I wonder whether news of Indian priests doing a purification ritual after a minister belonging to a lower caste visited a temple comes as a surprise in a country where religion plays a big role in politics?
Sadhus or Hindu holy men chant hymns as they carry a photograph of the Hindu god Shiva in Jammu in this July 1, 2004 file photo. REUTERS/Amit Gupta
While officials in Orissa said they will question the priests for throwing away holy offerings and washing the floors after the minister’s visit to the temple this week, the incident has left the controversial minister angry.
Pramila Mallick, the Orissa state minister for women and child welfare, said her political rivals must have been behind it because she had been to the temple a few times without any fuss.
Mallick is said to be partial to lower caste voters who have been instrumental in her winning elections, while ignoring upper-caste people who administer temples.
Upper-caste Hindus may have tried to get even with her this time around, she said.
In spite of India’s secular constitution banning caste discrimination, Dalits, who represent 16 percent of India’s 1.1 billion population are sometimes beaten or killed for using a well or worshipping at a temple reserved for upper castes.
Dalit political leaders are also accused of instigating caste wars to help shore up voter support.
Temple politics is nothing new. India’s former prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was stopped at the gates of the famous Jagannath temple in the town of Puri. She was deemed to have become an outcast after marrying a non-Hindu.
In 2007, the temple priests in Puri threw away food cooked for 7,000 devotees after a foreigner entered the temple.
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I have one interesting interpretation of the caste system. If you take a look at a horoscope (the position of planets at the time and place of birth), it will contain certain details about the person if prepared thoroughly. A person could have a caste of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra based on his horoscope, and perhaps this is how the caste system originated - by studying the planets and predicting whether the person would be best as a priest, warrior, trader or worker. Interestingly, although the caste system today is based on birth, even a brahmin’s son could have a sudra caste based on his horoscope and a sudra’s son/daughter could be a brahmin by nature as shown in the horoscope. The horoscope is a very thorough astrological indication of a persons nature based on the state of the universe - ie which planets were in what constellation at how many degrees…which is never the same once the moment is gone. Although the predictive value of the horoscope is only as good as the reader, it is my opinion, that the nature of the person - priest, warrior, trader and worker is indicated there, certainly if the astrologer knows his trade, by simple calculation he can tell the caste of person based on horoscope. What I am saying is that the caste system became an evil when it became based on your fathers caste. When it was (perhaps) based on astrological indications, it may have been helpful for a person to decide what profession to follow.
- Posted by Sampatajay,
refute the basis of my premise if you want to
My whole logic is based on the fact that now casteism is prevalent in most religions in india.
If you know hinduism well then you must also be aware of that hinduism in not guided by one book - one person. and there is no concept of heresy in hindusism.
- Posted by chirkutIf we dont agree with Manu and his dharmashastra then we can simply walk away from it. There is nothing binding us to dharmashastra. this my dear friend is called progress!
THE HINDU CASTE SYSTEM IS FOUND NO WHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD - IT WAS INVENTED IN INDIA IN THE HINDU RELIGION. I’LL QUOTE YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATION WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT ALL MEN HERE:
Galatians 3:28 says: There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So, the apologists that claim innocence on behalf of Hinduism’s practice of Caste-system are according to me incorrigible and inveterate liars to say the least. The system has been sanctioned by Manu’s Dharmasastra about the 2nd/3rd centuries BC.
- Posted by AjayAnyone who is aware of current socio-religious structure of India will also be aware of Caste system in Muslims, Sikhs and christians.
Caste system is no longer a religious issue. It is impacting all religions in India. And hence it is now a social issue. So i don’t think tagging caste system with Hindus alone is correct and fruitful.
Tim,
- Posted by chirkutEven if i agree with you that the writer was writing about a specific tradition, still it will be a over generalization. I know many temples which do no follow the above mentioned tradition. All in all a loose article!
caste system in Hindu religion is a very sad truth, which was there, in wide practice decades ago. though, caste devision is seen as a wrong practice by penal laws, sadly, many remote places have this tradition. so, instead of blaming each other, it will be nice if each can do something to end this venerate part of humanity.
there is no wrong in acknowledging the fact, but it will be even more wrong to shut our eyes before these gaffe…
there is no doubt tht the heading is misleading,…
as politics is mixed with caste system, the sitauation became much more dangerous..
- Posted by mujeeb(for those, who denied existence of caste system,.. Bihar is a better example….)…
In response to Kusum:
The headline says, “Nothing holy about India’s temple tradition”. Not ‘traditions’. It is referring to a specific tradition i.e. the tradition of discrimination on the basis of a person’s so called ‘caste’.
It is sad that people confuse technological progress (in only certain areas!) with the progress of a society.
- Posted by Tim DavidThe article is biased. It is Siva not Shiva. writer of this please do some serious studying FIRST.shame on the writer and the agency
- Posted by sajithThe dalits and the priests bleed red. Wisdom and knowledge, whether from the minds of dalits or priests will be equally pure. Leaders, politicians, and citizens will benefit, the nation will grow, and India will advance by enlisting all the talent in the drive for progress.
- Posted by RajeevIt looks like my post was deleted. I will say this again - this sort of episode is utterly predictable just as the reaction of these apologists who post rebuttals to the article attacking everything from the paper to the correspondent to the British. Google Temple + Dalits and you will see almost all of such atrocities are carried out not by Hindus ignorant of scripture but by Hindu priests who are well versed in scripture. Hinduism is built on the foundation of caste hierarchy and unless it is deconstructed you will continue to see such atrocities and many more apologists who will tie themselves into impossible knots trying to reconcile Hinduism with egalitarianism.
- Posted by joeb