31–40 of 86 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What was the Harvard equivalent of sati?
Sati as an issue was orthogonal to caste. It was more of a way to prevent rape by the Muslim invaders of the time. I don't know about y'all, but for me, death over dishonour.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What was the Harvard equivalent of sati?
Sati as an issue was orthogonal to caste. It was more of a way to prevent rape by the Muslim invaders of the time. I don't know about y'all, but for me, death over dishonour.
I won't read it because caste is a trauma-inducing subject to me. 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…
Why wouldn't you tell the landlord you are a Brahmin? 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.).
In modern India the political parties propagate it for their demographic politics whereas nobody cares about caste in day to day life. Surprisingly in USA there is an Ivy League caste system supposedly based on merit. If that is justified so is India Class system based on ability and track record.
With the inadequate Sanskrit knowledge and billions in Missionary funds this “caste” from “caste” continues to be a milch giving cow for ngo activism & regressive politics.
Caste in the same sense of occupational background exists in all cultures but was never used in such a divisive way like the British Raj did. For example people of the "Smith" surname used to be Goldsmiths or Blacksmiths. But the British put a sense of elitism into some communities in India, telling them they are higher than others. There is no Hindu scripture which says who is high or low, but merely responsibilities.
Skilfully sidestepping any explanation of the metric being used to measure “high”, the educated spiritual priests in British Raj times and intellectuals were all banded together into one and labelled "highest caste" because they represented the “highest threat” to Anglican domination and those who represented the “lowest threat” to the Anglican were pushed into the lowest caste.
During the British Raj of the 540 principalities existent at that time, over 400 were ruled by Shudra Kings (Professor Vaidyanathan, IIM Bangalore) which the British denoted as low caste. When the British left, the second largest landowner in India after the Indian Government, was the Church and thus it’s reasonable to note that the largest transfer of assets and land from was in fact from the Shudra groups (Lord Harries’ so called low-castes) to the Church. Further, there is readily available overwhelming historical evidence that the Dalits “the Untouchables” were themselves a creation of the crushing sanctions created and imposed by the Anglican Colonialists of the Church of England as is clarified below. The castes and tribes “notified” under the 1871 Act were labelled as Criminal Tribes for their so-called “criminal tendencies”. As a result, anyone born in these communities across the country was presumed a “born criminal”, irrespective of their criminal precedents.
Mixing castes was normal as it was based on deed back few thousand years ago, only recently caste mixing wasn't allowed. Some further reading:
https://pragyata.com/caste-system-pointers-for-the-social-me...
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/tech-gene-data-reveal...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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. All the super-progressive Indians I know in the U.S. are Brahmins. What's up with that?
This guy also believes he's super-progressive. He hates the caste-system, remember? 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.
I won't read it because caste is a trauma-inducing subject to me. 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…
Sorry if this comes as extremely ignorant but how is the caste of a foreigner determined? Let's say I marry an Indian, I must adopt her caste? I have to get... Evaluated? and after that I get a caste?
Caste system in India was created by British to divide and conquer for solidifying their colonial rule. Prior to that India had a “Class” system based on person’s nature(Guna) and actions(karma)- also called Varna system. Based on ability and to some extent traditional societal role. In modern India the political parties propagate it for their demographic politics whereas nobody cares about caste in day to day life.…
It seems this claim is somewhat popular in some indian circles, judging from this quick search. One can't praise a millenary culture and at the same time claim it can be reshaped totally from a short colonial period.
Certainly, I hope anyone commenting on this will take note of the publishing date being more than 100 years ago. Who your kids end up marrying is mentioned as a big driver of caste in the article. I think that holds true today as well. All things being equal, your professor / lawyer / doctor parents probably don't want you to marry a janitor. And, I'm pretty sure this is true everywhere. In a highly competitve place…
Well, I don't think there is a concept of "janitor class" "everywhere"...
Of course social classes exist everywhere, but I think your example just shows what a caste system is : if a son-of-janitor becomes a doctor the in-laws in most modern societies will see a doctor, whereas in a caste system they will see a (son-of-) janitor.
I won't read it because caste is a trauma-inducing subject to me. 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…
> 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. All the super-progressive Indians I know in the U.S. are Brahmins. What's up with that?
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 . 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.