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It is to be noted
here what is Vedic religion is not just Hinduism of the later period. Since time
immemorial there was prevalence of non-Vedic culture and religion. And Hinduism
traces its foundation to them, writes the noted scholar Khitimohan Sen. He
further adds that in Bhagavat religions like Saivism and Vaishnavism there is
nothing worthy of mention pertaining to vedic practices. It is obvious that the
Post-Vedic Puranic Hinduism retained the sway of neo-Brahminism in all respects.
Hinduism that emerged later cannot be really called a unified religion. It is
more like an aggregate of religions that differ from one another considerably.
The common thread like the recognition of the sacred authority of the vedas, the
teaching about karma and the transmigration of the soul and particularly the
belief in the divine oxigin of castes binds the Hindus. Very few of the vedic
religions were preserved in Brahminism : only belief in the holy authority of
the vedas, the names of some Gods and sacrificial rituals. As for the prevalent
spirit and caste nature of Brahminism, it was considerably different from vedic
religion. The Brahmanas’ fight with Buddhism was a struggle to preserve the
Varnashramic caste system, and to maintain control over the population. For this
purpose Brahmanism had to reaffirm and this new phenomena in Indian religion
readapting the doctrine and cult to the needs of the people. It should be
mentioned here that both Buddhism and Jainism believed in karma and
reincarnation, and that both placed in the forefront the ethics of leading a
pious life. It is also an incentrovertible fact that the Buddhists and the Jains
too, like the followers of Brahminism, imported the Aryan culture and social
organisation in Bengal. To substantiate this view, Nihar Roy, a noted historian
of Bengal, referred to Rhys Davids’ scholarly book Buddhist India and observed
that the Buddhists and Jains were against the vedas but not against the varna-system.
Neo-Brahminism that emerged in the new stage of Indian history incorporated into
it so much from the non-Vedic elements that it turned out to be very different
from the Brahminism of the past. In the vedas Gods dominate, while female
goddesses occupy a secondary position. Under the neo-Brahministic order mother
goddess are found to be taking the centre stage. Faith in some form or other in
mother goddess is found, in the past among the Semitic, Hellenic, Tentonic and
Nordic races. "But what singles India out in this matter is the continued
history of the cult from the hoary past down to the modern times, and the way in
which the religious consciousness developing and deepening round this Mother
Concept, has influenced the thoughts and ideas of the whole nation through
ages."
Mother Earth, a
dominant feature of worship among most of the primitive tribes had a minor place
in the vedic pantheon. Puranic Hinduism emerged countering Buddhism. When the
Gupta kings tried is reestablish Brahminism, temples came up imitating Buddhist
monasteries, and non-Aryan popular Gods and Goddesses worshipped by the people
at the lower level made their way to the Hindu world. In Hindu society those
sections of the population along with the yaranas of foreign descent were
accorded different statuses. Many female deities made their entry as wives of
male gods. They entered along with their vahanas, the totems of the non-Aryans.
How non-Aryan deities
were changed and fitted with the Brahmanic tradition is best illustrated by the
case of Goddess Durga. The Sanskrit scholar Sukumari Bhattacharjee illustrates
it vividly that:
"Durga or Durgi, as
she is known in the vedic texts, was a goddess worshipped by the indugenous
population. According to the vedas, a mighty demon Durga tormented the gods and
men. Shiva himself could not kill the demon and evden other gods were
unsuccessful because Durga was protected by a boon which made it impossible for
any mate to kill him. So, at Shiva’s request, Parvati assumed the form of a
warrior and killed the demon. Then Parvati herself was named Durga. The demon
Durga, at his death, assumed the form of a buffalo".
This large scale
assimilation of local goddesses in reality shows the march of neo-Brahministic
culture to multifarious localities in India. Obviously this process under a
dominant neo-Brahministic ideology was not that smooth as it appears to be. The
resistance of the non-Brahminised people either petered out or/and a compromise
was reached with the assimilation of those people with their religious
practices. Their social and own religious identity i.e. their status in the new-Brahministic
situation was decided by their physical and material strength. This assimilation
has been going on for centuries. One scholar while writing on the festivals of
Bengal commented that despite being popular and having made their way into the
Brahministic society, a great many rituals have not found entry in the Hindu
sastras. He cited the examples of one much popular charak festival of Bengal and
the fear inspiring practices associated with it, the worship of twelve demon
gods and Jaydurga in East Bengal, etc.
In Bengal, which came
into the Brahministic fold in a later stage, Vedic hymns are chanted by Brahmin
priests in religious rituals and during one’s life span (from the naming
ceremony to death) vedic rules are also prescribed by those priests. However in
the real life situation in marriage, death and in numberless religion-related
festivals the Brahminised people follow the customs and practices conspicuously
non-Aryan in origin. Mangalghat (a small pitcher symbolising the auspicious),
use of the banana tree, paddy, mangoleaf, seven number, turmeric, iron, water
etc. a number, of such folk customs and rituals are practised. In actual reality
Brahminism could not absolutely erase or suppress the customs and rituals of the
socially lowly-placed people or popular among the masses as such. Even after
assimilation through compromise many of the customs and rituals contined to be
negated by Brahminism yet survived through people’s clinging to them
tennaciously. The tribal population which remained deliberately outside the
Brahministic fold remained as ‘other’ from the mainstream. Even Hinduism or
Buddhism or any other religion could not completely purge a population under it,
of the past rituals and customs. In present Bangladesh about 10 tribes are under
the influence of Christianity or Buddhism or Hinduism but animism is still
faithfully followed along with other folk customs and rituals.
How the popular
magico religious ceremonies of women folk, particularly of the maidens generally
known as vratas (vows) and the accompanying recitation of rhymed or un-rhymed
verses (generally known as vrata-katha), absolutely non-Brahmanic and non-sastric
in nature were, revised and surreptitiously assimilated to the Brahministic
fold, has been of the Tagore family in Calcutta. He wrote that in the sastric
vratas of the Hindu religion there is a process of reverting to the stage of "Anya
Vratas’ by creating various gods and goddessses. "The only difference is that
unlike the Aryans’ total ignoring the gods of Anyavratas along with their Vrata
rituals there is a constant effort at transforming them completely. Behind such
apparently liberal attitudes of Hindu religion lies a completely illiberal
mentality — it is not that everyone keeps on practising their own religion; let
everyone come forward in to the grip of the Brahmin priest under Hinduism, and
for that matter it seems the entire structure sastras and composers of sastras
furnish proof to this end.
The message is clear,
one should never disobey the ‘dharma’ whose one basic duty is to get in
conformity with one’s socially ordained caste under the Varnashram system.
One hears the off-quoted saying from the Mahabharata emphasizing love of human
beings: (There is nothing more supreme than man). Nevertheless in the Varnashram
system such adage in the generalised sense held out no prospect for treating
equally all human beings irrespective of castes in which they are born.
Margaret stutley in
his book on Hinduism writes that
"...... the Hindu
Tradition includes all types of religious belief known to man ... In it may be
found the worship of an cestors, of cosmic elements; of Mother goddesses; of
deified culture heroes; of animals; birds and snakes, spirits, ghosts and
celestial beings; of high gods such as Varuna, Visnu and Siva; and the worship
of God in feminine form. Apart from polytheism, Hinduism also includes
monothistic, monist, and even atheistic views ...."
This once again takes
us to the concept of dharma which enjoins upon a Hindu to act to maintain a
given social order reinforced by the idelogy of Varnashram. Basing on the
sanskrit root of the word dharma Ronald B. Inden observes that it suggests "that
the code for conduct of a jati or kula was that particular code which sustained
and nourished it as distinct genus of living beings. Commonly, this code of
conduct was conceived of as a bundle of interconnected "attributes" (guna),
"Powers" (Sakti), and "potenntial actions" (Kartavyakarma). These are thought of
as inherent in the jatis or kulas to which they belong. When realised through
actual (acara), a code for conduct is believed to bring about the ‘well-being’ (Mangola
Kalyana) and good fortune or prosperity (Sri, Laksmi, etc.) of its genus ....."
Thus saying, Inden
adds it that the code for conduct of an occupational jati was referred to as its
jati-dharma and the code of conduct for a clan, Kula-dharma, was conceptualized
in much the same way as the jati-dharma.
It appears from the
above that the ideology of new-Breahminism, despite the assimilation of plenty
of non-Brahminical elements from various regions, the jati-dharma was never
compromised with as an ideology of Breahminism. Notwithstanding contrary
practices and thoughts as an under current of the society, the Varnashram
ideology was meticulously preached as the model of the caste-based social order.
In Romila Thapar’s words.
" ..... Briefly,
dharma refers to the norm of conduct and of duties incumbent on each man in
accordance with his caste ..... the idea of dharma is fully articulated in the
theory Varna asrama-dharma where the definition of one’s duty has reference not
only to one’s life, i.e. student, house-holder, ascetic, etc. ..... To act
according to the rules of his dharma meant that a man must accept his position
and role in society on the basis of the caste into which he was born and the
norms which had been enunciated for that caste by the authors of the Law Books.
Duties implied obligations and the stress was far more on obligations and on
rights ....."
It is to be
emphasized here that the rules of dharma were formulated by the law-makers who
were by and large members of the Brahmin caste and who naturally tried to
maintain the superiority of their caste. And through their definition they over
stressed the innate superiority of the Brahmins. The concept of dharma
rooted in caste was extended to every aspect of human activity with the rights
extended primarily to the privileged upper castes and obligations alone were
left for the lower castes. The religio-philosophical concept of Hinduism, that
of Karma, which maintains that one’s deeds and activities in one’s present
incarnation determine one’s status and happiness in the next life left one to
improve in the social scale by falling in line with the dharma and being reborn
at a higher status in his next incarnation.
It is inorder to
state here that renunciation and what not are the only Hindu Values. Brahmins,
carriers of Brahminism, in the ancient times were by virtue of their acquisition
of knowledge, by inter acting with the multifarious cultural economic units,
became the front ranking forces of newer economic and cultural elements. While
spreading metaphysical views of dharma they also helped spread newer concepts in
the productive process. In the rigorous Brahminical fold during the asrama
(stage) period of discipline and education the view of life education consisted
of only metaphysics and religious instructions. A number of early Indian
contribution to grammar, logic, phoneties, arithmetic, trigonometry, algebra,
not to mention of trigonometry, algebra, not to mention of literature, came from
religious people the same is true of medicdal treatises (for example, Caraka on
medicine and susruta on surgery) in the early centuries of the Christrian age
while Hindu philosophers have tried to go beyond the material world, the
realities of the material world were not neglected. In fact a sound knowledge of
the physical world was always considered to be a part of Hindu education, writes
K. M. Sen.
In actual reality,
the power of Brahministic ideology was so much all-pervading that even in
respect of secular aspects a formal reference to the Vedas were made to make
things appear in line with the tradition. It is in order to refer to the Hindu
philosophical schools. The Vaisheshika used the analytical methods of the Nyaya
and the latter accepted the former’s thesis of an atomistic constitution of the
world. The former claimed that there were nine substances and God later created
the world out of them. Samkara, the great champion of vedanta, described the
followers of Vaisheshika as ardhavainasikas, i.e. half nihilists. The samkhya
school religonised two categories consisting of the universe, the purusha and
the prakiti. The samkhya pravcana sutra (attributed to kapila) found it
unnecessary to make the assumption of the existence of God, though it does not
deny it either. The philosophical basis of the Yoga is the same as that of the
Samkhya, except that a personal God is introduced into the system. Among the
last two, while Purva-Mimamsa confines itself to the interpretation of the vedas,
vedanta propagated the upanishadic doctrine of the Brahman. It is therefore
found that the first three of principal schools of Hindu philosophy were not
thoroughly God centred.
Only the Lokayatas or
the materialists remained to challenge all such recognition to scriptures they
declared:
"Hence it is only as
a means of livelihood that Brahmins have established here All these ceremonies
for the dead, there is no other fruit anywhere.
The three authors of
the Vedas were buffoons, knaves and thieves."
One scholar observed
about tradition based creations as under
"It is on account of
a loyally ingrained deeply in the mental structure of Hindu life that Hindu
creations eithesr in art, literature or philosophy have always followed the
course of creating types, Where individuality has always remained shy to express
itself in its full height. Thus, in philosophy also we do not get a free
response of thought moving forward untramelled by conditions, but always leaning
towards certain fixed points which are like the Cartesian co-ordinates
determining its exact situation. Thus, almost every Indian philosophy should
admit the validity of the vedas, the doctrine of re-birth or transmigration, the
possibility of salvation and the root-cause of the of salvation and the
root-cause of the world as being some form of ignorance ...."
It should be
mentioned here that with the rigidity of the caste system and the sway of musty
moralism of orthodox Brahminism with little progress in the innovative
technological or productive forces Brahminism had little to contribute to the
society. Examples are aplenly whereby Brahmins were directed to exemplify as
the embodiment of higher qualities. Scriptural references emphasized the notion
of a pure, unsullied Brahminhood. Deviations from the prescribed rules were
simply condemned. In a later stage in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya’s Dharma-tatwa
the master’s (Guru’s) reply to the disciple has made it almost axomatic stating
"In the Hindu dharma Brahmins are worthy of being worshipped by all ....."
Then came the rider that the Brahmin who possesses qualities i.e. who is pious,
learned and teacher of the people is to be respected. And he who is devoid of
those qualities shall not be respected, with the emphasis on pure Brahminhood.
The Bhagavat Purana,
like all the Brahministic literature, assertively stated that among the
countries where (Brahman bhakti) respect for the Brahmins is non-existent, that
country is inauspicious.
The repeated
references meant for the Brahmins to fall in line with the ideal of Brahminhood
make it abundantly clear that Brahmins were increasingly losing their
traditional ground. One reputed scholar while writing on Chaityana’s movement
opined that in the middle ages under Muslim rule, Brahmins did not have any
special status accorded by the state which led to the Brahmins’ rewriting many
editions of their ancient scriptures. Many smritis were rewritten between the
12th and 16th centuries to reestablish their unquestionable superiority. He
argued that in the past Brahmins received special privileges of the king and
land grants and under the royal patronage developed settlements in North and
East Bengal. With large-scale Islamisation, the power of the Brahmins positively
shrank. This led, on the one hand to the recognition of non-vedic folk religions
and practices and on the other hand enhanced the priestly power of the Brahmins
along with orthodox practices of pollution and purity. The sultans of Bengal
obviously made no opposition to all this.
However, the same
writer concluded that under the sultans both in case of administration and armed
forces the recruitment of Hindus under Muslim rulers the Brahminised social
order was not significantly disturbed. Abbe J A Dubois, who had practical
knowledge of many areas of south India, went on record that:
"And here I would
remark that the role of all the Hindu princes, and after that of the Mohamedans,
was properly speaking, Brahministic rule, since all posts of confidence were
held by Brahmins."
This tradition of
holding high position in a caste society by the Brahmins, despite many a change,
can be found even to this day.
At the functional
level Brahminism in the garb of popular Hinduism for the past several centuries
has evolved three basic concepts like Punarjanama, i.e. the theory of
transmigration of souls, the doctrine of transmigration of souls governed by a
cosmic law known as karma, and dharma or a complex system of values embedded in
the varnashram system. It is through the popular media of katha (narratives)
like myths and legends based on the puranas and the epics, bhajans (devotional
songs), and varta (talks or lectures) those doctrines are carried to the people
by the wandering Brahminns, ascetics, bards and devotional singers. For all
practical purposes, the average common man or woman should generally follow the
path trodden by his or her ancestors and predecessors, in accordance with the
best available traditions of the class or caste to which he or she happens to
belong. "Tradition is thus the best and most important source of dharma, one
which takes precedence over all the other sources, literary or
mythical."
There had been many
schools of thought with differences on the philosophical or devotional planes
within the ambit of what we call Hinduism. But for the commoners with the
socialisation process conducted at home and outside, the mythological elements
have always played the subtle propagandist role to establish dharma. One noted
scholar of sanskrit literature observed on the power of recitation of the epics
and Puranas in the following way.
"Such imaginative
predilection of the Indian people could easily be utilised by the poets by
dealing with characters of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the puranas as a
means of rousing the religions and moral interest of the audience and there by
contributing to dharma. We know that there by contributing to dharma. We know
that the Ramayana, which is called an itihasa are regarded as invested with the
holiness of the vedas. Thus, there was an easy bridge between what may be called
dharma and what may be called plain literature ...."
Brahminism has been a
dead weight for several centuries having the traditional role of vindicating the
Varnashram in order to counter ideological currents that emerged from time to
time. What is not able is that Marxist movements since its birth on the Indian
soil has fought on many fronts but ironically fought shy of directly attacking
Brahminism obviously for fear of triggering disturbance in the social system
itself and for the fact that leaders generally coming up from the upper castes
left this struggle to spontaneity considering it either unimportant or believed
its automatic fading away with the land reforms and industrialisation in India.
To pinpoint the
specific manifestations of Brahminism of the present age, we should refer to
upper caste hegemony; belief in natural and racial superiority of upper castes;
belief in karma theory; bondage of women; a false notion to respect and even
worship of Brahmins; belief in the necessity of maintaining Varnashram-based
caste system; opposition to inter-caste marriage; dining, etc; mobility of
backward castes, dalits and towards socio-economically lowly-placed castes;
virulent opposition to change the centuries old caste-based system of
exploitation, etc.
It is necessary to fight out
Brahminism as well as casteism. The false claim to the superiority of upper
castes, particularly of the Brahmins requires strong rebuttal, challenging the
pure and higher racial anthropological illusory image. While striking at the
socio-economic basis it is of paramount importance to simultaneously launch
running battles against the ideology of Brahminism and casteism, since caste is
both a structure and a super structure in the Indian context. It is also to be
emphasixed here that alongside the projection of anti-casteist, anti-Brahministic
tradition in India, the communist revolutionaries have to develop and carry
forward a sound and powerful cultural movement as a counter culture against the
dominating Brahministic and casteist culture.
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