This article is related to the current reservations issue in which the brahmins
are said to be foreigners/invaders etc. Let us see what the Dalit
leader/Constitution father -- Dr Ambedkar has to say -- Viji
The Original Home of the Hindus (Interview of Dr Ambedkar)
http://www.hvk.org/articles/0302/151.html (The Father of the Indian
Constitution, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, was the foremost nationalist leader of the
oppressed classes and an erudite scholar. The following is an account of the en
lightening dialogue the author had with him.
Though the author himself does not agree with all of Sri Ambedkar's
conclusions, the dialogue is significant for the fact of Sri Ambedkar's total
rejection of the theory of Aryan invasion as "a perversion of scientific
investigation".)
Question: Do you believe that the Shudras were a non-Aryan aboriginal race?
Dr. Ambedkar: No. After deep study of the subject I have come to conclude:
i) That, the Shudras were Aryans;
ii) That the Shudras belonged to the Kshatriya Class; and iii) That the
Shudras were so important a class of Kshatriyas that some of the most eminent
and powerful kings of the ancient Aryan Communities were Shudras.
Western Theories
Q: I know you are well acquainted with the various theories of Western
writers
about the origin of the non-Traivarnikas whom they describe as 'Non-Aryans'. Are
there any points on which there seems to be a certain amount of unity among all
of them?
A: Yes. Such points comprise the following: 1) The people who created the
Vedic literature belonged to the Aryan race. 2) This Aryan race came from
outside India and invaded India. 3) The natives of India were known as Dasas
and Dasyus who were racially different from Aryans. 4) The Aryans were a white
race. The Dasas and Dasyus were a dark race. 5) The Aryans conquered the Dasas
and Dasyus. 6) The Dasas and Dasyus after they were conquered and enslaved
were called Shudras. 7) The Aryans cherished colour prejudice and therefore
formed the chaturvarnya whereby they separated the white race from the black
race such as the Dasas and the Dasyus.
Q: What is the basis for these Western Theories?
A: The foundation on which the whole fabric of the theory rests is the
proposition that there lived a people who were Aryan by race.
Q: Is this proposition correct?
A: The Vedas do not know any such race as the Aryan race. A race may be defined
as a body of people possessing certain typical traits which are hereditary.
An examination of the Vedic literature shows that there occur two words in
the
Rig Veda-one is Arya with a short A and the other is Arya with a long A. The
word Arya with a short A is used in the Rig Veda in 88 places. The word is used
in four different senses; as (1) enemy, (2) respectable person, (3) name for
India and (4) owner, Vaishya or citizen.
The word Arya with a long A is used in the Rig Veda in 31 places. But in none
of these is the word used in the sense of race.
The one indisputable conclusion which follows is that the terms Arya and Arya
which occur in the Vedas have not been used in the racial sense at call.
This is what Prof. Max Mueller says on the subject: "There is no Aryan race
in
blood', Aryan, in scientific language, is utterly inapplicable to race."
The Aryan Race Theory is so absurd that it ought to have been dead long ago.
Q: From where did the so-called 'Aryan race' come into India? What was the
original home of the 'Aryan race'? Is the theory of Aryan invasion of India a
historical fact?
A: There is no evidence in the Vedas of any invasion of India by the Aryan
race and its having conquered the Dasas and Dasyus supposed to be natives of
India. There is no evidence to show that the distinction between Aryans,
Dasas and Dasyus was a racial distinction. The Vedas do not support the
contention that the Aryans were different in colour from the Dasas and Dasyus.
The word 'Varna' originally meant a class holding to a particular faith, and it
had nothing to do with colour or complexion.
The Vedic Aryans had no colour prejudice. They were not of one colour. Rama,
Krishna, Dirghatamas, Kanva etc. have been described as dark in complexion.
The assertion that the Aryans came from outside and invaded India is not
proved and the premise that the Dasas and Dasyus are aboriginal tribes of India
is demonstrably false.
Invasion theory a concoction
The theory of invasion is an invention. This invention is necessary because
of
a gratuitous assumption that the Indo-Germanic people are the purest of the
modern representatives of the original Aryan race. The theory is based upon
nothing but pleasing assumptions and inferences based on such assumptions. The
theory is a perversion of scientific investigation. It is not allowed to evolve
out of facts. On the contrary, the theory is preconceived and facts are selected
to prove it. It falls to the ground at every point. The Western theory is in
conflict with the Rig Veda on a major issue. The Rig Veda being the best
evidence on the subject, the theory which is in conflict with it must be
rejected. There is no escape. Q: Are there any Hindu scholars who supported
this Western theory?
A: This theory has received support from some Brahmin scholars. This is a very
strange phenomenon. As Hindus, they should ordinarily show a dislike for the
Aryan theory with its express avowal of the superiority of the European races
over the Asiatic races. But the Brahmin scholar has not only no such aversion
but he most willingly hails it. He claims to be the representative of the Aryan
race and he regards the rest of the Hindus as descendants of the non-Aryans.
Q: What is your opinion about the suggestion of Lokamanya Tilak that the
original home of the Aryan race was in the Arctic region?
A: This is of course a very original theory. There is only one point which seems
to have been over-looked. The horse is a favourite animal of the Vedic Aryans.
It was most intimately connected with their life and their religion. The
question is: Was the horse to be found in the Arctic region? If the answer is in
the negative, the Arctic Home theory becomes very precarious, So far as the
testimony of the Vedic literature is concerned, it is against the theory that
the original horde of the Aryans was outside India. The language in which
reference to the seven rivers is made in the Rig Veda (x. 75.5) is very
significant. No foreigner would ever address a river in such familiar and
endearing terms as 'My Ganga, my Yamuna, my Sarasvati', unless by long
association he had developed an emotion about it. In the face of such statements
from the Rig-Veda, there is obviously no room for a theory of a military
conquest by the Aryan race of the non-Aryan races of Dasas and Dasyus.
As Mr. P.T. Srinivasa Iyengar points out: "A careful examination of the
Mantras where the words Arya, Dasas and Dasyus occur, indicates that they refer
not to race but to cult. These words occur mostly in Rig Veda Samhita where Arya
occurs about 33 times in mantras which contain 153,972 words on the whole. This
rare occurrence is itself a proof that the tribes that called themselves Aryas
were not invaders that conquered the country and exterminated the people. For an
invading tribe would naturally boast of its achievements constantly." The
Fourth Varna Q: If the theories of European scholars are incorrect, how can
one explain the emergence of the Fourth Varna suffering from a number of social
disabilities and degradations?
A: The whole position can be stated briefly as follows: 1) The Shudras were
one of the Aryan Communities of the Solar race. 2) The Shudras ranked as the
Kshatriya Varna in the Indo-Aryan Society. 3) There was a time when the Aryan
Society recognised only three Varnas, namely, Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
The Shudras were not a separate Varna but a part of the Kshatriya Varna. 4)
There was a continuous feud between the Shudra Kings and the Brahmins, in
which
the Brahmins were subjected to many tyrannies and indignities. 5) As a result
of the hatred towards the Shudras due to their tyrannies and oppressions, the
Brahmins refused to invest the Shudras with the Sacred Thread. 6) Owing to the
loss of the Sacred Thread the Shudras became socially degraded, fell below the
rank of the Vaishyas and came to form the Fourth Varna.
Q: What about the origin of the Fifth Varna known as untouchables?
A: In Vedic times there was no untouchability. As to the period of the Dharma
Sutras, there was 'Impurity' but there was no untouchability.
Manu's decision is that there is no Fifth Varna. There was no
untouchability
at the time of Manu. We can definitely say that Manu Smriti did not enjoin
untouchability.
While untouchability did not exist in 200 A.D., it had emerged by 600 A.D.
As
has been shown by Dr D.R. Bhandarkar, cow-killing was made a capital offence by
the Gupta kings sometime in the 4th Century A.D. We can, therefore say with some
confidence that untouchability was born sometimes about 400 A.D.
Q: Can the hatred between Buddhism and Brahminism he taken to be the sole
cause why 'Broken Men'* became untouchables?
A: Obviously, it cannot be' The propaganda of the Brahmins was directed against
Buddhists in general and not against the 'Broken Men'* in particular. Since
untouchability struck to 'Broken Men' only, it is obvious that there was some
additional circumstance which has played its part in fastening untouchability
upon them.
Q: Can we say that the 'Broken Men'* came to he treated as untouchables
because they ate beef?
A: There need be no hesitation in returning an affirmative answer to this
question. No other answer is consistent with facts as we know them.
Q: Do the untouchables, belong to a separate, non-Aryan race?
A: As I said earlier, historians have made a mistake in proceeding on assumption
that the Aryans were a separate race. In this connection, reference may be made
to verse 23 of Adhyaya 65 of the Shanti Parva of Mahabharata.
The verse says: "In all the Varnas and in all the Ashramas one finds the
existence of Dasyus." This indicates that the term 'Dasyus' is not used for a
non-Aryan.
If anthropometry is a science which can be depended upon to determine the
race
of a people, then the results obtained by the application of anthropometry to
the various strata of Hindu society disprove that the untouchables belong to a
race different from the Aryans and the Dravidians. The measurements establish
that the Brahmins and untouchables belong to the same race. If the Brahmins are
Aryans, the untouchables are also Aryans. If the Brahmins are Dravidians, the
untouchables are also Dravidians. The racial theory of untouchability finds very
little support from such facts as we know about the ethnology of India. Racial
theory of the origin of untouchability must therefore be abandoned -23-7-1962.
(The Perspective by D.B. Thengadi, Sahitya. Sindhu Prakashan)
* In a fight between two tribes, the surviving men of the vanquished tribe
found it difficult to retain their identity because of their reduced numerical
strength. They, therefore, used to approach the settled agricultural communities
and enter into agreement with them. These were termed as 'Broken men'.
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
See what's inside the new Yahoo! Groups email.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/B6DZeC/bOaOAA/E2hLAA/1dTolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥««¤»¥«¤»§«¤»
This is ZESTCaste whose members watch India's painful journey to society's
de-casteisation. Members are encouraged to post messages to
ZESTCaste@yahoogroups.com
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank
mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail.
Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL
PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
==theZESTcommunity======================================
[1] ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/
[2] ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/
[3] ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/
[4] ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/
[5] ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/
[6] ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
[7] ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/
[8] TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
