Discussion on The Chemistry of Castes

In these days of intellectual maturity where no person is
considered higher than the others, irrespective of age and
position, it is unfortunate that such an outdated, hierarchical
system is being used to keep the people divided. Most of you
seem to agree with this view of mine.

One of the advantages of expressing my ignorance through these
e-mails is the opportunity to learn from the wisdom and
experiences of others in the list, as can be seen from the
following and previous replies.

> India's caste system has been a topic of intense debate
> for the last 2 centuries and this debate is not over yet.
> As you have rightly pointed out, judging an ancient system
> with a new value scale is not only unfair, it is ignorance
> at best and arrogance at worst. G V Chalam writes in
> "yogyataa patram" of Mahaprasthanam that 'patriotism is a
> great sin'. A few hundred years from now, all patriotism
> may be looked down upon. Any way coming to the topic...
>
> There are two social (???) institutions in India which are
> intimately linked. The Varna System and the Jati system.
> People often get confused and mistake one for the other. That
> is partly because of the way the present day Indian society is.
> The 'Jati' system is the 'infamous' 'caste system'.
>
> There are four Varnas according the ancient texts. You may find
> any number of Jatis(castes) within a Varna. For example, among
> the Brahmin varna, you have vaidikis, niyogis etc.,. The same
> is true about all the varnas. Sudra varna is the most diversified
> apperently because of the diveristy of the tasks they undertake.
> There are, of course, the people without a Varna. They are called
> 'avarnas' or the 'panchamas'. However, they too developed Jatis
> among them. Mala and Madiga are just two examples. I have taken
> examples from Andhra. The picture should be the same everywhere
> in India.
>
I did know about the Varna system, but preferred to
use the common parlance of castes. While the upper 3 varnas
typically use varna for caste (in appln. forms and general talk,
at least), the 4th varna is seldom mentioned, only the caste
within the varna is mentioned.

> There are two more concepts here. One is 'Kula' and the other
> is 'Gotra'. The word 'kula' in Telugu is nowadays used to connote
> a caste. But, originally it meant a 'family' and it is intimately
> related to the concept of Gotra. Hence in your 'pravara' you mention
> all the Gotra rishis who are the originators of the kula. I do not
> think Gotra refers to the 'gurukul' lineage. It refers to the
> family ancestry. Of all these concepts, 'Jati' is perhaps the
> latest and Kula is perhaps the oldest.
>
> Nobody knows the origin of 'Jati' system and how it got mixed
> with the already existing varna system. 'Jati' might be a
> system based on the type of labour performed. Varna on the other
> hand might be different system based on something else. (I am
> speculating this in contradiction to what the Gita says about
> the varna system). I have done some research into this system.
> That is not yet complete. It was helpful for me to know
> yet another view point about this intriguing ancient system.
>
> I firmly believe in what Kalidas said
>
> "Puraanamityeva na saadhu sarvam
> Nachaapi kavyam navamityavadyam"
>
> all is not good in the ancient
> all is not bad in the present (excuse me for bad translation)

Wow, this is a very useful piece of information. Never knew that
this common feeling has the backing of such a great soul.
Several years ago, when I suddenly realized the importance
society gives to castes, I developed this hobby of caste-profiling,
thanks to the encouragement and interest of the people I interacted with.

I must admit that my studies initially did show that quite a few
families and people preserved the characteristics associated with their
caste professions, such as courage, entrepreneurship, conservatism,
religiousness, shrewdness, hardwork, parsimony, and even callousness
(consider butchers; can they have a melting heart?) and meanness
(when the profession didn't give us much economically
or socially, what can we give to others?).

Even if my observations are correct to some extent, I strongly
feel that such observations MUST prove to be wrong in future.
That can happen only through free mixing. When people mix freely,
good propogates and bad gets eradicated. That's one of the reasons
I think some countries are better places to live. We don't find
so much bad in these places. Can somebody try to be bad in
front of strangers or less known people? Many bad things
originate and strengthen in closed, isolated groups and minds,
when no 'outsider' is watching and everyone is 'one of them'. Isn't it?

Slogans like, "We don't care if someone is good. We want
someone who is one of us", should hopefully disappear.
Like how fungus tries to form where things are static,
bad tries to spread in closed minds and groups.
There must always be scope for fresh thought and action.
I know organizations which benefited from this.

The society is dynamic. Static opinions or
behavior wouldn't stand for long. Interactions with society will
automatically change whatever is static. Take the
example of a purohit coming from a small village somewhere south.
He settles down in a major city, speaks english, drives posh cars,
uses ultra-modern gadgets which even people living in advanced
countries working in state-of-art technologies don't use. His
children turn entrepreneurs in family and professional lives,
marrying americans, starting successful companies in USA.

Don't we see such cases? It's not hard to imagine such
cases, if we have been reading magazines like Silicon India
or Mantram. A couple years ago, I performed my father's
anniversary in a posh house in the bay area belonging to
the priest's son. The priest had come for a visit to USA then.

I must confess that profiling is still one of my hobbies
(habits die hard, right?). Whenever I come across
an eccentric driver on the road, I do a bit of profiling, looking
at the person and amuse myself amidst the boring drive in
the traffic. But my exercise now has mostly been to confirm
that there is no relation between a person's caste / race
affiliation and his behavior at the wheel or elsewhere.
It does seem to be true.

Even if there may be a few persistent characteristics
that a few people preserved, in a broad view of the entire
society such differences need not be attributed to their
backgrounds alone. There are many others who do not have
the same racial / caste profile and still have similar
characteristics. In the broader interests of the society
all such differences must be ignored and strong opinions
in these matters must be underplayed.

> In my childhood, my grandparents (who were the temple
> priests in their village) used to have some muslim "peeris"
> (this is telugu word i think) on their family name and they
> would provide all necessary items for that "peeri" to go
> into streets during muslim celebrations. Many muslims in
> that village and even in my village used to play band for
> hindu festivals and temple celebrations. They could play
> "Thyaga raja swami keerthana's fluently". Till I was 10 yrs
> old I used to participate in those muslim celebrations and
> my parents never objected and I never realized that they
> belong to a "different" group.
>
> I now see all that has eroded and there is some kind of
> tension created between these innocent people which I
> attibute 80% of it to the politicians exploiting religion.
>
Probably one of us should write a letter to the government to see
what they can do about uprooting at least some of the divisions in
mankind like castes.

Composed: February 2003.

The Chemistry of Castes

Why do liquids and gases mix and solids don't? It all
depends on the packing density of the molecules. Liquids and
gases are loosely packed and there is more hollowness in
them. Not so with solids. I think the same applies to
people. The denser their hearts are packed with feelings,
biases, grudges, emotions, etc., the difficult it is for
them to mix with others and accept others. That's probably
the reason why teen-age kids who resemble their parents in
every respect don't care for castes when they fall in love,
but some of their parents are dead against. Parents are
filled with these feelings, whereas kids still have the
hollowness.

I strongly believe in the Hindu caste system, but not as it
is practiced today. I'm very sure that the originators did
not have this kind of divisive practice in mind. Castes
would've been created to bring people together, not to drive
them apart. Nothing in this world ever started with a bad
intention in mind - just that it got diluted and distorted
to suit individuals' interests over time. As long as we have
"work is worship" on top of our minds and respect every form
of work, caste system is a great boon.

Castes are pillars of our relatively strong marriages, our
intellectual progeny, our rich culture, and our values. So,
how can we find fault with castes? On the other hand, if
castes are so vitally successful, why do so many
intellectuals crib about castes? It's because of what I
mentioned in the previous para: the practice part. Castes
are being practiced divisively instead of cohesively, as was
originally conceived. Castes are not meant to exclude
people. They are meant to include people. Castes should help
get alliances, true. But they're not meant to exclude
alliances. When our son or daughter wants to marry an
outsider, it is absolutely against the spirit of caste
system to object to the marriage just because of the caste
part.

Caste is a way for people to get together. How do people get
together? If we study American marriages, where caste
system is not practiced at all, most couples get together
either in the school or at the workplace. But that's exactly
what is meant by "Gotra" and "caste". Gotra, my elders told
me, goes by the gurukul that our ancestors attended. Caste,
we know is the profession that our ancestors practiced. (I
know some people including us, do not marry if the gotra is
the same, which I'm sure is again hijacked from its
originality, but let's ignore it for now).

Work and school are anyday the best places to socialize.
This was particularly true in olden days, when there were no
other avocations like fitness, eating outside, etc. Castes
were thus born. So, in what way is the American society
different from the "casteist society"? It's again the
practice part. No body in America looks down upon a couple
or worse still, "exorcise" them if they marry from out of
the profession. Every one respects every other's profession
and open heartedly welcomes them to join their profession,
if the others wish to. Don't we see a BIG difference here??

The origins of most of the castes are anyway obsolete. How
many "Kshatriyas" do we see ruling today? How many current
rulers are born in the "Kshatriyas" caste? We can name many
other castes like that. Even professions, which are
ancestral and family based, like Hindu priesthood are now
being taken by the unconventional "castes". Some will find
it interesting to know that there are people not born
Brahmins who are working as regular priests in temples in
the San Francisco bay area and are doing an excellent job.

As Kabir said in this doha:

Jaati na pooch sadhu ki, pooch lijiye gyan
Mol karo talvar ka, pada rahan do myan

(Don't ask about the caste, ethnicity, etc., of a seer; Ask
about his knowledge and vision. Leave the sheath when we
set a value to the sword)

So, in my opinion, castes are not cast in stone. They are
supposed to be transient and could change from generation to
generation. Branding a person by the profession practiced by
his ancestors some 10 - 15 generations before him / her is
illogical and ridiculous and if used to attack physically or
mentally is stupid, dangerous, atrocious and cruel. People
should come together in the name of caste - not fight in the
name of caste. Caste level cultural differences are
negligible compared to so many other factors and should not
be a factor at all, if we remove the ego attached with the
caste from our hearts.

The dharma of nature is love, attraction. The unit particle
of the universe, the atom, stays put because of the love or
attraction between the nucleus and the electrons. Molecules
are formed by bonding (remember ionic bond, covalent bond,
etc.?) between the atoms. Matter exists because of love,
bonding, attraction and falls apart if hatred and repulsion
take their place. The english movie, Fifth element drives
home this point. Love is the fifth element and world is
incomplete just with the four elements that we know of right
now. Hatred for any reason, be it religion, caste, or at an
individual level, enmity, family feuds, professional
rivalry, etc. is adharma.

I used to be puzzled when the pope used to request amnesty
for some of the worst criminals sentenced to death row. Not
that I support such a request, but loving even the worst
possible enemy is divinity. Of course, duty to the mankind
dictates in unambiguous terms that even if we love them,
they have to bear the consequences of their actions. This is
what should guide us when taking harsh decisions about loved
ones. An extreme concept of this is shown in the last
mother-son scene of the movie 'Pelli' ('Koyi dil se pochche'
in hindi). Love should not eclipse duty as in
Dhritharashtra's case.

Our family always had this practice in our Indian home on
and off for at least 3 generations now, where we keep the
common door with our tenants, unbolted / open. We lived with
so many of such tenants, belonging to varied castes,
regions, and languages, almost like one family. Not a single
time did I feel that this other family is way different from
ours that they have to be categorized by a different caste.
I'm sure most of us have friends from varied backgrounds. We
visit them and they visit us, some of them almost become
part of our family. Do we see a major difference that
requires a separate categorization?

One of those good days when I met the Vice President of
State Bank of India, San Jose and told him that my father
was with a national bank too, he replied, "Oh, so we belong
to the same family". That's what I expect to hear from more
and more people. My parents belong to the banker's caste. I
belong to the software engineer's caste. My gotra is Osmania
University and my father's gotra is Arts and Science
College, Warangal. Chemistry tells us that to avoid this
"caste polarization", we need to shed this charge called
"ego" on us, if present that is, and stay neutral.

As an aside, let me tell you: Those 3 or 4 years of
Bachelor's work at college is the most precious schooling
and that's what imparts our character and transforms our
future. That's why, Osmania University and not California
State University, is my gotra. Prior and subsequent degrees
are just those - prior and subsequent degrees. For e.g., you
take a PhD from a ranked university like say, Georgia Tech
University, Atlanta (MIT is a different beast), with a
bachelor's from IIT, M and his PhD classmate (G' Tech, A,
same branch, same batch) with a bachelor's from OUCE. We can
still see a difference. Mind you, I didn't say which way the
difference is. That's subjective. Life's like that and we
have to accept it. In fact, these kind of differences are
desirable in relations and are enjoyable, if the "ego" part
is set aside.

Last name (or surname) is more than enough to identify
lineage. When we are not getting our professions by
inheritance, it does not make sense to inherit the caste
associated with the profession. Even if we inherit, it does
not make any sense to attach any importance to such an
association. Incidentally, most of the surnames in this
world are actually names of professions - Smith, Shepherd,
Taylor, Carpenter, Guerrero (means a warrior - like a devar
/ kamma in South Indian context), Cook, Turner, Engineer, etc.
Does anyone attach any importance to such names? Others
would probably find it very amusing to know that everything
from favoritism to fights, from introductions to marriages
in India are based on such last names.

Yes, introductions. Many times when I get introduced to
telugu people, they ask me my last name and immediately
comment on caste or enquire about it. More than a decade
ago, a gentleman actually brought a match for me based on my
visiting card that I gave him in Bangalore. Last weekend, I
met a Rajasthani in the laundry room, who was curious about
my last name. I told him and was surprised when he asked me
the exact same questions as other telugu people do when they
hear my last name. I asked him what is the basis for his
guess, if he knows anyone / anything about my last name.
"Nope," he said. "The sound the name makes made me guess,"
he said. "Wow!" I thought.

There is one and only one natural difference in this world -
that between good and bad. Every other difference is for us
to understand, appreciate and enjoy, never to fight about.
Variety is the spice of life. What's life without a
difference? So, let's make a difference. Let's appreciate
the differences instead of whining about them. Most of us
accept that God took the incarnation of a boar, a tortoise,
a fish, and donned the role of a cowherd, but still did not
get the message deep down the heart that every form of the
creation needs to be revered and respected. The priests, the
board members and the government allow the temple rituals in
Tirumala / Tirupathi to be started by a cowherd every day,
but still label the profession of a cowherd as a 'socially'
backward class and do nothing to remove that stigma from the
profession.

Let me end with this joke, which was told during one of our
Moral Science classes in our high school. A Hindu family and
a Muslim family were very good neighbours for many years.
The Hindu family had a 5-year old boy and the Muslim family
had a girl of almost the same age. The boy was very curious
about things and asked his parents why their neighbours are
called Muslims while they are Hindus. Parents told him he's
too young to bother about such things. He asked his
neighbours and they too told the same. One day, when he went
to the neighbour's house, he saw the little girl coming out
after a bath without the towel on her. The moment he saw
her, he exclaimed with a great sense of achievement, "Aha,
now I know the difference between Hindus and Muslims."

Let's hope to see more hollow hearts and happy souls in the
future.