Posted on 01/22/2010 7:36:14 PM PST by Steelfish
Being Called A Hindu Is Like An Abuse To Me: Dalit Writer Meenakshi Sinha, TNN, 23 January 2010
JAIPUR: "Being called a Hindu is like a gaali (abuse) to me. I use Valmiki as a surname because having one is almost a necessity these days. If you just say Omprakash, it's not enough. People demand a surname as they come from a certain mindset.
Caste envelops every aspect of life in India," said Omprakash Valmiki, leading Dalit writer in Hindi, at the fifth Jaipur literature festival on Friday.
Valmiki was one of three speakers at the session, Outcasts: The Search for Public Conscience with P Sivakami, Dalit novelist and political activist from Chennai. Kancha Ilaiah, political science professor in Osmania University, Hyderabad and author of the bestseller 'Why I am Not a Hindu', was the third speaker. Ilaiah is an OBC by caste.
Sivakami maintained that upper-caste Hindus only have a caste conscience and no public conscience. "They lack human conscience," she said. Sivakami resigned from civil services after 29 years of service to join the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2008.
Valmiki, author of celebrated autobiography Joothan (1997), maintained that Dalits continue to be shunned in the realms of culture, literature and the arts. "And that is despite 60 years of independence and numerous laws guaranteeing their fundamental rights," he said.
His other works include three collections of poetry: Sadiyon ka santap (The centuries-old anguish, 1989), Bas! bahut ho chuka (Stop it! That's enough, 1997) and Ab aur nahin (Not any more, 2009).
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...
If Hindus actually followed their scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, they’d find it hard to justify the social discrimination against the tribals and the “outcastes”, and wouldn’t need any of the reverse-discrimination “affirmative action” laws that plague their constitution:
“I am alike for all! I know not hate,
I know not favor! What is made is Mine!
But them that worship Me with love, I love;
They are in Me, and I in them!
Nay, Prince!
If one of evil life turn in his thought
Straightly to Me, count him amidst the good;
He hath the highway chosen; he shall grow
Righteous ere long; he shall attain that peace
Which changes not. Thou Prince of India!
Be certain none can perish, trusting Me!
O Prithâ’s Son! whoso will turn to Me,
Though they be born from the very womb of Sin,
Woman or man; sprung of the Vaisya caste
Or lowly disregarded Sudra,—all
Plant foot upon the highest path; how then
The holy Brahmans My Royal Saints?
Ah! ye who into this ill world are come—
Fleeting and false—set your faith fast on Me!
Fix heart and thought on Me! Adore Me! Bring
Offerings to Me! Make Me prostrations! Make
Me your supremest joy! and, undivided,
Unto My rest your spirits shall be guided.”
- Bhagavad-Gita, Ch IX, lines 113-135.
Hindu Bindhu, Hindu Bindhu!
How does one explain the entire Hindu priestly class being based on Brahmin parentage?
For example:
Cohen
Jewish priest
- also spelt kohen (Hebrew: “priest”), plural cohanim, or cohens
Jewish priest, one who is a descendant of Zadok, founder of the priesthood of Jerusalem when the First Temple was built by Solomon (10th century bc) and through Zadok related to Aaron, the first Jewish priest, who was appointed to that office by his younger brother, Moses. Though laymen such as Gideon, David, and Solomon offered sacrifice as God commanded, the Hebrew priesthood was hereditary in biblical times and was transmitted exclusively to male descendants of Aaron of the tribe of Levi.
One argument I heard is that some of the most important priests/sages of Hinduism are from the untouchable class and wrote their major books called the Ram-a-yana and Mahaabaratha. I also read somewhere that a low caste woman in India is one of their most famous religious leaders today. I also read about some people in Yemen being untouchables. Something does not add up somewhere. Either the media is lying to us or I have been fed wrong info. I would like someone more knowledgeable to tell me about it because I am in general sympathetic to India as it can be our ally against Islam. Israel in particular seems to have a soft spot for Hindus. So my bet is that the liberal media is feeding us the same kind of drivel we hear about us.
They’ve had a former president, who was a Dalit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._R._Narayanan
K. R. Narayanan was elected to the Presidency of India[11] (17 July 1997) with 95% of the votes in the electoral college, as a result of the Presidential poll on 14 July. This is the only Presidential election to have been held with a minority government holding power at the centre. T. N. Seshan was the sole opposing candidate, and all major parties save the Shiv Sena supported his candidature.
He was sworn in as the President of India (25 July 1997) by Chief Justice J. S. Verma in the Central Hall of Parliament. In his inaugural address, he said:
“That the nation has found a consensus for its highest office in some one who has sprung from the grass-roots of our society and grown up in the dust and heat of this sacred land is symbolic of the fact that the concerns of the common man have now moved to the centre stage of our social and political life. It is this larger significance of my election rather than any personal sense of honour that makes me rejoice on this occasion.”
Article links on footnotes in the main link.
India is the most ethnically diverse country on the planet, so that wildly divergent accounts of its culture are not necessarily in conflict.
Yes- but casteism is not unlike the badge of slavery. Lineage based on caste is something wholly different than from a “priestly” class open to all.
If you took the trouble to objectively examine, a lot of the Bible condones slavery. The early European slave-traders were conducting their business based on that very premise. Look up the Curse of Ham, for instance.
I get your point, which is why I said Hindus would not be able to explain the discrimination of their tribal populations if they followed their scripture- the Bhagavad Gita.
Plus, the Jewish priesthood, as the Encyclopaedia-Britannica link elucidates, was indeed hereditary, and based on one particular, specific lineage.
What you say is not in dispute- but not in this day and age.
Yeah, I don’t like them either.
In judging other religions one should be careful to criticize the unholy aspects, while recognizing the high-minded Scriptures which should forbid unjust and primitive practices. And one should not forget the caste system of medieval Europe, which remains partially intact to this very day.
It seems that every major civilization goes through a medieval period of caste distinction, probably for practical reasons. But Japan, Europe and even China have rid themselves of it. It is inevitable that India will eventually overcome this. Ghandi and the best representatives of Hindu thought have inveighed strongly against the caste system. We in the USA are still suffering the negative effects of our own caste system - slavery.
I suspect, and hope, that Valmiki is exaggerating the extent of prejudice that remains, but I would never excuse it. It is a blemish on a mostly noble culture. The sacred language of Sanskrit is the mother of most European languages.
Here is an interesting link:
http://www.reformislam.org/
And another:
http://www.yogananda-srf.org/
Yes, 19th century secular reforms, a-la ‘Age of Reason’ and the Industrial Revolution changed a lot of it.
Even when the British abolished slavery, they were carrying it out for decades into the future through a surrogacy based on indentured labour. That’s how you have many people of Indian descent in such far-flung areas as the West Indies. Not to mention the Irish, who were also at the receiving end of this surrogate slavery.
As India modernises, change is bound to happen. They’ve already had a Dalit president.
See link in previous post.
I suppose it's like the Catholic ban on women being priests - you may have noticed a bit of "slave association" referred to over that as well.
"Hinduism" is a westernized word describing the six main paths of the Sanatan Dharma, which means the "Eternal Truth." India itself is a country of almost a billion people living at every conceivable socioeconomic level. There are tremendous numbers of people who reject the caste system, and who incorporate this rejection into their formal "Hindu" beliefs. And in South India, there are even traditions where women of any "caste" are being made "Hindu" temple priestesses and performing traditional rites along with male priests.
Hinduism is constantly reevaluating the proper expression of it's ancient truths and teachings - correct understanding of it must, therefore, take this endless refinement into account. To state, therefore, that the caste system which is currently openly scorned and rejected by millions of Hindus as being "central" to it is simply ignorant.
You write: “that the caste system which is currently openly scorned and rejected by millions of Hindus as being “central” to it is simply ignorant.”
Well, you would think the prominent Indian writers referred to in the article who contradict your conclusion would know better, won’t they?
As for the Catholic Priesthood excluding females, it’s a doctrinal concept. Generally married males too are excluded. And of course, the Hindu swamis are all males too, aren’t they?
The issue here is is not only casteism but how the lower castes are treated under Hindu rituals and practice.
The word "untouchables" in this context is a something of a misnomer. Any Hindu can touch a member of the lowest caste. But members of lower castes cannot touch a Brahmin, someone of the highest priestly caste.
Wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Amritanandamayi
She's Dalit too, by the way.
Probably not as ethnically diverse as the USA at this point. After all the different groups in India are all Indian. Here we have Dominicans, Hatians, Mexicans, El Salvadorians, Hmong, Vietnamese, Laotians, Thais, Italians, Polish, Irish, English, German, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Ukranians, Serbs, Somoans, Hawaiians, French, Spanish, Portugese, Nigerians, etc. I dont' believe that India comes close.
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