A ‘Varna’cular Blog

Before I start this blog, I would like to pay my respect to Sri Narayana Guru, whose birthday happened to fall on the day I started writing this blog. Sri Narayana Guru was a spiritual leader and great social reformer, who led a major role in the revolt against the casteism and social inequalities in Kerala, a state which was once referred by Swami Vivekananda as a ‘Lunatic Asylum’

Swami Vivekananda’s remark about the God’s Own Country came after he toured the princely state as part of his expedition throughout India in search of a topic he could speak in the Parliament of the World's Religions in California.

Horrified by the Caste System practiced in Kerala he said

“Was there ever a sillier thing before in the world than what I saw in Malabar? The poor ‘Paraiah’ is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high caste man, but if he changes his name to hodge-podge English name or to a Mohamedan name, it is alright. What inference would you draw except that these Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums and they are to be treated with derision by every race in India until they mend their manners and know better. Shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical customs are allowed.”

Hinduism has always attracted criticism for a long time for such illogical practices. But when you read about Hinduism, you would realise that it is more of a culture than a religion. It is a way of living, with no hard and fast rules. It’s more of a frame work and not standards (ISO-ITIL). It’s a science which gives proper justification for all its practices.

But what justification does it have for casteisms and the social inequality which is being practiced even now in most of the remote villages in India?

A Shloka in Bhagavad Gita as recited by Lord Krishna says:

“Chaturvarnam Maya Srushtam Guna-Karma Vibhagashaha”

Which means, “I created the Four Varnas divided according to one’s aptitude and function”

All the current castes and sub castes were derived from these four Varnas and therefore can be grouped into one of these Varnas. Each Varna, had their own functionality in the society

The Brahmanas – Were the Scholars, Teachers and the Priests in the society

The Kshatriyas – Were the Warriors, Kings or the Administrators

The Vaishyas – Were the Agriculturists or the Merchants

The Shudras – Were the Artisans and the Service Providers (who worked FOR someone)

But this just justifies the creation of Caste based on occupation. Why the inequality?

This is how I interpret it.

The Brahmanas would have had the highest regard in the society because they were Scholar and Teachers, a profession valued more than God as per Hinduism.

The Kshatriyas had the next best regard, because they warriors who pledged their lives to protect the kingdom and its people.

The Vaishyas were respected because they were obliged to take care of agriculture to feed others.

The least regarded were for the Shudras, because they were the class, who mostly lived to meet their daily needs, and were mostly used by the top three Varnas for deliver their functions.

Inequalities among the classes are quite common in a society. A noble man is usually respected and valued more than a trolley puller. It was up to the Noble man on how he treats the other. Being placed high in the society and having administrative powers, it was quite easy for these men to bend and break rules. Also considering the fact that they believed to be closer to god, it was easy for them to convince people that these new rules were the will of god! The poor uneducated had very little option than believing them. And the few, who got educated later on, did not dare to question the authority. And the few who did silenced gradually. The practice continued over the years, and they still continue.

And my belief is that the untouchability had lot to do with cleanliness and hygiene of the individuals, which gradually, over the years was misunderstood and incorrectly practiced.

If I had to blame someone or something which foddered the continuation of such practices would be the usage of surnames. Harivansh Rai Bachchan once rightly said “Remove the surnames and address people by their first names and Casteism would disappear all by itself.” To a greater extent, his grandson too conveyed a similar message through a telecom company advertisement he endorsed.

Have you ever wondered, had we had to change the current system completely and reframe the entire castes by their profession? The government of India released a circular as below!

The Government of Republic India hereby declares that there shall be a major change in the caste system which shall be implemented from the immediate effect. Anybody who dares to defy, disrespect or disobey this rule shall be prosecuted under the court of law.

The changes are as follows.

The teacher, lecturers, trainers, priests and clerics of all religion and all the individuals involved in either preaching or teaching profession shall be called the Brahmanas moving forward.

The Parliamentarians, Secretariatarians , Defence, Police, bureaucrats and all the other individuals involved in civil and administrative services shall now be called the Kshatriyas

The farmers and business men be it Ambani or a Man running a petty shop on the streets shall now be called the Vaishyas.

And all the other individuals working as salaried employees in private and public firms, alms seekers and all the unemployed individuals shall all be called the Shudras

Important Note:

You shall be designated these castes only based on your occupation and inheritance of the same from your parents shall be applicable only if you practice the occupation yourself.

Conversion of caste shall be allowed only if you are qualified to be in the desired caste and a panel of ‘Caste’ experts shall select you and allows you to practice the same.

You are also allowed to practice ‘Dual Castes’

There shall be no discrimination among the castes and finding such practices shall result in being prosecuted under the Law.

I wonder how beautiful the nation world would be had such a rule been passed, which I believe to a greater extent is true too. Without knowing these simple thoughts, we continue carrying around surnames pointing to a caste or an occupation which our ancestors once carried out. Never questioned why we were called so, never bothered to change.

This reminds me of an email which I received few years back. It was about an experiment conducted on five monkeys. Pasting the email as it is below.

The experiment involved 5 monkeys, a cage, a banana, a ladder and, crucially, a water hose.

The 5 monkeys would be locked in a cage, after which a banana was hung from the ceiling with, fortunately for the monkeys (or so it seemed…), a ladder placed right underneath it.

Of course, immediately, one of the monkeys would race towards the ladder, intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as he would start to climb, the sadist (euphemistically called “scientist”) would spray the monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, however, he would also spray the other four monkeys…

When a second monkey was about to climb the ladder, the sadist would, again, spray the monkey with ice-cold water, and apply the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise for the third climber and, if they were particularly persistent (or dumb), the fourth one. Then they would have learned their lesson: they were not going to climb the ladder again – banana or no banana.

In order to gain further pleasure or, I guess, prolong the experiment, the sadist outside the cage would then replace one of the monkeys with a new one. As can be expected, the new guy would spot the banana, think “why don’t these idiots go get it?!” and start climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water treatment, would run towards the new guy – and beat him up. The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, would get the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana or no banana.

When the beast outside the cage would replace a second monkey with a new one, the events would repeat themselves – monkey runs towards the ladder; other monkeys beat him up; new monkey does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail: the first new monkey, who had never received the cold-water treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it), would, with equal vigour and enthusiasm, join in the beating of the new guy on the block.

When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.

Then, a new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward the ladder only to get beaten up by the others. Yet, this monkey turned around and asked “why do you beat me up when I try to get the banana?” The other four monkeys stopped, looked at each other slightly puzzled and, finally, shrugged their shoulders: “Don’t know. But that’s the way we do things around here”

How different are we from these monkeys today. It has been ages, old monkeys have gone, and the new ones are in. Few came, tried to change our thoughts. They enlightened us that all should be treated equally.

Years passed again, the cycles have changed. All those were up have come down and downs have gone up. The ones who discriminated are being discriminated today! Things look different but haven’t changed. Denial of rights still continues, in name of quotas and reservation. I agree quotas and reservation are in place for the economically backward in the society. And it is an effective way to bring them up in the society. But caste is not the right criterion to recognize this class. They are many who do not belong to any Scheduled or backward classed, but still struggle to earn a day’s meal. They are often neglected in the name of caste.

It is high time we change our perspective of looking at the backward classes. Because in the name of caste, many are denied of what they deserve.

Let us hope and dream for a caste free society where people are treated equals, not just by individual, but by the law too.

One Nation One Law!

Jai Hind!