Leftist extremists and belief in innateness

I wonder whether leftist extreme positions are borne out of their belief that many human traits are innate or overwhelmingly determined by the genetics. In that case, the group in power and dominant in commerce, science and technology is always the enemy as any kind of nastiness from genetically weaklings would matter little in the long run. The noblemen from the dominant group basically perpetuate the privilege for their group but conservatives from weaker groups always blindly refuse to accept any kind of magnanimity and thus negate that privilege. 

India should send troops to fight ISIS - ii

I would think, the fight against ISIS must involve Asian forces or Asian forces exclusively. This is especially critical for India.

With a right-wing government in place and as of now showing little statesmanship in handling crazies in their flock, there is a danger that the radical Islam with its nihilistic approach would attract more and more Indian Muslims. There is no point blaming Hindutvites at the time (and rightwingers don't understand logical reasoning anyway) when Islamic crazies strike. The point is retaliation against the rightwing stupidity doesn't differentiate between rightwing or leftist so one has to be prepared for such an eventuality.

This requires Indian forces (both armed and police) having first hand expertise in fighting against the ISIS. This should also include developing scholarly understanding of their methods and popularity first hand. The goal of the fight against the ISIS need not be ending their tyranny but rather understanding and facing the radical and sociopath Islam.

I believe the best approach would be to create an Asian force similar to the African force. This Asian force should have mandate to interfere during turmoil in any Asian countries. The identity of this force should be completely Asian(even if the weapons are not).

OBCs and Conversion

In my opinion, all non-Brahmin castes must convert to other religions which gives them non-hierarchical independent identities. Although, the caste identities didn't go away in Christian and Muslim communities in India, the present day India with its far open society provides genuine chances to people to get an independent identity and eventually may pave the way for individualism. However, the options are not all equal.

1. Islam: Converting to this religion would  hurt the manliness of Hindutvites. However, as things stand today, this religion is detrimental to both men and women part of that religion. Even though part of the ruling classes and had a literal religious background for so many centuries, the backwardness of people belonging to this religion in the cow belt shows it's not most suitable for the personal development of individuals in the present scientific era. So, I don't favour it.

2. Christianity: Converting to this religion would humiliate Hindutvites. It's a liberal religion owing to the development of rational society in European lands. However, the rise of fundamentalist Christianity in the USA would probably make the converts to look toward the US and not Europe. Even then compared to any Indian religions it's relatively open, so, I'm fine with it.

3. Buddhism: Converting to this religion doesn't bother Hindutvites as they think they are more virile than Buddhists. But the compelling reason for being a Buddhist in India is, at present it's the religion of Dalits. And the intellectuals from Dalits are some of the most level headed and rational people I've come across(except when some of them start talking about glorious Buddhist past at which point they start sounding more like Hindutvites).

However, one of the recent OBC conversion to Buddhism appears to have glorious Buddhist past narrative. But there are OBC conversion with better reasons like those from Koeri caste converting. As long as Buddhism doesn't degenerate into vegetarianism/veganism and OBCs don't try to keep a separate identity from Dalit Buddhists, I'm fine with it.

4. Jinaism: Even though this is a minority religion, Hindutvites probably consider it as one of the Hindu castes. At present, Jains are at the forefront in promoting casteism in India with their promotion of vegetarianism. As a recent survey showed they are only next to Brahmins when it comes to caste discrimination.

So, I'm not at all in favour of conversion to Jinaism (even less than Islam). However, previously, considering Jain theoretical concept of casteless society, their theoretical hardcore concept of atheism and most importantly their contribution to Kannada culture, I was seriously thinking about joining Jinaism. In fact, my plan was to start my own Jain, Cow Eaters Gana(cult) to rationalize it completely. But as things stand today, I'm completely disappointed with that religion as I find myself completely helpless with their vegetarian onslaught.

5. Sikhism: Hindutvites have overawed reverence for this religion. Sikhs are seen as protectors of Hindus. I find this as disgusting as their hatred for Islam. I'm neutral about this religion. 

India should send troops to fight ISIS

Archaeological sites belong to major sections of human population part of different countries. The artifacts are mostly from an era when nation states were not created or the original population of those places now could be moved to different regions or some of them could be created by non-natives. 

Random Thoughts: Human tendency

There are many analyses of human regressive behaviours that in spirit try to explain but in reality legitimize  them. There could be is-ought fallacy in their usage but I feel many don't get it. One of them is;
In group identity:
    A research finds some kind of ingroup identity behaviours which would then used by others to explain hereditary castiest and racial behaviours. However, if you go through those studies there are many caveats for such behaviours. It depends on gender(mostly male specific) and other factors. If one observes caste, more than anything innate, it depends on societal factors like pride and shame, monetary and social profit. If one studies the caste associations and groups then one can observe imbalance in their camaraderie factor. These factors are something that need to be eliminated in a civilized society. However, people attributing the caste feelings to in-group love, forget that fact that they are legitimizing the factors which are inhuman. Even if their intention was to spread in-group love to whole of humanity, they fail to understand the implications of their words.

Some others:
- It's all bell curve
- It's all survival of the fittest
- Everything is like religion

Reference:
1. http://bantwal.blogspot.in/2010/01/individual-moral-man-i.html

Hikikomori

My cousin now into his late twenties probably has the similar social withdrawal condition which in Japanese is called Hikikomori. He exhibits all the symptoms described in the article and psychiatrist consultation hasn't helped. But I wonder whether it's parental expectation (which as far as I know never really existed) or the person's perceived notion about societal expectation based on his perceived identity through societal expressions.

From the article:

• Andy Furlong points out that young people in Western societies frequently "take time out" in gap years or have "false starts" on careers or courses without attracting stigma

I wonder how much financially feasible is that  for many families even if there is no stigma attached.

Identities - IV

The other day, I was talking to my Chinese colleague in Shanghai. The topic went to the caste system. I sort of felt they had some kind of idealized notions about it. They were guessing the castes of some of the Indians higher in hierarchy in the company.

That set me thinking the way we view other societies. I suppose people in India growing up reading Jane Austen would have a very idealized and romantic notion about the  English classes.

I guess the danger of reading with a neutral angle is we lose focus how these societies could actually suppress a big chunk of population. A woman idealizing chivalrous patriarchal society, A Dravidian idealizing the class English society or a southern Chinese idealizing the caste Indian society are some of the dangers of uncritical reading of history.

About Bhagat Singh

 He was born into a Sikh family, but many historians believe he was an atheist.

Via BBC News

It's no belief but declared so in no uncertain terms by the man himself.

Why I am an Atheist by Bhagat Singh

Negatively and Positively Privileged Groups - ii

When I was writing about feudals' vice like grip on Pakistani political life, I mentioned that tide maybe slowly turning based on an article  in the New York Times. There was something in that article that caught my eye.

In elite circles, Mr. Dasti is reviled as a thug, a small-time hustler with a fake college degree who represents the worst of Pakistan today.

I have come across this phenomenon many times when it comes to leaders coming out of disadvantaged groups. The other day I was reading the GEO magazine, and in there, an article about JF Kennedy, expressed similar feelings against him. He probably wasn't the best of man to represent the marginalized Catholic group. He won because of,
- the money his father accumulated through dubious means
- the support from females brought up with patriarchal/feudalistic ideals (thus they humiliated themselves)


I should first mention about the elite ideals as described in the GEO article
- Money making by straight means
- Anti-racism
- No sexual deviations (eg. paedophilia) and no sexual objectification of women
That is likely a spin. But that is the measure through which leaders from the disadvantaged groups are observed in many cases. Something similar was said about Evo Morales.

In Indian context, the second part would be Anti-casteism and anti-communalism.

Here we find, the lower caste leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mayavati and Narendra Modi have been picked out for such criticism. It's debatable whether our elite classes (or American elite classes) ever practiced those ideals (or more precisely whether they practice it today). However, it's undeniable fact that in majority cases, the initial leaders from disadvantaged communities fail in these counts. I suppose in a transitional society it's tough for the 'good' leaders from the disadvantaged groups to make it to the top (or they need to live more than 80 years).

Another article in the same issue of the GEO magazine gives an alternate view. According to it, more than the person we should celebrate that the ideal against the class division that became mainstream. It's this ideal that cannot be reversed. The spirit of liberalism has only become stronger in the American society. Even at the individual level, this has allowed a person like Barack Obama, coming from a similar or more disadvantaged identity but better personal integrity compared to JF Kennedy, to become the president of the USA.

I suppose that means the next generation leaders from the disadvantaged castes in India will be more real.

Identities - iii

Differentiating identities:
A homogeneous religious identity of classes and castes was, in my opinion, the sole reason why inequalities could sustain for such a long time between minority upper classes and majority lower classes. The success of Communism in some societies owe it to the new identity that it gave to people. Interestingly, opposing religious identities can become catalysts for class wars. One such example is the Mappila Rebellion of Kerala. The peasants who were Muslims rebelled against their landlords who were the castes.

The peasant Muslim rebels already had a practice for their actual struggle in the Khilafat movement. The Khilafat movement was a religious, a completely irrelevant for a slave Indian peasant, and in retrospect, absolutely shortsighted pan-Islamic movement of Indian Muslims. But that is expected from a wrong ideology like religion. The upside of this religious movement was a meaningful fight against the feudal system. In South Malabar , the feudals were the castes and the peasants were Muslims (and the castes). We hardly hear about the castes rebelling against their co-religionist feudals until the Communist ideology came to that society. This of course does not mean the castes accepted their fate or were passive. Obviously, there were no leaders to group them together and channel their anger. Anthroplogist Dilip Menon makes an interesting point on the plight of bonded labourers in North Malabar society where peasants more mostly castes and suffered more than the Muslims in the southern Malabar[1]. The opposition to the caste system he finds in the Teyyattam, a spirit worship tradition of Tulu and Malayali tribes and in the sorcery practices.

According to him, sorcery in Kerala society was generally associated with Brahmins and Parayans (one of the erstwhile untouchable castes). Whereas for Brahmins, sorcery was a way to maintain their grip on the general population, for Parayans it was a way to protect their space of dignity. Because of their position in the hierarchy they didn't have any protection from upper caste atrocities. Sorcery(or the fear associated with it) was their way of keeping away others from exploiting them. He states that (hope that is not conjectural), the regions where landlords were known to be malevolent the number of sorcerers from the lower castes were higher than the regions were landlords were known to be benevolent to their peasants.

The common religious identity is probably the main reason why Pakistan society is still feudal ridden and there was no revolution worth talking. Even though India too have feudal mafia run states like Andhra Pradesh, the situation is not as humiliating as in Pakistan where feudal dominance in the politics has been unchequered (but the tide is inevitably turning).

Reference:
1. The Moral Community of the Teyyattam: Popular culture in Late Colonial Malabar, Dilip M Menon, Sage Publications

Liberation from caste identity - Part III

I had mentioned that some communities created their own religious culture owing to certain strong religious figures. These communities still followed the caste religious scriptures and retained the caste identity. It makes me wonder if other castes had joined them then whether the caste structure would have been demolished in those regions.

Before delving into 20th century religious cults, let me consider older examples. The Lingayat movement which started in 12th century in the present day region of Karnataka was probably the oldest experiment in this regard. At its inception it was anti-caste, Saiva monotheistic religion. The movement was headed by Basavanna, a Brahmin by birth. So, it was not exactly a caste specific movement but rather a prophet centric movement. The religious figures actively involved in proselytizing.  It had every characteristics of becoming a separate religion. However, later it turned into a mini-caste system. Its initial proselytism died out. As a religion it didn't show any radical alternative to the caste system. The untouchability concept was never discarded by the followers. In present times, there are voices that want this religion to be viewed differently from the caste system or Hinduism. However, the idea is not very strong considering lack of alienness between the Lingayats and the castes. Most likely, the separate religious status for the Lingayats only make them as another endogamous caste.

This is  in contrast to Sikhs. In many ways, they are similar to Lingayats. However, now they have created a separate identity from the castes. I believe the differences are:
- The name and the concept of god in Sikhism is different from the caste system whereas no such differences exist between Lingayatism and the caste system
- Sikhs have their own visible identity markers but Lingayats are indistinguishable from the castes
- Sikhs have 'holy book' identity but Lingayats haven't declared any such exclusive holy book even though it probably wasn't a big deal collecting the sayings of their Gurus
- Probably, the declaration of a holy book and the identification with it had made the caste scriptures alien to Sikhs. Or, since Sikhism was a non-Brahmin in nature, the caste scriptures and Sanskrit learning never really became part of their tradition. However, Lingayats even though initially against Sanskrit language and Vedic scriptures, later accommodated them. Since the founder himself was a Brahmin by birth they probably did have Brahmin influence among its members.
- Sikhs have made their personal names somewhat unique and uniform (though not radically different from the caste names but one can fairly identify the religion). However, Lingayat personal names are indistinguishable from those of caste personal names.

The above facts appear to infer that a unique religious identity based on alternate worldview is rather a function of unique conspicuous identity markers than the worldview itself. Thus a unique religious identity generally requires the following unique properties.
1. Unique god's name
2. Unique attire and/or unique physical marker
3. A holy book
4. A unique liturgy language
5. Unique personal names

How can we measure the success of these alternate worldviews in the societies where they are strong? In my opinion, it should be visible in the lower number of present day Dalits.

Anyway, these two Indian alternates for the caste system haven't done much to eliminate the worst of the caste system, untouchability. In fact, in Indian Punjab where Sikhs form the majority, nearly a third of the population still had Dalit identity(which I suppose indicates the continuation of caste specific marriages). Karnataka's Dalit population is comparable to other states' Dalit population.

Now let me move on to new religious movement which were also against the caste system. Most of these were caste specific. I'll consider the Advaita Saiva movement started by Narayana Guru in Kerala (I don't think they even have a unique identity for this movement). It's a caste specific movement of Ezhavas/Tiyyas. It didn't have a proselytizing outlook. But then there are many uncomfortable questions that come up.

- Whether Narayana Guru and his Ezhava followers would have been confident enough to take up their casteless ideology to other castes. Both Lingayatism and Sikhism had upper caste or fairly upper caste support but Ezhavas were part of the lower castes.

- Whether other castes would have been open to embrace 'Ezhava Shiva' centred religion, which opposed the caste system, renouncing their 'Brahmin Shiva' centred religion upholding the caste system. Even though, jealousy and the remnant caste feelings would have made this situation unlikely, things are not all that straightforward in India.

In India, we see godmen and godwomen from lower castes having a large number of followers cutting across the caste lines. Considering that this ignorance is so pervasive among a big chunk of brahmins too , we would never know the state of affairs if Ezhava movement had turned into a proselytizing religion giving an alternate to the caste system. However, Narayana Guru did not declare himself a godman and godmen/godwomen of India aren't bothered about creating the casteless society. But most likely,  since all these figures are theoretically celibate, one of the fundmentals of the caste system, the pollution of marriage between the castes, is  redundant in their world view. Apart from that, Ezhava religious movement doesn't have any of the five unique features -that I listed above- to become a unique religious identity.

Liberation from caste identity - Part II

2. Alternative Worldviews:
In the alternate world of united India, would it be possible for the intellectual classes of underprivileged castes to liberate their fellow caste men? As we have already seen proselytizing religions might have attracted many a family from these castes. However, whether the castes as a whole might have converted is difficult to imagine. Some of the castes have created their own religious structure on account of certain strong religious figures, but, they too have adopted the Vedic scriptures. It's tough to determine whether they have overcome the caste identities. I'll take up a scenario where intellectual classes coming up with alternate worldviews. But is it possible?

An alternate worldview requires a reference ideals. These are not hard to find after the success of,
- human rights
- scientific methodology
- fiscal accountability (maybe)
in western European society. However, the problem is all of these are textbook ideals for the castes. These are neither part of traditions nor written in holy books. And thus, do not invoke respect or reverence.

Then what is the alternate worldview that these intellectual classes can propagate?

Few years back I read an article in a Kannada periodical belonging to a Malayali weavers' caste that somewhat looks in that direction. First let us check what the author had to say when this community faced its greatest crisis or moment of truth around 50 years ago. I have translated the article from Kannada.

When we rewind our memories to 50 years back, the visual that opens up and haunts our minds was that of perennial struggle with poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and inferiority complex. It was a time when our dependence on our caste occupation led us to pauperism. Majority were below poverty line. No education; No job; No roof on top; No clothes to wear; The caste occupation was our slow poison. When the question of life and death looming large, how many of us left our loved ones and migrated to unknown lands in search of jobs? How many of us ended up wearing masks to escape from inferiority complex, suspicion, disrespect, poverty and illiteracy? When the caste and the caste occupation couldn't lift us up form this predicament, how many of us became chameleons to assimilate into a new place, a new language, new people and a new environment?

Here we observe that except for poverty all other handicaps like inferiority complex, suspicion, disrespect and ignorance were legacy of the caste system. However, the author doesn't see those as the necessary requirements to escape from the caste identity. In fact, he calls upon younger generation, whom he views as successful on account of being educated and successful in their new fields, to take pride in their caste identity and continue the cultural traditions ( of course not the ones that required them behave like slaves in front of Brahmins) associated with the caste system or Hinduism.

This is a typical case of pooling individual successes of the present (despite the caste) to give respect to their past caste identity. It's again accepting a philosophy that during their moment of truth acted as a catalyst for their failures or legitimized their failures as an expression of the lower birth. More importantly, it is like accepting an ideology which transfers what should have been society's failure as whole to individual's failure thus further limiting generations of such individuals' families. This type of misguided pride in the caste identity and ideology can get perverted and can take as a vengeful caste pride in the case of castes with numbers in their side. Nevertheless, the author here is trying to give an identity to the younger generation who he believes, and probably correctly, as confused. So what is his worldview or ideals for the younger generation?

Nobody is superior and nobody is inferior in a society. As discerning critics and great souls have said, we are all essentially animals. Brahminhood is nothing but our intellectualism, discretion and good characters. We find barbarians who claim to be brahmins but behave even worse than petty animals amongst us or in our neighbourhood. Therefore, we should be brahmins by deeds. It is possible to achieve brahminhood whatever be the caste or whatever be the society around us.

The problem is that the salient features of brahminhood is an unqualified statement.

Brahminhood:
Let us forget all that self realization dumbness - even though that probably was one of his ideals- as it is fundamentally a flawed philosophy (misunderstanding of sexual reproduction...as I have argued in one of the posts before).

Let us overlook the castiest purity rules that were part of the good characters which required them piously discriminate other castes in the past.

Let us overlook patriarchal good characters which were completely misogynistic including that grotesque ideal of viewing females as gods. In fact, in many of these characters Malayali non-brahmin castes were very progressive with their serial monogamy for both males and females including widow re-marriage and divorce. Ironically, in present day middle class Kerala society it might be not very easy for Malayali widows to re-marry or divorcees to find men.

Let us overlook vegetarianism though many in the underprivileged castes think Brahmin success in education is because of their vegetarianism. For some strange reason the counter arguments considering the successful non-vegetarian Brahmin communities or non-vegetarian European society or argument that Brahmin communities had three to four generations of headstart in modern education along with their literate outlook do not help. I believe of all the things since it's the easier and cheaper one to follow that might have made the choice of vegetarianism attractive for many artisan and merchant castes.

I believe the author is hinting at simple life, integrity and discipline.

In my opinion, the first one is related to non-productive life that Brahmins lived. When the 'dharma' of a Brahmin was not material gain then simple life follows easily from that. However, it's completely irrelevant for productive people like weavers. In fact, majority of them lived simple life by default owing to their poverty in the past.
Integrity is indeed a noble ideal however if you consider non-materialist dharma of Brahmins it was in fact irrelevant in their case (make note integrity in other parts of life is obsolete as I have mentioned how Brahmin worldview might be considered very barbaric in those cases). It should be noted here that money making does not have noble obligations in the caste scriptures. In fact there was no dharma associated with money making thus there was no sin in wrongful money making. If anything was there it was for Brahmins and not for Vaisyas and Sudras. It's a fact of life in India that money making is considered legally corrupt and hence acceptable for everyone. The gods of India themselves require monetary inducements or monetary gratefulness. It may look contradictory to Brahmin ideals however considering the fact that only Agni is Brahmin among gods and the rest all part of either other Varnas or not part of the caste system, it makes sense. Thus integrity was not part of the gods too (as Agni isn't worshipped in India). If an Indian subscribes to the caste ideals and maintains his/her integrity then most likely it is out of indifference to life and not because it is the right thing for a human being.

Then there is discipline. Well, it was a must trait for any occupation. There is nothing Brahmin about it. But I'm not sure whether transferring the concept part of their occupation to education is intuitive for non-brahmins as it's for brahmins.

I think I can skip 'intellectualism' and 'discretion'.

So, what we understand here is, it would have been tough for intellectual class to come up with an alternative living in its Indian identity. It's a different matter if they are able to absorb the universal characters, that I have talked in the beginning and which became successful in Western Europe, as part of their communities' traditional culture and identify themselves with them.

How about the period when Islam didn't have much impact? The intellectual classes existed in pre-Islamic South India among these underprivileged castes. But they lost out mainly because they couldn't come up with alternate identities. Around 13-14th century when South India had stable kingdoms and trade flourished, such elite classes came into existence among many castes. Many artisans, fishermen, trader castes claimed Brahminhood or Kshatriyahood or Vaisyahood and wrote their own scriptures or came up with their own mythologies (notable thing is dominant agricultural castes though Sudras technically but never faced handicaps because of it didn't claim any higher Varna credentials).What we see in this seemingly stupid, hilarious or hypocritical act, in whatever the way one sees it, it shows no caste in its right mind accepted that it's low or some other caste is high. I have seen certain types of interpretations that the people accepted caste hierarchies without any kind of protests that we see in the class wars of Europe. In my belief it was the self-sustaining nature of the caste system that kept it for so long. There were rebellions in the past but they were put down by the castes just above them thus never really challenging the brahmin authority.

However, ironically, it was not the idea that there was nothing low or high by birth that remained in descendants of those communities today but their claimed higher castehood. It is very clear, that most of them became part of backward castes and needed to be helped by affirmative actions, that their forefathers idea of 'upgrading' didn't really work.

Unfortunately that intellectualism eludes a big chunk of them still today. And since 19th century literates among dominant castes see their second rank in the society unacceptable or Sudra title equally humiliating have come up with their higher Varna claims like 13-14th century artisans and merchants.

Reference:
1. Homo Hierarchicus by Louis Dumont

Liberation from caste identity - Part I

I wrote previously that had there been no separate country for Indian Muslims, the castes in India wouldn't have developed a 'Hindu' identity. The argument  that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations(championed by some Muslims) was equally true for each caste. Each caste was an independent nation. Even though this might not have given rise to caste specific countries, but eventually,  intellectual classes would have emerged among middle and lower castes which would have liberated those castes from their narrow caste worldview and identities.

I was wondering how the situation would have played out in the alternate history. As far as I could think there could be three major variables.

1. Proselytizing religions

2. Alternative worldviews
3. Caste size

1. Proselytizing religions
What would have happened had there been no division of the idea of India based on religion? The first question that comes to the mind whether the castes that had privileged positions in the hierarchy would have allowed other religions to poach their unprivileged castes whose presence in the system,for an observer, gives them their sense of superiority.

If you see Indian history the answer would be a surprise 'NO'. However, if you understand the philosophical purity-pollution foundation of the caste system that might not look very surprising. Let us consider bellwether state of caste philosophy, Kerala's history.

I came across this article on the genesis and growth of Malayali Muslims (Mappila) that quotes the various authors of the past millennium how privileged castes treated converts to Islam from underprivileged sections. We should keep in mind Muslim and Christian writers' highly political nature of their religious belief while reading these quotes.

Another point to be noted is that” the conversion of low caste Hindus to Islam did not lead to estrangement between the followers of the two religions. The change of faith among the low castes or out caste Hindus never seemed to have been a matter of concern to upper caste Hindus”

Shaikh Zainuddin reports:
The unbelievers never punish such of their countrymen
When embrace Islam, but treat them with the same respect
shown to the rest of the Muslims though the convert
belongs to the lowest of the grades of their society.

When the lower castes realised that conversion to Islam accorded them higher status in the society and they would surpass many vexations and discriminations, they accepted Islam in large scale, C.A. Innes had pointed out that a “number of recruits come from time to time from the ranks of Tiyyans and from the Cherumans and the serf caste to whom the “honour of Islam,” bring franchisement from all the disabilities of an out caste.” Thus a low caste through conversion rushes ahead several steps higher than that which he originally occupied.

Graeme in his report submitted to the government in 1822, had noted the point thus:
He (the converted low caste) is no longer a link in a chain
Which required to be kept in a particular place. His new
Faith neutralises all his former bad qualities. He is no
Longer a degraded pariah whose approach disgusted and
Whose touch polluted the Hindu of caste, but belonging
now to a different scale of being; contact with him does
not require the same ablution to purify it.

After emphasizing Graeme’s view Logan observes: “The conversion of a Pariah or low caste Hindu to Mohammedanism raised him distinctly in the social scale and he is treated with more respect by Hindus.”

This attitude continued down to the twentieth century. C. Kesavan, a social reformer, in his book, has quoted an appeal submitted by the Ezhava community to the maharaja of Kochi. The appeal points to the plight of the Ezhava in a very pathetic manner: “Even now in certain schools, especially in the girls’s schools, we, the slaves. had no permission. We, the slaves, are never admitted in the students houses. Even We the slaves, cannot go near a post office. The notice boards which prevents our movements didn’t decrease, but increase. We, the slaves are not appealing for higher privileges and had no desire to enter temples of caste Hindus. Our appeal is very moderate and it is that, while we are continuing as Hindus we may be provided the right and liberties which we get when we are converted either to Islam or Christianity.”

It was about the same time Kumaranasan, the Ezhava poet in his lines, mocked at the Brahmins who maintained strange and irrational practices:
A Cheruman (a serf caste) who keep off,
The way many a distance
When embraces Islam,
Can be seated aside.
Don’t be afraid, oh, Lords’

However the main fact remains that a low caste Hindu obtains by conversion many a substantial benefits, for Mappilas as a class, pull well together and he is a bold ”Hindu” who tramples on their class prejudices and feelings.

For an outsider the caste system might appear either an exotic oriental farce or as a  stagnant pit of both privileged and under-privileged. But it was the philosophy of purity-pollution that none of the castes understood but couldn't over come that remained the backbone of its existence.

What we really should see here is that the castes didn't consider their identity was part of the political system of the land. Though the kings/chieftains of Malayala region encouraged Muslims and Islam because of economic reasons that is beside the point. Was this only true for Kerala?

Consider North-West India(which includes Punjab and Sindh of Pakistan, Kashmir of India). After the spread of Islam in those lands, the remaining Hindus were mostly made up of privileged castes. However, until the arrival of the British there were no organizations or movements to stem the rate of conversions. In fact, in Kashmir almost all of the remaining castes were Brahmins. So, it's obvious that the privileged castes in those regions gave higher respect to converted underprivileged castes than the ones who remained with them in the pit.

The whole scenario appears as if the privileged castes were depending on the underprivileged castes' "boldness" to liberate themselves so that they can liberate themselves from their purity-pollution fears. I'm not sure whether the situation has changed much for non-political privileged castes of present day. A Brahmin I knew, who always maintained his pride in his Brahminhood, once claimed that all erstwhile untouchables or Dalits should renounce Hinduism and wondered why they hadn't already.

It is in this background I believe the creation of Pakistan resulted in political identity of the castes (now termed as Hindutva). The creation of Pakistan resulted in physical fear for the privileged castes (as they have seen the cleansing of their equivalent castes in Pakistan, Bangladesh) that they have plunged into number games championed by Muslims. But the true victims of this game have been underprivileged castes who lost an opportunity to liberate themselves from their limited life and worldview with the advent of education, opportunities and new ideas.

I'm not overlooking pre-partition Hindutva political movements like RSS and Hindu Maha Sabha. However, their success with underprivileged castes or with the castiest privileged castes wouldn't have been so great but for the unifying identity gave by the Muslims to all the castes. But, certainly, being educated in Christian (British) schools would have created political religious view among the privileged castes anyway. However, possibility that they would have been successful to bridge the caste faultlines, as they have done at present, without making any changes in the system (all the untouchability rules were made illegal by the secular government of India but the caste marriages and the food practices haven't been touched) would have been low. Their success in propagating Hindutva identity was made easy as they were able to peddle the fear of Muslims to all sections of the caste society.

 References:
1. Genesis and Growth of the Mappila Community

Negatively and Positively Privileged Groups - i

Max Weber observed that positively privileged and negatively privileged groups develop worldview in conformation to their orientation to the world. Positively privileged groups have a sense of their human dignity that is related to their "being" - that is, their "beauty and excellence" - so that their "kingdom is 'of this world'" and they "live for the present ... by exploiting their great past." Negatively privileged groups cultivate a sense of human dignity that is related to the future. These groups are "nurtured by the belief in a providential mission," or by a belief that "the last will be first" in another life, or that in this life a messiah will appear who will "bring forth into the light of the world which his cast them out the hidden honour of the pariah people."

I read the above paragraph in "Sociological Theory" (Adams and Sydie). According to the editors, Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech was future oriented dream, just as white supremacist references to glorious Confederate tradition are present - and past - oriented.

I suppose the entire thing boils down to, positively privileged people think of a glorious past that has continued to the present. Whereas the negatively privileged (Oxymoron?) people think of glory in the future.

When it comes to India there are no absolutely positively privileged(PP) people since non-Indians have colonized us. Though there are absolutely negatively privileged people (NP). However, surprisingly, both PP and NP have only glorious past. We don't find visionaries like Martin Luther King among our NP. The creation of glorious past begins with one of the greatest leaders and scholars of India Dr. Ambedkar.

Ambedkar was the first one to come up with theory of Kshatriya -> Buddhist -> Shudra transformation. The problem was old works/scriptures did not have any clear identities so anybody could fill the gap.  I'm not sure which approach was better. Dr. King's hope of better future or Dr. Ambedkar's hope of reclaiming better past. Of course, many castes of India (who are relatively PP and NP) have their own glorious past. But the people who created these glorious past for other castes were generally primitive casteists. But Ambedkar was certainly not one among them.

In my opinion, Ambedkar was forced to come up with the glorious past theory as he was unable to counter racial superiority theory that was being circulated during that time, mostly based on pseudo scientific skin colour and skull shape. He might have come up with that theory in the hope that his people wouldn't be discouraged by their born inferiority as suggested by those pseudo-scientific studies.

References:
1. Sociological Theory - Adams and Sydie
2. Essential Writings of  Dr.B R Ambedkar - Ed. Valerian Rodrigues

How to Make an Indian Baby

Cross an African with a Chinese and you get an Indian? Still believable, I believe. Not as dumb as few population genetics morons' interpretation that you should in fact cross European male and Chinese female.



Via Pharyngula

UPDATE:
It seems in the above spoof those non-Indian girls are atheists (I guess non-religious is euphemism for atheism). But the Indian girl is "actually" a Hindu. Now that is a problem. There are atheist Hindus who are generally communals or castiests. The regular atheists do not identify with their religion of birth. I am positive that a Hindu atheist when asked to be part of that video would have angrily said, "Why it has to be a Hindu. We are an easy prey. Aren't we? Try to get a Muslim girl and do your spoof".

That being the case, I am sure that that is a believer Hindu. A believer Hindu taking part in a parody of Christians by atheists only goes on to show she is intellectually challenged. That is not a sin. At least in Indian context believers are normal people and atheists are abnormals. So I have nothing against her.

The problem is what those light skinned atheists were thinking when they asked a believer to be part of that video. They should have selected an atheist Indian girl. They must have thought dark skinned intellectually challenged Hindu is beyond mockery. I am afraid that smacks of racism.

A View from the Origin

Runoko Rashidi on Indians

Reminded me an incident, that my dark skinned friend born into Kannada Brahmin caste told me with a roaring laughter. He and his friend, an equally dark skinned Tamil born into a non-Brahmin caste, were watching a Tennis match. The Tamil commented that he would like to see a Serena Williams win as she was also dark skinned like him.

But the most uncomfortable with dark skin lable must be females of the communities that became successful as a whole within few generations. If the success is gradual accompanied by lightening of skin tone in each generation, as many of the castes show, then one can overcome the stigma of dark and successful.

Tit for Tat

Now I'm so used to giving serialized headings to my posts that I feel a sense of inadequacy whenever I have to give an isolated heading like the one for this post. The need for my posts to be part of a greater theme restricts my freedom to comment upon many dangling events around me. But the question would be we Homo Sapiens of common descent can ever come out with expressions that would not be part of some common theme? I think it is the pseudo-identities built upon misguided knowledge but are accepted as legitimate that make these expressions as dangling events. The artificial, if not illegitimate, expressions can become realities in such setting when took up by opposing identities. This is the reason I feel Shekhar Kapur has to tell the story of '"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and Danny Boyle, "The Slumdog Millionaire".

Buddhism and Jainism in South India -7

Initially I thought this is a present day perversion of Buddhism;

there's a new wave of Indians—affluent, rational, metropolitan, English-educated individuals impatient of organised religion and willing to experiment with alternate spiritual forms—who are increasingly turning to the Buddha's teachings for anwers to their dilemmas. A far cry from Ambedkar and his Dalit followers who converted to Buddhism 50 years ago as a way of getting back at Hinduism and its hierarchy, these small bands of new-age spiritualists shy away from the very word 'Buddhist' with all its political baggage. Their Buddhism instead is more therapy than religion, a self-help practice that enables them to cope with the daily pressures of city life—nuclear families, generation gap, divorces, collapse of family support systems, relationships, pressures of jobs and joblessness, lifestyle diseases, teenage angst and loneliness—even as it unlocks their hitherto hidden potential.

Then I thought this perversion was there from the beginning in India. Buddhism changed a big chunk of marauding nomads of Mongolia and Tibet to celibate monks and defined their identities. In those regions most likely Buddhism acted the way it was expected to. But here in India it(along with Jinaism) was a mere utilitarian religion to rich merchants in the past. Though I think we can fairly guess why it didn't change their caste identity.

Buddhism and Jinaism are totally clueless about normal life. As a result while caste identity clearly defined ideals (or lack of it) for rich people in their worldly life, they could take time out and spend some time in non-worldly life of Buddhism and Jinaism. For not so rich people Buddhism and Jinaism were useless in the past as it is now.

Its present success with Dalits in India is rooted in the question of identity(as pointed in the article). That probably tells us that unclear or non-existent religious identities of East and SE Asia probably helped it to grow there. However, Srilanka is still a mystery. Maybe Brahmins never went there or too small in a number to have any say in social life. Likely, the society was structured around king and subjects. In societies where king ruled supreme his identity became that of his subjects (the spread of Christianity in Germanic lands). In Indian region king's position was always subordinate to Brahmins.

Article:
Seeing in the dark (Outlook)

Legacy of purity and pollution

Manu's Smriti

Like its uneasy relationship with Gandhi (how do you attack a meticulously devout Hindu who may be a Muslim-lover?), the Sangh parivar has an uneasy relationship with the modern Indian woman. How much freedom should she be allowed? The parivar may have travelled some distance from the barefoot, pregnant and in-the-kitchen mindset to the current Smriti Irani position. Ms Irani is the ideal, modern Indian woman for the parivar. In her body language, sartorial style, fluent opinions and exaggerated sindoor, she represents how far the parivar is prepared to go to accept modernity. The inestimable Ms Irani wouldn’t dream of wearing figure-hugging jeans, much less sip the occasional glass of white wine. Smriti, no doubt, works in the decadent and morally loose film industry, but she is fully protected by the indestructible Hindu ethos.

Pubs are anathema to the parivar. If a woman must go to a bar, she should be chaperoned by her husband and drink only fruit juice while hubby gets sloshed. That arrangement is acceptable. However, two or three or four girls going unescorted to a pub is against our Indian culture! Why? Firstly, these women are exercising independent choice—always a dangerous thing. Secondly, they are unaccompanied by either uncles or elders. Thirdly, and this is critical, pubs are places where innocent Hindu girls are trapped by Mohammedan men with the aid of alcohol and false promises. Thus, not only is a pub a location for alcoholic vice but a venue for Hindu-Muslim social commingling. Another worry: these Muslim males are invariably fair, handsome and virile, so our pure Hindu girls are easily lured. Consequently, pub culture is a source of twin evils: liquor and inter-communal intimacy. It is okay, even admirable, for Hindu men to have illicit sex before, during and after marriage, but for the Bharatiya nari, sex outside marriage is a sin guaranteed to send her straight to hell. Only when the parivar accepts that adult men and women have an equal right to do ‘evil’ will it come to terms with pub culture.

The American journalist-writer, H.L. Mencken, believed that once you put a few drinks inside a woman, you are 90 per cent sure of getting her into bed. If he were alive today, Mencken would be a card-carrying member of the BJP.

I thought notable features of this article by Vinod Mehta are;

1. An absurd frame of reference
2. An uncharacteristic and ironic allusion
3. An ambiguous position

I tried to check Vinod Mehta's previous usages of H L Mencken's quote.

THE celebrated American journalist, H.L. Mencken, cautioned his readers not to fret over howls of "rape of democracy" from political parties since, in all probability, not even a molestation would have occurred. As the BJP’s ‘rape’ protests mount, with the party threatening to move everything from the Supreme Court to buses on the streets of Lucknow, it would be prudent to coolly consider what manner of constitutional ‘subversion’ has taken place through Governor Romesh Bhandari’s decision to impose President’s rule.

Maybe Vinod Mehta wants to become H L Mencken of India. A person with an ambiguous attitude towards social issues. Or is he just bothered that Taliban has been trivialized to 'women beaters' thus echoing H L Mencken's sentiment about "rape of democracy"?

In my opinion, it is just a law and order situation. Any intellectual analysis is absurd. There is absolutely no difference between purity pollution rules of castes and of the religions they hate. The rules of these were sanctified in West Asia.

Merits of Hatred and Jealousy

A very important study, I say:

By recognizing their inequalities, members of disadvantaged groups can mobilize and attempt to bring about social change. However, the results of a new study suggests that positive contact with majority groups may result in disadvantaged groups being less likely to support social change- with improved attitudes towards the advantaged groups and reduced attention to social inequality, the disadvantaged groups may become less motivated to promote change.

These expectations were the result of overall improved attitudes towards the advantaged group and reduced attention of the disadvantaged group members to the inequalities between the groups. However, these expectations proved to be unrealistic – the advantaged group discriminated against the disadvantaged group ...

Via Science Daily