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IN DEPTH:
Nobel Laureate Dr.
Amartya Sen's Views
The NCERT Case
Caste and Gender in
Ancient India
The Coming of Aryans
About the Hindu Education
Foundation (HEF) and Vedic Foundation(VF)
Fact Sheet
and Chronology
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The Hindu Education Foundation and the
Vedic Foundation present a view of caste that obscures the inherently
hierarchical and oppressive character of the institution. Changes
pursued by HEF and VF whitewash the historical fact that degrading
forms of work were imposed on members of specific groups in the lower
rungs of the caste society. Masking the fact of enforced
servitude in a hierarchical relationship, the HEF and VF claim that
Sudras simply did "labor intensive work."
In effect, the HEF and the VF attempt to defend an inhuman social
system by painting a fictitious image of an idyllic past whereas
historical evidence suggests otherwise, and silencing the present
realities of caste by insisting that caste is not relevant to
post-Constitution India - even while human rights reports testify to an
increase in brutal violence against Dalits.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are some of the changes you are
opposing on the subject of caste?
2. Isn’t it true that caste system was
not hereditary and structured in ancient times and it is only later
that it became hereditary? If so, why is the substitution of
caste with varna and “social class” as specified by the
Vedic Foundation's changes not acceptable?
3. But the caste system is a thing of the
past and that untouchability has been outlawed now—so why teach
our children about it now?
4. Even if there was caste and patriarchy in
Ancient India, there was slavery and patriarchy in Greece and Italy
too. Why do the texts only focus on the science and mathematics
achievements of the Greek and Roman civilizations, while focusing on
all the ills of Indian civilizations?
1. What are some of the
changes you are opposing on the subject of caste?
As in the case of gender inequities, HEF and VF also want to remove or
mitigate the representation of the horrors of caste inequalities.
According to HEF, Sudras did not "perform services for members of the
three higher castes" but merely "performed services for all classes and
did more labor-intensive work," hence neatly erasing the inherent
heirarchy of the caste system into higher and lower castes, as also
tempering the distasteful occupations such as clearing deadbodies and
waste as merely “labor intensive” work. In addition,
the word "Dalit" has been removed from the text and the students are
merely told that treating someone as untouchable is against the law in
modern India. Sentences such as “The caste system is just
one example of how Hinduism was woven into the fabric of daily life in
India" and "Hinduism…has affected how people worship, what jobs
they do,… And it has helped to determine the status of people in
Indian society" have been deleted. At one point, the Vedic
Foundation insists that caste only be spoken of in the past tense since
it is no longer a reality and "According to the Indian Constitution,
under the section, Fundamental Rights, the Right to Equality is
guaranteed to all citizens."
2. Isn’t it true
that caste system was not hereditary and structured in ancient times
and it is only later that it became hereditary? If so, why is the
substitution of caste with varna and “social class” as
specified by the Vedic Foundation's changes not acceptable?
The difference between a caste and a class is that a caste is a social
class which has been frozen through religious and ideological
sanctions. As the noted historian Romila Thapar observes:
“For a society to
become caste based society there have to be three preconditions: the
society must register social disparities; there has to be unequal
access of various groups within that society to economic resources;
inequalities should be legitimized through a theoretically irreversible
hierarchy and the imposition of the hierarchy claim to be based on a
supra-natural authority. The latter takes the form of a ritual
demarcation dependent on degrees of assumed purity or pollution
determined by those controlling the religious ideology” 1
This ideological and theological sanction for freezing economic classes
can be found in the earliest of the Vedas. The Rg Veda, in its
Purushsukta hymn, does speak of the unequal relationship of the four
castes. Subsequent Vedic texts such as Manusmriti that detail elaborate
laws on societal regulations of caste system cite the Vedas for their
authortity. As such, the existence of caste in Indian society and the
traumatic impact it had/has on lower caste population, cannot be simply
washed away by claiming caste to be simply a “social
class”.
Further, just as the [upper caste] Vedic Foundation would like to wash
away any references to caste, a number of lower caste groups such as
Dalits and Adivasis, who have been exploited by the caste system, would
prefer to let the world know of their suffering.
3. But the caste system is
a thing of the past and that untouchability has been outlawed
now—so why teach our children about it now?
Caste system is not a thing of past, it still a prominent practice in
India even amongst the urban, educated Indians- the vast majority of
marriages amongst Hindus are still arranged along the lines of castes
showing how caste still plays an important role in the daily lives of
Indians who want to believe that caste system is a thing of past. Even
though the Constitution of India has made it illegal to discriminate of
the basis of caste, untouchability is still a part of the daily lives
of millions of Indians in India – caste-based atrocities are
still happening today and discrimination against Dalits is still
rampant.2 The Dalit
population is still disproportionately below the poverty levels, both
in rural as well as urban India, has significantly higher rates of
unemployment and landlessness than non-Dalits and has less access to
educational, administrative and judicial resources.3 Unless our children are made
aware of these inequalities and sensitized about them, this pattern of
injustice will simply continue.
4. Even if there was caste
and patriarchy in Ancient India, there was slavery and patriarchy in
Greece and Italy too. Why do the texts only focus on the science and
mathematics achievements of the Greek and Roman civilizations, while
focusing on all the ills of Indian civilizations?
First, we did not write the textbooks, and certainly agree that the
textbooks need to put a balanced perspective on things. What we
are questioning is what kind of a “balance” we need to
advocate—one that erases all histories of oppression of large
numbers of the subaltern, or one that addresses all of them and truly
educates our children. While the Hindutva groups advocate the
former, we staunchly promote the latter.
Secondly, as concerned persons of South Asia heritage, and especially
having been
witness to a similar politically motivated white-washing of history in
India, we feel obligated to direct our scholarly and community
resources and experiences towards addressing issues pertaining to the
history of Ancient India and Hinduism.
We also note that the Vedic Foundation and HEF have not made any
suggestions about promoting the spectacular achievements of science and
mathematics in Vedic age—which are certainly historically
correct, but have been preoccupied with whitewashing caste system and
debating contentious claims of the origin of Aryans. This further
supports our claims that these groups are not really concerned about
the need of Hindu school children for affirmation of Hindu histories,
but are cynically manipulating this need in the Hindu communities to
push their own politically motivated agendas.
Notes:
1. The Penguin
History of Early India: From the origins to AD 1300, By Romila Thapar,
pg 63-64
2. See an extensive
listing of atrocities against Dalits at website of National Campaign of
Dalit Human Rights http://www.dalits.org/atrocities.html
and a special report on Dalit houses being burnt down in Gohana http://www.dalits.org/Gohana1.htm
3. In his
presentation “Dalits and
Globalization” delivered at the World Social Forum held in
Mumbai, Professor SK Thorat presents very important data on
socio-economic indicators of the Dalits. In 1999-2000, nearly 75%
of the Dalits are landless or near landless, 65% of Dalit households
are dependent upon wage labour, the literacy rates was around 37% as
opposed to 58% in non-Dalit, 43% of Dalits are below poverty levels,
almost twice as many as the non-Dalits. During 1980-2000, a total
of about 300,000 cases of human right violation and atrocities were
registered by the SC with the police. http://www.idsn.org/Thorat.html
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