balaji@uscvax.UUCP (Balaji Narasimhan) (01/16/86)
The defensiveness shown by some of the netters about Hinduism would have been amusing but for the seriousness of the import of the original message from Ramamohan Paturi about Manu's code for the conduct of Sudras. Manu's code is most of all a social issue, and not a religious issue. Grant, if you will, all the noble attributes that you wish to your religion. You still will have to explain the damnable social practices. And to claim, as some did, that Manu's code has little relevance to today's India is to betray one's indifference to the millions of those who find the truth to be otherwise. Ramamohan's message was about Manu's code for Sudras. Manu had a worse dispensation for another group of people - the untouchables. How did these social divisions evolve? What is the status of the untouchables in India today? Here are some partial answers. The Aryan tribes began penetrating the subcontinent around 2500 B.C. They either drove out the local inhabitants from the conquered areas or imposed their authority over them. An outline of the social order among them and their relationship with the indigenous tribes can be found in the 'Rigveda', an anthology of about a thousand hymns addressed to the Aryan gods, compiled over a period of generations, between 1500 B.C. and 1200 B.C. The Aryans had three social orders. The early hymns refer to the indigenous tribes as Dasaa (ie slaves or servants), and distinguish them from the Aryans by varna(color). The latter hymns refer to them as Sudras. They were assigned nothing higher than menial work on land or in service of their masters. Then there were panchanahas (the fifth people) - other aboriginal groups- so despised by the Aryans that they refused to incorporate them into their caste system. These people were the forerunners of the Untouchables, the outcastes. They were assigned the tasks of sweeping the streets, scavenging, and disposing of dead animals. The rationale for the social grading was provided by the twin Brahminical theories of transmigration of the soul, considered indestructible, and karma (deeds) or retribution. The Brahminical establishment enjoined upon the lower castes to accept their station in life without question, and to remember that if they followed their assigned dharma(duty) in this life they would be rewarded with a better status in the next life. Manu's rules of conduct are dated back to 300 to 200 B.C. Manu's rules for the untouchables were as follows. The dwellings of the outcastes shall be outside the village, and their wealth shall be dogs and donkeys. Their dress shall be the garments of the dead and they shall eat from broken dishes; black iron shall be their ornaments, and they must wander from place to place. A Brahmin shall not seek intercourse with them; their transactions shall be among themselves and their marriages with equals. Their food shall be given to them by others in a broken dish; at night they shall not walk about in villages and in towns. By day they may go about for the purpose of their work, distinguished by marks at the King's command. Manu prescribed that a Brahmin polluted by the touch of an outcaste purify himself by bathing dressed in his clothes. Untouchablity in post-independence india will be the subject of Part II.