According to Bhagavada Gita, varna is conferred on the basis of the intrinsic nature of an individual, which is a combination of three gunas (qualities): sattva, rajas, and tamas. In the Mahabharata SantiParva, Yudhisthira defines a brahmin as one who is truthful, forgiving, and kind. He clearly points out that a brahmin is not a brahmin just because he is born in a brahmin family, nor is a sudra a sudra because his parents are sudras. The same concept is mentioned in Manu Smrti. Another scripture Apastamba Dharmasutra states that by birth every human being is a sudra. It is by education and upbringing that one becomes 'twice born', that is, a dvija.
Varna Vyavastha: Class System of Vedic Society
It is rarely observed that the social hierarchy is not just limited to Hinduism but it stays intact in any Indian religious society; Buddhists, Jainas, Sikhs, Christians and Muslims have their own caste hierarchies and restrictions. Even western societies have their own classes and groups. Thus, it is indeed a social phenomenon, which is not just limited to Hinduism or India. J. Muir has provided numerous passages from ancient Indian texts to demonstrate the equality of varnas.
WTF....Subhuman conditions like slaves ? That is grossly incorrect and highly sensationalized statement... Nehruvian education taught only one side of Caste system while conveniently ignoring what the real system meant and hence demonizing the Varna system..
OK, I have been remarkably restrained in many threads where systematic and organized subjugation of lower castes in India were glossed over and justified.
I just love how self righteous many of Hindus act on the caste issue. The thing is I don't give a single fcuk about what was written in Vedas or Puranas or Scriptures. It matters to me how it was interpreted and applied. What the fcuk does it matter what was written in Vedas when most of my people couldn't even read Vedas and Brahmins had the sole monopoly over what is Dharma and what is not.
SUBHUMAN CONDITIONS LIKE SLAVES. Yeah that is right. What do you call a person when:
1. He is not allowed to visit religious place for worship because of his caste
2. People bathe or clean themselves after coming in contact with him due to his caste.
3. Not allowed to access to rest housed because of his caste.
4. Not allowed in a common school because of his caste.
5. Not allowed to sit at the same table and have food with others because of his caste.
6. Not allowed to have water from the village well and have to travel for 6 kms because of his caste.
7. Not allowed a job as a supervisor in local factory because of his caste
When you take all the option away from a person which enable him to move up in life due to the circumstances of his birth, and ensure that he is utterly demoralized, his self esteem destroyed and he thinks that his destiny is clean toilets for all his life. You get sub-human animal like slave.Have guts to call him CALL HIM A SLAVE
The above 7 points are personal experience of my Grand Father. He died a broken man, addicted to alcohol because that was the only respite for him to forget that he cleaned toilets all day.
You see now why I don't give a fcuk about post-facto rationalizations.
If it was a problem with Hindus hate for Muslims for some atrocities made against them then the hate would have gone far beyond Pakistan to those in the Middle east. We would also have seen such hatred against the British but yet we see people go in droves to Britain and Middle East. The Hate does not come because of religion. The hate comes due to the Pakistani Establishments policy of "Bleeding India with a thousand cuts". People still have not forgotten the 90s and early 2000s were there were bomb blasts in Indian cities and markets. There is an inbuilt memory for the atrocities Islamic invaders committed in India but that is really not apparent in todays world except in Internet forums where Pakistanis take Pride in it.
Hindus or Muslims don't have such visceral hatred or Apathy, stop making things up. Yes in a country as big as India where there are 1.3 billion Indians there are bound to be people like that. BUt to make a generlised statement about Hindus/Muslims have visceral Hatred is entirely incorrect. Most people don't give a shit..
You are being naive here, we lash out at Muslims in India because we can. We lash out at Pakistan because that is the face we have given to our ancient tormentors and because of the deeds of Pakistan which keep sprinkling salt on our wounds. How many Indians in northern villages give a sht about UAE, Saudi and likes? Not many - they see the immediate targets which are visible in print and electronic media.
Have you had a look at kind of whatsapp messages circulating these days in villages and towns. They dehumanize Muslims to an extent not even animals would like. Do you know what is the situation of Muslims in far flung rural corners of India? Do you know during Muharram processions stones are pelted at them? These small town news don't make it to media.
Now I am not saying Pakistan is a saint, far from it - I believe they have no altruistic interests in Muslims of India, India has mostly been reactionary to Pakistan's deeds and policies with a few exceptions.
My point is many hindus are closet Muslim haters and vice versa. Oh we might come on social media and say nice things, our leaders may put on a mask of bonhomie and communal harmony but beneath the surface their is wide scale resentment. Kindly visit a few villages in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand to find out. Better yet visit a Muslim home to see how they are ghettoized. Muslims though don't lack for provocation and reaction and they are not meek innocent victims. Every thing is reciprocated.
Hindu extremists ? Can you define them for me ? name, organization , people ,events ? or are you calling simple thugs with sticks as "Hindu extremists" . "Hindu Extremists" don't exist . Even the most right wing Hindus Don't have a problem with Muslims. There is a Monumental difference between Extreme right wing Hindus and extreme right wing Muslims. Don't even try to equate them with the term....
Hindu Extremists are not RSS, BJP and other such parties in totality. Hindu Extremist is a frustrated, unemployed single hindu male and in some cases female who subscribes to ideologies of certain fringe groups of these parties.
These are the people who are used for political machinations in times of elections to communal and polarization purposes, Riots some reported and some ignored, some too minor to be of note where there is not a single casualty involve these extremists. If you want date, places etc just give a short post and I would happily post the reported events sequentially.
For every Hindu Extremist there is a Muslim extremist too, for every Hindu rabble rouser there is a muslim one too - may be Muslim ones are more. I am not sure as there has been no study or poll documenting people based on the extent of their hatred or apathy.
In some ways you are right, there is a difference between extent of radicalization of Hindus and Muslims, Muslims are more in proportion to their numbers compared to Hindus but that is obvious. If you consider the 5% Muslims to overt extremist corresponding numbers of Hindus have to 0.5% of their population for them to numerically equal (approximately).
I am talking about closet hatred not overt. We might even be friends with Muslims but only a few of them would like their daughter to marry a muslim guy.
Phenomeons like Ghar Wapsi and Love Jihad bring out only fraction of Hindus secure enough to declare their affiliations. Most of us are happy to pretend that we don't hate muslims but sometimes the mask slips as did it in Gujarat.
