SHUDRAS AND UNTOUCHABLES
Indian Society has been theoretically divided in four classes – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. The basis of this division was personal qualities and functions of members of each class.
The first of these included those who were intellectuals, poets and thinkers and devoted to conservation and preservation of ancient ideals and cultural heritage and probing mysteries of the universe, investigating relationship between Brahma, the supreme spirit and the individual soul.
The second class comprising Kshatriyas was charged with the task of protecting the people, defending them against foreign invasions and controlling crimes and revolts.
The third class constituting of Vaishyas represented the productive and commercial wings of the society. In the entire social set up the Vaishyas were in charge of agriculture, industry and commerce.
The Shudra class consisted of men physically strong and capable of doing good physical work, but intellectually dull and incapable of comprehending abstract ideas. Their normal functions were to render service to the society and practice various crafts.
The Aryan community was further enlarged by the assimilation of a number of tribes of hunters and gatherers etc. who were at various cultural levels. The conversion of these primitive people was done not by forcing Aryan culture upon them but by the slow process of infiltration and absorption which still continue. As a part of well-defined policy they were given full freedom to perform their normal functions and maintain and also preserve their customs and manners without let or hindrance. These people normally continued to live at their own lands in forests or on borders (anta) of the villages and so they have been described as antyavasi, antyaja and sometimes classed as the fifth varna or class.
The change of varna was possible in the early period. Vishvamitra, a Kshatriya renouncing his martial profession, practiced penances and became a Rishi, composer of hymns and a gotrakara, founder of a gotra named Kaushik. On the other hand some Brahmin families like the jamadagins, prominent among them were Parashuram and Bharadvajas such as Drona and his son Ashvatthama took to martial profession. In historical times, Pallavas, Shungas and Karvas were Brahmin scions who became kings and marriages – particularly in anuloma form in which boys of higher castes married girls of lower castes were not infrequent.
There are hymns in the Rigveda composed by Shudras. Satyakama Jabala is a famous example of this change. He was the son of a slave girl who becomes a Rishi.
It was in later periods that the caste system assumed a rigid form and the caste of the mother and not the father became the sole basis for the determination of the caste of a person.
In the medieval period (1000 A.D., onward) the Shudras like the other three varnas, viz the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya were divided and sub-divided into several castes and sub-castes. Many Vaishya communities who were in closer contact with Shudras were downgraded to the status of the Shudras and many Shudras who had made fortunes in their profession were elevated to the rank of the Vaishyas. Some Shudras founded kingdoms of their own and so they were assimilated in the warrior Caste and their court poets and priests fabricated genealogies to prove that they belonged to the Surya and Chandra Vamsha. Thus there were two distinct classes of Shudras, i.e. Sat-Shudras or good Shudras and a satshudras and contact with the former was permitted but with the other it was prohibited. The notion of higher and lower castes among Shudras also became deep rooted.
Untouchability: It is the darkest and the worst stigma on the face of Hindu society. It has been statutorily banned and with the spread of modern education it has become a thing of the past, particularly in urban areas. However sporadic cases of atrocities on Dalits, mostly based on economic interests, still come to light from rural areas.
Early Buddhist sources mention five despised castes ( hina jaati) - Chandala, Nishada, Vena, Rathakara and Pukkasa. (Majjhimanikaya 3.3.9) They were aboriginal tribes and were absorbed in the Aryan society. Contact with the air that touched a Chandala was regarded as pollution (Jataka iii, 233). Eating food cooked by him even unknowingly led to social ostracism. From a jataka (iv, 387) story we come to know that as many as 16,000 Brahmins lost their caste because they unknowingly ate food polluted by its contact with the leavings of Chandala's food.
Chandala - They were a tribe of hunters that has been absorbed in the Aryan society by the slow process of assimilation. But they continued to pursue their own profession and maintained their own life style. They were assigned the task of removing carcasses and corpses and worked as sweepers and scavengers and also professional executioners.
Nishada - They were one of the wild aboriginal tribes, consisting of hunters, fowlers, fishermen etc.
Vena - Venas were a tribe that lived by hunting. They were also musicians and probably played wind-instruments. While playing these instruments they had to put them to their mouths, after they had been touched by saliva which is one of the excretions from the human body for which Hindus have a great horror.
Rathakara - They were not an aboriginal tribe. They pursued the profession of making chariots. Although chariot makers were included in the despised castes in the Buddhist texts, they enjoyed high social position in the early Brahmanical literature. Rathakaras worked with leather and also helped in the conduct of wars for which Buddhists had an aversion. This may be the reason for their being degraded to the status of Chandala.
Pukkasa - Manu as usual has tried to explain the oirgin of Pukkasas, an aboriginal tribe to the theory of Varnasankara, mixed caste – a Nishada male and a Shudra- woman. But the Pukkasas were a tribe who lived by hunting. They were assimilated in the Aryan society and assigned the duty of removing flowers from the royal palaces and temples (Jataka iii, 195). The fact that they were allowed entry into palaces and temples shows that they were not equated with Chandala.
Dom - Amarakosha, a Sanskrit lexicon compiled during the Gupta period (4-6th Cen. A.D.) gives ten names of Chandala, suggesting that the number of despised or untouchable castes had increased by that time. This is also confirmed by evidences found in the Jain literature. The most prominent among these castes are Doms who are found in large numbers in North India. Some wild tribes such as Kirata, Kola, Shabara, Pulinda and Mlechchha are included in the Shudra varga in Amarakosha. It shows the digestive capacity of Hinduism to bring as many local tribes as possible in the Hindu fold.
Doms and Chandala were employed in health services in cities and villages. Occupation of hunters and dealers in fish and meat were reserved for them. They were also assigned a place in social hierarchy. The Dharmashastras envisaged a fourfold order. But in practice it was a hierarchy of several groups, ranged according to the cultural standard attained by each of them with intervening groups to accommodate those born of social fusion. This hierarchy was cultural, not racial.
While chaturvarnya (fourfold class) system was in the process of assimilating these forest tribes by making peace with them and allowing them to live undisturbed on their forest lands and on the outskirts of cities and villages and observe their customs and manners without any restriction, it had been a very severe strain caused by the need of absorbing and Aryanising the foreigners like the Greeks, Scythians (Shakas), Kushanas, Hunas etc. who came to India through the north-west frontier passes in large numbers as conquerors and settled down permanently in the hospitable regions of north and west India. They were called Vratas .
Vratyas: Vratya were those people in Aryan parlance who were originally Aryans but due to some reason or other had given up observance of Aryan rules of conduct. They could be readmitted in the Aryan fold according to their vocations, provided they performed some purificatory rites. As a significant change came over in the entire structure of society, the Chaturvarnya system assumed a form of an organization of independent castes, instead of fourfold social order. Outsiders were allowed to join and be benefited by it but not so rapidly as to disturb the social equilibrium. Thus an opportunity was given to those who were quite alien to the Indian culture to rise and adjust them in the social order gradually without endangering the stability of the entire existing order.
The Hindu society, however, lost its open outlook which the twice born castes, the Brahmin, the Kshatriya and the Vaishya as a fundamentally one unit had bestowed upon it. The social structure grew inelastic as the time passed and the caste system became rigid. Rigidity is but natural in such situations. An alloy is always harder and stiffer and also inelastic than the original metal or metals of which it is made of.
The change of attitude towards the Shudras is reflected in their social position. Social disabilities varying from comparative laxity to extreme rigidity were thrust upon them. Whereas in earlier times the food cooked by a Shudra was freely taken by all sections of the society including the Brahmins and could even be served to Gods in the changed circumstances eating food even touched by a Shudra was condemned. But a contemporary writer explained that the prohibition referred to food touched by condemned Shudras, while the food touched by good Shudras could be eaten provided it was uncooked.
As regards the degraded castes, rigidity in the sphere of social contacts with them went on increasing resulting in a stricter enforcement of rules of untouchability.
Varnasankara - Various theories have been propounded regarding the origin of untouchability. The explanation given by Dharmasutras and elaborated by Smrities, such as Manu Smriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti that it was due to intermixture of castes – Varnasankara is not acceptable. It is also said that certain crafts and occupations were held in low esteem by the upper castes. Some authors hold the view that untouchablity originated with the notion of impurity of certain occupations. This argument appears to have some force because on this ground untouchability in varying degrees is practiced in many countries such as Malaysia. Even in an advanced country like Japan leather workers had to suffer the stigma of untouchability. About a decade ago it was reported that a Japanese girl who had unknowingly married a boy belonging to this unfortunate class committed suicide.
Reasons for untouchability: One of the reasons for the origin of untouchability was the cultural backwardness of aboriginal tribes who were hunters and fowlers and their cultural level was low in contrast to the high level of culture attained by Aryans.
Glimpses of backwardness of these tribes are first noticed in the Buddhist literature. The Majjhima Nikaya records :
"A fool should he become a human being after the lapse of a very long time, comes into one of the low classes – Chandala, Nishada, Vena, Rathakara (leatherworker), and Pukkasa – he is reborn to a life of Vagrancy, pecuniary want scarcely getting food and drink for his stomach or clothes to cover his body."( Majjhima 3.3.90)
At first sight this would indicate the precarious living of these low castes. But by analyzing this description of their pitiable condition more closely we discover that this is a typical attitude of the upper castes towards them. The Buddha was no exception to it. Their food habits and scanty dresses caused a violent reaction among the so called civilized societies.
Abbe Dubois a French Roman Catholic priest who came to India in 1792 and remained until 1806 A.D. attached to the Pondicherry Mission has written about his own contact with some forest tribes of Malabar. He writes :
"These savages live in the forests but have no fixed abodes. After staying for one or two years in one place they move on to another. Having selected the spot for their temporary sojourn, they surround it with a kind of hedge and each family chooses a little patch of ground which is dug up with a sharp piece of wood hardened in the fire. They sow some seeds and grow a great many pumpkins, cucumbers and other vegetables and on these they live for two or three months in a year. They have little or no intercourse with more civilized inhabitants of the neighborhood. The latter prefer to keep them at a distance from their houses as they stand in considerable dread with them as sorcerers or mischievous people."( Duboi: Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies p.84)
"….These poor wretches wear no clothes, a woman's only covering being a few leaves sewn together and tied round the waist… They find enough food to satisfy their wants in the forest. Roots and other natural products of earth, snakes and animals that they can snare or catch up, honey that they find on the rugged rocks or on the tops of trees which they climb with the agility of a monkey. All these furnish them with means of satisfying their cravings and hunger. Less intelligent than even natives of Africa, these savages do not possess bows and arrows which they do not know how to use …..
"Both men and women occupy themselves in making bamboo mats, baskets, hampers etc. which they exchange with inhabitants of more civilized counter parts for salt, pepper, grain etc." ."( Duboi: ibid p.85)
About another forest tribe Dubois writes :
"They live in forests and their principal occupation is to extract the juice of palm tree, part of which they drink and the rest they sell. Their women climb up the trees to obtain it and they do so in surprisingly agile manner. These people always go about naked. The women wear a little rag which flutters about in the wind and most imperfectly covers that portion of their bodies which it is supposed to hide. During one of the expeditions which the last Sultan of Mysore (Tipu) made into the mountains he met a herd of these savages and was much shocked at their state of nudity … The Sultan, therefore, caused their headmen to be brought before him and asked them why they and their women did not cover their bodies more decently. They excused themselves on the plea of poverty and that it was the custom of their caste. Tipu replied that he must require them to wear clothing like other inhabitants of the country. And if they had not the means wherewith to buy it, he would every year provide them gratuitously with cotton clothes necessary for the purpose. The savages, however, though urged by the Sultan, made humble remonstrance and begged hard to be allowed to dispense with the encumbrance of clothing. They finally told him that if forced to wear clothing, contrary to rules of their caste, they would all leave the country and rather than put up so great an inconvenience they preferred to go to and live in some distant forest, where they would be allowed to follow their customs unmolested. The Sultan was obliged to give way." . ( op.cit p.87)
About the most disgusting and revolting kind of food some of these men ate, Duboi wrote :
"Attracted by the smell they would collect in crowds for the spoil with the dogs, jackals, crows and other carnivorous animals. Then they divided the semi-putrid flesh and carried it away to their huts where they devoured it, often without rice or anything else. That the animal should have died of disease was of no consequence to them and they sometimes secretly poisoned cows or buffaloes so that they may subsequently feast on fouls, putrifying remains. The carcasses of animals that died in the village belonged by right to the scavenger, who sold the flesh at a very low price to his caste men. When it was impossible to consume in one day the stock of the meat thus obtained, they dried the remainder in the sun and kept it in their huts. Persons passing near their villages quickly perceived it and avoided the villages" …
“Is it to be wondered, after what has been justback stated that other castes should hold this in abhorrence?. Can they be blamed for refusing to hold any communication with such savages or for obliging them to keep themselves aloof and to live in separate hamlets”
"People who abstain entirely from the animal food acquire such an acute sense of smell that they perceive in a moment from the breath of the person or his sweat if he has eaten meat or not and that too even after twenty four hours. ."( op cit p.61.62) "
Description of such villages is frequently met with in ancient literature.
Beef eating- taboo to a Hindu- Beef eating has not only been taboo to a Hindu, the bare idea of eating it, even unknowingly, is ineffaceable defilement. As early as in the period of Rigveda cow has been declared aghnya 'not to be stain'. This invincible repugnance for cow-slaughter to some appear to be a superstition, but this is not so. Hindus have placed the cow among principal deities, on very sensible grounds. Hindu law-givers had recognized the usefulness of this animal to the mankind, in all places and all circumstances. It was particularly valuable in a country like India where there is no other beast available for tilling or for transporting agricultural and commercial products. Cow-milk is an indispensable addition to the diet of the poorest of the poor who get their animal protein from it. This was not the only reason for protecting the cow. Beef is indigestible in Indian climatic conditions as organs of the human stomach are so much weakened by excessive perspiration as the habitual eating of heavy food destroys the health of the people.
The excessive heat in India burns up all the pastures and there is very little left to feed the cattle. Therefore the danger of mass deaths of animals is always there. Cattle multiply slowly. Hence a religious injunction to protest the cow was absolutely necessary from the point of economy. Meat being tasteless in the hot climates, milk and butter obtained from the cow become the chief items of food.The cow dung is the most useful organic manure for the soil.
Taking into account all these factors killing of cows and beef eating were forbidden by Hindu-law givers. They were aware of the weaknesses of their compatriots. They knew that mere injunction not to kill cows, like speaking the truth, would not be enough to save these precious animals. By making cow-protection an integral part of religion and deifying the cow was a deliberate and well considered decision. According to the principles of Hindu law cow-killing is not only a crime, but an awful sacrilege also, which can never be forgiven. Certain castes were, however, allowed to carry the cattle, which had died of old age or disease and eat its flesh. But they were treated as untouchables and outcastes for beef eating.
Monier-Williams in his book on Hinduism has observed, "Happy for the Hindus, the cow which supplies them their only animal food, milk and butter and the ox, which helps to till their ground, were declared sacred at an early period. Had it not been so, this useful animal might have been exterminated in times of famine. What is now a superstition had its origin, like some other superstitions, in a wise foresight."
It may be mentioned that touching a copse is regarded a taboo. The person who touches a corpse is segregated for a period. He is shunned by other members of the society for religious or semi-religious reasons. This practice is based on the contagious nature of the corpse. Kinsmen of the dead person due to their contact with him, during his sickness and after death were separated from the society on sanitary grounds. Of course it is a temporary measure limited to a defined period irrespective of the caste, but in the case of beefeaters restriction was permanent and for the entire caste.
Thanks to the efforts of modern reformers even those castes that ate flesh of the cattle which had died natural death have been forbidden by their caste associations and practicing untouchability in any form has been made a cognizable offence.
Veda and Shudras : Varna system has been faulted on many counts. It has been particularly criticized that the right to recite and chant Veda mantras has been reserved for the Brahmins and the Shudras have been particularly forbidden to recite the mantras. We have already discussed the causes elsewhere that led to this practice and also seen why the right to recite the Veda-mantras was taken away from the Shudras and later on from the women folk as a whole.
The Chhandasa, i.e. the language in which the mantras of the Rigveda were composed had already become 'an archaic' speech by the time of Panini, the great grammarian and linguist (C. 5th Cen. B.C.) and the classical Sanskrit was fully established as the language of even the Brahmins Panini has named it Laukika, i.e. popular speech as against the Chhandasa, the archaic Sanskrit which the shishtas, i.e. the learned men used, whereas the rest of the people, the general masses spoke Prakrit, i.e. the vernacular language spoken in different regions under different names.
The number of Brahmins who devoted themselves to learning Vedas by heart (Vedaparaga) was very insignificant. And also most of them did not know the meaning of the mantras they chanted. The theoretical prohibition against the women and Shudras was therefore, meaningless. Interestingly the Shudras themselves never revolted or even complained against this discrimination even once during the entire ancient and the medieval periods.
If reciting the exact text of the Veda mantra was denied to the Shudra, nothing of substance was denied to him. He was the custodian of industrial and fine arts. His growth in every department of life was unimpeded. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Gita and the Puranas and all other sacred books believed to be human composition have been open to study by all including Shudras. Chanting of Veda mantra was denied but not its contents – (Sasvarovedah asvarovedarthah.) The Veda chanted is Veda and the Veda without chanting is the meaning of Veda. The Mahabharata is considered fifth Veda, and Valmiki in his Ramayana (I, 177) says that his epic is no more, no less than the Veda (vedashcha sammitam). Elaborating this point he further says (I. 4, 5) that he has only brought out the purport (tatparya) of the Vedas. The Purana and Itihasa are full of stories of learned Brahmins approaching non-Brahmins, even Shudras for the solution of problems relating to Dharma. The position of these uninitiated Shudras was not inferior in this regard. The story of Dharma Vyadh as related in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata illustrates this point. According to the story, a great Brahmin scholar named Kaushik who had attained great siddhi goes in search of Dharma Vyadh – a butcher by profession for enlightenment about some finer points of Dharma.
The gifted authors of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas have incorporated ancient historical and religious traditions and woven them into narratives, anecdotes, episodes and homilies which have moulded the life of the people at large in India and countries of South and South East Asia. The avowed purpose of these writings was to diffuse their essence through popular expositions of inherited inherent truths and messages. To depict Dharma as the chief factor in shaping the human life is the underlying motive of these great books. They were actually manuals of ethics. Religious discourses have moulded the minds of the people through the ages that turned towards Dharma and restrained them from committing sinful acts.
The task of moral and ethical education of the masses was entrusted to the Pathakas who recited stories and expounded their messages in a simple popular language that found a permanent place in the hearts of masses.
King Ashoka (3rd century B.C.) got these rules of moral conduct engraved on rocks and pillars. Later a Greek ambassador in the court of Vidisha mentions, three immortal precepts – dama (restraint), tyaga (sacrifice) and apramada (alertness) directly taken from the Mahabharata (iv, 48, 14)
In the Mrichchhakatikam, a Sanskrit drama there is a scene in the 8th Act. The main characters in this episode are Shakara, a fool and a wicked man drawing his power from his relationship with the king. The sister of this rogue had found entry in the king's harem. The other characters are a Vita, born in a rich family of learned Brahmins. He had squandered his wealth by leading a life of abandon. However, he is an accomplished connoisseur of art and gentlemen to the core. There is an unlettered cart man, the humble servant of Shakara, condemned to a life of utter poverty. The heroine of the drama is Vasantasena, a famous courtesan of Ujjaini, very rich and endowed with high moral character, unlike ordinary girls of her profession. She had spurned the overtures of Shakara, which made him her bitter enemy. The conversation between them is as follows :
Shakara (to Vita) : If you wish to wear a large shawl with long fringes and hundreds of tussles and eat meat to your full satisfaction munching with sound – chuh, chuh, chukku, chuh, chuh.
Vita : What am I to do ?
Shakara : Do as I tell you.
Vita : Oh! Yes, I shall do everything except what is akarya, (improper).
Shakara : Venerable Sir, There is not even the least smell of impropriety, in it.
Vita : Then tell me what am I to do ?
Shakara : Kill Vasantasena.
Vita (plugging his ears) : She is a young woman, an ornament of this city, a courtesan, so unlike her class in her approach to love, so innocent. How can I kill her ? Where shall I find a boat to cross the river of the next world (paraloka).
Shakara : I shall give you the boat. Again, who is here to observe you in this deserted garden.
Vita : The ten quarters are watching me, as also the forest goddess. The moon, the blazing Sun with his hot rays. Dharma (the god of piety), the wind, the sky and my own inner soul, the goddess earth her self. All of them are witnesses of my deeds, good and bad.
Shakara : Then cover yourself with a cloak and kill her.
Vita : O, fool, you are a vile wretch and have lost all sense of right or wrong.
Shakara (to himself) : This old hog is afraid of committing a sin (adharma). All right, I shall win over my servant Sthavaraka. (Aloud) My son, Sthavaraka, I will give you golden bracelets.
Cheta : I will wear them, sir.
Shakara : I will give you a golden seat (Peedha).
Cheta : I will sit on it.
Shakara : I will give you all my leavings of food.
Cheta : I will eat them.
Shakara : I shall make you the chief of all my servants.
Cheta : Oh! My master! I will accept that.
Shakara : Then do, what I ask you.
Cheta : I will do everything except what is akarya, improper.
Shakara : There is not even the least smell of improperly in it.
Cheta: Master, tell me that what am I to do.
Shakara : Kill this Vasantasena.
Cheta : May you be pleased master. I the ignoble one have brought this noble lady unknowingly by an interchange of carts.
Shakara : My servant, am I not your master ?
Cheta : Master, certainly you are. You are master of my body but not of my morals (charitra). So please, excuse me, please excuse me. I am indeed afraid.
Shakara : Being my servant, of whom are you afraid ?
Cheta : Master, I am afraid of the next world.
Shakara : What is that next world (paralok)?
Cheta : Master, it is the consequence of one's own good or bad deeds.
Shakara : What is the consequence of good deeds ?
Cheta: It is just like you who are wearing so many golden ornaments.
Shakara : What is the consequence of bad deeds ?
Cheta: It is just like me who am so dependent on the food given by others. I shall, therefore, not do any improper deed (akarya).
Shakara : What? Will you not kill her ?
Cheta : You may beat me, Master, you may kill me. But I will not do anything sinful (akarya). By my ill luck I have been created a born slave. I will not do a sinful act anymore. I will hence avoid doing sinful deeds.
Shakara (to himself) : That old jackal is afraid of sin and this born slave fears the next world (paralok).
This episode in an ancient drama gives a good picture of the Indian society with regard to the cultural upbringing of the masses and classes. On the one hand, there is a high born Brahmin, a Shishta, steeped in the fragrance of Vedic lore and gifted with aesthetic perception, a thorough gentleman who knows what sadachara good conduct is, and what is Dharma – righteousness and what is sin. On the other hand, there is a low-born cart driver, soaked in the mire of utter poverty but basically honest, good-natured and God fearing. He is unlettered (nirakshara) but not uneducated (ashikshita). Both of them are placed in the same situation in which Shakara, the wickedness incarnate asked them separately to kill Vasantasena, an innocent young woman, which they abhor doing and refuse to oblige him in spite of temptations. The two persons coming from totally different strata of the society having different outlooks of life basically agree on the point what is Dharma and what is sin, what is proper and what is improper. The argument given by Vita is more refined and sophisticated. In the case of the servant cart man it is crude but simple, though equally effective. Analyzing from different view points they come to the same correct decision. Vita is afraid of the sin which will drive him to Naraka – hell, and the cart man hopes to obtain good fruits in the next world provided he avoids doing improper deeds and performs good acts.
Right conduct is the aim of good education. The teacher in his last address to the student, as given in the Upanishad said, 'Speak and act according to dharma". This was the essence of the Vedas which permeates through the entire course of Indian history in different shapes and different words. It has been presented forcefully in the Ramayana and Mahabharata the literary image of Aryan India. It was more forcefully presented by conjuring pictures of heaven and hell as the reward and punishment for good and bad deeds. The fertile human imagination has created horrors of punishment for calibrated violations of the moral conduct by the sinning people to frighten them from doing sinful deeds, and to encourage the people to do good deeds by promising those fruits of the heaven.
An interesting method of visually representing hell and heaven was conceived in India in the form of Yamapata which was very popular among the masses and used to be carried about in the streets and explained by picture showmen with a rare skill in exposition that made men and women, young and old, learned and illiterate, pause a while to take the lesson and avoid misdeeds. The picture showman carried scrolls containing elaborate scenes of torments inflicted in the hell and of pleasures enjoyed in the heaven according to individuals deeds as fruits thereof.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata the two great epics of India, comprising Itihasa and Purana, have been studied for the correct interpretation of the Vedas. For more than two thousand years they have been influencing deeply the religious and moral thoughts as well as the successive literary productions of Indians of all classes and castes. They have moulded the character and morals of the Indian masses.
The Bhakti movement in the medieval period also contributed to leveling caste barriers and proclaiming spiritual equality of devotees. Various Bhakti schools have produced large numbers of non-caste saints equally revered by all Hindus. This is particularly true of the period during the Mohammedan rule. Interestingly they have all been singer-poets. Prominent among them are Kabir a weaver, Raidasa – a cobbler, Dadu – a carder, Surdas and Tulsidas, two eminent Brahmins Their verses are aflame with the fire of imagination. Their religious emotion had its spring in the depth of philosophy that dealt with fundamental questions like the ultimate meaning of existence. Their songs are not meant for the learned gatherings only but they are also sung in the villages and listened to by men and women who are illiterate. By this we realize how the basic tenets of Hinduism have permeated the life of the people of India, cutting across all the barriers of caste and creed and have sunk deep into the subconscious mind of the people. This also explains why the so-called depressed classes never revolted against the inequality thrust upon them as some people want us to believe.
Our western critics whose own countrymen wherever they went when confronted by a close contact with non-whites, in America, Africa or Australia found no solution to the problem except extermination or expulsion by physical force and whose attitude towards darker races has always been aggressive and contemptuous; are quick to judge us with a sense of superiority while comparing our history with their own. They should keep in mind that the Indian civilization from the very beginning had to carry a heavier burden on its shoulders. India is only one country where the Aryans made constant adjustments with the people who vastly outnumbered them, who were physically and mentally alien to their own race and who were for the most part distinctly inferior to the invaders. Europe on the other hand is one whole in respect of dress, custom, culture and with some variations, habits. Yet its people, although only politically divided are perpetually making for deadly combats wherein the entire population indulged in ferocity unparalleled in the history of barbarism
The first of these included those who were intellectuals, poets and thinkers and devoted to conservation and preservation of ancient ideals and cultural heritage and probing mysteries of the universe, investigating relationship between Brahma, the supreme spirit and the individual soul.
The second class comprising Kshatriyas was charged with the task of protecting the people, defending them against foreign invasions and controlling crimes and revolts.
The third class constituting of Vaishyas represented the productive and commercial wings of the society. In the entire social set up the Vaishyas were in charge of agriculture, industry and commerce.
The Shudra class consisted of men physically strong and capable of doing good physical work, but intellectually dull and incapable of comprehending abstract ideas. Their normal functions were to render service to the society and practice various crafts.
The Aryan community was further enlarged by the assimilation of a number of tribes of hunters and gatherers etc. who were at various cultural levels. The conversion of these primitive people was done not by forcing Aryan culture upon them but by the slow process of infiltration and absorption which still continue. As a part of well-defined policy they were given full freedom to perform their normal functions and maintain and also preserve their customs and manners without let or hindrance. These people normally continued to live at their own lands in forests or on borders (anta) of the villages and so they have been described as antyavasi, antyaja and sometimes classed as the fifth varna or class.
The change of varna was possible in the early period. Vishvamitra, a Kshatriya renouncing his martial profession, practiced penances and became a Rishi, composer of hymns and a gotrakara, founder of a gotra named Kaushik. On the other hand some Brahmin families like the jamadagins, prominent among them were Parashuram and Bharadvajas such as Drona and his son Ashvatthama took to martial profession. In historical times, Pallavas, Shungas and Karvas were Brahmin scions who became kings and marriages – particularly in anuloma form in which boys of higher castes married girls of lower castes were not infrequent.
There are hymns in the Rigveda composed by Shudras. Satyakama Jabala is a famous example of this change. He was the son of a slave girl who becomes a Rishi.
It was in later periods that the caste system assumed a rigid form and the caste of the mother and not the father became the sole basis for the determination of the caste of a person.
In the medieval period (1000 A.D., onward) the Shudras like the other three varnas, viz the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya were divided and sub-divided into several castes and sub-castes. Many Vaishya communities who were in closer contact with Shudras were downgraded to the status of the Shudras and many Shudras who had made fortunes in their profession were elevated to the rank of the Vaishyas. Some Shudras founded kingdoms of their own and so they were assimilated in the warrior Caste and their court poets and priests fabricated genealogies to prove that they belonged to the Surya and Chandra Vamsha. Thus there were two distinct classes of Shudras, i.e. Sat-Shudras or good Shudras and a satshudras and contact with the former was permitted but with the other it was prohibited. The notion of higher and lower castes among Shudras also became deep rooted.
Untouchability: It is the darkest and the worst stigma on the face of Hindu society. It has been statutorily banned and with the spread of modern education it has become a thing of the past, particularly in urban areas. However sporadic cases of atrocities on Dalits, mostly based on economic interests, still come to light from rural areas.
Early Buddhist sources mention five despised castes ( hina jaati) - Chandala, Nishada, Vena, Rathakara and Pukkasa. (Majjhimanikaya 3.3.9) They were aboriginal tribes and were absorbed in the Aryan society. Contact with the air that touched a Chandala was regarded as pollution (Jataka iii, 233). Eating food cooked by him even unknowingly led to social ostracism. From a jataka (iv, 387) story we come to know that as many as 16,000 Brahmins lost their caste because they unknowingly ate food polluted by its contact with the leavings of Chandala's food.
Chandala - They were a tribe of hunters that has been absorbed in the Aryan society by the slow process of assimilation. But they continued to pursue their own profession and maintained their own life style. They were assigned the task of removing carcasses and corpses and worked as sweepers and scavengers and also professional executioners.
Nishada - They were one of the wild aboriginal tribes, consisting of hunters, fowlers, fishermen etc.
Vena - Venas were a tribe that lived by hunting. They were also musicians and probably played wind-instruments. While playing these instruments they had to put them to their mouths, after they had been touched by saliva which is one of the excretions from the human body for which Hindus have a great horror.
Rathakara - They were not an aboriginal tribe. They pursued the profession of making chariots. Although chariot makers were included in the despised castes in the Buddhist texts, they enjoyed high social position in the early Brahmanical literature. Rathakaras worked with leather and also helped in the conduct of wars for which Buddhists had an aversion. This may be the reason for their being degraded to the status of Chandala.
Pukkasa - Manu as usual has tried to explain the oirgin of Pukkasas, an aboriginal tribe to the theory of Varnasankara, mixed caste – a Nishada male and a Shudra- woman. But the Pukkasas were a tribe who lived by hunting. They were assimilated in the Aryan society and assigned the duty of removing flowers from the royal palaces and temples (Jataka iii, 195). The fact that they were allowed entry into palaces and temples shows that they were not equated with Chandala.
Dom - Amarakosha, a Sanskrit lexicon compiled during the Gupta period (4-6th Cen. A.D.) gives ten names of Chandala, suggesting that the number of despised or untouchable castes had increased by that time. This is also confirmed by evidences found in the Jain literature. The most prominent among these castes are Doms who are found in large numbers in North India. Some wild tribes such as Kirata, Kola, Shabara, Pulinda and Mlechchha are included in the Shudra varga in Amarakosha. It shows the digestive capacity of Hinduism to bring as many local tribes as possible in the Hindu fold.
Doms and Chandala were employed in health services in cities and villages. Occupation of hunters and dealers in fish and meat were reserved for them. They were also assigned a place in social hierarchy. The Dharmashastras envisaged a fourfold order. But in practice it was a hierarchy of several groups, ranged according to the cultural standard attained by each of them with intervening groups to accommodate those born of social fusion. This hierarchy was cultural, not racial.
While chaturvarnya (fourfold class) system was in the process of assimilating these forest tribes by making peace with them and allowing them to live undisturbed on their forest lands and on the outskirts of cities and villages and observe their customs and manners without any restriction, it had been a very severe strain caused by the need of absorbing and Aryanising the foreigners like the Greeks, Scythians (Shakas), Kushanas, Hunas etc. who came to India through the north-west frontier passes in large numbers as conquerors and settled down permanently in the hospitable regions of north and west India. They were called Vratas .
Vratyas: Vratya were those people in Aryan parlance who were originally Aryans but due to some reason or other had given up observance of Aryan rules of conduct. They could be readmitted in the Aryan fold according to their vocations, provided they performed some purificatory rites. As a significant change came over in the entire structure of society, the Chaturvarnya system assumed a form of an organization of independent castes, instead of fourfold social order. Outsiders were allowed to join and be benefited by it but not so rapidly as to disturb the social equilibrium. Thus an opportunity was given to those who were quite alien to the Indian culture to rise and adjust them in the social order gradually without endangering the stability of the entire existing order.
The Hindu society, however, lost its open outlook which the twice born castes, the Brahmin, the Kshatriya and the Vaishya as a fundamentally one unit had bestowed upon it. The social structure grew inelastic as the time passed and the caste system became rigid. Rigidity is but natural in such situations. An alloy is always harder and stiffer and also inelastic than the original metal or metals of which it is made of.
The change of attitude towards the Shudras is reflected in their social position. Social disabilities varying from comparative laxity to extreme rigidity were thrust upon them. Whereas in earlier times the food cooked by a Shudra was freely taken by all sections of the society including the Brahmins and could even be served to Gods in the changed circumstances eating food even touched by a Shudra was condemned. But a contemporary writer explained that the prohibition referred to food touched by condemned Shudras, while the food touched by good Shudras could be eaten provided it was uncooked.
As regards the degraded castes, rigidity in the sphere of social contacts with them went on increasing resulting in a stricter enforcement of rules of untouchability.
Varnasankara - Various theories have been propounded regarding the origin of untouchability. The explanation given by Dharmasutras and elaborated by Smrities, such as Manu Smriti and Yajnavalkya Smriti that it was due to intermixture of castes – Varnasankara is not acceptable. It is also said that certain crafts and occupations were held in low esteem by the upper castes. Some authors hold the view that untouchablity originated with the notion of impurity of certain occupations. This argument appears to have some force because on this ground untouchability in varying degrees is practiced in many countries such as Malaysia. Even in an advanced country like Japan leather workers had to suffer the stigma of untouchability. About a decade ago it was reported that a Japanese girl who had unknowingly married a boy belonging to this unfortunate class committed suicide.
Reasons for untouchability: One of the reasons for the origin of untouchability was the cultural backwardness of aboriginal tribes who were hunters and fowlers and their cultural level was low in contrast to the high level of culture attained by Aryans.
Glimpses of backwardness of these tribes are first noticed in the Buddhist literature. The Majjhima Nikaya records :
"A fool should he become a human being after the lapse of a very long time, comes into one of the low classes – Chandala, Nishada, Vena, Rathakara (leatherworker), and Pukkasa – he is reborn to a life of Vagrancy, pecuniary want scarcely getting food and drink for his stomach or clothes to cover his body."( Majjhima 3.3.90)
At first sight this would indicate the precarious living of these low castes. But by analyzing this description of their pitiable condition more closely we discover that this is a typical attitude of the upper castes towards them. The Buddha was no exception to it. Their food habits and scanty dresses caused a violent reaction among the so called civilized societies.
Abbe Dubois a French Roman Catholic priest who came to India in 1792 and remained until 1806 A.D. attached to the Pondicherry Mission has written about his own contact with some forest tribes of Malabar. He writes :
"These savages live in the forests but have no fixed abodes. After staying for one or two years in one place they move on to another. Having selected the spot for their temporary sojourn, they surround it with a kind of hedge and each family chooses a little patch of ground which is dug up with a sharp piece of wood hardened in the fire. They sow some seeds and grow a great many pumpkins, cucumbers and other vegetables and on these they live for two or three months in a year. They have little or no intercourse with more civilized inhabitants of the neighborhood. The latter prefer to keep them at a distance from their houses as they stand in considerable dread with them as sorcerers or mischievous people."( Duboi: Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies p.84)
"….These poor wretches wear no clothes, a woman's only covering being a few leaves sewn together and tied round the waist… They find enough food to satisfy their wants in the forest. Roots and other natural products of earth, snakes and animals that they can snare or catch up, honey that they find on the rugged rocks or on the tops of trees which they climb with the agility of a monkey. All these furnish them with means of satisfying their cravings and hunger. Less intelligent than even natives of Africa, these savages do not possess bows and arrows which they do not know how to use …..
"Both men and women occupy themselves in making bamboo mats, baskets, hampers etc. which they exchange with inhabitants of more civilized counter parts for salt, pepper, grain etc." ."( Duboi: ibid p.85)
About another forest tribe Dubois writes :
"They live in forests and their principal occupation is to extract the juice of palm tree, part of which they drink and the rest they sell. Their women climb up the trees to obtain it and they do so in surprisingly agile manner. These people always go about naked. The women wear a little rag which flutters about in the wind and most imperfectly covers that portion of their bodies which it is supposed to hide. During one of the expeditions which the last Sultan of Mysore (Tipu) made into the mountains he met a herd of these savages and was much shocked at their state of nudity … The Sultan, therefore, caused their headmen to be brought before him and asked them why they and their women did not cover their bodies more decently. They excused themselves on the plea of poverty and that it was the custom of their caste. Tipu replied that he must require them to wear clothing like other inhabitants of the country. And if they had not the means wherewith to buy it, he would every year provide them gratuitously with cotton clothes necessary for the purpose. The savages, however, though urged by the Sultan, made humble remonstrance and begged hard to be allowed to dispense with the encumbrance of clothing. They finally told him that if forced to wear clothing, contrary to rules of their caste, they would all leave the country and rather than put up so great an inconvenience they preferred to go to and live in some distant forest, where they would be allowed to follow their customs unmolested. The Sultan was obliged to give way." . ( op.cit p.87)
About the most disgusting and revolting kind of food some of these men ate, Duboi wrote :
"Attracted by the smell they would collect in crowds for the spoil with the dogs, jackals, crows and other carnivorous animals. Then they divided the semi-putrid flesh and carried it away to their huts where they devoured it, often without rice or anything else. That the animal should have died of disease was of no consequence to them and they sometimes secretly poisoned cows or buffaloes so that they may subsequently feast on fouls, putrifying remains. The carcasses of animals that died in the village belonged by right to the scavenger, who sold the flesh at a very low price to his caste men. When it was impossible to consume in one day the stock of the meat thus obtained, they dried the remainder in the sun and kept it in their huts. Persons passing near their villages quickly perceived it and avoided the villages" …
“Is it to be wondered, after what has been justback stated that other castes should hold this in abhorrence?. Can they be blamed for refusing to hold any communication with such savages or for obliging them to keep themselves aloof and to live in separate hamlets”
"People who abstain entirely from the animal food acquire such an acute sense of smell that they perceive in a moment from the breath of the person or his sweat if he has eaten meat or not and that too even after twenty four hours. ."( op cit p.61.62) "
Description of such villages is frequently met with in ancient literature.
Beef eating- taboo to a Hindu- Beef eating has not only been taboo to a Hindu, the bare idea of eating it, even unknowingly, is ineffaceable defilement. As early as in the period of Rigveda cow has been declared aghnya 'not to be stain'. This invincible repugnance for cow-slaughter to some appear to be a superstition, but this is not so. Hindus have placed the cow among principal deities, on very sensible grounds. Hindu law-givers had recognized the usefulness of this animal to the mankind, in all places and all circumstances. It was particularly valuable in a country like India where there is no other beast available for tilling or for transporting agricultural and commercial products. Cow-milk is an indispensable addition to the diet of the poorest of the poor who get their animal protein from it. This was not the only reason for protecting the cow. Beef is indigestible in Indian climatic conditions as organs of the human stomach are so much weakened by excessive perspiration as the habitual eating of heavy food destroys the health of the people.
The excessive heat in India burns up all the pastures and there is very little left to feed the cattle. Therefore the danger of mass deaths of animals is always there. Cattle multiply slowly. Hence a religious injunction to protest the cow was absolutely necessary from the point of economy. Meat being tasteless in the hot climates, milk and butter obtained from the cow become the chief items of food.The cow dung is the most useful organic manure for the soil.
Taking into account all these factors killing of cows and beef eating were forbidden by Hindu-law givers. They were aware of the weaknesses of their compatriots. They knew that mere injunction not to kill cows, like speaking the truth, would not be enough to save these precious animals. By making cow-protection an integral part of religion and deifying the cow was a deliberate and well considered decision. According to the principles of Hindu law cow-killing is not only a crime, but an awful sacrilege also, which can never be forgiven. Certain castes were, however, allowed to carry the cattle, which had died of old age or disease and eat its flesh. But they were treated as untouchables and outcastes for beef eating.
Monier-Williams in his book on Hinduism has observed, "Happy for the Hindus, the cow which supplies them their only animal food, milk and butter and the ox, which helps to till their ground, were declared sacred at an early period. Had it not been so, this useful animal might have been exterminated in times of famine. What is now a superstition had its origin, like some other superstitions, in a wise foresight."
It may be mentioned that touching a copse is regarded a taboo. The person who touches a corpse is segregated for a period. He is shunned by other members of the society for religious or semi-religious reasons. This practice is based on the contagious nature of the corpse. Kinsmen of the dead person due to their contact with him, during his sickness and after death were separated from the society on sanitary grounds. Of course it is a temporary measure limited to a defined period irrespective of the caste, but in the case of beefeaters restriction was permanent and for the entire caste.
Thanks to the efforts of modern reformers even those castes that ate flesh of the cattle which had died natural death have been forbidden by their caste associations and practicing untouchability in any form has been made a cognizable offence.
Veda and Shudras : Varna system has been faulted on many counts. It has been particularly criticized that the right to recite and chant Veda mantras has been reserved for the Brahmins and the Shudras have been particularly forbidden to recite the mantras. We have already discussed the causes elsewhere that led to this practice and also seen why the right to recite the Veda-mantras was taken away from the Shudras and later on from the women folk as a whole.
The Chhandasa, i.e. the language in which the mantras of the Rigveda were composed had already become 'an archaic' speech by the time of Panini, the great grammarian and linguist (C. 5th Cen. B.C.) and the classical Sanskrit was fully established as the language of even the Brahmins Panini has named it Laukika, i.e. popular speech as against the Chhandasa, the archaic Sanskrit which the shishtas, i.e. the learned men used, whereas the rest of the people, the general masses spoke Prakrit, i.e. the vernacular language spoken in different regions under different names.
The number of Brahmins who devoted themselves to learning Vedas by heart (Vedaparaga) was very insignificant. And also most of them did not know the meaning of the mantras they chanted. The theoretical prohibition against the women and Shudras was therefore, meaningless. Interestingly the Shudras themselves never revolted or even complained against this discrimination even once during the entire ancient and the medieval periods.
If reciting the exact text of the Veda mantra was denied to the Shudra, nothing of substance was denied to him. He was the custodian of industrial and fine arts. His growth in every department of life was unimpeded. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, Gita and the Puranas and all other sacred books believed to be human composition have been open to study by all including Shudras. Chanting of Veda mantra was denied but not its contents – (Sasvarovedah asvarovedarthah.) The Veda chanted is Veda and the Veda without chanting is the meaning of Veda. The Mahabharata is considered fifth Veda, and Valmiki in his Ramayana (I, 177) says that his epic is no more, no less than the Veda (vedashcha sammitam). Elaborating this point he further says (I. 4, 5) that he has only brought out the purport (tatparya) of the Vedas. The Purana and Itihasa are full of stories of learned Brahmins approaching non-Brahmins, even Shudras for the solution of problems relating to Dharma. The position of these uninitiated Shudras was not inferior in this regard. The story of Dharma Vyadh as related in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata illustrates this point. According to the story, a great Brahmin scholar named Kaushik who had attained great siddhi goes in search of Dharma Vyadh – a butcher by profession for enlightenment about some finer points of Dharma.
The gifted authors of the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas have incorporated ancient historical and religious traditions and woven them into narratives, anecdotes, episodes and homilies which have moulded the life of the people at large in India and countries of South and South East Asia. The avowed purpose of these writings was to diffuse their essence through popular expositions of inherited inherent truths and messages. To depict Dharma as the chief factor in shaping the human life is the underlying motive of these great books. They were actually manuals of ethics. Religious discourses have moulded the minds of the people through the ages that turned towards Dharma and restrained them from committing sinful acts.
The task of moral and ethical education of the masses was entrusted to the Pathakas who recited stories and expounded their messages in a simple popular language that found a permanent place in the hearts of masses.
King Ashoka (3rd century B.C.) got these rules of moral conduct engraved on rocks and pillars. Later a Greek ambassador in the court of Vidisha mentions, three immortal precepts – dama (restraint), tyaga (sacrifice) and apramada (alertness) directly taken from the Mahabharata (iv, 48, 14)
In the Mrichchhakatikam, a Sanskrit drama there is a scene in the 8th Act. The main characters in this episode are Shakara, a fool and a wicked man drawing his power from his relationship with the king. The sister of this rogue had found entry in the king's harem. The other characters are a Vita, born in a rich family of learned Brahmins. He had squandered his wealth by leading a life of abandon. However, he is an accomplished connoisseur of art and gentlemen to the core. There is an unlettered cart man, the humble servant of Shakara, condemned to a life of utter poverty. The heroine of the drama is Vasantasena, a famous courtesan of Ujjaini, very rich and endowed with high moral character, unlike ordinary girls of her profession. She had spurned the overtures of Shakara, which made him her bitter enemy. The conversation between them is as follows :
Shakara (to Vita) : If you wish to wear a large shawl with long fringes and hundreds of tussles and eat meat to your full satisfaction munching with sound – chuh, chuh, chukku, chuh, chuh.
Vita : What am I to do ?
Shakara : Do as I tell you.
Vita : Oh! Yes, I shall do everything except what is akarya, (improper).
Shakara : Venerable Sir, There is not even the least smell of impropriety, in it.
Vita : Then tell me what am I to do ?
Shakara : Kill Vasantasena.
Vita (plugging his ears) : She is a young woman, an ornament of this city, a courtesan, so unlike her class in her approach to love, so innocent. How can I kill her ? Where shall I find a boat to cross the river of the next world (paraloka).
Shakara : I shall give you the boat. Again, who is here to observe you in this deserted garden.
Vita : The ten quarters are watching me, as also the forest goddess. The moon, the blazing Sun with his hot rays. Dharma (the god of piety), the wind, the sky and my own inner soul, the goddess earth her self. All of them are witnesses of my deeds, good and bad.
Shakara : Then cover yourself with a cloak and kill her.
Vita : O, fool, you are a vile wretch and have lost all sense of right or wrong.
Shakara (to himself) : This old hog is afraid of committing a sin (adharma). All right, I shall win over my servant Sthavaraka. (Aloud) My son, Sthavaraka, I will give you golden bracelets.
Cheta : I will wear them, sir.
Shakara : I will give you a golden seat (Peedha).
Cheta : I will sit on it.
Shakara : I will give you all my leavings of food.
Cheta : I will eat them.
Shakara : I shall make you the chief of all my servants.
Cheta : Oh! My master! I will accept that.
Shakara : Then do, what I ask you.
Cheta : I will do everything except what is akarya, improper.
Shakara : There is not even the least smell of improperly in it.
Cheta: Master, tell me that what am I to do.
Shakara : Kill this Vasantasena.
Cheta : May you be pleased master. I the ignoble one have brought this noble lady unknowingly by an interchange of carts.
Shakara : My servant, am I not your master ?
Cheta : Master, certainly you are. You are master of my body but not of my morals (charitra). So please, excuse me, please excuse me. I am indeed afraid.
Shakara : Being my servant, of whom are you afraid ?
Cheta : Master, I am afraid of the next world.
Shakara : What is that next world (paralok)?
Cheta : Master, it is the consequence of one's own good or bad deeds.
Shakara : What is the consequence of good deeds ?
Cheta: It is just like you who are wearing so many golden ornaments.
Shakara : What is the consequence of bad deeds ?
Cheta: It is just like me who am so dependent on the food given by others. I shall, therefore, not do any improper deed (akarya).
Shakara : What? Will you not kill her ?
Cheta : You may beat me, Master, you may kill me. But I will not do anything sinful (akarya). By my ill luck I have been created a born slave. I will not do a sinful act anymore. I will hence avoid doing sinful deeds.
Shakara (to himself) : That old jackal is afraid of sin and this born slave fears the next world (paralok).
This episode in an ancient drama gives a good picture of the Indian society with regard to the cultural upbringing of the masses and classes. On the one hand, there is a high born Brahmin, a Shishta, steeped in the fragrance of Vedic lore and gifted with aesthetic perception, a thorough gentleman who knows what sadachara good conduct is, and what is Dharma – righteousness and what is sin. On the other hand, there is a low-born cart driver, soaked in the mire of utter poverty but basically honest, good-natured and God fearing. He is unlettered (nirakshara) but not uneducated (ashikshita). Both of them are placed in the same situation in which Shakara, the wickedness incarnate asked them separately to kill Vasantasena, an innocent young woman, which they abhor doing and refuse to oblige him in spite of temptations. The two persons coming from totally different strata of the society having different outlooks of life basically agree on the point what is Dharma and what is sin, what is proper and what is improper. The argument given by Vita is more refined and sophisticated. In the case of the servant cart man it is crude but simple, though equally effective. Analyzing from different view points they come to the same correct decision. Vita is afraid of the sin which will drive him to Naraka – hell, and the cart man hopes to obtain good fruits in the next world provided he avoids doing improper deeds and performs good acts.
Right conduct is the aim of good education. The teacher in his last address to the student, as given in the Upanishad said, 'Speak and act according to dharma". This was the essence of the Vedas which permeates through the entire course of Indian history in different shapes and different words. It has been presented forcefully in the Ramayana and Mahabharata the literary image of Aryan India. It was more forcefully presented by conjuring pictures of heaven and hell as the reward and punishment for good and bad deeds. The fertile human imagination has created horrors of punishment for calibrated violations of the moral conduct by the sinning people to frighten them from doing sinful deeds, and to encourage the people to do good deeds by promising those fruits of the heaven.
An interesting method of visually representing hell and heaven was conceived in India in the form of Yamapata which was very popular among the masses and used to be carried about in the streets and explained by picture showmen with a rare skill in exposition that made men and women, young and old, learned and illiterate, pause a while to take the lesson and avoid misdeeds. The picture showman carried scrolls containing elaborate scenes of torments inflicted in the hell and of pleasures enjoyed in the heaven according to individuals deeds as fruits thereof.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata the two great epics of India, comprising Itihasa and Purana, have been studied for the correct interpretation of the Vedas. For more than two thousand years they have been influencing deeply the religious and moral thoughts as well as the successive literary productions of Indians of all classes and castes. They have moulded the character and morals of the Indian masses.
The Bhakti movement in the medieval period also contributed to leveling caste barriers and proclaiming spiritual equality of devotees. Various Bhakti schools have produced large numbers of non-caste saints equally revered by all Hindus. This is particularly true of the period during the Mohammedan rule. Interestingly they have all been singer-poets. Prominent among them are Kabir a weaver, Raidasa – a cobbler, Dadu – a carder, Surdas and Tulsidas, two eminent Brahmins Their verses are aflame with the fire of imagination. Their religious emotion had its spring in the depth of philosophy that dealt with fundamental questions like the ultimate meaning of existence. Their songs are not meant for the learned gatherings only but they are also sung in the villages and listened to by men and women who are illiterate. By this we realize how the basic tenets of Hinduism have permeated the life of the people of India, cutting across all the barriers of caste and creed and have sunk deep into the subconscious mind of the people. This also explains why the so-called depressed classes never revolted against the inequality thrust upon them as some people want us to believe.
Our western critics whose own countrymen wherever they went when confronted by a close contact with non-whites, in America, Africa or Australia found no solution to the problem except extermination or expulsion by physical force and whose attitude towards darker races has always been aggressive and contemptuous; are quick to judge us with a sense of superiority while comparing our history with their own. They should keep in mind that the Indian civilization from the very beginning had to carry a heavier burden on its shoulders. India is only one country where the Aryans made constant adjustments with the people who vastly outnumbered them, who were physically and mentally alien to their own race and who were for the most part distinctly inferior to the invaders. Europe on the other hand is one whole in respect of dress, custom, culture and with some variations, habits. Yet its people, although only politically divided are perpetually making for deadly combats wherein the entire population indulged in ferocity unparalleled in the history of barbarism