Re: Caste System
namaste Devotee.
Some points from the article 'Understanding Caste' by subhASh kAk:
http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/cas3.pdf
Х As example consider the Brahmin caste. Books by Indologists routinely translate this into priest. But in reality priests have had very low status in India. To give the extreme example, the Mahabrahmin priests, who supervise funeral services, have been "treated much like untouchables". The reality of status is highly paradoxical; the brahmin is respected if he renounces his expected function. The reality runs counter to the claims of generations of Indologists.
Х The word varna is from ancient Sanskritic theory and it has no real relevance; the word jati properly denotes what may be termed as a group bound by customs and traditions. The dynamics between the jatis has been influenced a great deal by historical and political factors. During the periods of economic growth, the jatis have been relatively open-ended; during periods of hardships the jatis have tended to draw in for the sake of survival.
Х It is generally agreed that in the ancient Aryan society the varnas were functional groupings and not closed endogamous birth-descent groups. Basham (1967, p.148) suggests that the jati system in its modern form developed very late. The Chinese scholar Hsuan Tsang in the seventh century was not aware of it. As a response to historical events one might then credit the emergence of the modern jati system to the next fundamental change in the Indian polity that occurred with the invasions of the Turks.
Х If one limits oneself to an analysis of the term jati, one would see that its implications have varied with history. Many scholars believe that the system of jati that we have now emerged only about a thousand years ago. If we accept that view then this emergence was perhaps a response to the catastrophic disruption to legal and political institutions caused by the Turkish invasions. With the destruction of the previous political order, different occupational communities created their own systems of justice and governance. In this situation, a local social structure developed which centered about the dominant community.
Х Although jatis may pay lip service to the Brahmin as an intermediary to the gods when it comes to ritual, each caste considers itself to be the highest. If the Brahmins were to be accepted as the highest caste then other castes would have no hesitation in giving their daughters to the Brahmins. But in reality they do not. The Rajputs consider the Brahmins to be other-wordly or plain beggars; the traders consider the Brahmins to be impractical; and so on. In classical Sanskrit plays the fool is always a Brahmin. In other words, each different community has internalized a different outlook on life but these outlooks cannot be placed in any hierarchical ordering. The internalized images of the other must, by its very nature, be a gross simplification and it will never conform exactly to reality.
Х It has been claimed that the castes are separate but interdependent hereditary groups of occupational specialists. Thus Dumont postulates that the principle of purity-impurity keeps the segments separate from one another. In this system each jati closes its boundaries to lower jatis, refusing them the privileges of intermarriage and other contacts defined to be polluting. Facts belie the Dumont theory: Indian Muslims and Christians also have castes. The eighteenth century German society was divided into princes, nobles, burghers, peasants and serfs between whom no marriage other than morganatic was possible. Korea and Japan also had the practice of untouchability.
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Brahmins have never been a socially or politically dominant varNa or jAti in ancient or modern India, although their advice was sought and they were respected. Surely, orthodox brahmins have always practiced--many do it even today--avoidance of tactile contact--not just with strangers of other castes but with their own family members--during the occasions that require extreme maDi-AchAram--ceremonial purity for their religious observances. This has been blown out of proportion by E.V.Ramasamy and his ilk in the political parties DK/DMK in Tamilnadu for their own poliltical gains. In reality, by their sattvic nature, brahmins have not ill-treated the dalits in public life.
The same parties today are unmindful to prevent for fear of loss of votes, the other Hindu castes openly and publicly practising untouchability against the Dalits in the Tamilnadu villages, by such practices as using separate tea glasses in tea-stalls, not allowing the Dalits to visit the village temple run by the higher caste people, draw water from the community well, and even threatening the dalits if they seek to field their own candidate in a local election to the village panchayat.
рд░рддреНрдирд╛рдХрд░рдзреМрддрдкрджрд╛рдВ рд╣рд┐рдорд╛рд▓рдпрдХрд┐рд░реАрдЯрд┐рдиреАрдореН ред
рдмреНрд░рд╣реНрдорд░рд╛рдЬрд░реНрд╖рд┐рд░рд░рддреНрдирд╛рдвреНрдпрд╛рдВ рд╡рдиреНрджреЗ рднрд╛рд░рддрдорд╛рддрд░рдореН рее
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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