Archer

ExNavy,

This is the issue --

-There was no Aryan invasion. It was a load of crock invented by Max Mueller, a German evangelist who managed to gain employment with the Brit colonial administrators. His theory stemmed from a desire to link the German civilization to a race of fair skinned Aryans who spread civilization, and the desire to proselytize Christianity in India. His point was that Hinduism was not a rational construct but a cobbled together artifice which was adapted by the Indians from the Aryans theories. And that since the Aryans brought civilization to India, so were the British. And since the descendants of the Aryans had moved on to true belief, ie Christianity, so should the Indians
- This tied in well with the British focus on evangelical protestantism at the time, and they sponsored Mueller.
- His theory was picked up and widely disseminated, and a whole mythos became "history", but in lack of archaeological evidence, linguistic evidence was trotted out for "proof".

Today, the Aryan Invasion Theory stands heavily discredited.

-Its linguistic evidence has been torn to shreds- many of the words quoted as evidence have turned out to be out of context, or demonstrably false.
-The use of the word "Arya" as a sign of respect for instance, has been used out of context, to signify one was descended from Aryans! The poetic depiction of natural phenomena was used to represent features not in India. This has been rubbished by showing that the most ancient works of indian history, have consistently referred to terrain only within the subcontinent, no europe or persian features for instance
-The AIT remains popular among leftist historians, as they hate to consider any evidence utilizing local hindu scripture or the like, since it is deemed communal.
Besides, many have made their career and political name, by pushing a theory of local natives suppressed by upper caste outsiders- its hard to accept that they were idealogically driven and were in the wrong. Many names and reputations will be ruined.

The final nail in the coffin of the AIT was driven by a recent Italian delegation which did Genome mapping. They conclusively proved that North and south India have the same DNA markers, and that there is no Aryan vs dravidian divide


Coming to the caste system, it was formalized after the arrival of the British who sought to codify a highly diverse and unstructured jati system into a rigid social stratification. To this end, they identified communities which were loyal, martial and so on and so forth, and aided by some dubious leaps of logic (emphasis on looks for instance- a flat nose was inferior stock, an aquiline nose signified noble bearing etc etc) classified entire groups as upper caste, lower caste and so on and so forth. It bears remarking that the word caste comes from the portuegese casta, its not a local word. They also sought to find scripture that reflected what they believed in- ergo, the laws of Manu, a hoary old sage whose statements dont fall into, or are regarded as hindu scripture. But they became all powerful, and were widely referenced and quoted, not only externally when referring to hindus, but by hindus themselves who came to believe that it was important to follow his edicts. Today, its a different story- one can trace what is what, and disseminate ones opinion.

Coming to the varna, and jati system, these were based on ones local ethnicity, as well as social function, and most importantly job function- they were analogous to guilds in the european context. The system varied from rigid in some areas (with discrimination against the less powerful groups) to fairly open and free coexistence elsewhere. For instance, in one state, discovered records showed, that the so called upper castes (as catalogued in modern times) only consisted of a fifth of the school going population, and math and science was dominated by the lowest caste (in modern parlance). Chandragupta Maurya, the most powerful Indian emperor, who ruled the entire subcontinent, was from the lowest jati. In other words, jati was fluid, it varied and ebbed and rose- but the modern construct of the caste system, as applied over the past couple of centuries is another matter..

Another fact which greatly contributed to the primacy of jati and codified religious taboos was the arrival of Islam, with conversions by violence becoming common, both kshatriyas and brahmins went to extreme lengths to avoid the same. It became impossible for a person to move outside of his religion or break certain restrictions. Even here there were rises and falls- when the hindu kings of kashmir mounted their last defence against persistent raids, they baptised anyone who fought as an automatic kshatriya- automatically changing the jati of entire groups of people who all belonged to different jatis. When Shivaji mobilized the till then, mostly peasant, Marathas to take up soldiering, they were automatically granted deference, and many began calling themselves and were regarded as kshatriyas. In essence, jati in India has been a very fluid construct, it has gone through many variations, and it was never meant to be a single one type formula.

However, consider- in fifty years of indian independence, under a more liberal set of laws, and with a threat to civilization no longer extent, the hindu faith is gradually reverting to its more fluid form as was extent earlier. Inter jati marriages are on the rise, political power and economic power is being distributed, and laissez faire is extant. The problematic areas are in the rural areas, but with increasing education, and better economic standards, and urbanization, the modern caste construct divide is breaking down. Its a matter of time, another four-five decades, and the edifice of caste, as erected over the past few centuries will be greatly reduced.

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Karmani Vyapurutham Dhanuhu

My bow is stretched for its task