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
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
i
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
ii
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
iii
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.

iv
 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.

v
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.
1
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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?
2
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
3
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
4
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
5
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
6
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
7
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
8
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
9
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
10
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
11
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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
12
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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.
13
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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

14
 UNOFFICIAL INDIA

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?

15
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
16
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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
17
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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.
18
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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
19
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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
20
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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
21
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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
22
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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
23
 ARRIVAL OF THE ARYANS

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.

24
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
25
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
26
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
27
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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 .
28
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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,
29
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
30
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
31
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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

32
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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.

33
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
34
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
35
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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.
36
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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.
37
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
38
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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.
39
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
40
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
41
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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
42
 EMERGENCE OF VARNAS

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.

43
4. SPIRITUALITY

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.
44
 SPIRITUALITY

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
45
 SPIRITUALITY

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
46
 SPIRITUALITY

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
47
 SPIRITUALITY

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
48
 SPIRITUALITY

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

49
 SPIRITUALITY

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
50
 SPIRITUALITY

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!!!

51
 SPIRITUALITY

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
52
 SPIRITUALITY

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
53
 SPIRITUALITY

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

54
 SPIRITUALITY

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
55
 SPIRITUALITY

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
56
 SPIRITUALITY

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
57
 SPIRITUALITY

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.
58
 SPIRITUALITY

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
59
 SPIRITUALITY

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
60
 SPIRITUALITY

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
61
 SPIRITUALITY

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
62
 SPIRITUALITY

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
63
 SPIRITUALITY

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?

64
 SPIRITUALITY

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
65
 SPIRITUALITY

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
66
 SPIRITUALITY

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
67
 SPIRITUALITY

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.
68
 SPIRITUALITY

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.

69
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,
70
 VARNA EXPLOITATION

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
71
 VARNA EXPLOITATION

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
72
 VARNA EXPLOITATION

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

73
 VARNA EXPLOITATION

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
74
 VARNA EXPLOITATION

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
75
 VARNA EXPLOITATION

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.

76
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

77
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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.
78
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
79
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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.
80
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
81
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
82
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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.

83
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
84
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
85
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
86
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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.

87
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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?

88
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
89
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
90
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
91
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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

92
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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.
93
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
94
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
95
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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
96
THE CASTE EFFECT AND THE UNTOUCHABILITY

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.

97
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
98
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
99
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
100
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
101
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
102
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
103
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
104
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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

105
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
106
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
107
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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
108
 THE HINDU JUDICIAL SYSTEM

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.

109
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

110
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
111
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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.
112
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
113
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
114
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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.

115
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
116
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
117
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
118
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
119
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
120
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
121
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
122
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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

123
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
124
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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
125
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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?
126
 HONESTY, FAIRNESS, SENSITIVITY AND …

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.

127
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

128
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
129
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
130
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
131
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
132
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
133
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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.

134
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
135
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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.

136
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
137
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
138
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
139
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
140
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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-
141
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
142
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
143
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
144
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
145
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
146
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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.

147
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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
148
 IN THE DEFENCE OF VARNA DHARMA?

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.

149
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
150
 THE VILLAGE

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
151
 THE VILLAGE

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.

152
 THE VILLAGE

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
153
 THE VILLAGE

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 -
154
 THE VILLAGE

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
155
 THE VILLAGE

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
156
 THE VILLAGE

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
157
 THE VILLAGE

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,
158
 THE VILLAGE

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
159
 THE VILLAGE

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
160
 THE VILLAGE

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?
161
 THE VILLAGE

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.
162
 THE VILLAGE

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.

163
 THE VILLAGE

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

164
 THE VILLAGE

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
165
 THE VILLAGE

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;

166
 THE VILLAGE

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

167
 THE VILLAGE

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
168
 THE VILLAGE

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
169
 THE VILLAGE

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.
170
 THE VILLAGE

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
171
 THE VILLAGE

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
172
 THE VILLAGE

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
173
 THE VILLAGE

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
174
 THE VILLAGE

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
175
 THE VILLAGE

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.

176
 THE VILLAGE

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
177
 THE VILLAGE

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
178
 THE VILLAGE

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
179
 THE VILLAGE

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

180
 THE VILLAGE

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
181
 THE VILLAGE

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.
182
 THE VILLAGE

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
183
 THE VILLAGE

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
184
 THE VILLAGE

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.

185
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
186
 THE SHUDRAS

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
187
 THE SHUDRAS

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
188
 THE SHUDRAS

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
189
 THE SHUDRAS

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-
190
 THE SHUDRAS

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
191
 THE SHUDRAS

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,
192
 THE SHUDRAS

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
193
 THE SHUDRAS

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
194
 THE SHUDRAS

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
195
 THE SHUDRAS

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
196
 THE SHUDRAS

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
197
 THE SHUDRAS

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.

198
 THE SHUDRAS

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
199
 THE SHUDRAS

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
200
 THE SHUDRAS

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.
201
 THE SHUDRAS

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
202
 THE SHUDRAS

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.
203
 THE SHUDRAS

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
204
 THE SHUDRAS

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
205
 THE SHUDRAS

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.

206
 THE SHUDRAS

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
207
 THE SHUDRAS

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.

208
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

209
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
210
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
211
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
212
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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.
213
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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,
214
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
215
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
216
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
217
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
218
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
219
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
220
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
221
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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.
222
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
223
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
224
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
225
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
226
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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 -
227
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
228
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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.
229
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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.

230
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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
231
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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

232
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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.

233
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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?
234
THE UNTOUCHABILITY AND THE UNTOUCHABLES

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.

235
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
236
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
237
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
238
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
239
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
240
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
241
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
242
 CASTE MOBILITY

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.
243
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
244
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
245
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
246
 CASTE MOBILITY

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 9 centuries C.E. and onward. At that time, there was no big
th

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
247
 CASTE MOBILITY

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
248
 CASTE MOBILITY

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.

249
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
250
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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

251
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
252
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
253
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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.
254
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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.
255
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
256
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
257
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
258
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
259
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
260
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
261
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
262
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
263
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
264
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
265
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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.
266
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
267
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
268
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
269
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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,
270
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
271
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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
272
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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.
273
 HOW THE SYSTEM WORKED ?

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.

274
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
275
 THE TEMPLES

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
276
 THE TEMPLES

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
277
 THE TEMPLES

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
278
 THE TEMPLES

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.

279
 THE TEMPLES

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
280
 THE TEMPLES

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
281
 THE TEMPLES

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

282
 THE TEMPLES

effects of Bhakti movement on Untouchables' lives have been

worthless. Nothing moved not even an iota of an inch.

283
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

284
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
285
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
286
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
287
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
288
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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.
289
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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.
290
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
291
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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.

292
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
293
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
294
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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?
295
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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
296
 THE TOLERANCE OF HINDU RELLIGION

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!

297
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

298
WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

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

299
WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

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.
300
WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

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
301
WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

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
302
WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

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
303
WHY DO SHUDRAS PRACTICE UNTOUCHABILITY?

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.

304
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
305
 THE CITIES

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
306
 THE CITIES

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
307
 THE CITIES

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.

308
 THE CITIES

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

309
 THE CITIES

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
310
 THE CITIES

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.

311
 THE CITIES

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
312
 THE CITIES

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
313
 THE CITIES

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
314
 THE CITIES

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
315
 THE CITIES

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.
316
 THE CITIES

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?

317
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… !

318
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
319
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
320
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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!

321
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
322
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
323
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
324
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
325
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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.

326
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
327
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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.
328
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
329
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
330
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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.
331
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
332
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
333
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
334
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
335
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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.
336
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
337
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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
338
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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.
339
 CASTE – MAINSTREAM AND COMMUNISTS

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.

340
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.
341
 THE DHARMA

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
342
 THE DHARMA

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
343
 THE DHARMA

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,
344
 THE DHARMA

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.

345
 THE DHARMA

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
346
 THE DHARMA

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
347
 THE DHARMA

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
348
 THE DHARMA

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.

349
 THE DHARMA

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
350
 THE DHARMA

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
351
 THE DHARMA

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
352
 THE DHARMA

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
353
 THE DHARMA

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
354
 THE DHARMA

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
355
 THE DHARMA

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
356
 THE DHARMA

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
.

357
21. THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
358
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
359
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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

360
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
361
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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.
362
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
363
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
364
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
365
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
366
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
367
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
368
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
369
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
370
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
371
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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.

372
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
373
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
374
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
375
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
376
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
377
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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.
378
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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,
379
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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
380
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

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.
381
 THE MARKETS AND THE CASTE

Therefore, the affirmative action is necessary until the caste system

breaks down - and the purity-based evaluation of an individual is
killed.

382
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

383
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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
384
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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
385
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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
386
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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

387
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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
388
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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
389
 THE RIGHTS IN HINDU SOCIETY

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.

390
Appendix
 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,
A-1
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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
A-2
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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
A-3
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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.
A-4
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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

A-5
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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

A-6
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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,
A-7
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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.
A-8
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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.
A-9
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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
A-10
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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

A-11
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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
A-12
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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
A-13
 THE STATUS AND BEHAVIOUR

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.

A-14
 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
A-15
 THE BINDING FORCES

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
A-16
 THE BINDING FORCES

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.

A-17
 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.

A-18
 THE STARTA

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
A-19
 THE STARTA

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.

A-20
 THE STARTA

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

A-21
 THE STARTA

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
A-22
 THE STARTA

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
A-23
 THE STARTA

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
A-24
 THE STARTA

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
A-25
 THE STARTA

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
A-26
 THE STARTA

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
A-27
 THE STARTA

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.

A-28
 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.
A-29
 THE WILL AND INTEREST THEORIES

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
A-30
 THE WILL AND INTEREST THEORIES

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.

A-31
 THE WILL AND INTEREST THEORIES

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
A-32
 THE WILL AND INTEREST THEORIES

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.

A-33
 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
A-34
 THE CLAIMS

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

A-35
 THE CLAIMS

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

A-36
 THE CLAIMS

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
A-37
 THE CLAIMS

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.
A-38
 THE CLAIMS

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
A-39
 THE CLAIMS

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
A-40
 THE CLAIMS

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
A-41
 THE CLAIMS

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.

A-42
 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
A-43
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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
A-44
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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
A-45
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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.

A-46
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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
A-47
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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
A-48
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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.

A-49
 THE RIGHTS AND THE DUTIES

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.

A-50
 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
A-51
 JUSTICE AT WHAT COST?

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.

A-52
 JUSTICE AT WHAT COST?

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.

A-53
 Bibliography:

Dumont, Louis (1999, first published 1970): Homo

Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications, Oxford India
Paperback, New Delhi

Kane, P V (1990; first published 1930): History

Dharmashastra (Ancient and Medieval Religions and Civil Law in
India), Volumes I-V, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune

Srinivas, M N (1977; first edition 1966): ‘Sanskritisation’ in

Social Change in Modern India, Orient Longman, New Delhi.
– (1980; first published 1969): India: Social Structure, Hindustan
Publishing Corporation, Delhi.

Buhler, G. (1984). The Laws of Manu. Delhi: Banarsidass.

(Reprint from Oxford University's )

Robert Earnest Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upnishads

(translated)(1877), Oxford University Press, Delhi, Fifth
IndianPaperback edition,(1983)

Ambedkar B. R., Who were Shudra? (1946); The

Untouchables (1948)’ in BAWS, Vol. 7.

S. Radhakrishnan, The Bhagvadgita(translate)(7th Indian

reprint – 1982), Blackie and Son Publishers.

Dwijendra Jha, Krishan Mohali Sharma,ed. Pracheen Bharaat

Ka Itihass. (2003) Hindi Madhyam Karyanvay Nideshalya.

Thapar, Romila, A History of India (1965).

Kosambi, D. D., An Introduction to the Study of Indian

History ( 2nd rev. ed., 1985).

Rig Veda tr. Ralph T. H. Griffith,

Atharva Veda, W. D. Whitney

 Srinivas, M.N. Caste: Its Twentieth Century Avatar. New
Delhi: Penguin Books India Ltd., 1996

Basham, A.L. (ed.), “A Cultural History of India”, New

Delhi:Oxford University Press, 1999.

Ghurye, G.S., “Caste and Race in India”, Bombay: Popular

Prakashan, 1990

Thapar, Romila. “Ancient Indian Social History:Some

Interpretations”, London: Sangam Books, 1996.

Michael Witzel

R. C. Majumdar: Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi

1991 (1952),

David Ludden THE NEW CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF

INDIA
An Agrarian History of South Asia
University of Pennsylvania
published by the press syndicate of the university of
cambridge

R. C. Dutt, A History of civilization based on sanskrit

literature,vol 1-3 (Calcutta)

Karl Marx, Das Kapital

Gramsci, Antonio, Selection from the prison notebook tr,

Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey N. smith (Chennai, Orient Longman,
1996)

R. S. Sharma, Shudras in Ancient India, 1958, 3rd revised

edition (Delhi Motilala Banarasi Das, 1900)

Risley H. H., The people of India , Asian Educational

Service, 1999.
 Jeremy Bentham, Anarchical Fallacies; Being an Examination
of the Declaration of Rights Issued during the French Revolution
(1792)

John F. Nash, “The Bargaining Problem,” Econometrica 18

(1950):

Immanuel Kant, Metaphysical First Principles of the

Doctrine
of Right, in The Metaphysics of Morals, tr. and ed. Mary
Gregor, Cambridge UP, Cambridge UK, 1996.

John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, in

Political
Writings of John Locke, ed. David Wootton, Penguin, New
York, 1993

J. H. Hutton, Caste in India, translated in Hindi by

Mangalnath Singh, 2007, Motilal Banarasi Das

Rawls J. (1971) A Theory of Justice, Oxford: Clarendon

Press.

Dirkes, Nicholas B. Castes of Mind :Colonialism and the

Making of Modern India. Permanenbt Black: New Delhi, 2002

Fuller,C.J. “Introductions: Caste today” Caste Today Ed.

C.J.Fuller. OUP : New Delhi,1996. 1-31.

Weber, Max. 1947. The Theory of Social and Economic

Organization. A. M. Henderson, (transl.).New York: The Free Press.