Article 19: November 2018

RANT 1

Culture November 27, 2018

DISCLAIMER: This is not a regular article. It is more of a rant or an outpour of my pent-up thoughts and feelings.

HUMANITY IS DEAD

We, humans think we own the earth. But it is not true, it is the other way round. Earth and Nature owns us. We cannot and should not go around cutting trees and killing animals just for the sake of it.

Poaching Rhinos for their horns, elephants for their tusks, and many more barbaric acts are being carried out by humans. It is FOOLISH. Rhino’s horns DO NOT have medicinal properties. Elephant’s tusks are just used as trophies. IT IS INHUMANE. Imagine if animals killed humans and hung our taxidermied body all around a forest. It would be weird, so is the other way round.

Humans(HOMO SAPIENS) are a product of Billions of years of a scientific process called Evolution. We are not a wonder of creation, we did not appear with just a snap of fingers like magic or from consciousness. Nobody was created using a single piece of a bone as foundation. So we should all stop acting like the superiors to the other organisms. We are all one and the same, with just a little variations. We are not the bosses or owners of the earth. We should ACCEPT THAT.

Let us assume, the population of the Earth is approximately 1 billion. Imagine what will happen if every single person unintentionally cuts down a tree. A billion number of trees are wiped out from the face of the earth. The same applies for animals too, if a single person kills a fish for a meal, a billion fishes lose their lives.

The ramifications of our actions will not be spontaneous but it will be FATAL.

HUMANS ARE THE HUNTERS.

PLANET EARTH IS BEING HUNTED.

End of rant.

This may or may not be the first in a series of many.

The piece of news which was the final push that made me rant:

Click Here

Also, Please do visit these websites:

SAVE OUR RHINOS

WILDLIFE TRUST OF INDIA

By Gautham

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CASTA*

November 22, 2018

I have always despised the caste system but haven’t given a lot of thought about what it is and what it represents. I guess that’s common in today’s world where hatred without reasoning is becoming the way of life. When I started learning about the caste system, I began admiring the evolution of human (Indian) society from anarchy to the present democracy which we live in. To admire is not to accept or follow but to dissect through the nerves and vessels to find the pounding heart.

The classification of mankind with respect to vocational aptitudes has been present in every society ever existed. The Indian case proves to be interesting because of its longevity. The caste system, as we now call it, is natural in every society with nepotistic beings (all humans). A son following his father’s footsteps is deemed to be natural even in todays “exposed” world. So to stay inside a certain circle of people, in an “unexposed” world, who share the same vocation is not something that hasn’t happened anywhere else. So, with developments in society these social barriers are supposed to be demolished by economic encouragements, unless it derives some amount of power through statutory backing, in this case, the religious texts.

The ancient texts, secular and religious (mostly intertwined) were considered sacred. When something is hallowed, I think, it loses its original genius for something which it may or may not encompass. When these texts sanction the classification based on apparent purity, discrimination becomes popular and with stagnation of education, especially after the Gupta period, these discriminations became traditions which is beyond discussions, thus making them deep rooted into the spirit of the society.

The caste system had been more or less a liberal system which has been inclusive. We have ancient accounts of people belonging to the Shudras becoming priests which are reserved for Brahmanas, although in small number. So probably the Varna system had scope for vertical migration which later froze under the “tradition” cloud. Further classification and sub classification of jatis made it more complex to include the uncountable numbers of jatis into the vertical table. So the problem of who comes above whom created a lot of confusion making the system look like a food web. Although Manu had explained in striking detail about the different castes and their professions and also what happens if there is an intercaste marriage and about the caste of the child born thereof, most castes we see in today’s India are relatively new ones, probably included during the expansion of the brahminical religion after the Vedic period.

The expansion of the brahminical religion to south India and Bengal increased the number of subscribers making the caste system further complex. There are accounts where the local kings request and bring the priestly Brahmanas to their region to perform sacred rituals to cement their status as a Kshatriya in order to be respected throughout the subcontinent in return for gifts. It is also said that the local kings or new kings, with the help of their priestly advisors, create history connecting them to early Indian heroes to legitimize their status of being a Kshatriya and it is also said that this is one of the reasons for the Himalayan amount of names in the great Bharata war. When the coronation of the king as a Kshatriya with the sacred right to rule has been completed, the other civilians of his region also subscribe to the vertical fold. So there has been inclusion at both ends of the spectrum, thus making it further more complex.

The early medieval period in history has been a time of decline in all aspects of Indian culture, historians say. There was stagnation without any new inventions and discoveries thereby making everything old further rigid. The expansion of other religions brought in fear to the stagnant fold which started to create new rules to make its own fold last. The out casting of people who cross the lands into the sea might be one such absurdity which was born in this period, although there have been accounts of trade with Southeast Asia which only means that people wouldn’t have taken this seriously. Al-biruni, the famous Iranian scholar has complained about the learned of India as arrogant and not willing to cooperate. I think, this only reflects the insecurity brewing within the society.

The caste system is an institution and an ideology which has always changed the form of the former while preserving the holy latter. It is this holy ideology that prohibited a few groups of people to enroll themselves into the institution, the antyojas (untouchables). The caste system has totally betrayed their existence and discriminated them the most.

Starting with the profession and then solidifying based on birth, the caste system has been an interesting evolution of human society. It has survived history through different avatars with various factors acting as a fillip to sustain its suzerainty over the Indian culture. In today’s India, there are definite caste groups which function more like political pressure groups. Democracy, in a way has legitimized these social caste groups thus shifting the power from purity to quantity. But as Jawaharlal Nehru said, “Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse”.

There has been movements towards horizontal solidarity among the caste groups thereby redesigning the caste system to yet another avatar. This development can only lead to equality among caste groups rather than the ideal casteless individuals.

Everything said, I think the caste system can be compared to the Supreme Being, the Parabrahman. As stupid as it may seem, the caste system is deep rooted, complex, shows its different avatars and to an extent, I think, is eternal, like the Supreme Being. This comparison is done only to signify the humongous magnitude of influence the system has had in Indian culture. Rather than feeble slogans and ignorance towards the existence of caste, structural changes and meaningful and rational discussions can only help us move towards an egalitarian society.

So, let’s have reasonable arguments which may help us demolish the system or to encounter its yet another new avatar, either way, we will move forward in the ever running marathon of human civilization.

* The word caste, which we use now, is derived from a Portuguese root word casta meaning race.

By Benolin

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Article 19

RANT 1

CASTA*

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