This topic has been raised before in one form or other, and discussed in detail from various viewpoints. However, there is a perspective I would like to share amidst the myriad positive and negative views on the various threads in this forum. Please read through and comment. I welcome discussions in this area and would love to reply to a detailed argument or point of view. Thank you.
The purpose of this thread is to evaluate:
1. What the cultural differences that exist between modern generations of brahmin youngsters and non-brahmin youngsters really are.
2. Whether caste and compatibility are very very closely inter-related
3. What the implications of inter-caste marriage of brahmins to other castes will be
My opinions are below:
1. The cultural differences
Culturally, the huge gaps between the brahmins and the non-brahmins have been bridged, thanks to the better quality of education (or rather, the more uniform quality of education). Brahmins and non-brahmins are educated in the same institutions, are taught the same subjects, wear the same kinds of clothes. The reasons for the rarefaction of brahmins in older societies was the need for brahmins to perform specialized poojas and rituals. The advantages we carried through from these positions were the scholastic abilities. These abilities are also being developed in all castes now, owing to the British education system and emancipation programmes.
Culturally, I have seen few differences between brahmin kids and non-brahmin kids of late. I am a youngster, 26 years of age, and when I studied engineering, I came across a lot of people from brahmin households with very liberal views, which were contradictory to my own. Some of them were non-vegetarians, they were irreligious, didn't wear the sacred thread, and so on. While I didn't have any prejudices for them, I wasn't able to identify with them completely because of the apparent hypocrisy in their lifestyle. Truth is, many youngsters these days don't fit into the brahmin stereotypes of being vegetarian, well educated, composed in speech and action, intelligent and occasionally, high achievers in a conventional school system.
I have also seen non-brahmin kids who were vegetarians by choice, were more decent and well behaved, didn't exhibit any of the pride associated with some brahmins, were in general intelligent, informed and composed in their actions. By comparison to some of them, some of the brahmin students behaved quite ordinarily and weren't great at studies or sports or anything for that matter.
I also came across people who fit the stereotypes very well - I saw brahmin kids who topped classes, who excelled in various areas and were very hard working. And then I also saw the other end of the stereotype - a dalit or a non-brahmin who, owing to the lack of good parenting, good primary education and because of being helped along too much in their lives in general, were pretty bad and sailed through the system on their reservation benefits.
What do I make of all this?
It is possible that a non-brahmin these days, may be accomplished as a student, a professional or in other areas. Although brahmin generations from years past have made high technology, law, the arts and sciences their niche, the gap is closing rapidly because there is no differentiator at the education level. This, combined with the greater freedom youth enjoy these days, makes it possible for them to choose alternative lifestyles, sometimes involving partners who have been born in other castes. What we are seeing, in other words, is a social restructuring.
It is important to note that even in this society, there are hierarchies. There are the rich and the poor, the capable and the incapable, the good and the bad, the effective and the ineffective, the leaders and the followers. An important distinction is that the clan of leaders/intellectuals that brahmins were have been distributed along all these srata. The good thing (economically) for the brahmin communities is that the centuries of grooming scholastic ability have given them unique abilities to be technically exceptional in some fields and leaders in others. The collective future of brahmins as a whole lies in exploiting these innate talents to the advantage of themselves and other brahmin families.
I will dwell on the advantages of this new social structure, in another post.
2. Whether caste and compatibility are very closely inter-related
The average brahmin is different from the average non-brahmin upper class only in the intellectual/philosophical baggage which he/she has carried from older generations. Unfortunately, this intellectual baggage, although valuable, has not been channeled well enough for brahmins to continue to dominate society.
Part of the reason is an uncoordinated migration and the formation of poor networks between brahmin families and communities. A second aspect of the whole differentiator which used to be present in older generations, was the power of exclusivity. The power of exclusivity produces naked power in a structure, which is useful for communities to have an unnambiguous formal structure. Naked power is these days in the hands of those who are wealthy. Invariably, a Tata or a Birla or an Ambani, despite lacking the intellectual background of a Ramesh Ramanathan or an S Radhakrishnan, wield more power and prestige in their economic power than in their intellectual power.
When youth have freedom of choice, they make choices which are more often than not, selfish. Selfish not for their community, but for themselves. It is justified, given the nature of polity, stigma and society in general and the attitudes to brahmins, but it is not good for the community as a whole, as every such deviant only makes the community weaker, and the bonds between members of the community weaker. Now, if the deviants had a very good reason to marry another brahmin, they would have certainly evaluated the opportunity. There will be oddballs who act on whims, and there always have been. But the watershed changes we see these days could be reduced or delayed or even avoided. Caste and compatability, as they stand, are not very closely interrelated.
The purpose of this thread is to evaluate:
1. What the cultural differences that exist between modern generations of brahmin youngsters and non-brahmin youngsters really are.
2. Whether caste and compatibility are very very closely inter-related
3. What the implications of inter-caste marriage of brahmins to other castes will be
My opinions are below:
1. The cultural differences
Culturally, the huge gaps between the brahmins and the non-brahmins have been bridged, thanks to the better quality of education (or rather, the more uniform quality of education). Brahmins and non-brahmins are educated in the same institutions, are taught the same subjects, wear the same kinds of clothes. The reasons for the rarefaction of brahmins in older societies was the need for brahmins to perform specialized poojas and rituals. The advantages we carried through from these positions were the scholastic abilities. These abilities are also being developed in all castes now, owing to the British education system and emancipation programmes.
Culturally, I have seen few differences between brahmin kids and non-brahmin kids of late. I am a youngster, 26 years of age, and when I studied engineering, I came across a lot of people from brahmin households with very liberal views, which were contradictory to my own. Some of them were non-vegetarians, they were irreligious, didn't wear the sacred thread, and so on. While I didn't have any prejudices for them, I wasn't able to identify with them completely because of the apparent hypocrisy in their lifestyle. Truth is, many youngsters these days don't fit into the brahmin stereotypes of being vegetarian, well educated, composed in speech and action, intelligent and occasionally, high achievers in a conventional school system.
I have also seen non-brahmin kids who were vegetarians by choice, were more decent and well behaved, didn't exhibit any of the pride associated with some brahmins, were in general intelligent, informed and composed in their actions. By comparison to some of them, some of the brahmin students behaved quite ordinarily and weren't great at studies or sports or anything for that matter.
I also came across people who fit the stereotypes very well - I saw brahmin kids who topped classes, who excelled in various areas and were very hard working. And then I also saw the other end of the stereotype - a dalit or a non-brahmin who, owing to the lack of good parenting, good primary education and because of being helped along too much in their lives in general, were pretty bad and sailed through the system on their reservation benefits.
What do I make of all this?
It is possible that a non-brahmin these days, may be accomplished as a student, a professional or in other areas. Although brahmin generations from years past have made high technology, law, the arts and sciences their niche, the gap is closing rapidly because there is no differentiator at the education level. This, combined with the greater freedom youth enjoy these days, makes it possible for them to choose alternative lifestyles, sometimes involving partners who have been born in other castes. What we are seeing, in other words, is a social restructuring.
It is important to note that even in this society, there are hierarchies. There are the rich and the poor, the capable and the incapable, the good and the bad, the effective and the ineffective, the leaders and the followers. An important distinction is that the clan of leaders/intellectuals that brahmins were have been distributed along all these srata. The good thing (economically) for the brahmin communities is that the centuries of grooming scholastic ability have given them unique abilities to be technically exceptional in some fields and leaders in others. The collective future of brahmins as a whole lies in exploiting these innate talents to the advantage of themselves and other brahmin families.
I will dwell on the advantages of this new social structure, in another post.
2. Whether caste and compatibility are very closely inter-related
The average brahmin is different from the average non-brahmin upper class only in the intellectual/philosophical baggage which he/she has carried from older generations. Unfortunately, this intellectual baggage, although valuable, has not been channeled well enough for brahmins to continue to dominate society.
Part of the reason is an uncoordinated migration and the formation of poor networks between brahmin families and communities. A second aspect of the whole differentiator which used to be present in older generations, was the power of exclusivity. The power of exclusivity produces naked power in a structure, which is useful for communities to have an unnambiguous formal structure. Naked power is these days in the hands of those who are wealthy. Invariably, a Tata or a Birla or an Ambani, despite lacking the intellectual background of a Ramesh Ramanathan or an S Radhakrishnan, wield more power and prestige in their economic power than in their intellectual power.
When youth have freedom of choice, they make choices which are more often than not, selfish. Selfish not for their community, but for themselves. It is justified, given the nature of polity, stigma and society in general and the attitudes to brahmins, but it is not good for the community as a whole, as every such deviant only makes the community weaker, and the bonds between members of the community weaker. Now, if the deviants had a very good reason to marry another brahmin, they would have certainly evaluated the opportunity. There will be oddballs who act on whims, and there always have been. But the watershed changes we see these days could be reduced or delayed or even avoided. Caste and compatability, as they stand, are not very closely interrelated.
Digression 1: Social and Economic networks
If brahmins as a community need to be respected, they have to find ways of converting their intellectual knowhow and specific knowledge in various areas to wealth. Equally important is the development of specific knowledge areas by novel methods of training and teaching young kids to succeed. Brahmins have currently no concerted, unified effort to do this. They are spread around the world and are not networked well enough to lead the whole community to prosperity by providing mutual opportunity.
Case in point: There was a study conducted recently on how business network in various communities in the USA. The average circulation of money between Jewish hands was as much higher than that for Christian whites and Mexicans, while blacks languished in the bottom of the spectrum, with black businesses circulating money to and networking with white, Jewish and Mexican business near-equally. There are lessons to be learned from the Parsees as well - the parsees rarely do business with other classes/castes unless they have a high gain to be had from it. They typically are quite altruistic to other parsee businesses and families.
What prevents brahmins from having a similar knowledge, opportunity and financial cooperation?
There could be several reasons - one of the chief reasons are that brahmins often run businesses like a tight ship. The second reason is that being naturally skeptical, fewer brahmins are willing to help other brahmins or do business with them or have business relationships with them. They'd rather prefer to do business with someone they consider manageable. In the olden days, brahmin families had social networks spanning many, many families. These networks were fostered as there were joint families, which encouraged children to develop social skills necessary. In the absence of such joint families, it makes enormous sense to bring brahmins together and have them network socially, culturally and help them grow.
[contd...]If brahmins as a community need to be respected, they have to find ways of converting their intellectual knowhow and specific knowledge in various areas to wealth. Equally important is the development of specific knowledge areas by novel methods of training and teaching young kids to succeed. Brahmins have currently no concerted, unified effort to do this. They are spread around the world and are not networked well enough to lead the whole community to prosperity by providing mutual opportunity.
Case in point: There was a study conducted recently on how business network in various communities in the USA. The average circulation of money between Jewish hands was as much higher than that for Christian whites and Mexicans, while blacks languished in the bottom of the spectrum, with black businesses circulating money to and networking with white, Jewish and Mexican business near-equally. There are lessons to be learned from the Parsees as well - the parsees rarely do business with other classes/castes unless they have a high gain to be had from it. They typically are quite altruistic to other parsee businesses and families.
What prevents brahmins from having a similar knowledge, opportunity and financial cooperation?
There could be several reasons - one of the chief reasons are that brahmins often run businesses like a tight ship. The second reason is that being naturally skeptical, fewer brahmins are willing to help other brahmins or do business with them or have business relationships with them. They'd rather prefer to do business with someone they consider manageable. In the olden days, brahmin families had social networks spanning many, many families. These networks were fostered as there were joint families, which encouraged children to develop social skills necessary. In the absence of such joint families, it makes enormous sense to bring brahmins together and have them network socially, culturally and help them grow.
