Somehow I got to read a note "Brahman hi doshi kyon" by Jeet Sharma Manav . I found his perspective a little personal and thus felt the need of sharing my point of view with him & his friends who commented on his note.
Generally, when we present a point of view, it needs to be more general and broad, keeping the facts right. It is not about one person, it is about how this opinion got formed. When an opinion gets formed, it is not because of one person's good or bad deed but what the majority contributes in order to give such an impression. We all know there are four main castes recognized by traditional Hindu society based primarily on hereditary occupation: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya & Sudras.
If we go back to history or history after independence, the educated & knowledgeable class (Brahmins, Kshatriya , Bhumiyars, Kayasthas and to a certain extent Vaishyas i.e. business class) were the ones who ruled or controlled the society and country in general. Brahmins were considered to be shastra-gyani, Kshatriya to be warriors, Bhumiyars to be land lords, and last but not the least Kayasthas to be intellectual or service class. Being educated and well-informed, most of the departments including governance went into the hands of the so-called forward class. Somehow, those that belonged to the ‘backward class’ were left neglected.
Before going into the human psyche, I would like to quote two different points of view given by Lord Krishna and Manu respectively. In the Gita, Lord Krishna says in Chapter 4 verse 13 " The fourfold caste has been created by Me according to the differentiation of Guna and Karma." Chapter 18, verse 40 the Lord says," There is no being on earth, or again in heaven among the gods, that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature.(tamas, rajas & sattva)" In verse 41 of chapter 18, He again says, "Of Brahamanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, as also the Sudras, O Arjuna, the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature." In contrast, Manu made the classification based on family lineage and hereditary occupation. It was enforced through a rigid code of conduct that was specific to each class and rooted in the dharmashastras of the later Vedic period.
As the time passes by, we are seeing the distorted version of not only the caste system but also certain practices like dowry, sati, superstition etc. Things which began with the intention of serving society & protecting the poor became the tool of exploitation. With globalization in modern times, we are realizing that we actually can live without a caste system. But the question is will it be that easy for people to let the control go so easily? We have ruled for hundreds of years and thus it has become the part of our psyche to be authoritative and ruthless. We all have taken advantage of the weaker and vulnerable at some point of time in our lives. Success and power blind us. The society that we are seeing today is actually the by-product of our own doings. Whenever, we have power in our hands we either treated the poor, shudras, or untouchables as insects or exploited their feelings for our own advantage. For example V.P. Singh further divided the already divided India on caste based reservation on the name of being the saviour of the backward class . Similarly, on the name of puja-paath and to meet their own ends meet, Brahmins made the society superstitious. The same applies to Rajputs & Bhumiyars, who used their bravery, power & richness to exploit the poor. We still have bonded labourers in the villages working for them. This all is still happening because of our old mindset passed on to us from generations. Our sense of being superior in mindset creates a hierarchy of superior/inferior on the basis of caste.
We forget that every person is born equally worthy, a spiritual being with a physical body, a child of God and a child of man. Every person is born dependent on others to fulfill their vital physical and psychological human needs - just as food, air and water are vital human needs, so, also are love, truth, unity and most of all, human dignity.
Now when the tables have been turned and we see Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Yadav coming in power on the name of Dalit and doing the same thing which their contemporary high caste colleagues are doing, we wonder. What surprises me is our own stupid belief of expecting them to turn into some kind of Messiah for the poor and the destitutes. We forget that human psyche never changes. The same psyche of being powerful and ruthless actually work - the sense of superiority compel them to do what they are doing. How many people coming from poor or destitute backgrounds have served the society (very few - we always can find exceptions)? They themselves are busy in making money and making themselves powerful.
So to conclude, we can say that there are actually two castes only - the rich and the poor, the ruler & the ruled, the oppressor and the oppressed. But things are changing. People are realizing the power of education and trying to empower themselves with knowledge. It will take some time but eventually the change will come.
