Curse of Caste
I
They came on bullock-carts
loaded with gods
Indra
Agni
Varuna
Rudra
traversed sinuous mountain ranges
rivers
gurgling outlandish tongues
their children caged as poultry
their priests chanting weird mantras
spells
charms
curses
hymns
drank the soma juice
choking with the sacrificial bleating
of rams
II
Agreed, all societies structure themselves
Out of scant need to function sans bother
Just as individuals must come together
In order better to protect themselves
All men are born equal, so say the Wise
But the Elders do not know how to stem
Rishis who would seek to mock them
By claiming they were twice-born to rise
Above all mankind for wasn’t it the decreed omen
For the Primaeval Being that the self-chosen few
Should forever speak for the Brahman in lieu
Of Purusha’s helpless eyes, brain, heart and abdomen
The only difference between the Brahmin
And the rest of the menial human race
Is that they were born with Brahma’s grace
So that they could spurn the rest as vermin
Yet India’s underside boasts of invisible millions
Who have no place in sacred Hymns of Man
They weren’t created by Rig-Veda: only as Harijan
May they hang out in limbo as Gandhi’s minions.
Resources
Roughly, the Hindu caste system is broadly divided into four sacrosanct strata ; yet there are literally tens of sub-castes in each category :
1. Brahmin (the priesthood caste, supposedly on top of the social hierarchy), followed by :
2. Kshatriya (the princely hereditary and/or ruling warrior caste) ;
3. Vashya (the commercial trading, professional and land-owning agricultural castes) ;
4. Sudra (the menial serving and peasant castes),
followed by the Out-caste :
5. The Untouchable or scavenging caste ( which has not found authority in the following Vedic hymn. )
« brahmano ‘sya mukham asid,
bahu rajaniah krtah ;
uru tad asya yad vaisya ;
padbhyam sudro ajayata. »
Rigveda, X, 90, 12 (sans signes diacritiques)
"His mouth was the Brahman,
His two arms were made the warrior,
His two thighs the Vaisya ;
From his two feet the Sudra was born."
Transl. & translit. by Arthur A. MacDonnell (1854 – 1930), 1917
© T. Wignesan - Paris, 1998 - (from the sequence/collection: "Words for a Lost Sub-Continent", 1999, published in Rama and Ravana at the Altar of Hanuman. Chennai: Institute of Asian Studies, 2006 & Allahabad: Cyberwit, 2008.)
Copyright © T Wignesan | Year Posted 2012
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