to regulate the society of the small group of Aryan settlers of the North. With the establishment of the British law courts, the provisions of the Shastras came to be extended and applied to all the peoples indiscriminately. As Mr. J. C. Gliosh remarks in his Tagore Law Lectures, “However that may be, Hindu law has been practically extended to all Indians who are not Muhammadans nor Christians.” This involved great injustice, and the deprivation of the rights of certain communities, especially when cases came to be decided by Brahman judges or English judges with little knowledge of the society and religion of the Indians.
The history of the South Indian temples furnishes an instance of the great wrong thus perpetuated. Temple worship was prohibited to the Brahman from the days of Alarm who classified temple-priests along with liquor vendors. The Brahmans rarely founded any temples. Most of them were built and endowed by non-Brahman princes and chiefs and flourished with the help of contributions from non-Brahman devotees. They were built in accordance with the rules contained in the Agamas and not the Brahmanical Shastras. The Agamas do not recognize caste differences in the matter of worship. Any person of any caste who has received initiation, and none else, can officiate as priests. Even the lowest untouchable could enter the temple for worship provided he had received initiation. In accordance with the spirit of the Agamas, all caste-Hindus and non-caste Hindus were treated as one people before the deity. The sixty three Saivite saints whose images are set up and worshipped in all important temples belonged to all castes, form the Pariah to the ‘Brahman. In his “History of the Tamils” Mr. P: T. Srinivasa-lyengar of the Madras University says, -“The ‘Agamas did not recognize the four castes. . The Agamas on the contrary, were open to all men, so much so that even to-day, a Pariah who has received Sivadiksba can give this Diksha (initiation) to a Brahman and thus become the Guru of the later.”‘
This original liberal character of the South Indian temples was completely destroyed when they fell under the influence of the Brahmans. The rules of the Agamas were ignored; courts upheld the Brahmanical Shastras and wrongly applied them to these non-Brahman institutions. Many things were authorized which were diametrically opposed to the principles of the original foundation. The right of the non-Brahmans to officiate as priests was lost in most places; and, what was the unkindest cut of all, at the present day, a majority of the descendants of those who built and endowed the temples are either rigorously excluded from their precincts, or permitted only to approach them subject to humiliating restrictions. The British courts have -contributed not a little to this perversion of the ancient arrangement. It is just as if a Protestant
Church in London had been placed under the ‘charge of a Catholic priest, and the Protestant ,congregation had been obliged not only to accept service from him, but had been relegated to the back Albenches, the front ones being reserved for the Catholics.
Even greater injustice was involved in the classification of the people in accordance with the rules of Brahman Shastras. The elaborate system of administration and revenue, civil, criminal and executives with its offices and officials from the Village ‘peon up to the highest representative of His Majesty, comprehending all departments of the nation’s life, social, religious, political and economic, required the recording and fixing of the caste .and
*Page 66, Right of Temple Entry. •
sub-caste of every individual with almost supersti-ltious- exactness and hair-splitting fineness. No child could get admission to a pial school without his caste and sub-caste being stated in the application ; no document could be registered by Registrar unless it contained a full description of the caste of the parties; a police report or a court proceeding was considered imperfect if it contained no statement of the castes of the persons involved. From birth to death, the Hindu was forced in every dealing with the Government to reiterate his social degradation. Some of the poorer classes who did not know what all this meant, accepted whatever rank was assigned to them in the gradation of castes by their high placed masters: Sometimes even influential communities were, without their knowledge and consent, brought under low caste groups by
officers and historians. The case of the Nayars of Malabar is typical. From time immemorial, this community had been the ruling and warrior class, and even to-day are proud of their martial heredity, distinctive culture, and high level of advancement. Their customs, beliefs, rights and mutual relations were not governed by the Brahman Shastras. In spite of all this, they came to be put in the category of Sudras. But the Nayars of Travancore protested against this insulting innovation and the Government had to recognize the justice of their contentions. They were thus saved from enforced Sudra¬hood.
Hindu speakers find fault \ with Christian missionaries for encouraging mass conversion. They seem to forget that the Hindus became Hindus by a sort of mass conversion or mass classification by the Muhammadans, and the various castes acquired their status by a similar process of mass classification behind their backs by the Brahman first and lastly 15y the British Government. Sectarian legislative enactments and judicial decisions based on so-called immemorial customs, fixing the rights of succession, inheritance, family management, marriage, etc., of different groups gave the finishing touches to the caste structure. There are to-day, among the Hindus, not less than three thousand castes and a much larger number of sub-castes who have received due recognition at the hands of the census officers.
As a result of the Government taking upon itself the authority to define the caste and status and rights of the various social groups, reformers and religious teachers, who could do much, by way of amalgamation and abolition of restrictions in olden days, have become completely helpless., No saint or saviour to-day can alter the status of any community effectively if the Government sticks to its policy of pious non-interference, which in effect means active enforcement of existing conditions.
One more thing was required to give caste a positive economic value in life, and that was supplied by the latest arrangement, of course made as a result of popular agitation, to distribute the patronage of the Government, to give preference in schools and colleges, to constitute election constituencies and lastly to decide questions of constitutional reform on the basis’ of caste divisions and the claims and opinions of the respective caste groups.
When the entire life of the Indian nation had been thus grotesquely bedecked in the multicolored robe of a gaudy comedian, there came from the West learned antiquarians to crown him with hearty congratulations on the beauty of his magnificent apparel. The caste system, which has made A gifted people the laughing stock of the civilized world, is praised as a wonderful cultural achievement but for which Indians would live sunk into barbarism. The clever patching together of the disconnected shreds and pieces, the masterly arrangement of the variegated colours to form a unique pattern, the appropriateness of the long tail of rough khaddar and rougher Harijans trailing on the ground at the base of the brighter hues like the knee-crawling prisoners of jallianwallah, the bulky and serviceable pants pressed almost down to the knees representing the Sudras, the elevated frontage of the abdomen marking the capacious granary of the Vaishyas, the long-losely hanging sleeves with hidden claws denoting the exalted origin and great power of the Kshatriyas, the tapering cap of jolly wisdom and divine self-esteem perched on the scoundrel’s head symbolizing the ancient Brahmans and the other tiny patches, stitches, and holes and (numberless little decorations, each representing a beautiful caste group, constitute together, in the opinion of some antiquarians, the most fascinating figure, the most edifying phenomenon, the most ancient remnant of human civilization ever presented to a modern audience! They split their cheeks with congratulations and shout, “Hail! India once more to the front.” Would they like to introduce the caste costume into their own country?
Let us briefly enumerate the gradual stages by -which Britain helped, in all good spirit and with the best of intentions, the Brahman regime to be permanently imposed upon the submissive people of India who put their whole trust in British justice and British democracy.
Firstly, they raised the Brahmans to the highest posts of power, profit and confidence.
Secondly, they chivalrously championed the cause of the decaying temples, idolatrous festivals, and charming dancing girls with the hearty patronage and protection of the Company’s government, to the mutual advantage and recreation of the Company and the priests.
Thirdly, they established the Caste Kutcheries, the most dreaded tribunal of the Hindus.
Fourthly, they unearthed from their oblivion Manu Shastra and other spurious texts, which the ,vast majority of the Hindus had never heard of, and elevated them to the status of authoritative works of Hindu law.
Fifthly, they handed over the temples to the control of trustees, and thus facilitated the aggrandisement of Brahmanism and deprivation of the rights of the lower orders.
Sixthly, through judicial decisions and administrative classification and even by legal enactments, the so-called Hindu law has been applied to all Indians who are not Christians or Muhammadans.
Seventhly, they gave caste distinctions royal recognition, state protection, enhanced dignity, positive value and significance, and even political importance. ‘
Eighthly they blasted the hopes of reformers and teachers by making it impossible for them to alter the status quo by any practicable means.
Ninthly, in the name of non-interference, they have actively strengthened and perpetuated the evils of society which it was their duty to fight.
Lastly Christian antiquarians have added insult to injury by flattering the non-British castes and unchristians idolatry as meritorious cultural achievements to be preserved for the delectation of humanity.
There is only one more thing which Britain has to do to discharge her trust to the dumb millions of her subjects .and to fill the cup of unhappy India’s suicidal bliss, and that is to hand over the seal and emblem of the Indian Empire to the temple-priests and give a farewell kiss or kick to the blissful fool Independent India.
We are not unmindful of the numerous blessings which British rule has brought to India education, science, industry, organization, and above all political ideals and institutions and. Christian brotherhood. These forces have worked and are working silently on the Hindu mind, and in proper time, let us hope,’ the Divine Artist will complete His picture. We are here concerned only with those administrative acts which have strengthened the grip of Brahmanism on India, to the detriment of her national aspirations and of the stability of British rule. For the most damaging consequence, so far as Britain is concerned, of the policy so far pursued, has been the widening of the gulf which separates Britain from India by the emphasising of her follies, weaknesses, peculiarities and superstitions, and making Britain appear increasingly alien to the spirit of the Hindu, and also by creating an impression that Britain’s policy is deliberately detrimental to India’s progress. If the .Indian Government had consistently followed the policy enunciated by the great British premiers of the 19th century and if it had remained true to the trust reposed in them, not so much by the people of India, as by the democracy of Britain and the religion of Christ, if they had used their presence in the midst of this ancient but unfortunate people not to foster their eccentricities and iniquities, but to inculcate in their national life and institutions those universal principles of freedom, equality and brother-hood which are the life and soul of all true national greatness, Britain would have had greater chances of long-standing reconciliation with Indian aspirations and could have facilitated in a larger measure a permanent meeting of the East and the west in the happy blending of the two cultures for the good of all humanity. It is not yet too late, and let us hope that the lessons of the past will not be lost upon our rulers.
