Caste system - historical background

The Caste System - historical background

The upper caste Hindus tend to identify themselves as constituting the Indian nation. They declare that the national culture is essentially Hindu, deriving from Vedic times and a creation of the Aryan people. Other Indian cultural traditions were relegated to a secondary position. Who are the principal proponents of these ideas and have there been opposing views?

Dayananda Saraswati (1824-83) urged a regeneration of Hindu culture through adherence to a purified “Vedic faith”. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875 to bring about a Hindu renaissance. Its mottoes were “Back to the Vedas” and “Aryavarta for the Aryans”. All non-Hindu aspects were regarded as contaminating influences. Saraswati vigorously attacked Christianity and Islam.

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), is considered a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. His ideas marked the culmination of the 19^th century movement. He believed that India had a spiritual message to offer the West which was steeped in materialism.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856(1856-07-23)–1920) was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer. He glorified Vedic civilisation; politicised the Ganapati festival and raised Shivaji to a cult figure.
In 1885, Allan Hume founded the Indian National Congress. It attracted the western educated Indians and sought to define an Indian nationalism based on western liberal, democratic and secular traditions. Among Congress supporters were Dadabhai Naoroji (who became a British MP) and Gopal K Gokhale. However, others sought to develop a Hindu nationalism to counter western-based ideology. Among them was Tilak who invoked the spirit of resurgent Hinduism to promote the nationalist cause. He said: “The common factor in Indian society is Hindutva, devotion to Hinduism”.

V D Sarvarkar, a close associate of Tilak, wrote a treatise on Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. It became the foundation of the RSS organisation founded in 1925 by K B Hedgewar. His successor, Golwalker, said the Hindu nation had existed for thousands of years and the diverse languages of India are offshoots of Sanskrit, “the language of the gods”. At the heart of the Hindu religion are the noble ideas of the Vedas. Indian Muslims and Christians are aliens and should be placed behind bars during times of national crisis.

Hindutva was promoted by several nationalist groups – Hindu Mahasabha, RSS, jana Sangh, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, BJP. In the 1940s, a Hindu Mahasabha leader went so far to lay conditions for Indian Muslims to be accepted in Hndu India: they would have to accept the Ramayana and Mahabharata as their epics and reject the Arabic and Persian classics. They had to regard Hindu gods Rama and Krishna as their heroes and condemn the various Muslim invaders and historical figures.

The Aryan theory of race was in vogue in 19^th century Europe. Orientalists asserted an ethnic kinship between Europeans and the ancient Vedic people. That Indian civilisation had origins among the Aryans was a major moral boost to high caste Indians. The Aryans defnded the caste system as helping to bring together people of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds with themselves at the top of the hierarchy.

An alternative nationalist vision
Three important figures: Phule, Periyar and Ambedkar opposed these Brahminical, Aryan ideas..

1. Jotirao Phule (1826-90), a contemporary of Saraswati, sought to reconstruct the social order on the basis of equality, justice and reason. He simply reversed the Aryan vision, arguing that that the low castes were enslaved and exploited by the Aryan invaders who fomrluated a caste-based Hinduism to secure dominance. He listed the low castes as: Kunbis (cultivators), Malis (garden tenders), Dhangars (shepherds), Bhils, Kolis…Mahars & Mangs (untouchables).

To Phule, the ancient history of India was a struggle between the Brahmins and others. He realised that the source of Brahmin power lay in their monopoly of the scriptures and puranas – works created to justify oppression of the lower castes. Phule rejected the scriptures and condemned priestcraft and the caste system. He founded the first school for girls and untouchables and organised marriages without Brahmin priests.

2. Periyar (1879-1973) Self respect movement
Ramaswamy Naickar, known as Periyar (Great Sage), was born in Erode of a middle class family of artisans. At 19, became a sannyasi, travelling over the whole of India visiting pilgrim centers and ashrams. There he gained a intimate knowledge of the downside of Hinduism and the way the Brahmin priests exploited the masses.

Periyar became convinced that the caste system was created by the Aryans and he created a ‘Dravidian’ movement to defend the rights of the lower castes against Aryan domination. The Aryan view had been adopted enthusiastically by the Indian elite. The Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were taken to be the descendants of the Aryans. Periyar regarded the Shudras and untouchables as the original inhabitants - the Shudras and untouchables.

Naicker left the Congress, attacking it as the tool of Brahmin domination. In 1925, he organised the ‘Self-Respect Movement’ to expose Brahmin tyranny and their control of all spheres of Hindu life. Naicker publicly ridiculed the Puranas as fairy tales, both irrational and immoral. He rejected the images of Hindu deities like Rama and Ganesha. On the other hand, Ravana ws depicted as a Dravidian of high character in his book the Ramayana: a true reading.

3. Ambedkar (1891-1956)
Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was deeply inspired by Jotirao Phule and set about completing his mission. He taught that caste was not only unjust but also immoral. He totally rejected Hinduism. The fight against casteism and untouchability was at the heart of his agenda. He disagreed with the approaches of both Saraswati and Gandhi. He had studied in the West and believed society should be based on the three fundamental principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.

The religious base of caste in the Vedas and Shastras had to be destroyed. Belief in the scriptures was nothing but a means of favouring the Brahmins. Modern India needed an equal, free, open, non-hierarchical system. The untouchable would never gain any status and just treatment within Hinduism. On 14 October 1956 in Nagpur, Ambedkar embraced Buddhism. Some 5 lakh Mahars assembled there were also converted on that day.