VarNa & JAti

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

Personally, I would prefer the "secular, modern" meal area
in MaThs rather than to get branded! I would imagine most
Indians, indeed anybody else, would do the same.

Best wishes.

--- Balaji Hebbar <bhebbar at EROLS.COM> wrote:
> To  further  comment  on  this:
>
> I  forgot  there  is  also  a  "fourth  secular  modern"  meal  area  in
> DharmasthaLa  with  table  meals  for  those  who  choose  not  to  sit
> in  any  of  the  3  panktis  mentioned  before.  This  came  to  my
> mind  because  when  I  had  taken  an  American  Jesuit  priest  a  few
> years  back,  the  HeggaDE  (after  our  interview  with  him)  asked
> his  assistant  that  we  be  seated  in  the  "secular  fourth  area"!
> Normally  when  I  go  there  with  my  family,  we  go  there  ddressed
> like  traditional  MAdhva-VaishNava  brahmins  and  we  are  asked  to
> sit  in  the  brahmin  dining  area.
>
> This  has  never  been  a  problem  anywhere  in  coastal  Karnatak.  I
> would  even  add  Uttar  Karnatak.  The  LingAyats  and  the  Jains
> there  have  their  own  ritual  and  dietary  restrictions  and  they
> fully  understand  if  brahmins  have  their  own.  There  is  a  sort
> of  mutual  respect.  In  fact  both  LingAyats  as  well  as  Jains  do
> not  allow  people  who  do  not  belong  to  their  groups  into  their
> kitchen  areas.
>
> Regards,
> B.N.Hebbar
>

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