Debrahmanising History - Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society

457 Pages·2005·15.318 MB·English

by  Braj Ranjan Mani

DEBRAHMANISING HISTORY
Dominance and Resistance Indian Society
in
DEBRAHMANISING HISTORY
Dominance and Resistance in Indian Society
BRAJ RANJAN MANI
MANOHAR
2005
Fine published 200S
C Braj Ranjan Mani, 2005
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Do not believe in hearsay; do not believe in what ii handed down through
generations; do not believe in anything becauae it ii accepted by many;
do not believe because aome revered aage or elder makea a statement; do
not believe in truths to which you have become aaached by habit; do not
believe merely on the authority of your traditional teachinp. Have
deliberation and analyae, and when the rault accorda with ~uon and
conduces to the good of one and all, accept it and live up to it.
GAUTAM 8uDOHA
The Anpnara Nilca,a, I, 188,
see Woodward and Hare, 1932
... I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three
meala a day for their bodie1, education and culture for their minds, and
dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what aelf
centred men have tom down men other-centred can build up. . . . I still
believe that ahail overcome. Thia faith can give ua ~uraae to face the
we
unccnainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength aa we
continue our forward sttide toward the city of freedom. When our days
become dreary with low•hovering clouds and our nights become darker
than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative
turmoil of a genuine civilisation atrualine to be born.
MARTIN UJTHEJl KINo, JR.
Nobel acceptance statement, 1964

Contents
11
Introduction 13
1. Historical Roota of Brahmanic
Dominance and Shramanic Reaiatance 45
Violence and domination underpin Vedic ideology -
caste indoctrination - brahmanical pseudo-religion
as engine of oppression - cute, kannayoga and
swadhanna in the Gita - Dandaniti central to
brahmanical polity and state - shramanic counter,
tradition of resistance and equity - popular
heterodoxies debunk elite historiography.
2. Buddhist India: Apinat Caste
and Brahmanism 85
Buddha's humanitarian synthesis of mind and
matter - Buddhist dialectics antithesis of
Upanishadic am01utism - searing indictment of
caste - paradigm of human liberation -
alternative vision of social and political
institutions - Buddhist ascendancy and India's
past greamess - counter•revolution and
brahmanical revivalism - forgeries to recast
Indian culture in the brahmanical mould.
3. Medieval Mukti Movements
of the Subaltern Saint-Poetl 134
Social resistance in religious idiom - Kabir and
monotheistic radicalism in the north - Siddha
rebellion in Tamil Nadu - Virashaiva socialism in
Kamataka - Varakari movement in Maharashtra -
social dimension of bhakti and the
brahman backlash.
8 Contents
4. Colonialism, and Birth of
Vedic-Brahmanic Nationalism 188
Orientalism, Aryan race theory and Neo-Hinduism -
Roy, reforms, renaissance: fact against
fiction - Dayananda's valorisation of Aryan race
and Vedic culture - self-strengthening modernisation
of brahmanism - 'Nationalist' vindication of caste
ideology - Vivekananda's polemics - monolithic
and hegemonic cultural nationalism - symbiosis
of cultural chauvinism and communal politics.
Appendix: Parallel Fascist thinking in East and West:
Manu's •brahman' and Niettsch.e's •supennan'
5. Phule's Struggle against
Brahmanical Colonialism 251
Brahman power and oppression of the time -
emergence of anti-caste radicalism - Satyashodhak
Samaj: vision of a new society - the rewriting of
history and mythology - education as emancipation
and empowerment - gender inequality and women's
subordination - agriculture, peasantry and labour -
critique of nation and nationalism.
6. Guru, lyothee, Periyar, Acchutanand:
Different Strategies, One Goal 291
Dynamics and dimension of egalitarian emergence -
Narayana Guru and Kerala's liberation struggle -
Dravidian upsurgence: lyothee Thass and the Justice
Party - Periyar and the Self-Respect movement -
the battle in the north: Acchutanand and Mangoo
Ram - movements from below signal the end of
colonialism.
7. Nationalist Power Politics, Excluded Masses
and the Gandhi-Ambedkar Debate 343
The myth of the Maha·tma - Ambedlcar's revolt -
the Machiavelli in the Mahatma: the true story of
Poona Pace - the anatomy of Gandhian paternalism -
grime behind the glamour - varna swaraj: obscurantist
critique of modernity - Nehru and Ambedkar
Contents 9
on Gandhism - vision of the nation as social
democracy - radical realism amidst euphoria of
freedom: the Constitution and the Hindu Code Bill
8. Epilogue: Institutionalised Discrimination
from the Past to the 'Democradc' Present
Notes 416
Bibliogy-aphy 427
445
-
Preface
Ostentatious use of exquisitely lovely words - and lovelier ideals -
such as harmony and peace is neither new nor confined to any
particular society. Dominant classes the world over invoke harmony
without snapping their ties with the oppressive structures of class,
caste, and gender hierarchies. Hollow, hypocritical advocacy of justice
and equity becomes necessary for the power elites, especially in the
democratic times in which we live. Therefore, those who aspire to
build a more humane, more inclusive society have per force to take
off the elitist mask of generosity and solidarity in the name of
seamless cultural unity or nationalism. Such deconstruction for an
egalitarian reconstruction runs the risk of gross misconceptions and
distortions at the hands of the entrenched interests and 'embedded'
scholars. I would like to make it clear, therefore, that this work is
not intended to target any castes or groups but to present the
historical wrongs in a perspective that pitches for-the greater good.
AJ Thomas Szasz (1974: 20) says, 'In the animal kingdom, the rule
is, eat or be eaten; in the human kingdom, define or be defined', I
had no choice but to write this book.
This work reflects the creativity not of one author but of
My
many engaged social scientists. thanks go first to all the people
whose perspectives - articulated here in indigenous terms - militate
against the colonisation of minds and bodies. I am also grateful to
friends who read parts of the manuscript and offered their suggestions.
I
owe a special debt to G. Aloysius. Also in the debt department is
Gail Omvedt, Arun Kumar, Namrata, and Anil.
My Mr
thanks to Ramesh -Jain who went against the
conventional academic wisdom and decided to publish the work.
No words can express my gratitude to my parents, brothe~s
and sistet. This work would not have happened without their love
and support. I dedicate Debrahrrumising Hi.story to my mother.
New Delhi
BRAJ
RANJAN MANI
January 2005