4) Brahmin friend of mine at work. Brilliant fellow. Solid decent chap overall. I tell him about this article I read about how in some city, a non-Brahmin girl wasn't allowed to do Bharat Natyam (a classical Indian dance form that is widely taught) on some stage because she wasn't a Brahmin. I guess traditionally only Brahmin girls were allowed to perform it. Turns out he agrees with this decision.
5) I'm eating South Indian food with a colleague in Chennai (I suppose he was a Brahmin, but am not 100% sure). I love South Indian food. I comment to him how good the food is. He says, it's not as good as it used to be because in the past only Brahmins were allowed to cook at that restaurant, but now they allow anyone to cook. He knows I'm not a Brahmin, and still he thinks it's okay to say such things to my face.
It was just Bharat Natyam. A commonly taught classical dance form of India. But this performance hall denied her request to perform it because she wasn't a Brahmin.
Most of places I see it, is for economic reasons(priest job, reservations both are side of coins) and some have nothing to boost other than caste and no other incentives.
Always hoped education will get rid of this system that has turned evil, but that hope has also gone as western education system has nothing to offer. Probably some indigenous education reform might help, but would love to see some PhD or researched guy’s comment
Would love to see some solutions to this problem. One that I have heard is inter-caste marriage(haven’t researched much), but would love to see some more solutions for this problem or just no hope than another Shankaracharya.
If interested we can have website dedicated to solutions eradicate this system by offering people what this system gives them.
Also I think we can’t get rid of any system without offering replacement for it especially for huge and highly knitted society as Bharat.
All the super-progressive Indians I know in the U.S. are Brahmins. What's up with that?
It might be "compensation". It's like people who live in lily-white areas who constantly harp on about George Floyd. To show they're truly down with the struggle. But if a black man shows up in their neighborhood, they call the police on him.
Anyhow, being raised in a caste-agnostic surroundings I was quite underexposed to all this. Much later, I get into a premier institute in Kanpur and a senior grad student introduces himself to me thus, "Hi I am <insert name>. I am a high caste Rajput".
This is the first time I am meeting him and not even a minute had elapsed since our first eye contact. I am so dumbfounded by this I literally stand there at a loss for words. Finally I mumble "Congratulations" as I had no idea or prior exposure on how to react to such a situation.
It was written 1,000 years ago, but could have been written 75 years ago. It reads that fresh.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/text...
The level of oppression of lower castes (described in this book) is unbelievable, and remains partly practiced even today. The biggest problem was that you couldn't escape your caste ("caste" is derived from "cast", something you were locked, or cast, into).
1. Nobility
2. Clergy
3. Landowners & Merchants
4. Artisans
5. Outcasts - butchers, sanitary workers, undertakers ....
Some European countries still legally protect a lot of family names, which you would have to buy if you need a fancy royal name.
I have been involved in public exams in India. I think the best predictor for performance is how relevant your parents' education is, to your career, not caste per se.
To me, it sounds very illogical : like only wanting to rent or marry millionaires...
Since they need to ask I guess that this is not something obvious.
They hadn't asked me my name yet. I was taken to them by a rental intermediary. A guy who helped people find apartments. Online rental finding places, like Craigslist, weren't common back then (at least in India).
The most shocking thing about the experience to me was that even though it was illegal for them to deny me an apartment on the basis of my caste, there was simply nothing I could do about it. If I went to the police, it would be a whole other circus (bribes, inaction, etc.).
1. Sikhs & Gurkhas are warrior class, they are overrepresented in the military.
2. Parsi's are extraordinarily successful businessmen, they are among the wealthiest Indians.
3. Brahmins are extraordinarily successful academically.
4. Jains are successful businessmen.
In the case of [4] it is survival bias, being a true Jain is very hard and only the rich elite could adhere to it.
Some communities in India have had a head start or rather the barbaric colonial rule had pulled down much of the population to abject poverty and gave few people not in abject poverty a head start.
Equally there is a special hate campaign against Brahmins emanating from church as they are seen as guardians of high culture and scriptures.
As a vast majority of Indians have not converted to Islam or Christianity in spite of the hostile foreign occupation anywhere between 400 to a 1000 years, I can safely say we are all warriors and the last surviving major ancient civilisation.
The caste-debate is a two way street and is mostly kept alive by few vested interests. Among the youth it is mostly the "reservation" that exposes them to "Caste politics", as online education & private sector picks up it is going to be less relevant.
To be fair to Brahmins, as non-brahmin with a brahmin-like first name from Tamil Nadu I have been at the receiving end of the political-church driven hate campaigns that even teachers take part in.
I think we should not tolerate any kind of hate especially hate campaigns, esp. for the younger generation.
I'll just leave my comment here so that the truth is available for anyone who cares.
I'm a member of the so-called "upper castes", but not a Brahmin.
Parents were very bohemian, never taught me anything about caste.
Go to college in India. My best friend in college is a Brahmin. I knew that Brahmins were priests, didn't really know anything else about their ideology. One late night, well after we had established a very strong friendship, he starts to tell me about how Brahmins are superior to non-Brahmins. Tells me that because I was "x" caste, I was meant to do "y" types of jobs. And that I shouldn't try to compete with him in things where "pure IQ" was relevant. I pointed out to him that in the national Civil Service and IIT exams, people of my caste were usually the "toppers", and usually made up 40% to 60% of the top 10 selected. Routinely doing better than Brahmins. (In India the last name is associated with one's caste, and newspapers routinely publish names of "toppers" of these exams). He shrugged it off. The crazy part? In every other aspect of his character, he was such a good guy that we remained best friends for years after.
Upper castes will tell you there's no caste discrimination in India. Three more anecdotes:
1) I take up a one-year position with my job in Chennai. Go around looking for an apartment. Looked at 2 apartments in a nice neighborhood. First question the landlords asked me: are you a Brahmin? They told me they couldn't rent to me because I wasn't.
2) In my office in Chennai I become friendly with a lot of the female staff. They start to tease me one day that they're going to find me a girl to marry. "Don't worry, we'll find you a Brahmin." The kicker? They weren't Brahmins themselves. This is the level of self-hate the Brahmin has bred into non-Brahmins.
3) I now live and work in the U.S. A new hire, Indian, joins. Visits my office one day. Tells me he left India because he hates the caste system. I start warming to him. A little while later informs me that he's a very high Brahmin. Not an ordinary Brahmin, mind you, a high Brahmin.