Caste, Religion in the IT savy India
When Indian bureaucrats make their tours in other countries, they proudly say that India is a secular state, bears with all religions and people treats every religion the same. But is that the truth happening in India?? If i remember right it has been more than 50 years since Periyar led the protest for a group of temple to enter a temple in Vaikkom, Kerala. The latest incident to show how entrenched religious stupidity is in India, ironicall comes from Kerala too- from Guruvayur. Just 15 days back, Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and his wife visited India and as a part of their trip they planned to visit the famed Guruvayur temple. It seems the temple board made a big fuss about the religion of the visiting dignitaries. Guruvayur Devasom has made it clear that they are stepping from the rules of the temple to allow non-Hindus into the temple. (if you guys have been to that temple, they would have a board hanging outside that NON-HINDUs NOT ALLOWED). They seem to have said that if Mrs. Rajapakse was a not a buddhist, they have to perform purification ceremony to purify the sanctum santorum. It seems that the Srilankan President had to call the Cheif Minister of Kerala and clarify that his wife is a buddhist.
Well, what age are we in?? I am surprised that there are still people who keep doing this kind of stuff and the government keeps mum.. If India lives by what it portrays (being secular), then dont they have to enforce that within the compound of a temple everyone is the same (irrespective of religion)?
I shall quote one more incident in this regard. In the last month, my sister had the chance to take her 2 American friends to our singara Chennai. It seems her friends wanted to see our Kapali temple, see its architecture and get a feel for what is done in the temple. You know what happened? The priest in the Kapali sannadhi told my sister not to bring the 2 foreigners inside the temple? Well, as far as i know the temples come under the Tamilnadu Hindu Endowment Board, which doesnt have any line in its charter about foreigners and temple entry. For a fact I have seen lots of foreigners inside Kanchipuram Kamakshi temple (which comes under the same board). It is good to do things to nurture your tradition, but what good will that be if you dont let outsiders see it and appreciate it?
When would our makkal practice what is their in the books or the government enforce what it bradishes to the outside world? To end with, I quote Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi's lines which has been often sung but as things seem not yet been thought about and rectified.
"Sadhi pirivugal solli - adhil
Thanzlvendrum melendrum solvar.
Needhi pirivugla seyvar - angu
nithamum sandaigal seyvar
sadhi kodumaigal vendam - anbhu
thannil sezhitidum vayyam
adhara vutringu vazhvom - thozhil
ayiram manbhura seyvom"
10 comments:
Good one sri...
This caste thing is an evil in our soceity i wud say...
well apart from Temple..some ppl dont even allow other caste ppl inside their homes too...It all starts there itself..
Hope this will be wiped of ( to some extent)in our generation atleast..
This caste thing has been bugging ppl commited to true love too...parents who ofcourse allow their wards to be friends with others...behave with a very narrow thinkin when it comes to marriage..
Bharathiyin kanavu eppothu ninavaagumo???
In btwn, I'm a 2001 passed out...proud to belong to the golden(50th) batch of MIT..r u from mit?
and abt ganguly..i do like him ...though he has been searching for form ..he has the "Never give up easily " attitute..afterall under him only indian team started to peak.
{}Dins
@ Ammu
Thanks much for the comments. I have been to couple of other temples in Kereala too.. ella edathuleyum same treatment dhan.. didnt feel idiotic then (i was a kiddo when i visited).. but eppo if they ask me, i am sure they wud get an earful from me..
caste system in India has an interesting history behind it..caste system as we know right now is not the way it started as..if u read some of the history books, they provide a total different insight into that..
people got to be classified by their thoughts but not by caste/creed/color.. 100 % truth.. but when we talk about it, we are looked upon like a Utopian person..USA which boasts itself as a multi-cultural society still harbours race grudge.. if u get a chance see this movie called CRASH.. time and again, I see people treating blacks, Indians (brown skinners as they call us), Mexican and Chinese differently.. just a couple of days back, my sister was treated badly by a Immigration officer in Chicago airport.. reason skin color.. stupida ella..
well the most ironic thing about INdia is, on the one hand we are talking about cleansing the society of case system, but on the other hand the Govt wants to create job quoata's in Private industry.. i feel that Govt has done enough damage by bringing in quota system in all other sectors.. they should leave private out, where atleast people get in based on merit and not on JAADHI...
@ Dins
Saurav fan..?? good...i used to like Sauvav too.. but i sincerely feel his days are gone.. i do agree that India has come a long way under his leadership, but that is past.. we need to change and move on..so if he has to go, he should.. thats my opinion..
btw, I am not from MIT.. i graduated from Crescent in 2000.. but i lived all my life in Chromepet..thats y asked u...:)
Hey Sri..
am ECE 2004 pass out from crescent..
R u a crezzie too?
I have been to Madurai Meenakshi Temple. There they do allow non-Hindus to enter the temple. They dont allow them to enter the sanctum where the idol is kept. What you have mentioned brings out the pathetic state of our secular India. Even very little children of 1 or 2 yrs need to wear dhoti to enter the temple...
That apart, the temple is very good.
Let the empty-headed authorities fill that space with sand and grow some brains.
Hi Sriram,
Kekkadha - things are not at all consistent there...orea oorla some temples allow...some dont...atleast we can appreciate they stick to those rules..I know few of my catholic (who put Bindi) friends having gone to the same kapali koil. they cudnt find out...dont know if you are aware once i took few foreign students to all india radio office - since the security man was not there...i just went inside with those girls....when i entered everyone was staring at me...finally one director called me and asked me to send those girls out...idhe indiala women are not allowed to enter sabarimala in their reproductive age...which is in total contrast to bombay mahalakshmi temple...dont if u happened to read argumentative indian book. please do read if u get a chance...
hey sri..Chromepet ille ba....It's "Chromecity"..
btwn, I'm from Pallavapuram ;-)
Srirama,
Indha music seasonla Yesudas has said "Naan ivvalavu manam urugi Kannanai padaren, but I never got a chance to visit Guruvayoor". I have seen most of the temples in Madurai / Kanchi with lots of foreigners. They do not allow them in the main garbagraham. In catholic churches, non-catholics and women of reproductive age were not allowed in the altar it seems. But, nowadays we see women giving holy communion in catholic churches though.
Have you seen the kurukkals treating people with money differently? Me & Chitra & others had been to Ashtalakshmi temple and I was surprised (should I say saddened) to the core how the priest was treating people differently based on dhakshanai? Adhukke thaniya oru blog podalam.
just understand the concept of secular.. Secular means the religion will not be part of the state policy and the government will hands off the religion but is this what happening across the globe. Just understand the concept of why non hindus should not be allowed in temple. For the simple reason that those who do not have belief in Idol worship what is the necessity for them to enter the temple where millions believe that god exists. It has become the bane of secular media to comment and criticize anything Hindu.Let me tell u something Religious democracy is most existent only in India just because Hinduism allows free flow of opinions. Whereas in Russia and most of the christian nations non believers of church are cynically called as pagans that equivalent to the tamil word Pariah but the situation that actually prevails on ground in India is entirely different.
Further in Russia Hindus are not allowed even to construct one temple and treated as second class citizens where as in India except for a few exceptional Incidents like buring father gladys stains alive Christians and Muslims have their places of worship constructed at will. Does the so called Secular Media has the guts to project these events in right Perspective The concept of caste is given undue attention by the media with pure intention to malign anything that is Hindu.
If the concept of caste is prevelant here there is another worse evil prevailing in the so called Developed countries called as racism and the Indians have sufferred at the hands of these racists.
May be the concept of caste as it is seen today is entirely different from the way it was looked at the time when they were defined. When u observe carefully the Economic conditions in India there is a acute agrarian crisis and dearth of skilled proffessionals in certain areas .
The concept of caste is based on the profession and the varnasrama dharmam as envisaged earlier was an attempt to prevent an economic crisis in the society. THe ills of society facing our country is because of the fact that fabric of this society has been broken by the
300 years of british rule. There are many others that cannot be explained in words.
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