The caste conundrum

The vote bank politics of our nation resulted in creating caste as a weapon and it divided the communities instead of uniting us. This monstrous demon is slowly and continuously eating into the national fabric of unity in diversity.

To understand this conundrum, we have to go back to our varna sanstha, a form of feudal society that divided us on the lines of superiority and inferiority for centuries. The word varna was loosely translated into caste. The varna describes profession. The knowledge and intelligence were the foundation of the varnas.?

The word Brahman derives from brahma Gyan. It means the one who has the knowledge of the universe or ways of the world. Obviously, this person has studied the Vedas that teach us RAJYA SHASTRA (DUTIES, GOVERNANCE, RULE OF LAW, SOCIAL WELFARE, WARFARE AND RITUALS), ARTHA SHASTRA (USE OF MATHEMATICS, MANAGEMENT OF TAXATION AND DEPLOYMENTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY), VYAPAR (USE OF MATHEMATICS FOR MANAGING COMMERCE). By this definition of the word brahman, he is essentially a teacher who distributes knowledge and therefore he is on a higher platform. That knowledge was transferred from father to sons over generations of thousands of years. So, it remained within the Brahmanical society and it eventually led to the acceptance that one is a brahman by birth.

The brahmans distributed the knowledge of Rajya shastra and shastra vidya to the warrior class (KSHATRIYA). They were the advisors, ministers & purohits to the kings. This also happened over thousands of years where the sons of the warriors were trained by brahmans in only Rajya Shastra. As a result, the Kshatriyas became a community by birth. Thus, this community enjoyed the status of eminence after the brahmans.?

The brahmans taught commerce and economics to the Vaishyas who were traders. This community also had skills that were unique to their trade. A lohar was skilled to make use of metals, carpenter was skilled in the use of wood. A mali was skilled in planting trees that give flowers and gardens. A farmer was skilled in tilling the fields. Many such skilled communities are the sub-castes of original Vaishyas. Their skills got transferred from father to sons over thousands of years. They did not get any knowledge from brahmans and stuck to their operations for their livelihood. Still, they had a higher position in the society compared to the 4th varna whom we call Shudras. Today we call mali, sutar, weavers etc. as THE OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES.

All other communities that did not have any skills and worked as subordinates to do menial jobs, were treated as Shudras. The feudal society strengthened the varnas and established an uncodified system of rights and refusals to the varnas overs centuries. The independent India gave equal rights on paper to all. But the vote bank politics has brought in a division that is actually feeding to this caste divide. Ideally the affirmative action calls for protection and empowerment of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and the castes that were declared as untouchables by superiors. This is about 14% of our population. But all other communities barring the kshatriyas and brahmanas are asking for quota and reservations in jobs and education today. This is about 2/3rd population of our India. The brahmins and kshatriyas together are not more than 20% of our population. Therefore, the caste division will now account for about 80% reservations for jobs and education. Each caste would ask for greater reservations than their actual share of the population. This is bound to lead to skirmishes, dissatisfaction, agitation and enmity between people. We are at a stage where we will soon reach a boiling point with these caste wars.

There are examples of low caste individuals attaining the status of a brahman or Kshatriya. The sage Valmiki was a fisherman earlier and rose to the level of a Maharshi (a supreme sage). He wrote the epic Ramayana. Sage Vishwamitra was a born Kshatriya who became a great sage. Maharshi Vyas was a son of Satyavati who was a fisherman’s daughter. The Guptas who built a powerful empire in India were originally Vaishyas. These are some exceptions and they are few. The medieval society by and large followed the varnas that subjugated the inferiors. So much so that the lower class whom Gandhiji called Harijan were allowed residences only outside the boundaries of the town. The society created ghettos or colonies where people from other castes could not buy houses or properties.

The caste superiority is so well entrenched in our psyche that the matrimonial advertisements clearly mention caste preferences and some even mention that SC/ST/OBC proposals not welcome. A brahman will still consider himself superior to other castes even if he is not well educated. Right now, we have 3 uneducated brahman security watchmen in my society. For them daily livelihood is a major concern. Their children have no reservations in education and employment.

The current political landscape is so vitiated that we are asking for caste-based census. A dominant political community of Marathas is demanding reservations in jobs and education. The real issue of who should get the affirmative support has gone for a toss. So, the ultimate question is who should get the real support. For this we have to define who is backward, neglected and poor. Top of the mind answers to the above points can be answered with common sense. They have a direct relationship to their participation in the growth of India.

The first and foremost that comes to my mind is women. Even after 75 years, their participation in workforce is small. With the small family size of new India, they need a suitable work environment and opportunities in the India growth story. Therefore, identification of jobs, skills and opportunities with a defined quota is essential. There is no point in further dividing them into sub castes and sub groups. The only sub group should be their economic strata for their empowerment.?

It is time to remove caste identification in all our records and registrations. The first step is to abolish the surnames. These surnames are most of the time caste based. I feel all religious influential heads of the Hindu faith must come together towards the removal of caste. May this begin as a prime movement in the country. While the constitution has given us equal rights, this movement will help us to abolish castes from our mind. We must be recognized only by our parentage. That means our full name for example should be say Rajendra Vasundhara Ramkrishna. Vasundhara being the mother and Ramkrishna being the father. This one action will make far reaching changes in our society within one generation. We will remove the caste pride, the misplaced surname pride and caste identification in one go. All government records must ban caste identification.

To provide equal opportunities, we have to raise the opportunities of the economically weaker families. Therefore, we need to identify this weaker class and their profession irrespective of their known castes so that affirmative action could be directed to them. This identification will ensure direction of welfare measures to them.

Let us solve this caste conundrum once and for all. We have to tame this monster. Let us remove caste from our mind and make a fresh beginning in nation building.

Raja Malushte