varna and jati

[nanda chandran]

>To some extent, this can be due to the poor state of wealth/economics
>among today's Tamils;

Is that what a heritage is worth -  a few bucks? I don't think so. And as I
mentioned before, the brahmins were never wealthy. So what made the
dravidians accept their culture?

>The success of varNa dharma, sanskrit alphabets
>and words are some other reasons why Non-Tamil Dravidians
>are little shy of their Dravidian heritage.

If as per Dravidian rhetoric, the brahmins exploited the masses using
varnAshrama dharma, then one would think that the other dravidians would be
more than eager to free themselves of the brahmanic yoke and reclaim and
take pride in their original heritage.

I've lived in Bangalore and Pune and have both Keralite and Telugu friends.
In Bangalore, I never experienced any such anti brahmin sentiment. The poor
of Andhra resent only the land owning Reddy and Kamma (I think). Ofcourse,
the communist propoganda in Kerala is very much against the Namboodaris,
quite justifiably in some areas. But the Namboodaris hold over religious
activities is still strong and even endorsed by the public. And there are
also smArthas living in Kerala in PAlakAd, who also haven't been treated so
badly. Go to Pune and you'll know the influence and the respect that the
brahmins wield in MahArAshtra.

Infact, people from all four categories (Keralite, Telugu, Kannada, MarAti)
that I've met, stoutly deny that their language is derived from Tamizh, and
insist that it's Samskrutam which is the mother language. Even if they're
actually wrong, it still reflects their respect and affinity towards
Samskrutam, which could never have been achieved by coersion.


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