HINDU RENAISSANCE - PART V - UNTOUCHABILITY PART II - SOME HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

HINDU RENAISSANCE

PART V

UNTOUCHABILITY

PART II

SOME HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES 

In the earlier part, we have seen, how, UNTOUCHABILITY existed or did not exist in ancient India.  In this part, we will examine some Historical perspectives on how India traversed through various events of History.

We must remember that ancient India basically consisted of small villages, with small towns being the centres from which Kings ruled over small kingdoms. Most of the sages and saints resided in deep forests away from the Human habitations, performing their meditations, penances and Yajnas. Each village and each town lived in self sufficiency, depending very little on outside support.

When Dwapar Yug was in closing stages, the kingdoms were slightly bigger and yet,  largely, village economy prevailed. Self sufficiency was the key for each human habitation.

Some sort of local Industry existed  - (i) to build King’s palaces, (ii) to make army’s requirement of arms etc, (iii) to carve gold, silver and diamond Jewellery (iv) to build homes, furniture, pots, vessels etc for commoners also and (v) to weave clothes and (vi) for many other socially needed purposes. 

Bath rooms were too very simple and letrines almost non-existent – except for the very rich and the kings. Most People used to go out into the open, to relieve themselves,  till the 20^th century in India. Even today, this open relieving method prevails in many villages and small towns and is slowly changing in both rural and urban India. We all know that.

Whatever Industry existed in the olden days, existed as village/cottage industry, with excellence of work as the key element. Devotion to Svadharma was widely prevalent. Almost Nobody took their own work as any inferior to that of others, but, Sages and Munis who lived away from human habitations were respected by all for various good reasons. 

Almost no schools existed. One had to go to the Ashrams of Sages in deep forests, to learn whatever they taught. Even Rama and Lakshmana learnt their skills and education that way only, at the Ashram of Vasishta in deep forests and later from Sage Viswamitra in deep forests. In Dwapar Yug also, Bhishma went to Parasurama’s Ashram to learn. Lord Krishna went to Sandipani’s Ashram to learn his  skills and  Sastras. This was the system even for Kings. So commoners had very little access to these skills. 

Some famous Universities got established like Taxila, Nalanda, Kasi etc through the initiatives of some kings much, much later, possibly, some 2000-2500  years after start of Kaliyuga. Yet, formal schools were very rare and almost absent in India. Admission to these Universities was akin to that of a school and many Sastras were taught there from beginning to end. For many courses, No school education was expected as pre-requisite to aspirants. Where a student had already undergone coaching under a Sage in an Ashram, depending on his attainments under his Guru, he was taught from his already attained level. There might be some differences here and there but since India consisted of hundreds of small, independent kingdoms, Education was unorganized most of the time and conducted by willing and intending Sages in their Ashrams in deep forests, to desirous and enthusiastic aspirants.

The concept of formal schools and colleges with certificate courses and degrees etc, with well defined syllabus suitable to make people fit for clerical posts generally is a British invention and introduction for India, to suit their governance needs. Even with these formal schools and colleges, people went to England for higher education like Law, medicine etc, until the declaration of Independence. These were not available in British India.

Writing instruments and writing were absent for a long time, long time in the society. Then came, dry palmyra leaves, clothes etc as writing instruments, which continued upto 19^th century almost. Valmiki wrote Ramayana in Threthaa yug, almost definitely on Dry palmyra leaves. But, Pandavas and Kauravas of Dwapar Yug knew nothing about Ramayana characters until Arjuna and Bhima met Hanuman in deep forests. 

Knowledge of Ramayana was almost absent in Dwapar Yug – except perhaps among a very few Sages who existed in both Yugas. What was not available to Kings was definitely not available to commoners of any caste. Ramayana in Book form was not therefore available to general people until the establishment of Publishing houses in 19^th- 20^th century. Thus, knowledge of Sastras and their spread was very difficult till some publishing houses were established in 19^th century. Till then, perhaps, even the Universities at Nalanda, Kasi and Taxila must have taught with reference to writings on Palmyra leaves, orally mostly, as copying whole books was very difficult for each student’s use.

Proliferation of formal schools and colleges in India became a reality only after Independence in 1947. It was gradual even then. Many zamindars, wealthy persons and kings donated lands, constructed schools and ran them too, for a long time, with the permission and recognition of Government, after Independence. Gradually, government established schools in most Taluq Head quarters and colleges in most district head quarters and so on. 

Subsequently, now, education has again gone into the realm of private initiative. From play schools for 2 years olds to Universities and specialized institutions, all educational institutions are being established by private individuals and corporates. Quantity has improved tremendously and quality is improving slowly. Today’s progress in Education is certainly incomparable to what existed in 1947. What existed in 1947 also was incomparable to what existed (or did not exist) before the British came.

There is a significant difference between the formal British type of Education system which is followed in British India and Independent India and the Education system available in the Ashrams of Sages prior to that. Almost nothing of what was taught in the Ashrams and Gurukuls and even the famed Universities of Nalanda, Taxila and kasi is now taught in the British Education system. Thus, a huge disconnect has come between the pre-British education and post-British Education. Neither Vedas, Nor Sastras, nor even simpler things like Bhagavad Gita are taught in current Education system. Therefore, what they actually teach has become completely unknown to  Independent India.

But, too many misconceptions are being created in today’s society by comparing today’s widespread British type of education system with the most ancient days. Such comparisons are meaningless and fallacious. No formal education system existed at all in the ancient days. Very few people had even the slightest inkling to learn Vedas and Sastras, even in those days, even amongst  Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Very few had the time and willingness to go and approach the Sages in forests to learn any of these things. 

They are of course very difficult, dry and take a life time to learn even to some extent. Their economic use in Independent India is close to zero. Of course, they are useful to those, who seek Moksha or liberation and to those who are interested in some of the Sastras. Huge knowledge definitely exists in them if they are taught as sciences and Arts. But, reverting back to them now – seems almost impossible – except for the Vedic schools and colleges which exist at some places. It is in fact a miracle that, even now, the Vedas , Sastras and the Bhagavad Gita exist and is taught to some people.

In Indian culture, each caste specialized in a particular trade and excelled in it by default. That worked well for those economies. All those skills were useful economically in the society and hence, the society remained interdependent and mutually self sufficient. In fact, using terms like economy for the living conditions of those days is meaningless. 

Over 5000 years have passed after Lord Krishna and other Mahabharat characters expired. We are constructing Indian history from books, stories, stone carvings, excavations, writings of foreign tourists and so on. These are by no means complete or accurate. Historians tend to fill all missing gaps, which are too many and too huge, with their own surmises and constructions. Western Historians and west oriented Indian Historians tend to dismiss great historical texts like Ramayana and Mahabharat which describe historical anecdotes in great details. Likewise, they discredit the writings of poets who wrote the histories of their kings and kings who were their contemporaries. This was always a wrong approach. What humans can described, stone inscriptions can never describe, though their use is not dismissed. With so many imperfections in the writing of Indian History, what emerges out of all these is still a great Indian History.

I, for one, strongly feel that Lord Rama and Lord Krishna were great historical characters of their times. If Ramayana and Mahabharat exist till today, their writers, Valmiki and Vyasa did exist and if Valmiki and Vyasa existed, Rama and Krishna also existed. And, so did all the grand characters of the two great Epics. If Bhagavad Gita exists till today, Lord Krishna and Arjuna existed without an iota of doubt.

Much, much later, say 3000 years later than Lord Krishna’s times, came the Nandas, Mouryas etc in Bihar and much later, Shivaji in Maharashtra and many other kings in north and south who were not Brahmins or Kshatriyas but were Vaisyas and Sudras who were well accepted by the people of the so called Orthodox India. Chandra Gupa Mourya was supported eminently by Kautilya and many other Brahmins and Kshatriyas of his times. Chatrapati Sivaji also became a King in his own right, though not a Kshatriya. They were and are our rightful heroes to this day. There were many such non-kshatriya and non-brahmin kings all over India in all the known history, but they were accepted and well supported by the Brahmins and Kshatriyas. 

Many tribal kingdoms existed always in India, which had no connection what so ever with any other Hindu kingdoms. There were many eminent persons in the Hindu way of life who rose from different castes to great eminence. There were great writers, artists, and greatly skilled craftsmen of all classes in ancient India. India was home to the greatest forts, temples, purest Iron pillars, huge ships, extraordinary weapons, chariots and so on. These are well known historical facts and amply proved by solid evidences. It is almost definite that each caste enjoyed its pride of place in the whole society.

Now, despite all these facts, some element of caste based untouchability might have existed at all times. But, cruelty on the basis of caste was practically unknown in ancient, Hindu India. Hindu caste structure never ever permitted any cruelty towards any human being, whether a Hindu or even some one expelled from hindu society for some unacceptable and criminal acts. 

The latter presumably became outcastes and untouchables. They lived their own lives. They were free to go anywhere else and live. There was no society anywhere in the world which was at least to this extent humane in treating even people expelled from their society. Cruelty in all other societies in the world was too much towards expelled people. Untouchability existed in India to some extent, but very little of  cruelty.

Let us go back to Ramayana Days and see what Lord Rama did, to bring justice to even an aggrieved Dog. One day, an injured dog was waiting outside Lord Rama’s Court. After Rama finished listening to all aggrieved people and giving his ruling, he asked Lakshmana to find out if any one aggrieved is still waiting outside the court. Lakshmana went outside and found this injured Dog. He asked the Dog, why are you waiting here? The Dog told its grievance which it wanted to tell Lord Rama. Lakshmana duly escorted the aggrieved and injured Dog to Rama’s presence.

Rama asked the Dog to narrate its Grievance. It said, for no fault of it, a beggar by name Sarvartha Siddhi hit it on its head with a stick and injured it. Rama asked his guards to bring Sarvartha Siddhi to his presence. Sarvartha Siddhi admitted to his fault and said, since the Dog was standing before him, when he was in acute hunger, he became angry and frustrated and hit the Dog on its head. Rama now asked his minister what punishment is justified to the Brahmin Beggar. His Ministers were perplexed at the dispute between a hungry Brahmin beggar and the Dog. 

Finally, it was decided to ask the Dog, what the dog itself thought was a just punishment for this Beggar. The Dog said – make him the Head priest of the big temple outside Ayodhya. Rama accepted and made the Beggar, the head Priest of the Big Temple outside Ayodhya. An Elephant was brought and the beggar rode on the Elephant to join his new post in pomp and ceremony. The Ministers could not understand how this could be a just punishment. Ram smiled and asked the Dog itself to justify the punishment.

The Dog said – I was also a head priest of a temple in my previous birth.  I was intoxicated with the respect and Power I possessed in the temple and here I am now suffering ignominy as a Dog, being beaten by even beggars on the street, for no fault of mine.

This story was narrated by Valmiki, precisely to show how and why one should not be intoxicated with such respect and power which comes in such posts. It also shows us some more facts. Many Brahmins from the very beginning of the caste system, lived in poverty and beggary, instead of hankering after power, position or wealth. 

Even Lord Vishnu, when he was to seek alms from the Rakshasa King Bali Chakravarthy, went as a Brahmin Beggar. Likewise, Lord Indra, when he was to seek alms from the Anga King Karna, in Mahabharat, went in the disguise of a Brahmin Beggar.  The caste system may have made the Brahmin the no.1 caste, but ordained him to live life in Poverty and seek wisdom. 

The kshatriyas put their life at stake for the society, therefore they enjoyed the power of the state. The vaisyas could amass wealth in trade, but could not share regal power. The sudras could do any work and excel in it and acquire wealth thereby, but were not exposed to the rigours of life of either the Brahmin or of the Kshatriya. The whole system was devised in such a way that the balance of power was always maintained against any misuse.

Yes. Outcastes were treated as untouchables by the four castes. Brahmins generally maintained some exclusivity from all castes from the beginning to the present days, because of the 24 hour duties prescribed for them. These are not understood or understandable for other castes that easily. 

Living as Brahmin is the toughest. Given a choice, no earthly minded person will prefer to be a Brahmin. Next toughest is that of Kshatriya. Next, Vaisya and least tough job is of Sudra. This factual position in Hindu caste system is least understood even within Hindu fold. Brahmin had to live as a Beggar at least for a few years of his life, to kill the ego in him and to understand the life of all society. He had to go round the whole of India for this purpose. Compassion for all was supposed to be his way of life. Kshatriya had all power, ego, wealth etc, but had the duty to risk his life to protect all his citizens. When anybody seeks his protection against anybody else, a Kshatriya cannot say, No. So, overall, it was a balanced society. 

But, any society becomes degenerated over a period of time and at least some people of each section start misusing their supposed power, ignoring their responsibility. This happened in Hindu society also. The society was bound together by the customs, rituals, traditions etc in which all sections participated. Preparing and dragging Chariots of Gods were always a festive occasion in every place, in every temple, as an event in which all sections of people participated and still participate in many places. 

General Education was through Harikatha sravanam in all villages on important festival occasions. Elders in every family and in society were respected by all and nobody was allowed to harm them. Taking care of elders was a sacred duty of all children in all castes. Women were respected as mothers by all. Children were cared for very well. Truth, non violence and non humiliation of others were the paramount values in the society. Compassion and charity were the order of the day at all times in the society.

All said, no society anywhere in the world, at any time in the world, was ever one hundred percent perfect. Perfection is not given to any human system, man-made or even God-made.  Change is always possible, change is always necessary and change is always happening. If we don’t do it consciously, nature does it any way in its own way. If we do it consciously, we can bring change painlessly and for the better. If we don’t do it consciously, we will do it waywardly, painfully and always for the worse.

Crimes and aberrations always take place  because of human desire for things which are not one’s own but belong to somebody else. Ravana sought to possess Rama’s Wife. Duryodhana sought to possess Pandava’s Kingdom and humiliate their wife. These were causes of great wars and the killing of so many people on both sides. If such crimes happened at Kings’ levels, they must have been happening at lower levels too. 

Crimes and aberrations also take place because of “our people vs other people” attitude. My people, my name, my caste, my religion, my language, my town, my country and my EVERYTHING  is what I like and love more than all that belongs to other people. We like our language. We call other languages as inferior – even without knowing anything about them. We like our religion and within our religion, our caste. We like other castes much less, and other religions much, much less. UNTOUCHABILITY also arises from this weakness of people. 

Some religions believe that they must necessarily CONVERT  people of all other religions into their religion. But, after conversion, what? No God of any religion – be it, Krishna, Jesus or Allah is known to have  prevented anybody of his religion from illness, old age or death.  Many top leaders of all religions are known to have died of big illnesses. So, where is a definite Saviour? Yet  people claim, my God, my prophet is the saviour and you convert into mine, to be saved.  Crimes also happen in every religion. Some religious heads even sanctify horrific crimes happening in their religion.

In Hinduism, God’s most illustrious Avatars, namely, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna, never practiced UNTOUCHABILITY of any type based on anybody’s birth. They set great examples by their personal conduct.  Most people adored them but failed to follow their example. Later social reformers like Adi Sankaracharya and Ramanujacharya also condemned UNTOUCHABILITY in very clear and forthright manner. 

Here, I do wish to assert one fact. In Ramayana, the story of Sambuka is there, which in my opinion, would not have been there in the original. Valmiki wrote a Ramayana in which justice was beyond the caste system. Rama’s friends were like Guha, a fisher man cum boat peddler, whom Rama accepted like his own Brother Bharata. The story of Sabari is another classical example of Rama’s compassion towards all. All the rest of Rama’s best friends were Monkeys, Bears and Rakshasas. These were assertions by Valmiki himself. 

One who narrated the incidents of Guha and Sabari would not have told the story of Sambuka in the way it is told in present Ramayana. This story does not at all fit with the rest of Ramayana  and clearly does not belong there. It was an injustice to Sambuka, to Rama and to Valmiki to put in this story in Ramayana. It is definitely a story inserted by some ugly minded person later and not Valmiki. It has no plausible connection with the main story of Ramayana. This story deserves to be weeded out of Ramayana in all future prints at least. This is my humble but firm opinion, which I held right from my childhood.

In any case, for bringing unity of all Hindus of today, there is no harm in weeding out this story from Ramayana. I am sure, Valmiki did not write this story in his original Ramayana and he will be pleased if it is taken out of Ramayana. 

A lot of water flowed down the Ganga thereafter. Kaliyuga came. Many Hindu kings ruled and vanished. The Kshatriya class in India, as a whole, got weakened very much, probably due to too many internecine wars and battles. Many small kingdoms appeared in all parts of India and there was no unity and amity among them. They fought with each other and destroyed each others’ kingdoms often. But, in all these wars, elders, women and children were almost never harmed. Respect for them was a  uniform cultural trait across all Hindu kingdoms in India. Kings and armies fought and the victor annexed the other’s kingdom or made him his puppet.

That said, most wars were fought openly and with some accepted principle of justice. So, to a large extent, the ancient culture of India prevailed even during the wars. But, that became the biggest weakness of Indian Kings when the Islamic Invasions happened.

When the Islamic invaders came, they came with an entirely different culture. Their organized religion was opposed to Hindu way of worship, its temples, its Idols, its culture, its principles of war etc. They believed themselves to be superior as a class,  to all the Hindus, whom they considered as inferior, because of inferior religion, inferior language, Idol worship and so on.  They came with small armies, defeated bigger armies of local kings, plundered the whole society, took Hindu women as slaves and concubines  and Hindu men of all castes as workers and slaves. Forcible conversions into Islam became the order of the day for those captured.

They destroyed many ancient Hindu temples and Hindu religious scriptures. It was a mayhem for which the Hindu kings were utterly unprepared. These were historical facts recorded by the Invading kings and their followers themselves – and they always felt that these were the right thing to do for them. This belief that their religion was superior and indigenous religions were inferior continued all the time. Many Hindu married women committed suicide instead of falling into their hands. Kings fought valiantly and won many times. But small mistakes even after winning the wars sometimes led to their capture and death. Some Islamic Invaders like Chenghiz Khan and Taimur, were extremely cruel and barbaric, and their cruelty was comparable to or even more than the later dictators of the west, like Hitler.

For the first time in Indian History, religious conversions, mostly forced and under the power of the sword, happened on large scale. It took quite some time for Indian Kings to rise again in various parts of India, like Shivaji in Maharashtra and Krishna Deva Raya in Vijayanagar to challenge the supremacy of the Islamic kings. Yet lack of Unity among Indian Kings was always a factor which acted against them. After Shivaji, the Maratha empire slowly crumbled. Likewise, after Krishna deva raya, the Vijayanagar empire also slowly crumbled.

It took a long time for India to find some benevolent Mughal kings like Akbar who were more interested in a just religious order than what they found in the prevailing religions. The Islamic supremacy and forced conversions in India stopped to a great extent, only when the European, Christian Invaders came later from Europe.

When the European Invaders came, they came with superior weapons, superior armies and superior commanders than the Islamic and the Indian kings. They easily subjugated the Islamic and Indian Kings both and took over the Political, military and trade power from most of them. For facility of governance, they allowed the Indian Kings to rule as their subjugates for a while.  Later, they made them their OFFICIALS.

They indulged much less, in forced religious conversion. They did not take women as slaves or raped them. They did not ill treat elders and children too unnecessarily. They were more interested in the economic exploitation of India. They did not destroy India’s  temples or mosques. They did not trample much on the commoners except for economic exploitation.

Yes. They also considered their religion, CHRISTIANITY, as superior to both Hinduism and Islam and built grand Churches as symbols of their belief systems.  They also built schools, telegraph systems and roads, for facilitating their governance. Teaching English to a few Indians became a necessity for them to govern India. While the economic plundering was going on, India was also getting unified under the British rule. North, South, East and West Indias all came under British rule. Organized Education systems in the shape of schools and colleges started coming slowly across India.

Muslims considered their religion superior to Hinduism. Christians considered their religion as superior to both Islam and Hinduism. Till this day, this is the way religious beliefs are holding sway on their followers.

Hindusim had its glaring weaknesses. It always stood divided into various castes which are not unified by any church or Mosque like system, which prevails in Islam and Christianity. Lack of Unity was always the single most glaring weakness in Hinduism till this day. While Islam and Christianity considered Hinduism as a whole as inferior to them, within Hinduism, all castes started assuming superiority – inferiority complexes in relation to each other. Castes considered as MOST INFERIOR  were considered as untouchables. 

All teachings of Adi sankaracharya and Ramanujacharya went waste on most sections of people in this respect. We will examine the UNTOUCHABILITY and other superiority-inferiority complexes in greater detail in next essay.

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