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Book: Hindu Dharma, Written by Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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Talking of the varna system I am reminded of the early days of aviation.
In
the beginning the air ship[dirigible balloon] was filled with one gas
bag. It
was discovered that the vessel would collapse even if it sprang just one
leak. So it was fitted with a number of smaller gas bags and kept afloat
without much danger of its crashing. The principle of different duties
and
vocations for different sections of society is similar to what kept the
old
type of airship from collapsing. In the varna system we have an example
of unity in diversity.
Fastening together a large number of individual fire sticks is not easy:
the
bundle is loosened quickly and the sticks will give way. The removal of
even one stick will make the bundle loose and, with each stick giving
way,
you will be left with separate sticks. Try to tie together a handful of
sticks
at a time instead of all the sticks together. A number of such small
sheaves may be easily fastened together into a strong and secure larger
bundle. Even if it becomes loose, none of the smaller bundles will come
away. This is not the case with the large bundle bound up of individual
sticks. A bundle made up of a number of smaller sets will remain well
secured.
To keep a vast community bound together in a single uniform structure is
well-nigh an impossible task. Because of its unmanageable size it is not
easily sustained in a disciplined manner. This is the reason why - to
revert
to the example of the fuel sticks - the community was divided into jatis
[similar to the smaller bundles in the analogy of the fire sticks] and
each
jati assigned a particular vocation. Each varna was divided into a
number
of jatis [smaller bundles], with each jati having a headman with the
authority to punish offenders. Today criminals are sentenced to prison
or
punished in other ways. But the incidence of crime is on the increase
since all such types of punishment have no different effect. In the jati
system the guilty took the punishment to heart. So much so that, until
the turn of the century, people lived more or less honourably and there
was little incidence of crime. The police and the magistrates did not
have
much work to do.
What was the punishment meted out to offenders by the village or jati
headman? Excommunication. Whether it was a cobbler or a barber -
anyone belonging to any one of the jatis now included among the
"backward" or "depressed" classes - he would feel deeply stung if he
were thrown out of his jati: no punishment was harsher or more
humiliating than excommunication.
What do we learn from all this? No jati thought poorly of itself or of
another jati. Members of each jati considered themselves the supreme
authority in managing their affairs. This naturally gave them sense of
contentment and satisfaction. What would have happened if some jatis
were regarded as "low" and some others as "high"? Feelings of
inferiority
would have arisen among some sections of the community and perhaps,
apart form Brahmins and Ksatriyas, no jati would have had any sense of
pride in itself. If each jati had no respect for itself no one would
have
taken excommunication to heart. When the entire society was divided
into small groups called jatis, not only did one jati have affection for
another, each also trusted the other. There was indeed a feeling of
kinship among all members of the community. This was the reason why
the threat of excommunication was dreaded.
Now some sections of the community remain attached to their jatis for
the only reason that they enjoy certain privileges as members belonging
to the "backward" classes. But they take no true pride in belonging to
their respective jatis. In the old days these sections "enjoyed" no
special
privileges but we know it to be a fact that, until some three or four
generations ago, they were proud of belonging to their jatis. We must
add that this was not because - as is the case today - of rivalries and
jealousies among the various groups. There were indeed no quarrels, no
rivalries, based on differences of jati. Apart from pride, there was a
sense
of fulfilment among members of each jati in pursuing the vocation
inherited from their forefathers and in observing the rites proper to
it.
Nowadays trouble-makers defy even the police. But in the past, in the
system of jatis, there was no opposition to the decisions of the
headman.
The police are, after all, part of an outward system of discipline and
law
enforcement. But in jati rule the discipline was internal since there
was a
sense of kinship among the members of each jati. So in the jati set-up
crime was controlled more effectively than in today's system of
restoring
to weapons or the constabulary. Though divided according to jatis and
the occupations and customs pertaining to each of them, society
remained united. It was a system that ensured harmony. |
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