Aaja Nachle - Caste controvrsy

Controversy and controversy – a controversy erupted about the lyrics of a song from a Hindi film – Aajaa Nachle – it stars Madhuri Dixit the leading actress who occupied top position in Bollywood. The lines which have caused the trouble and much heart burn is as follows –

“Bole Mochi Bhi Khud Ko Sunar” - it means that a shoe mender (Mochi) is claiming to be a gold smith (Sunar).

It means that a man of untouchable caste (Mochi – a subcaste of cobblers – the makers of shoes and skinners of dead animals ) claims to be a member of relatively higher caste which is Sonarwhihc is a Shudra artisan caste making the jewelry out of gold or silver. So the situation is created in the movie so that an untouchable hides his identity and changes it to Sonar so as to be acceptable to heroine. It automatically means that untouchables are not acceptable to the heroine of the movie which is in fact a general fact – the untouchables are not acceptable in the society. It is despite the fact that the anti-untouchability Act is in existence in Indian Constitution for more than 50 years. The lyrics are an indirect reference to untouchability and remind the cobblers of their degraded and despicable position.

The hue and cry was understandable but banning the movie was too drastic steps. The writer of lyrics one honorable Shri Piyush Mishra said that he was shocked at such a reaction by cobbler caste in Uttar Pradesh. He also claimed that he knew the caste equation very well. He has used the word Mochi and Sonar as occupations and not as castes. He is innocent enough to not know that in India the caste is known by heredity unchangeable occupations. His kind of innocence knows no bound – this kind of Sarswati is living in him from time immemorial. Incidentally he is Brahman, the highest caste, in Hindu society and retains the unofficial right to degrade others through direct and indirect comments. As one of my friends says about Brahmans –

"And they were scum and that trait is in their genes. So, there is no way that they are changed now. Give them a half a chance and they will show their true colors."

I hope Mr. Puyush Misra, from Gwalior, has no malafide intentions only his ancestors and traditions were speaking through him. I also think that he is not showing his true colors as opined my friend as above. He may have found the present environment of democracy and absence of his caste privileges as suffocating and thus came the lyrics.

Before public screening the movie went to Censor Board headed by honorable Miss Sharmila Tagore who said that the line in question was “slightly overlooked” and some “miscalculation” was made. She took the Mochi and Sonar as professions and not as castes. Innocence after innocence – no end to innocence - all these complex personalities are feigning ignorance after ignorance. They consider it a small issue. And racism in Britain against Shilpa Shetty , the Bollywood actress" was a serious issue!!!!!!

And Mahuri Dixit would not have danced to the tunes if she had found the lines objectionable. She feign ignorance. How many ignorances are there if these knowledgeable people are to be believed? And producers, musicians and directors all have feigned ignorance. Piles of piles of ignorance and sometimes the hidden hatred for untouchables come out of it. Fortunately it was very small this time.

These despicable and hated people are fit to live in their hamlets outsides the villages – that is the message.

Then there is issue of freedom of artistic expression. I fully agree that. But use of creative freedom for a regressive cause? As here noble laureate Amartyo Sen would say that each society has its relative inherent culture and concept of rights and that should not be interfered with. Great noble thoughts.

Anyway I am not against his creative freedom in what ever way he wants to use it. And I also think that banning the book was not the correct solution. In fact, it is small enough factor to make really any difference; it could have been ignored. Those who want to see the movie should see it and those who do not want they should not see it. Simple. It was a flop film and the song bereft of any quality would have died a natural death.

Murder of low caste-son-inlaw in America

The India Diaspora takes the caste with from its Indian roots. How can one alienate himself from his roots? It is impossible. The leopard does not change it spots whether in India or America. The roots of caste superiority are very strong. Strong enough to kill the low caste relative. Subhash Chander , a resident of Illonis, United States of America, killed his son-in-law, his pregnant daughter and his young grand child by their apartment by dousing petrol and then setting afire. It was done so because the son-in-law belonged to a low caste – the perverted cruel mind of 57 years old Subhash Chabbnder could not bear it any longer and took the step to redeem the situation by killing th pregnant daughter and her low caste husband. After setting fire to his son-in-law’s apartment he did not make any attempt to save them. Why should he have done it? It would have tormented his soft psyche. Similarly he neither called he police and fire brigade. He watched them dying and he can move in the casteist Diaspora with his head held high.

The caste showed its ugly and cruel face in a far away land that too when the civil society in India and Indian Diaspora are under constant state of denial of caste and casteism among them. But the believers in caste system do not want to destroy their faith in caste because doing would be akin to destroying themselves. A lesson should be drawn from this incident – the caste rules should not be flouted otherwise be ready to pay with your life. It keeps on happening in India – nobody is bothered. If any outsider objects then a fig leaf taken out of Indian Constitution is flapped before his well and all is well. Well now there is proof that Indian Diaspora s also follows Caste rules but constantly denies it but such incidents happen and their claim is proved hollow but the liars stick with lying – there is no caste – there is no caste – it is only in the minds of low caste people. They deliberately ignore because monster of caste helps the upper caste.

An unborn child in the deaths of Monika Rani, 22, her husband, Rajesh Kumar, 36, and their son, Vansh died and one can be sure not a single upper caste Hindu would shade any ters – not even artificially. For them it is way of putting lower castes in their limits.

Tehelka, Modi, Gujarat Carnage- Hindu response

Tehelka has created quite a stir but it died down eventually. It exposed the people behind the Gujarat carnage in 2002. At that time nearly 750 Muslims were killed in a state sponsored arson in the state in retaliation to Godhara incident in which 55 Kar sevak died in the burning of a bogey of a train. These Kar Sevaks (volunteers) were returning after offering their services at Ayodhya, where a mosque built by Musllim ruler Babar, was demolished by Hindus in 1991.In response to Godhara incident , allegedly Mr. Narendra Modi , Chief Minister of Gujarat, let loose the forces of arson on Muslims in the state holding them responsible for Godhara carnage. The entire Muslim community was held responsible for killing of Hindu kar sevaks in the train. For three days the state administration did not take any strict action and the Hindu goons had their field day. But it is not that simple – 250 Hindus also died in three days, indicating a violent retaliation by Muslims goons and a firing by the police. The army was also called out. After some days reports were lodged with police and cases went on tortuous journeys in Indian court famous for their legendry delays. However not more then 15 convictions have taken place in Gujarat carnage case due to usual lack of evidences and witnesses.

The root cause of this carnage may traced to Ayodhya demolition of Babri Masjid. This also makes holes in the theory that the Hindus and Muslims lived peacefully with each other under Muslim rulers for 600 years. Actually they lived with each other as rulers and subject with hegemony of Muslims. In 1947, India got the independence from British empire with bifurcation of the land between Hindu and Muslim communities. One part was Hindu dominated India and other was Muslim dominated Pakistan. Pakistan was further divided into two part in 1971 – Pakistan and Bangla Desh. The very reason for partition of India was the unwillingness of Muslims to live with Hindus in a democracy where they would be ruled by majority Hindu community. They could not be subordinates to their earlier subordinates!!!! A proof of ever existing general social harmony between Hindus and Muslims!

Both the communities have hidden hatred for each other due to past. And people talk of composite culture!!!!!!

The destruction of Babri Mosque was the result of hidden resentment of Hindus against their former rulers, the Muslims. It was for British to end the rule of Muslims over Hindus and establish India as a colony for themselves. India got independence in 1947 with bifurcation which turned into trifurcation in 1971 with recognition of Bangla Desh as a separate country which was carved out of the then Pakistan.

The resentment against Muslims started to come to surface with the development of theory of Hindutva by Savarkar in 1936 and Guruji Golwalkar who formed RSS (Rastriya SvyamSevak Sangh ) in 1936 also. The RSS was started as non-political party as a social organization but the sole aim was to oppose the Muslims not to oppose the British rule. The Hindutvavadi were ready to cross swords with a community no longer in power but not with the colonizers! It is similar with the case of Tulsidas , the great poet of Avadhi (a dilect of Hindi), who wrote the Hindu epic of Lord Ram in Avadhi. His creation is known as Ramcharit Manas. Tulsidas wrote openly against lower castes with a vengeance but not a single word against the rulers, the Muslims. Both the time powerless communities were targeted !! Nothing was written against the powerful people!!!

Anyway the political branch of RSS kept growing and emerged as BJP ( Bhartiya Janata Party) at national level in 1990s. The forces unleashed by history and exploited by BJP and RSS demolished the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. This mosque was looked at by the Hindus as symbol of insult and subjugation. It may be noted that the Hindus never gathered the courage to demolish this assumed piece of insult during last 400 years. Only when they came to power in a democratic system they dared to do this. The Muslims came to be a weaker community because they were in a minority in a democratic system.

The central govt looked on in silence and BJP govt in Uttar Pradesh orchestrated the demolition of the mosque turned into an insult symbol for Hindus. The same mosque was a religion and honor symbol for Muslims. This Babri masjid was built by the first Mughal king Babar from Chagtai lineage of Tamerlen and Genghis Khan . Both are known as blood thirsty tyrants with Gengis Khan having no parallel in the world history. He had Tatar blood from maternal side. He came to India at the invitation of Rana Sanga, a Rajput King in Rajasthan, to defeat the then Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi with whom Rana Sanga was having a running enmity. Ibrahim Lodhi, an Afghan, was ruling over the Muslim Kingdom over north India; this kingdom is known in history as Delhi Sultnat. Babar defeated Lodhi in the famous first battle of Panipat and captured Delhi throne. Rana Sanga was under the impression that Babar would leave after defeating Lodhi and that would leave Delhi sultnat free for him with he could capture with ease. But Babar came for good and also defeated Rana Sanga in a subsequent war of Kanhwa. He established a dynasty in India known as Mughal dynasty which was destined to last for full 200 years. The mosque at Ayodhya which is regarded as a holy place by millions of Hindus being the supposed birth place of Lord Ram (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) was built by Babar.

Though the advocates of harmony between Hindus and Muslims harp on its ever existence the destruction of Hindu temples belies this. Following the law of the land under the coercive powers of state can not really be called a socially harmonious state. The Hindus compromised and got accustomed to their second class citizen status. But underlying antagonism was always there. And this underlying current of antagonism based on insults heaped upon Hindus erupted in 1991 in Ayodhya under the state govt. headed by BJP, the Hindu party. The philosophy of Hindutva grants second class citizenship to Muslim population. This can be stated to be direct confrontation to Indian Constitution which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.

The opposition to demolition of Babri mosque from Hindus was by and large limited. It was limited to so called secular mainstream media consisting a few television channels and five –six major English newspapers. By and large the Hindu majority remained neutral or remained silent supporter of cause of Hindutva.

The absence of any opposition to demolition of this ancient relic (or cultural heritage) by Hindus, points towards clash of civilization in terms of Samuel P. Hutington. And this happened before Mr. Samuel P. Hutington could formulate his famous thesis about such confrontations.

In India the clash is not between Western Civilization and Muslim Civilization but between latter and Hindu civilization. The Hindu religious opposition to Muslim religion is now open and just not buried under the surface. The demolishers of cultural heritage (Babri mosque) have their own silent supporters which is clear in the absence of any outburst against this act of vandalism. The vandalism is actually supported by Hindus though nobody goes on record to say so, except very few. The Muslims on their side are not able to come out of their cocoon of holy Koran. They vehemently oppose the vandalism like all right minded people should do but their opposition is based on religious feeling which brings out the existence of fault lines along the religious frontiers. This also indicates absence of any general social harmony between these two religious communities. It is already said before that following the law of land under state’s coercive powers does not constitute a mutually harmonious way of living. The Hindu side refers it to as a demolition of disputed structure not an act of vandalism. This is in direct contravention to the concept of common culture.

One thing to be noted here is that generally the English media in India was anti-Hindutva and opposed the demolition of mosque. In doing so it opposed the Hindu thought of underlying current. Here we see Hindus against Hindus. Shall we call it an internal clash of civilization which is internal to Hindu society? We might as well do so.

Again with the sting operation by Tehelka led to repeat of the earlier sequences . Some supposedly vehement opposition by the secular media and secular forces and a feeble voice of protests by right minded people. And everything soon died out. The culprits or foot soldiers are, by and large, safe. There is no really effective demand for justice. Indeed this demolition and subsequent violence eruptions are not seen as a crime by Hindus. The state sponsored violence in Gujarat in aftermath of Godhara train buring incident is called as reaction to action. Thus any violence action by Muslims (planned or unplanned) will have a similar reaction. And the justice system has to look on as a bystander. The culprit/hero of the Gujarat carnage Modi is again likely to win the Gujarat election. His popularity among Gujarati Hindus has not gone down which indicates that his supporters look at the violent incidence against Muslims with vindication. The fault lines are complete along the religious lines. All the Muslims can do is to follow the law of land and give out an illusion of social harmony! No political party like Congress (ruling at the center) or any other party has come openly and vehemently in support of Tehelka sting, the Supreme Court is not interested in pursuing the case. The isolation of Muslims has come above the surface instead of lurking under it. All are like minded people!!!

Another thing which is to be seen that casteist Indian media is apparently taking sides of Muslim under the cover of secularism, anti-communalism and justice etc. The same casteist media does not provide any support to people suffering due to castesim. It blatantly denies the existence of caste discrimination but practices it nevertheless. When Mr. Kanshiram , the most notable leader of untouchables after B.R. Ambedkar died, it did not deserve a mention in the media. The political party he established , BSP bahujan Samaj Party, now hold the power in the larges state of India, Uttar Pradesh having a population of 160 millions. This man was supported by at lease 10 millions untouchables alone in Uttar Pradesh. And such a man gets one line mention on Television and Radio! And one line mention in newspapers on 9^th or 14^th page! And people of high castes get ream and reams of newspaper length and hour and hour on Television!

It is a strange case where a society does not like one of its members and flaunts the principles of secularism, equality and justice etc.

What shall we call it a case of clash of civilizations (Hindu and Muslim), along with a case of internal clash of civilization (traditional Hindus and secular Hindus) and a case of internal fractures of civilization (caste Hindus against untouchables.) ! Hindu response has such a convoluted structure!

Trent Frank and dalit bill in America - reservations?

Trent Frank, a Republican who represents the 2nd District of Arizona in the U.S. Congress, introduced a bill supporting the cause of dalits (former untouchables) in India in May 2007. The bill focuses on caste discrimination in India which to some people is like interference in internal matters of India. But the bill uses value of human lives to do so. In doing so America is acknowledging the existence of untouchability which the Indian Government has been white washing under the pretext Anti-untouchability law it has enacted. It is another thing this law is buried under the dust in rural India. The American bill internationalizes the issue of caste discrimination in India. It also speaks of dealing the issue through various International bodies.

Further people receiving funding from American government in India should be aware of this policy of stopping caste discrimination. Such people should not discriminate on the basis of caste. However, this bill is limited to people or groups receiving funds from United States of America government and not to private funding.

It also advises the American citizen dealing in India to not discriminate on the basis of caste.

Then we have the resolution of European Union (EU) which demand that the Council and the Commission give priority to promoting equal opportunities in employment in private EU-based companies and encouraging EU-based companies to implement the "Ambedkar Principles" (Employment and Additional Principles on Economic and Social Exclusion Formulated to assist All Foreign Investors in South Asia to Address Caste Discrimination).

Really speaking this has not caused much stir in India but it has wide potential.

Now American Multinational Companies, after establishing themselves firmly in India can demand to know the caste of applicants in order to implement affirmative action on American lines in India. The Microsoft, Oracle and Google etc. are candidates for this kind of action. The day the MNC start implementing affirmative action it will be a bad day for business corporations in India. This would amount to gross interference in Varna dharma of Hindu society and highly adharmic. But as people know this is Kaliyug the upper castes will have to bear with it. Even they my also join the process to show the world , especially USA and EU, their main business areas, that they are not inhuman or backward people and really believe in promoting equality in the society.

Even Infosys, the software giant in India, has taken up to train the untouchable candidates in their institutes in contrast to its earlier stand of counting only merit! It may be due to USA bill or threat of Indian govt. of forcing reservations in private sector of India.

Hindu ethos - Indian media

The India mainstream media which does not give a place to the views of untouchables and Shudras, is very much angered about the treatment given to Hindu religion in Californian school textbooks for the VI graders. In Indian media all the views about untouchables are given by upper caste Hindus journalist, reporters. Columnist and editors. May be their ethos prevent them from giving space to these people; all are ingrained in purity of Hindu religion.

However the same logic is not employed in case of study by Americans. As per their ways of working the American themselves are entitled form a view about Hindu religion which is required to be taught in American schools.

However, as we have seen in previous posting dated 7 October 2007 that certain aspects of Hindu religion are too inhuman and cruel to be taught to VI graders with impressionable minds. Actually untouchability and sati system should not be taught to anybody below 18 years of age anywhere. However, in India the untouchability can be taught to both upper caste and lowest caste children right from childhood; no schooling is needed here; the sick society is itself the teacher. Such a thing is integral part of Hinduism. Nobody in rural India can challenge it! It is a truly rich and spiritual heritage of which everyone is pride of whether in India or abroad. To show this Indian diaspora is divided into many castes, the society structure taken from their roots, the great spiritual land - the India, and taken to materialistic West. But these Western people are not willing to leave India’s internal matters as it is and mind their own business.

However, Pioneer Columnist Sandhya Jain is very critical of the role of Witzel and his role in Californian school textbook controversy. She alleges that all this is an agenda of Hindu haters and Christian converts. It looks like speaking against Hindu religion essentially means hating, not the criticism or protest or dissent. The pure Hindu religion should not be criticized even if for the practice of sati and untouchability. Both depict the inhuman cruelty inherent in the structure of Hindu society.

Further she warns of bad effect Western world on Hinduism as follows,

“Any attempt to accord primacy to secular education and employment (Mammon) is counter to the Hindu ethos wherein the hierarchy of values (varnas) ranks mercantile and wealth-generating groups (Vaishya varna) as third, well after spiritual preceptors (Brahmin) and those who uphold the power of the state (Kshatriya).”

The concept of secularism and materialism (Mammon) will destroy the inhuman hierarchy of Hindu religion!!!! Its civilizational ethos of hierarchy are in grave danger if lower castes learn about equality and if they castes are given the jobs which make them financially well off. With the concept the lower castes will challenge the varna (values!) system and with material success they will not obey the upper three Varnas! She does not want the wealth, power and lawmaking (the Brahmins are the lawmakers of Hindus) to go to lower castes. So evidently hates the concepts of equality and elimination of poverty. Well if that is true then she hates 80% of Hindus. Of course she belongs to mercantile class and looks down upon lower castes with contempt and hate. This is founding principle of Hinduism which should essentially pass as great virtuous quality of Hindu religion.

It seems like that she is really an integral part of privileged upper castes in ancient sense and not so ancient, Hindu civilization is still a continuous Civilization where there is no place for 1/5 of the society.!

California school books - righteous Hindu way !

The Indian Diaspora takes the image of Hindu religion very seriously. In 2006 it tried to get the changes made in the school textbooks for VI standard in California, United State of America. California is one of the biggest and trend setting states in America. It creates a demand for 12-15 % of books in America. So it is quite influential.

The alleged negative image of Hinduism has been a matter of grave concern to high caste Hindus in America. The image created by these school textbooks has been such that it had a negative psychological impact on Hindu school children. The white students are said to be making fun of Hindu student over casteism, untouhcability, sati , widows and women?s right etc. As it happened many times the 11 years old Hindu American school children came to their homes almost in tears and complained that they were being taunted in the class for coming from a culture where untouchability is practiced and women have fewer rights than men. This isolation and taunting was allegedly having an adverse effect on children of impressionable age.

Some people decided to do something about and started protesting. Texas based VF (Vedic Foundation) and HEF (Hindu Education Foundation) complained against this stating a bias the textbooks against Hindus. The portrayal of Hindu religion was supposed to be faulty and prejudiced. According to them the changes should be made according to wishes of the practitioners of Hindu religions. The Hindu religions should not be taught in a bad light. The good things of Hindu religion should also be emphasized. The California Department of Education and State Board of Education entertained their requests and agreed to make the changes (edits) suggested by them.

The California State Law states.

?1. Adverse Reflection. No religious belief or practice may be held up to ridicule and no religious group may be portrayed as inferior.?

2. Indoctrination. Any explanation or description of a religious belief or practice should be present in a manner that does not encourage or discourage belief or indoctrinate the student in any particular religious belief.?

Here the Hindu Americans claim the textbooks emphasize on the negatives of Hindu religion. Thank goodness they do not claim that there are no problems within Hindu society. And discrimination based on caste and untouchability does not prevail in India because there are laws against them in India.

The books for VI graders are supposed to be a negative influence by teaching them the gross and inhumane disabilities imposed on untouchables. Such a thing may not be digestible to American children since they are brought up in an environment of equality. It is country where whites fought against whites to end the slavery and about 5 to 7 millions lost their lives in the process. Such a thing can not be seen to happened in Hindu society. Freedom and liberty of untouchables are suppressed by the upper castes who are protesting against the school textbook portrayal of oppressed untouchables. These people or Indian Diaspora practice casteism in America, Britain and other places and want a clean picure of Hindu society. They do not their children to get taunted in class over untouchability but teach them casteism in social behavior in their own circle. There are separate temples for different castes in foreign countries. These people anyway deny the existence of caste in India. To show this they do not have single Dalit in their hallowed circle. These people shielded by caste system find nothing wrong with the system. Even Mahatama Gandhi was a staunch supporter of caste system though he opposed untouchability.

An 11 year old feels shameful on learning negative things about his religion, his glorious heritage.

But what about the shame which the Hindu religion thrusts upon million of untouchables since birth to death? At least in California they wait for 11 years to tell a person a thing here in India they start right at the birth. This creates stunting of personalities among untouchables and an inferiority complex which become an embedded part of their personalities. The advocates of changes in history books are actually favoring telling of lies! And of course nobody should utter a word about human rights.

The upper caste parents always lie to their children and present a glorious picture. They never talk about negative things but ingrain negative feeling about low caste people in them! The traumatic lives of untouchable never mattered to these people who are sensitive to their own portrayal in negative terms with accuracy.

The biased academics were said to be asked to give their views and unbiased people from Hindu sides (many of those who have opinion that caste system and untouchability never existed in India.)

In practice Hinduism is polytheism but in theory it is monotheism.

In fact the casteism and associated untouchability are in fact too inhuman to be taught to VI graders. These should be removed from the school textbook meant for them. However their parents can teach them this since these young and impressionable minds are 5 or 6 years old. Again sati system is also too inhuman to be known by such young and soft minds. Inhumanity in Hinduism is too much for VI graders but not bad enough to be taught at home.

Then we have the philosophy of Hinduism such as Karma, birth and rebirth. and the philosophy given Upnishids. These philosophy are too abstract and complex to be taught to such young minds. So these should also not be taught to them. There should be no mention of polytheism and monotheism because these are again complex and debatable points.

There should be no mention of coming of Aryans and also the fact that they leaned agriculture from natives of India. Otherwise how the gloriousness of Hinduism can be shown?

So what remains is the mention of four Vedas, Varna system without heredity aspect and Hindu holy trinity BrahmA , VishnU and Mahesh. With this the introduction to Hindu religion should be over. It should not take more than one page.

The major part of Hinduism is not fit for VI graders and should be removed from the syllabus of the Californian schools. Actually the Hinduism should not be taught to students below 18 years. Its inhuman aspects are strictly meant for adults though in Indian villages an untouchable child learns them at a tender age of 4 or 5 when he faces derogatory remark about his caste and learns that voluntary submission is the best way to deal with these people whose kith and kin protest a lot in America! Disowning the heritage is very quick when you are dealing with Americans and a matter of pride when dealing with untouchables either in India or abroad. It is all fair with absence of justice.

Everybody is casteist in Hindu Society

Caste is what decides the fate of a hindu . Caste decides what should be his social circle

What should he eat. With whom he should eat. With whom he should marry. To whom he should respect. And whom he should treat with contempt. And of course this system is heaven for some and hell for some. The hindu society is divided into five broad social groups. Graded in descending order they are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas , Shudras and Antyajas. The last group is also known as untouchable group. The untouchable now call them selves Dalit ( Crushed people ) . The untouchability has been abolished in law but it still persist beyond cities’ limits. The law is helpless, in this it has the help of disinterested law-upholders.

The caste discrimination is rampant in villages but in cities it takes sophisticated ways.

This so called timeless wretched system has made the lives of millions of dalits hell. They are the ultimate victims. Though there is government support to them in form of reservation in educational and government institutions.

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 twice-born for they are eligible for thread ceremony. The lower two strata are not eligible for thread ceremony indicating their lower status as compared to twice-born. The fourth stratum of Shudras is superior to Dalits. The dalits are condemned to live a wretched life. Nobody bothers because it suits everybody’s ends.

As it happened after India received independence , most of the upper caste people moved to cities. It was mainly due to land reforms under which the land was given to tillers. These tillers were the Shudras or what is now called landed backward castes. Now these castes are evidently oppressing the Dalits.

Now the question is that why should the Shudra who were earlier poor should commit atrocities on landless Dalits. In this regard it may be seen that poor upper caste people are never at the receiving end of this kind of exploitation. It is reserved only for the Dalits.

Now what ails the society? How come the victims of the system ( Shudras – the fourth Varna) are not ready to fight it out and demolish it? In the line of their earlier exploiters (upper castes) the new landed Shudra castes are behaving in a similar manner. These newly landed Shudras were tillers not long ago and thus a victim of the system and were living at the mercy of upper castes.

The reason for this is very simple. It is not very perplexing. The idea about 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 a heredity based purity and social standing. The purity decreases downward the caste scale and increases upward the caste scale.

The common idea of abolishing the caste of each caste is that the each caste wants to be equal to castes higher than it and maintain its superiority in comparison to still lower castes. Like a Jat wants to be equal to twice-born but at the same time maintain his superiority over lower castes to him. And same likewise Yadavs or a Reddys or even 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.

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. Since everybody is doing it, no unity against caste system is achieved. And in the absence of such united opposition the caste system thrives on.

Such a common idea actually means down ward discrimination by all the castes including Chamars. The Chamar discriminates against Bhangi but wants equality and respect from castes higher to him. There is inherent inner contradiction in such a selfish solution to abolish the caste. The lowest caste in the system ( Bhangi) can not do it because it does not get a chance. Therefore it is futile to say that only upper caste practice caste discrimination while others are not the culprit.

This kind of behavior is the reason for which the landed Shudras discriminate against still lower caste and so on downward. The discrimination is pushed down and down till it engulfs whole of the society and all the castes.

Thus it can be said that all the people in Hindu society are casteists whether they belong to the higher most caste or the lower most caste. And with such a situation and thinking there is little hope for equality in the society.

Ram Sethu - man made or natural ?

The politics of India sometime moves along with religious lines.

Seemingly a bridge (or a chain of islands) between India and Ceylone ( Sri Lanka) which joins these two countries under the sea is a bone of contention between political parties like Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and DMK. Between religious forces and secular forces.

BJP is know for Hindutva ideology which says India is for Hindus only and others are second class. Congress takes pride in its secular credentials and DMK and it leader M. Karunanidhi are very well known for theirs anti-hindu-scripture stance. BJP and Congress are national level political parties and DMK is a regional level party; its influence is limited to the state of Tamilnadu.

The bridge, at the southern tip of India, is known as Ram Sethu or Adam’s bridge.

The sea along the bridge is shallow and it makes it difficult for ships to cross this bridge. Only small boats can cross this structure. There is project known as Sethusamandrum which is for dredging the sea and make it deeper by breaking this bridge. This is supposed to make short the travel time of ships when going from east to west or vice versa. Otherwise the ships have to take a longer route going via the southern end of Sri Lanka. This deepening of sea will result in saving of fuel and man days.

However , Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy approached Supreme Court Of India urging it to stop the destruction of bridge or shoals . The reason for this was that this tombolo or bridge (or a chain of islands ) according to popular religious belief was made by armies of Lord Ram of Ayodhya to attack Lanka to get back his wife Sita from the clutches of Ravana. Ravana was a demon king who had kidnapped Sita to avenge the insult done to his sister Superanakha at the hands of Lakshman. Lakshmana was the younger brother of Lord Ram who cut off the nose of Superanakha when the latter expressed her love for Lakshmana. This story is given in Ramayana which is a Hindu religious epic. The mainstream historians consider this epic to be a part of Hindu mythology since so far no evidence of such a ruler or event had been discovered. However the fringe historians with a religious faith considers it to be a true story and a part of Hindu history. They consider Lord Ram to be historical figure where no evidence exists in favor of such a view.

Now this bridge built according to religious belief of Hindus by Lord Ram , the sixth Avtar of Lord Vishnu has caused turbulence in India and it has become national and political issue.

But whether this bridge is really man made. This bridge seems to be a hydromechanical structure of Coral and sand. Carbonated mounds are found along with marine sand. Sand is supposed to be on the top most layer then there are corals then again sand and below them are the hard rocks. Now this sand in between corals and hard rock seems to have created some confusion. According Dr. Badrinaryan , the noted geologist, the former director of Geological Survey of India and former coordinator of the survey division of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Ministry of Earth Science, in Chennai (NIOT), this type of formation is possible only when the boulders have been brought from some where else and planted on the sand because corals grow only on hard rocks. Thus according to him the structure is man made. Please see his interview here .

Further it coincides with the time when the war of Lord Ram with Lanka king Ravana is supposed to have taken place.

Regarding the layered structure of this tombolo ( a strip joining two land mass divided by sea) it may be stated that it is not necessary to have a thick impenetrable core for a reef or corals. The corals do have some porosity. Where the porous part is filled up by the carbonated materials then we have a compact structure. Otherwise we have a porous core though a little bit. When this porous core is eroded due to waves and accumulation of marine sand then a more porous structure is born. As a result caves in coral reefs are not unknown. Further variation of these porous cores are the development of large voids in them due to hydromechanical forces . The carbonated debris erode and give way to voids. Sometime a structure is created which is known as pillar and roof structure of reef or corals.

So first there is hard rock and then corals grew over it. These rocks and coral growth is near to a land mass. The corals die and a thick carbonated structure is created over the rocks. Then hydromechanical forces erode the lower part of the carbonate stones and wash away the carbonated debris. This creates voids large enough to make a pillar and roof structure. Then strong sea waves bring the sand and deposit it in the void and fill it up completely. Then under hydromechnical pressure the carbonated pillars break down and mix with the sand. It happens slowly and the top most carbonate stones do not have time to come down. It rests on the pillars till the sand fully takes the place of pillars after they turn into debris. After sometime the sand is deposited on the top of carbonated stones or boulders. Then a team under our Dr. Badrinarayan goes to drill the structure and finds the layered structure with marine sand in between hard rock and corals and proclaims, unscientifically, that the bridge is a man made structure. Whereas it is totally due to natural forces and a structure of sand, shoals, carbonated boulders and hard rock. It is completely nature made with no artificial hand in it.

Then one more thing is that the corals are found on the side of Gulf of Mannar to the west side of Sethu and not on the side of Palk strait to the east of Sethu. It is so because the waves in Gulf of Mannar are calm and quiet and corals grow only in peaceful sea. The sea in Palk Strait is rough and tough so the corals do not grow there because they can not survive there.

The above is also in line with the natural forces and not the artificial forces. If the bridge or tombolo was man made then the coral or carbonate boulders should have been on both the side not only one natural side. They lie on natural side which is proof of their natural build up.

But Dr. Badrinarayan ignores all this and claims it to be a man made structure. This blows up the religious feeling of the people. Or the elites of Hindus and their followers want to claim it as an astonishing engineering feat of their forefathers where there is none.

Then it was all started by photograph taken by NASA which clearly show a tombolo between India and Sri Lanka. NASA has already said that it is not possible to say whether this was man made or natural. However it prefers to call it a tombolo which is joining strip between two land masses divided by sea.

Thus it can safely be concluded that Adam’s bridge is natural structure and not man made.

But this rational reasoning is not enough to calm the religious voices of unreason and a resultant chaos in India both in political and religious terms. Truly the Indians do not have the scientific temper.

Gita teaches casteism - Dear Judge !

Gita is supposed to be the epitome of spirituality by Hindus. It is much appreciated in India and abroad. It is the most quoted Sanskrit scripture of eternal Sanatana Dharma. It ranks next only to sacred four Vedas. It is supposed to be an authority on karma and dharma which are the pivots of discriminating Hindu caste society based on Chaturvarna (the varna system) . The notion of equality is simply missing in the caste system. It is devoid of human dignity. It is highly irrational and superstitious society where the logic stands on its head. For example the touch of a shadow of fifth stratum human being (?) is supposed to pollute high caste people. This supposed pollution is so far without any explanation. All the superior high caste people with superior brains are unable to come up with any explanation which looks logical.


It was supposed to be a scripture of Hindus but now one esteemed and honorable judge of Allahabad High Court, Uttar Pradesh, India has recommended that Gita be treated as national dharma shastra and all people from any religion or caste or creed should follow it in India here and here .

The Gita was supposedly preached by Lord Shri Krishna to Arjun ( one of the Pandavas who were to fight against their brothers Kauravas) at the beginning of epic war of Mahabharata ( Mahabharata the epic , the longest epic in the world , is also known as Pancham Veda or the fifth Veda). Arjun the great Kshatriya warrior was unwilling to fight the war against his own brothers. Lord Krishna dispels his hesitation by stating that by fighting he is only doing his karma which is decideed by swadharma. Swadharma means one's own duty. This by definition is to be decided by individual. But Arjuna did not decide his own dharma ( swadharma) . Fighting was his dharma ( duty) because he was a Kshatriya. He had no part to play in his own dharm (swadharma).

Each varna ( Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Shudra in descending social order) is supposed possess his swadharma.
And this SWADHARMA can not be changed by anybody not even by almighty God . Thus following swadharma results in following the casteism. All this means that the Gita actually teaches casteism. And everybody should follow the dehumanizing caste system !!! Thus spake our honorable judge of Allahabad High Court!!!

The so called judges should indulge in activities which result in dehumanizing practices. Gita in no way qualifies to be a national dharma. He should correct himself. Let low caste people have their dignity and human rights.


Publish Post

Indian Communists and Caste

The Indian communists have constantly denied the relevance of caste in India. In their scheme of things the caste does not appear as a crucial thing. Here we will confine ourselves to Marxist framework. The Communists have always considered the caste to be a part of super structure different from the materialistic economic base . The super structure has no separate existence of itself. For its survival it depends on economic base. The economic base or distribution of land, labor and capital among different people is the real thing not the caste or estates as such. Thus if any given economic base collapses then its related superstructure must also collapse.

There was belief of Marx that caste being a part of superstructure will automatically fall down when mode of productions changes from Asiatic (? - what it means I do not know , perhaps even Marx was not clear about this) to industrial. but that did not happen. The Indian Communists innocently believed all this. Or may be they were happy such a though absolves them of their guilt feelings. All the front line Communists in India belonged to upper castes and hence not very keen on discussing shameful caste system of their forefathers and declared themselves as declassed. These declassed people were those from the privileged caste who had given up all material things and totally identified with the proletariat .

These declassed Communists completely ignored the caste and left the historical forces to eliminate it and in the process lost the reality of Indian society. They waited and waited for the Caste system to fall on its own as predicted by Mrax. They 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. The ignorance of caste resulted in a situation where the landless were not ready to support the party of proletariat. So in a land of poverty the supposed party of poor (Communist) was without the support of poor.

However the Communitst should have read Engles and Gramsci also. The caste is a part of super structure as well as part of false conscious. According to Engles it the false conscious that prevents unity among working class.

The caste's presence as a big part of "false conscious" that creates fissures in the base, is due to ( however hard some people try to deny it) cultural hegemony of Brahmins. this cultural hagemony is responsible for a divide between por and poor. This cultural hegemony needed to be attacked by Communists. Buut that did not happen.

Had the communists gone according to Gramsci they would definitely tackled the caste actively instead of passively waiting for it to fall down.

Te communists waited for caste to fall, meanwhile it was and is creating fissures in the newly formed base. thus the base was never strong enough to support communists. the caste identity kept on strenghthening itself and the result was rapid growth of the parties which had their support among a particular caste. And the Comminusts paid for it.