Tuesday 1 March 2016

Dalits and Brahmins should unite - especially in the southern states like Tamil Nadu

This might be an unpopular topic to write on, and one that my fellow Dalits would disagree with, but one that I felt should be written. Brahmins and Dalits in South India (especially Tamil Nadu) must unite. Why is this important? I have tried to outline why a Brahmin Dalit unity is very very important in today’s context. That is not just the way forward, but how it should have been. I hope to not offend any readers whichever caste they might be from. We all  would need to strive for a casteless society but certain facts must be stated. Also, I do talk about caste Hindus here just as an historical context but there could be caste Christians as well discriminating against us Dalits. 

So, why do I feel Brahmins and Dalits need to unite? 

Personal Experience 

As a Tamil Dalit, my friends who were Brahmin Iyers were the only ones who did NOT question my caste. Everyone else, like the Thevars and Mudaliars criticized the Dalits without knowing which caste I belonged to. Later, they tried to casually talk behind our Brahmin friends’ backs, saying things like “Oh those brahmins propagated caste”. This is a typical pattern used by non-Brahmin caste Hindus and every Dalit should be cautious not to fall into this trap. 

It is not  hard to reverse this interpolation into history. Probably as some say (and I don’t care much for religious texts of any faith) the caste was based on occupation not birth. The keepers of the rituals were Brahmins but the powerful ones were the ruling, and business castes. It is very easy to imagine the timid Brahmins being threatened by these powerful ruling castes to change this narrative into one of birth. I use timid not in a negative way but only to mean that Brahmins are not proud of aggression, a trait that I see to this day. 

Somehow, I am not convinced that the entire caste Hindu population were asked to take up casteism by the Brahmins who still are merely a 3% of the population. The Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are an intelligent bunch. Do you think they would blindly listen to a minority? For a poor priest, it does not matter if a Dalit gives him a rupee or a Devar gives him a rupee. Caste matters however for a powerful landowner who works in the land for cheap. An unending supply of cheap bonded labor is what they needed. 

Take a look at caste based violence perpetrated against the Dalits. Vitriolic attacks usually come from the non-brahmin castes. Devars, Vanniyars and Gounders have taken up the mantle to attack Dalits. The Brahmins on the other hand rarely (if at all) resort to violence. I have personally seen Brahmins married into Arundhathiyar families and coexisting peacefully. I have a friend married to a Brahmin woman and the family rallies around him like he is their own. Again, these are personal examples and cannot be applied to all situations. 

History

There have been many Brahmins supportive of the Dalit cause once they have realized the folly of their ways. A few examples:

- Vaidyanatha Iyer led the Tamil Nadu Harijana Sabha and was instrumental in the temple entry movement (which again was hijacked by caste Hindus)

- Ramanujacharya, another brahmin was instrumental in trying to eradicate caste. Now, Dravidian leaders pen serials in praise of him.

- Bharathiar - reviled by nearly everyone had scant respect for people who practiced casteism.

- Adi Sankara himself is said to have recognized the folly of caste when Shiva came to him in the form of a beggar

I can also take a list of people from the North like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidhyasagar  but that would be unnecessary.

The British invasion happened and the Brahmins worked for the British along with the caste Hindus and that became their undoing. The British in a bid to divide bought caste into highlight and was lapped up by the caste Hindus.

When the above mentioned Brahmins started realising their folly and began expressing their solidarity with Dalits the Dravidian movement arrived. The non-brahmin upper caste came up with an idea to unite the masses for a common cause - Pick the population who are just 3% and heap the blame on them. Also, they themselves categorized their communities as BC, OBC etc. Their modus operandi - we might have been the ruling class but now we are BC, OBC. How this is palatable in today’s societies is beyond comprehension. 

These Dravidian groups also had a Tamil national identity. Again, Dalits and Brahmins were left out of this. A Sakkiliyar would be categorized as Telugu and for no reason at all Brahmins were regarded as Sanskrit speakers in spite of them being extremely tied to Tamil as their mother tongue - (e.g. UV Swaminatha Iyer etc). You could never ask a Naicker where he was from, or a Mudaliar if he was a Kerala Mudali. If you are thinking the ties between a Tamil Naicker and their counterparts in Andhra are tenuous you are right. So are the ties between Brahmin/Dalits and their  counterparts in the other states. 

So my fellow Dalits be very very wary of this Brahmin baiting by non-Brahmin caste Hindus.


9 comments:

  1. Why Brahmins have been hated ? Well I am a Brahmin from Maharashtra. I am 72 today but I still am trying to find the reason of the hatred towards the Brahmins. I still remember the flames of burning house burnt down the house when I was just 3 years old .I vividly remember the scene of burning .
    But still this time I do not understand the reason of this hatred. One thing is very certain.During the freedom fight days the Brahmins were always in fore front against British. ( Except Kashmiri hindu who are half muslims) This kind of hatred was manipulated by these kashmiri Brahmins.For this reason many Nehrus and kauls were promoted during British days. In the fight of 1857 the persons who died were 100% Brahmins and many Brahmins rose to assasinate british.
    The British cleverly manupulated non brahmin hindus to hate Brahmins . This has happened all over south India.
    I think South of Godavari was black listed by British. And Following that the stooges installed by British followed the British practice.
    Vishws Gokhale

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    1. Vishesh Gokhale, you have mentioned kashmiri hindu in your write-up and labeled us half muslims. I want to ask you, how and when has bharti hindu shown unity and solidarity with kashmiri brahman. I am now 49 years old and right from my birth I have only seen atrocities, be it emotional, mental, social , political or economical , govt jobs or other opertunities which were openly denied to us , no minority reservation because you hindus are in majority in india.we have suffered alone always but kept our sanatan Dharam alive, kept indianess alive in kashmir. If we had been half muslim, we would have joined the freedom movement and aligned with pakistan for those benefits which you have mentioned in your write-up. This post had been written to unite dalit and brahmins but you are trying to separate the staunch hindu segment from rest of brahmin community. I think one should stay away from pointing directly towards something without enough intellectual input and ground realities. Sorry I am hurt.

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    1. I find it amusing that to this day you would associate "Brahmanism" with a sense of reputation. I ask you kind sir (you must of course be kind simply because you call yourself a Brahmin!), what "reputation" has your community gathered? As a Brahmin who was disillusioned by all the divisiveness prevalent in the community a while back, I can say that unity is what will carry the country forward. We have so many other problems at hand. Try feeding the hungry or building homes for the homeless. But no! Keeping the temples Dalit-free is of tantamount importance! We have enemies snapping at our ankles the minute we look away. We, as Indians (not as Brahmins or Dakota or whatever other name yoh want to call yourself) cannot afford to be wringing each other's throats at this point in history. If we do manage to unite as a nation and not as an amalgamation of communities, 100 years later our children will sit together at the table and talk gloriously of how their forefathers had a lot of foresight and saw past all the hate to bring us all together. Work for the bigger cause and keep such petty issues aside.
      But of course, you could choose to say my long reply to your disgusting display of a superiority complex is "abishtoo" and carry on with your life. That is the beauty of freedom that India has given us. Not your poojaris in temples.
      Cheers

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    2. Good point. I agree with you. We need to set aside caste. As long as we carry on caste, breaking India forces will keep using it to divide our peoples. We need unity. A unity without caste.

      I follow Yoga Philosophy. Yoga means union and unity.

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  3. Dear All, Let all HINDUS be United and not just Dalits and Pandits.

    Plz watch this:

    Hidden Truth about Religions, Caste System, Reservation and Secularism - Subramanian Swamy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il4V1ssHnNQ

    PS. I am from varanasi who studied in VIT Vellore and never felt caste system. I love South temples. Now you want to know my caste?? Sorry dear I am just a Lord Shiv bhakt, Just Hindu.

    I strongly believe we need to initaite mass movement from grassroot level for sake of humanity. Plz reply

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  4. Telugus also got into Brahmin baiting in TamilNadu.

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