Fw: Re: Re: Q: intervocalic -k- preserved as intervocalic -g-

[Ravindiran Vaitheespara]

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On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, nanda chandran wrote:

> N Ganesan writes :
>
> >There are several Brahmins who interacted extensively with Europeans.
> >The brahmin assistants of Colin Mackenzie around 1800 AD come to mind.
> >Both brahmin male/female brahmins with good Sanskrit heritage
> >have married Europeans. Eg., Rukmini Devi Arundale and in Asian studies
> >depts.
>
> There's more to being a brahmin than mere Sanskritic learning.
>
> An orthodox brahmin is somebody who lives by the Dharma ShAstrams. The
> brahmins who live in the city, work for a living etc do not fall in
> this category. Actually by that very way of life, they just prove that they
> have not understood the ideal of life set forth in the dharma
> shAstrams.ShankarAchArya in his dig vijayams is supposed to have
> deliberately avoided cities, as the denizens of such places were supposed to
> be too corrupted and beyond all help!
>
> Orthodox brahmins still exist in villages in India and live strictly by the
> dharma. These are the brahmins who truly represent the brahmanic ideal set
> forth in the scriptures. They are often dirt poor, but in the true brahmanic
> way go all the way to live their dharma.
>
> Let alone interacting with non-brahmins, foreigners etc these brahmins
> are not too keen to interact with their city bred relatives even.
>
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I was facinated with Nanda Chandran's view of "proper" Brahmins. It made
me reflect on the fact that Buddhism and Jainism, regarded as evil
heterodoxies during the early period were largely associated and drew
their strength from urban culture and urban folk. They especially appealed
to the more fluid caste relations in urban as opposed to rural
environments. Chandran is absolutely right in identifying Brahmin strength
to the rural environments where Brahmanism at least from the medieval
period florished, where caste relations were more amenable to be
modeled according to Dharmashastric models.