Casteism does not exist in today's India

I thought up of several beginning sentences for this post, like, ...so says a Hindu Brahmin, upper-middle class, urban woman; or perhaps, so says a blind bat, or maybe, so says the conveniently-affluent-driving-in-her-a/c-car-with-a-devil-may-care-attitude- woman,  well you get the drift. I don't actually think casteism doesn't exist in today's world.

I must however confess, there was a time in my life when I thought casteism was shelved to times before 1947, until of course I got married eight years ago to the love of my life who happens to be a non-Brahmin BC boy. While post-wedding rituals were a shock in itself, I had also become acutely aware of how different "they"-my in-law's were from "my" family-they ate tons of garlic, they were (and still are) non-vegetarians, they killed a goat for sacrifice after the wedding, they grouped (and still do) into women folk and men folk at all gatherings- the list goes on, and it didn't help that my family accentuated this difference by constantly talking about it "oh my God, its impossible to step in to their house, it STINKS of garlic!",etc.  With that, I was introduced to how much of a Brahmin I really was -"you got married to a sudra payyan (boy, in tamil) Aarathi!" I would hear myself exclaim. Hence, like an onion (which Brahmins shouldn't eat mind you) peeled the notion of "everyone is equal", and I became very aware of the presence of casteism, and class-ism so much so that I did not want to be a Brahmin anymore. Hindu? what Hindu? I am spiritual. Not religious I would say.


And what's more, the Hindutva waves that often flood Indian politics made me uncomfortable confessing I was born Brahmin. I would completely resist any attempts made by my mum to get me to pray, or participate in rituals or functions. In fact, I was such a frowny b*#ch (i'll bet, that's what my mom was thinking) when our sects' "Pope" equivalent graced my grandma's home. I would not stand beside him to take a picture and I prostrated at his feet like it was a punishment! ah! the good old times. So again, my reasoning was, I am spiritual and not religious, so leave me alone.


And then it all started to fall into place- my understanding of my privilege and my disadvantage. It happened in a class I was taking called Race Lab, as a part of my counselor training in the US. In this class, we began to explore each of our various identities. I learnt that my identity can be grouped into-gender, class, race, caste, sexual orientation, religious/spiritual orientation and more. As I began to explore each of these identities I began to see how much of a feminist I was. I also began to realize that as a upper-middle class brahmin woman I had a lot of privileges in this society-privilege of education, opportunity, etc. and at the same time I am discriminated against for being a woman- the clothes I wear, the behavior I display, etc. But what I also realized was how I was running away from embracing my spirituality/religion because of what it meant to be a Hindu brahmin in the society. Thanks to Race Lab, I slowly began to thaw at it to find my divinity within the same oppressive religion Hinduism can be.

I write about it all now because of this wonderful book I just read, called "A Gardener in the Wasteland: Jotiba Phule's Fight for Liberty" by Srividya Natarajan and Aparajita Ninan. It is a graphic novel that I totally wanted to get my hands on when I read about it in The Hindu. Though I found the book four years after I began my quest to find likeminded books and work in the area of casteism, I found it to be brilliant, thought provoking and eye-opening at many levels.


First of all its a graphic book that beautifully outlines a historical work, that itself gives it all the brownie points. But the best part of the book is that it gives you an interesting perspective on Hinduism, the Brahminical scriptures and religious texts. It does so with a dialogue between the two writers of the book and it also does it through the voice of Savitri Phule, the child bride of Jotirao Govindrao Phule. The book essentially outlines the work of the latter in "abolishing slavery of India's 'lower' castes" and pulls details from his book Gulamgiri (Slavery) written in 1873. 


What can I say, I loved every bit of this book. Natarajan divides the book into chapters called: The Wasteland of Caste, the Weed-Bed of Myth, the Roots of Tyranny and the Seeds of Education. Both Natarajan and Ninan then go on the break Hindu Myths and the role of Brahmin's during the British rule to continue the suppression of lower castes and women-all this borrowed from Phule's work and narrated through the voice of Savitri Phule, who played a major role in educating both boys and girls of sudra's and atisudra's in the 1800's. The book is very relevant in today's society and the authors go on to glisten that fact. They talk about the Babri Masjid, Gujarat Riots and the Quota politics to show how caste system and oppression from it exists even today. 

Excerpts from the Novel

You cannot just read a bit and close the book and run off and do errands, well what I mean is that, its a gripping read and you will want to read it again once you are done. Some parts are shocking and hilarious too. Like the one about Brahma menstruating from several orifices given the four castes were born out of four different parts of his body. 


It reminded me how after reading about the caste system in my history class when I was in 6th grade, we asked everyone what each of their caste was, I dont think anyone admitted to being lower than a Kshatrya then. 

Phule wondering about Brahma's four days a month issue.

While I do consider myself open to new perspectives, some parts of the book really did take me by surprise. Like the Hindu mythology of Dusavatara, desconstructed by Phule gives you his perspective of how Aryans under the guise of Dusavatara essentially invaded India and destroyed indigenous rulers and kingdoms like that of Mahabali or how what happened in Narendra Modi's Gujrat was essentially "Parashuram, updated for the 21st century, Hinduta-style". The authors also go on to point of what I took for granted so many years. Take for instance what Natrajan says about our good old Amarchitra Katha series, ' remember how the women were always impossibly curvy?' and "the good guys were always fair and the baddies, the rakshasas were always dung-green?"Ninan wonders. 


The book is a lesson in staying open to a variety of perspectives-even to something one group considers sacred, like scriptures, that "myths are interpreted differently in different communities" and that "history, like myth, changes depending on who writes it and who reads it". Most of all however, it has made me aware of how important it is to gather these perspectives and educate ourselves and our children in staying open, and being aware of our identities and how it came to be. It is also a wonderful lesson in not setting rigid boundaries to our identities and what defines us.  If you haven't already read the book, go get it. It's available on flipkart.com at just Rs.200! And when you are done, let me know what you think. 






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