Jnanasambandar: Nanda Chandran's question

[nanda chandran]

>Nanda Chandran seems to blame the whole caste mess on everybody in >India
>with the exception of the brahmins themselves.

Not so. I acknowledge that they too have a role in it and have also accepted
it in my previous post, but it is not the way it is popularly presented.

While Ambedhkar and other dalit activists conviniently point out all the
discriminatory clauses in the Manusmriti against the lower castes and the
women, they never reveal that the same text is extremely strict with the
brahmin too. Instead of letting the brahmin enjoy his 'explotation', it
condemns him to a life of poverty and strife. How can that be? It is because
that the Vedic ideals were on totally different plane, than our modern
secular ones.

The brahmins discriminated - but it was a religious discrimination, where
they claimed exclusive rights to teaching the Veda and performing
sacrifices. They also asserted their superiority over the other castes - not
on economic or political grounds - but on religious purity, ethics and
knowledge.

Ofcourse, this sometimes had economic implications - as some brahmins
themselves were rich and conviniently used the caste system to further their
ambitions. But to put a blanket blame on such grounds against the whole
Vedic culture, is obviously flawed and has no historical or textual support.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com