Author: Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
Publisher: Maven Books 2018
(Originally published in 1946)
For those who do not know who Ambedkar is, let me quote a passage from my note on the book Caste.
https://skoswatt.blogspot.com/2021/12/caste-origins-of-our-discontent.html
When Wilkerson (the author of the Caste) traveled to India, the untouchables of India accepted her as a fellow untouchable from America. Bhimrao Ambedkar went to Columbia to study economics in 1913. Living just blocks from Harlem, he saw firsthand the conditions of his counterparts in America. Ambedkar tried to dispense with the demeaning term untouchable. He rejected the term Harijans applied to them by Mahatma Gandhi. He spoke of his people as Dalits, meaning “broken people”, which due to the caste system they were.
Wilkerson recalls a personal experience when she came back to America from India.
On the way home, I was snapped back to my own world when airport security flagged my suitcase for inspection. The TSA worker happened to be an African-American who looked to be in his early twenties. He strapped on latex gloves to begin his work. He dug through my suitcase and excavated a small box, unwrapped the folds of paper and held in his palm the bust of Ambedkar that I had been given.
“This is what came up in the X-ray,” he said. He turned it upside down and inspected it from all sides, his gaze lingering at the bottom of it. He seemed concerned that something might be inside.
“I’ll have to swipe it,” he warned me. He came back after some time and declared it okay, and I could continue with it on my own journey.
“So who is this?” he asked. The name Ambedkar alone would not have registered and there was no time to explain the parallel caste system. So I blurted out what seemed to make the most sense.
“Oh,” I said, “this is the Martin Luther King of India.”
“Pretty Cool,” he said, satisfied now, and seeming a little proud. He then wrapped Ambedkar back up as if he were King himself and set him back gently in the suitcase.
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Ambedkar proposes the following thesis with evidence.
Originally (during the early Veda times, before the rise of Buddha-Dhamma) there was an “Aryan Shudra gothra”. These Shudras were Kshatriyas.
There was a time (from the Vedic times up to until the second century CE) the Aryan society recognized only three Varnas, namely, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas.
The original Shudras did not form a separate Varna, since they were Kshatriyas. There was a continuous feud between the Aryan Shudra kings and the Brahmins in which the Brahmins were subjected to indignities.
As a result of the hatred towards the Aryan Shudras Brahmins refused to perform the Upanayana to Shudras.
Owing to the denial of Upanayana, the Aryan Shudras fell below the rank of the Vaishyas and thus came to form the fourth Varna.
The Purusha Sukta, a late addition to the Rig Veda—the nineteenth hymn of the Tenth Mandala of Rig Veda—introduced the Chaturvarnya.
*** Today, nearly eighty percent of the Hindi population of India are Shudras. To me, this is the most amazing riddle. How did the vast majority of the Indian population become the lowest of the Chaturvarnya? ***
Ambedkar adds a few more riddles.
Why did the Purusha Sukta make a particular form of social order so sacred as to be beyond criticism and beyond change?
The principle underlying the Purusha Sukta is criminal in intent and anti-social in its result. For it aims to perpetuate an illegal gain obtained by one class and an unjust wrong inflicted upon another. What can be the motive behind this jugglery of the Purusha Sukta?
Is it because of malice that the Purusha Sukta did not hesitate to say that the Shudra was born from the feet of the Purusha and that his duty was to serve? If so, what is the cause of this malice?
The list of disabilities and penalties imposed on Shudras in addition to not performing Upanayana can be found in the Samhitas and Brahmanas.
* A shudra is a servant of another (and cannot be anything else. — Aitareya Brahmana and Panchavirnsa Brahmana.
* A Shudra is not worthy of respect on the ground of his wealth or knowledge no matter how high they are. — Manu Smriti.
* If a Shudra through pride gives instruction to a Brahmin concerning his duty, let the king order hot oil to be dropped into his mouth. — Vishnu Smriti
* If a Shudra mentions the name or caste of a superior revealingly, an iron pin ten inches long shall be thrust into his mouth red hot. — Vishnu Smriti
* A Shudra teaching the precepts of a religion or uttering the words of the Veda, or insulting a Brahmin shall be punished by cutting out his tongue. — Brihaspati Smiriti.
* If a Shudra listens intentionally to a recitation of the Veda, his ears shall be filled with molten tin or lac. — Brihaspati Smiriti.
* If a Shudra remembers a recitation of the Veda, his body shall split in twain. — Brihaspati Smiriti.
* A Brahmin may take possession of the goods of a Shudra with perfect peace of mind, for since nothing at all belongs to this Shudra as his own, he is one whose property may be taken away by his master. — Manu Smriti.
* An accumulation of wealth should not be made by a Shudra even if he is able to do so, for the sight of mere possession of wealth by a Shudra injures the brahmin.
* A man of the first three castes who commits adultery with a woman of the Sudra caste shall be banished. A Shudra who commits adultery with a woman of one of the first three castes shall suffer capital punishment. — Apastamba Dharma Sutra.
* If a Shudra has criminal intercourse with an Aryan woman, his organ shall be cut off and all his property be confiscated. If the woman had a protector, the shudra shall be executed after having undergone the punishments prescribed above. — Gautama Dharma Sutra
* If a man of the Shudra caste makes love to a girl of the highest caste he deserves corporal punishment. — Manu Smriti.
But pretty Shudra women should be available to other castes.
* A Shudra woman can be a wife of any twice-born caste man. — Manu Smriti.
* An expiration is not prescribed for him who has drunk the moisture on a Shudra woman’s lips, who has been reached by her breath, and who has also begotten a son on her. — Manu Smriti.
However, marriage to a Shudra woman is discouraged.
* A twice-born man marrying a Shudra woman out of infatuation will bring their descendants to the condition of Shudras. — Manu Smriti.
Shudras should take all these laws with their heads bowed.
* One must know that bearing grudges, envy, speaking untruths, speaking evil of Brahmins, backbiting and cruelty are the characteristics of a Shudra. — Vasishtha Dharma Sutra.
* A Shudra who intentionally reviles twice-born men by criminal abuse, or criminally assaults them with blows, shall be deprived of the limbs with which he offends. — Gautama Dharma Sutra
* If a Shudra assumes a position equal to that of twice-born men in sitting, in lying down, in conversation or on the road, he shall undergo corporal punishment. — Gautama Dharma Sutra
The situation of a Shudra is worse than the situation of an African American in America before the emancipation.
* A Shudra, whether bought or not bought by a Brahmin may be compelled to practice servitude, for that Shudra was created by the self-existent merely for the service of the Brahmin. — Manu Smriti.
* Even if freed by his master, the Shudra is not released from servitude; for this servitude is innate in him; who can take it from him. — Manu Smriti.
Oh, by the way, Shudra must endure all these hardships to have a better life in the next reincarnation.
* If a Shudra is pure, obedient to the higher castes, mild in speech, without conceit, and always submissive to the brahmin, he attains in the next transmigration a high birth. — Manu Smriti.
But if a Shudra gets angry at this ill-treatment, then the repercussions are severe.
* If a man of one birth assaults one of the twice-born castes with virulent words, he ought to have his tongue cut, for he is the lowest origin. — Manu Smriti.
* If a Shudra makes mention of an insulting manner of their name and caste, a red-hot iron rod, ten fingers long, should be thrust into his mouth. — Manu Smriti.
* If a Shudra through insolence gives instruction to the priests in regard to their duty, the king should cause boiling hot oil to be poured into his mouth and ear. — Manu Smriti.
* If a Shudra lifts up his hand or his shaft against a brahmin he ought to have his hand cut off; and if he smites him with his feet in anger, he ought to have his feet cut off. — Manu Smriti.
* If a low-born man endeavors to sit down by the side of a high-born man, he should be banished after being branded on the hip or the king may cause his backside to be cut off. — Manu Smriti.
* If thorough insolence a Shudra spit upon a brahmin, the king should cause his two lips to be cut off; and if he urinates upon him, his penis, and if he breaks wind upon him, his anus. — Manu Smriti.
* Men of the Shudra caste, who prefer a false accusation against a member of a twice-born caste, shall have their tongue split by the officers of the king, and he shall cause them to be put on stakes. — Narada Smriti
* A once-born man who insults members of a twice-born caste with gross invectives, shall have his tongue cut off; for he is of low origin. — Narada Smriti.
* If he refers to their names or caste in terms indicating con- tempt, an iron-rod, ten “angulas” long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth. — Narada Smriti.
* If he is insolent enough to give lessons regarding their duty to Brahmins, the king shall order hot oil to be poured into his mouth and ears. — Narada Smriti.
* With whatever limb a man of low caste offends against a Brahmin, that limb of him shall be cut off, such shall be the atonement for his crime. — Narada Smriti.
* A low-born man who tries to place himself on the same seat with his superior caste, shall be branded on his hip and banished, or the king shall cause his backside to be gashed. — Narada Smriti.
* If through arrogance he spits on a superior, the king shall cause both his lips to be cut off; if he urinates on him, the penis; if he breaks wind against him, the buttocks. — Narada Smriti.
Every Brahmin has to follow these laws. If one decides to act against these criminal laws, there will be consequences.
* A Brahmana who performs a sacrifice for a Shudra should not be invited to dine with other Brahmins at other Brahmins at a Shraddha ceremony. — Manu Smriti.
Clearly, Shudra alone has been selected by the Brahminic law-givers as a victim for their law making authority. The brahmanic law not only seeks to impose disabilities but it endeavors to make them permanent. The Shudra is punished just because he was a Shudra.
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What was the origin of the word Varna? The word Varna does occur in Zend Avesta—the Zoroastrian sacred writings, comprising the Avesta (the text) and Zend (the commentary)—It takes the form of Varana or Varena. It is used specifically in the sense of “Faith, Religious doctrine. Choice of creed or belief.” It is derived from the root Var which means to put faith in, to believe in.
The original meaning of the word Varna means a class holding to a particular faith and it had nothing to do with color or complexion.
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Ambedkar wonders (at the end of his book):
Why has Shudra not given the right to have his Upanayana to read the Vedas, and to perform sacrifice?
It is the Brahmins who stood to earn large fees by allowing the Shudra the right to Upanayana, the performance of sacrifices and the reading of the Vedas. Why were the Brahmins so determined to deny these concessions to the Shudras?
Why were these questions not left to the free will of individual Barahmins? Why were penalties imposed upon a Brahmin if he did any of these prohibited acts?
Neither the orthodox Hindu nor the modern scholar has attempted to explain them. Indeed they do not seem to be aware of the fact that such riddles exist. The orthodox Hindu does not bother about them. He is content with the divine explanation contained in the Purusha Sukta that the Shudra was born from the feet of the Purusha. The modern scholar is content with the assumption that Shudra in his origin is a non-Aryan aboriginal, for whom the Aryan quite naturally prescribed different code of laws. It is a pity that none of these classes of people have cared to acquaint themselves with the riddle which surrounds the problem of the Shudra, much less have they thought of suggesting a theory of the origin of the position of the Shudra capable of solving them.
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