty feeling. It gives them no rights. The low caste people are not indebted to them; no rights no duties - simple. These heathen people having minuscule stake in society, are kept useless by not permitting them to increase their skills through education; and are branded as worthless, indolent and lazy etc. The sufferings of these insignificant people are insignificant - hardly worth mentioning - merely trivia. Long live the intellectual honesty of the high caste scholars! Wow! If any was there? In this society, the exceptions are rules and the coincidences are proofs, provided these benefit the high castes and show them in a bright light. Anything else is thrown in the dustbin. And the pure river Ganges washes off all their sins, if any. Maybe it does not because there are no sins!

The devastated minds, as a result of watching a well educated Untouchable, go into intense turmoil; and they intensely plan to keep him out of their sanctified world.

The mentality full of sacredness springs forth as a result of rotten adharmic acts of impure people - like looking back into eyes. Making eye contacts with the upper castes is strictly forbidden. Make sure that you do not trample upon the pious egos of upper castes.

They are people with a pure conscience. There should be no doubt about that. The proof of this spreads from here to there and eternity in the form of the caste effect. Beware, the skeptics would be made outcastes!

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Any guilty feeling never touches their haloed circles. The impure cries for help are not to be heard. What! You say, one should bother! Any dharmic reasons for this, please?

They are highly altruistic people forcing stinking monopoly of stinking jobs on the Untouchables. Who can offer monopoly to others? Only very highly altruistic people! Any doubts about the absence of altruism in Hindu society should be expunged here with. You ignoble fool, you don't even know this! Always remember, you are dealing with the high caste people! And there is no caste! The institution of caste foolishly faded away with a stroke of legal pen!

In the face of facts, their logic goes into convulsions. Logic goes to pieces. Logic is torn into pieces. Logic is roasted alive. Logic stands on its head. But none of it matters! Any encroachment is looked at by the blazing eyes. Heathen people dare to question their logic?

Their beguiled innocence eats up the existence of casteism. The denunciation of caste, pleasantly, overlooks the caste atrocities, which is a benevolent look at their extended kith and kin, and the people who are following the Dharma's way. The current honor killings in the urban areas are also ignored.

The ignorance of impure people pleases the hearts of pure people, boundlessly. The happiness this ignorance spreads is limitless. The thicker is this ignorance the thicker is the shade of bliss. Stupendous stupidity exists blissfully under an enormous veil of ignorance. Absconding reason rarely makes its absence felt. Needless to say! The people claiming their civilization as the greatest one, do not need this absconding reason. Let it wonder here and there and nowhere. Its calamitous permanent visit can bring down the whole dharmic structure. Absence of reason is a cause for celebration. They know that the absence of reason is good for their awesome superiority.

For the mainstream and civil society the casteism ended with the enactment of anti-untouchability law. How funny! As if the stealing stops with a law against it. As far as this exalted and well considered segment of the population is concerned the caste system ceased to exist with the enactment of this law and provision of fundamental equality under the law. There is no law against the discrimination by society except in the case of untouchability; so all

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the overt and covert discriminations can take place right under the nose of law in a lawful manner. However, the people who represent the mainstream and civil society belong to the upper castes mainly. They are in the state of constant denial over the existence of casteism. Their astounding amnesia in this regard is remarkable. The preponderance of lying in the Hindu society was never in question. But it still remained unquestioned. Ignorance is bliss; the ignorance of the low castes converts the scriptural lying into traditional facts. And the upper castes occupy the dominating positions in the crucial areas of education, administration and business - all honestly. The elites of Hindu society want to have the best of both the worlds. They want to enjoy the privileges granted by the traditional society and at the same time enjoy the fruits of the Western technology. Therefore, they embrace the latter and maintain the former through various means while issuing constant denials about the caste and the casteism. The Western concepts can go to the dustbin. It is the Maya of the Western world that they want! The Vedanta authors must be developing a strong sense of betrayal but who cares? Honesty is the best policy for which ("honesty") no word/s exists in the Indian languages. It is conspicuous by its divine absence.

The casteist feelings of the upper castes, in the cities, come to fore when any person from any lower caste is not within hearing distance. When the concerned person (untouchable) is not within hearing distance, then all the swearing words are hurled at the whole of his community with faultless surgical impunity. It is a matter of grave and hot discussion that how come such lowly and dirty persons are able to gain entry into the upper caste areas. And when any Untouchable appears near them then suddenly the uneasy calm descends over them. The cloud of gloom accompanies this uneasy calm. This calm suffocates them. The gloom can be avoided by keeping the impure and the pure separate - that is what they want as is evident in their resentment. They need a cleaner air to breathe which is not possible in the presence of any Untouchable. The cloud of gloom does not disappear in the presence of low castes. They do not have the reeking wounds caused by the casteism, instead, they float in the sunny happiness caused by it. And malicious whispers simply smile benignly for the benefit of Dharma. These malicious whispers, not heard by the outsiders, are the reasons that outsiders

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find it difficult to understand the true implications of birth in the caste system. The defenders of the Varna Dharma try their best to insulate the outsiders from the reeking wounds that Varna/caste system causes on the lowest strata.

The obnoxious people living obnoxious life of enforced penury are objects of hate. Is it inhuman? No, it is divine! The howling of dogs and the Untouchables are no match for deft handling of the hate embedded casteism by the high caste people.

Beyond two kilometers of any metro city, the unofficial law of untouchability shines in its full, unblemished glory. It makes fun of the constant denial by the intelligent civil society. It also asserts the smug domination of higher castes over the hapless Untouchable. It smiles and smiles - cruelly and ruthlessly, the radiance of which reaches the civil society where it transforms into broad grins in private. Still the constant denials go on and on. To justify this constant denial they constantly churn out the convoluted theories and explanations. And these convoluted theories and explanations are supposed to be beyond the understanding of the fifth stratum. And it also seems that they have never heard about the Occam's razor.

Most of them are seriously concerned with the matters of prime importance like the Imperialism, Nationalism, Globalization, Terrorism, Communalism, Colonization, Environment, Global Warming, Secularism, Socialism, Capitalism, Communism, Western hegemony etc. The discourses should always be along these lines where the caste is an outsider and nonexistent. How you can you include anything in any discourse when it does not exist? Or something which is frivolous and trivial? Their angst coils and recoils in their hearts causing unfathomable turbulency. If at all, the caste enters in any of the haloed caste circles, it is treated as unwelcome intruder which has come to insult them, and should be shunned or smugly ignored. Their deep thinking and insight about the problems of Indian society reserve no place for the casteism; as far as they are concerned, the matter is simply irrelevant. Perfunctory, my dear, perfunctory! Their deep and superior thinking bypasses the casteism with acrimonious naivety! Surely, they have to take a long route to bypass it. The caste and casteism do not find any place in their outward scheme of things while flowing deep down. They also have castes - the castes where each has a halo around it. The caste is

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supposed to be an institute of the past and has no use in the modern society. The case is closed. Period.

The crippled lowest stratum is left to fend for itself under the omnipresent caste effect. Well, the leftovers for the left out.

They are emphatic opponents of caste, linking them with caste actually amounts to defaming them. Sheer contempt, man, sheer contempt! Any discussion on caste is an indication of social backwardness. Anyway, as far as the Untouchables and their problems are concerned, one is met with a stony silence from these exalted sensitive corners. Their deafening and insensitive silence contains enormous and eternal unofficial collective boycott of the Untouchables and the Shudras. The cruel silence is as thick as lard.

They live in a modern world of their own where the presence of lowest strata is not registered. For them the caste does not exist; if it exists then it is a matter of no significance. Therefore, anybody, who is trying to engage them in a discussion about caste and its problems, is simply wasting their time and energy on a useless issue. The issue, which adversely affects 200 million of the people, is of no concern. It is a very insignificant worthless number - thrice the population of the United Kingdom. These millions of worthless, insulted, hungry and expendable people do not need any attention when the mainstream can talk about the exploitative modern culture and business Imperialism, and the hegemony of the Western World etc. We, the high caste people, know that all your issues are trivia and frivia… And low level issues are not fit to be discussed in a civilized society like ours! So out with you and your miseries and sufferings! You low level scum!

And they achieved their high position due to their merit. Merit acquired through birth? What kind of bird is that? There is no such thing as birth-attached merit, you know! There is no earned merit in the traditional India; only the caste-based merits are allowed. But this is modern India. They competed in an open system where caste is immaterial. And they got these crucial and important positions of social dominance without the help from their respective castes. You can add the competition with the rest of the crippled population, if you like. That is another thing that their sensory social network and the lopsided distribution of the resources keep the lower castes out of the fray. Additionally, the selectors are also from the

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high castes acting to keep the low castes out of their haloed circles. The contamination should not reach their haloed circles in the form of presence of the Untouchables.

Thy name is honor and you reside in the hearts of pure high caste people. And if thy name is insult you are supposed to surround the hearts of the impure people. The Untouchables wait upon the fake promise or the fake consolation of the high castes that the things will change but such a thing has never materialized and they have remained ever insulted. Underneath, it has remained the same; and Dharma bounces back with the full vigor whenever the time is ripe.

However, according to them in their open system, the caste plays no important part. But they would also be hard pressed to deny the role of their well-connected families, which gets translated into caste support through active social networking - and the role of the crippled majority in the form of killed competition. The well-connected families live in the social cocoon provided by the privileging caste system. Their caste, their economic and social resources provided by their caste and the availability of excellent educational opportunities had no role to play in it. The opportunities are distributed according to each caste - to each according to his caste, in the unofficial India that is the motto; the low castes get butchered opportunities. They are the product of their own sole merit in a vacuum. So goes out there the caste; it is another thing that they would never come across the people from the fifth stratum in their lives until forced by the system of reservation. The existence of caste has never affected them adversely, so they cannot feel the insults, the empty bellies and tattered clothes. If caste has done anything to them then it is divinely beneficial. And anything beneficial should be kept intact even if one has to disown to preserve it. Why kill the goose that lays the golden eggs? Caste is a servant of the high caste people.

The history is largely made up of national freedom movement, the British period, the Muslim period, the middle age, and the ancient period with barely any mention of caste and its impact on society. It is left to be discussed in the Sociology where it is not avoidable. If it were possible, it would have been eliminated from there too.

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The intelligentsia's prominent silence is due to its predominantly upper caste character where intellectual honesty is a worthless attribute - traditionally. It is inherent in its structure. The structure is not supposed to oppose itself. The caste is not important to them due to many reasons.

One reason is their belief that they achieved their historical and current position due to their own past and current merit and fairness. In today's context, they have competed in an open system based on their own undiluted merit. It reflects a modern civil society where anybody can achieve anything as an individual irrespective of his origin. Therefore, they are not the product of the caste system. See! The system is open to all and there is no limitation on anybody to compete in society. You see! It is an open society! The low caste scum botch up their chances by being lazy. Our unimpeachable integrity cannot be doubted! See, the history is proof of it.

Secondly, the existence of caste does not affect them adversely. The caste effect is in their favor. It is a never ending source of never ending goodies - being born in a right caste means possession of a key that opens the doors of many gates that lead to controlling positions. A good caste means a good key and a bad caste means a bad key. The bad key does not fit any lock of any of the worthwhile closed gates in this closed gates society. A good key opens the good doors, and a bad key opens the bad door; and the caste is the key. The upper castes reap the society forever like the forever green fields. These fields are full of impure manual workers who are to be kept at a safe distance but there is no problem with the yield. The yield of impure people is scrupulously and scripturally pure - nothing strange about it! No convoluted contradictions about it. See, how simpletons are the pious and pure lawmakers! Nothing unscrupulous about it! No trickery man, it is given in the hallowed scriptures. The only thing that matters is that it helps the high castes; any byproducts of it are merely trivia.

Thirdly, any recognition of caste system and its importance means acknowledgment of injustice heaped on society by their ancestors and their present kith and kin for which they refuse to take the responsibility. They cannot blame themselves and people like them for the ills of society. It has to be the fault of the victims. Remember the spiritual Karma hypothesis. Anyway, they discount

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the caste by disowning it and relegating it to a distant past but this past exists currently - it is the unofficial India. It is a grandiose strategy that falters at the steps of history and intellectual honesty. But as usual, who cares? In practice, it stands there, stubbornly. They are insensitively moderns and separate from the pre-modern institutes like the caste and therefore it is none of their concern though they walk, talk and eat in environment, which is fully embedded with the inherited casteism, however direct or indirect it may be. They put the modern turtle on its back and everything is all right.

As a proof of their commitment to make the caste irrelevant, the esteemed members of such a casteless civil society do not marry outside their castes and consider themselves innately superior to low castes. The arrogance of high castes is a disparaging show of disparaging disunity in the Hindu society. In addition, they do not like to hire the people of unlikable castes. The state does not say that the individuals cannot discriminate except in the case of untouchability. They create subtle and indirect, vocal and behavioral ways, to insult the people from the lower strata. The hopes of lower castes are honored by the choicest taunts, expletives and crass remarks. Sometime the language is coded with extreme sophistication but the end purpose is the same. All of them are men of principles - of course, they are, no iotic and idiotic doubts about it. All their views run concurrently with the suppression and oppression in India. These are the people with unimpeachable credentials in their own fields and circles. One such member with unimpeachable credentials forwards, his objective and logical opposition to discuss any issue on the caste, rendering it unimportant; the second member agrees; the third member writes an article on it and the fourth one publishes it; hardly any member form the fifth stratum takes part in such an objective and impartial process. The Untouchables cannot take part in it because their presence has been unofficially outlawed in their exalted circles. And of course one should not forget the purity of the circle made up mainly of the high castes - the gates are effectively and firmly closed for the impure and polluting persons though not apparently.

And, on upper caste faces, a smile is a curve which converts itself into a frown at the mere mention of the Untouchables.

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Then there is view that a secular and civil society would solve the problems of caste if any or would make it irrelevant. The civil society is thought to be non-discriminating in nature but it is not known that to what an extent the Hindu civil society with closed gates has acquired this character.

There is no hurry, no eagerness to set the things right - well the snail is ok. There is only apathetic attitude toward casteism with an indifferent and feigned commitment to remove it. Anyone, who finds the facts and analyses them, would find it right. Why get rid of something that is beneficial and makes this world beautiful for them? It would be highly irrational to expect them to remove this. Whenever they talk of casteism, the truth becomes a turtle turned on its back.

The perspiration of lower strata for fulfilling their aspirations does not qualify for any appreciation by the pure people because it points toward the aDharmic state of impure minds. These uncouth fellows spoil the mood of pure people.

As long as the upper castes benefit from the caste system, the caste system does not exist. But, the moment it starts affecting them adversely, the presence of harmful, poisonous and divisive caste system, is swiftly recognized with stunning speed. The people suffering from amnesia and short memory suddenly develop the elephantine memory. The presence of caste, which was not there a moment ago now, emerges everywhere, affecting adversely all the aspects of society, economy and religion, and of meritocratic and patriotic India. It can leave you gasping for some breath. The reaction is faster than a rattle viper. Nobody can accuse them to be short on self-interest. Then they change the tune like the deft music wizards. They voice their well-orchestrated intelligent opinions regarding the ugly casteism rearing its divisive serpentine head to the detriment of the whole society. They forget that this divisive serpent is an essential part of the glorious heritage of Hindus. Anyway, they are short on memory and history. They forget that their caste arrogance is a disparaging show of disparaging disunity in the Hindu society! What is meant by whole of society is not made clear. Are the Untouchables and other lower castes are included in it? Anyway, the casteism, which was nonexistent, becomes ugly harmful existing casteism, mercilessly tearing the social fabric of society, which is

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required to be stopped at any cost. It is the same social fabric that pierces the lives and psyches of lower caste people like thorns and nails. The caste is also branded as an instrument that divides the well-knit society, and they want to bring, the nefarious tendencies of caste, to a grinding halt as a matter of great urgency, importance and for the welfare of the society. This crippling society is cruel enough to brand some people as Untouchables without any reasons and effectively cripple them. However, by society they mean their minority selves forming twenty percent of the Hindu population and positioned permanently at the top of society. They are very patriotic possessing a tunnel vision of India. To each according to his caste – that is their motto.

The presence of an Untouchable among the pure people devours their happiness. Such monsters are these heathen people! They are ever ready to devour the happiness, serenity, peace, solace and tranquility of minds and hearts of the ultra sensitive high caste people! Have they no shame? They desecrate the hallowed sphere of the pure people by their presence! Shameful, utterly shameful of these condemned people. And eating cow dung and drinking urine are used for purification by the pure people; do not laugh, do not smile and do not ask for any explain for such rationalistic activities! Malechhas! What do they know about our culture? Please, don't belittle this great religion by talking about the absence of equality, freedom, honest, sensitivity, sympathy, empathy and fairness etc. if you do so then their solace gets crumpled and tranquility goes into hysteria. Their mental peace goes into a horrible spin. And the harmony as the mean goes haywire. The caring people should not do so. They should calmly and silently watch from the sidelines the cruel behavior toward impure people which is put into effect under the umbrella of divine Karma Hypothesis. They should respect the divinity and walk away. There is no need to feel sad over the worthless impure cries, the worthless impure tears, the dirty impure wounds, the dirty impure sufferings, the trivial polluting suffering, the frivolous deaths - all small things you know; these are hardly worth mentioning. You have to respect the divine justice for which no witness or evidence can be produced and no exact linkage can be found. If you do not like it then bear for some time and you will get used to it. You will make peace with Dharma. You will develop a

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nature that suits it. That is sure and guaranteed. And accusing the pure people as sadists is pure blasphemy and totally punishable under this law or that law. Yes, I am talking about modern Indian Constitution. There are umpteen laws which can be used to arrest the people raising their voices against atrocious system - Indian Panel Code, IPC 153(A) comes to mind. The reality stinks and it should not come out. If one goes IPC 153 the all the scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma would be banned for degrading majority of people. This cannot happen until this divided majority forms linkages with each other. However, in my personal opinion, these degrading scriptures starting with Rig Veda should not be banned. There should be freedom of expression.

The presence of an Untouchable, in the haloed circles, ensures sly, malicious and vicious whispers aimed at isolating him. Under the overt smiles, a covert, organized and tacit unofficial conspiracy takes place to show him his place, indirectly. And eventually the man in question rediscovers his true place in society. The tranquility is nearly restored.

The holes and patches on their clothes get converted into smiles elsewhere. Their empty bellies are a thing of joy elsewhere. But do not worry about it. It is very compassionate society. It intends to do nothing about it. All the compassion is closed within the closed gates.

The measures of reservations are seen and analyzed in this light to enlighten the whole of society of the ills of casteism. Their analysis takes the form of dissection with profound clinical precision. The reservations are supposed to tear the social fabric and create social tensions. However, the tension overhanging the heads of Untouchables, in the form of the sword of violence, is none of their concern. They are terribly nice to themselves. Further, an alliance between any two lower castes for the purpose for fighting elections is considered as casteist in nature with all its ills.

Any rare discussion about the caste includes people like them; it hardly includes any representative from the fourth or the fifth stratum. They fear the impure demonic voices. The Untouchables are excluded because they are not supposed to possess any scientific perspective and temperament, which are supposedly inherent to high castes and cannot be acquired by the lower castes.

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These lower grade people are also supposed to lack required intelligence and required talent to discuss such issues. Thus, they are unfit to take part in discussions on the issues concerning them. Only the upper castes are supposed to possess the intelligence, talent, scientific temperament and perspective to pursue seriously anything of academic concern - that is the birth-attached superiority. This is made possible by the closed gates policy. The lower category people are deemed to be fit only for cutting grass in the village fields; or for working as casual and unskilled labor on the construction sites; or working as doorkeepers for their buildings; or for doing their traditional jobs. They are fit only to beg for the leftovers or fight for them. The higher-level things should be left to the higher-level people. It is another thing that they have learned all the higher-level things in the modern world from the cow-eating Westerners; and, especially, courtesy British, with a special mention of Lord Macaulay. But to each according to his caste/Varna!

However, their scientific perspective and temperament has not been able to pinpoint the precise reasons for the persistence of untouchability in India. Their performance is miserable in this regard. May be they will have to take the help of the Westerners. Or maybe it is a useless issue for them, not a matter of prime concern. They are not going to fix the thing, which they are not going suffer from, and the fixing of which, gives them trouble. Any objection to their analysis of caste from the fifth stratum is swiftly classified as useless and worthless. The people from the lowest stratum are supposed to produce the lowest level things. The understanding of twiceborn is always better without citing any reasons thereof. If they allow any place for the Untouchables' point of view in the areas of crucial importance controlled by them, then they run the risk of losing their traditional control over society. All the matters relating to explaining the things are reserved for them. They cannot bear others' interference except that of Westerners. Any objection by the fifth stratum is taken as a serious threat to the stability of the system, and explained in the terms of tearing the social fabric and creation of social unrest in a harmonic plural society.

But they leave all the issues concerning the Shudras and the Untouchables unresolved. The sufferings of the Shudras and the Untouchables are impure and polluting and their sufferings are not

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their concern; maybe they are the source of pleasure to high castes. It gladdens their hearts. Any objection to upper caste views threatens the stability of just society, on the top of which, they are nicely, dharmically, traditionally and righteously sit. Who can object? None! Have you not heard about the divinely ordained order? Nobody has or will ever have the right to move them from there, especially not the impure people with their low level of intelligence. They should know their level and should stick to it. Do they dare to defy, us, the pure people?

From the top, the twiceborn look down smugly upon the lower strata of the Hindus and deny the existence of caste. It is a matter of grey matter. Only people with highly evolved grey matter can handle the positions they are holding. Therefore, all the Shudras and the Untouchables should keep quiet in the name of stability of the system and take all the crap and injustice heaped on them for the fault of being born in the impure categories. The system, which benefits upper castes, is more important than the Shudras and the wretched Untouchables. The Shudras and the Untouchables should not object to their crippling. The mainstream denies any existence of caste but the dominance of upper castes and the unofficial boycott of Untouchables run clearly in the clear and transparent streams of the mainstream. The lower castes reply by following the policy of sleeping and let sleep - and treating gross ignorance as a much desired attribute.

Apart from the mainstream and the civil society in India, the Communists have their own way of thinking but the end results have been almost the same - the active ignorance of caste. They ignore the caste on the basis of Marxian theory of class struggle whereas this theory has been proven to be untenable in the real world. The Russian failure and Chinese capitalism are two stark examples. But the Indian Communists are in a constant state of denial over these failures. The high caste Indians are very committed; especially when it comes to their self interest; they possess the ultra rationality. The communist world is limited to the economic base and related social super structure. The social structure or super structure is dependent on the economic base. Or there is a dependency of the former on the latter. The economic base is independent. In their world, everything is decided by the structure of the economic base or the ownership of

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the means of production land, labor and capital. The individual in their scheme of things has no place. Well, empathy and sympathy also have no place. All the space is occupied by the two groups or classes - the exploited and exploiters. They forget that the empathy and sympathy are found abundantly within the ruling classes and that keeps them together. An individual emerges as a member of any of above two classes. The Marxian analysis is a group oriented analysis. Any individual has to belong to either of two classes. These groups are haves and haves not, the exploiters and the exploited, the capitalists and the labor. An individual cannot stand separately as an independent entity. He has to think, act and behave like his class. It is somewhat similar to group oriented nature of the Hindu Varna system, which also ignores the individual as a separate entity.

The views of the Communists in ignoring the caste are entirely in league with the civil society. The civil society cannot see beyond a universal abstract citizen. The Communists cannot see beyond their proletariat for whose welfare they wage their gigantic struggle; the end result is the dictatorship of the politburo or in reality a kind of oligarchy or the dictatorship of one man. Rest of the minnows stand in a line and nod their heads in agreement to their leader's opinions, statements and actions. If they do not nod it then the state coercive power comes into play and makes them to change their minds and fall in line. The actual ownership of the means of productions does not lie with the people collectively but with the politburo. Only the politburo has the right to take any decisions about the means of production and distribution, which makes them de facto owners. The collective ownership is a fable, which is passed around to keep the cadres in a state of tranquil mental disposition. Earlier people were using their labor for the benefit of the ruling classes and still they do it. Only the ruling classes have changed along with the philosophy. The axiom of seeking superiority makes the utopian anarchy difficult to emerge which was supposed to wither away of the state. In these status-seeking conditions, it may not be possible to stop the state from emerging.

The Communists in India do not find it necessary to attack the caste separately which is the basic exploitative structure of the Hindu society. It decides the distribution of power, product and means of production and also the structure of power hierarchy within

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the Communist party, to each according to his caste. The solution to the problem of caste is supposed to be found within the framework of Marxist theory. The caste belongs to the superstructure (or society) and not to the economic base. The deciding factor is the structure of economic base which decides the structure of society. The people owning land and capital belong to the ruling class and the people owning labor belong to the exploited class. The blood relations play no part here and neither do empathy and sympathy. The liking or binding forces are absent.

However, in the Hindu society the caste structure is an encompassing concept, which unleashes powerful economic, political and social forces to decide the distribution of means of production. We know that the motto which emerges is to each according to caste whether in the agrarian system, in the industrial system or in political system or any other system. It is supposed to be applicable in all the times and all the conditions and that is why it is called the Sanatana or eternal; it works perfectly in any conditions; only the conditions would have to be changed accordingly. It is not a passive structure. Both society's structure and the economic base (property ownership) reinforce each other (Dharma rakshite rakshiti). However, according to Communist thinking an equal redistribution of land would eliminate the caste and its problems. The ensuing economic equalization would lead to social equalization and caste system would collapse. Thus, if any given economic base collapses then its related superstructure must also collapse.

It was a Marxian belief that caste being a part of the superstructure will automatically fall down when the mode of productions changes from Asiatic to industrial but that did not happen. The Indian Communists deliberately believed all this. Or maybe they were happy as such a thought absolves them of their guilt feelings. All the front line Communists in India belonged to the upper castes and hence not very keen on discussing the shameful caste system of their ancestors, and to avoid this they declared themselves as declassed. These so-called declassed people were those from the privileged castes who had given up all material things and totally identified with the proletariat. What an illusion it creates! What a smoke screen! The low caste people are left hallucinating about the grandiose ideals of their leaders. The declassed high caste people

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have assumed the resources moving positions in communist parties. Hardly illogical! Is it?

These declassed Communists, completely ignored the caste and left the historical forces to eliminate it, and in the process lost the reality of the Indian society. Any deliberations about caste never took place. They waited and waited for the caste system to fall down on its own as predicted by Marx. They, deliberated, waited and waited....and waited....

The caste system did not fall in response to a change in economic base. A growing industry and development of urban areas should have seen the destruction of caste but it did not happen. They forgot the linkages in society and economy along with Marx. The ignoring of caste resulted in a situation where the landless were not ready to support the party of the proletariats. Therefore, in a land of poverty the supposed party of poor (Communist) was without the support of poor.

This kind of non-importance of the caste is a straight inheritance from the disguised Varna Dharma. Here the Varna Dharma is maintained by outwardly denouncing but maintaining its non-inclusive character. Whatever benefits the higher Varnas is normal or depends upon their merit or their supposed superiority. The communist parties being a supporter of the deprived section of society should have developed a strong support among the lowest stratum of Hindus but it did not. These 20 percent people could have made them major players in Indian politics but they are still minor players. The lowest caste cadres in communists set up are seen as the last men in the hierarchy; again, they are first from the bottom; nothing changes for them; it is a kind of Varna system without any overt display of untouchability; to each according to his caste. They get leftovers everywhere. The sole use of Untouchables there is to carry the red flag and take part in the protest rallies. That is where their role ends. Period.

The idea of Communists is to unite everybody in the name of the class struggle. The workers in India come from different castes and thus have different social status and separate bloodlines. How they are going to identify with each other is anybody's guess! Nobody is going to give up the chance to assert the social superiority over others. The maximization of status superiority is a normal propensity.

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The social difference creates the difference between workers. The higher caste workers have their linkages in the propertied classes which they insist on maintaining and also insist berating their fellow low caste workers. This is a clear-cut case of superstructure (or society) creating fissures in the economic base (among workers). After a long spell of being treated unequally, the Untouchables leave the communists. By no stretch of imagination, the Materialistic interpretation of history can explain the paradigm of purity and practice of untouchability, in a precise manner. Marx also did not bring the mode of production in India within his theory. He classified it as the Asiatic mode of production frozen in time and the Indian Marxists have not gone beyond that. It was a Caste Mode of Production where unpropertied Shudras tilled the land and the unpropertied Untouchables worked as casual labor. The land was held (not really owned because all the land was supposed to be held by the state, the state gave it on lease (pattta) to the high castes) by the higher three Varnas and Brahmans, and temples that had gotten the land grants from kings. The Varna Dharma as a distribution system clearly separates the exploiter from the exploited and the haves from haves not.

The Indian Communists should have read Engels and Gramsci also. If caste, as a social reality, is a part of the superstructure, it is also a part of false conscious. This false conscious has the power to make hellish the lives of millions people. According to Engels, it is the false conscious that prevents the unity among the workers. According to Gramsci, the dominating classes maintain their supremacy by maintaining their cultural hegemony. The caste's presence as a big part of "false conscious" creates fissures in the base (among workers) is due to the cultural hegemony of the Brahmans. This cultural hegemony is responsible for a divide between poor and poor - the different poor have different linkages, which exclude others, in society and economy. This cultural hegemony needed to be attacked by the Communists. But who cares? And no Indian Communist seems to have considered Engels and Gramsci. Why bother!

It may be noted that the Buddhism, Advaitism and the Marxism are dependent on the concept of "false consciousness" or "Avijja” or "Avidya" without which their knowledge cannot hold

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water. The conclusions of all three are true but people do not recognize them as such. Why? The answer is the spread of ignorance or the false conscious or Avijja or Avidya. That means if you do not agree with them then you are suffering from the ignorance and they are the holder of some master truth. The reasons for that are not given.

However, had the Indian Communists gone according to Gramsci, they would have definitely tackled the caste actively without waiting passively and evasively hoping for it to not to fall down. The Communists of India totally ignore Gramsci whose emphasis on the cultural hegemony would have pointed toward the cultural hegemony of Brahmans. This would have provided the Communists a better target and idea to launch a direct attack on caste. Then who wants to harm himself? Nobody. Or Engels and Gramsci are deliberately ignored! They moved from the Dharma frame to the Marxian frame without losing up anything or without giving up the caste system. Whatever happened, the eternal lowest stratum still got the leftovers. And that is the crux of the matter.

They treat the caste as a social phenomenon to be solved through a change in the economic base. Caste is much more than that, it decides who shall wear sleepers and who shall not. It also decides who shall own property and who shall live by his labor alone. A better exposition of formation of permanent economic base due to heredity is not possible. The Brahmans, the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas, the pseudo-Kshatriyas and the pseudo-Vaisya castes are the propertied class. The lower two groups, Shudras and Untouchables, have no right to property; they have to live by their labor alone. These condition should make the lower two strata as the exploited and rest as the exploiters. The Indian communists do not think so. They never got the caste system right; doing so would have made holes in their fragile, soft and compassionate conscience. After all their hearts collectively beat for the haves-not, really? What they produce is actually the Varna Dharma in the Indian communist bottle. Both are group oriented. Both are power structure. Both are economic system. And above all, both of them have the upper castes at the top and the Untouchables at the bottom. A smooth transition it is. No guilt and no responsibility, it is all fault of the economic base. The economic base seems to have replaced the Karma

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hypothesis. The use of the Marxist theory is the same as that of the Karma hypothesis. Both of them are used to absolve the high castes of their abominable acts. The truth is turned turtle and the snail of change is butchered as many times as possible.

However, the caste has maintained itself strongly in the areas where the supposed caste eliminating land reforms have taken place. The same is the case with the purity. This supposed economic equalization has not led to intermixing of bloodlines and neither has it prevented the preferential treatment extended automatically to the upper castes. The economic equality has not led to social equality and by extension the equality in power. One main reason for the non-importance of caste is the absence of lower caste people in the Communist ideologues which seems to be deliberate. The top echelon of Communist power structure is firmly occupied by the upper castes on an enduring basis like the helms of power in the Varna Dharma. They may include one or two leaders from lower strata as a matter of exception. They are also not interested in finding the caste as the culprit because they also do not like to find faults with their esteemed and unimpeachable ancestors and the present kith and kin. All these faults are covered behind the veil of economic base like the veil of Karma Hypothesis. They are not bothered about who made this base and who still maintains it.

Among the defenders of the Varna Dharma, the mainstream, the civil society and the Communists, there is repetitive mention of the vested interest in maintaining the caste system and its rigidity. But there is not even feeble feigning attempt to identify these vested interests and the beneficiaries of the acts of such vested interests, and the duration of maintenance of this system and the extent of exploitation. All the fingers would point to them, their ancestors and, their kith and kin. Therefore, they do not do it.

Now, they have acquired a tongue which stirs also. The malicious tongue which can stir the demonic talks against us, the pure people with high ethics and high morals! Can they not speak any good thing after all the majestic treatment, our way of life has given to them? The ungrateful fellows! And they have started speaking! Trying to develop their own language! They should speak through us only. That is right. They should and must speak through us only. Only we can take their grievances to the government and the world.

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Anyway, our view is that all their problems have been solved through enacting several laws. Therefore, they should keep quiet; there is no cause of worry; as matter of fact, there never was. The scorn hangs down the blooming pure faces and the insecurity hangs down the sunken impure faces.

The pests of choice, freedom and equality need to be exterminated. Otherwise, the sensitivity of pure people would fall from a cliff. The tender feelings of the pure people are hurt by the voices of dissent which assail their ears. And other senses too would be badly hurt.

The pliancy of lower strata nurtures the good sense of higher strata and maintains the harmony in society. The absence of such pliancy shakes their cool and calm disposition until blows after blows have shaken out the dissent from the bones of the Untouchables.

There should be no doubt about the absence of shrewdness among pure people. They are very simple, not at all sly or crooked or deceptive. Look, how simply they follow Dharma and Karma! Pure simpletons, they are! Any such malicious thoughts about their shrewdness should be expunged from your mind. And they are not at all sly! The slyness does not touch the pure people, by definition.

Accusing the pure people, of everlasting crimes, is demeaning. You see, the Karma is more suitable explanation which absolves them. Surely, they do not take anybody for a ride. They have never done so in the last 3000 years. They are innocent; surely, they are the pure innocence personified.

And then there is stupendous stupidity standing unfazed within the silence of the lower strata. Amazing.

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20. THE DHARMA

Dharma in the Hindu religions is defined variously, some call it a way of life; some call it a faith in the Vedas; some call it Varna system etc.; some call it a combination of all of them. In a holistic way, it can be defined as a righteous way of life with a faith in Vedas, Varna Dharma and Samanya (normal) Dharma. How do they combine with each other is another matter. Anyway, the baffling thing is that the word "Dharma" lends itself to various interpretations and it can be translated into multiple meanings depending upon the context. Here we are not concerned with the Samanya Dharma (the normal code of conduct - like don't steal, don't betray etc. - which is give in ample ways, among other things, in the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and other Puranas etc.) which is related to normal and/or individual crimes. Here we are concerned with the Varna Dharma which is the highest Dharma. And this is not related to any normal crime as such.

Here we work on the premise that there is Dharma, and the opposite of Dharma is aDharma, and the opposite of aDharma is Dharma. And, we are, also, of the view that if some activity is punishable then it is adharmic and the opposite of it is a dharmic activity. Here we take the activity including its doer - there is no activity in isolation. This means that any activity is not independent of its doer. And lying to save this elites' Dharma is also not punishable. It may become one's utmost duty to lie if it saves the Varna Dharma. For an example lying is punishable but lying by a Brahman is not. Therefore, it is necessary to look what is beyond the Dharma given in the scriptures. Dharma can be found in the activities which are opposed to aDharma. For example the entry of Untouchable in temples is barred because it corrupts Dharma therefore it is adharmic; then to prevent the entry of any Untouchable in temples becomes the Dharma of any touchable Hindu; so it is Dharma. Again the touch of an Untouchable corrupts the Dharma of high caste Hindus therefore it is aDharma, and opposite of it (not touching the Untouchable) is Dharma and thus enforcing the untouchability is also Dharma. In short, the opposition to aDharma is Dharma and enforcing such Dharma is also Dharma.

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Therefore, though the untouchability is not mentioned in the Vedas, it is still dharmic. The transparency is deliberately expunged in the Hindu society. The veil of the divine language persists. And the veil of vested interests diverts away the attention. Dharma has to be culled out through logic.

We know that the main scriptures of the Hindus are the sacred Vedas, which are treated as the Word of God. Then there are other scriptures which actually define the Varna Dharma, its applications and implications. The defenders of the Sanatana Dharma completely forget about these scriptures where the crystallized Varna Dharma is given. What logically follows the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda? Dharma Shashtras follow the Purush Sukta resulting in the evolution or the crystallization of Varna Dharma. Therefore, after the Purush Sukta come the Baudhayan Sutra, the Apastambha Sutra, the Manu Smriti, the Vishnu Smriti, and the Parashar Smiriti etc. And there are the hollow arguments about the Gunas and the karmas as the supposed final and deciding Varna of an individual - deriving Varna from Individual! That is putting the horse behind the cart. A complete treatment of Hindus religion can only be made by studying the entire set of scriptures; depending only few scriptures will give only an incomplete picture which will not match with the reality. Anybody can take a particular set of scriptures and arrive at a different picture. These pictures when taken together are called the multiple dimensions of the Hindu religion. These multiple dimensions may or may not support each other. Anyway, a Hindu lives comfortably in a world of contradictions.

In Hindu religion, Dharma denotes way of living, religious duty, social duty, family duty, political duty etc. Anyway, any kind of binding function or god assigned function can be called Dharma. Dharma of any individual can also be described as following the dictum of his religion or the traditional rules of his society. More specifically Dharma is God assigned function of a God created creature. For example, it is Dharma of the tiger to kill the dear; it is Dharma of the snake to eat the rat. Here Dharma is natural function of a creature. Similarly, it is Dharma of a Brahman to study the Vedas; or so it is said in the scriptures. One of them is natural function and the other one is acquired function; but both of them are Dharmas since both are ordained by God; God who created the

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Varnas and their functions, and also the animals with their born nature. Not confusing at all! If it is then you have not developed the dharmic eyes.

The pure people are with pure and unselfish thoughts. No doubt about it. The cynics are forewarned! They may be made to suffer in the hell - in the next world or this world. In this world, it would make fine example for other cynics. So better are the punishments in this world to stop the spread of such aDharmic cynics.

All those foolish people who think that acquired functions are different from natural functions should know better now; the Hindu scriptures know better. Can they know better than the scriptures? All these adharmic people want to parade their little and wrong knowledge in front of the people following righteous way of living - the Hindu Dharma. They should forget their earthly logic or they are going to take birth as jackals, rats and lizards in their next life. Their souls are going to forever wander in this world and suffer in the hottest places of hell; anyway there is no way in which a soul can be punished or hurt; but strange are the ways of the Hindu Dharma; there is place called hell also. The most pleasant places in heaven and attainment of Moksha are reserved for the people who absolutely believe in the cruel Varna Dharma with all its glory. If a soul is not affected by the pain afflicted upon it then it would also be not affected by the pleasures. Thus, the heaven and the hell are useless for it. Pleasing a soul, which is not affected by the pleasures, is useless. See it is the faith which moves the mountains. It is nice to believe that your cruelty is divine. It is not misplaced. It is so soothing to know that they will have to pay for defying the man created divine scriptures. These dunces should not be allowed to read and write. It should be the sole prerogative of the born elites from the Sanatana religion.

Dharma is God created so it is binding. Believe in God and be exploited. There is nothing personal about it. It is all in the name of God - the permanent exploiters stand absolved. Here, the Varnas are akin to separate groups of creatures though in the same land and space. And everybody has to follow his Dharma or his God created or divinely ordained function. Thus, the Varna Dharma becomes binding. Those who are born to rule should rule and those who are

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born to serve should serve - perfectly logical. The creators of Sanatana Dharma should not be accused of forgetting the logic. They remember the selfish and subjective logic very well - the ultra rationality, no doubt. And the Shudras are well willing to serve them, genuinely. Long live the forever society with the born servants - a source of forever jubilation to the eternally pure Varnas. Since Dharma is an ordained function, it can be the cause to enjoy the rights or do the duties. It is not purely duty or right. In case of higher Varnas, these functions are mainly the rights to control society and its resources. However, they treat them as duties and then the fruits follow - righteously. In case of born heredity unpropertied servants, the fourth and fifth stratum, these functions are the duties to serve the high Varnas with utmost virtuosity and servility. The most virtuous servant is the most obedient one, lacking any iota of self-respect. These divinely ordained functions also define the broad heredity occupations of four Varnas. Thus, the Raj Dharma is to save Dharma or force the lowest two groups to do their divinely assigned duties and then there are the Brahman Dharma, the Kshatriya Dharma, the Vaisya Dharma and the Shudra Dharma. And there is Dharma (duty) of these Varnas to save Dharma (the Varna or caste order). All the Hindus are supposed to save Dharma and desist from harming it. They do it very well. Well, some do not. These are the people contaminated by the modern ideas of equality and liberty in real sense. They just do not pretend to believe in the equality and liberty of a human being. They act it out in the real life.

Here, we will recall the premise of defining Dharma in practice. We will use the premise that the opposite of Dharma is aDharma and the opposite of the aDharma is Dharma. And any activity is taken along with its doer - no punishment is allowed in isolation. The act of taking water from the village well by any Untouchable is aDharma because it corrupts and pollutes Dharma, and preventing it is Dharma. If a high caste person does not allow an Untouchable to take water from the village well then this activity is dharmic because it saves the Dharma and opposes the aDharma; the corruption of Dharma is avoided. In the same manner, the practice of untouchability is dharmic because it prevents the corruption of Dharma. This is the Dharma that the Kshatriyas are supposed to uphold. This is Dharma supposedly upholding the world order - well,

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the Hindu elites' world order. The Dharma is to uphold the Varna order of the world created by God himself - we know this from the words of the Rishis, the seers, the sages and the Brahmans. All people with unimpeachable integrity - not supposed to lie! What amazing people! Telling the truth! The order created by God needs the help of the Kshatriyas? And of course it needs the help of the ghastly Panchayats. We will do a little recalling here. According to the Hindu scriptures a Brahman is born with the natural ability to learn and teach sacred scriptures, a Kshatriya with the natural ability to rule, a Vaisya with the natural ability to trade, a Shudra with the natural ability to serve the higher Varnas and an Antyaja with the natural ability to do the unclean jobs. All the Varnas are born with the innate abilities to do the god assigned dharma. Here the natural ability can be taken as God created or divinely ordained. The natural born abilities of these kinds can be maintained if and only if both the parents are from the same Varna. If that were not the case then the offspring would not acquire the required natural abilities to do the permanent functions assigned to them through the inherited Varna. This is due to impurities which have crept in through Varna-Sankars. Those who have not the correct parentage are fit to do only the lowliest jobs.

Here, we define the Dharma within the Sanatana Dharma as the rule of pure over the impure. This is the subordination of impure to pure. We disagree with the definition of Hindu religion as a righteous way of life. Anyway, what is righteous is not defined there. We also disagree that it means the search for truth or for Absolute. It is pure subordination of the lower Varnas to the higher Varnas. And the aDharma is insubordination of the lower Varnas to the higher Varnas. Dharma is the superordination by the higher Varnas over the lower Varnas. In terms of the castes, Dharma is the subordination of lower caste to higher castes and the superordination by the higher castes over the lower castes. Dharma is the subordination of the impure castes to the pure castes, relatively. This cruel superordination or subordination is supported by the spirituality through the unprovable hypothesis of the Karmas of past lives and the concept of, yet to be found, soul. Hardly disbelieving? Not enough to send the head into spinning frenzy.

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The subjugation as enshrined in Dharma, is mood elevating and entertaining, to the pure people. Verily, a righteous and enjoyable way of life. Looking down upon people with scorn has its own mental satisfaction. Not sadistically at all! And we are pure and pious people. Please don't flatter us by mere words. You should emulate us by making life as good as guttered for some low people. That is what would make us happy. These filthy, uncouth and lowly people should not trifle with Dharma. That is gross insubordination.

Their prostration flatters us. Their crouching shoulder flatters us. Their speechless tongue flatters us. Their cowering imploring sends us on ninth cloud. It is a pure joy for the pure people and that too unbounded. All this makes us, the pure people, drool... It is a delightful world for us where there are all insults and little food for the lower strata. All created by us. We are the creators of this beautiful world. And we shall reap the rewards. Don't underestimate us. We have created this beautiful caste world for us not for the lowly scum. They should know that the anger is prerogative of the high castes and the servility is the duty lower castes. The grisly anger of pure people is not impeachable in a dharmic court, Panchayat or dharmic parliament. You must know it.

The sustained suppressing of happiness of the lower castes brings happiness to the hearts of pure people - their happiness goes over the top. Have no doubts about it. All subordination and superordination - in opposite directions. The smug high castes are placed cozily on the top.

There is no dearth of silence on the issue of atrocities perpetrated on the Untouchables. Rather, it is matter of joy, silent jubilation and beaming faces though outwardly a long face is maintained in the presence of unknown people; you never know whether some of them belong to low castes. Leave them with their own people and beaming smiles lighten up the atmosphere. The punishment of insubordination is imminent; they should know it. The loathsome ways are awesome in effects. The pure heart is dancing inside. It is on the ninth cloud, silently. What else do you want!

Now, six major classifications based on relative purity can be found in Hindu society. These are - the sacred, the most pure, the pure, the pure-impure, the impure and the last one which is the

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polluted pollutants (the Untouchables). The divinity and the Vedas belong to the sacred level. All other scriptures of Hindus are also included in the sacred objects. The fire is also sacred along with the temples. A little recalling will help. And sometimes Brahmans are included in the sacred entities. But they really belong to most pure level - the second highest level next only to divinity - they are handling the sacred the sacred objects like the Vedas, other scriptures and temples. They were supposed to have been born from the purest part - the mouth - of the Purusha (what nonsense! But the nonsense persists! Who am I to argue about this?); thus they are the purest based on the unproven purity of the place of origin. The language of Vedas and scriptures, Sanskrit, was also known as the language of gods.

The Kshatriyas, the rulers, belong to the second pure level because they were the upholders of sacred Dharma and they were supposed to have been born from the arms of the Purusha which have the second most pure level; on the basis of origin they belong to second most pure level. Their show of valor over the famished people is awesome and a commendable feat. Their valor dances with grace and smirk over the heads of the defenseless people. A grand show of fairness!

The Vaisyas, the traders, not involved with the manual labor, belong somewhere near to pure but they are partly impure on the account of their relatively impure origin from the thighs of the Purusha. They were also included among impure because in earlier they were engaged in the jobs involving the manual labor like the cattle rearing and the agriculture (tilling) which dealt with excreta as manure. But they are pure because they entitled to thread ceremony, which makes them eligible for Vedic rituals. Later they gave up these jobs and restricted themselves to trading and business only thus avoiding manual labor. This makes them to qualify for pure level. They are pure enough to be included among the twiceborn.

The Shudras, toiling for the higher Varnas and without any right to property, belong to impure level on account of their origin from the impure feet of the Purusha, thus they are the impure. As we see that the purity of Varnas is also in the order in which they appeared; and the same is the order of superordination, a breathtaking coincidence. Those appeared earlier were purer than

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those who appeared later. Thus, the Antyajas who appeared at the end were the most impure or the polluted pollutants - the Untouchables. The people belonging to polluting Jatis are not the part of original four Varnas or the born allocation of power. The power followed the subordination rule.

The pure Brahmans and the pure Kshatriyas are supposed to rule over the Vaisyas who are partly impure and the Shudras who are the impure. It is superordination from top to bottom, and subordination from bottom to top. The Brahmans who are the most pure are not supposed to be ruled over by anyone, not even by the king. The state was actually vested in the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. The former made the divine laws, and the later implemented these divine laws. The Kshatriyas, the pure, were supposed to uphold the divine Dharma and the divinely assigned order of Varnas.

And you know that the proud stately minds are at work! Halt and bow before the pure people who know the grand vision of the Absolute. Show your utter subordination. And absolutely, the low life scum will never understand the Bruhm. Only we, the pure and sacred people, can understand it because it requires the highest level of thinking. Therefore, those who do not understand it are low life scum; they cannot superordinate. Period.

And this vision explains nothing. This vision can lead you into believing it. But it is rather thick and skates on thin ice and on the increasing foolishness of the ignorant lower strata people. May the divinity forbid the time when the foolish people willingly give up their foolishness. Such a time should never be allowed to come. Anyway, this spell of foolishness needs to be broken. Well, the unofficial subordination continues.

Though the Vaisyas had economic power, they did not have say in the affairs of state. Over a period, they were also raised to the pure level. Thus, lowest two strata became the subordinates of all the higher Varnas. The Shudras and the Untouchables were without any protection of the state. They, the impure and the most impure, were the subordinates; it goes without saying. It was king's duty to see that the lower strata were doing the jobs assigned to them according to the pure sacred and divine Varna Dharma, without any claim on the resources of society. They were serving the pure Varnas which is a

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clear cut subordination. Nobody should forget his Dharma, which is essential to maintain the cruel order in the Hindu world. It is king's duty to see that the lower strata do not try to take up the assigned Dharma (function) of others. The kings and village Panchayats had to enforce the subordination. Nobody should be above his head. The head of each caste had its own subordination level. And he knew it.

The king and the Kshatriyas have to follow the guidance of the most pure, the Brahmans; the Vaisyas have to follow the dictates of Kshatriyas and the Shudras have to do whatever others say, and the Antyajas are condemned to toil for everybody. The order of subordination goes from bottom to top, one way only. That is Dharma - the more pure over less pure - the mode of rulership. There is no point in assigning the divine functions if nobody is performing them. The purity and functions of different groups are divinely ordained - thus, beyond any questioning - it is God's will - man created. The resultant subordination, then, is also God's will and that is Dharma. To the Shudras and the Untouchables without means, it means the permanent heredity subordination. It also means insulting survival under atrocious conditions. Nobody should act and think above his subordination level.

The blistering ignominies and indignities they suffer from the existence of a well off Untouchable are beyond any description. It is an utterly obtuse act of insubordination. These kinds of things are repulsive to pure people and Dharma. What is the use of a well off Untouchable to Dharma? How low the things are coming to? What next? But charring the egos of pure people may bring thousands of years in hell! Beware! Beware! Beware…

The peerless ego of peerless pure people cannot be overpeered by the impure egos of the impure people. Simply, it is illogical. What! Never heard about such logic? The logic, which permits insubordination, is aDharmic. Come to the Hindu society and, eventually, you will realize it. Out with the logic. Away with the logic. Expunge it, hang it, crush it. Bleed it to death. And let the specific happiness rule!

Cowering in fear, coiling in fear, curling in fear, cloistering in fear - it is the lot of Untouchables! Utter subordination is pleasing to social harmony and is an essential part of proud social fabric.

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And… these cowering cowards, fused with impurity and having famished and frail bodies and not one weapon in hands, think that they can stand up to us. We have all types of weapons and all kind of assured food supply and they dare to stand up to us! We have never been cowards except in the case of invaders and colonizers. Our bravery is legendry! It refuses to bow before the defenseless people; the heavily armed people are altogether different thing. The unbounded callousness rains fire heavily on the lower strata people - burning whatever they have. And this will force them to live an insulted life. It has to be subjugation and subjugation all the way down. Otherwise, what is the point in having ordered purity?

Why burden them with the things like dignity, honor and assured food supply? We have no problem in taking up all these burdens. We can lighten them and leave them with an insulted and condemned life! You do not know the charitable disposition of us, the pure people. We lighten their burden! Our intentions should not be doubted about. Well… the intentions of the stealing bitch guarding the cake?

The pure conscience of pure people with its immeasurable depths sinks to its depth for the cause of the sacred Dharma. Then the cause of subordination to Dharma is served.

The purity and impurity are passed down through the heredity route, as are the functions and occupations of each Jati. It is all birth-attached. The eternal insults are also birth-attached. We know that there are the ghastly caste Panchayats at village level to maintain Dharma or subordination in the lower strata. We have already mentioned the multiple power centers in the Hindu society. To maintain these layers of superordination and subordination there were at least three power centers in Hindu society. First was the religious power center, the second was the political power center (under guidance of the religious power) and the third was the caste Panchayats (caste councils) at the village level with the authority to ostracize any rebel members of society and caste. The decision of Panchayat could not be overridden by the Panchayat of any other village. This was also a part of self-sufficiency of the villages. Each village was self sufficient, isolated and insulated. The insulation of the villages kept the cowardly caste system unharmed. The village forces kept the social layers insulated from each other. The Dharma was

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maintained. The villages maintain the traditional or caste-based justice where the justice gets reduced to the caste level - pure dharmic level. These village Panchayats were responsible for maintaining the Varna Dharma over a period of time as the rulers did not really interfere in the village matters, they were concerned only with the collection of taxes.

The impure people, the lame duck people with lame duck destinies descend on earth to serve the pure people with smart destiny. Their life is dark from beginning to end. Subordination to Dharma is a must.

Harpooning the desires of subjugated lower strata is an essential, hilarious and joyous sport of the Hindu society. Be it in the name of Dharma, Karma or traditions. Anything will do but the impure desires are sure to be harpooned. Such harpooning may or may not be handled delicately. Keeping them famished is a matter of utmost joy. The superordination needs this to survive. The subordinated people cannot have desire of their own. It is very clear.

The Hindu scriptures are very emphatic about the purity and superiority of the Brahmans. The paranormal people superordinated society through control on the scriptures and a resultant fear of the divine retribution - nobody could escape their curses. If they, the representatives of God, are harmed or disobeyed then the divine punishment would be met to people who spread aDharma by harming the Brahmins etc. A reincarnation of God is supposed to destroy who do so. It is indicated clearly in the Gita. The scriptures are the dictates of the gods and they are to be followed by every Hindu. The maintenance of Dharma, the divinely ordained social order is the main topic of all the scriptures, including the Manu Smriti and the famous Gita. The latter is the showcase of the Hindus to the world, incidentally.

God made the deer to be killed by the tiger and mouse to be eaten by the snake and Shudras and Untouchables to be ruled over by the higher Varnas. Such are the ways of Dharma. They are God created - for subordination. Their subordination is created by God - so there is nothing personal about it - none of the upper castes has anything to do with it. And it is Karma also - invented by the hallowed lawmakers. Still, there is nothing personal about it. The Shudras and the Untouchables should not take it to the heart. Their

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wretched conditions are the result of the will of God and the law of Karma (- the law of Karma? - the law?????????). And they should foolishly believe it. This foolishness may have its own spiritual experience. It is pure and divine, given in the divine scriptures created by the esteemed lawmakers. The subordination is permanent on heredity basis. Eat the rat, O' snake go ahead, it is your Dharma. Let no lower castes raise their heads in self-esteem. In such a case, break their heads and bones. That is the Dharma.

The hypergamy allowed in the scriptures also points toward the underlying subordination. Let us recall that the Varnas can marry down the social scale but not upward. A Brahman can have four wives - one from his own Varna and one each from the lower Varnas. A Kshatriya can have three wives - one from his own Varna and one each from the lower two Varnas - he cannot have a wife from a higher Varnas than his - the Brahman Varna. A Vaisya can have two wives - one from his own Varna and one from the lower Shudra Varna - he cannot have wives form higher Varnas - the Brahman and the Kshatriya Varnas. And in the true and virtuous spirit of subordination a Shudra can take a wife from his own Varna only - he cannot marry into higher Varnas. How the impure blood can mix with the pure blood? The heathen one should know their place. It is a paternal society.

The insults are abounding and echoing; the problem is that nobody hears them; they are natural parts of the system. To prevent the marriages in opposite direction, where the man is from lower Varna and the woman from higher Varnas, which is insubordination, the children born from such marriages are made outcastes as a matter of punishment. It is correct from the Dharma point of view because such an act would be insubordination and hence adharmic. On the other hand, the hypergamy itself implies subordination. It is a paternal society. The Antyajas are supposed to marry within their own Jatis only. And the conditions of their women are extremely pathetic. Dishonoring them implies the subordination of the fifth stratum to others, which is consistent with the notion of Dharma. Their honor is always at risk in such a highly cultured, sublime and spiritual society. This in turn, indirectly, implies that the honor of male Untouchables is also at stake; they are the people who cannot save their women - a big dark and dirty blot. What! You never

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doubted it! Did you or did you not? Remember the lowest stratum had no protection from the traditional state. They cannot also wield the weapons or hold the arms - it is seriously dangerous for subordination and Dharma. And, to save this subordinating Dharma anybody can pick up the arms, which explains the atrocities against the Untouchables; there is no need to approach the concerned authorities. The law takes the course of Dharma, which is the same thing, unofficially.

Now, let us see what is aDharma? It contains all the activities, which point toward Varna insubordination. Therefore, to stop aDharma (or to save the Dharma) is to prevent all the activities, which result in insubordination by the lower Varnas. Or prevent the rebellion. Adharma is defined as a state of prevalence of aDharmic activities. If any activity is punishable then it is adharmic and sinful and if any activity is adharmic it is punishable. If any activity corrupts the eternal Dharma then it is aDharma as in the case of Shambuk Rishi. In other words, any adharmic activity is punishable. Therefore, if any activity is punishable then it is adharmic. It is the opposite of Dharma. One example of aDharma is the hypogamy, which is accordingly outlawed. The main aDharma is the killing of a Brahman. Again, it is aDharmic to physically punish a Brahman because that would imply insubordination. The lower category people cannot punish the higher one. Any act of killing in defense of a Brahman is dharmic and not aDharmic. And the opposite of aDharma is Dharma. Therefore, dharmically the higher caste people cannot be punished by the low caste people or be the cause of their punishment. This takes the Untouchables beyond the realm of justice. Any justice prevails in the traditional Hindu society! Well, mockery and insults do exist.

And you know that the dark light of knowledge shall not fall upon these impure people because it creates dark thoughts like quest for equality, freedom, respect etc. in their minds. If these ideas get into their mind how they are going to serve us? There would be total loss of humility. And everybody knows that the humility is a good virtue, and add the servility for the Shudras and the Untouchables. The opposite of this is very harmful to society.

A famous and great act of aDharma is learning of the Vedas by the lowers two strata, which is punishable by pouring of the

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molten lead into their ears. It is because of two reasons. One is that the impure Shudras should not learn or touch the divinely sacred Vedas. This would pollute the Vedas. Secondly if they are taught the Vedas then they will aspire to teach Dharma to the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas, which implies the lower Varna guiding the higher Varnas, which is not permissible according to the subordination rule. That would be the rule of the impure over the pure and thus adharmic and strictly punishable. And hearing of Vedas causes the corruption of Dharma so it is aDharma which makes the punishment for adharmic as totally dharmic. Long live the pure Dharma!

The polluting fifth stratum is not allowed to touch the Brahmans because that would render them unfit to read the Vedas. This would make the Brahmans impure. This would cause the loss of super-ordination by them, direct or indirect. This would cause them to lose the right to guide the pure Kshatriyas and to learn the sacred Vedas. Thus, they lose the subordination of the Kshatriyas. Therefore, they have to atone and purify themselves after touching any Untouchable. Touching the polluting people would render them unfit to listen to Vedas.

The humiliating and permanently insulting subordination of Untouchables is merely trifling matter, not worth your kind attention, it affects only worthless people numbering one fifth of a billion people. All this will be settled amicably as it has been done over the last 2500 years. That means we will again sentence them to a condemned life. Applaud our effort in this direction! Applaud. Clap and clap. We do not want much we want only appreciation for our kind efforts of insulting and famishing the low castes.

It would be blasphemy to call these lawmakers as tormentors or torturers. It would not stand a chance in a traditional Panchayat or dharmic court. And it would be insubordination. Get the next life as worm.

Before accusing anybody of discrimination, the Hindu society should look into its backyard where more than a billion people live discriminating and hating each other in the downward direction. Discrimination is a mild word which hides all the cruelties heaped upon the lower strata of the Hindu society. Of course, there is the Indian Constitution to show the commitment against the discrimination but it is limited only to the Government. The private

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sector just can get away with it with the most suitable reason that suitable candidates are not found among the lower strata. The fact is that he is caste-ineligible from the very beginning. Their own man is eligible for selection or appointment though he may carry a head largely having a word "dumb" written over it. Who cares as long as society is kept pure and their interests are served. After all, no rocket science is needed to perform the most of the common business jobs or administrative jobs. Their brethren are sufficient. Anyway, the commitment is shown in largely unimplemented laws. They still cannot make the Untouchables to fetch waters from the village well in most of the villages of India. This accomplishment is not stunning. It is just a natural outcome of the caste or Varna system. And nobody is supposed to be above the law of the land!

Another aDharma is the Varna-Sankar growth. The emergence of Varna-Sankars has been the main issue for the Hindu scriptures including the Manusmriti and the Gita. The mixed marriage causes the blood to become impure, thus making these people ineligible to perform the sacred rites and study the sacred and infallible Vedas. An increasing population of these people means less and less availability of pure people to learn Vedas and hence a danger to Dharma. The Vedas are not supposed to fall in the impure hands. No Brahman is supposed to teach the Vedas to such people. The Untouchables are also not supposed to enter the sacred temple because that would raise their status and that itself is an act of insubordination. The priests who come in their contacts would lose their authority to be the priests and lose the rulership of society. Another main act of aDharma is following of higher Varnas' Dharma by the lower Varnas - no transference of functions across the Varnas is allowed. It is horrible insubordination - great aDharma. Any such activity is adharmic because it corrupts Dharma and hence the acts of prevention of these activities are greatly dharmic. It is the king's function to punish people involved in such acts. The insubordinates are not allowed to be equal, yet. O' equality, please don't come out; stay where you are in the stinking dungeon deep.

The Shudras and Antyajas are also not allowed to carry the arms to prevent them from harming Dharma and to avoid rebellion. By this time, you know that nipping the rebellion in the bud is dharmic, and, rebellion by the Untouchables is adharmic. Since

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permitting them to do so would create conditions, which would endanger Dharma, they might physically harm the higher Varnas. These impure people should not rebel and rule over the pure Brahmans and the pure Kshatriyas. The rebelling bud should be nipped at the earliest. Prevention is better than the cure. The unarmed, servile and insulted lower castes are the foundations of Varna Dharma. And they should stay there, deeply and totally buried.

Any insult of the lower castes by the upper castes is not objected to because it is dharmic in nature indicating the subordination of the abused to the abuser (the high Varnas). Any flow of insults in opposite direction is highly adharmic and deems severe punishments. The offending part, which takes part in insulting the upper castes, of the Shudras and the Untouchables, is to be cut off. Strangely one insult saves Dharma and other insult destroys Dharma. Strange, strange it is, indeed! Flow the might river of insults you flow, down over the heads of the Untouchables yonder you go.

So all the acts which indicate insubordination of impure to pure are adharmic and all such acts cause the destruction of Dharma and hence punishable - cognizable offences. So, all these acts are to be avoided to maintain Dharma. Thus, the rule of impure over pure should be avoided. The result is that Dharma is upheld. Avoid aDharma with all you can or serve a sentence in the hell. Kill the beast of aDharma on the way and get a seat in the heaven right away.

There is no way in which the impure Shudras and polluting Untouchables can lose their divinely ordained impurities and become pure enough to rule over others. The impurities in them are birth-attached and reside within their bodies and will die with them only. Here lies the eternal character of Dharma, in the permanent rulership of the permanent pure over the permanent impure.

Dharma, without a pause, screams a silent scream and silences the low castes. It is a stern master. Hail the subjugation of low castes!

Dharma is not the highest morality as envisaged by some. Only when we put together Dharma and aDharma together then only we get the true picture that Dharma is not a righteous way of life but a system of suffocating birth-attached subordination and a rosy birth-attached superordination by some. Considering Dharma on its own would not lead to correct analysis. Anyway, the high caste

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people always have high ethics and high morals. They are not sly. Do you doubt it? Please do not and you can also ignore the condemned and insulted life of the Untouchables

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The civil society maintains the caste. The mainstream maintains the caste. The communists maintain caste. See it all in their actions and results not in their innocent and incoherent utterances. All of them are very vocal about equality; a farce it is. Their voices keep on echoing and echoing but equality actually never reaches to the lower strata. The discrimination plays a paramount role in their lives despite the sophisticated charade put on by the others. Is it going to be different in the case of markets? The free market system on which the capitalism, the dominant economic system of the world, rests! Is it going to be fare to the fifth stratum? Before we seek the answer to this trivial question, let us see how the limited affirmative action has worked in India. This is interference by the state in its own sector on behalf of the fifth stratum. This intervention underlines the point that the state has been the biggest ally of the Untouchables despite all its limitations. The implication of the state policies in favor of the Untouchables has been somewhat defective but it has provided relief even if to a limited number of people.

The Constitution of India provides for 15 percent reservations of seats in Parliament and state legislative councils for the people belonging to the scheduled caste category or the fifth stratum for a period of 10 years, which is eventually extended at the end of every tenth year. These reservations have been extended in education and government jobs also which are also renewed every tenth year. These reservations are a matter of rightfully growing resentments in a righteous way among the eternally righteous upper castes. They act nothing but in righteous way, always! We know that such resentments are always justified in a dharmic way with a little bit of arguments thrown about the meritocracy. The main aim is to maintain Dharma - the subordination of the low castes to the high castes. The traditional monopolists who try to maintain their hegemony, suddenly, they find the virtue of open competition when it comes to the reservations.

These reservations were given for the wrongs done in the past. These facilities were, actually, provided as a compensation for the thousands of years of social, economic and educational crippling

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of these people. The deprivations crippled these people socially, politically, religiously, economically and mentally. The society actually goes on to deprive and cripple these people, actively, with no qualms or guilt. These reservations were, initially, provided for ten years in the hope that within this time span the Untouchables would catch up with the mainstream and become independent. However, such grossly unrealistic hopes were belied because even one man cannot come up in ten years and it was a question of millions of people. Thus, there was a need to extend them. This need stands there ever since. This may not last forever but the political compulsions and a need to show the liberal face of India to international community contribute in their continuation. These were the compelling reasons behind the limited affirmative action..

One additional factor for their continuation is that they provide a kind of safety valve to satisfy the aspirations of the educated Untouchables, which avoids the possible social tension and a resultant violence, another compelling reason. This threat to peace has been perceived in the scriptures also; the visionary they were. Another piece of compelling reasons! The development of a community having millions of members is a long drawn out affair and cannot be done in a small timeframe of ten years.

The universal franchise was also mooted at that time. These two changes were in direct contrast to thousands of years of tradition and culture of the Hindu society. The third such thing was the free distribution of land to the Shudra tillers due to land reforms. These three reforms (the reservations for the Untouchables, the universal franchise and the land reforms) can be said to be the three great achievements of India after the independence. However, the landless Shudras were left out of this process. These three reforms encroached upon the traditional rights and privileges of upper caste Hindus. There must have been some reasons for being so generous, which runs mighty contrary to their history of not sharing even the village water well! The village water well is still not shared. And the altruism in the form of the cow dung grains in wages notwithstanding.

One of the compelling reasons was that the threat of Untouchables leaving the Hindu society was looming large, which could have affected the larger interests of the Hindus. The

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perspective of 20 percent of Hindus joining either Islam or Christianity was not very enticing. A straight forward reduction of 20 percent Hindus might have affected their political representation and hence the chances of power. They were not willing to give up the power they got after nearly 800 years courtesy British. This might have also paved the way to third partition. In this regard, it may also be seen that the Untouchable converts to other religions stood to forfeit their right to reservations. Thus, this might also be seen as a plug to stop the outward flow of Hindus. This prevented the conversions. The actual threat was dented to take the fangs out of it. The reason for the land reforms which distributed land to tillers for free, might be that those people who stood to lose their land (after due compensation) had actually sided with the British thus losing the sympathy of the freedom fighters. Again it was a safety valve to give vents to aspirations of the tillers whose dissatisfaction with the rulers might have created a lot of problems. One more factor was that the powerful landlords might have given a tough fight in election considering the resources and people at their command. It was necessary to take out the tillers away from them to prevent the landlords from acquiring political strength.

Why these safety valves were necessary? For this, we have to see the world after the French revolution, the Russian revolution and the Chinese revolution where the elites were wiped out. The ferocity and terror engulfing these events terrorized the would be rulers of India. This pushed up the possible cost of survival for the elites, which forced them to cede some place to the lower strata. They could further maximize their superiority only at a certain and proven cost. They were living in a modern world! These people being in minority had received modern education and had a very high level of intelligence. They remembered the modern history well and knew the rule that those who forget the history are condemned to repeat it. It was realpolitik. However, some people consider it as a matter of charity and compassion of unknown proportions toward the very weak. But until now their history shows that they never possessed all these attributes. We need to find the reasons for such a generosity somewhere else. They needed to find some ways to pacify the radicals and would be radicals in the lower two permanently

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exploited strata forming the majority. They needed to find a way to contain the sleeping anger of the sleeping majority. This they did.

However, there are some objections to the policy of reservations. These objections have mainly come from the anguished and mentally tortured portion of the resourceful community of the upper castes. The reservations adversely affected the resourceful people who have everything in society and economy. They find that they have been discriminated against by the policy of reservations. Their rightful jobs and education seats are being taken away by the undeserving candidates from the lower strata who do not want to work hard and earn their seats through merit. This is a democratic system and such a system of reservations is against the fundamental equality provided by the Constitution. Anything, which happened in the past, is none of their concern. The crippling of people did not matter. The accumulated injustice still having its pernicious and insidious effects is not matter of their concern. The past is past and let us look at the future and move forward; this attitude leaves a crippled majority behind; the past cannot be ignored as long as its effects last. They are supposedly interested in making a meritorious and efficient India. The social justice and the atrocities are none of their concerns. Paralyzing 20 percent of Hindus is none of their concern. The collective boycott by resourceful community of lower castes is none of their concern, a grossly irrelevant issue. The caste system, which favors them, is supposedly non-existent. That they have all their own selectors in all the fields is none of their concerns. These selectors who select the people from upper castes do not enter into their calculations. Their future is at stake and only that matters. Of course, it is all in the name of making a meritorious India. The reservations promote the inefficiency in the system and frustration in the upper caste candidates. It promotes laziness and laggardness in the candidates from the reserved category. The commitments and sincerity of honest, bright and brilliant upper caste candidates are punished. It creates the brain drain from the country. The open market system is the best, which does not take into consideration the caste of a participant. All the participants are equal - but some are more equal than others - see the caste tells. The reservations promote the conflict, alienation and uneasiness among the different categories of people in any institute or office. This comes from the mouths of

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people enjoying thousands of years of affirmative action! The little thing they forget that the upper caste arrogance is a disparaging show of disparaging disunity in the Hindu society. The reverse discrimination is not the way to help these people. Cripple the people and what remains is yours. Keep them crippled and what remains is yours. These people should be helped through scholarship etc.; in other words, these wretched people should stay where they were until historically honest, moral and ethical upper caste selectors select them out of charity and compassion for the lower most jobs. You must see how many Untouchables are there where the jobs are not reserved for them; it would assure you of the honesty, sincerity and unbiasedness of the upper caste selectors who are free from any kind of low-level prejudice. They are high caste people with high ethics and high morals; they cannot be accused of having low-level prejudice fit only for the scum of the earth. If Untouchables are not found there then it means that these people are not fit for such higher kinds of jobs. They were also not selected, historically, due to the closed gates policy. The lower level people cannot be free of any kind of prejudice. Only high-level people can do it because of their cultured upbringing which does not include any iota of hate. How naïve one can be! Hopefully, the slyness is not embedded or fused in their altruistic ideas of the low caste emancipation. How could the slyness be attached to high caste people with high ethics and high morals? Simply it cannot be. Now do not ask for an honest answer.

A further important point is raised by the upper caste candidates. Why should they suffer for the wrongs committed by their forefathers? A point indeed - nobody should suffer for the crimes not committed by him. The justice demands it. Additionally, it is perfectly logical. If it is not logic on their side then it is the great sublime cultural heritage. They always find something to fall back upon; they are very resourceful people. Sly? Not sly at all - these high caste people! However, the point raised by them is very reasonable. The present generation of the upper castes should not be punished for the ghastly crimes committed by their dastardly ancestors. Oh sorry - they should not be punished for the small trivial acts of their esteemed, intelligent, moral, spiritual, ethical, honest, pious and pure ancestors who have left a great cultural heritage for their future generations, which touches the heights unknown to the mankind.

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However, through this argument they disown their own forefathers. They are dissociating themselves from their ancestors. This kind of dissociation is not allowed by the Hindu society. A Chamar is always a Chamar since his forefathers were Chamars. A Bhangi is always a Bhangi since his forefathers were Bhangis. A Periah is always a Periah since his forefathers were Periahs. It is ordained by the Hindu society. There are born Varnas and born castes. The Indian Constitutions forbids untouchability but it hardly matters. If a Chamar wants to disown his forefathers then he is not allowed. If a Bhangi wants to disown his forefather then he is not allowed so. His identity will always be that of his forefathers. Now the pillars of society want the privilege of disowning the forefathers for themselves. What the world is coming to? How low the things are going to go? Sure, they will have to suffer for thousands of years in hell for disowning their forefathers but that is none of our concerns. They want to cut themselves off from their ancestors' atrocities but still enjoy the facilities provided by the foundation created and resources accumulated by their ancestors because of their privileged caste positions. Actually, it is a part of great civilization with its great cultural heritage. This great cultural heritage always seems to have benefitted the permanent castes at the top. It dislikes the lower two strata. And it even goes hating and making some people Untouchables. The present generations of the upper castes do not want to be known as the inheritors of the oppressors, tormentors, slanderers, killers, sly conmen, devious deviser and permanent cruel exploiters. But the accumulated exploitation persists.

Then again the question is that why should the present generations of lower strata should suffer for the misdeeds of the ancestors of the present generation of the upper castes. Why, indeed, why? The present generations of low castes have to suffer because the damage done to their community by the glorified ancestors of present upper castes was permanent in nature. The social network that harms them is permanent in nature and it is not in their hands; it is in the hands of the upper castes. Anyway, when the disabilities were imposed on the basis of group, by one group on another group, then the group can be held responsible as long along it is in existence. The individual may die but the group may persist. If one entity exists then it can be held responsible for all the misdeeds done

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by it. The castes as separate entities still persist. One man in the past simply did not kill the other in a one sided manner. But the whole community was deliberately paralyzed. May be nobody cared in this compassionate society! The damage did not end with the demise of the two persons concerned, in the past. It enclosed the Untouchables in state of permanent degradation and the Shudras at a little less level of degradation. It was proudly and gloriously carried forward. No guilt, no responsibility, and a clear conscience shines brightly with the unimpeachable integrity - the purely Dharmic. Was it not? The merit reigns supremely as it reigned supremely in the times when the Untouchables were not allowed to read, not allowed to carry the arms, not allowed to own the property. The merit reigned supreme in the closed gates of Varna Dharma. All the positions of crucial importance were occupied by the upper castes from where they guided the wretched destinies of others - in a downward spiral through the dungeons having thorns. The reasons, for unimpeachable merit residing safely and securely within the fort of the Varna Dharma, are not known. Usually the merit does not need protection. But here you will develop doubts, please don't. In the traditional Hindu society and its network, the powerful people require the protection, not the weaklings. The sublime traditions man, the sublime traditions, the sublime crippling traditions! What to do? But then the ancestors of the upper castes were very intelligent. They knew what was to be done. Paralyzing whole communities was not below their ethics or morality; very ethical and very moral; not sly at all; not crooked at all. That is what the Varna Dharma has to teach. They always had high level of ethics and morality bereft of any slyness. There should be no doubt about it and they will surely do it in the future. This should be taken into account whenever any assessment is made.

The upper caste people do not understand the concept of crippling deprivation because they have never experienced it as a community. Both the Muslims and the British made peace with them and used them as conduit to further their own interests. They are living in a society which actively, vehemently and as a matter of principle, deprives the Untouchables of social, economical and political opportunities and leaves them surplus barely sufficient for their sustenance that is very near to starving level. The starving and

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weak people are a boon for the welfare of the divine Dharma. The source of this is the divinely ordained Varna Dharma devised by the pious and pure lawmakers. It neatly fits in their present preference for the open market system based on the efficiency and merit. The starving people without the network cannot be efficient. The same society goes on deliberately providing opportunities for the high caste privileged people on a lavish and permanent scale irrespective of the system. And the insulted majority is born to serve them. The privilege of walking freely on the streets of villages is not available to every fifth Hindu. It requires them to be born in a different caste. Taking birth in any caste should have been a voluntary process; but God, out of his absent mindedness, forgot to make it so. Instead, God created the lawmakers who created the Varna Dharma, Karma hypothesis and the purity paradigm, which condemned the majority of people to substandard life, dharmically. These people are preferred in the market place does not mean that others are also accorded the same extraordinary privilege. Certainly, the market is much more important than the village streets. The rules, which are applicable to the village streets, must strictly be applicable to the market also. The impurity cannot move into pure homes through the route of markets. Such a backdoor entry is strictly disallowed. What a shame backdoor entry through markets, we knew these heathen people have vicious and devious minds. These low caste sly people always think in sly terms like backdoor entry! God forbid what is going to happen.

Disabled God, the innately superior upper castes, the dogs, the lowly Shudras, the wretched Untouchables, the crippling society, the temple, the village, the market, the water, the distribution of resources, the education, the money matters and the servility persist at the same time; the discriminating system is omnipresent. How much God benefits out of it, is still to be calculated. Somebody has to do this tedious and aDharmic job. God must have gotten awfully rich but He has no need for any kind of riches, by definition. So where have such riches gone? Nobody knows! Nobody dares to know! Here the cowardice emerges as a pious attribute, people take pride in possessing such cowardice and it is also gospelled as one of the gracious elements of the great sublime Indian cultural heritage. See! Nobody asks a question! The infamous hell is waiting for the people who dare to ask the ultimate use of their hard earned money

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given for religious purposes. They will be born as leeches and worms in their next lives. Most of the time, their money and labor go to fill the coffers of the permanent exploiters. The soul never dies. But, this unpunishable soul must be punished for such questions. Sometimes unpunishable soul is cut, burnt and boiled in hell - punishing something which cannot be punished! The religious cowardice and the religious unanswerability are the glowing features pervading in their respective segments, the cowardice in the lower and the unanswerability in the upper.

However, we were talking about the market and the Untouchables. The open market is the place where merit, efficiency and hard work are rewarded. The faceless market is the dictum of modern capitalism. And the upper castes insist on this. There must be some catch because these people have denied others the benefit of any such open system for thousands of years; they have always closed the doors of their system to others - yet these people want open markets!!! Every one of them is a gatekeeper to maintain the guard over these doors. There must be some catch! There is. The catch is that society doubles as the market. The faceless market has caste face. The Hindu market or generally the Hindu distributive system follows the rule - to each according to his caste. The discriminating society doubles as the discriminating market - simple Varna Dharma. The depriving society doubles as a depriving market. The crippling society doubles as the crippling market. The deprived sections of society remain the deprived sections in the market. Remember a manual excreta scavenger cannot run a teashop where his caste is known, the market forces will soon force him to close it, and Dharma will be served. Any talk of open competition in a closed gates society is the nonsense reaching for its highest peak. A feeling of flying high in sky would run through the higher strata. It confirms their high status.

The market forces, clearly, reveal the belief of the mainstream in the non-existence of caste or the irrelevancy of caste; only the merit matters! In the areas, which are ruled by the market and not affected by the policy of reservations, the presence of the Untouchables is almost zero. There the Untouchables are as existent as the non-existent caste. Only the upper castes and the upper castes prevail there; the preferred castes in the preferred segments; be it the

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agrarian economy or be it the industrial economy. To each according to his caste - and nobody believes in caste! Just a historical coincidence!!! And there are too many coincidences. No caste forces at work!!! No caste effect! The non-believers in the caste from the mainstream are found concentrated in the crucial areas. No entry for the lower castes. Period.

The unofficial collective boycott of the lower castes prevails along with the collective non-cooperation. Any opportunity is killed before it makes a call on the doors of the Untouchables; if it manages to enter their houses then it is brought out and killed. Any more fairness would be harder to find. The opportunity waits for nobody; the killed opportunity cannot wait for anybody. Dharma looks brazenly at the sight of the plight of the Untouchables. A kind gesture! As a matter of decency, and because of the fear of the law, very few people from the upper castes make a voice about the unofficial collective boycott of the Untouchable. Further, if they do so then the myth of efficient and merit oriented market system would be broken. The merit to enter in their haloed circles has to be acquired by birth. The absence of Untouchables from such spheres is supposed to be a natural state. Their birth disqualifies them from entry in such open places; the places supposed to be open. The game ends before it starts. The presence of the Untouchables in the academic sphere, mass media, business and corporate sector is almost negligible. There are standing and unofficial instructions in the corporate sector that no Engineer or MBA from the fifth stratum is to be employed; the closed gate policy; the caste effect, the purity effect, the hate effect. The mercantile castes also contribute all their might to maintain Dharma. Earlier their contributions to defend the Dharma were mainly limited to practice of untouchability and the donations to the temples. With the development of industries and expansion of the markets, the major contributions to upholding of Varna Dharma are now made by the mercantile communities. There are clear cut unwritten instructions and the crisp whisperings that the opportunities to Untouchables should not be given; the killed opportunities cannot cry. If any opportunity which is above the caste status of the Untouchables knocks at their doors then it is kept away by the high caste people by making a stone wall between the opportunity and the Untouchables and no means are despicable for

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such a holy purpose. The techniques used for this purpose are not always clear and known only to high caste people. The outsiders rarely come to know about these techniques. The whispers, the curious eyes and insulting looks and then follows the direct or indirect denial of entry. The deprivation of the Untouchables in the open market system should convince anybody of the constricting hold that the Varna Dharma is having over the people where nobody misses a chance to defend it; and when required to deny it; they deny it. It is a holy work. And it is holy to deprive the Untouchables of any would be share in the market. The lowly do not deserve to have a chance to accumulate anything in their lifetime. They should limit themselves to lowly paid manual jobs. In this situation, their tears develop tears and the weeping begets weeping. Dharma brazenly looks on. Its work is being done! And they are good only for the leftovers.

The villainous nature of the impure and famished people goes against the virtuous and crippling nature of pure people. The famished situation and low status of the impure people gladdens the hearts of the crippling pure people. A chill moves up the spines of pure people whenever a thought creeps up that the Untouchables want something more than their crippled lives. Their minds do the calisthenics and more convoluted theories are thrown up by the fertile minds and data thrown up by the made up methods. All this is to keep Untouchables in their place. Any desire of the Untouchables stands to be the victim of executioners, suffocaters, misleaders, boycotters, and is ultimately doomed to die the way the Dharma wants it. Chopped in a choiceless world - it is, for some.

In academics, all the Untouchables related studies are done by the upper caste people. All the reporting on atrocities on Untouchables, are done by the upper caste reporters or journalists, and from their point of view - the most authentic in Hindu society - the authenticity matters, not the objectivity - anyway that would be asking for too much from the intellectually dishonest people. The Untouchable manager in the corporate sector is nowhere to be seen. And any covert entry by an Untouchable is bound to rebound on him only. In most cases it may result in immediate revocation. In other cases the carrier stops then and there which means no further promotion. Similarly are the missing Untouchable engineers from the

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private sector. It is in spite of existence of a large pool of educated MBAs and Engineers among the Untouchables due to reservation policy in education.

Actually, the caste gives such a bounce to high castes that the low castes should always be ready to be trounced by them in any field. They can have hope only in the fields where the high castes are not interested. The weight of caste weighs down the shoulders of the impure people.

Normally, the Untouchables get lowly paid and irregular jobs. One reason is that they do not have required skills and education for better-paid jobs; they are not allowed due to an enforced penury. Secondly, they got the lowly paid jobs because there is no competition from the upper castes. For them it is easier to get the jobs in the traditional occupations of their Jatis. In other word, it is easier for them to get the unclean jobs, which nobody else is willing to do. The polluted jobs for polluted people - a perfect fit for the market as well as society. Both the purposes are served at the same time. This points out the value of society doubling as market. The economy is in perfect harmony with the society. This alignment is crucial to Dharma. These jobs are unclean and they have heredity birthright over such jobs. This encloses them in a space where they actually do not want to stay. This is called job security by the esteemed defenders of the Varna Dharma or the caste system. However, this security of job does not get translated into the ability to make both the ends meet - respect or no respect. The traditional jobs cannot remove the poverty of Untouchables. An Untouchable is normally unwilling to do such jobs but he has to because other jobs are closed to him. Remember the closed gates and the forcing caste effect. The society follows him into the market also. Even with this job monopoly over the unclean jobs, they cannot make a respectable living. If they are able to ward off the hunger then it is a miracle.

The demand for goods and services in the unclean sector is not sufficient to provide the full time employment to one fifth of the labor force. This is not feasible in any kind of society or economy. Actually, it is a grand mockery of the market system and the so-called division of labor. Well, the enforced non-transferable division of labor. The caste system’s so-called labor specialization (the non-transferability of the jobs across the castes) is nothing but indirectly

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enforced disabling and crippling monopoly. The freedom is the first casualty here; it dies a horrible death here; one is not free to choose jobs. This is actually a monopoly on indirectly forced duties. See, the monopolies on duties!!! You and your children shall do the dirty jobs and no one else; got the monopoly; all right. Nobody else is willing to do the degrading jobs. Nor anybody would buy your services or goods if your heredity job is polluting and degrading. This is the monopoly which does not benefit the monopolist! The benefits of forced monopoly belong to somebody else!

After all, the twenty percent of the Hindu population belongs to the Untouchables. So how much demand can be generated for their unclean products? The answer is - not enough. Not enough to remove the poverty of 20 percent of the population. Therefore, within the caste monopoly over such dirty jobs, there is a huge oversupply of labor, which outstrips the demand by a large extent. The resultant oversupply leads to hugely depressed wages or payments for such jobs. This leaves all of them in poverty and hunger, barely able to sustain themselves; this weakening of the lower strata was the intention of the unimpeachable and noble lawmakers having sublime thoughts. This pushes the Untouchables toward other jobs. At the most, the jobs they get in rural areas are in the form of the casual labors in the village fields - jobs inside the houses are closed to them. The jobs they get are highly pedigreed-job - only very talented and skilled people knowing rocket science can cut the grass, dig and plough the field! For this, the labor specialization is needed! In other words they get the lowest paid jobs. They are also found in the hard and difficult jobs which others are normally unwilling to do so. Their traditional jobs are not sufficient to fill their hungry bellies in their skeleton system, which is very evident - a trivial issue for the high caste people. The economics of their jobs does not allow them to live a life without starving. Therefore, finding the solution of their problems within the Varna Dharma is impracticable contrary to the opinions of the defenders of the Hindu society and the Varna Dharma. Even their survival is not possible; dignity or no dignity - is another matter. How the Untouchables are going to make a living? They do it, as usually, at the mercy of the upper castes, by working in their land and factories and getting the leftovers or the pittance. The Untouchables have to take the

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employment outside their traditional and dirty jobs out of surviving necessities even if they are not interested in dignity. If they are skilled but uneducated then they can get better jobs provided the employer is unaware of his caste. If he is educated and gets employment in the private sector in a better-paid job, then it is all right as long as his caste is not known. But the moment his caste is known, he is shown the gate. The manner in which he is dismissed off depends on the nature of his employer. He may be told politely that he is not required. Or a few abuses, direct or indirect, may be added. The mercantile castes and other traders have a divine Dharma to uphold; they shall not be found wanting in this department. They do their caste duty dutifully, with all the piousness added. And there is no caste discrimination. Or there is?

Therefore, the education of an Untouchable is of little use if he is unable to get a government job. His entry to open market is artificially restricted. The caste effect comes between him and the market. It is demeaning for a Vaisya to employ an Untouchable in a highly paid job. Any such Vaisya, who gives an Untouchable a highly paid, is bound to take birth as a lizard in his unconformable next life. It is aDharmic. It is anti-traditional. It is anti-cultural in this land of great cultural heritage. Therefore, everybody avoids employing the Untouchables in highly paid jobs. After all, the purity of goods has to be maintained. Also they cannot earn more than others do; insubordination; to each according to his caste. Remember, they were not given the tilling jobs, as that would have made them a better earner than the Shudras thus violating the pious, pure and divine Dharma. How could those who were not allowed to enter the temples earn more than those were allowed to enter? There has to be some dharmic justice! There has to be some logic of privileges. The privileges are caste related. The lower the caste, the lower are the privileges. The lower the caste, the lower is its social space. The heathen and polluted should not earn more than the impure Shudras. In that case earning more than the higher castes relative to them is not possible. The social forces, which double up as economic forces, deny this over and over again, like croaking of frogs - well, these forces have form and do croak on the national and international platforms. The upper castes deny the existence of casteism also. Controlling the resources of society and economy was not meant for

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the Shudras and the Untouchables. Money mattered but the control mattered more. The control made possible the transfer of wealth from the Vaisyas and the Kshatriyas to the truthful, noble and honest lawmakers.

Let us consider what is merit? The real merit is the result of a complex process of opportunities, resources, abilities, inclination and environment of an individual. A caste with more effective opportunities and resources is going to be more meritorious than others. And a caste with low on effective opportunities and resources is going to be less meritorious. And, if the lowest stratum produces real merit (coming to this stage is a Herculean task) then it can be killed by ignoring it and by closing the doors of a decent livelihood. And these opportunity killing people are bothered about the nation! They are the patriots! Beats my small head! Anyway, the brilliancy breeds brilliancy. No competition, please.

The merit, generally, means the capability to perform better than others on a comparative basis. There is another way to define the merit, which is the time honored and traditional method of this subcontinent. If a selector selects a candidate then he is meritorious. The caste-ineligibility weighs heavily against the Untouchables. Now what happens to a sincere honest and hardworking educated candidate from the fifth stratum when he competes for the jobs? He gets squarely beaten by the more meritorious general category candidates. Right? Not really. What actually happens is that sometimes he does get selected. The upper castes are not exactly overflowing with the grey matter. The real brain shows itself in utmost rare appearances even among the elites of the intelligent people. There may be differences due to various factors. But a large difference only on the basis of grey matter is a rarity. Even among people with excellent caliber, the real brains are infrequently seen. However, the brains capable of making a complicated machine, which is already made, are abounding. These mighty intelligent people, who sometime are genius, are responsible for running the machinery or grasping the ideas produced by others. Their grasping power is very high. Their capacity to make the world go round through their hard work and ideas is huge. But the real brain is real brain; it is very rare.

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Coming back to a selected Untouchable candidate for a well-paid job, we find that he gets fired after sometimes, and it coincides mainly with the awakening of the impartial management his caste and its implication to Dharma. The ceiling for his promotion is set then and there. The man is going to rot in the same position all his life until some eventuality takes place. The upper castes are the selectors, jury, referees, umpires and managers. And what not! When so many controlling people are fighting on the side of the upper caste candidates then it is tough for them to lose. O’ God, bless the caste system. The unwanted people do not get entry in the privileged places where the bread is buttered on both the sides. However, the educated Untouchable youths are found doing their traditional jobs even with good qualification. Their presence in respectable jobs is forbidden. In other words, the charade of the open markets allows them to take part in the selection, but the farce of selection and its subsequent part forces him out. There are caste-better candidates than him; he stands no chance. Thus, they are excluded from the market. They are deprived of their rightful source of livelihood. The Untouchables are always at the end of employment queues, they will be selected when the queue is very short and the employer is not getting anybody else. This is a scenario where the educated Untouchable youths are likely to be hired last and fired first. For the upper caste candidates it is first in and last out. The Untouchables are pushed back the employment queues through the lateral entry of the high caste people through the social network. The dejected spirit makes legs heavy. And they wander from here to there.

There is no problem as long as an Untouchable is competing for the jobs where other competitors are of his kind. He is pretty well tolerated and even sometimes he becomes a prime commodity because of his unmatched skills at that level. Here his merit and efficiency will work. But the moment he competes at a higher level or where only upper caste candidates should go, his merit becomes meaningless. There is a social environment where the merit of upper caste is merit but not that of others. The social environment is burdensome to Untouchables. Firstly, one has to qualify. If one is not from the proper birth then he is summarily disqualified. His merit, if any, is simply thrown into the dustbin. He can go and show his merit where such kind of market and society is there, not the

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caste-oriented market. He cannot have merit in the market which is in harmony with the caste system and is a part of delicate social fabric. Thus if a meritorious Untouchable does not have a chance in the upper caste job market then what chances do average Untouchable candidates have? Well, almost insignificant. And this may force them to go back to their traditional occupations, which are already overcrowded. Or they might try their luck in the unskilled labor market. The lower level unskilled market is always open to them. Anyway, it is difficult to make both the ends meet there also. These types of movements of the market forces are a direct reflection of the nature of social forces. The presence of Untouchables is negligible in the areas not covered by the reservation policy. Actually, they are almost non-existence in such areas. Promoting Untouchable talent in any area is aDharmic. The selectors are answerable to the call of the Varna Dharma, extended caste kinship and responsible for maintenance of their superiority. The superiority can be maintained only by killing the low caste talent. The superiority of pure and powerful people should be maintained by paralyzing others. It is very fair since it is ordained by the divinely ordained crippling Varna Dharma, and, that which is divinely ordained can only be fair. The Varna Dharma effectively pushes out the competition; it has no place there. Incidentally, God, by definition, cannot be unfair. The unfairness has to originate from sources within this world. The artificial closed gates have to be opened artificially. The natural market system cannot work since the entry is closed.

A large number of upper caste students pass their 12th grade examination in third division, which is a proof that a stork's visit to upper castes is not the harbinger of arrival of a brain of inordinate efficiency. Their superiority is not a product of open competition. It is a product of a closed-door monopoly. A is superior and B is inferior. That is decided and settled. And E is a dunce fit enough to do the lowest level jobs from generation to generation. That is also settled, traditionally, and is a part of great unimpeachable cultural heritage. Needless to say that it cuts across the generations.

There are standing and strict unofficial instructions in the Indian Corporate world that any Untouchable is not to be employed as a Manager or on any well paid job. A Hindu is fused with his caste

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purity or impurity; these things cannot be taken apart. The Vaisyas are not very far behind in upholding Dharma. Actually, it is hardcore casteism. The Varna Dharma is upheld not only in social dealings but also in the true sense. They understand it better than the sociologists and experts on the caste who treat the Varna Dharma as a social phenomenon only; this is counting the trees and missing the woods. The Vaisyas are strictly vegetarians, on dharmic basis, and in this respect, they strictly follow the pure and pious Brahmans. However, to appear as non-casteists, they are in a permanent state of denial of the existence of efficient educated Shudras and Untouchables. And this denial state seems to be irreversible - a fait accompli. The modern liberal world does strange things to people. It forces people to hide their true cultural feelings. The denial of caste acts as a camouflage for their true feelings. Well, see the actions and the results, not their incoherent or coherent utterances about any irrelevance of caste or their non-belief in it. The actions are more reliable; and the words, you cannot be sure about them!

So long as the selectors are from the upper castes, the value of Untouchable merit is a cipher. Historically it has never risen more than worth of dirt in their eyes and the same state of affairs is likely to be maintained in the future. They think that dustbin is a proper place for it. They could have kept it to that level but for the arrival of the modern world with its enlightenment and revolutions. The efficiency of twiceborn is the result of thousands of years of privileges provided to them by the closed doors of the caste system resulting in the privileged monopoly. They are the privileged beneficiaries of the caste-based monopolized functions. The brilliancy breeds brilliancy within the closed gates. The bravery breeds bravery within the closed gates. The business acumen breeds business acumen within the closed gates. And they fell to adharmic warriors and traders! They reserved all the controlling jobs for themselves. They have not enjoyed the reservations only for 2 percent of the period of 2500 years. And they are the most vocal opponents of the reservations for the weaker sections of society. The present reservation is wrong but their ancestors who were the privileged beneficiaries of their own system of birth-based reservation were divinely right. They were all great. And the earlier reservations were part of the great cultural heritage as a scientific

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division of labor, not the indirectly forced harmful and crippling monopoly on others. They pushed out the competition from their circles - that is Varna Dharma effect. Only the present reservations are unscientific. The eternal beneficiaries of a closed system advocate an open system! This closed and stable system is supposed to be the cause of their and civilizational survival for the thousands of years, and not the insulated cowardly villages and their ghastly caste Panchayats. This closed system has been praised for its stability. The stability is more important than the condemned lives of millions of people. This praise has generally come from the elites from the different cultures in the world. May be these elites miss the safety provided by the caste system to Hindu elites and they desire it for themselves. There is no tradition of rewarding the merit of a man in the Hindu society; there is no earned merit; there is only caste merit in the traditional India. The majority being impure is not qualified for the rewards. Only purity can be rewarded. However, it would be interesting to note that how their (upper castes') efficiency is affected once they are totally deprived of social, economic, educational and political opportunities. Or suppose all of them become crippled at the same time…

Those who are Untouchables in society are also Untouchables in the market. The competition may be open to them but not the selection. The job market is closed for educated Untouchables and those who are getting education. Thus, the upper caste meritocrates insist upon open system because this will keep them away at some distance from these heathen people. They will not have to suffer the ignominy of working with the people from the fifth stratum like their kinsmen in the government sector. They can select their own good kind of men and work with them and live in solitude and serenity.

The efficiency of upper castes is clearly seen in the areas where there is no reservation. Take the case of sports where there is no reservation. Therefore, this is a merit based system. So the selections are naturally made on merit. Now if the proponents of the open merit based system are to be believed then their efficiency in this area must be unbeatable. These proponents are the proud possessors of God created unbeatable merit and unbeatable efficiency. They got it by birth. It is fused in them. Of course, it

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needs no reminder! Their uncounted defeats and abominable performances in the international arena are legendry. They are the shining part of statistics. If these statistics were in the control of the upper castes then these would be erased. Their proven unbroken timid failures make apparently no dent on their unrepentant claim on unbeatable divine efficiency. These strange meritocrates would come up with convoluted explanations, which would not be connected with their superior castes whereas the inefficiency of lower castes would always be related to their castes. Their God created unbeatable superiority depends upon so many factors. But the inefficiency of lower caste is absolute. The only troublesome point here is that the born superiority is also absolute, it does not depend upon the external factors. It is unbeatable under any conditions. Therefore, no reason can be extended to explain its failure. If it is fallible then it is not born or absolute – somebody is clearly lying. All these efficiencies were born in the closed privileged segments. And these efficiencies crumbled when faced the Islamic onslaught and the British imperial designs. The born merit fell on its face. Now they crumble in the arena of international sports. The caste merit falls on its face. They are efficient only when faced with the resourceless Shudras and the Untouchables; it is a matter of great pride. The sacred and pure Dharma is upheld. The great Varna Dharma was of no consequence when countering the non-assimilating foreigners. The martial strides turned into trembling knees when faced the invaders. And the invaders and the colonizers were cow-eaters!!!

There has been hardly any gold medal for India in Olympics for decades. If one goes by absence of inefficient reservation system in sports, then every thirty-sixth Olympic gold medal should have been decorating the Indian homes and that is minimum, actually it should be all the medals - after all the divinity designed them and they cannot be beaten by mere mortals from any corner of the world. If the wishes were horses…

The upper castes, at international level, would like to play in the closed privileged circuit where all the opponents are paralyzed by imposing direct or indirect disabilities on them. All their opponents should be crippled. They would then get all the medals and be proud of their merit, great cultural heritage and their born efficiency, the best players in the world, but this aDharmic world refuses to accept

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them as the world leader (Jagat Guru) and do their bidding. And all the millions of meritorious and efficient upper caste people have not been able to produce any worthwhile Olympic gold medals in the decades. They blame the system. But how could, the system made and run by the unbeatable born superiors, be bad? It is beyond the logical thinking if the assumption of divinely designed superiority is right. A tiger will always kill a rabbit no matter what. A rabbit will never be able to kill a tiger. God created superiority can always beat born inefficiency no matter what are the conditions. God created superiority never gets converted into inefficiency, it never gets beaten, it is unbeatable - that is how I understand it. If born superiority gets beaten by anybody then it is not born superiority. And everything, for example, being born according to the wish of God with the assigned Varna Dharma, is a big lie - the eternal liars; if you are looking for the killed truth then find it here right in the traditional Hindu society. The efficiency in the sports controlled by the upper caste is revealed in the absolutely fantastic performance where the number of medals won need to be counted in imaginary numbers only; ordinary counting would not do the justice. Australians with a population equal to one of the Indian cities get more medals then what the millions of upper caste people can only dream of. This depicts a fundamental superb unbeatable efficiency of the upper caste people. All these upper caste participants are selected on the basis of merit only, barring the instances where upper caste candidates are not available. Or the absence of competition among Hindus for thousands years has killed their merit. So these people with God created unbeatable merit are easily beaten by the normal humans who have no such divine pretensions! It almost amounts to faking the divine origin. The fakers! And out with slyness and crookedness and viciousness and dishonesty! Outwardly not inwardly. Inwardly these attributes are kept in secured vaults of hearts.

The idea of the upper caste people for the development of other castes is that the traditional skills of other castes should be strengthened; so that they remain where they were. It indicates a rotten thinking in the name of tradition and, of course, great cultural heritage and a product of wretched and selfish minds, well slyness is absent here; it is hiding behind the suggestions.

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The meritocrates of Indian Institute of Technology stand at the 460th position in the all-world list of producers of output or knowledge. The efficient Indian private sector produces 0.7 percent of world export markets. No brand of India is known internationally. And these mercantile castes are hell bent on defending the Varna Dharma. Oh, no! I am lying and they are right but the results speak otherwise. Do not go by the words of anybody! Yes, I repeat - do not go by the words of anybody!

There is not much of the original work produced by these proud inheritors of the great cultural heritage (with permanent cruel tendencies to oppress and exploit) and the meritocratic advocates of the open market competition. Here they can rule over largely crippled people.

Whenever the Untouchable candidates are dumped without any reasons then a laugh riot ensues in the upper strata. A laugh riot - a silent laugh riot where the eyes of pure people laugh and talent of lowly people weeps. Happiness amidst tears! It is wanted if former belongs to pure people and unwanted if it belongs to impure people.

The open market system, until the caste system is dissolved, can hardly help the Untouchables because it works as another front of the caste oriented society. The artificial gates created by Varna Dharma on the basis of purity should be demolished and should be countered by granting entries to the Untouchables through artificially created gates. Until the caste effect is present, there cannot be any fairness. They are accepted as buyers but not as sellers in the goods market. Buying goods from them would increase the surplus with them to unacceptable level because that would create aDharmic and anti-social tendencies in them; they should not dare to raise their down ward heads. However, selling them goods, even from a distance, is preferred because it transfers their paltry resources to the mercantile castes. This enriches the dharmic sections of society. However, the opposite does the opposite, movement of money from pure to impure, which is vehemently avoided. One more and very important reason is that their goods are classified as polluted and polluting goods for which there is no market. Remember, a scavenger cannot run a tea shop in the areas where his caste is known. The market forces or a lack of demand would force him to shut the shop. The Untouchables are paid, relatively lower wages and work in,

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relatively worse conditions. It is still not possible in a metropolitan city like Mumbai to run a sweetmeat shop under the signboard "Chamar sweet shop". Their goods can only be sold in the areas where their caste is not known. Or their goods can be sold by others who are caste-wise entitled to sell these kinds of goods. They can sell their milk to the milkman by caste who can sell this milk (polluted and polluting milk!!!) in the market! Their milk is polluted with little value in the market. Thus, they receive a lower price for their goods. Their entry is barred in the houses so they cannot also get construction work in the houses already occupied. They can get work only in the open spaces where their entry is not restricted. In the cities, the conditions are better because they can get work in the factories where only their kind of low caste people are doing the hard labor work of lower categories. In short they do not have the buyers for their labor except in the lower category jobs. They do not have the buyers for their goods except traditional goods. They do not have the capital to gain entry in the market - the Varna Dharma sees to it that they don't. Even if they manage the required capital then it is blocked in the market whenever their caste comes to be known. They just keep on earning their measly living through hard manual labor. This always keeps them at the lowest end of market and at the sustenance level. Dharma is happy. The caste restricts the movement of labor from one sector to another in response to a change in demand. Therefore, the Untouchables artificially remain in their old low paying sectors where labor demand is low and labor supply is high. On the other hand, the more paying areas where demand is high and supply is low are kept reserved for the high caste candidates. The result is the existence of the sectoral monopolies in favor of high castes. The high castes have to get highest paid jobs whether it is agricultural economy or industrial economy - the Untouchables have to make with the leftovers whatever be the technology. Any technology shall not fall in their hands. And the heredity occupations are enforced disabling monopolies in the case of Untouchables. This results in super-normal profits for the high castes and an endless exploitation of Untouchables. This is also called scientific division of (non-transferable) labor with hardly any logical movement of labor. The exploitation of the Untouchables is evident in their pathetic lives and on the other hand in a comfortable life

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style of the upper castes. The socially opposite groups are also economically opposite, a reflection of one's sufferings in others’ comforts. And the causation flows from social to economic as opposed to the Marxism flow. Not the other way round, like in the materialistic interpretation of history where the causation is from economic to social. The elements of great cultural heritage in this should not be forgotten. This great eternal Dharma remains unaffected by the types of economy or the so-called modes of productions. The sectoral monopolies reflect inefficiencies. Incidentally, these inefficiencies are not sought to be removed by the meritocratic proponents of the open market system. They are sitting at the gate of each powerful and profit yielding sector and allow anybody to enter only after verifying the caste. This enquiring is done most of the time indirectly sometimes directly. The indirect means of crippling Untouchables include stopping their payment in cities and poisoning their cattle and destroying their crops at night, if they have any, in villages. This is what necessitates the provision for the affirmative action. The artificial gates are to be created for them in the market system artificially closed for them - the same type of the force set in opposition direction to give the lower strata a chance. Along with artificial gates the spaces to operate are also needed. And this has to be provided until the really logical movements of labor start from one sector to another and across the castes. It should be place where the labor is not identified on the basis of caste. It should be place where the goods are not identified by the caste of sellers or manufacturers. The unfair artificial social barriers to entry are required to be eliminated. By the way, "unfair" - what is that? Never been known in the entire history of the Hindu society and never will be; any discussion on fairness and/or honesty is forbidden. The markets have minds of their own to operate - the superior minds of the unimpeachable pure upper castes. Nobody is known to have broken the hold of the caste over society and from there onto markets. The brilliancy breeds brilliancy. No competition, please, we will push it out.

And the deceitful impure people have forgotten their true calling. They crave for other people's callings, which is clearly forbidden in the Gita! How adharmic and how inharmonious! They cannot hoodwink the pure people into giving them better jobs.

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Therefore, the affirmative action is necessary until the caste system breaks down - and the purity-based evaluation of an individual is killed.

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22. THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

Now we will take up the situation in traditional and now the unofficial Hindu society with respect to rights and claims. The rights and duties for different Varna groups are embedded in the function assigned to them. This assignment was done after the top two Varnas had settled the top positions between them. After that, the residually defined Varnas (the common people) found that the only jobs for them were the menial jobs. The state controlling function went to the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. The non-controlling functions, which were the duties, came in the share of common people. It might have happened in the post-Vedic period when all the Vedas had been compiled and the Varna structure was being crystallized under the social, religious, technical (iron and agriculture were recently introduced) and temporal forces.

The traditional Hindu society does not recognize the rights of an individual. It recognizes the rights and duties of five groups through assigning them specific functions in society. These five groups are - four Varnas and the Untouchables. As we know, the four Varnas in descending order are - the Brahman, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya and the Shudra. The rights of an individual are solely within the rights of his group. If the rights are absent for his group then these are absent for him. He cannot claim them separately.

The group rights or the collective rights have to be different from each other because if all the individuals in all the group have same rights and duties then it means there is only group.

The different functions assigned to different Varnas translate into rights and duties with relation to each other. The controlling functions are the rights and the non-controlling functions are the duties. The rights and duties of any group were unequal which produced inequalities in them which became birth-attached inequalities in the pious hands of the pious lawmakers. The lawmakers turned the rest of the groups into willing asses. A Varna may have rights without any related duties. And also a Varna may have all the duties with little rights. This lopsided allocation of rights and duties is a hallmark of Hindu society. It translates into crippling

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of certain sections of society which do not have any rights or privileges but only the servile duties. It provides some with rights without duties and some with duties without rights - excellent. They cannot be called as being short on the general concept of the rights - otherwise they could not have distributed the rights and the duties under the disguise (veil) of function; the functions contain rights as well duties; some time all sometime none.

The first right, we will consider is the right to make the laws and their subsequent interpretation. The Brahmans were the actual lawmakers behind the thick and dark veil of the Hindu scriptures. The scriptures are said to be directly from the mouth of God (what a crap! God, if any, is going to talk to the exploiters?) and thus followed by the illiterate and religious masses. This thick and dark veil is the most crucial part of the Hindu society which is not clear to the unsuspecting victims. The scriptures came down from generation to generation through the word of mouth until they were written down. It is not known that who gave them the right to frame the laws - may be their paranormal powers did. They formed only a very small group available to interpret the sacred laws which were in the divine Sanskrit language. Thus, they wrote the laws and interpreted them. Rest of the people were kept out of it from the very beginning itself. Then came the king. The exclusive right to coronate kings gave the paranormal lawmakers leverage over kings along with a threat of divine retribution in case of displeasing a Brahman. The Brahmans were the experts at the statecraft also though this statecraft was totally directed to benefit them. Highly rational, it is. The exclusive right to consecrate the idols in temples gave them additional religious leverage.

The right to rule was given to the Kshatriyas from generation to generation till eternity and onward, under the guidance of the Brahmans. The Kshatriyas had to uphold Dharma. Except over the Brahmans, they had the right to rule over other Varna people, the Vaisyas and the Shudras - the lower Varnas. It was a straight superordination by pure over the impure - undiluted Dharma. They controlled all the people except the purest Varna. They protected the Dharma and ruled over the people, according to the interpretation of Dharma by the competent Brahmans – the Dharma came first and the people second. The Vaisyas, the Shudras

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and the Antyajas, they and their any generation cannot rule; those who ruled were assimilated in the Aryan society by granting the Kshatriyahood. The Varna differences had to be maintained. The Kshatriyas were created to rule so they ruled. The order never changed. They had the divine right to rule over others according to divine order created by the Brahmans. It was the Kshatriyas' duty to see that the lower Varna people and the Untouchables were doing their function of subordinates as assigned to them by pure undiluted Dharma which included insulting lower Varnas and Jatis. The Brahmans being the lawmakers, the sacred and pure, were beyond the purview of the king; anyway it would be extremely foolish to expect the lawmakers to make such a law where they were subordinated to anybody. They were answerable only to their creation - Dharma. Great other worldly or renunciating people they were! They obeyed nobody except the laws made by them, which were carefully crafted to look after their interests, eternally. They were the religious, social and extra-political authorities who controlled everything and authenticated everything. Indeed, a parallel and risk-free power center. The vagaries of war like deaths were not supposed to visit them - Brahman slaying was the greatest crime. They enjoyed all the prerogatives without the responsibilities! No, no they were not the harlots! Please, remove acrimonious conceptions from your hearts, if you any. Actually, the harlots have all the rights without duties and it is their prerogative. It does not, not even for a minute, tally with the privileges and responsibilities of the Brahmans. But the "without" may tally. You cannot mix the profane and the sacred.

All the power of state was kept in the hands Kshatriyas and the Brahmans guided them. Actually, the statecraft was impossible without their guidance. The other three groups had no say in power. Last two categories could not expect any protection or justice from the divine state. The animals should not expect anything.

The Shudras and the Untouchables, not having right to property, walked on the land held by others - the higher two Varnas. They lived on the land, which could be called the fiefdom of the higher Varnas. The Shudras and the Antyajas had no right to property - making them useless in the long term. Neither did they have any social and political rights. They had to wait until the arrival

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of the modern world. The Shudras did not have the right to sit or dine with the upper castes. Any such action evoked strong violent reaction from the kings/kshatriyas who punished them for this type of sacrilege.

The lot of the Untouchables was worse. They did not have the right to walk on the village streets (it was not their function); it looks like that the whole of the land was owned by the Brahmans through other castes. The perilous roads were atrocious - gallantly guarding the Dharma. The Untouchables did not have right to draw water from the village well. The water was forbidden for the forbidden people. Everybody callously looks on. Insensitivity was religiously happy, its face shone like a bright sun. They also did not have right to wear clean clothes. They did not have right to talk back or look back. Making eye contacts was disastrous. All this amounted to great insubordination and hence aDharma, which imperiled Dharma. To prevent aDharma everybody took up the arms and saved the Dharma - result - atrocities on the Untouchables. They did not have right to eat in good quality vessels. The Untouchables did not have economic, social, religious, political and judicial rights. All these rights were in the hands of the pure people. In addition, they had a right to life and security as much as a dog or jackal had - well add a cat or worm. They were casually killed for showing a little disrespect or disobedience with no recourse to law. This was a great deterrent which kept them in their place. For them it was a lawless land. You know that the stealth or sly, amoral, unethical, crooked have no place in the dictionary describing the pure people.

The upper castes especially the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas had the permanent right to rule over the Shudras and the Antyajas. The last categories had to be born servants of others and live all their life in the grateful and insulted servitude. The esteemed proponents of defenders of caste system call it a born right to job for lower castes in their benefits - a born right to live at the mercy of permanent and cruel exploiters. Thus, being permanent servants, is in the interests of the lower two strata. That is the cultured view of the esteemed defenders of the Varna Dharma!

The transparency is shrouded by the thick secrecy - the lower castes were not allowed to study Sanskrit and the scriptures in the traditional Hindu society. And the word for both rights and

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duties is function. The functions could be controlling or non-controlling. The less the lower strata knew about the Shastras, more was the foolishness which was prevailing among them. The Dictum works perfectly. The "Word" is truth. Unsurprisingly the transparency in Hindu Dharma is as thick as the thickest layer of the whale lard. It is hidden behind the language of Sanskrit in which the sacred and pious people of put their intentions in black and white and then did not allow anybody to see it (indirectly by not teaching them Sanskrit) and also hid it behind divinity and the threat of divine retribution. Do or else the heaven would be angry and then…

Here we shall assume that the rights exist. This aspect is discussed in more detail in the Appendix. The rights have the effects so they exist. Now is the question where have all the rights gone? The answer to this can be found if we find the answer to question who the lawmakers were and how they were successful. According to us, the rights belong to individuals, and not to society, any other group or groups. Society with its coercive power can take away the rights and restore them but the rights do not innately belong to it. A member of a society has the right to participate in society on equal footing though the rights may not be acknowledged by society or so called vested interests. If an individual in society does not have any right then it means that they have been taken away from him/her. The rights can be taken away mainly in three ways - by snatching, by stealing, by cheating. The way to snatch rights is by the use of force. A conqueror can snatch the rights of the losing side or derecognize them. However, there is no evidence that the Brahmans have used the force to snatch the rights of others, like the right to own property or to walk on the streets. This excludes any bravery on their part. Then there is no evidence that there was an agreement to this effect. There is no record that all the four Varnas joined together and distributed the rights among themselves like the distribution of functions (function in scriptures means rights as well duties) given in Dharma Shashtras. Then there is no evidence that all the people joined together and surrendered their rights to the Brahmans who in turn decided the Varna Dharma. The Brahmans, the lawmakers, how did they implement the Varna Dharma? How did they get past the mighty Kshatriyas? How did they get past the economic might of

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Vaisyas? How did they get past the majority of Shudras? Why did not the Antyajas protest against making their life hell?

The rights have not been snatched. They have been surrendered. But the rights of people are missing. What people see are the crippling disabilities imposed upon them in the forms of extremely strong and malicious don'ts. The lower strata people were paralyzed in the name of Dharma through the functions assigned to them. The people are not even aware that their rights are missing because there is a veil in existence. Their rights have been taken away without their knowledge. These have been amalgamated with functions and taken away. Who does not want to walk on the streets? That only means that their rights have been stolen. And who can steal the rights? Only the lawmakers could do it. They did it silently and stealthily - declaring that the laws (in fact, made by them) had the divine origin. The paranormal veil and the disguise of function worked perfectly. They did not make the laws but made them - the tragically harsh laws for the lower caste people. They were hiding behind the paranormal veil of the pure and sacred Dharma. Many groups were branded as Shudras without their knowledge. Stealth is very prominent, which became enshrined through the system, due to enforced lack of knowledge of Sanskrit, on others. Slyness is not very far behind; it follows very closely. The affected groups never came to know about it because of the veil surrounding the events. It never came to their knowledge. The closed gates and surrounding insurmountable walls and the scriptural veil worked perfectly to create the illusion of divine origin of the laws and the illusion of birth-attached purity, impurity and pollution. The lawmakers stole the right of Shudras and those below them to own property and gave it to higher Varnas, including themselves, on heredity basis. All the time people thought that they were following the word of God while their rights were actually being stolen. They did the stealing under the cover of the scriptures, under the paradigm of purity. They enjoyed the superior most position in society by stealing the right to equality. The emphasis on inequality presupposes the knowledge about the notion of equality. They enjoyed the land grants to them, and the wealth and the land of temples, without putting any efforts in it. This, in fact, means cheating the people out of their wealth by promising them a place in heaven or Vaikunthdham or raising them to the

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Kshatriya level. They also stole the right to education of people, thereby keeping them illiterate and dependent upon them. They stole the right of people to study the Vedas under the cover of purity and sacredness. They stole the right of people to make their own laws under the cover of divinity. If the rights exist and they are not available then somebody should be having them.

The one right, which nobody has, but which is enjoyed by only the Brahmans, is the right to ultimate superiority. The very basic tendency is denied outright to others. Nobody, in any conditions, can be superior to the Brahmans. A Vaisya possessing the abilities of a Newton or an Einstein will never have the higher status than any idiotic Brahman. The least is talked about the Shudras and Untouchables the better it is. The superiority of Brahmans is reflected in their right to marry any woman from any of the lower Varnas but not other way round. It would be greatly dharmic but it actually results in the stolen rights. Additionally nobody has the right to be equal to or superior to the higher Varnas. Thus, there is the provision of forbidding the people from following others Dharma.

When people go and try to locate or find their rights they find none inside the Hindu framework. Even deep inside the Hindu history it does not work. The iota has a better existence than the right of the Untouchables to walk on the streets. And the same goes for the property-owning rights of the lower two strata. All the rights, which are now available to them, are within the framework of the modern world which excludes the traditional society and heritage route. These rights fall outside the Hindu society framework not inside it. The lower two strata are virtually rightless people in the Hindu society and its history.

The shadow of secrecy of shrouds scriptures but the enlightened intentions of the pure people who wrote them should not be doubted. Their wisdom has stood the test of time in the isolated, insulated and ghastly villages with the help of ghastly caste councils. Their kith and kin and coming generations who reaped the fruits of the Varna system should also not be doubted for their intentions.

These lawmakers, the Brahmans, are the people responsible for resulting in stolen rights. They did it by creating the divine origin of scriptures composed by them and making people to believe this

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divine origin of scriptures. They embedded the laws in scriptures in the form of functions. And knowing the statecraft did help. Thus, they are the permanent and traditional thieves of the rights. Swindlers and thieves - these are the right words to describe them. Born respected.

Appendix

A-1

A. THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

A man is a social being. He cannot live without society. The newborn of human society take years to become self-sufficient, until such time they need society's help to survive. Therefore, society is necessary for survival of human kind. All societies can be considered as made up of hierarchies. In a society where everybody is equal may be considered as a society of single hierarchy. It may be a very long horizontal stratum. The nearest of this kind of society was found in pre-agriculture communes. There was only one leader. Even the leader in such societies could not take independent decision because he was dependent on others.

One main factor to be considered is 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 in opposite direction. Equality is the position where there is no relative superiority or inferiority but the desire to be superior to others persists. It may manifest itself in the pursuit of excellence or in the destruction of enemies. It may be seen in the competitiveness of an individual. Those who are able to assert superiority are able to form hierarchy. But there are always people who oppose this hierarchy. From the point of view of an individual, superiority is desirable and inferiority is undesirable. The movement for women liberation can be seen in this light. There is hardly anybody who likes his natural or imposed inferiority. There are many ways of assertion of superiority but may vary from culture to culture

The general trend in history has been toward formation of hierarchies. At the same time this is disliked by the people at lower level. The two opposing forces are working at the same time. This may also explain the emergence of great movements against hierarchy that sometimes led to bloodbath.

An egalitarian society, where there is no high or low, has been the ideal of many thinkers and philosophers for a long time but not been yet fully achieved. It has been very difficult to create such a society in a situation where the members of society are very large in number. The elements of equality have been embedded in varying degrees in the thinking of the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammad,

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Magna Carta writers, the French Revolutionaries, the American Lawmakers, Hobbes, Rousseau, Karl Marx etc., and everywhere it was present in its own way. In fact, it has been an enduring theme of the history. The same idea of equality is supposed to have been provided by the democracy and the communism. There have been great religious and social movements in the quest of equality. It is needless to say that the three great religious movements in this direction have been Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Hinduism has no concept of equality barring its incoherent mumblings about equality. In modern times, the French Revolution and the French Declaration of right of man, the American rights declaration and the American civil war have been great events in the quest for equality. In this, the aim of Russian revolution and Chinese revolution cannot be denied though their kind of equality could not be sustained.

Prior to the discovery of agriculture, the real technicians were the tool and weapon makers. These tools and weapons were made out of stones. This was a rudimentary technology which was easy to learn. The tribes were by and large homogeneous in nature. No basic difference prevailed among the members of tribes. All the members of the tribe were kith and kin. The ordering in such a society was simple. Everybody was equal since everybody possessed more or less similar skills of hunting or gathering. Everybody, including the leader, had to gather/hunt for food since even the leader was not sure whether others would bring enough food back for him. He could not take chance. He advanced to the level of not going to bring the food only when other could bring it for him. It was made possible by the discovery of agriculture.

With the discovery of agriculture the human society was able to produce regularly more than its immediate needs. It was no longer necessary to go every day for hunting or for food gathering to forests. The grains being dry in nature were not immediately perishable like fruits and meat. Thus, food could be stored for a longer period. The development of agriculture technology was, in fact, a revolutionary step of man toward the control of nature. Now the man was no longer chasing the nature in the form of the hunter and food gatherer; he could now control it. The food supply was no longer controlled by the unfathomable acts of nature. Man now could clear the forest, prepare the field, plant the seeds. When the crop

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matured, he could reap and store it. He could clear as much as forest as he needed. This led to a settled life. There was no longer any need to move from place to place in search of food. Now he could live near the land that provided him the food.

A settled life meant that he could no longer act or move in a random manner. Some kind of order was needed. To prevent two men fighting to cultivate the same piece of land, it was necessary to allot them separate pieces of land. It was absolutely necessary to avoid the violence. The internal violence in small tribes was self destructive. The random desire to cultivate any piece of land meant invitation to violence. In case of use of violence, the stronger men pushed the weaker men out of the prime land. It was necessary to identify a man with a given piece of land to maintain peace. The randomness was not going to work; some kind of order was needed; the agriculture itself required an organized way of operating. The continuous identification of a man with a specific piece of land led to the notion of belonging that developed in the notion of private property. Its precursor was the rule that the finder was the keeper. Some authority was needed to implement the order and thus a king like authority emerged which was strong enough to decide the people’s claim on the land. For this, the authority extracted some part of food surplus. This authority also needed warriors who could fight with the marauding tribes who still had not learnt the technology of agriculture. Or the society in question had to agree to give the plunderers a share of the crops whenever they came.

With the discovery of agriculture, the institution of private property came properly into existence. The hunting and food gathering stage required that the small tribes moved, from place to place, in search of food. There could exist only fuzzy territories controlled by any hunting tribes. The privately owned pieces of land could not exist in the hunting stage. This movement of people from one place to another place obviated any need or desire of a man to claim a piece of land as his own. It was not certain that the tribe was going to be back to that place in near future. There was no use of land as private property. The rationality required that no claim of ownership was needed. It yielded nothing that he could use directly. The yield of land was beyond his control. All the food he gathered was from the trees or shrubs that he did not know how to plant. The

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nature planted them for him from place to place in a natural way. He could not claim any particular tree as his own; the tree belonged to the whole tribe. However, one trait was possibly there that prepared the ground for future private property institution. This was the idea that the finder was the keeper. Of course it could be violated by the strong individuals but most of the time finder/s could consume the food and bring the remaining food back for the tribe. The same can be said about the hunting. In hunting, the hunter was the keeper. Later it translated into private property where the first user of the land was usually the owner.

The people responsible for maintaining the order in the society obviously needed a part of surplus produced by the society. This power was a sign of superiority over others. It was also an indication the quest for relative superiority existed. They became the coercive power in society. It was possible since the cultivators were producing more than they required and they needed to live in peace. Obviously, those who controlled people and defended the land were more powerful than the owner-cultivators were. Or the one who had more land came to be more powerful. In a sense the hierarchy was developed. At the top was the man who controlled the men not the land. Through these men he could control the land. With the warriors or soldiers under his control, he could change the ownership of the land. Then there were his courtiers and the owners of the land and then were the actual cultivators. The owner and cultivator could have been the same if the piece of land in question was small. However, if the land was large enough then the owners and cultivators could be different. The cultivators were having lower rankings; they moved according to the coercive powers existing in the society. Naturally, those who were low in ranking had low powers and those high in ranking had high powers. The power decided the ranking or status in the society. Somebody’s power could be known by knowing his status or ranking in the society.

Another powerful group of people, which came into existence, was the group of shamans or the later day priests. They represented the religious forces of those times. Later the religion grew to be an extremely important part of society. These people satisfied the curiosity in the society and supposedly had developed connections with the paranormal powers.

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A man is not only a social being but he is also a curious and thinking animal. He nurtured a fear of unknown powerful natural things. He needs the reasons and the explanations for the events in nature – the best possible reasons – not necessarily the right one – even with elements of belief. The shamans and later religious people were able to convince the people of the supposedly higher live powers behind the natural events and also the existence of life after death. They could also ably convince the people about the causes behind natural events like lightening, rain and other thing by assigning these powers to supernatural entities like the gods. These terrifying natural powers were unknown. Therefore, these people (knowledgeable?) supposedly in contact with the gods and the spirits came to be powerful and thus acquired the authority. The supernatural things had a very important place in the life which was duly taken advantage of. The people who supposedly connected with supernatural powers came to acquire the supposed supernatural powers - the divinity rubbed on them. It was another group of influential people which extracted the surplus from the cultivators for saving them from divine retribution or natural calamities and diseases. Thus, people connected with temporal power and others connected with supernatural powers extracted their share and had the highest status in the society.

However, in ancient times, further labor specialization took place with advancement in technology. Many more occupations came into existence. These new professionals were carpenters, forgers, weavers and potters etc. These people got their share of produce in exchange of their services or goods. These were the lower ranking people similar to the cultivators.

Finally, with an increase in population the demand for agriculture increased which created additional demand for the cultivable land. This gave rise to many conflicts and many wars were fought over the land.

The multilayered society began to develop. There were ruling class, priestly class, cultivators and workers in descending order. However, the state and religion collided with each other, occasionally, but by and large reached to a tacit agreement with each other of mutual non-competition. The papal empire should be kept in mind

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while discounting the role of religion in the society. The history is full of hierarchical societies. This is the main trend of history.

However, the French revolution broke the tacit agreement between political powers and religion and replaced it with the agreement of people in general on the basic equality of individuals. The medieval group of nobles was decimated after which it never returned. The French revolution and the American rights declaration made people equal at least in case of political power. There, the religion was kept out of the sphere of decisively deciding the people’s lives. The religion in Europe and America is deliberately kept out of power. This trend was strengthened with progress on the scientific front. With development of science, the religious leaders were reduced to repeating the religious books and faith while spiritual philosophers were reduced to discussing nouns and pronouns. Such is the power of Science.

The Russian and the Chinese revolutions tried to make people economically equal on collective basis but failed in implementing it properly. The hierarchy developed there too. Economic equality does not seem to go hand in hand with political equality. The United States of America is an example of this. But the economic inequality can easily go hand in hand with the political inequality. The communism, as practiced, gave no political freedom to individuals, and also produced the real economic inequalities among people. There the movers of the resources became the effective owners.

Earlier we have defined all the societies as hierarchal societies. An equal society has hierarchy of degree one. A society has as many degrees of hierarchy as many as strata it has. The pre-agriculture commune system would have a hierarchal degree of one. The caste system in India can be, broadly, said to have a hierarchal degree of five. Actually, it contains more degrees than five when you count the castes in a varna and the sub-castes in a caste.

In any society, a man has a given status. Here, we take the status to be axiomatic in its existence because the status may change with the cultural values of the society. In a changing society, the status may be changing but it is considered to be in existence. In a composite society, again we take the status to be in existence even if

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it is difficult to define it precisely. The existence of multiple cultures makes the status difficult to be defined in universal terms.

Axiomatically, a man has a given status that is always relative. Here the status is defined as the relative ability to move the resources in the society. He is superior to some and inferior to some. At the top end, we have individual/s superior to everybody and at the bottom, we have individual/s inferior to everybody. The natural desire of a man to be superior to others is considered to be axiomatic. That is considered as his natural propensity. The desire to excel is indication of need to be superior or need to be not inferior. So is obtaining a degree from a prestigious university. As per the axiom of propensity to be superior, he has to raise his relative superiority, and reduce relative inferiority. Thus, an individual has the task of minimizing his relative inferiority with respect to people above him and maximize his relative superiority with respect to people below him. He has a double task at the hand because only maximizing his superiority or only minimizing his inferiority may not give the desired result. If he only maximizes his superiority over the lower people then those above him may increase their superiority leaving him worse off. If he minimizes only his inferiority in relation to those above him then those below him may bypass him again leaving him worse off. One cannot have everything. The forces generated through this process may be called the repulsive forces or the conflict forces or competitive forces.

The propensity to be superior led the kings to attack their neighbors to maximize their superiority which was measured by their wealth, and the area and men under their command. Some simply attacked others, simply, to loot the riches and then retreated to their own kingdoms. This asserted their superior status. They were undefeated. They fought for honor, glory and the riches. All are related to status – the ability to move resources including people.

The holy violence can also be used to increase the relative superiority as is seen in case of Jihads, Crusades and the atrocities on the untouchables in India.

A situation might develop where competitive people keep on shifting the goals because everybody keeps on moving. It is a characteristic of a dynamic society. On the other hand, there are societies where nothing moves. In a static society or stable society,

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people are born with their stable and inert lives and then they die – nothing much changes. In between there are societies where dynamism in one section and inertness in the rest; here most of the time the dynamism is found only in the top section of the society while the bottom remains poor and peaceful. Sometimes the bottom may be more dynamic and this may result in a change or a revolution.

Another possibility is that the whole society may move up but the relative position of everybody may remain as it was before the movement. The status quo is maintained. Sometimes, it is done in the name of great cultural heritage, the heritage that actually benefits a few. The ancestors of top few cannot be wrong therefore everybody has to accept the traditionally inferior position except the top few - the inheritance prevails.

For our purpose, we will consider an extremely simple case where the cultural values throughout the society are the same. There, one can easily identify the status of a man. Thus, we can have a relatively simple analysis. In our simple world, the man at the top has to maximize his superiority only since he has no inferiority. The man at the bottom has to minimize his inferiority only since he has no superiority. Raising the status of man is not a simple matter, because it would be opposed by those who are superior to him because it would reduce their superiority. In addition, it would be opposed by those who are inferior to him because it would increase their inferiority. We are not assuming a simple world where everybody goes around happily minding his own business; here we depart from Adam Smith. This relative situation is likely to exist anywhere. The relative situations may be in societies, business organizations, bureaucracies, armies, police etc. It may depend on many factors which we assume to be constants. The status of a man may depend on the cultural, social, economic, political factors. In India, the birth factors are more important than other factors. In America, the economic factor is more important. In China, the hierarchy within communist party is more important. The acquisition of education, wealth, political power and bureaucratic position are some of the ways of reducing the inferiority and increasing the superiority – all it means a relative increase in the ability to move the resources. A relative lack of them works backwards in loss of status or increased relative inferiority.

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However, in a dynamic society, where everybody is mobile it becomes a strange kind of world. This is the world where everyone has to keep running to stay in the same relative place though the absolute increase in the position has taken place. In such a situation, maintaining the status or improving it can be quite a complex task. The people, who are engaged in any warfare, where luck changes every day and situation is extremely flexible. They face a very complex and dangerous task of improving status. In a growing economy, one has to keep increasing his income if he wishes to remain in the same place on the ladder of society. Otherwise, those below him would move past him, and become superior, making him feel uneasy. Additionally, among other factors, enjoying any socially valuable facilities increases the welfare of a man, and thus his status. For example in any office, larger benefits given to the juniors would be resented by the seniors because such a thing would compromise their superiority. A superior is supposed to enjoy better facilities including benefits. An increase in benefits of an individual increases his superiority and reduces his inferiority. At the same time, it reduces the superiority of his seniors and increases the inferiority of his juniors. This double effect may make those who are above and below him, feel like taking some action if they have to maintain their positions or remain in the same place and most of the time they take whatever action is feasible. It may have all round effect; the reaction of other people may depend upon the possible ways and means available to them.

There are various means of increasing superiority. One way out is networking with people of higher status or his own status. Any association with socially, politically, intellectually and economically eminent people, also, increases the status. If one cannot be a king, be his lieutenant, which is safe also. This is networking way of increasing status. The acquisition of skills and education is another. Taking birth in an eminent family is another; it is a time-tested feature of any society. Getting any kind of power is another way of increasing the status. In addition, this status many times can be converted into cash or wealth.

A top player of a popular sport or top software professional enjoys considerably better status than most people and sometimes enough to catapult him into exalted circles.

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The status can be acquired by acquiring socially valuable and acceptable things. These valued things are culture specific. Once we have defined the culture we get to know the cultural values and welfare function. In such a situation, a man may have to follow his superiors and their way of living. He has to follow their life style and their philosophy about life so that it reduces the gap between him and the people superior to him. Or he has to get himself under their umbrella. Following a superior way of life increases the possibility of acceptance/approval among higher people and thus reduces his inferiority. There is old money and there is new money. Those superior to him would try to increase their status further by acquiring additional social, economic and political power or knowledge power or they would try to stop this man from acquiring such things so that he remains where he was. Only when they have failed in either increasing their own superiority further or preventing this man from increasing his superiority then they will accept him as their equal. They will fail only when they have exhausted their resources and cannot make additional resources available for such a purpose.

If one cannot be equal to either royalty or monks then one can be near to them. To be equal to monks, one has to become a monk. And the question of becoming equal to royalty does not arise since royalty cannot be acquired through any worldly means; it can be acquired through birth only. However, if a common man in a kingdom is desirous of increasing his status then he can do so by linking himself to the royalty or patronizing the monks if they allow it. If the teachings of monks are followed closely by the man then, he as a true believer might get a higher status among the common men.

However, it is not necessary to follow the superiors meekly. In the French revolution, the third estate and people below them reduced their inferiority by violently overthrowing the king and the nobles. In France, the first and second estates were not ready to cede some equality to the third estate before the revolution though it had acquired substantial economic means. This caused the third estate to combine with the fourth stratum and bring forth the revolution. Thus, in the absence of the royals and the nobility the revolutionaries achieved equality, getting rid of their inferiority. Prior to American civil war, the whites in southern American states maximized their superiority over blacks through violent means. Thus, the violence is

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also a mean to either maximize superiority or minimize inferiority. The whites in northern American states felt it to be socially demeaning to indulge in the practice of slavery while the whites in southern states thought it to be contrary. These contrasting attitudes culminated in the American civil war – though there were other factors. Everybody in this civil war fought for the cause dear to him, one side for equality and the other for inequality. In South African apartheid, the whites maintained their superiority over blacks through coercive means. In Russia and China, also the people reduced their inferiority to zero through violent means.

The Samurais in Japan willingly gave up their privileged position and emerged as industrialists. This willing surrender of superiority, in the Meiji restoration, is surprising but actually it was done to reduce the inferiority of Japan in relation to superiority of industrialized western countries like Britain and France. The old structure of Samaurais was thought to be the reason behind this inferiority. To achieve parity it was necessary for Japan to industrialize itself for which the sword wielding samurai class was a hindrance. Therefore, to reduce the international inferiority the country level superiority was sacrificed. Similarly, the serfs were freed in Germany to enable it to industrialize to achieve industrial parity with Britain and France. Here again the local superiority (or the inferiority of serfs was reduced by making them free) was conceded to a certain extent for gaining the international status. The emergence of nation states as entities and maximization of their superiority and minimizing inferiority led to the two world wars. The superior status of nation state in Europe was determined by the colonies under it. The raging patriotic disputes over the colonies caused these wars. However, these were not the only reasons. Moreover, there are too many reasons to be enumerated here. Somewhat the same thing is happening in China where internal superiority is being surrendered to increase economic status at the international level. The capitalism is being encouraged which increases the status of the capitalists, the supposed arch enemies.

The conditions before the First World War were also contributed by the question of status of European nations that was measured by the colonies under each of them. Thus, we see that use

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of force may not always be for maintaining the law and order conditions.

The dangerous conditions in Germany prior to the Second World War were created in some measures by feelings of inferiority (or humiliation) imposed by the treaty of Versailles. Sometimes preemptive actions are taken to prevent the potential threat to superiority. Hitler, by neutralizing his opponents, maximized his superiority; but he was only temporarily successful.

In our model, there will be a normal tendency for increasing the inequalities. The income inequalities may increase. The rich may become richer and poor may become poorer. In Hindu society, such rational behavior led to the development of untouchability through insistence on the purity paradigm which became a yardstick for higher status and which enabled the pure people to move the resources in society. This naturally led to increasing purity at one end and increasing impurity at the other end.

We define the inductive behavior as a behavior which is induced from the societal environment. The inductive behavior may also be induced by conditions/culture within group without active teaching or the without active learning. In this, rewards and penalties are not obviously involved. The inductive behavior presupposes the reasons. Somebody is doing something because everyone is doing it. One is inductively silent upon entering a room of people who are silent. Suppose a child, out of curiosity, joins the line of elders where everybody touches the feet of a guru, in sequence. When the turn of a child comes, he also automatically/inductively touches the feet of guru. Inductively it is wrong to do a specific thing because everybody considers it to be wrong. It becomes an issue of acceptability. Sometimes it is forced through traditions and coercive powers. It is right to do something because everybody considers it to be right in his group. Whether the actions are rights or wrongs, is actually another matter. Slowly, slowly he absorbs the inductive behavior by presupposing the reasons and behaves in required way which induces the junior generations to act according to senior generations. Only when one grows up he comes to know to reasons behind such behavior. This may also include the cultural training of children. At that time, he may understand the conditions under which his ancestors lived and followed some kind of unwritten rules and

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some unfathomable rules in fear of some penalties or in expectation of some reward. Now he knows them and still behaves as he was behaving in the childhood because now it is a rational decision. He needs to survive. This common behavior develops in each fraternity group and is handed down to coming generations. The reason for this may be many, like the lack of resources and need for law and order as decided by the wise men of the society.

Equilibrium is reached in the society when any action plan by any person/group which results in any increase in his/group’s status invites a reaction from others which reduces his/group‘s status gain to zero; and a reversal to earlier position, takes place. A status quo is maintained in the society. Consider a case of a border between two countries. Any encroachment by one side on the other results in a reaction by the other side resulting in restoring the earlier position. It may be pushing back the encroacher or encroaching upon some other areas of the offender. Thus, it is not possible to gain any relative increase in status by any kind of actions and status quo persists.

We may now consider the social place in the society. Here any action by any agent which results in any increase in his social space will be matched by a reaction which would nullify his gains and thus reverting to the original situation. This reaction need not necessarily be in the opposite direction to his recently gained space but somewhere else where it is equally harmful. An increase in social space in one direction may be opposed by other/s by an increase in social space in other direction. For equilibrium, the average pressures from both sides should be equal. This we will see later.

Likewise, in the economic space and the political space the equilibrium is maintained when there is an automatic reversal to the original situation. In equilibrium, there are no alternative courses available to anybody which can result in any relative gains in his status. Another kind of equilibrium can be seen in the situation where both the sides possess the abilities to inflict equally serious damages on each other as in the case of nuclear deterrent. The aggressor is kept in check by the possibility of equally damaging reaction.

In hierarchal societies, a layered equilibrium is attained where each layer is in equilibrium with other layers. No layer has any option

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or strategy left unused which can increase its status. To maintain stability and harmony in society it is necessary that lower layers have lesser and lesser command over resources. This would stop them from having the capabilities of improving their relative welfare and also prevent them from antagonizing the higher layers. Again, for equilibrium the average pressure from all the layers should be equal.

In such societies, the movement is found mainly among the top layers not in the lowest layers. The lowest layers do not have enough options left with them to be exercised to increase their status. All the options are available to top layers only. Thus, by and large the dynamic movements take place at the upper end of the society. The available options keep on reducing in number as one goes down the hierarchy.

When the classes were developed, the inductive behavior also passed down from generation to generation, the inductive behavior helped in maintaining the law and order in the society, generally in favor of powerful strata of the society because everybody inductively knew his place; the use of force was not always necessary.

In a stable society all changes are brought about by forces external to the existing system. All the existing forces have been nullified. All relative status spaces add up to total status space in the set.

The equilibrium is established – the powerful ruling over the others. For others there were religion and faith. These others were actually living at the mercy of ruling class and not that of God.

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B. THE BINDING FORCES

A man is a social being. He is naturalized to live in groups and society. The imprisonment is used as a punishment because it keeps him away from society thus depriving him one of his basic needs. This denies him the basic need of belonging to a society. All the same time it lowers his relative status. Thus, it adds to punishment. There are various needs of an individual to be satisfied in a society. These are biological, social, economical and psychological needs. The economic needs have been added after the technological development in the society. To fulfill all these needs he needs others. These needs are interwoven and everybody needs somebody else to fulfill them. In the exchange of goods one may depend on the unknown people; but to fulfill the needs of love and company, one needs the familiar people like spouses, children, the kith and kin and the neighbors etc. It is a complex world where the needs of a man are more than he can satisfy himself. Some needs are complementary in nature which he cannot satisfy himself for example the need to procreate. Then there is also a question of respect which can only be provided by others. The need for love is also mutual. These are the needs which cannot be satisfied in isolation. The diverse economic needs of people also create the mutual needs. The need for safety or security also links people together. The same attracts like in brotherhood and sisterhood and the opposite also attracts. The attraction forces between the similar are weaker than the attraction forces between the opposites – in our biological world. If that were not the case, the world might as well stop moving.

We can define the fraternity as a feeling of brotherhood which bonds two individuals. The fraternity is developed among people who have common interests. These feelings may be permanent or temporary. The societal fraternity may also bond the society and work as uniting force.

Each stratum of the society develops some kind of internal fraternity but rarely toward others because the interests coincide within the stratum but not outside. However, the powerful fraternity (within the stratum) prevailed even though it usually had few members as compared to the lower strata.

The ideological identification also links people with each other. These needs link the people to each other and thus can be

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called linking forces. The common ancestry also produces a bonding force which is extreme in the form of caste and ethnicity. Any process providing benefits for linking the people can be called the motivation to create the linking forces. These linking forces keep the society together. Everybody needs somebody to complete the process he or she cannot do alone. These are complementary needs. The institution of marriage is an example of this. And there is a need to share joys and sorrows. This sharing links the people together. The celebration of birth of a child and distress at the time of death needs the people who are linked to you to share them. Even one needs people at the time when they are helpless like in cases of babies and sick people. They need people to tend to them. This creates linkages since everybody was a child once and can fall sick anytime. These linkages may cut across the time. You may owe one to someone which you may like to pay back sometime in future. Since falling sick is uncertain and nobody is immune to it so they need people when they fall sick. This possibility of falling sick also links people together. This means that if AB is certainty of nursing from A to B and BA is certainty nursing from B to A then AB + BA = 0. The possibility of bad times is also a motivational factor in providing linkages because everybody needs others in bad times. Nobody is immune to bad times. If a dominating group does not have strong internal linkages then it can easily fall prey to bad times.

Now we have so many commercial forms of these linkages but these indicate only the underlying linkages based on mutual needs. Even the existence of the army implies an underlying linkage meant for safety.

There is a need to develop the suitable skills which cannot be developed without help from others, the teachers, the parents and the guidance of wise people. This also develops linkages. In fact, everybody has more needs then he can satisfy himself and so he needs others which results in the development of linkages. One needs linkages whether one is living in an individualized society or group-based society.

One kind of linkage is provided by agreement. This need not necessarily be a legal agreement. Two persons agreeing on any issue find a common thing which links them. The similarities produce a common factor which binds people together. One such linkage form

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is empathy. Another such form of linkage is sympathy. Any common thing tends to produce the linkages. Of these common things, the most prominent are the religion, the ideologies, the common habitats and the blood relations. The common groups also develop linkages. The caste also develops internal linkage because they satisfy important needs and they provide common factors for identifying with each other.

The common factors and complementary factors provide linkages which are binding factors and provide stability to society. One of the most common factors is the need for safety. All the people with common habits develop automatic linkages with each other. The empathy and sympathy also contribute to enhance the linkages in the society.

On a larger scale, the common factors are ideologies, religion, culture, sympathy, empathy, habitat and biological needs. These provide commonality which cuts across time and space.

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C. THE STRATA

After describing the conflicting forces and binding forces, we can discuss the stability of the society. Different societies have been stable for a long time though many of them are now extinct. To explain the change in society we will use an analysis which is primitive but sufficient for our purpose at present.

First of all, we consider a simple model of two individuals A and B. Each of them is having a given amount of resources and linkages. Their benefits are derived from these resources mainly: the land, the capital, the knowledge, the labor and the linkages. We are including the bonding and the in linkages. We assume that benefits and costs can be measured in some unit say U. The costs are provided by scarce raw materials and the conflicting forces in the society. This enables us to club the benefits of different resource and aids in simplifying the model. The efforts of A and B are in such a way to maximize their net gains or benefits. We further assume that total benefits increase at a decreasing rate and total cost increase at an increasing rate. These are simplifying assumptions used in Economics. Therefore the marginal benefit curve or function when plotted against the efforts shows a decreasing tendency and the marginal cost curve or function shows an increasing tendency when plotted against the efforts. These effort curves contain the efforts of utilizing the resources at the command of an individual.

There may be many factors responsible for such behavior of these curves but the main factor is the paucity of resources and the fact that any amount of raw material can produce only a certain amount of output and not more than that. We can say that

Input + efforts (value added) = output. Thus, the inexhaustible gains are not possible with any given

technology in society. The additional gains are limited in our model and hence we have the following shape of marginal cost and marginal benefit curves. The marginal benefits are additional benefits which occur when one additional unit of efforts is used. The marginal cost is the additional cost which is incurred when one additional unit of efforts is used.

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The equilibrium is attained, when everything else remains

constant, at a point where marginal benefits and marginal costs are equal to each other. This implies that further net gains are not possible by changing the efforts.

Now at this effort level the individual has certain net benefits or resources at his command which are constant because of our assumption that everything else remains constant. Let these resources be denoted by total land (L), total capital (K), total education and knowledge (E), total labor (LB) and total linkages (LNK) and total cost by (C). The net resources at the command of an individual A may be denoted by La + Ka + Ea + LBa + LNKa – Ca. Similarly for individual B the net resources we have Lb + Kb + Eb + LBb + LNKb – Cb. The capital resource denote resources and small letters denote individuals. So Kb is the Capital of individual B.

The change in society comes from changes in the technology, ideology, religion, culture, economics and law etc. The conquests also change the society. We define the total status as status space where Status (S) equal addition of status spaces of all the entities in our model S= Sa + Sb. A and B are living in a society

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where total status space is denoted by S and individual status as Sa and Sb. The status we have defined here is the ability to move the resources in the society under consideration. Now we define pressure as total pressure P which can be exerted by an individual in the society is equal to resources at his command. It is simplifying assumption. The average pressure p is denoted by division of his resources by status space at his command. We assume that the total pressure (Pa) exerted by an individual A is equal to benefits/resources at his command.

The total pressure is denoted by capital P Pa = (La + Ka + Ea + LBa + LNKa – Ca) The average pressure denoted by small p (pa) exerted by

individual A will be pa = (La + Ka + Ea + LBa + LNKa – Ca) / Sa where Sa is status space of individual A. And the average pressure exerted by B will be pb = (Lb + Kb + Eb + LBb + LNKb – Cb) / Sb Considering a uniform status space the condition for

equilibrium is pa = pb. Thus, we have (La + Ka + Ea + LBa + LNKa – Ca) / Sa = (Lb + Kb + Eb + LBb + LNKb – Cb) / Sb Now let us consider the result of our simplified model. The

conditions of equilibrium imply a stable society but not necessarily an egalitarian society. In fact, it may reflect extreme equalities. Let us consider a case where A is very poor and B is very rich then resources at the command will be very low as well as his status and resource at B’s command will be very high as well as his status. Individual B is able to exert very high pressure on A and occupies a major portion of status space forcing A to be content with small status space. As A’s space is reduced his average pressure is increased to the point where his average pressure increases to equal the B’s pressure. The activities may oscillate around the equilibrium conditions.

It may also be seen that any increase in linkages (LNK) and knowledge (denoted by E) will increase the status space of an individual.

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By introducing n number of individuals and maintaining uniform status space we find that for equilibrium conditions we have

R1/S1 = R2/S2=…=Rn/Sn Where Rn = Ln + Cn + En + LBn + LNKn – Costn Thus, in equilibrium conditions the average pressure exerted

by each individual is equal in a uniform social space. Each individual remains in the position according to resources at his command which decide the average pressure exerted by him. The society in question is stable and no significant movement takes place.

The untouchables and the Shudras have the minimum resources at their command which reduces their relative status giving them a suffocated room to play. In the absence of capital, education, land and linkages their maneuvering powers are very low forcing them to live at the margins of the society with little status space or the lowest and meager status space. They have to live in their body labor alone which is their sole possession courtesy the Varna Dharma.

Let us consider the grouping in the society. The grouping is provided by linking and delinking by individuals in the society. First delinking which may be considered is by blood relations (blood relation = br). Let it be denoted by LNKbr(A1, A2, A3, …, An) for individuals A1, A2, A3 and so on. If they do not marry into each other then LNKbr(A1, A2, A3, …, An) = 0 and they form different groups. Considering three A, B and C if LNKbr(A, B) =0 and LNKbr(A, C) = 0 but LNKbr (A1, A2, A3,…) = 1 then the people belonging to A form an exclusive group. The example of this group may be the royals of the medieval times.

The groups may also be formed according to main resource at the command of individuals. These groups may include capitalists, workers, rulers, knowledge workers etc. these groups may also be income based. The groups developed on the basis of religion or ideology are also extremely important.

For landlords, capitalists and workers we have where these groups are mutually exclusive –

K/S capitalist = L / S landlord = Labor / S worker

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From the above we can see that if the workers want to improve their status then the normal way out is to increase their skills if they are allowed by the other groups.

In the case of well defined groups the equilibrium will be attained when the average pressure exerted by each group is equal to average pressure of each group. The group having large resources at its command will push others down the status space. This group need not be very large. This group may actually be in minority but commands a large portion of resources. In this situation, the society will be stable and this equilibrium may last for a long time until something new happens. The different strata are in equilibrium with each other though extreme inequalities may persist. Every group has made peace with each other.

The changes in the society may come from external sources or forces or development of new forces in the society which redistributes the command of resources.

Let us first take the case of conquests first because it seems to be simplest. The conquest increases the conflicting forces and shift up the cost curve of local people. The status space of local rulers or people is reduced. One stratum is added above the previous highest stratum. The defeated people become the subordinated people. The violence continues until the equilibrium is reached; the violence ceases and an apparent harmony or peace comes into existence.

Then let us take the discovery of agriculture. A change in technology enabled strong men to dominate others and live off the surplus produced by them. Now others could produce for them and there was no need to go for hunting and gathering like everybody. This divided the society in two parts. The resources with one group increased which increased their status. The cultivators remained with low status because of absence of any linkage among them while the rulers effectively linked themselves to soldiers and with each other. By using the force, the rulers increased the cost for the cultivators, which reduced latter’s total pressure, and average pressure, which resulted in lowering of their status until new equilibrium, was attained.

In French revolution, the technology increased the resources at the command of middle class which developed linkages with

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peasants and serfs through the slogan of equality and fraternity. Here the technology which created surplus outside the ruling class and new ideology which developed new linkages outside the ruling class reducing their actual status and turned the status space in favor of the middle class who made the common cause with still lower class then they outranked the ruling class which resulted in violent demolition of the old order.

In Russia and China, the conflict turned very sharply toward violence due to influence of ideology of Karl Marx. The ruling classes were not able to adjust to this. The common interests of lower classes produced fraternity or binding forces among the lower classes which the rulers were not able to face. The change was so abrupt that the violence, which ensued, resulted in killing of millions of people.

To remove the difficulty in adding certain things in our model we can also assume the total pressure to be the addition of the pressure exerted by resources at an individual/groups command and then the average pressure is the total pressure divided by the status space at his command. And equilibrium is attained likewise. And all other things apply.

After the status space has been determined for everybody in the society and the equilibrium has been reached in the society one can find the group or individual behaviors which are in consonance with their status barring some minor deviations.

The total pressure in this case Pa = f(La )+ f(Ka )+f( Ea )+ f(LBa )+ f(LNKa )– f(Ca) The average pressure (pa) exerted by individual A will be pa = f(La )+ f(Ka )+f( Ea )+ f(LBa )+ f(LNKa )– f(Ca)

/Sa Where sa is his status space. And the average pressure exerted by B will be pb = f(Lb )+ f(Kb )+f( Eb )+ f(LBb )+ f(LNKb )– f(Cb)

/ Sb Considering a uniform status space the condition for

equilibrium is pa = pb. Thus we have (f(La )+ f(Ka )+f( Ea )+ f(LBa )+ f(LNKa )– f(Ca) )/ Sa

= (f(Lb )+ f(Kb )+f( Eb )+ f(LBb )+ f(LNKb )– f(Cb)) / Sb

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For landlords, capitalists and workers we have where these groups are mutually exclusive –

f(K)/S capitalist = f(L)/ S landlord = f(Labor )/ S worker The Caste Behavior Now we will analyze the behavior of new land owning

Shudras in the status framework described in the previous chapters. A landed Shudra is inferior in status to twiceborn but he is

superior to the landless Shudras and without saying to the Untouchables also. Some of these Shudras castes are known as forward castes - this term was coined to identify them separately telling that they could not be classified as Kshatriyas or Vaisyas. We can classify them as the Pseudo-Kshatriyas below the real Kshatriyas and the real Vaisyas. The status of a man is always relative. A landed Shudra (Pseudo-Kshatriya) faces the twin objective of maximizing his superiority over untouchables and minimizing his inferiority in relation to higher castes. If he has to reduce the distance between himself and the twiceborn then the easy way out is to become like them; or change him so much as to become similar to them in cultural and behavioral ways and values. The idea is to gain their acceptance/approval or to be identified with them. If the high castes recognize him as one of their own then his purpose is served. He then belongs to the higher stratum. But that is simply impossible; a Shudra at the most can go near to them but cannot become their equal; he does not have the necessary purity of origin. The impurity is the evergreen feature of a Shudra of any status. However, he can become their near equal which is the position slightly below them. No Shudra in fact can aspire for more than that. The divinity did not create him for that. That is why we call the forward Shudra castes as pseudo-Kshatriyas or Pseudo-Vaisyas. If he has to reduce the distance between him and the higher castes then he would have to follow their behavior and try to intermix with them. If he were in a position to do so then his status would increase. The Manusmriti also says that a Shudra can become a virtuous Shudra by mimicking the higher Varnas; all the Shudras being impure, should follow the dharma Shastras. However, if a landed Shudra is able to mimic the twiceborn successfully then he is likely to raise his status to their level

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at least in social transactions if not in other spheres. They would not hesitate in talking and dining with him. In short, he has to become a cultured man of their sort or accultured. At the same time, he would have to keep on increasing the distance between him and the untouchables so that his relative superiority is increased. This would also help him to gain the much needed acceptance among the higher castes; of course the aim of the life is to rise up. He may even go to the extent of committing atrocities on them. His average pressure against the untouchable has increased. This justifies their feelings of having a higher social hierarchy. He has to carry all the baggage that comes with the identification with the higher castes.

In India, the process of minimizing the inferiority in status is known as the Sanskritization. The free redistribution of land enabled the tiller Shudras to become independent. It also left them with sufficient resources to show their superiority in the rural areas but it did not get them a higher status among the twiceborn. To be accepted by the higher Varnas and to have a feeling of social dominance, they started committing atrocities on the untouchables, copying a time-tested tradition of assertion of superiority by the higher castes. They started copying clothes, eating habits and social behavior of Brahmans and others. The patronization of Brahmans now starts. They started inviting the Brahmans, now and then, for performing the ritual ceremonies which they can pay for now. If Brahmans are willing to do that then their social status is raised for sure. There is no reason that they would not do it. It is ancient history repeating itself. If you want to become a Hindu - start patronizing the Brahmans. No actual ceremony is needed; you should arrange for your own marriage in your own endogamous group; then you can bribe a Brahmin priest to perform the marriage and touch his feet.

A Shudra knows it very well that a Brahman cannot be beaten within the Hindu framework. The traditions prohibit it. The society does not like it. Nobody wants the structure to be broken with which he was born and with which he grew up, even when the system is the most unjust and the cruel one. His forefathers touched their feet! How can one talk back to Brahmans then? Anybody respectful to his ancestors and their religious way of life ways is

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bound to show respect to the sacred lawmakers. Here, everything is decided by them. The Shudras in their interest follow the betterment of their social ranking. The idea of trying to overtake the Brahmans never crosses their minds. The superiority of the pious and dharmic lawmakers is a fait accompli. However, the maximization of superiority causes the landed Shudras to commit atrocities on the Untouchables. That is to distance themselves away from the fifth stratum and behave like upper castes; it serves twin purposes.

However, it is difficult to single out the landed Shudras for practicing casteism. The first credit goes to the Brahmans who being the most pure and highest Varna moved up to the status of sacred and demigods. In the times of Peshawa rule, they came to be known as Brahmandev (Brahman god) and Bhu-dev (god on land). This was the result of maximizing their superiority. On the other hand, the maximization of superiority also led to degradation of agriculture and cattle rearing to lower level, from Vaisya to Shudra level. This process also led to degradation some Shudras to untouchable level.

We will examine the extent of prevailing of casteism in Hindu society. Is it limited to only upper strata or the others are also its practitioners? The upper strata consist of three higher Varnas also called twiceborn for they are eligible for the thread ceremony. The lower two strata are not eligible for the thread ceremony indicating their lower status as compared to the twiceborn. The fourth stratum of Shudras is superior to the untouchables. The untouchables are condemned to live a wretched life. Nobody bothers because it suits everybody’s ends.

The idea about the elimination of caste is the same for all the castes and individuals. This common idea can be described as follows. But before that let us see what the caste structure is. The caste system in India is a hierarchal system of different castes which are endogamous in nature. Each caste has a given heredity occupation and heredity-based purity and social standing. The purity decreases down the caste scale and increases up the caste scale. The privileges decrease down the caste scale and disappear altogether for the lowest stratum.

The common idea of abolishing the caste of each caste is that each caste wants to be equal to castes higher than it but maintain

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its superiority in comparison to still lower castes. It is maximization of superiority and minimization of inferiority. Like a Jatt wants to be equal to the twice-born but at the same time maintain his superiority over the lower castes to him. And the same likewise is true for Yadavs or Reddys or even the Chamars. Ironically the Chamars are untouchable themselves. So everybody wants to solve the caste system for himself only. Everybody wants a change where he is not badly affected but gains out of it. Everybody demands equality for himself but denies it to those below him. A contradiction follows and the absence of mutual interest keeps the system going on.

This same common idea full of self-interest prevents the people of castes on higher scale to unite with the people with castes on lower scale. This common idea has no common point of agreement. Everybody refuses to join forces with the lower castes than him. Since everybody is doing it, no unity against the caste system is achieved. And in the absence of such viable opposition the caste system thrives on.

Such a common idea actually means downward discrimination by all the castes including the Chamars. The Chamars discriminate against the Bhangis but wants equality and respect from castes higher to them. There is inherent inner contradiction in such an utterly selfish solution to abolish the caste. The lowest caste in the system (Bhangi) cannot discriminate because it does not get a chance. Therefore, it is futile to say that only upper caste practice caste discrimination while others are free from it. The casteism is ubiquitous in Hindu society.

Thus, it can be said that all people in Hindu society are casteists whether they belong to the high castes or the low castes. In such a situation and thinking, there is little hope for equality in the society.

Overall, everybody is trying to raise his status to the extent possible and use both maximization of superiority and minimization of inferiority during the process. This results in practice of casteism even among the untouchables. There are many jatis in untouchables and these are ranked vertically on basis of relative purity of their respective inherited occupations and the separation of bloodlines or endogamy. There is not much difference in economic status; all of

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them are poor. And they practice casteism against each other! The purity paradigm – the more impure against the most impure – both of them are poor. Thus, everybody in Hindu society from the top of the heap to the bottom of the heap practices casteism. And all of them needlessly keep on accusing others of practicing casteism.

However, the benefits of the casteism were/are reaped by the higher castes because they control/controlled the resources and can exploit the situation to benefit them. The effectively put lower castes against each other and enjoy an easy life. The lower castes though practice casteism never benefitted by it; they could not move any resources in the society or economy; instead, they got moved. The exploitation was the sole prerogative of the high castes.

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D. THE WILL AND INTEREST THEORIES

The concept of rights is not very old if it is thought in terms of the modern language of rights. However, the earlier times also had a notion of rights, which was implicit in the privileges granted to some specific people for performing some exclusive beneficial functions. These functions benefitted only them. The notion of duty was important but the notion of rights was implicit. The powerful and influential people in the society reaped the fruits of duties assigned to others. The duties essentially mean benefits to somebody else. This somebody else might have been some other persons or the society itself. This society was controlled by the traditional rules which got translated into the equivalent of group-based rights and duties which benefitted only the ruling elites. This position lasted for a long time until the European Renaissance took place in the beginning of modern period. In modern times, the concept of an individual materialized and the associated concepts followed. The individual rights came to the forefront. The duties were now clearly separated from the rights. The notion of rights was used to limit the control of king and nobility on the emerging middle class. The middle class emerged under the forces of industrial revolution. Then the French revolution followed which had a tremendous impact on the world.

With the French Revolution and American Declaration of Independence, the importance of individual rights gained momentum. Earlier the rulers in Europe used the “divine right” theory to rule over the lower strata of the society. The divinity was also invoked in the Hindu society. The invokers denied the people right to anything under the hypothesis of divinely ordained fourfold order. The nobility was supposed to rule over others because they were created by divinity to rule over others. The nobility superordinated over everybody else with a tacit agreement with the religious authority. The French Revolution with its principles of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity was successful in overthrowing the nobility and sidelining the religion. The nobility and religion were excluded from the political power. The power came in the hands of common people who spoke the language of natural rights instead of the divine rights or ritual rights.

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The theory of natural rights was developed by many philosophers, of which prominent were, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau among others. The natural right theory envisaged some basic natural rights which no authority could take away from an individual. These rights related to equality, freedom, property, survival and other issues. These rights found their way in the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of Rights of man. The natural rights were the rights which no authority or state could take away from an individual. The right to life, equality, freedom and property were almost considered sacred. No king, nobility or any authority could take away these rights because these rights were provided by the nature or some metaphysical powers. However, a sovereign was required to look after the law and order and to safeguard these natural rights. This sovereign in the form of King or democratic Parliament could not affect the natural rights of people. These rights could not be violated by anybody.

However, Jeremy Bentham attacked the natural rights concept and called the natural rights as nonsense on stilts. According to him, the real right is the child of established law. In the absence of any such established law, no rights exist. All the real rights have to be recognized by the law. He said that from imaginary laws come the imaginary rights which have no existence. The rights which could not be exercised were no rights. There was no natural law which recognized the natural rights. He puts the law before the rights and this law has to be established only then it can produce or create the rights. We may agree with him in the case of rights but not in the case of claims. From the concepts of claims, we arrive at the kinds of rights and justice in subsequent chapters.

In this respect, the right to life, liberty, equality and property are merely gifts from the law making authority. If this law making authority is backed by the people then these rights can be regarded as gift of people to themselves. If the law making authority is backed by the force of aristocracy then these natural rights have to be merciful gift from the holders of such force. In the latter case the right to equality, freedom and property do not normally exist for everybody. The people have a right to gift themselves the so called natural rights. It is an expensive gift for which people in history have sacrificed their

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lives in a mind-boggling manner. The lives were given up as if they came dime a dozen. Of course, the oppressed lives come dime a dozen.

Generally, there are two theories of the rights of which one is the Will theory or the Choice theory and the other is the Interest theory. Each theory claims that it defines the rights in a batter way. The scholars have been justifying the theory they support without reaching at any universal conclusion.

The Will theory assumes that all the individuals are rational human beings and capable of making a rational choice out of many different options available to them. Since everybody is rational, there is no need to impose the choice of one over the other. The individual is autonomous sovereign and all others owe a duty to safeguard his rights. Others have a duty to grant this autonomous individual the freedom and maintain his individuality. The basic right to be given to individual is the right of freedom. All others owe a duty to him. All others have a duty to protect this. He can determine what other can do or cannot do. The right of others also protected since they are also the individual autonomous sovereigns. They will also be benefitted by similar duty by this individual toward them. Therefore, all the individuals are sovereign and entitled to freedom and autonomy to exercise their will. According to Will theory, all rights confer the sovereignty. Once they have freedom, the rights to life, liberty, equality and property follow since it satisfies his needs and will. It is easy to make choices which protect one’s personal best interests. There is need for freedom, the freedom to do or the freedom of not to do, the freedom to allow or the freedom of not to allow. The choice theory of rights provides justification for rights with the help of rationality. Everybody is rational so nobody needs to impose his own rationality on others. Thus, autonomy follows. Any given individual can make choice through his rationality regarding survival, liberty and equality etc. Liberty includes freedom of speech etc. The Will theory excludes people who are not capable of making rational choice like babies and comatose patients. One needs to be capable of making rational choice to enjoy the rights. In this process, it is easy to discard people who are not supposed to possess the supposed rationality.

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The interest theory on the other hand maintains that the rights are meant to further the interest of individuals. The interest theory focuses on general best interest. The possession of these rights improves the welfare of a man. The rights are always good for a man. In contrast to the Will theory, in Interest theory, it is not necessary for the right holder to have rational choices. A person has a right if others have a duty which protects his interests. The obligations provided with respect to a right are obligations owed to a right holder, which protect his right. The babies and comatose person can also have rights since these protect their interests. However, it is possible for a man to have interest in x without having a right in it or contrariwise he can have x without having an interest in it. There may be some rights in which the holder may not be interested. The Interest theory does not account for that. People can be threatened into not taking actions according to their rights by others whose interest may be adversely affected. The interests are no longer interests but harmful. The theory needs a lot of juxtapositions.

If the rights have their counterpart in duties then opposite is also true. The duty implies a right of a person to whom the duty is owed. Thus, all the duties in traditional societies of India and China can be converted into rights of those to whom the duties are owed. One cannot say that the rights do not exist in the Asian societies. The existence of duties means existence of the rights. All the elites there are the right holders. These one-sided duties are actually privileges. If it is duty to remain silent then somebody must have the right of expression to whom the duty is owed. If it is a duty to not to have political participation then somebody must have the right to political participation. If it is duty to remain silent then the rights to express and to express political views, do exist. The individual who posses these rights must also exist. If somebody has the duty to humbly submit himself/herself to the command of others then others have the right to command him/her. The collective rights are actually distributed over different groups in the society directly in proportion to status of each group. The lower down groups may only have duties and no rights.

Hohfeld (1879 – 1918) has defined the rights in liberty rights, claim rights, power rights and immunities. These rights have their counterpoints in no-claims, duty, liability and disability. If A has a

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claim then he lacks no-claims. If A has liberty then he has no-duty. If A has power then has no disability. If A has immunity then he has no liability. These are called the Hohfeldian incidents. His analysis was related to legal system but it has been extended to right theories.

The rights are further divided into negative and positive rights. A positive right is a right that another person can do something. A negative right is a right that another person cannot do something. Freedom of expression is a negative right. In fact, all liberties are negative rights. The correlative duties imply that others should refrain from interfering with one’s rights.

The rights are also divided into active and passive rights. The active right is a right to do something oneself. The passive right is the right that another person can do something or cannot do something.

There is a difference between failing to respect others’ rights, and failing to fulfill the obligations which are not a part of rights. The former is binding while the later is not. The obligations under rights are owed to a right holder while the obligations under duties are not. The duties are not binding but the obligations under rights are. However, a duty under a right is binding. One has a duty to not to infringe upon the rights of others and it is binding. A failure in this regarding is punishable by society. The violations of rights, embedded in the Constitution or in the structure of society, are punishable. One thing should be noted that for violation a right has to exist either explicitly or implicitly in the society. The violators of Constitutional rights are punished by the legal system and violation of implicit rights is punishable by the social methods. Both affect the life of a person.

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E. THE CLAIMS

For our purpose, we will consider a simple model of two individuals A and B. Both the individuals are equal, which we can take to be axiomatic in nature or from the assumption that nobody is divine or special. Thus, they are basically equal. We make one more assumption that all the other things are equal also.

The rights are treated here as tangibles because these are something which can be given or taken away by the authorities that be. Anything which can be taken or given, can be regarded as tangible especially when the results are tangible and determine the course of lives of people in general. However, this may not make much of a difference.

We also assume that the society has no outright claim against any individual. The rights of authorities, if any, are exactly offset by the duties devolved on it. The claims can only be made by individuals or on their behalf. The society can claim rights as only as the representative of individuals or people. The society can evidently have rights but these are the claims made by individuals or a group or groups. These society claims are largely aggregation of few individual claims. These may actually be dependent on agreement or force. The ultimate claims originate from the individuals only. The society, social groups and/or state have/has coercive power which individual lacks. It can force the individual to abide by its dictates. It can force its dictates as naturalized state but never through claims. The existence of a society does not necessarily means that it is a just one. It may be cruel and unjust depending upon who is controlling it. The controlling group can trample on the rights of the people, and it can snatch their rights right under their noses. Under the garb of religion or tradition, it can cheat them out of their rights. Or it may outright steal their rights. The only things, which the people whose rights have been stolen, know, are the disabilities imposed upon them. If people have duties then where are the corresponding rights?

Here we denote the right claims by CR and duties claim by CD. Now, we introduce a critical concept that each claim by any individual instantaneously gives rise to equal counter claim. Suppose A makes a claim on B, then an equal counter claim is produced from B on A. Let the right claim from A on B be denoted by CRab and the counter right claim from B be denoted by CRba. It should be

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noted that the directions of both the claim and the counter claim are opposite to each other and they are equal in magnitude. The claim and counter claim cannot be unequal. In such a situation CRab + CRba = 0. It so because CRab = - CRba since the magnitude is the same but the directions are opposite. By reversing the direction of either claim or counter claim, we get the other. Thus, the net claim in our simple model is zero.

Similarly, in case of a claim made by B against A gives rise, instantaneously, to equal counter claim from A against B. Let the claim from B against A be denoted by CRba and counter claim from A be denoted by CRab. The individual are denoted small letters a and b. It should be noted that the directions of both the claim and the counter claim are opposite to each other and they are equal in magnitude. For an impartial observer the claim and counter claim cannot be unequal. In such a situation CRab + CRba = 0. It so because CRab = - CRba since the magnitude is the same but the directions are opposite. By reversing the direction of either claim or counter claim, we get the other. Thus, the net claim in our simple model is again zero.

Therefore, in our model, the net claim on anybody is zero and net claim against anybody is also zero. This can be generalized for n number of individuals.

Let us see that how the plain physical aggression (V= violence) can be treated in our simple model. The important thing is the assumption of all the other things being equal. A plain physical aggression in any form can be taken as a claim by one individual on the body of another individual. Therefore, if A makes a claim to physically harm B then we take it as a claim of A on B (CRVab). Accordingly, it gives rise to instant and equal counter claim of B on A (CRVba). Both the claim and counter claim are equal and act in opposite direction. Thus, the summation of both is zero or they nullify each other. In other words CRVab + CRVba = 0 since CRVab = - CRVba. The net claim with regard to violence in our simple model is zero. Theoretical net violent claims do not exist as they nullify each other. This we can regard as non-existence of violence as a net claim. Thus A and B are entitled to peace. This entitlement means that both A and B have a duty each to allow each

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other to live peacefully. Their claims of duties are in turn offset by instant creation of counter claim.

A may also claim that B has a duty to not to violate him then again an instant counter claim flows from B to A. CDVab + CDVba =0. A’s both claims about right to violate B and about duty of B to not to violate him are instantly nullified. Thus, both the individual can live in peace. Otherwise, an imbalance will be created resulting in potential and/or realized injustice. This can be called absence of violence.

Thus we have CRVab + CRVba = 0 and CDVab + CDVba =0 There are positive as well as negative claims in the society.

An example of negative claim is liberty. The liberty of both the individual can be taken as negative claim and instant negative counter claim thus nullifying claims. Liberty has a place to stay. There are no net claims against it. If A claims that B owes a duty to him of not interfering with him then an instant counter claim from B that A also owes him similar duty. Thus, there is not net claim against liberty. Equal liberty exists for everybody. If liberty does not exist equally for everybody then we according to our model say that there is exploitation or injustice in the society.

For liberty (L) we have CDLab + CDLba =0 and CRLab + CRLba =0 Now, we will examine the claim regarding the freedom to do

anything. The absence of violence means that any individual cannot make claim which involves the use of violence. This indeed limits the area of freedom and liberty. This is necessary for peaceful living. However, the freedom of expression is still maintained. If A prevents B from expressing his views/opinions then it is a claim against B then instantly an equal counter claim comes into existence force in opposite direction thus preventing A from preventing B from expressing his views and opinions. The net forces against freedom of expression are nil. This we can say that freedom of expression exists. The freedom of expression is supported by the absence of violence that we have derived by introducing the concept of instant creation

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of equal counter claim. Thus, everyone is at liberty to criticize everybody else. Thus, A and B are entitled to freedom of expression.

Similarly A cannot claim that he can live in peace but not B. If he claims so that a combined counter claim is created from B to A thus nullifying A’s claim.

Let us consider a situation where A claims B owes a duty to him. In this case, an instant and equal counter claim arises from B against A. So that we have CDab + CDba =0. This is highly useful when A makes a claim that B has a duty to not interfere with A’s freedom. Then an instant counter claim arises from B that A owes the same duty to him. In this case, there is no imbalance in liberties of two individuals. There are no net claims against liberty. In a situation where net positive or negative claims exist and recognized as rights by law or by tradition then we can say that an unjust situation exists. In other words, injustice howsoever small exists.

Now let us assume that both A and B possess equal private properties, a common property and a land owned by nobody. In case of private property a claim by A on property owned by B is taken as a claim by A against B. Such a claim CRPab (P =property) instantly gives rise to an equal counter claim by B against A (CRPba). Both the claims nullify each other and there is no net claim on anybody’s property by either A or B. Similarly, claims regarding duties of staying away from each other are cancelled. Nobody can use others’ property. In case of common property, a claim by A to prevent B from using the common property creates an equal counter claim from B against A preventing A from using the common property. Thus, nobody can prevent the other from using the common property. The Absence of Violence is applied in all the cases. In case of a land which is owned by nobody, the claim of A using the unowned land is a claim against “not A” which prevents “not A” from using this land. This instantly creates an equal counter claim by “not A” (= B) which nullifies A’s claim. Thus, nobody can own the unowned land.

Now we will consider the claims regarding interference. Any claim to interfere is countered by an equal claim in opposite direction. Thus, the net claim to interference is nil.

After all this, we are left with a situation where a compromised is arrived at through mutual agreement (said or unsaid

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or tacit) or mutual agreement through free will. However, this mutual free will can be moulded by the cultural differences.

Now we will consider the assets or objects or property. If A has a right to x then x is object of A’s claims. Further, let us assume that A produces good x and B

produces good y but both of them need each other’s good. So they want to claim the good of each other but it is not possible as we know the claims on goods and respective equal counter claims. The way out of it is to exchange the claims. A can exchange claims on y with B’s claim on x. In case of perfect knowledge the exchange would be on the basis of equitable respective values of x and y. (X=exchange)

Therefore CRXAaby + CRXbax = 0 For this x =y , the exchanged goods must be equal to each

other. But it is true only in case where good are equal valued where goods are not equal valued their value should be equal. For this if px is price of good x and p y is price of good y then AB(qy × py) +BA (qx × px ) = 0

For this to hold it is necessary that qy × py = qx × px then py ÷ px = qx ÷ qy which means that the goods should be exchanged according

to their exchange value which is denoted here by the ratio of their prices. This is needed in the societies where the number of commodities needed has increased and labor specialization is necessary to produce all the goods. The exchange of produce should be at their respective exchange values.

Now we know that a man is a social being; he cannot live without society. Now we will expand our simple model and allow it have a society while maintaining the principle of equality. Each individual is equal to each other in the sense that nobody has been specially sent in this world to rule over others.

Let there be n individual be in society. We know that there is safety in numbers, so the first task of society to defend the individual. Our model is still very simple. We will keep it that way.

We will assume that the claims within the groups are equally distributed. This is a serious assumption and culture specific. So A has claims against everybody and everybody else has claims against A.

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The individuals are denoted by A1, A2, A3, …, An We know that claims and counter claims are equal and

neutralize each other so that their sum is zero. A1 A2 + A2 A1 = 0 Now the major role of society is to provide the security from

external violence then we have a claim for safety from external violence by A1 on society which is denoted by A΄. A΄ includes everybody in the society except A. now the claim of security by A1 against A΄ will be denoted by A1A΄ and claim by the other members will be denoted as A1A΄. The sum of these two will be zero.

A1 A΄ + A΄ A1 = 0 Now A΄ can be shown by ( A2 U A3 U …U An )

excluding A1 . Then we have A1 A΄ + A΄ A1 = 0 A1 ( A2 U A3 U …U An ) + ( A2 U A3 U …U An ) A1

=0 Opening by distributive law we get A1A2, U A1 A3 U …U A1 An + ( A2 A1 U A3 A1 U

…U An A1 ) =0 Rearranging we get A1A2 + A2 A1 U A1 A3+ A3 A1 U …U A1 An + An

A1 =0 (A1A2 + A2 A1 ) U (A1 A3+ A3 A1 ) U …U (A1 An +

An A1) =0 0 U 0 U 0 U… U 0 = 0 which is zero because all the opposing pairs taken separately

produce a sum of zero. This means that nobody in this individualistic society is

obliged to anybody for safety of life because others are also doing the same. However, if he runs way in face of attack then forfeits his right to be saved. Zero duties mean zero rights.

Let us take the case of a society which is family oriented and the individual as a separate entity does not exist. The individual can only be recognized as a part of family. In this case let A and B represent families and A1, A2, A3,…, An are the members of the family A and B1, B2, B3, … , Bm are the members of the family B. But outside family A1=A2=A3=…..=An = Ai which means that all

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the members are the same for the outsiders. And B1=B2=B3=….=Bm=Bj which means that all the members are the same for the outsiders. The deeds of a member are included into deeds of his family and they are not counted separately. Similarly, the duties and rights of any members are the duties and rights of his family. A crime against a member of any family is a crime against that family. Similarly, a crime by a member of any family is a crime by family. The whole family is held accountable. This is so because any individual is not differentiated from his family by other families or by rest of the society.

Here again we have claims which add up to zero in case of families. CRab + CRba = 0. Thus, the families have freedom but not the individuals. The individuals have to follow the dictates of the families because out of family, the society does not provide them any social or economic support. This is indeed the case when individual on its own does not exist in the society. He exists as a member of the family. He may also exist as member of clan, tribe, society or nation.

Let us consider a society which is collective in nature. The individuals do no matter much here. Here the importance goes down as the population of society goes up. Here also we are using the assumption that all the other things remain the same. Let us see what happens to a claim made by an individual against the society. The instant counter claim will arise against individual but it will not be equal as we will see. It is the result of importance of individual going down as the population goes up.

In a collective society where A1 A′ + A′ A1 < 0 The society is more important than the individuals. The

claim of society is greater than that of individual. Let us consider a society of three individual – A, B and C. It is assumed to be collective society.

However on some issue A isolates and on some issue and makes a claim against B and C. But this is collective society, and B and C still agree with each other. Therefore, they form a union called BUC. Now we have to introduce the concept of united claims. One can make only individual claims or single claims. Many individual similar claims do not add up. Their addition remains one no matter

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how many time an individual repeats the claim. That C1 +C2 + C3 + ……+ Cn = C1 . On the other hand, the claims of two individuals get united and it is what we call a united claim. A united claim is equivalent to number of individual forming a union. Thus Ca(bUc) is a single claim because it originates from a single individual but C(bUc)a is a united claim and twice the claim of A and raising an instant counter claim by BUC creates an imbalance because the claims do not equalize. The sign “U” takes precedence over sign “+” where as in individualistic societies the sign “+” takes precedence over sign “U”.

Thus Ca(bUc) < C(bUc)a Therefore, in a collective society an individual will be in

disadvantage and may have to suffer injustice. Now we introduce another individual D in this collective society. Still bUb will dominate because its united claim against and individual A and D separately will always weigh more than individual claims. In that case A and D may no have alternative but become a part of bUb and make a bUcUaUd so that injustice is removed. Another course may be for And D to make a union and thus be in position to make an equal instant unite counter claim thus nullifying the claims of bUc. Then we have

CR(aUd)(bUc) + CR(bUc)(aUd) = 0 CD(aUd)(bUc) + CD(bUc)(aUd) = 0 Anyway nothing can be said without know the internal

structure and the relations with in it. Society does serve many purposes. It enables production of goods far in excess of what individual can make on his own. The exchange of goods facilitates that a non-producer gets to consume the goods which he does not consume but gets them in exchange of goods he produces and money plays a vast role in it.

Let the claim of individual be represented by A1 A′ Here A1 A′ + ( A2 U A3 U …U An ) A1 ≠ 0 because A

cannot make claims against individuals (as it is a collective society) though he can make a claim against them as one of them. The claim of the individual is weighed out by sheer numbers. U takes precedence over +. Let A be any individual from the point of society. So A = A1 and A = A2, and A = An . So we first we

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have to sum up the claims of the society which is equal to (n-1) A A1. The claim of A1 gets diluted because he is alone and his claim carries only 1/(n-1) weight where n is number of people in society. Thus

A1 A′ = A1 (n-1) A / (n-1) A1 A′ = A1 A < (n-1)A A1 Thus, in a large collective society the individual becomes

negligible and only the group identity emerges. The collective decisions rule.

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F. THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

We have taken the claims to be axiomatic in existence. They are not rights by themselves. Only when the claims are recognized by the law making authorities only then they become rights and are lawful. The claims not legally recognized become unlawful and illegal. However, any legal system need not be just if any justified outstanding claims exists for which no legal recourse exists. What is legal may not be just. The rights in Hindu society were made the Brahman lawmakers and implemented by the kings and the caste councils (the Panchayats.) The claims by themselves do not do anything. On their own they are rather ineffective. Only when they are recognized or unrecognized, they become effective or ineffective. The recognized claims have their own effects and the unrecognized claims have their own effects. The recognized justified, claims have beneficial effects and the recognized unjustified claims have their harmful effects on the welfare of people, in general. Any assertions of rights or justified claims often lead to tense situations. A claim need not be recognized or asserted because in our model the instant claims and instant counter claims are automatically created. In our model, any claims need not be explicitly stated; it is natural to have claims and counter claims. Any individual can have a claim in society. A child has claim on the society though it may not be in position to assert it. Likewise all other individuals who are unable to assert their claims because of certain conditions or reasons beyond their control have their claims stated or unstated. Any individual can have a just claim even when he has legally unrecognized claims or unrecognized rights. We take these rights to be generally neutral. The claims may be recognized or unrecognized. The legally recognized claims are rights. There may be justified claims, which may not be legally recognized.

We may say that Unrecognized justified claims = taken away rights Now there is a need to define what are the just rights and the

just duties. Unless we define what is just, it is not possible to go further without making the assumptions that there are just rights, which may, however vary from person to person and from society to society. This creates a lot of confusion and contradictions. This needs to be avoided. Here we define the just claims where claim and counter claim are equal and nullify each other. The just claims are

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also those where right of any entity A against another entity B’s are equal to its duty to B. If claim and counter claim are not equal then it implies that somebody is gaining at the cost of other. Similarly, if mutual rights do not equal mutual duties between two parties then again somebody is gaining at the expense of other.

In our simple two individuals model we will consider the basic rights and duties. There are two individuals A and B and both have the rights and duties. The right of A over B are represented by Rab and of B over A by Rba .The duties are denoted by Dab and Dba. The rights and duties should sum up to zero.

Rab+Dba = 0 If this sum is greater then zero then A is exploiting B and if

it is less than zero the A is being exploited by B. Similarly in case of B we have Rba+Dba=0 By deducting we get Rab - Rba=Dba - Dab. This implies that the rights are equal if the duties are equal.

Alternatively, if the difference persists in rights then the similar difference should persist in duties also. If the duty of A is more than his right should be more. If the condition does not hold then there is exploitation persisting in the system. The person having more rights is exploiting and if duties are more then he is being exploited. There is injustice in the system though both of them mutually agree to it. In that case, they agree to an exploiting contract or an exploiting agreement.

We can say that if Ra are rights of and Da are duties of A then

Ra + Da > 0 = privileges And Ra + Da < 0 = taken away rights = disabilities Duties are owed so they carry negative signs. For our

definition of justice Ra + Da = 0 Let us consider a family of children and parents. The

existence of a child in a society creates a claim which is directed from children to grownups and a responsibility from grownups to youngsters. In a family the existence of a child creates a claim from

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child to grownups and an equal responsibility from grownups to child. The same holds for all the children in the family. The rights and duties become time oriented, and they cut across the time.

Let us define a right of A on B as Rab and duty of B to A as Dba . The duty of B to A cannot be greater or less than to rights of B against A. Therefore Rba = -Dba because duty is a negative quantity which is owed. Thus, Rba+ Dba = 0. Thus, the child has also a duty toward parents which cannot be greater than or less then the rights against him of his parents. Therefore, -Dba= Dab which means that Dab + Rab = 0. Right now we will stop here and would not go into further complications which can carry us into the dynamic time analysis.

In case of tribal society where the individual is not separately recognized we again have Cab+ Cba = 0 where A and B are tribes with equal strengths. This kind of a grouped society makes it possible to punish an individual who has not committed a crime. The honor killings or revenge killings or revenge violence acts may take place, which are condoned by the society – the cultural values weigh heavily in favor of such events. If any person or boy has brought dishonor to the tribe and tribe can only remove the dishonor by punishing the person. Sometimes the individual in question may have to pay for the crimes of his group (family/tribe) which are in fact committed by other member/s of the group because the crimes are distributed all over the group and hence everybody in the group is guilty and punishable. The unindividualized sense of equality may produce justice which may be called the tribal justice or the medieval justice. In case of traditional Hindu society, it is called the caste justice. The collective identity leads to collective honor and collective dishonor leading to violent incidences. This may result in revenge against unnamed individuals unrelated to crimes.

We also have -Dab = Rab which means that duties of A toward B cannot more than his rights against B.

Here we will introduce a concept of inequality which we will determine in terms of status and rights. The inequality between status of A and B is taken to be equal to inequality between their rights. The more the right the more is status and more is duty less is status. In our simplified model it means Sa = (Right or duty). Sa = Ra-net+Da-net. (duty is negative quantity because it is owed). Sa is

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positive if his right + duty is positive and negative if his right + duty are negative. But it is still relative.

Sa is status of A and Sb is status of B and Ra is right of A and against B and Rb is right of B against A then

Sa - Sb = Ra + Da - Rb - Db Iq = Inequality = | Sa – Sb| Now in case of equal rights we have the inequality equal to

zero and Ra + Da - Rb - Db = 0 thus Sa – Sb = 0 , so Sa = Sb which means that in our model where A and B are treated equally then the relative status must be equal. Otherwise, if status are equal then they must enjoy equal rights and equal duties.

However, in real life the situation is not so. The inequality exists because A and B try to maximize their status. A change in Sa –Sb causes a change in their rights or recognized claims. Here we will define duty in terms of rights. If claim is positive then it is a right and if claim is negative then it is a duty. Absence of both the claim and the duty means a zero recognized claim and a nil accompanied status. For example, the rights of A in a country which is not his own are usually much less than the rights of the citizens of that country.

If Rab + Rba > 0 then A enjoys more right then B and is superior to B provided the duties are equal. However if Rab + Rba < 0 then B is enjoying some rights and some status but if Rab + Rba > 0 then B is having less rights toward A and a negative status.

If Rab + Rba < 0 then B enjoys more right then A and is superior to B. However if Rab + Rba > Rba then A is enjoying some rights and some status but if Rab + Rba < Rba then A is having duty toward B and a negative status.

Let us consider the status of individual A against the society A′.

SA= Raa′ + Daa′ And for individual B we have. SB= Rba′+ Dba′ The relative status of A to be is given by SA – SB = Raa′ + Daa′ - Rba′ – Dba′ . Let us consider social status in this context. The difference in

social status is equal to difference in social rights.

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Let us consider economic status in this context. The difference in economic status is equal to difference in economic rights.

Let us consider political status in this context. The difference in political status is equal to difference in political rights.

Let us consider legal status in this context. The difference in legal status is equivalent to difference is equal to difference in legal rights.

This means a loss in status is accompanied by a loss in rights or a loss in rights is accompanied by a loss in status.

A loss in social status leads to loss in social rights which may affect the social transactions of A. A may now have to face the reduced number of beneficial transactions or not at all. Some people may find no point in talking to him. In this context, the examples of traitors and thieves may be useful. The loss of their status is clearly reflected in the lowered level of the social transaction.

A loss in economic status leads to loss in economic rights which may affect the economic transactions of A. A may now have to face reduced number of beneficial transactions or not at all. Some people may find no point in doing business with him. The examples of job losers and bankrupt people may be cited as example. This may also affect A’s social rights and a reduction in relative social status.

A loss in political status leads to loss in political rights which may affect the political transactions of A. A may now have to face reduced number of beneficial transactions or not at all. Some people may find no point in supporting him. His political base may shrink.

A loss in legal status leads to loss in legal rights which may affect the legal transactions of A. A may now have to face reduced number of beneficial transactions or not at all. A may not enjoy the protection of law and hence may have to suffer. He may not find justice in this case.

Further, considering the types of rights, we find that the recognized rights may be further divided into justified and unjustified rights. The justified claims make justified rights and unjustified claims make unjustified rights. Similarly, the unrecognized claims may again be further divided into justified and unjustified unrecognized claims. Actually unjustified recognized rights and justified unrecognized claims are sometimes counterparts of each other. The rights of a

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Lord have their counterpart in the bondage of the serf. The privileges of Lord are reflected in the sufferings of serfs. Then we have the rights which can be called the abandoned rights and the duties which may be called the abandoned duties. These rights are more related to abdication of duties and may result in injustice in society. Anyway, the unjustified rights create injustice in society. Sometimes they may have no effects.

However, the process of status maximization leads to situations where the nullification of imbalances is just not possible. That means that the perfect justice in the society in our sense is near impossible. Here the role of the lawmakers and those who execute laws becomes very important. The lawmakers, if biased, may make the laws which favor a certain section of the society. Those who implement the laws may implement them in such a way that the zeroed conditions in the society are not achieved. The powerful may prevail over the weak. This power may be physical as in feudal or kingdom states or traditional. The feudal power which existed in Europe before the French revolution grossly favored the nobles ignoring the commoners. Here the role of status becomes very crucial. The people with high status enjoyed the privileges whereas unrecognized justified claims of commoners were a source of sufferings of commoners. An impartial authority is needed in the society so that just conditions are achieved. In the absence of such an authority the unjust conditions may prevail in society. In this situation, the underprivileged may just depend on the mercy of the privileged people. An impartial authority is the one which treats everybody equally; the result is equality before the law and try to attain the situation where the claims and the resultant counter claims are equal or nearly equal. The law should see that the justified claims are honored. The laws are means by which the justified claims are recognized or unrecognized as rights by the authorities that be.

The unjustified recognized rights and justified unrecognized rights (claims) may be classified as snatched rights, stolen rights, swindled and cheated rights. More categories may be surrendered or suspended rights. The rights of people, which have been taken away from them by force, may be classified as the snatched rights. The rights of people which have been taken away from them without their knowledge may be classified as stolen rights. The rights, which

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have been taken away from them on false promises, are cheated rights. The rights surrendered by people are surrendered rights. The rights, which have been suspended by the authorities, are suspended rights. Further, we may have implemented and non-implemented rights. Then we may have abandoned rights and abandoned duties. The latter is more likely to be the case in general.

We know that the rights must equal the duties or it is injustice or exploitation.

The unrecognized justified rights (claims) are usually reflected in the sufferings of people. If manmade sufferings are there then one should look for the unrecognized justified rights/claims and recognized unjustified rights.

Let us consider a case of an individual A who is a part of a collective entity B. The rights conferred by B on A should be more or less equal to duties assigned to A. let us take an extreme case where the rights of A are nil. Then we have either exploitation or injustice. In that case, A really owes no duty to B. If A willingly performs some duty then it is free will slavery.

When we talk about the society, we also have to talk about the distribution of rights in the society among the different individuals and/or groups. This distribution is affected by the existence of status conditions of different individuals or groups. Here by group we mean a group made of homogeneous population.

The legal positivists endorse the theory of legal positivism about rights, which recognizes that only rights are those, which originate from the established law. The legal positivism actually allows for snatching of rights depending upon who is in power. Traditionally established laws are based on the coercive power of society and/or state. However, this theory is relevant to interpretation of established law. The legal positivism actually outlaws the French revolution and the American war of independence. Exactly, the French Revolution and the American War had to legalize themselves.

The theory of legal positivism is highly inappropriate for the lawmakers. The lawmakers should be concerned with what should be the law and not what the law is. The lawmakers should be impartial and equality of claims should be of paramount importance.

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The claims are inherent in the nature of human beings and in their interaction with each other. The legal rights are not necessarily recognized justified rights. The rights, which are availed at the cost of other society members’ rights, can be called unjustified rights. The rights which are not equally available are also unjustified rights.

In any war, the winning side can easily snatch the other sides’ right to live. It can also derecognize the right or claims of the losing side. The existence of the unrecognized justified rights, most of the time, is in the human sufferings; and may sometime lead to far reaching social, political and economic changes.

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G. JUSTICE AT WHAT COST?

There is injustice spread all over the place and still nothing much is done about it. Often people are found making peace with the unjust system which perpetrates injustice. Some people do it out of assumption that the unjust system is right because it belongs to them. They are part of it just like an organ is part of a body which cannot have its existence outside the body. However, sometimes it is a well thought out reaction. Because disagreeing with the society means breaking away from the beneficial binding forces of the system. The eventual breakage of linkages reduces his/her status in the society. This is avoided by them by agreeing to society. After all, a man is social animal and an unjust society takes full advantage of that. There are times the oppressed people are found justifying the system which oppresses them or puts at them at disadvantage. They may not be willing but they have to make peace with the oppressing system to avoid further oppression.

Let us go back to our simple model where the claims and counter claims must be equal for justice. Let us say somebody A has gone out and physically assaulted B. this creates an imbalance in justice until B’s counter claim is also realized to bring the justice. As long as B’s claim remains outstanding the injustice will prevail in the system. The outstanding claim of B can be taken to be equivalent to injustice prevailing due to assault of A on B. The superiority of A increases relative to B who is now inferior to A in the same measure. The resultant superiority and inferiority are equal and opposite and equal to each other.

Now B wants justice for the wrong done to him by A. Every system has its own version of judicial system and sense of right and wrong. However, we go along with our concept of justice and leave the judicial system as it is. Now here we will make two simplifying assumptions in our simple model. One is that the cost of availing justice increases in an increasing way with the increase in the justice sought. This mean that marginal cost of availing justice increases with the justice sought. The second assumption is that the benefit of justice rises less and less with more and more justice. This means that the marginal benefits of availing justice fall. Let us consider a situation where A has stolen money of B. B only wants the money back and nothing else. The judicial system not only gives B back the

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money but also awards corporal punishment to A. This may not be liked by B since he has already been compensated for his loss. Here B feels some feelings of uneasiness – here we can say that the additional benefits of justice are negative. The additional benefits have become negative from positive.

The curve showing marginal cost will rise up steadily and curve showing marginal benefits will fall down with more and more justice. The justice equilibrium will be where the marginal benefit equals marginal cost. This will be shown by intersection of these two curves. Well if everything goes all right the B will get the required justice. But there are many ifs and buts in between. Certainly A will not take this justice peacefully because he stands to lose. Suppose A has the power to shift up the marginal cost of B up then the justice what B gets will be smaller than what would be any absence of course of action chosen by A. A may have the power to push and push up the curve so that all marginal benefits lie below the marginal cost of B. In this situation, B will give up the quest for justice. Powerful A can do it by giving threat of further violence, by giving threat to life of B, by giving threat to hurt the near and dear ones of B. One more option A may choose is to bribe his way out. Thus in a rational manner (which saves his interests) A may successfully obstruct the justice. And leave B high and dry. B may have no option but to resign unwillingly and make peace. In certain conditions B may not be eligible to get the justice and hence the injustice would prevail in the society and A would always have free and upper hand. In other words, the poor, the deprived, the ineligibles and part ineligibles, people with minimum social linkages and excluded people are less likely to get some kind justice or any kind of justice.

The rich and powerful, people with strong social linkages are more likely to get away after creating injustice as compared to resourceless people. The system in place may just ignore the people at the bottom of society. The point P in the following graph is the point above which the people make peace with the unjust system. It is kind of forced peace with injustice.

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In addition to making peace with system, there may be

situations where the justice is over achieved where the high-level punishments are given for minor offences. Here, either the judicial system or the lawmakers may be at fault. The punishment should equal to unjust act carried out. The long term or capital punishments should not be given for minor offences. In that, the justice is not achieved and the system owes the accused some compensation which are equal to excess of punishments over the unjustified act carried out or the injustice prevails in the form of automatically created claim of the accused.

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