As an educator who believes in the ability of education to inspire people to build a better world and to develop people into fuller human beings, I take issue with the claims of the Hindu American Foundation that Hindu children must be shielded from the history of Hinduism to protect their self-esteem and prevent bullying. This issue is personal. The child they seek to protect with their historical revisionism, well that was me.
I was the only Hindu kid in my grade in my overwhelmingly white hometown of Merrimack, New Hampshire. Growing up, I fielded plenty of questions about the “dot on our foreheads”, why gods and goddesses were blue and had so many arms, whether or not I would have an arranged marriage, and which hand I used to wipe my shit. I endured racial slurs about the bindi worn by Hindu women and bizarre comments about the color of my skin and its proximity to the color of dirt. I internalized shame about all the ways I was different, and struggled to get by without drawing too much attention to myself.
During our 6th grade social studies class, when the unit on Hinduism came up, I wanted to disappear into my chair. I already felt painfully different as the lone brown girl, but those 45 minutes of tortured explanations about the caste system and mangled pronunciation of Hindu philosophies like “karma” and “dharma” made me want to gag. I felt that someone else was defining my culture for me, and I felt powerless to define my identity for myself.
Thankfully, or so I thought, my community taught me, through forums like the Chinmaya Mission, about the universal beauty of Hinduism, and that caste was long in the past. At one point, it had been a social reality manipulated by evil people, but it was not inherent to the religion itself. Hinduism was always something to be proud of, a set of lofty philosophies that advocated peace and tolerance, and had contributed to the world positively.
I never learned anything to the contrary until I came across a Dalit retelling of the Ramayana in college. Within it, a Dalit activist flipped the narrative of Rama, the fair skinned Aryan God of the North, as the good guy, and Ravana, the dark skinned Shudra king of the South as the bad guy. He laid out the history of the term “Dalit”, or “the oppressed”, the centuries-long oppression by the Bramhinical order, and the revolutionary vision laid out by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He spoke about manual scavenging, an ongoing practice in which millions of Dalits are forced to clean sewers without equipment at the behest of their upper caste oppressors, and honor killings, in which people who dare marry outside their caste are ostracized and even killed.
I was stunned. The story ran against everything I had been taught about Hinduism. From this perspective, Hinduism was a tool of oppression that had been used for millennia to perpetrate an unjust system, rather than the wise and gentle philosophy that I had always understood it to be.
I could not deny the dignity and truth-telling power of the storyteller in the video. One line in particular rang in my ears and refused to leave, “Not only will we reclaim our humanity, but we will make you human as well!” I began to read more about the ways the caste system has dehumanized people by separating them and denying them what Ambedkar calls “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” I realized there was so much of my history that I had not been taught.
My desire to learn more led me to India, where I studied modern Indian history from South Asian historians like MSS Pandian and Tanika Sarkar. I read the works of Savitribai Phule and Jyotirao Phule, EV Ramasamy Periyar, and B.R. Ambedkar, and began to understand their disillusionment with Hinduism and visions for human emancipation on the subcontinent. I learned about the history of Buddhism as one of the first anti-caste liberation movements, the Bhakti saints who subverted the rigid Bramhinical and patriarchal order, and yes, the history of Muslim and Christian missionaries who offered services and scholarship that were enabling to oppressed groups, and how these interventions created local indigenous liberatory traditions that were beautiful, vibrant, and also very much Indian.
Outside of the classroom, I got an education from friends, movements, and organizations such as Dalit History Month and the Ambedkar International Mission, which draw attention to the continuing regime of caste apartheid both in modern “India Shining”, as well as the Indian diaspora.
As an educator I believe in the transformative power of education. The process of working through the contradictions between my monolithic view of Hinduism and the narratives of Dalits, Adivasis, and other oppressed peoples was vital for my growth. It led me to a broader community and larger truth that has shaped who I am as a community organizer and educator.
Pointing out and understanding contradictions in history do not have to simply lead to low self-esteem for the Hindu child; they can be a valuable pedagogic tool to develop people into critical thinkers who can transform themselves and transform the world.
By trying to protect Hindu children from the shameful aspects of Hindu history and erase the contradictions within the tradition, you deny them an opportunity to learn about histories in which ordinary people came together to try to build a world free from inequality and injustice. In denying the humanity of Dalits by advocating for edits that erase their histories, those of us who were born with caste privilege deny our own humanity, and foreclose the opportunity to build a world in which everyone can be human. As an educator, this runs fundamentally against my values.
As a person of Hindu descent, the Hindu American Foundation does not speak for me.
* * *
Meghna Chandra is a writer, organizer, and educator living in Philadelphia. She has an MA in Modern Indian History from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She tutors in the Philadelphia School District, teaches ESL classes to recent immigrant communities, and hopes to be a history teacher. She is a member of the South Asian Histories for All Coalition.
Thank you so much for this powerful testimony. As a Dalit-American I appreciate people of Hindu Descent finally acknowledging the violence of caste apartheid and the power of the Dalit intellectual tradition! Jai Bhim!!
HAF has never pretended to downplay caste based discrimination, deny its ugly history, horrid conflations and perceived justifications in Hindu scripture nor its continuing reality. http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/hinduism-not-cast-caste-full-report
HAF’s position in the California middle school frameworks controversy (and also Ambedkar’s) is that: caste based discrimination was absent in the Vedic period, appeared in India around the 6th Century AD (a couple of millenia AFTER the Vedas were composed), and that caste based discrimination must be eradicated. If you believe that the Annihilation of caste lies in the annihilation of Hinduism, then dialogue is dead. But if you believe, as I do, that casteism’s end lies in service, activism and rejection of a conception of caste heirarachy, then let us meet for more dialogue. I too am an educator in Philadelphia.
We need to stop speaking past each other.
It is simply hilarious how you guys will leave no stone unturned to Savarna-splain your way out of the dirty ditch that is Hinduism. Any historian worth their salt knows in any case the word “Hindu” istelf was not invogue in the Vedic period. Caste society was just forming, and as Ambedkar (who you try to mis-quote) mentioned Indian history is a struggle between buddhism and brahminism. brahmanical values were concretized after the annilation of the buddhists. it would be worth the HAF’s time to read Ambedkar before mis-quoting him. Because he also said “hinduism is not a religion, it is a disease” and that to annihilate caste we need to dynamite the shastras. Finally at the very minimum if you believe casteism’s end lies in activism you could start by petitioning your darling PM aka mass murderer of Gujarat to get rid of the killers of Rohith Vemula from his cabinet. But that would disturb Sanatana Dharma perhaps?
It pretty sad how even though Gujarat was done by Muslims attacking pilgrims coming home, it is now 1. Narendra Modi’s fault 2. Hindu people’s fault and how people go to such lows in conclusions.
And LOL at “Savarna-splain.” To some people, any Hindu who speaks out isn’t arguing, but he is suddenly a casteist bigot?
Also, it would be wise for some to actually consult historians before jumping to conclusions about the history of Buddhists in India. It is well known that Hindus weren’t the cause of the decline of Buddhism in India and Buddhists were never a majority in most parts except perhaps Bengal. Many historians agree that it was the Muslim invasion. And ancient Indian society wasn’t over brahminism vs Buddhism either. Both groups were quite often living quite happily after all. This is evident in communities such as the Newari one in India and Nepal.
And regarding killings, if you guys are such activists, why don’t you equally stand your ground on Kashmiri…
But anyways, speaking against Kashmiri Hindus would make pseudo Dalit activists made. You guys don’t equally care about justice. You guys don’t care about human rights. You guys only go out your way to hate Hindus. And that is all. Unconditionally.
And Kashmiri Hindus rejected casteism and all sorts of things you fight against, yet they were coined as “Mukhbirs”by the terrorists who killed them and kicked them out.
They never oppressed anybody. To those denying the intensity of such, I pity them.
Maybe some people of this brand should have a good read of this… http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde030413.htm
Its sad how some pseudo Ambedkarites don’t even have the decency to discuss and accept points made by others. They are always occupied in the “I AM RIGHT, AMBEDKAR WAS PERFECT, BUDDHISM IS PERFECT” dogmatic thinking, which is something that even Ambedkar was against.
Buddhism: An Atheistic and Anti-Caste Religion?
http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/irenik/relkultur50.pdf
On Some Who Are Not Allowed to Become Buddhist Monks or
Nuns: An Old List of Types of Slaves or Unfree Laborers
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23044516
Jains, caste and hierarchy in north Gujarat
http://cis.sagepub.com/content/38/1-2/73.abstract
Caste and Christianity
http://www.india-seminar.com/2012/633/633_david_mosse.htm
http://samaj.revues.org/3901
Dalit Muslims
http://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/dalit-muslims/216144
Caste among Bene Israel
http://sir.sagepub.com/content/43/1/102.full
Dear Aseem,
The report begins with a statement that implies varna is a good concept but caste is not.
Ambedkar demolishes that belief in Annihilation of Caste. Ambedkar did believe in a brahminic counterrevolution that enmeshed caste– not in the 6th century, but following the coup of Pushyamitra. But the fact remains that the Vedas speak even early in of three varnas, and of course the infamous Purusha Sukta, though late, forever gives varna religious sanction.
The impasse is not that we speak past each other. It is that you fail to see that varna is a terrible idea.
Ambedkar himself thought that Hinduism could be free of caste. That is the point of Annihilation of Caste. But to do so, he gave a number if provisions: the destruction of the hereditary priesthood and the disavowal of scripture that sanctions caste. Will you lead this movement?
The Article is a proof of how politics is been played in the name of “Dalit”…”Dalit opperssion”…..another academicdoltish in process….An Educator impressed by Dalit activist story retelling of Ramayana…who is claiming Ravana is sudra….(this itself contradicting and proof for how stories and myth of Hinduism is distorted for political gain(here int his case Dalit politics)….As an educator author should have asked is ravana really an sudra?…..but endroses by saying”I could not deny the dignity and truth-telling power of the storyteller in the video.”…..Today’s caste system is an outcome of 18th and 19th century political and academic wager. Hindus always acknowleged Caste opression…never denied its presence….but only they protested the distortion one gives with religion…..it was hindus themselves who reformed…the cultural and political imbalances for centuries……When it is caste issues….Author addresses it as “Hindu History” and not “South asian…
While Ambedkarianism has a noble cause, it is a horrible bastardization of Buddhism to support their own agenda, and there could be no greater disrespect towards the Historical Buddha than using him to charge up people’s emotions and inculcate an “us vs them” mentality, both of which are against his teachings. Infact, Buddhism is just a mask, if it were’t for Buddhism, they would latch on to a different mask of Christianity or Islam and use that to stir up revolutions. But the reason why he didn’t use Christianity or Islam was since he was in fear of problems since he didn’t like those either. And also since they are not “Indian” religions. He tried sikhi too, but he was discriminated by his caste there.
Powerful write up. A true lover of religion fights against the extremists and the social ills within her/his religion. I hope that the writer does not come under sustained attacks by the largest group of social media bullies-the supporters of Hindu ISIS, the RSS and VHP. HAF should explain its ties to the dreaded extremist VHP and why it refuses to condem,n the RSS and VHP. More on this issue on the Coalition Against Genocide website.American Muslims do not allow supporters of ISIS to become their spokespersons, American Hindus should do the same. The writer should not have a dialogue with the HAF till it denounces RSS and VHP
“Hindu ISIS, the RSS and VHP. ”
I’m not particularly fond of the RSS and VHP personally even though I am a Hindu, but all I can say is that “exaggeration only works in small quantities”
Oh my! What hyperbolization is done in the name of politics!
And HAF is only lightly tied to the VHP. Only in the situation of helping Pakistani Hindus who had set up refugee camps in India. Otherwise, they are fundamentally the complete opposite when it comes to view on homosexuality, sex, and many other things.
Aseem please. Ambedkar just rolled in his grave. If you want to know what he really felt about Hinduism try this quote from his book Philosophy of Hinduism.
““The Hindu Civilisation… is a diabolical contrivance to suppress and enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy. What else can be said of a civilisation which has produced a mass of people … who are treated as an entity beyond human intercourse and whose mere touch is enough to cause pollution?”
I would also suggest to read Thenmozhi’s piece on Erasing Caste You can read it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenmozhi-soundararajan/erasing-caste-the-battle_b_9817862.html
Dalits have not and will not ever use that report because you insult Dalit religious autonomy. That report maybe your attempt to get a license into liberal spaces, but Dalit movements do not and will never stand for your nonsense.
My advice- just stop trying to erase DALIT and maybe use your funds to deal with your Savarna fragility.
But HAF didn’t even ask for erasing Dalit history in the history of India. They, for one, just wanted “India” to be rightfully put as the name of the history and also wanted to ask for an equal viewpoint. Of course pseudo Ambedkarites will use that to distort words and even history for their own agenda!
Keep in mind that caste based discrimination isn’t exclusive to Hindus in India. Come back when Indian christians will stop having separate cemeteries for different castes. HAF wanted to point equal arguments out against some with an agenda!
Maybe some of you guys should even take just a few minutes to even do some research on castes in Buddhist Sri Lanka as well as oppression by Mahayana Buddhists elsewhere.
Of course, for some, its difficult to even drill an iota of sense into their thick skulls who don’t even have the decency to discuss and accept points and these people resort to moronically yelling “BRAHMINISM” or “Savarna fragility” instead discussing like grown…
I take your point and absolutely agree that caste permeates many of the other “interventions” that apparently created “indigenous” traditions in India*. However, I do believe that is more likely a reflection of the influence that Hinduism has had over the other spiritual systems within the region rather than something organic within the traditions themselves. I am not aware of casteism (in the Hindu sense) permeating Christianity in Europe or Buddhism in China, to use a couple of examples.
Doesn’t mean that the other traditions are without fault (hell no!), but caste issues seem to be pretty tied to a Hindu influence.
*As an aside, the author’s remarkable pretzelling of some pretty traumatic and oppressive events into entirely benign activities is truly something to behold. The author must also believe the criminalization of homosexuality in India by the “intervention” of the British is now a wonderful “indigenous” and “very much Indian” tradition. No? Logic…
This is a direct lie. Suhag Sukhla and Murali both submitted an edit to erase Dalit. Another edit from Uberoi foundation went onto to build the case. https://twitter.com/dalitdiva/status/731465338114703360/photo/1
“Inequality is the soul of Hinduism,” wrote Ambedkar. He characterized the oppressive caste system as the tyranny of Hinduism. After spending a lifetime in a crusade against the oppressive Hinduism, Ambedkar finally renounced Hinduism, and converted to Buddhism
Ambedkar asserted: “I was born a Hindu, but never will die a Hindu. What is required is to get rid of the doctrine of ‘Chatuvarna’. That is the root cause of all inequality and is also the parent of the case system and untouchability, which are merely other forms of inequality”.
Ambedkar made a scathing attack on Hinduism: “I tell you, religion is for man and not man for religion. If you want to organise, consolidate and be successful in this world, change this religion. The religion that does not recognise you as a human being, or give you water to drink, or allow you to enter temples is not worthy to be called a religion. The religion that forbids you to receive education and comes in the way of your material advancement is not worthy of the appellation ‘religion’. The religion that does not teach its followers to show humanity in dealing with its co-religionists is nothing but a display of a force. The religion that teaches its followers to suffer the touch of animals but not the touch of human beings is not a religion but a mockery. The religion that compels the ignorant to be ignorant and the poor to be poor is not a religion but a visitation!”
No-one from the South Asian Histories for All group ever addresses the legal issue at hand. The California constitution clearly states that there must be equal treatment in the studies of religion in school. No child should be ashamed of their religion and no religion may be held as inferior to another. The 6th grade textbooks are designed to provide an extremely brief introduction to each religion and how moderate, peaceful practitioners live.
People have used the Bible / Koran to justify slavery, segregation,colonialism, violence and homophobia. Native populations around the world have been subjugated as a result. The ancient Jewish populations had practices of ritual purity very similar to caste. These are not (and should not) be mentioned as religious associations in the elementary textbooks. The same treatment should apply to Hindu beliefs. Every religion needs to be held to the same standards. To do otherwise is discriminatory.
We should teach about the terrible history of caste discrimination (along with prejudicial practices in other societies )
But we should state clearly that the different Hindu philosophies illustrate paths by which an individual understands their own divine nature. Caste discrimination is antithetical to this purpose
The following facts are indisputable :
1) The earliest Vedas and Upanishads never mention untouchability (rigid hierarchy developed in a later historical period),
2) There are many revered saints in Hinduism who are from lower caste
3) From the 1st century onwards there are innumerable Hindu leaders who worked towards social equality within the Hindu tradition. They were revered during their lives and their spiritual teachings are still followed today
4) Every influential modern day Hindu religious leader has spoken out clearly against caste discrimination.
Every religion undergoes reform movements. The strength of an ancient religion is its ability to…
Ravana was not a shudra. He was a greatly revered king and devotee of Shiva. He was supposed to have been of great virtue and his only downfall was his ego and lust. Hymns supposedly written by Ravana are still sung today to Shiva. The Kanyakubja Brahmins worship Ravana. The Dave Brahmins are supposedly his descendants. To use this as an example of Dalit oppression is completely wrong. However, there are many Dalit and low caste saints in Hinduism whose lives should be examined (Valmiki, Chokhamela, Nadana, Guru Ghasidas), as well as contemporary Dalit figures such as India’s president, KR Narayanan.
It would be wonderful if you could modify the title of this piece to “Why the Hindu- American Foundation Does Not Speak for Me – And Why I I Do Not Speak for Hindus”.
In addition to grossly misrepresenting the HAF’s objective, you have also made the critical mistake of conflating religious and cultural practices. Noone, including the HAF, denies the existence of caste. But if you had taken a class or two on Hinduism (you know, the actual religion) during your time studying modern Indian history, you would have known that the Manusmriti – often the most-cited source on caste – is widely disputed and discussed by other Hindu texts and scholars. Citing political manipulation of texts and cultural practices to claim that the religion endorses this is equivalent to saying that Islam condones female genital mutilation.
And then my head exploded right around the time you wrote about the “service and scholarship” of Christian and Muslim missionaries. I just. I can’t even with…
What is the answer for this from HAF ? //According to Apastambha Dharma Sutra ” The tongue of a Shudra (Dalit) who spoke evil fo a Brahmin should be cut off. A Shudra dared to assume a position of equality with the first three castes was to be flogged. If a Shudra overheard a recitation of the Vedas, molten tin was to be poured into his ears, if he repeated the Vedas tongue should be cutoff and if he remweber Vedic hymns, his body was to be torn in pieces. //
How about the Bhagavad Gita?
Krishna says in Chapter 5 Verse 18: “The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater (commonly interpreted as non-brahmins or meat-eaters).”
And before that, in Chapter 4 Verse 13: “Four classes have been created by me, based on the division of guna and action. Even though I created them, know me as the non-doer and imperishable”, which clearly considers caste to be a function of your behaviour and personality, not your birth – and certainly not something to be manipulated for discrimination discriminated.
“Those 45 minutes of tortured explanations about the caste system and mangled pronunciation of Hindu philosophies like “karma” and “dharma” made me want to gag. I felt that someone else was defining my culture for me, and I felt powerless to define my identity for myself.”
And yet you would like other non-Hindus to define what Hinduism is for other brown girls growing up in America with little access to Hindu scholars, elders, debates, or perspectives. Thanks for perpetuating ignorance and hatred.
I have no doubt that there have been egregious impacts of caste whether historical or current. The question I have is whether other medieval or ancient traditions with egregious impacts are also addressed. Do we mention ethnic cleansing (if we want to use the euphemism for genocide) in the Levant (a hallmark of the more famous spiritual traditions to come out of that region in ancient, medieval and (sadly) modern times)? Do we mention the trauma of the Iberian and Byzantine conquest (or do we just focus on the horrors of the Crusades without considering the precipitating event that gave rise to that reactive event)? Do we mention the Christian medieval spiritual tradition of burning witches and heretics at the stake (that stopped with the secular enlightenment?). Do we talk about how the big three monotheistic religions were a-ok with slavery from medieval times until as recently as (oh wait, at least one of the big three is STILL ok with it). If not, why not?
Essentially, my question is whether there is unequal treatment of current spiritual traditions in curriculum and whether that unequal treatment is justified (I hope the presumption is that it is not). Oppression is oppression is oppression and pointing out one form while excusing or overlooking another is absolutely contemptible. I would also note that history is often written by the establishment which, in North America has a very decidedly Judeo Christian (morphing into Islamic) bias. I still recall days where the Bible was filed separately from other “myths” such as the Bhagavad Gita.
Or, to paraphrase another philosopher, remove the **&^ beam from your eye before griping about my mote.
WTF. truly WTF.
Hindu American Federation (HAF) has started spreading its fangs to bring America under its fold. Its counterpart, Hindu Council UK has already achieved considerable success in the sinister game of safeguarding caste supremacy with the help of David Prime Minister David Cameron. He is now the latest Hindu avatar who has shelved enforcement of equality law ascented by the Queen in 2012. Cameron did not enforce it under pressure of money power from Hindu supremacists . who are about 4 lakhs as against 4.5 lakh British dalits (2011 census).
Deewali celebrations in White House is the first foothold in USA to alram all. The Americans must be aware against soft Hindu upper caste invasion. Columbia University in 2004 wanted to create Ambedkar Chair in Anthropology Department in memory of its celebrated alumni. But the proposal was resisted by the upper caste Hindus in the education committee. Director Anthropology had told this to New York Times, 24 Oct. 2004.
Dalits must be aware.