Uncommon thoughts for information of common people Vedic Varnavyavastha divided the society into unequal four Varnas. Manusmriti created many castes and sub-castes on the basis of unavoidable diversifications of occupations. Amarkosha, the first known Sanskrit dictionary in the form of verses gave sanctity to the castes created on the basis of the above-said diversifications of castes, by lifting the information from Manusmriti. Manusmriti provided the original formula of creating new castes in the light of diversifications, which was adopted by the Brahmana priests through naming of the children of different castes, on the pattern suggested in Mansusmriti itself according to which a Brahmana child would be given a name indicative educational accomplishments etc., Kshatriya child could be given name indicative of power and ruling functions, Vaisyas were to be given names indicative of riches, and, finally Sudra names were to be such which were indicative of hatred. Brahmanas retained the power of upgrading or degrading particular castes and individuals, by allowing or refusing yajnopavita or the so-called sacred thread, in their own discretion. They also gave rise to hope to members of every lower caste of promotion to a higher caste or Varna in supposed next birth on the condition that the individuals performed their varna duties, allotted in Manusmriti. They checked the practice of lower castes adopting the functions allotted to a higher caste through using the force of state against the transgressors. When the Brahmanical rules could not be forced on the population, for example in in the rule of Muslims or the British, more affluent individuals from lower castes started employing the informal titlles of higher castes, particularly, the Brahmanas and Kshatriyas. Many of the forefathers of modern OBCs adopted the titles like Sharma, thakur and varma. The castes which were more prominent in the matter of adopting this fashion included the those engaged in the professions of hair-cutting and in the occupations involving wood and furniture as also those engaged in thework of making earthen utensils. Such practices were though frowned upon by Brahmanas and so-called Kshatriyas but they wer unable to check the practice. After starting the census operations by the British in 1871, the enumerators the majority of whom were the Brahmanas started giving advantage to their caste by enumerating all so-called sharmas as Brahmanas and many of the so-called Vermas as thakurs. But in practice the bearers of such titles went on being discriminated against as per the custom. So far, it is not possible to find a Sharma belonging to one of the Sudra castes who has ever been invited by anybody to perform religious ceremonies or to accept dana (gifts and presents). Dakshina (fees for performing religious ceremony) or bhiksha (Brahmans right to demand anything from anyone even with the help of state), since these were the functions which were traditionally reserved for Brahmanas. I happened to see a report on Facebook to the effect that Brahmana population has increased to 8%. If so, this can be the result of handiwork of census enumerators. Their role was appreciated by Brahmanas in 1931 census, since at that time a controversy had been raised as to whether after the Dalits chose to get themselves enumerated as Adi-Dharmies or Non-Hindus, Hindus were the largest population or the Muslims could compete with them. Since then, the business of enumerating has become important for the leaders of Hindus, namely, Brahmanas, although other castes have hardly taken any notice of the strategic role of enumerators. It has been seen that the enumerators never inquire the information regarding one’s caste from those living in good houses or in government colonies housing government employees do that the number of the weaker sections particularly Dalits shown in census results can never be correct and the unfair advantage naturally goes to the upper castes. In the light of this, if the Brahmana population has shot up in 2011 census, the matter ought to invite the attention of the government since any mistake or conscious manipulation by anyone is likely to present a distorted picture regarding the democratic facts of the country. Similarly, such mistakes or deliberate strategies can affect the course of future social welfare schemes of government and other related agencies. Here only some examples are given and this write up is not to be supposed to be complete and exhaustive.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 01:31:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015