Caste
-
Dharma of the Shudra
Dharma claims to be eternal. Eternal things are not supposed to change. But a Shudra landowner living better than a starving Brahmin priest is a fact that eternal texts cannot simply ignore. So Sanskrit scholars did what they always do…
-
The Areca Nut in The Betel Leaf
After meals, a quid of betel leaf wrapped around some areca nut and lime, perfumed with cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace, and camphor — the five aromatics known collectively as pancha-sugandha — served to aid digestion and sweeten the breath.
-
Brahmins In Jain Memory
In the Brahminical tradition, the Brahmin stands at the apex of creation, born from the mouth of Prajapati, custodian of the sacred fire by divine right. Jainism offers a different account entirely. It does not deny the Brahmin’s existence; it…
-
Upanishads As Against Dharma-shastra
In the Upanishads, the word brahmin is about inner realisation. In Dharma-shastra, the word brahmin is about birth status and purity.
-
Upanishads As Against Dharma-shastra
In the Upanishads, the word brahmin is about inner realisation. In Dharma-shastra, the word brahmin is about birth status and purity. The early Upanishads were composed between 600 BC and 200 BC, while the early Dharma-shastra were composed between 200…
-
Imagining Hinduism Without Caste
For centuries, what we now call Hinduism was never a single religion. It was a civilisation organised through caste. Each caste had its own gods, rituals, food rules, taboos, and ideas of the sacred. Diversity was not accidental; it was…
-
Beyond Karma: Subaltern Tales of Caste Origin
When the missionaries came to India, they argued that Hindus accept social hierarchy because they believe their birth is the result of past actions. Karma promoted fatalism. This interpretation led many anti-caste reformers to reject karma itself. The Jataka tales…
-
A Colonial Category Called Religion
Hinduism did not become a religion by organic evolution. It was forced into becoming a religion by colonial definitions, Christian templates and Brahminical reinterpretations. What had functioned for centuries as a civilisational ecosystem of caste, ritual, myth, kinship, land and…
-
Can a French man be a ‘civilisational Hindu’?
In New India, an Italian woman with an Indian passport remains a ‘foreigner’, but a French man with an Indian passport becomes a ‘civilisational Hindu’, and is even asked to influence young impressionable minds by creating ‘decolonised’ school textbooks.
-
Was Macaulay Anti-India Or Anti-Brahmin?
The debate around Macaulay, English, and education is not just about colonialism. It is about whether India wants a future shaped by open inquiry or a past shaped by inherited authority.
-
The Durga of Dalit Mythology
In recent years, there has been a growing clash between ‘Sanatani mythology’ and ‘Dalit mythology’. During the festival season last month, a well-known Dalit activist argued that the worship of Durga is nothing but the celebration of an Aryan invasion…
-
Is Lingayat a caste or a religion?
The Lingayat community today insists it is a separate religion. They refuse to be placed within the Veerashaiva fold, or being seen as a subset of Hinduism. This demand has upset those who seek to unite Hinduism under a single…
-
How Caste Manifested Before the British
Caste impacts 100% of Hindu society while untouchability impacts 20% of Hindu society. But that lower 20% was sometimes seen as outside the Hindu fold, until their votes mattered in the 20th century.
-
Is a Dvija the Same As a Savarna?
The term ‘Savarnaʼ was coined by the Left wing to distinguish the Hindu elite from the ‘Avarnaʼ, those who are deemed outside the caste system and denied human dignity.
-
Caste As the Opposite of Conversion
Every Indian is born into a caste and a religion. But you cannot leave caste. You can only leave religion. This makes the doctrine of caste an antagonist of the doctrine of conversion.
-
Diversity and Unity Amongst Castes
The battle over caste identity continues, as it remains a struggle for both access to resources and access to status.