VarNa & JAti

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

Overlooking the different ethnic mixes in caste categories and
across the varNa ladder, anthropologists do not explain the
varNa (color) gradation by means of "Shudras getting baked
in the sun". Usually, social customs imposed by the top varNa
such as the `sambandham' relations of Nambudiris is cited.

Also, it would be wrong to conclude that there are no tensions
between brahmins and others in KarnATak and Andhra and to assume that
everybody accepts that varnashrama system is beneficial to each of them.
After all, the veerashaiva movement, vehemently anti-brahminical in
origins and growth,was born in Karnataka and A.P. Eg., Palkuriki Somanatha's
Basavapuranamu and the Kannada Jain-Brahmana rivalries.

Greetings,
SM

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