Even though the facts indicate to the contrary, the proselytizing religions like Christianity and Islam claim to be casteless religious practices! And they have used casteism as a lever for the conversion of the Hindus.
It is to be noted that so called ‘intellectuals’ of Indian origin in Ivy league institutions of the United States have started anti-Hinduism campaign alleging caste-based discrimination in jobs. Some states in USA have even passed laws to prevent such ‘caste-based discrimination’.
Interestingly however, there is no clarity about the origin or even the existence of castes in Sanathana Dharma. The book under review - Varna, Jati, Caste – A Premier on Indian Social Structure by Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya Viswanathan throws a lot of light on this controversial subject.
Historical Contours of Castes
Authors have established with facts and figures that ‘caste’ was never a part of Hinduism, but was ‘innovated’ by the British during their Census exercises of 1830s. They state that unable to fathom the heterogeneous social classifications prevalent in the contemporary Hindu social groups, the Census Officials adopted from the Portuguese the term ‘caste’ as a common denominator. Thus started the use of ‘official’ caste nomenclature in the discourses of the country.
To substantiate their stand the authors, provide a brief social history and explain the social fabric of Sanathana Dharma under the sub headings - 1. Early Vedic 2. Late Vedic 3. Dharmashastras (overlapping with 2) 4. Muslim Rule 5. European Colonial Rule 6. Post Independence and 7. Globalization.
Vedic Sustainable society
The authors explain how Hinduism’s Vedic Civilization was very scientifically evolved. The authors are of the opinion that “during the early Rig Veda period we come across artisans, farmers, priests, and warriors. Society was basically egalitarian. We do not have evidence of a deep-seated, institutionalized, and hierarchical classification of people. Even, during the later Vedic and Itihasic period, the idea of varna was in its nascent form and not rigidly dependent on birth. Artisans such as metalworkers, chariot-makers, and carpenters were not dependent on birth. ... were not necessarily birth based occupational jatis.”
Quoting Megasthenes it is said that slavery was unknown in India, no Indian slave existed, and all Indians were free. Greek writers refer to the Shudras as Sodrai and describe them as an important community of northwest India at the time of Macedonian king, Alexander (326 BCE). “This is contrary to the view presented by modern scholars that Shudras and Dalits have been slaves since Vedic times.”
Manusmriti
It is a fashion these days to blame Manusmriti for creating the present caste system. However, “The Manusmriti explains that jatis originated due to intermarriage between different varnas. This shows that different varnas did intermarry. Thus, sixty-one jatis are mentioned in the Manusmriti and more than one hundred are mentioned in the Brahmavaivarta Purana. .... During the post Maurya period (187BCE-320CE) there were intermarriages between different varnas, and jatis were giving birth to newer jatis.”
As per available information there is common agreement that birth based varna came after the Vedic period and untouchability came after Buddhism. It can be seen that “Many rishis were born as non-Brahmins....Valmiki (author of the Ramayana) and Vyasa (author of Mahabharata, and editor/compiler of Vedas) and even the great sage, Vashista. They were all born in the lowest strata. Kalidasa, respected as the greatest Sanskrit poet, came from a humble and obscure origin.”
Dharmashastras and Manusmitri are accused of inculcating the practice of untouchability. On the contrary, as per these texts persons following disapproved vocations (hunting, butchery etc) became untouchables. “Some occupations were considered impure in the path to spiritual liberation, and there was emphasis on not coming in touch with individuals performing impure activities. But these restrictions were due to a metaphysical sense of hygiene and not the result of hatred or any kind of ethnic prejudice.”
The authors try to analyze the core Hindu texts to prove that the modern scholarship has been unreliable and reductionist, and deserves to be contested.
The Distortions
Shudras enjoyed high socio-economic status in ancient India as the Shudra artisans and craftsmen who formed a profession-based guild system, were highly trained and possessed high educational standards. Such guild systems functioned till as late as the twelfth century. Subsequently due to ‘Muslim invasion guilds became immobile and ossified, resulting in their degeneration and subdivision’.
However, it is during and after the British colonial period much of distortions started to creep into the Sanathana Dharma. Quoting extensively from Dharmapal’s book The Beautiful Tree the authors prove that in Madras District (1825) the Shudras were the largest student group both in schools (66.9%) and at home (28.70%) in comparison with the Brahmins (7.42%) & (28.68%), and Vaisyas (15.12%) & (23.19%) respectively. Interestingly, Hindus as a student group constituted 97.23% of total students in the school and 93.61% in home in comparison with the Muslims who constituted only 2.77% of School students group and 6.39% of home group. The situation was said to be similar in other places all over the country at that time. The ramifications of such a steep religious divide in the educational efforts went deep into the struggle for independence and thereafter.
With such high participation in the school education Sudras earned respectable place in the contemporary society. Authors provide a diagrammatic picture of such comparatively higher socio-economic status of Sudras till such time to prove their point. It was only the simplistic interpretation of Varna/Jati system for the enumeration of census in 1832 that the term Caste was injected into the Hindu society. And this social engineering has played a havoc in otherwise harmonious and open structured social fabric of the Sanathana Dharma.
Untouchability - A British Social Engineering
The British extensively used untouchability as a Hindu religious curse when in reality it was during their rule that it became a rampant practice mainly due the British toilet habits. The authors have diagrammatically displayed how the untouchability became a different nomenclature Category over a period – from the Fifth Varna, to Depressed Class, to Untouchables, to Harijans and finally to the Scheduled Castes. The authors summarize that “what was initially a theoretical structure, crystallized into substance at the ground level. This was incorrectly projected backwards to define the characteristic of ancient Vedic society.” And the detailed historical analysis substantiates authors’ conclusion.
B. R. Ambedkar on Castes
Understanding India’s caste politics is incomplete without knowing the contributions by B.R. Ambedkar to the subject. Authors have extensively quoted from the works of B. R. Ambedkar. He unequivocally “rejects the Western view that castes are separate races” and is of the opinion that “to hold that distinctions of castes are really distinctions of race, and to treat different castes as though they were so many different races, is a gross perversion of facts.” He later reiterates this view “The caste system does not demarcate racial division. The Caste system is a social division of people of race.”
B. R. Ambedkar not only disagreed with Gandhi on Islam, but held “both Islam and Christianity dangerous options for Indians to adopt because he feared it would tear apart the fabric of Indian society.” The authors quote extensively from his works to substantiate his views on Buddhism and Communism.
The Relevance of Caste today
The authors feel that “The original dynamics of the (caste) system were disrupted and undermined by many social and political upheavals. Over time, varna became jati, which then morphed into caste. The caste system is now mostly dead, but its ghost continue to haunt India.” With more than 36% of the country’s population now living in urban localities, with enhanced infrastructural facilities reducing the rural-urban socio-economic chasm, caste is gradually becoming socially irrelevant. However, its diabolic importance in the political sphere is what makes it relevant today. However, faster economic development will automatically eliminate even that political abuse.
Timely Book
This book is part of a series of earlier publications by Rajiv Malhotra in association with other eminent writers on various burning issues of Hinduism. Few other books are Breaking India –Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines [2011] (with Aravnindan Neelakantan), Snakes in the Ganga – Breaking India 2.0 [2022] (with Vijaya Viswanathan) and The Battle for Sanskrit [2016].
Caste controversy is central to every onslaught on the Sanathana Dharma and hence it becomes related to other works of the author/s in some way or the other. Thus, the importance of the current book gets enhanced and its publication becomes timely. Its sub-title “A Primer on Indian Social Structure” is not only understatement, but also a reflection on the humility of the authors. They deserve to be commended for their continued sincere efforts to provide a clear and authentic foundation for the understanding of Sanathana Dharma.
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