Who is a Dravida, Mr Karunanidhi?

Karunanidhi is back with a bang.  These days noone listens to him on any issue on which he airs his opinion. He has almost become a museum item. Perhaps to attract attention to himself or to divert attention from the troubles in his party and family, he reverted back to his once pet theme of Dravida naadu . His Brahmin baiting continues as usual and would never get weaned as long as Jayalalithaa continues to be a force to reckon with in his political game.

The best judgment of Karunanidhi's forays into Dravidian talks has come from none other the one who occupied the apex position in Tamil Research studies. It was Prof Noboru Karashima who  said that the Dravidian movement has an anti-intellectual tendency. (1). The world has seen a lot of development since the days of Caldwell and Max Muller. With the development of multi disciplinary and cross disciplinary approach, it has been shown that Dravida and Arya are not races. The huge corpus of Tamil literature also does not identify the Tamils as Dravidas. But Karunanidhi does not seem to know these developments and continues to live in his own world without realizing that such talks would never receive respect among the intellectuals and scholars. What he wants is that the people must nod like cattle at whatever he says and that they must glorify him.

The irony of it is that, with all his hatred for Sanskrit he keeps sticking to a Sanskrit word for the identity of Tamils. While Thamizh (தமிழ்) is a pure Tamil word,  Dravida is a Sanskrit word. Tamil means nectar (madhu) or sweetness where as Dravida means 'running away'. From the root words 'dra' or 'drau' which means running, the word Dravida is derived. This word indeed refers to the people who have run away – from fighting in the battlefield. Can Karunanidhi say that any Tamil king ran away from the battle field?  Is there any mention in any Tamil texts of a king or any Tamil of having run away from the battle field or abandoned the war?  Could anyone have told the ancient Tamil kings on their face that they had run away from the battle and therefore got a name "Dravida"?  If a person had said so to a Tamil King, would he not be beheaded the next moment? Such was the strong sentiment of the Tamils and Tamil kings on valour (வீரம்) exhibited in the war front.

Without realizing what he is talking and what Dravida means, Karunanidhi has made a laughable talk that the "Dravidians have the tradition of defeating the suppressers and it will be repeated too," (2) Dravidians were called so because they had run away. By calling Tamils as Dravidians he is doing an injustice to the valour of Tamils as exposed in Sangam texts.

To know about the meaning and origin of the word Dravida, one must go to Manu Smruthi which defines the names of many people. Of them Dravida is one. Dravida is the name given to persons born in the 7^th generation and thereafter of a Kshatriya(3)

Manu smruthi says that Dravida is the 7^th generation person of the Kshatriya lineage that has given up fighting and has become mute. To understand this we must know who a Kshatriya is.  A Kshatriya (one having warrior tendency) is one who has the urge to fight or harm others in the course of which he does not bother to harm himself and bear physical injuries. The person having this tendency by nature is a Kshatriya and will be fit to join army or in the protection of people or land. Karunanidhi must recall that sangam texts talk about kings who had a natural death and not died of battle wounds, would have their body cut by the sword before cremation. Their anxiety was such that they wanted to live as a kshatriya and die as a kshatriya.  But a Dravida was not such a person. He might have come in the lineage of Kashtriyas but he would have failed to live and die like a kshatriya.

If for some reason a person is not showing these tendencies either by nature or due to renouncing the job which he is expected to do, it is said his off-spring also will not show up such a tendency to the fullest extent. If he too gives up warrior-hood, his off-spring would show much less interest and capability in warring instincts. Like this, the tendency gets depleted in 7 generations. People of the 7^th generation of that lineage was called Dravida and he would not possess any valour and vigour to fight.

The names of 7 generations are,

Ghalla,

Malla

Likkhivi,

Nata

Karana

Khasa

Dravida.

From the 7^th generation onwards these people would be totally different from the 1 st generation warrior and hence completely become scared to fight.

India has seen warriors having become Dravidas in the past. The Mahabharata mentions the word "Dravida" for 13 times. In one place it confirms Manu smruthi definition of Dravida.  It says some people became the Dravidas because they gave up Kshatriya-hood for fear of Parasurama.(4).

Kartaviryarjuna of Haihaya dynasty ruling from Mahishmathi on the banks of Narmada river had killed Jamadagni, the father of Parasurama. Parasurama killed Kartaviryarjuna  and attacked other Kshatriyas for 21 times, as a revenge for the death of his father.  Unable to bear the attack of Parasurama, most kings and warriors living in the north of Vindhyas (North India of today) fled and lived as ordinary persons by not taking up arms. In course of time they forgot their valour and came to be known as Dravidas.

The point is that none of the Dravidas came to Tamilnadu. They spread in North India and even went as far as Central Europe. The research on Dravida takes us to unravel many unknown facts of history, but this man (Karunanidhi) is diverting the attention of people from real and serious research.  For instance Mahabharata  also talks about Dravidas as mlechhas (Non vedic people) who lived outside Bharat in the North west. There is evidence to say that those who fled Parasurama's fury went to a place called as Georgia today. This country is neighbored by Turkey, Russia and Black sea. The ethnic stories of Georgia tell about their first people as "Kartvelebi" originating from "Kartlos" and  speaking a language called "Kartuli". All these sound similar to Kartavirya who was killed by Parasurama. The survivors of his clan must have fled and gone as far as Georgia. This is supported by many other names appearing in Georgia.

Georgia was originally called as Gujaristhan or Gorjesthan (5). This is related to the names Gurjars or Gujjars who were many and wide spread in north India and in whose name we have a state called Gujarat. The Haihayas at the time of Parasurama were also many in number as different groups and one among them seemed to have gone to central Europe and founded Gorjesthan which became Georgia in course of time.

This is supported by the prevalence of names of places in Georgia as Gurjarni, Gujari Pil, Gujreti etc. The spillover of people with this name is seen in adjoining areas of Iran where there are places called Jurja, Jurjar, Gurjar and Jesur which is an Arabic name for Gurj. Samarqand has Chapak Gujar, and Chusak Gujar. Places called Gujar-i-Pam, Gujar-i-Dam, Gurjistan and Gujar-i-Hisar are found in Afghanistan whereas a stream by the name Gujari flows in Balauchistan. In Pakistan also Gujarat, Gujar Khan, Gujaranwala etc have been named after Gujjars only. (6)

Thus we find a spread of people in North west India going upto Georgia. The Dravidas mentioned as mlechas by Mahabharata lived in places as far as Caspian sea near river Amudarya.

They must have been the people who had fled the battlefield from Bharat. We have to think about the situation in those days. The kings of the countries of Bharat were on war with each other on many times in the past, just for the sake of establishing their kshatriya supremacy. Even the three kings of Tamilnadu were not at peace with each other. Their idea of Kshatriya hood was never to rest until all the surrounding lands are brought under their control. This idea was prevalent throughout Bharat. This throws up a situation when many kings and warriors had to take shelter in places outside Bharat and continue their life. Pahlavas, Madras,Yavanas,  Pundras, Daradas etc were some people who formed their own kingdoms outside Bhar

There were people who fled from the war scene and lived as non khstriyas within Bharat itself. Mahabharata gives us the list of the people who escaped from Parasurama and lived secret lives – with some of them becoming Dravida after 7 generations and some coming back to rule their countries after the fear of Parasurama died down (7)

From the narration in Mahabharata it is seen that none of them had any connection with Tamil nadu or Tamil people. Moreover the threat from Parasurama was confined to North India and there is no record of a Tamil king having faced the wrath of Parasurama. This also means that there was no case of any Tamil or Tamil king facing a situation of giving up kshatriyahood and become a Dravida. None from the then Tamil lands were challenged by Parasurama.

In Mahabharat war, Dravidas have fought on both the sides. But their names as Dravidas appear as separate entities from Tamil kings, that is, they are mentioned along with other kings including Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas and not as a substitute for these Tamil Kings. (8)

There is absolutely no mention of a Dravida having run away and taken a living in Tamil lands.

There were Dravidas who settled outside Bharat but were in interaction with kings of Bharat. Though they were degraded kshatriyas, they have developed fighting prowess in course of time. There even existed a Dravida king in 2^nd century BC – not in Tamil lands but in Ujjain. He wrote a Sanskrit drama named "Mricchakatika" which was very popular for many centuries. This king's original name was Indrani Gupta but he took up a pen name "Shudraka"!! That is, he has called himself as a Shudra and had no qualms about it. No one despised him for that. We come to know from the foreword to the commentary to this drama written by Prithvidhara that this author of Mricchakatika was an Abhira and a chandala who was the "Dravida Raja"!!

Abhiras were also degraded kshatriyas who changed their life style due to fear of Parasurama. Further degradation made them be called as Shudras! There was a place called Shudra in North India according to Mahabharata. Places called Abhiras and Shudra were there where the river Sarasvati once flowed. These Shudras had no connection with Tamilnadu.   But the Shudras had their own kingdom and there were Shudra kings ruling them. This confirms the view that there was no separate varna called shudra. Satapada Brahmana and Taittriyam tell about only 3 varnas. All the people were categorized within these three. But when they slipped from the varna characteristics, those who slipped from Kshatriyahood came to be called as Shudras later. The author of Mricchakatika came in the lineage of a degraded Abhira – Shudra. However this king had a kingdom for himself and ruled it thereby getting a name Dravida Raja! This shows that status and opportunities were available to everyone and it was possible for one to even rule a kingdom though his lineage had lost the fighting spirit sometime in the past.

Apart from these, we come across some individuals connected to Dravidian identify. Interestingly they were all Brahmins.

Adhi Shankara called himself as "Dravida sisu". (9)

Raja Tarangini, the 11^th century book on Kashmiri Kings, tells about 10 types of Brahmins, the 5 Gauda Brahmins who lived North of Vindhyas and 5 Dravida Brahmins who lived South of Vindhyas.

In this illustration their locations are given. The numbered regions showed where they lived.

1.      Sarasvathas

2.      Kanyakubjas

3.      Gaudas

4.      Uthkalas

5.      Maithili

6.      Karnatakas

7.      Thailangas

8.      Dravidas

9.      Maharashtras

10.  Gurjjaras.

 

The last 5 were known as Pancha Dravidas that had given rise to the confusion of linking Dravidas to Tamils. But these names were attached to Brahmins only. The verse on these 10 people given by Raja Tarangini seems to have existed in use until a century ago, because these names were used by Tagore in the National Anthem. The names of Pancha Dravidas appear in the order starting from Karnatakas in the south  upto  Gujarat in the north. Dravida appears south of Maharashtra.

 

Dravida as a region had existed about 1400 years ago in this part of India. This is known from Brihad Samhitha written by Varahamihira. He had divided Bharat along with the neighbouring countries in Asia and Europe in the form of a Tortoise (Kurma) for the purpose making predictions in mundane astrology. In that Dravida appears in South west India in a region close to the shore of Arabian sea near Maharashtra.

 

 

 

In this region, Varahamihira lists down the order of places from Indus to Maharashtra along the coast of Arabian sea. He starts from Hemagiri (at the confluence of river Indus), Sindhukalaka (again near Indus or the region on the shore where a grass type called Kalaka grew – perhaps the place where the Vrishnis destroyed each other with the giant grass reeds), Raivathaka ( a mountain near Dwaraka as per Mahabharata) , Saurashtra (the Penninsular part of Gujarat), Badara, Dravida and Maharnava (some where near the tributary of river Narmada which is also known by the name Maharnava) .

 

This region mentioned by Varahamira as above is located within the curved region near the shore in the picture below.

 

 

 

The Dravida must have existed in the extended land that is now submerged. Manu, most hated by Karunanidhi and his clan must have lived here at the time of Ice age 13000 years ago. He was called as Dravideswara, the lord of dravida.(10).

His name as Dravideswara makes it know that he was perhaps the first known Vratya of Kshatriyahood. That is, he must have run away from a battle field at a time prior to 13000 years ago. I mention this period based on the sea map and habitation map of that time.  The Indian ocean was 120 metres lower than now at that time. The bottom of Arabian sea is higher than Indian ocean. Therefore most of high regions of the mountain range in the Arabian Sea and the West coast were high lands at that time.

 

It is known form marine research that habitation had been there 9000 years BP near the Kutch.  In that region an extended land form Maharashtra can be seen as a suitable place for living some 13000 years ago.

Manu and many others must have lived at that place. Manu must have fled from a previous place in the south and hence was known as Dravideswara.

When the first meltdown happened after the end of Ice age, the ocean levels had risen suddenly and Arabian sea also had faced sudden flash floods. In that Manu who was in a prepared state expecting a flood had escaped in his boat / ship. The story of Manu escaping the floods tell about him reaching the Himalayas finally and anchoring his ship by which that place came to be called as Naubhandan. There are only 2 waysof reaching Himalayas from an ocean – one on the east through Ganges and the other on the west through Indus. The Ganges did not flow then. It came down only during the times of Bhageeratha, a descendant of Manu. So the only possibility exists in the Arabian sea. At that time river Sarasvathi had flown down as a mighty river fed by the waters of the melting Himalayas at the end of Ice age. Only if the flood water is surging from Indian Ocean to Arabian sea to the North of it, could they be carried away by the flood waters through the sarasvati towards its starting region in the Himalayas. The place where entered sarasvathi came to be called as Dwaraka – the door. The rest of the story is known to all.

The point I want to express is that Manu's Dravida was on the way the flood waters were surging. The picture shows the submergence of that place through years, that must have been the Dravida which the Brahmins who accompanied him revered as an unforgettable ancestral region and hence clung to its name and place.

In Mahabharata Krishna and Pandavas undertook a theertha yatra in which they went to Godhavari river first and then reached the shores of Dravida land. The conducted austeries there and reached Surparaka (Sopore – the place where Parasurama did penance). From there they reached the final spot in their tour namely Prabhasa.  This route does not touch Tamil nadu if we assume that Tamil nadu was called as Dravida. The route is like this (11)

1-      Godhavari

2-      Dravida

3-      Surparaka

4-      Prabhasa

 

Until 5000 years ago, that is Mahabharata times, parts of Dravda region were there. But they were all gone after that.  Prabhas was the place where the first Jyothilinga was consecrated. In any event of unusual death, worship of Rudra will be done at that location. Rameswaran was one such location where Sagaras sons died an unnatural death. But that event happened later than Manu's arrival at mainland of Bharat. Prabhas (Somanth) was the first place where Manu and others must have conducted last rites for the departed ones in the fury of flood. Seen from there, their previous land was seen until Mahabharata times. But after that even that was completely submerged. Perhaps as a remembrance of the lost land, the arrow pillar was established showing that there was no land in that direction upto South pole.

Arrow pillar at Somnath temple

There is no need to set up that Pillar unless it had some meaning to the people who established it. In the picture below, the line from Prabhas cuts through the Dravida that is now submerged. That line might also indicate the  previous route that Manu and others had taken, coming from south to the Dravida we indicated. Tracing the previous route is another task we will do later. In this post I want to justify the location of Dravida in the region close to the  present day Maharashtra but now completely submerged in waters.

Since this Dravida land had a meaning connected to an earlier era, people had gone there on pilgrimage. The entry point of Dwaraka was retrieved every time it was lost into the seas. The present Dwaraka is the 7^th one! Knowing very well that it is likely to be lost into the seas, our ancestors have been adamant in reclaiming it. They would not have done that unless it has some very big meaning to their lives.

When the lands along the west coast was reclaimed, the Sarswad Brahmins had settled there – due to their early memory of an attachment to Dravida of Manu. The closer-to-sea areas must have been called as Dravida. The Brahmins who settled there called themselves as Dravida Brahmins. Adhi Shankara belonged to that group and hence called himself as Dravida sisu.

The Brahmins from that place were brought by the king of Thondai naadu, having Kancheepuram as its capital. The Brahmins who settled at Kanchi did not want to lose their Dravida identity. In course of time Kancheepuram acquired the name Dravida province owing to the presence of Dravida Brahmins. The Brahmins from here when migrated to other parts of Tamilnadu did not give up their Dravida name. (There existed Brahmins in other parts of Tamilnadu who were not related to Dravida Brahmins). The Kona seema Dravida Brahmins, who migrated from Kumbakonam to Venky naadu near Godhavari basin, must have been originally from Kancheepuram and Dravida before that. Their early origin goes to Sarasvathi river basin and before that the Dravida of Manu.

This can be depicted as follows: The yellow line traces the movement from Dravida in the sea (13,000 years ago), into the Saravarthi basin, then back to the fringe region of Dravida (Pancha Dravida) and then to Kancheepuram.

 Kancheepuram was a Vedic centre in those days. People from all over India came to learn Vedas and Dharma sastras from the Dravida Brahmins settled in Kancheepuram. These Brahmins spoke Tamil at home but taught Sanskrit at the Patashala. It was only too natural for any student to assume that the Tamil spoken by the teachers was the Dravida Brahmin Bhasha or Dravida Bhasha. Kumarila Battar thought so and mentioned it in Tantra varthika. That was picked up Caldwell and became an object of History's worst blunder which Karunanidhi continues to use for making political capital.

Thus what was originally Dravida – a name for degraded kshatriyas came to be identified with Manu, the earliest man still remembered in India. The place he originally occupied was called as Dravida desa. The Brahmins – of all the people were fond of old memories of Dravida and hence resurrected that memory by occupying regions close to the lost Dravida. A group of them moved to Kancheepuram – which was not a part of Tamil lands of Chola or Pandya or Chera but was occupied by those who once again had earlier connections to Dwaraka as they were VeLir who migrated from Dwaraka to the South when Bet Dwaraka was submerged.(12)  This link of Dravida Brahmins was transferred to the language they spoke.

Such a complex past exist behind Dravida. There is an important question asto how Dravida Brahmins of Kanchi spoke in Tamil. Not only them, but a vast number of people had known and spoken Tamil even during the sangam times. From Gujarath to Kerala, people had spoken Kodum tamil (un-grammatical Tamil) while the people of Tamil nadu proper region were speaking Grammatical Tamil. From the route of Manu, it can be known that Manu and others must have spoken some form of proto Tamil which was spread throughout North India (Aryavartha) in course of time. The traces of Tamil in almost all the Indian languages became possible due to this. While the North Indian languages fused with Sanskrit in course of time, the south Indian Tamil made a strong presence in south Indian regions. In this way it is more proper to call all the Indian languages as Tamil- Sanskrit language group and not as Dravidian group of South India and Indo European language group of North India. A fresh look into the language growth in India is needed. More will be written in future posts. For the present I want to highlight that Karunanidhi's Dravida talk is nothing but rubbish and a lot more history is hidden behind the Dravida.

In an irony of sorts, Karunanidhi is owning up Dravida identity while it was Brahmins who originally identified themselves as Dravida Brahmins. Karunanidhi had upped the ante against the Brahmins as those who had suppressed other communities. We will see the truth of it in the next post.

************

References:-

(1) (1)   http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.in/2010/12/dravidian-movement-had-anti.html

(2)  (2)  http://ibnlive.in.com/news/karunanidhi-chants-dravida-naadu-mantra/234413-60-118.html

(3)  (3)  Manu Smruthi 10-22

(4)   MBh 14.29 – " Dravid and Abhiras and  Pundras together with the Savaras, became fallen to low status, though those men who had Kshatriya duties assigned to them in consequence of their birth, falling away from those duties due to the fear of Bhargava Rama"

(5)   Stephen M. Lyon. "Gujars and Gujarism: simple quaum versus network activism". University of Kent at Canterbury. Retrieved 2007-05-31.  

(6)   http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99may13/j&k.htm#1

(7)   Mahabharata, Shanthi parva- 49

(8)   Mahabharata 8-12.

(9)   Soundarya Lahiri 75

(10)Srimad Bhagavatham 9-1,2&3

(11)Mahabharata, 3-118

 

Caste is not a curse.

A very thought- provoking letter in reply to an article published in The Hindu on caste consciousness is dying down in India is given below. If it is true that caste consciousness is dying down, we would not be having numerous matrimonial sites catering to specific castes. And no one feels bad about it either.

If you want to know the names of castes, there are 2 areas where you can get them, one is the prospectus for Professional courses of Tamilnadu and another is the online matrimonial sites. While the former would surprise you to see wealthy castes tagged into backward or most backward castes, the latter would help you come to know of the never known castes. I found out a caste with "Dravida" name when by instinct I decided to search the matrimonial site to know if there was any caste with that name. There does exist a caste by name, 'Kona seema Dravida', but this Dravida is not what the likes of Karunanidhi think. They are a group of Brahmins who migrated from Kumbakona to Godhavari region some 1000 years ago. Infact Dravida is a name that Brahimins took up after the Dravideswara, who was none other than Vaivasvatha Manu according to Srimad Bhagavatham.

The name of this caste is a good example of how the castes came into existence. Any group with closely knit people and families having common interest and economic inter dependence grows up to become a caste. The identity as a caste gives them a sense of safety and mutual help in times of troubles. The caste identity had come from the same job done by different people. So it is natural that they would have lot of scope for interaction and inter relation within themselves. Their family members also would be better tuned to adjusting to similar environment if they get married to the same caste - homes. In the letter given below the author has quoted Mahatma Gandhi who supported same caste marriages. Gandhi had given a philosophical reason to justify it from the point of view of what Hinduism says. One of the reasons why Hinduism supported such a notion is because of the easy adaptability.

Some time ago I read a narration by two sculptors belonging to a family of sculptors of a known lineage of nearly 2000 years. One point they made, showed the importance of maintaining caste identity and purity of caste. They said that while the menfolk were trained in sculpting, the womenfolk were educated at home in maintaining the manuscripts on the techniques of sculpting images of various Gods. These women used to make copies of the old manuscripts very quickly and helped a lot in preserving them for posterity. Certainly a sculptor's daughter would understand the sculptor's vocabulary better and also be helpful in his job.  

In yet another instance, a copper plate inscription found in Chidambaram tells about the Vannaar caste! The Vannars are dhobis (washermen) who called themselves as caste. When the Vijayanagar King visited Chidambaram, his dhobi also accompanied him. Upon coming to Chidambaram, this dhobi was naturally interested in meeting the dhobis of Chidambaram. He did meet them and found out their condition. The Dhobis had maintained a mutt for themselves in Chidambaram. Since it was in need of funds and renovation, the King's dhobi had brought the issue to the King's notice and got them solved. This shows that an understanding and kinship could exist between the people of same caste (formed as a natural union) –irrespective of the place they came from.

It is also possible that matrimonial connections were made between the dhobis of different regions of India. The Chidambaram copper plates also mention about the marriages conducted in that mutt and the payment to be made to the mutt by the two sides of marriage parties. This again shows that each caste had their own customs – arising from their lifestyle, need and other factors – and had their own religious heads to sanctify them. 

The caste differences came up only due to differences in economic status. This difference did not arise between two different castes but within the same caste. The information gathered from the inscriptions on Oil millers called as 'chekkaar' in Tamil give us the insight. Production of oil for lighting lamps was an important economic activity until electric lamps replaced them. Wherever new habitats were made, establishing 'Chekku" – the huge mill for crushing the seeds for extracting oil, was one of the early works done. Most of the donations by common people were for buying oil to light the temple lamps. From the available information gathered from the inscriptions, it comes to be known that there were people who owned the oil mill, those who worked in them and those who were engaged in selling and exporting oil. Of these three, the worker would have had a low income while the other two would have had better economic condition. In this scenario, you can not expect the owner of the mill to give his daughter in marriage to the worker of the mill. A wall of segregation cropped up between the two making them two different castes who would not accept each other. If the girl from owner caste eloped with the boy from worker caste, it would not have received acceptance.

An important issue about Chekkars is that it was considered as a bad omen if one happens to see a man with oil on his body, when stepping out of the house.  In view of this the workers in the oil mill did not walk on the road straight from their work places oil marks on their body, where people moved about, They used to take a separate route. This could have become a stigma in course of time. But then even a lone Brahmin coming in front of one who was stepping out of his home was considered as a bad omen. This is followed even today. In chekkar's case, it had nothing to do with his caste, but not so in the case of a lone Brahmin.

Caste differences could have come up in Aayar – yadava groups also. People think that in sangam texts we do not come across castes. But going through the life style expressed in Kalith thogai on cow-herds, we can sense that there had existed differences in status among them. Some of them were owners of cattle and some are cattle tenders. Yet another class of people called Podhuvar is mentioned  as those joining them in music and dance features. The practice was to accept the one as the groom, who overpowers the bull grown by the girl. The boy could be the owner of cattle or just a cowherd. But he must possess the prowess to control the cattle. That was tested in the jalli-kkattu (bull fight). If he succeedes he was accepted as the man for the girl.

In one instance, the sangam song tells about the Podhuvan, who was not directly connected with cattle-rearing. But the girl was in love with that Podhuvan. The family did not accept the affair, but made a condition that he must take part in the bull-fight. This shows that Podhuvan could have become a separate caste in course of time and marriage of an Aayar (yadava) with the Podhuvan could have become unthinkable in course of time. In this way caste differences had come up over a period of time.

The conflicts between different castes came up when the economic chances of one caste was threatened or usurped by the other. When one caste people thought  that their interests were under threat due to another caste, the conflicts had started. The fear of encroachment and loss of opportunities were the real causes for the conflicts and not the castes themselves.

There are inscriptions showing the king's decree to make peace between 'Naattaar" and others in the Kongu regions. The region from Sholapur to Tirunelveli had seen movement of people for trading purposes in the last 1000 years. 98 groups of people (castes based on their religious habits) have come to the Kongu region. There was another group of 98 divisions – each called as a caste also pre-existed  there. There were places called "Naana desi pattanam" where merchants from different countries of India had gathered and did their business. The region upto Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari had seen the frequent movement of different people coming and settling for business purposes. It is only too natural that conflicts had risen among them.

The caste had never been a bane but the differences in economic status within the same caste and conflict of interests between groups vying for the same opportunity are the causes. The British assigned an economic value to all castes and thereby created division among them in status. The politicians are perpetuating the division by selective appeasement. Denial of caste or inter caste marriages are not the remedies in this situation.

Before concluding let me quote a passage from the book "From the voyages to the East Indies" by John  Philip Wesdin on what he saw in India, particularly South India,  during his travel between 1776 to 1789. He says that every person he met in India was deeply religious and accustomed their children to consider Gods as their protectors and benefactors. The education and the climate are the strongest causes for their total submission to Will of God.

"Education, and the nature of the climate, are the strongest incitements to the natives to worship the deity, and to submit themselves to his will.

The boys, in the ninth year of their age, are initiated with great ceremony into the calling or occupation of the caste to which their father belongs, and which they can never abandon. This law, mention of which occurs in Diodorous Siculus, Strabo, Arrian, and other Greek writers, is indeed exceedingly hard; but, at the same time, it is of great benefit to civil order, the arts and sciences, and even to religion. According to a like regula­tion, no one is allowed to marry from one caste into another. Hence it happens that the Indians do not follow that general and superficial method of education by which children are treated as if they were all intended for the same condition and for dis­charging the same duties; but those of each caste are from their infancy formed for what they are to be during their whole lives.

 

A future Brahman, for example, is obliged, from his earliest years, to employ himself in reading and writing, and to be pres­ent at the presentation of offerings, to calculate eclipses of the sun and moon; to study the laws and religious practices; to cast nativities; in short to learn every thing, which, according to the injunction of the Veda, or sacred books of the Indians, it is necessary he should know. The Vayshya on the other hand, instruct youth in agriculture; the Kshetria, in the science of government and the military arts, the Shudra, in mechanics, the Mucaver, in fishing; the Ciana, in gardening and the Banyen, in commerce.

 

By this establishment the knowledge of a great many things neces­sary for the public good is not only widely diffused, but trans­mitted to posterity; who are thereby enabled still farther to improve them, and bring them nearer to perfection. In the time of Alexander the Great, the Indians had acquired such skill in the mechanical arts, that Nearchus, the commander of his fleet, was much amazed at the dexterity with which they imitated the ac­coutrements of the Grecian soldiers.

 

I once found myself in a similar situation. Having entrusted to an Indian artist a lamp made in Portugal, the workmanship of which was exceedingly pret­ty, some days after he brought me another so like my own that I could scarcely distinguish any difference. It, however, cannot be denied, that the arts and sciences in India have greatly declined since foreign conquerors expelled the native kings; by which several provinces have been laid entirely waste, and the castes confounded with each other. Before that period, the different kingdoms were in a flourishing condition; the laws were respect­ed, and justice and civil order prevailed; but, unfortunately, at present everything in many of the provinces must give way to absolute authority and despotic sway."

 

*************************

 

Caste is good - MS Radhakrishnan

 

To The Editor, The Hindu Newspaper

In response to the  editorial article (dtd Feb. 21, 2012)  "India's destiny not caste in stone" by Prof. Andre Beteille , Prof Emeritus of sociology, Delhi University.

 

Dear Sir,

 

I have only the faintest hope that you will publish this letter. In this age of 'paid news", who will dare to  provide real knowledge, insights and truth at the cost of  career (including academic) & business profits ? But if you are serious about the issues you highlight, then you could NOT possibly ignore this letter.  If in case you do not publish my response in your newspaper, please at least forward this mail to Prof.Beteille. (My protest is against the unfair castigation of caste. !!!)

 

If the Prof. had taken into consideration the current world scenario, I think his output  would have been different and he certainly would have eulogized CASTE.  The peak of prosperity achieved by Europe and US in the past 200 to 300 years is behind them. Now both are plagued by chronic economic problems and unemployment. Their current pattern of thinking and action is miring  themselves as well as the rest of the world in deeper and messy unsolvable problems. An eg :-Greenhouse gases, global warming and consequent climate change. Taking the cue from the experience  of the West, we  Indians  will be acting stupidly  by entertaining doubts about    our age old sound and proven institutions. It will become suicidal for us if we abandon them and ape Western social patterns, which academicians & some politicians paint as Universal and inevitable. Eg. Prof. Francis Fukuyama's 'The End of History and the last Man'.

 

The advantages of caste, how it had sustained peaceful and harmonious life  of our ancestors and thereby sustained Indian civilization without break,  could be garnered from the life (in the last century) and ideas, of The Father of our Nation. This is illustrated in detail in the subsequent paragraphs. Prior to that, ie  in the 17^thcentury, (the beginning of the 1800's) the French Missionary , Abbe J.A.Dubois  had emphatically written " I consider the institution of castes amongst the Hindu  nations as the happiest effort of their legislation; and I am well convinced that if the people of India never sunk into a state of barbarism, and if, when almost all Europe was plunged in that dreary gulf, India kept  up her head, preserved and extended the sciences, the arts and civilization; it is wholly to the distinction of castes that she is indebted for that high celebrity" (p.10, Chapter 2, 'Advantages Resulting  from The Division of Castes' from the book 'Character, Manners & Customs of the People of India and of their Institutions Religious and Civil", published by Asian Educational Services). I think Europe  still is caught in the 'dreary gulf' which the Abbe mentions in the above sentence, (the two World Wars) inspite of its apparent material prosperity which is  enjoyed  only by a select few. (1%). In fact Europeans and Americans are the 'barbarians' of the modern world due to their insatiable hunger for resources and the conflicts they engender all over the world, both directly as well as indirectly. I fervently hope that to civilize themselves they will adopt the CASTE system. I further hope that we Indians would be counted upon to act  as guides, in their efforts in adapting to a European version of the Caste System.

 

Talking about the Swadeshi spirit in political matters, Gandhiji during the course of a speech addressed to the missionaries (Christian Missionary Conference  at Madras on Feb 14, 1916)  said  "…….The vast organization of Caste answered not only the religious wants of the community, but also its political ends. The villagers managed their internal affairs through the Caste system, and through it also dealt with any oppression from the ruling power. It is not possible to deny, with regard to a nation producing the Caste system, its wonderful powers of organization, one has but to attend the great Kumba Festival at Hardwar to know how skilful that organization must have been which without any seeming effort was able effectively to cater for more than a million pilgrims. Yet it is the fashion to say that we lack organizing ability. This is true, I fear, to a certain extent of those who have been nurtured in the new traditions. We have labored under a terrible handicap owing to an almost  fatal departure from the Swadeshi spirit"………(p.79-80, Chapter 6, 'The Religious Meaning of Swadeshi', from the book "Mahatma Gandhi-His Life & Ideas" written by Charles F. Andrews, published by Jaico Publishing House)

 

Further quote from the same chapter "The careful study of this address on Swadeshi throws light on certain important details in Mahatma Gandhi's own religious position. It is not of the type that ever looks forward (if I judge him rightly) to a single World Religion and a single World State,  but rather to separate units working out their individual destiny  in cordial, harmonized, friendly relations. There will always be impassable barriers between them which appear to him divinely ordained. Herein he differs , as far as I can gather, from Tagore, to whom this limited aspect of patriotism and religion is unthinkable. To Tagore the overpassing of these boundaries is all-important; to Gandhi their due observance appears essential in this present stage of human existence. Holding strongly a belief in reincarnation , he seems to have no anxiety about  reaching any further stage of unification in this present cycle of existence.

 

I remember a deeply interesting conversation which I had with him concerning the relationship of Marriage. This brought out his own theory of Swadeshi in an interesting form. During a sustained argument  I put to him the purely hypothetical case of a marriage between our families which should hcross te boundaries of Caste and institutional religion.(For the sake of clearness let me add that I am still unmarried and therefore have no children; Mahatma Gandhi has a family of four sons but no daughters)

 

"Suppose,' I said to him, "simply for the sake of argument, that I myself had a daughter, who in every way was a suitable bride for your son, and that the two loved one another with devotion of the purest character. You have often told me that I am more than a blood-brother to you and the friend of your heart.  Would you, then, stand in the way of such a marriage on the ground of difference of Caste or creed?"

 

Mahatma Gandhi answered in some such words as these: "Yes, I would never give my consent to such a marriage, because it would be contrary to my ideas of religion thus to transgress the boundaries wherein we were born. I would not personally agree to a marriage out of Caste; at the same time I do not believe in the artificial multiplication  of Castes which has occurred in India. That evil and the evil of untouchability are both seperable from the true ideal of Varna."

 

"What, then," I asked him, "is your own conception of the true Caste system, which you call Varnashrama Dharma?"

"It is not easy," he answered, "to explain it to you, because you have never come under its discipline. To one like myself, who believes in the four Varnas, human life, during this present birth on the planet, is only one of a series. There are other experiences which have to be gone through when this life is over. Our present existence  is a discipline  which has to be lived within certain rules suited to this special stage.  We cannot choose at this stage, for instance, our own parents, or our own birthplace, or our own ancestry. Why, then , should we claim  as individuals the right during this present brief life-period to break through all the conventions wherein we were placed at birth by God Himself? The Gita  has very wisely said that the performance of one's own religious duty is preferable to the carrying  out of the religious duty of others. This religious duty, which we call by the untranslatable word 'Dharma', appears to me to include the environment  wherein  we were placed at birth by God. It connotes our seeking to live in harmony with those birth conditions and not rebelling against them, or seeking to overpass their limitations, either for individualistic or selfish reasons."

 

I (Charles F. Andrews) have tried to put down, through the medium of my own interpretation, the ideas that Mahatma Gandhi had sought to express to me on that memorable morning. It was easy to see that his own thought about Swadeshi was very  intimately related to his Hindu religious training in Varanashrama Dharma or Caste religion; for while Tagore has abandoned the Caste system once for all, Gandhi still declares that he believes in the original four Castes, or Varnas, as natural divisions of society.

 

What I am trying to make clear is this, that "Swadeshi" with Mahatma Gandhi is not to be confused with the current belief in sovereign  "nationalism" in the West, though it runs at certain points perilously along the edge of it  and has actually been mistaken for it by some of his own more impulsive followers.  Rather it is something much more elemental; it goes back to the Varnashrama Dharma itself, the Religion of Caste. Indeed, this Hindu Caste Religion still retains among the orthodox people in India the name of Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Religion."

 

Caste System could cater to the Religious needs, Political needs & Economic needs of the vast population of India. Also the sciences and arts had been  nourished by the caste system .

If so what interests are served by painting a dark picture of caste by modern academicians.?

 

 

Radhakrishnan.M.S

14/21, School Street,

Sathya Nagar, Padi

Chennai-600 050

Ph 944752904

 

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/02/caste-is-good-ms-radhakrishnan.html

 

 

The Hindu

Opinion » Lead

Published: February 21, 2012 

India's destiny not caste in stone

André Béteille

[Outside politics, there are other areas of life in which caste consciousness has been dying down.]

 

 

Those who try to keep up with discussions on current affairs in the newspapers and on television may be forgiven if they conclude that caste is India's destiny. If there is one thing the experts in the media who comment on political matters have in common, it is their preoccupation with caste and the part it plays in electoral politics.

 

Many are now coming to believe that, despite the undeniable demographic, technological and economic changes taking place in the country, the division into castes and communities remains the ineluctable and ineradicable feature of Indian society. They also believe that to ignore those divisions or to draw attention to other divisions such as those of income, education and occupation is to turn our backs on the ground reality. The more radical among them add that ignoring those realities amounts to an evasion of the political responsibility of redistributing the benefits and burdens of society in a more just and equitable manner.

 

Does nothing change in India? A great many things have in fact changed in the last 60 years both in our political perceptions and in the social reality. The leaders of the nationalist movement who successfully fought for India's freedom from colonial rule believed that India may have been a society of castes and communities in the past but would become a nation of citizens with the adoption of a new republican constitution. They were too optimistic. The Constitution did create rights for the citizen, but it did not eradicate caste from the hearts and minds of the citizens it created. For many Indians, and perhaps the majority, the habits of the heart are still the habits of a hierarchical society.

 

Inter-dining rules

 

Universal adult franchise opened up new possibilities for mobilising electoral support on the basis of caste and thus prevented the consciousness of caste from dying down. Democracy was expected to efface the distinctions of caste, but its consequences have been very different from what was expected. Politics is no doubt an important part of a nation's life in a democracy, but it is not the only part of it.There are other areas of life in which the consciousness of caste has been dying down, though not very rapidly or dramatically. The trends of change which I will now examine do not catch the attention of the media because they happen over long stretches of time, in slow motion as it were. They are not noticeable from month to month or even year to year but across two or more generations.

 

Let us start with the ritual opposition of purity and pollution which was a cornerstone of the hierarchical structure of caste. The rules of purity and pollution served to mark the distinctions and gradations amongcastes and sub-castes. Characteristic among them were those relating to commensality or inter-dining. They determined who could sit together at a meal with whom, and who could accept food and water from whom. Only castes of equivalent rank could inter-dine with each other. In general people accepted cooked food and water from the hands of their superiors, but not their inferiors.

 

The ritual rules governing food transactions were rigid and elaborate until a hundred years ago. Nobody can deny that there has been a steady erosion of those rules. Modern conditions of life and work have rendered many of them obsolete. The excesses of the rules of purity and pollution have now come to be treated with ridicule and mockery among educated people in metropolitan cities like Kolkata and Delhi. It is impossible to maintain such rules in a college canteen or an office lunch room. To insist on seating people according to their caste on a public occasion would cause a scandal today.

 

In the past, restrictions on inter-dining were closely related to restrictions on marriage according to the rules of caste. The restrictions on marriage have not disappeared, but they have eased to some extent. Among Hindus, the law imposed restrictions on inter-caste marriage. The law has changed, but the custom of marrying within the caste is still widely observed. However, what is happening is that other considerations such as those of education and income are also kept in mind in arranging a match. At any rate, it will be difficult to argue thatcaste consciousness in matrimonial matters has been on the rise in recent decades.

 

In politics, the media

 

There continues to be a general association between caste and occupation to the extent that the lowest castes are largely concentrated in the menial and low-paying jobs whereas the higher castes tend to be in the best-paid and most esteemed ones. But the association betweencaste and occupation is now more flexible than it was in the traditional economy of land and grain. Rapid economic growth and the expansion of the middle class are accompanied by new opportunities for individual mobility which further loosens the association between casteand occupation.

 

If, in spite of all this, caste is maintaining or even strengthening its hold over the public consciousness, there has to be a reason for it. That reason is to be found in the domain of organised politics. Caste had entered the political arena even before independence, particularly in peninsular India. But the adoption of universal adult franchise after independence altered the character and scope of the involvement ofcaste in the political process.

 

The consciousness of caste is brought to the fore at the time of elections. Elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas are now held all the year round. For logistical and other reasons, elections to even the Vidhan Sabhas may be stretched out over several weeks. There are by-elections in addition to the general elections. Election campaigns have become increasingly spectacular and increasingly costly, and they often create the atmosphere of a carnival. The mobilisation of electoral support on the basis of caste is a complex phenomenon whose outcome gives scope for endless speculation.

 

Even though for the country as a whole the election season never really comes to an end, the individual voter participates in the electoral process only occasionally and sporadically. The average villager devotes far more thought and time to home, work and worship than to electoral matters. It is well known that the voter turnout among urban professional Indians is low. But even when they do not participate in the elections to the extent of visiting their local polling booths, they participate in them vicariously by following on television what happens in the outside world. Television provides a large dose of entertainment along with a modicum of political education.

 

Private television channels have created a whole world in which their anchors and the experts who are regularly at their disposal vie with each other to bring out the significance of the "caste factor," meaning the rivalries and alliances among castes, sub-castes and groups of castesby commentators who, for the most part, have little understanding of, or interest in, long-term trends of change in the country. These discussions create the illusion that caste is an unalterable feature ofIndian society. It will be a pity if we allow what goes on in the media to reinforce the consciousness of caste and to persuade us that caste isIndia's destiny.

 

(The writer is Professor Emeritus of sociology, Delhi University, and National Research Professor)