Inner Metamorphosis

Kancha Ilaiah’s tirade against the trading community in his latest offering “Samajika Smugglerlu Komatollu” (Vysyas are Social Smugglers) is a unique blend of misplaced Marxist lens with blinding Hinduphobic tint. Which precisely explains why his theories, each competing with the other in the race to logical abyss, are lapped up by the left-liberal world and Christian missionaries alike.  Eyelids become heavy when he refers to himself as a successor to Buddha, Phule and Ambedkar in the recent spate of interviews to Telugu media. If only he had bothered to research a fraction of what Ambedkar did, we would have had a less pompous, but more measured ‘intellectual’. Speaking of ‘intellectual’ (that’s how he refers to himself!), it is instantly clear to any objective viewer that what passes on as a social scientist’s observations are actually nothing more than Hindu hatred in its purest form.  Since he repeatedly refers to his “Why I am not a Hindu” as some sort of m...

Enough has been written about how caste system is blot on Hinduism. Since caste is the stick to beat Hinduism, many well-intentioned Hindus often resort to total condemnation of this practise in its entirety without deliberating on its historically flexible nature and its subsequent distortion under two foreign regimes. Caste system is based on the understanding that humans are different and this difference needn’t be forcefully levelled, instead it can be nourished for the benefit of the whole society through division of work. This explanation may appear a tad too romantic unless we compare it with the record of so-called egalitarian ideologies. Equality or Uniformity? Humans aren’t equal by nature. Whereas animals appear [to humans?] remarkably same, no two humans think alike in all aspects. Each human is endowed with a unique perspective which needn’t tally with majority. Equality therefore is valid as in “equal before law” & “equality to opportunities”. Otherw...

Many people quote Ambedkar’s works to abuse Hinduism and justify the mass-scale conversations on grounds these lower castes were condemned to suffer for centuries in Hinduism and they convert is to escape the tyranny of this cruel system. First things first – caste-based discrimination did take place in recent centuries. They continue even today. All right-thinking Hindus must come forward to condemn this unjust system. The original idea was that one should qualify to become a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vysya or Sudra – the hereditary system as prevalent today is a clear deviation from the established principles. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism Ambedkar conversion to Buddhism is itself is indicative of the intellectual power and historical-cultural perspective of Ambedkar for he didn’t choose one among the two more popular religions – Islam and Christianity. We’ll argue this point a bit later. Below mentioned are two connected notions widely accepted: ·...

Imagine concepts like feudal system, slavery, capitalistic exploitation and anti-Semitism being used to define the core of Christianity! Christians will be outraged at this inappropriate mixing of the core universal values of Christians and societal & historical aspects which merely existed in a Christian world. Now this raises the question – why is caste system defined as the core of Hinduism? Especially as “caste” itself is a western construct. Sounds irrelevant? Okay. Now imagine concepts like slave-trade, war on infidels, brutal subjugation of masses, temple destruction, and forceful conversions marking the core of Islam. It is considered sensible to first understand what the core scriptures speak about the religion and its universal values. The ills of the community & its societal aspects are differentiated from its core philosophy. Now, this brings us to the most interesting question – why is Caste System (caste based on birth) propagated to be the def...