"Men are equal. For, though they are not of the same age, same height, the same skin and the same intellect, these inequalities are temporary and superficial, the soul that is hidden beneath this earthly crust is one and the same for all men and women belonging to all climes"
- Gandhi
Okay, so it has been way too long since I've written a post on this blog. I definitely did not keep up with my New Year's resolution of blogging at least once a week. I've only written four posts this year - so about one a month. Yikes! Alright, time to resurrect this thing!
Over the months of March and April I had the opportunity of going to Hindu temples and discussing Hinduism with several different people. But first: I landed up discussing religious studies with a pastor at a church on campus one Sunday in the beginning of March. She said that she was also fascinated by other belief systems, but when I mentioned that I was particularly interested in Hinduism, she immediately criticized this religion because of its caste system. The caste system is a frequent criticism against Hinduism, and ever since this conversation I have been thinking a lot about it.
The caste system is a hierarchical division of society based on birth. It consists of four social classes (or varnas):
1) Brahmans - keepers of the Vedas (intellectuals, priests, ministers, doctors, teachers)
2) Kshatriyas - protectors of the people (kings, warriors, aristocrats)
3) Vaishyas - generate and distribute wealth (farmers, merchants, artisans)
4) Shudras - serve the rest of the hierarchy (labourers, servants).
The caste system is heavily based on purity and pollution: as one goes down the hierarchy, one naturally gains more karma due to one's occupation. The people whose occupations make them the most impure are the Candalas, or Dalits (who consist of tanners, washermen, sweepers, hunters). They are considered to be outside of the class system, and are therefore 'outcastes'. Because of their status they have been vigorously (and sometimes violently) discriminated against.
Where did this hierarchy come from? An important source that solidified the caste system within Hinduism is a text called the Manava Dharma-Shastra, or The Law Code of Manu. I read an English translation of this text in my Indian myth course last semester, and its laws regarding women, Shudras, and outcastes are definitely very harsh and unjust.
The Law Code of Manu and the Hindu caste system has been responsible for inequality towards women, violent mistreatment of Dalits, and inequality within India in general. However, does this mean we should reject Hinduism on these grounds? First, not everyone who follows Hinduism believes in the caste system. Many people who believe in reforming Hinduism reject The Law Code of Manu. Many of these reformists reject Manu on the grounds that it is a smrti (human-authored) text, and not a shruti (divine-authored) text like the Vedas or the Upanishads, which advocate the equality of humans. Gandhi, who was a Hindu reformist, rejected the Law Code of Manu and fought to improve the conditions of outcastes.
As I mentioned earlier, I've had some opportunities to discuss Hinduism and experience it first hand by going to temples. I mentioned the Law Code of Manu to my friend who is the son of a Hindu priest, and he claimed that, at first, the class system was not determined by birth. It was merely a classification of different types of people according to their abilities. He argued that this eventually turned into classification by birth, because, for example, a Brahman priests were not able to accept that their children could possibly be laborers or sweepers if they displayed these traits, and so it was devised that whatever status the father had, the child would be born into. So, the aristocracy was protecting its interests by implementing a hierarchy that was determined by one's birth.
Furthermore, I was at a bar with my roommates one night and I landed up chatting to my roommate who is from Malaysia. He follows the Hindu religion, but he told me that he doesn't believe in the caste system. He said that the idea of women and certain classes having an inferior status is crap.
Furthermore, I investigated Hinduism further by going to my roommate's temple in Burnaby with him and his friends, and also going to the Mahalakshmi temple in Vancouver, where my friend's father is the priest. On both these occasions I saw the genuine faith of my friends, and saw that this obviously means a lot to them. At both temples I was struck by the sense of community. I personally felt welcome, and was invited to join the rest of the community as they ate together after the ceremony.
The truth is, followers of all religions have done some pretty horrible things at one time or another. Just recently, the Catholic church came under fire yet again for more sexual abuse scandals. But although some members of a religion do atrocious things, this does not necessarily reflect the actions or beliefs of everyone following that religion.
So I don't think one should dismiss Hinduism - with its rich variety of scriptures, traditions and beliefs - simply because of the caste system.
