Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The origin of Brahmanism, Caste and Riddles in Hinduism

The Brahmins wrote contradictory statements about the origin of Gods and their supremacy, about the Vedas and its origin, about the creation of Universe etc (Ref: RIDDLE IN HINDUISM – By Dr.B.R.Ambedkar). Why did they do so?

The guardian of Buddhism, the Mauryan Empire was brought down and Buddhism was demolished. There was chaos throughout India. 

It was the beginning of Brahmanism. So each one of the Brahmin philosophers tried to propose his own theory on creation. 

For example during the 19 and 20 century AD, when Physics was born, with the discovery of atoms, electron proton, neutron and sub-atomic particles, there were so many theories that tried to explain atoms and the sub-atomic particles, e.g. the Nucleus theory, Dalton atomic theory, Quantum theory etc. Some of these theories were contradictory to one-another and some aided one-another. This happened with Brahmanism. This was the period, after 185 B.C, when Buddhism collapsed in India by a revolution and Brahmins were trying to introduce a new system with a new Political and religious Philosophy. Hence initially the Brahmins tried to use the Vedas as their basis and started to propose new theories about the creation of Universe and the God who created it. So there were so many conflicting and aiding theories. But this did not give a satisfactory explanation. So then they started writing the Upanishads attacking the Vedas and claiming they are inferior to the Upanishads and proposed new theories. This also did not work out. Then there were new proposals in the name of Smrithis. So in the name of Manu Smrithi, Sumati Bharagava wrote a set of rules (like a constitution) and made that as the final authority (Manu Smriti was written by Sumati Bharagava after 185 B.C. i.e. after the Revolution of Pushyamitra by Killing the Buddhist Mauryan Emperor Brihadratha – Based on Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Ancient India, Chapter 6: The Literature of Brahminism). This one got accepted and implemented by the then rulers of that time (Most probably by the Guptas between 2nd to 4th century AD and started spreading gradually through India over the next 1500 years with resistance and counter-resistance). The outcome of this is the 4 + 1 class system (Note: Earlier the Aryans had only a 3 class system). Brahmins held their position no matter, which Kingdom/dynasty came to power through the immunity given in the Manu Smrithy. The Kings who accepted the system were absorbed as Ksathrias itself as long as they were in power. The rich Businessmen were also absorbed as Vaisyas. All other classes were included in a new class called the Sudras. The ones that did not accept the system plus the Kings and his soldiers that were defeated in war were ex-communicated and ostracized from cities and towns and were gradually made untouchables.

As the system started growing the Brahmins and their supporters wrote more and more stories (e.g. addition of Bhagawat Gita to the Mahabharata, elevation of Rama as an avathar of Lord Vishnu, contradictory and unfitting avathars, of Lord Vishnu, like Balarama and Parasurama during the same time as Krishna) to aid and support their system and added them to the existing pre-Vedic, pre-Brahmanism literature that people knew about like the Bharatha (to be renamed Mahabharata), Ramayana etc. But also to hold their position the Brahmins had to be flexible enough to praise and raise the God of the King that ruled. Hence if the King was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, the Brahmins wrote stories in high praise of Lord Vishnu and degraded the other Gods, similarly if the King was a devotee of Lord Shiva, the Brahmins wrote stories in high praise of Lord Shiva and degraded the other Gods, similarly if the King was a devotee of Goddess Kali, the Brahmins wrote stories in high praise of Goddess Kali and degraded the other Gods. This is the reason there are numerous conflicting ideas about the supremacy of various Gods in Hinduism.

NOTE: According to Tolgapeeam – a Sangam Tamil literature that describes the life and state of affairs in ancient Tamil Country (Like an Encylopedia of that time) the land was classified into four major regions – Marutham – Plain lands and agricultural fields that comprised most of the Urban civilization, Mullai – Forest and settlements surrounding Forests, Kurunchi – Mountains and settlements surrounding Mountaneous region, Neythal – Seashore, Sea and settlements surrounding the seashores. 

The God for Marutham was Indran

The God for Mullai was Thirumal (Lord Vishnu) 

The God for Kurunchi was Murugan (Lord Karthik)

The God for Neythal was Varunan 

The people in the 4 regions were considered as stable settlers.

All four Gods among other Gods were described as Mallas. 

Later one more region was added as Palai – Desert region.

The God for Palai was Kotravai . 

The people who wandered in the deserts were robbers and did not have stable settlement. As the men of these robbery tribes always wandered they did not have families. 

These robbers looted people travelling outside the 4 regions and killed the male travellers most often and sacrificed these travellers to their Godess Kali. These robbers took the female travellers and had sex and left them. The children born to these robbers and raped women were raised by females. So usually a female is the head of a group or tribe. Hence they had female Godess named Kali.

At some point in time one of the robbery tribe should have gained power and established a Kingdom. The Brahamins who served this Kingdom performed pujas for the Godess of this Kingdom - Kali and later equated Kali to the wife of Lord Shiva.

The evolution of the concept: ‘Work by Birth’ in Brahmanism. 

Now a days, we know there are certain inert characteristics of each individual. Say some never seem to get tired and seem to work all the time, some take short breaks between works. Some take long rest and suddenly erupt into massive burst of speed intensive work and then go back to rest for long duration, some have specific talents on specific engineering tasks, some have specific talent as surgeon etc that we call as natural. (This may be attributed to the Sun signs e.g. Aries have certain traits, Taurus have certain traits, Cancer have certain traits etc)

The ancient Indians were aware of this. So at the time of birth astrologers tell the child’s parents of what the newborn will become to be and what special talents it will have so that the parents can nurture those fields that the child is supposed to naturally possess and become an expert in it. (There are numerous examples of these incidents in ancient Indian stories, e.g. Astrologers said Siddhartha would become King of Kings if took interest in warfare or will become a Buddha, a great teacher if he took interest in Philosophy. The Sangam age Tamil Poet Elango (born to Chera King) to become much famous than his elder brother Senguttavan. Thinking that Elanglo may become powerful than his elder brother as a king to become famous and hence to avoid a war within the family, Elango choose to become a Jain Monk and wrote the Tamil poem Silapathigaraam and became very famous). So ancient Indians believed that a person had a natural talent for a specific field and was destined to go to that field. This is what they specified by birth a person was destined to become. In the case of Vashista and Vishwamitra this was the conflict. Vashista was talented to become a sage and became a sage. Vishwamitra was already a King so as a child he was supposed to be destined to be a King. But when Vishwamitra saw the magic / mantric powers of Vashista, Vishwamitra also wanted to learn those magic / mantric powers and approached Vashista to teach him. But as Vashista believed that the natural talents of each individual was pre-destined / determined during the time of birth, Vashista told Vishwamitra that by birth Vishwamitra was destined to be a King and not a sage and hence cannot learn those tricks / mantras and refused to teach Vishwamitra (with the belief of natural talents by birth). Vishwamitra out of great curiosity and will learned the tricks elsewhere and proved to be a great sage with great power. This shattered the belief of Vashista and hence there were numerous stories about the conflict between Vashista and Vishwamitra. 

But the Brahmins during the evolution and rise of Brahmanism were looking into the Vedic stories to get their theories, as mentioned earlier, misinterpreted / misrepresented the concept of by birth (natural) talents and wrote that each person was destined to specific work when they were born (by birth), but instead of taking into account the natural talents took parentage (to whom the child was born) to mean by birth and wrote a child born to a Brahmin should work like a Brahmin (Priest), a child born to a King should become a King, a child born to a Merchant should work as a Merchant and a child born to a worker should work as a worker(Sudra). This concept very well helped the King as well to very easily make his sons as the next King without outside competition, similarly for the aristocrats to hold the position for their sons in the Kings court without difficulty. Hence the concept was well received by the King and rich to spread the concept of Brahmanism. (Note: In ancient India Democracy was well established. E.g. Within Koshlas – clan of Buddha, the King was selected from a round robin among a group of Chiefs for a specific tenure. The Mallas at the time of Buddha had democracy, Perumal was elected as the King for a period of 12 years from the chiefs of group of villages, When a King dies before his tenure, the new King was selected using the Chief King Temple Elephant from public – The Elephant was taken in procession from the King’s Temple with a garland in its trunk. Whom ever the Elephant places the garland on, becomes the next King). With the adoption of Brahmanism, the Kings had a secure way of making his son as the next King and very happily adopted Brahmanism, which gradually led to the strict enforcement of tight caste compartments and prevented anyone from switching profession.

What Brahminism did to India?

  1. Destroyed democracy in India
  2. Removed equality for women
  3. Prevented Philosophy and Science from developing.
  4. Divided people from socializing.
  5. Made life a misery to most of the population.

7 comments:

  1. great work.... !!!! Still in India, when filling an application, candidates should mention their Caste. Atleast in 21th Century, there should be a NO Caste/Caste Free column. I feel thousands will put a check mark on this. The discrimination and seperation in the name of varna still exists...

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    1. Why human right groups(courts ) all over india are not baning manusrutis and abolish hindu puja system that only brahmins are entitled to do since hundreds of years !!!

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    2. do you understand the meaning of "human right"? Is it not a "right" for someone to do 'puja'? Is it hurting anyone? Do you know only good looking people and ones with good acting skills are in the movies? Do you know there is a method in everything we do? I can go on and on but that will be too much for you little mind...Announce yourself when you have the answers

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    3. The article began with a small quote from Dr. Ambedkar , then the author attempted to elaborate the theme giving an impression that he was only adding up further knowledge from when Dr.Amedkar has left. But at the end of the article it is observed that in keeping with the a tradition which started in muslim era and further strengthened by Britishers/whites, communists and other interested groups, all the ills of India have been thrown at the doors of brahmins without realising that the growth of societies like physical organism is the result of interaction of various forces. Every age finds its scapegoats. A lie repeated thousand times become a truth for the people.As a group , the brahmins having a dominant position in the society are responsible to some extent. The Buddhism was not a building which could have been demolished by the brahmins like a mason.Buddhism was strong and having mass appeal in a great part of modern India and beyond till 7th or 8th century the arrival of Sankaracharya.The upanishads were not writing to improvise or supercede the vedas. A great intellectual churning took place in the minds of intelligensia of the times when the vedic brahmins have deviated from the ancient religion and made religion ritual centric for person ends. You should also know that upanishadic period was a golden period in India's intellectual history.Lord Buddha was also a product of that age. You stated that Buddhism collapsed in 185, you have not mentioned the source from where you got the information.The article is an attempt to provide a very simiplistic explanation of historical evolution of Indian society. The reason is simple when the mind is pre-occupied , the conclusions are predictable.The conclusions drawn at the end of the article has no relationship with the article. Five points have been cited as the effect of Brahmanism. It is stated that democracy was destroyed. Except for Vaishali and Mallas , democracy was not a norm of governance in the ancient world anywhere. Even democracy in those kingdoms were limited by choice of the chief within the aristocracy. Democracy as understood is a modern for of government. When Buddha was asked to allow entry of women into the order , he was reluctant and which did not happen during his life time.Please study the history of Ancient India . If you do not like the history books written by Brahmin historians , please read books of British and rival Indian authors. The sanskrit phonetic alphabets, Zero, metallurgy, astronomy have flourished in India from ancient times.Do you know that there are six dominant schools of philosophy , besides Buddhist, Jain,Ajivikas, Atheistic which has flourished india and Advaita has attracted the attention of best brains from all over the world. While the caste has solidified the social relations,the society not only India , but all over the world ,is divided into different classes and will continue to be so in one form or other and whether we like it or not , egalitarianism will remain a myth. Hopes were raised about emergence of an egalitarian society following the Russian revolution , a new class of intellectuals, military clique have been born with rest of the population remaining as proletariat without human rights , this in the modern age in which we are still living and can be watched very easily. The human beings are robots and the society is not a static entity. Imagining so will only blunt our understanding. There has been tremendous explosion of knowledge since the tirade and hatred was launched against the brahmins decades and social dynamics has also changed , but parroting of the same old phrases are being repeated.Why the tirade is still being kept alive by a particular section , is they have a vested interest in it.

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  2. plz change u r blogs name ....we are not dalit . they say us dalit and we are accepting we are dalit. a kind request u to change "dalit" word.
    .............if u want to keep same , give mi reasons. we should avoid to say our-self as dalit .

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  3. who is this chutiya admin, brahmins were great , are great & remain great. u can see brahmins have proved teirself as great. most of the scientiest & researchers are brahmins. great doctors & engineers are brahmin.

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    Replies
    1. you ask to your mother and confirm that you are brahmins are not, if you are not satisfied with your mother than contact to a great doctor/scientiest than comments on the post

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