“Caste-icide: The Roots of Hindu Extinction” — A Review
Introduction
The “caste system” remains one of the most enduring associations with anything Indian, serving as a counterpoint to every positive aspect of the country, such as its arts, architecture, temples, civilisation, culture, and literature. (Ok fine, India may have outstanding architecture, but what about the caste system?) It also offers an omnibus explanation for almost any negative issue, including discrimination, exploitation, corruption, poverty, dysfunctional democracy, and crumbling infrastructure. The narrative surrounding the caste system has evolved over centuries, beginning with scholars like Al-Beruni in the 10th century CE, continuing through colonial, Indological, and missionary accounts from the 18th to the 20th centuries, and finally, extending to contemporary post-independence scholarship both in India and abroad.
Ideally, independence should have marked a departure from colonial narratives, allowing for a re-examination of caste narratives. However, a left-leaning Marxist ideology dominated academia, while a colonial mindset persisted among the intelligentsia. These maintained colonial narratives, which mostly perceived the caste system as a “class” system characterised only by exploitation, discrimination, and hierarchy. Such a perspective has been further reinforced by Indological scholarship, initially emerging in German universities (as demonstrated elegantly by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee in their work, The Nay Science) and more recently transitioning to American institutions. Collectively, the distorted interpretations of post-colonial Indian scholarship and Western Indology have arguably caused more damage to Indian culture than their pre-independence counterparts.
Regrettably, our political leadership has often mirrored these academic trends, creating more divisions than unifications within Indian culture. At present, the narrative of the caste system encompasses three distinct strands, the last resulting in a competitive race to the bottom, with each caste or jati striving to prove its “backwardness”, in stark contrast to the colonial period when individual jatis sought to assert their “forwardness”:
- The original varna and jati frameworks of Indian society, the specifics of which remain largely unknown and have never been articulated in Indian texts.
- The colonial interpretation of Indian social systems, which focused solely on exploitation, discrimination, and hierarchy, ultimately led to the legalisation and official recognition of the caste system.
- Post-independence scholarship, which solidified the caste system into various ill-defined categories (such as forward, backward, scheduled, and so on), emphasizing equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunity.
Mahalingam Balaji (pen name: Asi), the author of this book, examines the caste system through various frameworks and provides a comprehensive critique of the widely internalised narratives surrounding it. He is also the author of Brahmin Genocide: The Precursor to Hindu Extinction. Coming from a family of Vedic scholars, Balaji spent a significant period in the corporate world before choosing to focus on civilizational issues concerning India. His work specifically aims to dismantle the harmful narratives that vilify the caste system in general and Brahmins in particular. Many criticisms directed at Brahmins and the caste system ultimately reflect efforts by both national and international forces to undermine the integrity of Indian civilisation. “Caste-icide,” as the author explains, refers to the process of weaponising the “caste system” framework to serve as an enabler for cultural genocide.
The Caste System: The Standard Story
The standard narrative of the caste system, which has crystallised over the centuries, from ancient times till now, is the following:
Horse-riding Aryans from the Russian steppes invaded northwest India, home to the indigenous Dravidians, around 1500 BCE. The Aryans brought with them horses, the Sanskrit language, and the Vedas, subjugating the indigenous population or driving them south of the Vindhyas or into the forests. Those who migrated south became the Tamils, while those forced into the hills became the tribals. Those who remained and occupied the lowest position in the social hierarchy, intended solely to serve the Aryans, became known as the Shudras. The most marginalized and menial of these Shudras evolved into the outcastes, the forerunners of today’s Dalits and untouchables.
The Aryans were categorized into three groups based on their occupations: the influential Brahmins at the top, who employed Vedic hymns to assert their dominance; the Kshatriyas, who were the warriors and rulers that collaborated with the Brahmins to uphold this social structure; and the Vaishyas, who were involved in trade and commerce. Despite their numerical insignificance—evident even today (the 1921 census indicated that the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas comprised about 21 million people, or 7% of the population)—they possessed sufficient power, armed with their Vedas and horse-drawn chariots, to dominate a vast majority of the populace. The majority Shudras apparently accepted their subordinate position on the social hierarchy for nearly three thousand years without question or rebellion. In the Americas, the indigenous peoples encountered outright extermination at the hands of invading colonists, who transformed from a numerical minority to a majority. This phenomenon, however, appears not to have occurred within Indian culture.
Following over a century of focused scholarship initiated by colonial, Indological, and missionary writings and continued after independence, the caste system has distilled into its current form, resting on four fundamental pillars:
1) Occupational division, sanctioned by Hinduism
2) Hereditary membership
3) Endogamy as the essence of the caste system
4) Exclusion and discrimination against ‘outcaste’ groups, which encompasses practices related to commensality (eating together) and ‘untouchability’.
The Status of the Narratives Today
Since the initial writings of Al-Biruni in the 10th century, Brahmins continue to be portrayed as the principal villains in the discourse surrounding the caste system, despite making up less than 5% of India’s total population, Atrocities against ex-untouchables (the Scheduled Castes or Dalits) continue to escalate, and Brahmins seem to exert an invisible, disembodied influence over societal predispositions towards discrimination and hierarchy. Consequently, even in instances where Brahmins are not directly implicated in documented crimes against these marginalized groups, the concept of “Brahmanism” persists. This notion serves as a rational explanation even when a non-Brahmin or non-Hindu commits an offence against the Scheduled Castes.
Given that the “forward” castes have systematically denied education and opportunities to the “backward” castes and the “scheduled” groups, the government has implemented a quasi-permanent policy aimed at ensuring social justice and equality of representation, or proportional representation, across various occupations. The social justice policies also include lowering the qualifying criteria for competitive examinations and imposing severe penalties for any insult, whether by the written word, action, or speech. The guiding principle behind all political and bureaucratic policies in the country prioritizes equality of outcomes over equality of opportunity. As philosopher Thomas Sowell demonstrates elegantly in his essays, the former has never been achieved in the history of humanity, but the latter is possible in a few generations if the governments will it.
Varna, Jati, and Caste
One of the most peculiar and fascinating aspects of caste narratives throughout history is the lack of clarity surrounding the concepts of Varna, Jati, and Kula. Establishing a one-to-one correspondence between the varnas and the jatis has proven to be an almost insurmountable challenge for centuries, characterized by inconsistencies, contradictions, and individual jatis disputing their assigned varna.
Scholarship seldom focuses on jatis, which represent the tangible reality of Indian social systems. The author addresses the relationship—or rather, the absence of it—between varna and jati in the context of caste. There are four varnas and 4,000 jatis (or “biocultural formations,” as Prof. Venkat Rao describes them), alongside over 3,000 castes and 25,000 subcastes. What precisely constitutes a unit of caste?
Caste and subcaste emerged within Western contexts, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula, where the notion of purity of blood between Old Christians and New (recently converted) Christians led to hierarchies, discrimination, and exploitation as societal phenomena. These concepts were transferred to India when the Portuguese first set foot on the shores of Goa and encountered the Indian social systems. Gradually, an entirely foreign term—caste, which has no true equivalent in Indian scriptures—was imposed upon these social structures.
Varnas and jatis have come to be understood as a class system marked by social hierarchies, exploitation, discrimination, and various forms of inequality as predominant themes. Indian texts primarily mention the four varnas, yet they have not developed a comprehensive theory of varna. Nevertheless, theorizing about varnas has remained a persistent endeavor for Indologists.
Jatis are determined by a multitude of factors, including birth, occupation, language, ethnicity, region, belief in deities, rituals, and more. Each jati possesses its own distinct practices. While the Manusmriti described 50 jatis, this number has now expanded to 4,000. Consequently, jatis are in a constant state of evolution, with new jatis emerging, old ones dissolving, and some merging to create new entities. How do the jatis correlate with varnas in a precise matching order? This remains uncertain.
As the author compellingly demonstrates through extensive references, empirical field data challenge every theoretical claim regarding the caste system in India, owing to the numerous and varied practices of jatis. New information about jati practices does not prompt a reevaluation of the classic concept of the caste system itself but instead leads to ad hoc adjustments in the original understanding of the caste system, with discrimination and exploitation as its sole foundations.
Rebuttal of the Caste System Narrative
The author is also a Vedic scholar, utilizing his extensive knowledge of Indian texts along with detailed references from both contemporary and historical scholars to challenge the prevailing narrative of the caste system. He begins by demonstrating that the foundation of the entire Aryan-Dravidian racial divide is built solely on assumptions and speculations.
Mahalingam quotes scholars who have written and spoken extensively against the “invading Aryans” scenario. Aryans remain mythical creatures with no known biological characteristics, and yet our textbooks are filled with fantasized descriptions of the Aryans and what they did to India. Problematically, despite the only evidence coming from linguistics and nowhere else, scholars have created reams of Aryan-Dravidian literature highly antithetical to the unity of India. The author shows the implausibility of the Aryan scenario as the first step.
He examines the foundational pillars of the caste system and systematically dismantles each one with clear data and extensive references. Dr Ambedkar posited that endogamy (marrying within a group) was the essence of the caste system. However, field data concerning jati practices significantly undermines this assumption regarding the origins of the caste system.
As noted earlier, the classic conception of the caste system comprises four fundamental properties. The author cites Jalki and Pathan (The Impossibility of Refuting or Confirming the Arguments about the Caste System), who show how two hundred years of field data have failed to establish the classic conception of the caste system. Caste scholars have frequently acknowledged many disjunctions and contradictions, but strangely, even posit that this disjunction itself is an important component of the caste system! Ad hoc explanations for new and contradictory data, and keeping the original narrative intact, is a persistent scholarly attitude across centuries.
The author also shows how the evolution of the caste system into a uniform structure across the country lacks clear explanations. It remains uncertain whether it originated in a single location and subsequently spread, or whether it emerged concurrently in various regions and later converged. Both possibilities appear improbable, considering India’s vast distances and the absence of powerful monarchs capable of issuing centralised decrees to impose this system nationwide. As a result, scholarly writings suggest that the system must have emerged and disseminated throughout the country somehow.
Narratives of Exploitation and Discrimination
Exploitation and discrimination, including the treatment of “outcastes,” are present in all societies. However, there is a prevalent narrative that class distinction is a unique feature of the Indian caste system. The author illustrates how the systems of slavery and feudalism in European nations and colonial powers were considerably more brutal and exploitative than any alleged discrimination within the Indian context. Indeed, slavery was virtually unknown in Indian society, a fact acknowledged by writers dating back to the time of the Greeks.
Indologists, over the centuries, have profoundly misinterpreted, distorted, and misrepresented the Purushasukta hymn of the Rigveda, which describes the four varnas emerging from the different parts of the Cosmic Person. The portrayal of the Shudras as originating from the feet has been taken as the primary basis for their perceived “lowliness,” “dirtiness,” or “rejection.” The author argues that this interpretation is misguided and trivializes the essence of the creation hymn. He illustrates how scholars throughout history have selectively quoted and cherry-picked from the extensive Indian scriptures, establishing solely the hierarchies and discrimination within the caste system.
There are equally valid sources in Indian texts that demonstrate the equality of the four varnas. In some instances, there is even a reversal of the varna hierarchy. The author has posed a challenge for an open debate on whether the Purushasukta pertains to hierarchy and discrimination. It is noteworthy that no academic—likely more adept at conducting academic hit-and-run critiques—has accepted this challenge.
Untouchability
Untouchability, in its various forms, has been a detrimental social practice and has been strongly condemned by any right-thinking Indian, regardless of varna. However, several issues arise in this context. The ongoing debate currently centres around the notion that Sanatana Dharma = Hinduism = the caste system = untouchability. Curiously, there is a lack of clarity about each term in this equation, yet the proposed solution to the issue of untouchability seems to involve dismantling Sanatana Dharma itself. While negative practices exist in all societies, using such negatives to define an entire society borders on mischief. Furthermore, the concept of untouchability itself lacks a clear definition, as evidenced by the debates in Parliament and the varied interpretations within scholarly discourse.
The spectrum of untouchability practices appears to be continually expanding, and based on the diverse practices associated with it, some Brahmin communities can be classified as untouchables too. Presently, extraordinary provisions exist for the Scheduled Castes that are based solely on the criterion of “ex-untouchability” status, rather than on any other factors related to economic, educational, or social deprivation. It is ironic that, despite being such a significant criterion, the definition of untouchability remains ambiguous and continues to broaden in its scope.
It is surprising that actual crime data contradicts the narrative suggesting that Scheduled Castes experience significantly higher levels of crime than the rest of the population. As demonstrated by Jalki and Pathan in their work, Are There Caste Atrocities in India? What the Data Can and Cannot Tell Us, and later by Nihar Sashittal in The Enigma of Caste Atrocities, Scheduled Castes encounter far less crime—specifically, thirty times less—than the general population. Empirical data derived from crime records strongly challenges prevailing perceptions and narratives. In any other field, such data would likely prompt substantial revisions in primary thinking. Nonetheless, a persistent and problematic scholarly attitude towards this data remains — with many scholars choosing to overlook it, dismiss it, or providing ad hoc adjustments to the data to maintain the a priori conclusions.
The author offers precise references to challenge every aspect of the caste system narrative. Importantly, there is no denial of the social evils that exist in India or the urgent need to address them. Critics of the caste system narratives often face allegations of disregarding the factors that contribute to the description of the caste system—a system that, paradoxically, seems to impose a moral obligation on every Indian to act immorally.
Conclusion
Two among the greatest thinkers of modern India include Ananda Coomaraswamy and Sri Aurobindo. The former wrote that the caste system of India required an explanation and not an apology. Sri Aurobindo called the descriptions of the caste system a parody of the original varna arrangement of Indian society. They believed that the three quartets—the four varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vysya, and Shudra), the four ashramas (Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vaanaprashtha, and Sannyasa), and the four purusharthas (Artha, Kama, Dharma, and Moksha)—formed the crux of Indian civilization, and they were deeply intertwined with each other. According to Sri Aurobindo, these three quartets prevented the collapse of India, unlike many civilizations to the West that fell in the face of incessant attacks.
Why is it that such a social system arrangement, spoken so highly of, including by philosophers like Nietzsche, become the greatest evil of all time? Strangely, this caste system seems to have survived thousands of years across many “reform” movements — Buddhism, colonialism, Islamic imperialism, and post-independence political forms of government. It appears to propagate and perpetuate spontaneously and dynamically without a central organization; it also seems adaptable to various religions. Caste is also a phenomenon among Indian Muslims and Christians.
Dr Balagangadhara asks, “What if the dominant description of the caste system as a prime obstacle to progress and a source of all evil in Indian society is unscientific?” The present descriptions make the caste system autonomous, decentralized, stable (since it is resistant to all reforms across time), adaptive (for all religious, political, and economic environments), and dynamic (since it is constantly evolving). Balagangadhara says that would not such a description denote, contrarily, an ideal social system and certainly not an evil one?
The innumerable and constantly evolving jatis (or the biocultural formations) are the only reality of the Indian social systems. Varnas might be simply higher-order categories with no hierarchies but related to other metaphysical ideas of Indian society: swaguna (qualities of the self/oneself), swadharma (duties to be performed by the individual), karma, rebirth, and moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death). It is an undeniable fact of Indian texts and scriptures that moksha is not denied to a person from any varna. Our texts are replete with stories of people from the Shudra varna gaining moksha and becoming teachers and guides.
In recent times, many intellectuals have come forward and are writing extensively to counter the narratives of the caste system, which are harmful to the country. Every divisive national and international force now uses the caste system as a weapon. The Ghent School of Dr Balagangadhara has a prominent role in raising a counter-critique of the prominent caste narratives. Their book Western Foundations of the Caste System is a classic in this regard. Nithin Sridhar, in his recently released book, Chatuh Shloki Manusmriti, has a chapter where he explains all the elements of the varna arrangement.
Mahalingam draws not only from his experience as a Vedic scholar but from many resources, past and present, to reject and challenge the inimical narratives against India. This book is an important addition to the compendium challenging the tracts and strategies of those critics and enemies attempting to destroy Indian civilization using caste as a cudgel. We need to replace the illusory caste system, which rests on false foundations. Only indigenous perspectives can better explain both varna and jati. The official and now standardized narratives about the caste system have only led to feelings of shame, anger, false pride, or hate. It is time to recast caste from a traditional, Indic perspective.
