JAT-PAT-TODAK MANDAL OF LAHORE-VII
The Hindus
often complain of the isolation and exclusiveness of a gang or a clique and
blame them for anti-social spirit. But they conveniently forget that this
anti-social spirit is the worst feature of their own Caste System. One caste
enjoys singing a hymn of hate against another caste as much as the Germans did
in singing their hymn of hate against the English during the last war. The
literature of the Hindus is full of caste genealogies in which an attempt is
made to give a noble origin to one caste and an ignoble origin to other castes.
The Sahyadrikhand is a notorious
instance of this class of literature. This anti-social spirit is not confined
to caste alone. It has gone deeper and has poisoned the mutual relations of the
sub-castes as well. In my province the Golak Brahmins, Deorukha Brahmins,
Karada Brahmins, Palshe Brahmins and Chitpavan Brahmins, all claim to be
sub-divisions of the Brahmin Caste. But the anti-social spirit that prevails
between them is quite as marked and quite as virulent as the anti-social spirit
that prevails between them and other non-Brahmin castes. There is nothing
strange in this. An anti-social spirit is found wherever one group has "
interests of its own " which shut it out from full interaction with other
groups, so that its prevailing purpose is protection of what it has got. This
anti-social spirit, this spirit of protecting its own interests is as much a
marked feature of the different castes in their isolation from one another as
it is of nations in their isolation. The Brahmin's primary concern is to
protect " his interest " against those of the non-Brahmins and the
non-Brahmin's primary concern is to protect their interests against those of
the Brahmins. The Hindus, therefore, are not merely an assortment of castes but
they are so many warring groups each living for itself and for its selfish
ideal. There is another feature of caste which is deplorable. The ancestors of
the present-day English fought on one side or the other in the wars of the
Roses and the Cromwellian War. But the decendents of those who fought on the
one side do not bear any animosity— any grudge against the descendents of those
who fought on the other side. The feud is forgotten. But the present-day
non-Brahmins cannot forgive the present-day Brahmins for the insult their
ancestors gave to Shivaji. The present-day Kayasthas will not forgive the
present-day Brahmins for the infamy cast upon their forefathers by the
forefathers of the latter. To what is this difference due ? Obviously to the
Caste System. The existence of Caste and Caste Consciousness has served to keep
the memory of past feuds between castes green and has prevented solidarity.
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