![]() ![]() ![]() If there is a more pernicious form of social conditioning or mind control than casteism, do tell. Not only do dalits ('the Oppressed') get the poorest water, nutrition, education and shelter and literally the shit jobs in this life they are also a body of humanity denied advancement through rebirth, twice-condemned by Hinduism to return over and over again to the same wretched, feudal place in society, doomed forever to return 'polluted' and 'casteless'. What education in this country ducks is that outside the four varnas come the dalits. These are traditionally tiered as: the priestly superiors or Brahmins soldiers (kshatriyas) the merchants and farmers (vaishyas) and those that serve them (shudras). Hinduism recognises four varnas ('castes', literally 'colours') based on occupation (jati or jat) and ancestry. Apart from his knowledge of jurisprudence, he had one other unimpeachable qualification: he was an Untouchable himself. He was describing the plight of a people still insensitively known as the 'Untouchables'. Ambedkar (1891-1956), a champion of human rights whose life and works deserve to be taught in our schools in the same breath as those of Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela, wrote the constitution of India. One man, Dr BR Ambedkar, described caste discrimination or casteism luminescently, declaring its evil worse than racism and slavery. ![]() Excluding any dedicated theology-wallahs out there, what most of us 'know' about caste is likely to be mightily flawed. ![]()
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