In
defence of the upper most caste .
Suddenly there is a lot of talk about the Hindu Caste system due to the ongoing unrest against the reservation system in Universities and the job market . Heres my two cents on this issue .
Caste is not unique only to the Hindu religion. In some or the other form it has always existed in history among various communities . For example the Samurai are the warrior class of Japan. The Mercenary class has existed in all regions and religions since ... for ever . They have been trained in vigorous ruthless blood shed generation after generation. Father to son , they have transferred knowledge about battles and remained loyal to their rulers . I remember reading about a training college for these Mercenaries in some remote place - I think Alhambra or Mongolia . A few decades back, It made for a romantic read I must say .
Go to any museum or castle in Europe and you are sure to see paintings depicting priests coronating kings of their regions .
I don't want to dwell on the how the Caste system originated in the Hindu religion . Its all too well known by now .
We broadly have 4 castes , Brahmins (priests ) , Kshatriyas ( warriors ) , Vaishyas ( Businessmen ) and Shudras ( Anything which is not included in the other 3 like the professions of Barbers / midwives / cleaners etc., ) .
The early settlers along the Sindhu river ( who went by the name of Hindus ) had divided themselves into guilds . One group responsible for translating the ancient texts ( which was barely written and mostly orally handed down generation to generation ) , one body taking care of iron mongering etc., , one batch responsible for medicine , one group excelling in cleaning , one party bettering in management of business etc .,
None of the professions had any untouchability or stigma attached to it . Over a period of time , degeneration occurs everywhere and the caste system too was not immune to this . For instance : People engaged in cleaning came to be regarded as 'unclean' . Its understandable way back then there were no disinfectents or throw away bin liners .
Its but natural that the son should carry forward his father's profession . Its natal for a father to impart his knowledge to his son . So a goldsmith's son is most likely to shine in the same profession as his begetter.
Birds of a feather ( like to ) flock together .The people in the same craft are bound to be associated with common rules/ rituals / customs / habits . Small wonder that slowly they were grouped under one congregation or one caste . It made sense for a girl of a caste to marry a boy of her same caste . Among other factors , it was easy for her to adjust because the life style and behaviour of her in laws will be the same as her own family .
A Brahmin girl is taught to make ornaments out of cotton or flowers to decorate the idols from day one . A kshatriya girl is naturally inclined to adorn the implements of war like elephants , swords etc., or sing encouraging ballads while the retinue is ready to go for war .
Intercaste marriages called Anuloma or Pratiloma ( be it due to love , convenience , treaty between two kingdoms or business houses .. ) have always existed parallely in ancient Hindu history .
Shantanu and Satyavati , Kacha and Devayani are just some of the examples of the above
in the Hindu mythology .
The priest ( Brahmin ) community is the upper most caste of Hindus . Since times immemorial , their duties
involved translating the ancient texts and imparting the knowledge to other groups . Their advice and services were sought by other classes during important times like the birth of a child , death of some one , appeasing the gods during floods etc., The priests traditionally have not been known for their worldly assets . At the age of 8 , a Brahmin boy had to leave home and stay with his Guru ( teacher ) in dense forests tolerating the vicissitudes of day to day life . His duty was to learn and soak in as much knowledge as possible . Even a fistful of flour was considered a good enough Guru Dakshina ( teaching fee ) in return of the know how he gained from his teacher . That was how sacred and self less this act of knowledge pass-on was way back then .
Once he graduated , he lived mostly on alms which he obtained by going house to house .
Its totally different if he finds a patron in some king or some rich businessman. Then , of course ,he will own cattle , houses , jewellery and what not .
A genuine priest , even to this day does not ask any fee for himself . Its up to the other party to give what they think fit .
Its wrong to associate caste with skin colour . Just like we logically associate Charminar with Hyderabad , its commonly understood that priests are fair which the other castes are darker . Skin colour and other features ( like height etc ) comes from the region they inhabit . People belonging to any caste in the North of the subcontinent are usually fair and tall , those in the South are browner and shorter .
It goes without saying that there are always exceptions to this pattern .
Life is all give and take . Whatever caste you belong to , you cannot live in an island . The 'Others' need some one to read the right hymns to rest their dead , bless their war mongering elephants and horses so that they come back wining the war, appease the gods to have good monsoons etc.,
The priest class needs some one to clean his house , cut his hair , help his wife deliver his progeny etc.,
There are always black sheeps and rotten apples lurking around . Some priests twisted the ancient texts to suit their needs . For example , they would add their own imaginary chapters about the big donation to be given to the intermediary between the gods and the other classes , there by pocketing a huge sum themselves . But it was and is an exception and not a rule .
Usually when some one lights says the upper caste has been domineering the lower castes , they mean ( rather ,SHOULD mean ) the middle rung two castes . The dispute is usually between the land owner and the tiller , the king and his subjects and so on ...
How is a priest who is not privy to colossal assets , elephants , horses ,massive land ... supposed to subjugate anyone with anything and for what reason For God's Sake ?
In those days , texts were usually imparted orally . Only since the last few centuries , they were printed and published . Hence it slowly became relatively easy to gain knowledge by reading these books . Learning is more accessible today.
At the birth of Democracy , reservations were started in many fields like education , careers etc ., which was a very correct step. A certain number of seats in the college was restricted to students belonging to a particular community . Noble thought , indeed.
A student coming from an educated , aware background with a rich ancestry of literates is bound to have a high grasping power. Au contraire , a young student without much academic help at home is bound to lag back in his class. He needs a nudge to reach one level higher .
The middle class is a new phenomenon which has come into existence only a few decades back. People belonging to all communities /religions and castes form a part of the middle class world wide . We share the same lifestyle . We all own a couple of cars , a couple of children , a couple of houses . If we are not rich enough to own horses, we are also not poor enough to clean horses for a living . Our lives are not led in extremes .
we have enough to rent horses for birthdays and parties. A huge group of people from varied backgrounds / castes / religions can sit and chat for hours together without getting religion or caste in their conversation today . Their talk will border mostly on common topics of rising prices , increased taxes , failing administration , school fees etc., Inter caste , inter religious and also inter racial marriages are common place and well accepted in the society today since the life style is becoming more or less the same .
To take an example : There is no scar attached to professions like barbars today . We have high tech hair spas managed by people holding degress to this effect .
Many of the so called upper castes are today cleaning railway platforms or worse due to lack of opportunities in education or the job market . Paralelly many of the so called lower castes today are scientists or surgeons ( a position well earned , no doubt ) with their honest hard work and also thanx to reservations in schools or jobs .
With so many things going against the priests of today and equally many things going for the other castes , Its high time the world stopped looking at the upper most caste with suspicion ,jealousy or contempt .
#Brahmins #agraharam #caste #Hinduism
Write your thoughts to me . suparcot@gmail.com
Suddenly there is a lot of talk about the Hindu Caste system due to the ongoing unrest against the reservation system in Universities and the job market . Heres my two cents on this issue .
Caste is not unique only to the Hindu religion. In some or the other form it has always existed in history among various communities . For example the Samurai are the warrior class of Japan. The Mercenary class has existed in all regions and religions since ... for ever . They have been trained in vigorous ruthless blood shed generation after generation. Father to son , they have transferred knowledge about battles and remained loyal to their rulers . I remember reading about a training college for these Mercenaries in some remote place - I think Alhambra or Mongolia . A few decades back, It made for a romantic read I must say .
Go to any museum or castle in Europe and you are sure to see paintings depicting priests coronating kings of their regions .
I don't want to dwell on the how the Caste system originated in the Hindu religion . Its all too well known by now .
We broadly have 4 castes , Brahmins (priests ) , Kshatriyas ( warriors ) , Vaishyas ( Businessmen ) and Shudras ( Anything which is not included in the other 3 like the professions of Barbers / midwives / cleaners etc., ) .
The early settlers along the Sindhu river ( who went by the name of Hindus ) had divided themselves into guilds . One group responsible for translating the ancient texts ( which was barely written and mostly orally handed down generation to generation ) , one body taking care of iron mongering etc., , one batch responsible for medicine , one group excelling in cleaning , one party bettering in management of business etc .,
None of the professions had any untouchability or stigma attached to it . Over a period of time , degeneration occurs everywhere and the caste system too was not immune to this . For instance : People engaged in cleaning came to be regarded as 'unclean' . Its understandable way back then there were no disinfectents or throw away bin liners .
Its but natural that the son should carry forward his father's profession . Its natal for a father to impart his knowledge to his son . So a goldsmith's son is most likely to shine in the same profession as his begetter.
Birds of a feather ( like to ) flock together .The people in the same craft are bound to be associated with common rules/ rituals / customs / habits . Small wonder that slowly they were grouped under one congregation or one caste . It made sense for a girl of a caste to marry a boy of her same caste . Among other factors , it was easy for her to adjust because the life style and behaviour of her in laws will be the same as her own family .
A Brahmin girl is taught to make ornaments out of cotton or flowers to decorate the idols from day one . A kshatriya girl is naturally inclined to adorn the implements of war like elephants , swords etc., or sing encouraging ballads while the retinue is ready to go for war .
Intercaste marriages called Anuloma or Pratiloma ( be it due to love , convenience , treaty between two kingdoms or business houses .. ) have always existed parallely in ancient Hindu history .
Shantanu and Satyavati , Kacha and Devayani are just some of the examples of the above
in the Hindu mythology .
The priest ( Brahmin ) community is the upper most caste of Hindus . Since times immemorial , their duties
involved translating the ancient texts and imparting the knowledge to other groups . Their advice and services were sought by other classes during important times like the birth of a child , death of some one , appeasing the gods during floods etc., The priests traditionally have not been known for their worldly assets . At the age of 8 , a Brahmin boy had to leave home and stay with his Guru ( teacher ) in dense forests tolerating the vicissitudes of day to day life . His duty was to learn and soak in as much knowledge as possible . Even a fistful of flour was considered a good enough Guru Dakshina ( teaching fee ) in return of the know how he gained from his teacher . That was how sacred and self less this act of knowledge pass-on was way back then .
Once he graduated , he lived mostly on alms which he obtained by going house to house .
Its totally different if he finds a patron in some king or some rich businessman. Then , of course ,he will own cattle , houses , jewellery and what not .
A genuine priest , even to this day does not ask any fee for himself . Its up to the other party to give what they think fit .
Its wrong to associate caste with skin colour . Just like we logically associate Charminar with Hyderabad , its commonly understood that priests are fair which the other castes are darker . Skin colour and other features ( like height etc ) comes from the region they inhabit . People belonging to any caste in the North of the subcontinent are usually fair and tall , those in the South are browner and shorter .
It goes without saying that there are always exceptions to this pattern .
Life is all give and take . Whatever caste you belong to , you cannot live in an island . The 'Others' need some one to read the right hymns to rest their dead , bless their war mongering elephants and horses so that they come back wining the war, appease the gods to have good monsoons etc.,
The priest class needs some one to clean his house , cut his hair , help his wife deliver his progeny etc.,
There are always black sheeps and rotten apples lurking around . Some priests twisted the ancient texts to suit their needs . For example , they would add their own imaginary chapters about the big donation to be given to the intermediary between the gods and the other classes , there by pocketing a huge sum themselves . But it was and is an exception and not a rule .
Usually when some one lights says the upper caste has been domineering the lower castes , they mean ( rather ,SHOULD mean ) the middle rung two castes . The dispute is usually between the land owner and the tiller , the king and his subjects and so on ...
How is a priest who is not privy to colossal assets , elephants , horses ,massive land ... supposed to subjugate anyone with anything and for what reason For God's Sake ?
In those days , texts were usually imparted orally . Only since the last few centuries , they were printed and published . Hence it slowly became relatively easy to gain knowledge by reading these books . Learning is more accessible today.
At the birth of Democracy , reservations were started in many fields like education , careers etc ., which was a very correct step. A certain number of seats in the college was restricted to students belonging to a particular community . Noble thought , indeed.
A student coming from an educated , aware background with a rich ancestry of literates is bound to have a high grasping power. Au contraire , a young student without much academic help at home is bound to lag back in his class. He needs a nudge to reach one level higher .
The middle class is a new phenomenon which has come into existence only a few decades back. People belonging to all communities /religions and castes form a part of the middle class world wide . We share the same lifestyle . We all own a couple of cars , a couple of children , a couple of houses . If we are not rich enough to own horses, we are also not poor enough to clean horses for a living . Our lives are not led in extremes .
we have enough to rent horses for birthdays and parties. A huge group of people from varied backgrounds / castes / religions can sit and chat for hours together without getting religion or caste in their conversation today . Their talk will border mostly on common topics of rising prices , increased taxes , failing administration , school fees etc., Inter caste , inter religious and also inter racial marriages are common place and well accepted in the society today since the life style is becoming more or less the same .
To take an example : There is no scar attached to professions like barbars today . We have high tech hair spas managed by people holding degress to this effect .
Many of the so called upper castes are today cleaning railway platforms or worse due to lack of opportunities in education or the job market . Paralelly many of the so called lower castes today are scientists or surgeons ( a position well earned , no doubt ) with their honest hard work and also thanx to reservations in schools or jobs .
With so many things going against the priests of today and equally many things going for the other castes , Its high time the world stopped looking at the upper most caste with suspicion ,jealousy or contempt .
#Brahmins #agraharam #caste #Hinduism
Write your thoughts to me . suparcot@gmail.com
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