Introduction
Tamil nation is a political community,
a grand solidarity. To maintain its solidarity, the
Tamil nation has to remove all sorts of divisions that
causes dissension and discord among its members. The
Caste System is such a pernicious division that has
plagued our society for thousands of years.
The Caste System still occupies an
important place in the Hindu religion. The primary aim
and ideal of all religions is the emancipation of all
its followers, especially that of the weaker sections
and the downtrodden. So it is strange that a religion
like Hinduism goes against that ideal and purposefully
condemn a section of its own followers as untouchable
outcasts. The Hindu Brahmins have created theoretical
explanations, Puranic stories and religious myths to
support and justify their conduct. The sole aim of what
is called "Brahminism" is to create and maintain a
system which gives a supreme place of importance to
Brahmanic priests and other Brahmins in general.
Since all of these arguments are
purported to be based on Hinduism, it is proper that we
examine the ideals of real Hinduism and its
basic tenets.
Swami Vivekananda condemned the Caste
System
To interpret and explain those subtle
and deep matters let us get the help of an appropriate
authority like Swami Vivekananda [1863-1902].Then under
the British Imperialism and facing a great onslaught of
Christian Missionaries, the status of Hinduism was very
low.
At that time, Swami Vivekananda had travelled all over
India from Kanniyakumari in the South to the Himalayas
in the North.We may have heard of Swami Vivekananda
Rock and Memorial in Kanniyakumari. Besides he was the
first Indian Saint [Self-Realized Person] to visit the
Western countries in 1893.After hearing his memorable
address to the Chicago Parliament of Religions on 11
September 1893,an American newspaper commented,
"Vivekananda is undoubtedly the
greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After
hearing him, we feel how foolish it is to send
Missionaries to this learned nation".
In such a way he brought high respect
and praise to Hinduism and India. Being aware of India
and the Western world, his views were very enlightening
and instructive. Most of the following quotes are from
the Letters of Swami Vivekananda.
Letters are private and therefore one expresses his
ideas and innermost feelings in an unrestricted and
straightforward manner there. Besides all of his
letters were hand-written by Swamiji himself, whereas
most of his other published materials were recorded by
his disciples and others. So they never had the benefit
of his editing or revision. Therefore his letters are
more authentic expression of his ideas and
opinions.
Basic Ideas of Hinduism
Explaining the basic ideas of Hinduism,
Swami Vivekananda writes:
"We believe that every being is
divine, is God. Every soul is a sun covered over with
clouds of ignorance, the difference between soul and
soul is due to the difference in density of these
layers of clouds. We believe that this is the
conscious or unconscious basis of all religions, and
this is the explanation of the whole history of human
progress either in the material, intellectual, or
spiritual plane - the same spirit is manifesting
through different planes.
We believe that this is the very
essence of the Vedas.
We believe that this the duty of
every soul to treat, think of, and behave to other
souls as such ,i.e.as Gods, and not hate or despise,
or vilify, or try to injure them by any manner or
means. This is the duty not only of the Sannyasin but
of all men and women.
The soul has neither sex, nor CASTE,
nor imperfection. We believe that nowhere throughout
the Vedas, Darshanas, or Puranas, or Tantras, it is
ever said that the soul has any sex, creed, or
CASTE". - Letters of Swami Vivekananda,
p.69.
"In the Atman there is no distinction
of sex, or Varna [caste] or Ashrama or anything of
the kind, and as mud cannot be washed away by mud, it
is impossible to bring about oneness by means of
separative ideas". ---- Letters; - p.200-201.
"In the Atman there is no distinction
of male or female, of Brahmin or Kshatriya, and the
like; All is Narayana from the Creator down to a
clump of grass. The worm is less manifested, the
Creator more manifested. Every action that helps a
being manifest its divine nature more and more is
good, every action that retards it is evil. The only
way of getting our divine nature manifested is by
helping others to do the same". --- Letters;
--p.255.
Lord Buddha, a Kshatriya and not a
Brahmin, was against the Caste system. Writing of
Buddha, Swami Vivekananda says:
"What Buddha did was to break wide
open the gates of that very religion which was
confined in the Upanishads to a particular
caste........... His greatness lies in his unrivalled
sympathy". ---- Letters; -- p.18.
"The religion of Buddha has reared
itself on the Upanishads, and upon that also the
philosophy of Shankara. Only, Shankara had not the
slightest bit of Buddha's wonderful heart, dry
intellect merely!". --- Letters; -p.19.
But the Brahminic priests preached
against the teachings of Buddha. Swamiji writes:
"Religion is not in fault. On the
other hand, your religion teaches you that every
being is only your own self multiplied. But it was
the want of practical application, the want of
sympathy - the want of heart.
The Lord once more came to you as
Buddha and taught you how to feel, how to sympathise
with the poor, the miserable, the sinner, but you
heard Him not. Your PRIESTS invented the horrible
story that the Lord was here for deluding demons with
false doctrines!
True indeed, but we are the demons,
not those that believed.......... You are bond slaves
to any nation that thinks it worth while to rule over
you. Ah, Tyrants! You do not know that the obverse is
tyranny, and the reverse slavery. The slave and the
tyrant are synonymous." - Letters; -- p.40-41.
"No religion on earth preaches the
dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as
Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the
necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as
Hinduism. The Lord has shown me that religion is not
in fault, but it is the Pharisees and Sadducees in
Hinduism, hypocrites, who invent all sorts of engines
of tyranny in the shape of doctrines of Paramarthika
and Vyavaharika." - Letters; - p.41.
"Whenever the Kshatriyas have
preached religion, they have given it to everybody;
and whenever the Brahmins wrote anything they would
deny all right to others. Read the Gita and the
Sutras of Vyasa, or get some one to read them to you.
In the Gita the way is laid open to all men and
women, to all CASTE and colour, but Vyasa tries to
put meanings upon the Vedas to cheat the poor
SHUDRAS." - Letters; --- p.70.
Sufferings of 'Low Caste' Hindus
Then commenting on the tortures and
sufferings endured by the Low-Caste Hindus, Swami
Vivekananda writes:
"If anybody is born of a LOW CASTE in
our country, he is gone for ever, there is no hope
for him. Why, what a tyranny it
is!.............................. How many people
really weep for the sorrows and sufferings of the
millions of poor in India? Are we men? What are we
doing for their livelihood, for their improvement? We
do not touch them, we avoid their com- pany! Are we
men? Those thousands of Brahmanas - What are they
doing for the low, downtrodden masses of India?
"Don't touch", "Don't touch", is the only phrase that
plays upon their lips! How mean and degraded has our
eternal religion become at their hands! Wherein does
our religion lie now? In "Don't touchism" alone,and
nowhere else!" --- Letters; --p.61-62.
"My brother, what experiences I have
had in the South, of the upper classes torturing the
lower! What Bacchanalian orgies within the temples!
Is it a religion that fails to remove the misery of
the poor, can turn men into gods! Do you think our
religion is worth the name? Ours is only "Don't
touchism", only "Touch me not". Good heavns! A
country, the big leaders of which have for the last
two thousand years been only discussing whether to
take food with the right hand or the left, whether to
take water from the right-hand side or from the left
........ if such a country does not go to ruin what
other will? .......................
A country where millions of people
live on flowers of the Mohua plant -and a million or
two of Sadhus and a hundred million or so of Brahmins
suck the blood out of these poor people, without even
the least effort for their amelioration - is that a
country or hell? Is that a religion, or the devil's
dance? My brother, here is one thing for you to
under- stand fully - I have travelled all over India,
and seen this country [he means U.S.A] too - can
there be an effect without cause? Can there be
punishment without sin?" {This letter was written to
his brother disciple Swami Ramakrishnananda [Sashi]
from America on 19 March 1894}. ------ Letters; ---
p.81.
"Why amongst the poor of India so
many are Mohamedans? It is nonsense to say, they were
converted by the sword. It was to gain their liberty
from the ....... zemindars and from the ..... PRIEST,
and as a consequence you find in Bengal there are
more Mohamedans than Hindus amongst the cultivators
because there were so many zemindars there. Who
thinks of raising these sunken, downtrodden
millions?" ---- Letters; --- p.95. [Note:Swami
Vivekananda is from Bengal - now West Bengal; East
Bengal became East Pakistan and now it is
Bangladesh]
"I have no doubt that according to
ancient view in this country, CASTE was hereditary,
and it cannot also be doubted that sometimes the
SHUDRAS used to be OPPRESSED more than the helots
among the Spartans and the NEGROES AMONG THE
AMERICANS!" - Letters; --- p.8.
"There is no harm in touching the
non-Brahmin classes when it serves one's purpose, and
when you have done with it, you bathe, for the
non-Brahmins are as a class unholy and never be
touched on other occasions! Monks and Sannyasins and
Brahmins of a certain type have thrown the country
into ruin. Intent all the while on theft and
wickedness, these pose as preachers of religion! They
will take gifts from the people and at the same time
cry,
"Don't touch me!". And what great
things they have been doing!-
"If a potato happen to touch a brinjal, how long the
universe last before it is deluged?"
"If they do not apply earth a dozen times to clean
their hands, will fourteen generations of ancestors
go to hell, or twenty-four"
For intricate problems like these
they have been finding out scientific explanations
for the last two thousand years -while one-fourth of
the people are starving." ------ Letters; ---
p.254.
"The present religion of the Hindus
is neither the path of knowledge, nor that of reason
- it is "Don't touchism", "Don't touch me!","Don't
touch me!" -that exhausts its description. See that
you do not lose your lives in this dire irreligion of
"Don't touch-ism". Must the teaching,-"Looking upon
all beings as your own self"- be confined to books
alone? How will they grant salvation who cannot feed
a hungry mouth with a crumb of bread? How will those
who become impure at the mere breath of others purify
others? Don't touchism is a form of mental disease."
------ Letters; ---- p.255-256.
"Well, do you think there is any
religion left in India? The path of knowledge,
devotion,and Yoga -all have gone, and now there
remains only that of Don't touchism - "Don't touch
me!" "Don't touch me!". The whole world is impure,
and I alone am pure." - Letters; --- p.183.
"The conviction is daily gaining on
my mind that the idea of CASTE is the greatest
dividing factor and the root of Maya; all CASTE
either on the principle of birth or of merit is
bondage. Some friends advise, "True, lay all that at
heart, but outside,in the world of relative
experience, distinctions like CASTE must needs be
maintained"...The idea of oneness at heart [with
craven impotence of effort, that is to say], and
outside, the hell-dance of demons -oppression and
persecution-ay, the dealer of death to the poor; but
if the PARIAH be wealthy enough," Oh,he is the
protector of religion"
Over and above, I come to see from my
studies that the disciplines of religions are not for
the SHUDRA; if he exercises any discrimination about
food or going out to foreign lands, it is all useless
in his case, only so much labour lost. I am a Shudra,
a Mlechcha, I have nothing to do with all that
botheration. To me what would Mlechcha's food matter
or Pariah's? It is in the books written by PRIESTS
that madnesses like that of CASTE are to be found,
and not in the books revealed from God. Let the
PRIESTS enjoy the fruits of their ancestors'
achievment, while I follow the word of God, for my
good lies there." - Letters; --- p.337-338.
Priestcraft and
Brahminism
Swami Vivekananda was strongly against
priestcraft by which he means what we call
'Brahminism'. He was of the opinion that the
priestcraft is the root cause of all the existing
systems of social tyranny. He writes:
"India is to be raised, the poor are
to be fed, education is to be spread, and the evil of
priest- craft is to be removed.NO PRIESTCRAFT, NO
SOCIAL TYRANNY!....... Root up priestcraft from the
old religion, and you get the best religion in the
world." --- Letters; --- p.174.
"Priestcraft is the bane of India.
Can man degrade his brother and himself escape
degradation?" --- Letters; ---- p.234.
"A race of dotards, you lose your
caste if you come out! Sitting down these hundreds of
years with an ever-increasing load of crystallized
superstition on your heads,for hundreds of years
spending all your energy upon discussing the
touchableness or untouchableness of this food or
that, with all humanity crushed out of you by the
continual social tyranny of ages -what are you? And
what are you doing now?...
...................................................
Come, be men! Kick out the priests who are always
against progress, because they would never mend,
their hearts would never become big. They are the
offspring of centuries of superstition and tyranny.
Root out priestcraft first. Come, be men! Come out of
your narrow holes and have a look abroad. See how
nations are on the march! Do you love men? Do you
love your country? Then come, let us struggle for
higher and better things; look not back, no, not even
if you see the dearest and nearest cry. Look not
back, but forward!" --- Letters; ---- p.37.
"The Smritis and the Puranas are
productions of men of limited intelligence and are
full of fallacies, errors, the feelings of class,and
malice. Only parts of them breathing broadness of
spirit and love are acce-ptable, the rest to be
rejected. The Upanishads and the Gita are the true
scriptures -Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Chaitanya, Nanak,
KABIR,and so on are the true Avataras, for they had
their hearts broad as the sky -and above all,
Ramakrishna. Ramanuja, Shankara,and others seem to
have been mere Pundits with much narrowness of heart.
Where is that love, that weeping heart at the sorrows
of others? - Dry pedantry of the Pundits - and the
feeling of only oneself getting salvation
hurry-scurry! But is that going to be possible, sir?
Was it ever likely or will it ever be so? Can
anything be attained with any shred of "I" left
anyhow?" - Letters; --- p.337.
Saint Kabir's
Condemnation
As mentioned above Swami Vivekananda
accepts Saint Kabir as a "true Avatara".
Kabir belongs to the 15th century. Kabir's songs are
noted for their simplicity and bluntness. Even at that
time he raised his courageous and powerful voice
against all sorts of stiff orthodoxies and pretentious
pieties. He belongs to the line of our Tamil Siddhas.
So he vehemently opposed the CASTE system and never
hesitated to condemn the selfish and narrow-minded
activities of the Brahminic Pandits as well as that of
the Mullas of Islam.Saint Kabir writes:
"Trickling through bones, melting
through flesh Where does milk come from? That's what
you drink after lunch,Pandit. And you call clay
untouchable? Throw out your holy scriptures, Pandit,
those fantasies of your mind. Kabir says, listen,
Brahmin: All this is your own doing." - The Bijak of
Kabir, p.57-58.
"Kabir says, saints, this is Kaliyug:
the age of phony Brahmins." - The Bijak, p.47.
"If putting on the thread makes you
Brahmin, what does the wife put on? That Shudra's
touching your food,pandit! How can you eat it?" - The
Bijak, p.69-70.
"Numskull! You've missed the point.
It's all one skin and bone,one piss and shit, one
blood,one meat. From one drop,a universe. Who's
Brahmin? Who's Shudra?" - The Bijak, p.67.
"I'm telling you my own truth, madmen
follow others' dreams. Hidden and visible --all one
milk. Who's the Brahmin? Who's the Shudra? Don't get
lost in false pride." ------ The Bijak, p.83.
"Pandit, look in your heart for
knowledge. Tell me where untouchability came
from,since you believe in it. Mix red juice,white
juice and air- a body bakes in a body. As soon as the
eight lotuses are ready,it comes into the world.Then
what's untouchable?" ------ The Bijak, p.55.
"Vedas,Korans,all those books, those
Mullas and those Brahmins - So many names,so many
names, but pots are all one clay. Kabir says,nobody
can find Ram, both sides are lost in schisms. One
slaughters goats, one slaughters cows, they squander
their births in isms." ---- The Bijak,p.51.
"The Pandit got lost in Vedic details
but missed the mystery of his own self. Worship,
prayers, six sacred activities, four ages teaching
Gayatri, I ask you: who's got liberty? You splash
yourself if you touch somebody, but tell me who could
be lower than you. Proud of your quality, great with
authority, such pride never brought anyone good. He
whose name is Pride-Breaker - how will he tolerate
pride like yours? Drop family, drop status, seek the
nonexistent space, destroy the shoot, destroy the
seed, reach the unembodied place." ---- The Bijak,
p.85-86.
"So what if you dropped illusion? You
didn't drop your pride. Pride has fooled the best
sages, pride devours all." ---- The Bijak, p.106.
"Dropped from the belly at birth, a
man puts on his costumes and goes through his acts.
On that day you and I had one blood, and one desire
for life engulfed us. The world was born from one
mother. What wisdom teaches separation?" - The Bijak,
p.79.
Conclusion
The views expressed above by Swami
Vivekananda and Saint Kabir clearly show that the Caste
System is against the basic and fundamental ideas of
Hinduism. No religion worth the name can support such a
system. It is only the works of "phony Brahmins" who
are prepared to 'take gifts from the people and at the
same time cry "Don't touch me"'. The Brahminic priests
put most of their energy in elaborating rituals and
imposed the load of ceremonials and lifeless rituals on
the people in the name of Hinduism. Their sole aim has
been to keep the Brahmins in the highest place and to
continue the exploitation of all other followers of
Hinduism. In fact Swami Vivekananda confirm this view.
He says:
"The majority of the priests impelled
by ECONOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS were bound to defend
that form of religion which made their existence a
NECESSITY of society and assigned them the HIGHEST
PLACE in the scale of caste." ---- [The Complete
Works of Swami Vivekananda - Vol.VI-p.160].
So if we want to remove the clever evil
and treacherous caste system put in place by the
Brahmins then that can only be done by the proper
education of the masses. The spread of education would
bring better awareness among the downtrodden masses and
would equip them with the necessary ways and means to
seek their emancipation. Besides, education in turn
would empower them to better their economic and social
conditions. We must remember then only the Brahmins can
have 'knowledge' and only they had the power to imp-
art that knowledge. They proclaimed that it to be an
abominable sin if 'others' dared to gain knowledge. Now
we are free to make use of that education and knowledge
to enhance our status.
In Tamilnadu the Dravida Movements
could not achieve much in this field because they
wanted to get rid of the Hindu religion as a whole. As
Swamiji has pointed out the Hindu religion is not at
fault. It was the superstitious rituals and ceremonials
- the priestcraft - of the narrow-minded and merciless
Brahmins that should be abolished.
That should be rooted out and a
purified Hindu religion should emerge. But we ought to
be very vigilant because Brahminism is a covert,
cunning and formidable enemy. Shri Shankara and his
band of Sannyasins were able to push out Buddhism - a
great and noble Indian religion which was against the
CASTE system - from India.Besides,even though the
CASTEISM is such a cruel and oppressive system, the
Indian Marxists have carefully avoided a head on clash
with CASTEISM.In West Bengal and Kerala states, the
Indian Leftists have been in power for a considerable
period of time but even then there is no marked
improvement in the status of the low-caste Hindus
living in those states. Here it may be noted that many
of the leading Indian Leftists are Brahmins.
Here I am mainly concerned with our
Tamil Eelam. We are fortunate that our liberation
struggle has greatly weakened the hold of the
oppressive CASTE system among our people. It has only
weakened but not wiped out completely. So we must make
conscious effort to completely eradicate this
oppressive and antiquated institution. At first,we must
get rid of the Brahminic priest system. The prevailing
system that only those people from the caste of Brahmin
can serve as temple priests must be changed. If we want
meaningful and actual equality among the Hindus then
all Hindus without any caste distinctions but having
the necessary education and training must be allowed to
serve as temple priests.
Another anachronistic remnant of
Brahminical orthodoxism is the continued exclusive use
of the "dead language" Sanskrit for worship. Our Tamil
language has a very rich devotional literature and
therefore it is eminently suitable for religious
worship. Our Saiva and Vaishnava saints and others have
left a rich and varied legacy of devotional songs.
People must speak to their God in an intimate way,in
their own language. Why we must be treated like a
conquered community? Like an enslaved followers of a
religion whose Gods we have to approach through
interpreters using a language which we don't
understand. Religion is there for 'liberation'. There
should be freedom, faith, and feeling based on
conviction and understanding. When they are lacking
then we must understand that we are on the wrong
path.
The Caste system has existed for many
thousand years. No other system of human
differentiation based on religion has endured for so
long a time. So in the course of its existence it has
produced many sub-castes with innumerable inner
divisions. Shastras, Puranic Stories and religious
myths are there to support its continued existence.
Often human beings fear the unknown, death, disease and
perdition more than they fear their mortal enemies.
Even highly educated and very rational-minded people
are scared to give up strange, silly and ridiculous
things taught to them in the name of God and their
religion. So we have to proceed with prudence. But the
passionate and spirited exposition of the noble and
sublime ideals of Hinduism as presented by Swami Vivekananda, Saint Kabir, our
Tamil Siddhas, Thayumanavar, Ramalinga- Swamigal, Sri Ramana Maharshi and others should
give us conviction, confidence and a commitment to
achieve a caste-free Hindu society.
References:
1.Letters of Swami
Vivekananda --Fifth Edition, September 1981, --
Advaita Ashrama, 5,Dehi Entally Road, Calcutta 700
014.
2.The Bijak of
Kabir -- Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh
-- First Indian Ed. -1986. -- Motilal Banarsidas,
Delhi 110 007.
3.The Complete
Works of Swami Vivekananda --- Mayavati Memorial Ed.
- Vol.VI - March 1989- - Advaita Ashrama, 5, Dehi
Entally Road, Calcutta 700 014.
