Indian Caste System

This would be a good Hindu Student Council topic!


A Pluralist’s encounter with a Missionary


Kalavai Venkat




learning that I am a Hindu he asked, "Is the caste system going away

in India?" I quipped "Why should it go away?" He was surprised by my

response and remarked, "You are the first Hindu who responded this


slowly going away."


I decided to turn the tables on him. I asked him, "What language do

the African Americans speak?" He replied, "English." I asked, "What

did their ancestors speak 500 years ago?" He began to contemplate. I

thought that I might have to wait for eternity like the Christians

have waited for the second coming of their messiah before the

missionary would answer, so I prompted him, "Swahili? Hausa?" He

agreed, "Yes." I asked, "Do the African Americans worship the animist


customs?" The missionary replied, "No."


I said that one could replace African Americans with any immigrant


"What you proudly advertise as the melting pot actually imposed the

language, culture, religion and customs of the dominant ethnic group







its identity."


"So," I added, "Caste is a result of this spirit of freedom and



physical, extermination of diverse identities by one intolerant and

powerful group."


I continued to pontificate: "Like every other man made institution,


institution like democracy or secularism. It was a democratically

elected Hitler who exterminated mentally

retarded patients. It was a democratically elected Jefferson who fixed


forcibly snatch them away from their parents and ship them back to

Africa after ensuring that the adult African American population does

not procreate any further. It was a democratically elected Roosevelt



secular but they mercilessly sent millions to death camps."


I asked him, "Is anyone demanding that democracy or secularism be



systematically addressed caste inequities over the last 80 years or



Maratha or Paraiyah could proudly say that they follow the millennia

old religion, customs and dialects of their forefathers. Suppose the

Christian West similarly resolves racial discriminations, could an

African American, Dutch American or Latino make similar assertion?"


I pointed out that in the casteless Christian West, the minorities

have been forced to abandon their identities and instead have been




integral part, actually preserved minority customs. Katz, while

discussing how the Jewish people flourished for centuries amidst the

Hindus, writes:




currency of assimilation. By acculturation I mean fitting comfortably

into a society while retaining one’s own identity, whereas by

assimilation I mean that the loss of that identity is a perceived

condition for acceptance. The study of Indian Jewish communities

demonstrates that in Indian culture an immigrant group gains status

precisely by maintaining its own identity. Such is the experience not


recently, Tibetan Buddhists. This striking feature of Indian

civilization is reflected by each of these immigrant groups.



Would this preservation have been possible without the spirit of


to repeat the missionary propaganda and deny the strengths of their

own civilization or are they going to understand the institution of

caste dispassionately? The missionary and the imperialist know that

the institution of caste must be obliterated if the Hindu society were

to be weakened and converted. A Hindu should critically analyze his

traditions instead of uncritically absorbing propaganda.



About aschvetahata

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One Response to Indian Caste System

  1. says:

    But what if some Hindus don\’t want the so-called "identity" and the torment it brings along?The point is some universal values such as freedom,equity, which caste system is surely against,should be respected in the modern world, don\’t you think so?

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