Today, there is a call by many modern-day 'social reformers' to abolish what they believe is the 'ancient system of caste discrimination." An unfortunate number of people, even many Hindus themselves, hold the firm notion that a discriminatory practice based on this elusive concept of 'caste' was propagated via the most ancient tenets of Hinduism. This is unfortunate because the belief springs from a clear lack of understanding of the concept of Kulam itself and from incomplete and erroneous knowledge. But where did this erroneous knowledge come from? Why the misunderstanding and where do we get if we trace the roots of this misinformation?
The Europeans.... It was the Europeans who first used the term 'caste' and gave birth to ambiguity with the already existing term Kulam. The term Kulam was commonly in vogue and had been for thousands of years by Hindus. The interjection of this new ill-defined blanket term 'caste' gave rise to innumerable doubts, fuelled misunderstanding, and distrust about the Hindu society as a whole.
Tellingly, almost all the research on the concept of caste is inconclusive. However, some groups have managed to use caste as a tool to demonize and target Hindus and their religious institutions. To determine if a convention deserves to be preserved or must be annihilated, it is necessary to analyze its merits and demerits with an objective lens. To do this, we must first have a complete understanding of what the concept or convention proposes.
Sadly, the modern-day reformers calling for the complete annihilation of Kulam do so without an understanding of it and with the mistaken belief that it is synonymous with the European term 'caste.' With this partial, or at times, downright incorrect knowledge of the concept of Kulam itself, does one have any right to destroy a religion-based social system that has been in existence for more than a thousand years?
Intriguingly enough, in the 19th century missionaries targeted Hinduism with startlingly similar 'objections.' While their clamour can be seen as an offshoot of lack of knowledge about the religion or lack of understanding of the basic tenets of Hinduism itself, how can modern Hindu reformers be forgiven with the same excuse? With some such present-day reformers parroting what those missionaries of old declared, the arguments for eliminating Kulam merely seem to be a case of 'old wine in a new bottle.' A question that begs to be asked is this: Are these modern 'reformist' voices with improper knowledge of Hinduism backed by missionary organizations and other western forces in India?
Be that as it may, the only way to combat widespread misinformation of this order is to ensure that the RIGHT information is brought into the spotlight. To end this confusion once and for all, every Hindu and every Indian must go to the root of this concept. This can be done by defining the Kulam/caste at the Siddhanta or conceptual level. It is this that has been lacking in present-day research creating a lacuna that has been taken advantage of to create confusion.
In this quest to get to the root of this festering issue, Hindus must decode not just the elusive concept of 'caste' but also those of untouchability and Dravidianism as per the Śästras. All these are major issues that have been used to demonize Hinduism. These issues are all interlinked and 'also have one thing in common,' by the end of this write-up the reader will have a thorough understanding of the common element. This collection of articles is an attempt towards decoding these topics with a view to put us on the path toward solving the above-mentioned problems.
Varna and Kula have many dimensions, such as spiritual, economic, political, etc. This write-up is mainly aimed at the spiritual aspects of these two systems. To get out of the confusion created by the Europeans, we first need to understand the functioning of this system, thereby its framework. Once we understand the actual framework and its related mechanism, it becomes easy to fit the rest of the pieces together. This book is divided into two parts. The first part mainly deals with Varna/Kula and untouchability. The second part deals with Dravidian identity, Ayurveda and the occupational aspect of the Varna/Kula. Towards the end, the reader will get a decent understanding of the native concepts behind these topics. This book essentially focussed on the south Indian Society, however, evidence pertaining to north India was quoted as available.
Hindu (935)
Agriculture (118)
Ancient (1086)
Archaeology (753)
Architecture (563)
Art & Culture (910)
Biography (702)
Buddhist (544)
Cookery (167)
Emperor & Queen (565)
Islam (242)
Jainism (307)
Literary (896)
Mahatma Gandhi (372)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist