Sudro Brahmanatameti Brahmanascaiti Sudratam I
Ksatriyajjatamevam Tu Vidyadvaisyattathaiva Ca II X / 14 II
Sudra may become Brahamana and Brahamana, Sudra. Same is true with Ksatriya and Vaisya too II X / 14 II
Four orders of Varna-s of Brahamana, Ksatriya, Vaisya and Sudra are meticulously defined on the basis of abundance of Guna-s alone. No other criterion exerts any role in that process. As a measure of natural corollary, if a Brahamana loses his attributes essential for being aBrahamana, he may be re-categorised Ksatriya, Vaisya or even Sudra based on abundance of Guna in a revised situation. Primacy of Guna-s and Karma-s is thus, re-established being sacrosanct.
Vipranam Vedavidusam Grhasthanam Yasasvinam I
Susrusaiva Tu Sudrasya Dharmo Naisreyasah Parah II X / 7 II
Serving Brahmana-s being knower of Veda-s and accomplished householders is the natural Dharma of Sudra-s II X / 7 II
Only reason for being Sudra is aversion to learning. In absence of learning and erudition, only occupation left for a Sudra is serving those who are engaged in service of society and humanity on higher planes of rendition. It is well established that Sudra-s enjoy a respectable domain in Maharsi Manu’s ordered society and they are mandated to serve only the accomplished ones.
Sucirutkrstasusrusumrduvaganahamkrtaha I
Brahmanadyasrayo Nityamutkrstam Jatimasnute II X / 8 II
Sudra serving accomplished ones of Brahamana and other Varna-s, soft-spoken, devoid of ego, pure and consecrated internally, are attained to Dvija Varna II X / 8 II
Even conscientious pursuit of Sudra-Dharma too, opens doors to higher planes of existence as selfless pursuit of one’s Sva-Dharma leads to self-consecration followed by emancipation from Maya ultimately. Serving three Varna-s by Sudra-s is as sacrosanct as learning of Veda-s by Brahamana-s, warfare by Ksatriya-s and pursuing commerce by Vaisya-s. Absence of egoism ensures, ripples of divinity emanating from the Absolute Infinite are duly received and assimilated.
Astapadyama Tu Sudrasya Steye Bhavati Kilvisama I
Sodasaiva Tu Vaisyasya Dvatrinsatksatriyasya Ca II VIII / 204 II
Brahamanasya Catuhasastiha Purnama Vaapi Satama Bhavet I
Dviguna Va Catuhasastistaddosagunaviddhi Saha II VIII / 205 II
Even as a lesser accomplished Sudra be awarded punitive fines eight times, Vaisya sixteen times, Ksatriya thirty-two times and a Brahmana sixty-four or hundred or one hundred twenty-eight times of the amount of wealth purloined II VIII / 204, 205 II
Higher the status on social ladder of advancement, greater is the retribution for an offence of say, theft or corruption as mandated by Maharsi Manu. As socially advanced ones are regarded and emulated as font of inspiration, it is all the more imperative that their personal conduct is beyond reproach. In a bid to assure that, while Sudra is ordained to be penalised by eight times,Vaisya sixteen times, Ksatriya thirty-two times and a Brahmana sixty-four or more in consonance with the circumstances, of the amount of wealth purloined. Pillars of society must deport themselves beyond controversy.
If these are the words enshrined in the true and correct version of Manusmriti, who can claim and on what basis can be claimed that Manusmriti is anti-Sudra / pro-Savarna ? Historic work of Manusmriti is the saga of Varna only, not Jati-s or castes have been alleged by so many hitherto. Even when the term Jati is invoked in Manusmriti, what Maharsi Manu referred to was Varna alone and certainly not Jati as understood today. Varna order was based on very rational considerations with no ambiguity whatsoever. Not only Varna order of Manusmriti is the greatest civil code ever known to humanity, it is operational in contemporary society albeit with different contours altogether. While the Varna order successfully functioned for hundreds of years, gradually it degenerated into Jativada owing to several compelling reasons and factors.
Now the question arises, how to distinguish Varna order from present day Jativada.
When a Brahmana, Ksatriya or Vaisya ostracizes a Sudra only because he / she is a Sudra, it is an ugly manifest of Jativada replacing Varna order in entirety.
If member of a Varna offers a favour / denies a favour on the grounds of Varna alone, irrespective of merits / demerits, it is blatant display of Jativada. That way, pursuit of reservations is yet another form of Jativada in contemporary India.
Sri Rama hugged Nisada Raja because He was not a casteist at all !! He gladly accepted wild fruits from a tribal devotee Sabari, that too already defiled by tasting that by herself, because Sri Rama was not a casteist. Had He been a casteist, He would not have even entered her humble straw hut leave alone accepting those defiled fruits. Scriptures are replete with such instances affirming and re-affirming, Jativada is not the forte of Manusmriti and it did not exist therein at all.
British Occupiers of Bharata appointed a few pseudo-scholars of Samskrita to defile and contaminate pristine and pure Manusmriti with the sole motif of Divide, Rule and Destroy Hindu society. It goes to the immense credit of Arya Samaja founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati which identified all additives and contaminants, sifted that out altogether to leave behind a Manusmriti, as sacrosanct as ever.
Then how and why did Varna order degenerate into Jativada at all ??
In the year 1871, British Occupiers who had forcibly grabbed power to govern Bharata, enacted a despotic, derogatory and discriminatory law, The Criminal Tribes Act to brand hundreds of occupational groups and communities, steeped in grinding poverty, as ‘Born Criminals’. The inhuman Act was first notified and enforced in northern provinces, followed by being extended to Bengal and other provinces. The Act notified 160 Hindu occupational communities as Castes, now known as ‘Dalita-s’ with criminality by inheritance on the ground that they were organized communities passing on acts of criminality viz. thievery, burglary, house-breaking, robbery, dacoity and counterfeiting of coins from one generation to another !! Total headcount of such branded tribes at that time stood at approximately six crores i.e. 60 millions constituting almost 30 percent of the Hindu population. Quite deviously, they did not include any Muslim group in this Roll of Dishonour. According to Census Report 1871, population of Bharata stood at 20,34,15,000 with Hindu-s constituting roughly 17 crores or so. Since all members of the so-called ‘Criminal Tribes’ were Hindu-s, British Occupiers reduced 30 percent of the Hindu population to the status of criminals by inheritance who were in reality, manual workers serving the entire society. And majority of them did not even know about the malevolent havoc wrought by those British Occupiers !! There is no other instance available in annals of world history wherein such a large body of human beings were codified and branded criminals before.
In the Criminal Tribes Bill introduced in 1871 by the British Jurist, JF Stephen (incidentally, he also authored The Indian Evidence Act), considerable emphasis was placed on the Theory of Hereditary Caste System which defined their background, upbringing and professions. The weird doctrine advanced by Stephen intended to deprive hapless poors of basic human rights and cripple their socio-economic development by restricting their mobility, “……. people from time immemorial have been pursuing the caste system defined job-positions, weaving, carpentry and such were hereditary jobs. So there must have been hereditary criminals also who pursued their forefathers’ profession.” The absurd law was thus, based on an irrational Christian assumption and not guided by any empirical research on ground at all. On another occasion he commented, “When we speak of professional criminals, we …… (mean) a tribe whose ancestors were criminals from time immemorial, who are themselves destined by the usage of caste to commit crime and whose descendants will be offenders against the law, until the whole tribe is exterminated or accounts for in the manner of thugs”. Ostensibly, these communities were forced into crime through a legal instrument of ex-communication and social boycott. It was later, intensified by Mughal occupiers too.
The inhuman discrimination continued for 76 long years i.e., for almost three generations. It was undone post-1947 by rescinding The Criminal Tribes Act. Throughout history of Hinduism, those occupational groups by now known as tribes and castes, were never ever condemned or branded as criminals by inheritance or otherwise. The grave human rights violation was enacted by British Despots alone and it was confined to that only. While British Occupiers degraded them as ‘Dalita-s’, it was so-called ‘Savarna-s’ who agitated for abolition of The Criminal Tribes Act as well as enactment of The Untouchability Offences Act 1955 and not really by Christians or Muslims. Subsequently, there have been several social reformers who relentlessly campaigned against the evil of social discrimination through untouchability. Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Lokmanya Tilaka, Vira Savarkara, MK Gandhi, Guru-s Ravidasa / Nanaka / Govinda Singh / Ramanuja then, Vira Brahmendra Swamy in AP, Mysuru Minister Basesvara, Minister Brahmananda Naidu in AP, GK Ranade, Mahatma Phule etc. have been pioneers of social equity and justice in subsequent years.
Ancient Bharata had several highly accomplished Souls who were torch-bearers of Hindu faith, held in a very high esteem. Maharishi Valmiki, author of Ramayana, was a fisherman and a highway robber who attained the status of ‘Maharsi’ by excelling in scriptures. Maharsi Veda Vyasa, author of Mahabharata was son of a fisher-woman. Vidura, Chief Minister of Hastinapura was son of a maid and an ardent devotee of Sri Krisna. Another sage from the ostracised groups who rose to prominence was Maharsi Matanga, Guru of Sabari, a Bhila woman whose berries were fondly relished by Sri Rama. It is believed that famous Hindu Monarch Candragupta Maurya rose from the Muria tribe who were traditionally ‘Mor Pankha’ i.e. peacock-feather collectors. Acarya Canakya, a Brahmana mentored him in raising Maurya dynasty when Hindu-s were threatened by Huns and Greeks. Let us celebrate facts that Sant Ravidasa, Guru of Mira Bai belonged to the occupational community of cobblers and Sant Namdeva belonged to the community of tailors. They were all held in greatest esteem by Brahmana-s, Ksatriya-s and Vaisya-s across the country. Large section of storm-troopers of Chhatrapati Sivaji included Kunbi-s and Mawali-s, members of castes declared as “criminal tribes” by British Occupiers of the country. Similarly, widely revered was Sant Tuka Rama, a Kunbi. Frankly, the divide between Hindu-s on the basis of high and low caste was accentuated by India’s erstwhile colonial rulers, first by Muslims, then by British Occupiers. Both occupiers pursued the policy of divide, rule and destroy. To avenge tyranny of Muslim invaders in Gujarat 1299 who had ransacked Somnatha Mandira and plundered Anhilwara, a posse of 40,000 Barwari soldiers reached Delhi, raided main Masjid at Siri and restored traditional Puja after installing Murty-s of Hindu deities. They all reverted to Hinduism thus, for a brief interregnum, Delhi was re-conquered from Muslim occupiers by warriors of Barwari community, branded by British Occupiers earlier.
It was Swami Vivekananda who advised deprived communities in Keralam to discontinue going after discriminating Savarna-s, identify one among themselves to emulate and be more self-contained. Dr. Palpu, a Medical Officer of Bangalore Municipality located such a person in Sri Narayana Guru of Ezhva community who rose to become a highly adored figure. The Swami even went to the extent of appealing to the deprived class to refuse to accept a Brahmana who declines to impart free education to them. He strongly believed that even men of renunciation must hold the cause of downtrodden close their hearts.
Today politicians are the most class and caste obsessed community in the country. They continue stoking fires to ensure the cauldron of society goes on boiling with casteism to harvest vote banks. The day these vote-seekers eschew casteist politics, the social menace shall die a natural death. Sooner it is accomplished, the better as it has already been procrastinated by six decades.
