Real Casteism in India - Possible Solutions

[coffee_rules]

Just now, BacktoCricaddict said:

Every powerful community's $HIt stinks.  From royalty to priests to zamindars.  

 

End result is that the truly oppressed, the truly economically and socially disadvantaged classes, always have a steeper climb to make it out.   

In the context, it was suggested that the problems will be solved with poojaris , pandita and priests are banned. They are not the root cause of the issue.

[BacktoCricaddict]

2 hours ago, coffee_rules said:

After, the Dravida thread deteriorated, moving the discussion here.

 

@sandeep It is not present in big cities. When I grew up in the 80s and 90s, caste was around. Especially in family talk and politics especially. It is there in politics even now, big time. But NOT in schools and colleges, I went to. So, we never learnt what the caste is of each other. It didn't matter even in professional life too. But in govt offices, banks, caste is big. Esp when certain communities get promotion over others and when they get jobs because of reservation. It has vanished in families now, in big cities as inter-caste/community marriages are on the rise. It is a good sign, to abrogate the whole caste system.  At a individual level, we should stop hating based on caste , that too in 2020. Not to say, it gets to that, when we discuss the politics of the region, about EVR or Lallu, who wore their caste/caste politics  on their sleeve.  I am glad that at a societal level, caste discussions are shunned and talked in hushed voices, I am not saying the problem is solved, it is far from being solved in India.

 

I wouldn't go as far as saying it doesn't exist.  It may be noticeably less than it was a few decades ago.  For instance, intra-caste weddings are still the norm even in urban communities.  

 

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a whatsapp convo with an old classmate with whom I hadn't spoken in decades, and was stunned that he referred to one of our other classmates by his caste identity.  Like you know what "XYZ, the Vokkaliga" is doing? 

 

 

 

[BacktoCricaddict]

2 minutes ago, coffee_rules said:

In the context, it was suggested that the problems will be solved with poojaris , pandita and priests are banned. They are not the root cause of the issue.

I think it was suggested the inheritance of pujari-hood, not pujari-hood itself, be banned.  And you suggested correctly that, pujaris are appointed by temple admins and are not necessarily hereditary.  

 

How about pushing the envelop here?  Should priesthood be the hegemony of brahmins?  

[coffee_rules]

1 minute ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

I think it was suggested the inheritance of pujari-hood, not pujari-hood itself, be banned.  And you suggested correctly that, pujaris are appointed by temple admins and are not necessarily hereditary.  

 

How about pushing the envelop here?  Should priesthood be the hegemony of brahmins?  

No, anybody who is trained, finds it sacrosanct, honest about it. Some temples have already started appointing other caste as priests as well. But if somebody has a sampradaya of priesthood in their family for generations and are doing a fine job of maintaining it, there is no need to discriminate them out of their work, just to be liberal

[BacktoCricaddict]

7 minutes ago, coffee_rules said:

No, anybody who is trained, finds it sacrosanct, honest about it. Some temples have already started appointing other caste as priests as well. But if somebody has a sampradaya of priesthood in their family for generations and are doing a fine job of maintaining it, there is no need to discriminate them out of their work, just to be liberal

Agreed.  If someone opens a new temple and appoints a Dalit priest, they should not be shunned.  After all, Indians have been flocking to ISKCON for decades now ... I still can't fathom how easily our society accepted those Caucasian priests, but were reluctant to accept our own "lower" castes into priesthood.  Glad to see positive movement there.   

[coffee_rules]

Casteism is not confined to Hinduism alone. Sikhs. Christians and Muslims to have dalits

 

 

[ravishingravi]

Doesn’t fit the narrative but caste and habits stretch way beyond Brahmins. Brahmins are easy scape goats. Food apartheid for instance stretches way beyond Brahmins. I recall a Kashmiri Muslim taking us from Srinagar to Ladakh. Great human being but would eat in Ladakh because they eat pork. India is way more complex than simplistic suvarna narrative. Brahmins are less than 3% of India’s population.