Why are the so-called atrocities of the caste system so hyped? The reason may well be to divert the attention from those who actually should feel guilty about what they did and still do to India. … The goal is to make Vedic knowledge disappear in India, because it poses a danger for Christianity and Islam. – Maria Wirth
Common people in the West know hardly anything about India. But one thing they all know: India has an “inhuman” caste system, which is an important feature of their religion, Hinduism. Most also “know” that Brahmins are the highest caste, which oppresses the lower castes, and worst off are the untouchables.
I learnt this already in primary school, but knew nothing at that time about the concentration camps of Nazi Germany only a few years earlier or about the atrocities of slavery or colonialism. Yet the Indian caste system with Brahmins as villains was part of the curriculum in Bavarian schools in the early 1960s, and it still is today: some time ago I asked three young Germans in Rishikesh what they associate with Hinduism. Their prompt reply was, “caste system”. Surely, they also had learnt that it was most inhuman. In all likelihood, all over the world school children are taught about the “inhuman” caste system. Why?
There is likely an agenda behind it.
Yes, the caste system exists, and untouchables, too. And it exists all over the world. Curiously, “caste” (casta) is Portuguese for race. It is not even an Indian term. The ancient Vedas mention four varnas—Brahmins, Kshatryas, Vaishyas and Shudras, which form the body of society, like the head, arms, thighs and feet form the body of a human being. It is a beautiful analogy which implies that all parts are important. True, the head will be given more respect, but will you ignore your feet? Not everyone is made for intellectual work, fortunately, because a society without farmers, traders, workers won’t be possible. All have their role to play. And in future lives, there are likely to be role reversals.
Varna was not hereditary originally. It depended on one’s predominant guna (quality of character) and one’s profession. The job of Brahmins was specifically to memorise the Vedas and preserve them absolute correctly for future generations. They had to have predominately satwa (pure) guna and had to stick to many more rules for purity than any other caste.
Brahmins were the guardians of the purity of the Vedas. So it is understandable that they would not touch those who for example remove the dead bodies of animals or clean the sewers, though a society needs people who do these jobs too. In the West, people also wouldn’t shake hands with them. But no issue is made out of it.
Due to their satwa guna, Brahmins were least likely to be abusive to other groups in society. Usually it is the group which considers itself socially just above another group, which looks down on those lower. This trait is there in all societies, but it is true that in India, unfortunately over time, the four varnas were inherited by birth. There are today many Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, who do not follow their dharma any longer and therefore should not consider themselves as belonging to their inherited varna.
But why is the structure of the society in India constantly decried, when nobody accuses for example the nobility, the highest “caste” in the West, that it does not mingle with workers and won’t live in their neighbourhood?
Why is nobody upset that the British allowed only “whites” into the club of Madikeri town in Karnataka and probably all over the country, as an old Indian gentleman told me? If I remember right, he said that the sign at the club read, “Dogs and Indians not allowed”.
Why is nobody upset that the agriculture policy of the British colonialists starved some 25 million Indians to death? 25 million men, women and children slowly dying because they had nothing to eat in a country that was one of the richest before the British took over…. There are terrible pictures on the net of Indians only being skin and bones, barely alive.
Why is nobody upset that the British, after slavery was abolished, sent indentured labour from India all over the world in cramped boats, where a big number died during the journey already (and were spared the torture in the sugar cane estates)?
Why nobody talks about what the Muslim invasions did to Hindus and especially to Brahmins? How cruel they were? How many Hindus were killed or made slaves? How many Hindu women committed mass suicide by jumping into fire so that they won’t fall into the hands of the Muslim troops?
Nowadays, due to ISIS we can well imagine what happened then, yet the Leftists and even “respectable” British parliamentarians are not concerned with all this. They are concerned with the “most inhuman caste system” of India. It can be safely assumed that the colonial masters tried to drive a wedge between the castes by “fixing” the former fluidity of varnas in their census from 1871 onwards. And today, their democratic successors, though without political power in India, try to drive a wedge with the help of manipulative media and even parliamentary legislation in their own country.
My point is: what Brahmins did by segregating themselves from others or even snubbing others is negligible in comparison what Christian colonialists and Muslim invaders did.
So why are the so-called atrocities of the caste system so hyped? The reason may well be to divert the attention from those who actually should feel guilty about what they did and still do to India. It’s not the Brahmins. Many of them suffer today, mainly due to reservation and, though poor in many cases, by being excluded from benefits which are given to religious minorities or lower castes.
But this is not the only reason why the caste system and Brahmins are being bashed worldwide. Another important agenda is to shame Brahmins, to make them feel guilty about their forefathers and to make them reluctant to follow their original dharma of learning and teaching the Vedas. The goal is to make Vedic knowledge disappear in India, because it poses a danger for Christianity and Islam. It can easily challenge their so-called “revealed truths”. Vedic knowledge makes sense and is therefore the greatest obstacles for Christianity and Islam to expand over the whole world.
Unfortunately, a lot of Vedic texts are already lost. The former Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram, Sri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, says in his book “The Vedas” that out of 1180 shakhas, into which Veda Vyasa divided the four Vedas some 5000 years ago, only eight are still in use. (Just wondering: would a search in England, Germany and other countries rediscover some of this treasure?)
It is about time to stop this Brahmin bashing and stop portraying the Indian caste system as the worst that has ever befallen humanity. It sounds so fake, especially when ISIS gets neutral treatment by just mentioning facts, like, “ISIL burns 19 Yazidi women to death in iron cages because they refused to have sex with fighters” without any emotional colour or condemnation.
Some time ago, I saw an old Brahmin couple in a temple in south India. They had dignity, but were very thin. When prasad (sacred food) was distributed, they were in the queue before me. Later I saw that they joined the queue again…. It was in all likelihood due to poverty.
Brahmins don’t need to feel guilty about their forefathers. They can be proud of them, because it is only thanks to them that India is the only country that has preserved its precious, ancient wisdom at least partly. Yet others should indeed feel guilty, but those others are brazen and won’t. They rather vitiate the atmosphere with unjustified hatred for Hinduism and anti-Brahmanism.
» Maria Wirth is a German author and psychologist who has lived in Uttarakhand for many years.
See also
- St. Thomas and Anti-Brahminism – Koenraad Elst
- Between 1757 and 1947, British colonials starved to death more than 60 million Indians – Ramtanu Maitra
Filed under: india | Tagged: brahmin-bashing, brahmins, caste politics, hinduphobia, vedic heritage |
BHARATA BHARATI 
The tab on this very webpage by George Orwell sums it up in one powerful sentence…”the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
The same method of coaxing and false propaganda led to the demise of paganism in Europe which had close ties to the eastern religions prior to the onset of the Roman Empire.
An educated and rational thinking youth on matters of Hindu religion and systems is what is needed both in India and the diaspora to prevent the cancer of deceptive teachings to take root.
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To codemn brahmins has become talk of every town in our country, whereas atrocities on backward community prevalent only in villages these days is due only to leading non-brahmin communities, but no one wishes, rather dares, to put a finger on them.Besides, irrespective of capacity/aptitude, everyone wants to do office job, that was well managed by brahmins, no one wants to work in army or do any enterprenirship & results are before us – everywhere in such fields, especially in education field, we find the inefficient & corrupt taking people to ride. Reservation of jobs at entry level is OK but at promotion too is creating frustation among the able but thus denied people just for having born to upper class parents. Hope Supreem Court of India would give justice for the overall good of Indian society.
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An eye opening article. At least now let the society try to realise the truth and thrive to bring back the old Golden era
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Great blog. People don’t understand difference between caste and varna.
Read my blog
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The Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier (1506–1552) has the dubious distinction of being the first Brahmin-basher on record. His encounter with the Brahmins of the Thiruchendur Murugan Temple persuaded him that he would never be able to convert them. So he turned his attention to the pearl fishers of the Coromandel Coast, but not before castigating the Brahmins who had laughed at him as the most wicked breed he had ever met. He wrote to Jesuit headquarters in Rome:
“There are in these parts among the pagans a class of men called Brahmins. They are as perverse and wicked a set as can anywhere be found, and to whom applies the Psalm which says: ‘From an unholy race, and wicked and crafty men, deliver me, Lord.’ If it were not for the Brahmins, we should have all the heathens embracing our faith.”
Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian politicians follow in Francis Xavier’s footsteps exactly!
Anti-Brahminism in India corresponds to anti-Semitism in the West. Brahmins are accused of killing St Thomas even as the Jews are accused of killing his twin brother Jesus. Dr Koenraad Elst writes, “Apart from anti-Judaism, the anti-Brahmin campaign started by the Christian missionaries is the biggest vilification campaign in world history.”
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Caste is not class. There can be, and often are, class divisions within a caste community.
The European social system similar to the Indian caste system is the medieval guild system (which has seen a revival in modern times, in Europe, America and Australia).
Caste is all about community. Western society is all about individuality. How can Westerners see caste in a positive light when Indian Christians and Indian Marxists are busy describing it in a negative light?
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