04-21-2007, 06:45 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-sengotuvel+Apr 20 2007, 10:45 PM-->QUOTE(sengotuvel @ Apr 20 2007, 10:45 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Let me make a provocative post.
Caste barriers are being removed in India. Nevertheless, each individual who is a child descended from a family of a particular caste carries with him the unique memories and narrative that his caste alone carried till date.
Is there any evidence to suggest that the people who oppose conversions today consist of a group of Hindus who are descended from every caste equi-proportionally. Or is it possible that descendants of some particular caste groups are more vehemently against conversion than descendants from other caste groups.
This statistic is a politically explosive one and it is worth answering the question with an honest poll/census. If we don't do it, sooner or later Church/NGO funded sociologists will do it.
If it can be shown,for example that conversions are opposed predominantly by the descendants of relatively forward caste people it would be a victory for the people who curse Hindus. However, even if that were true it should serve as a lesson for everyone in trying to understand what it is in the narratives of some Hindus that make them opposed to conversion, and what it is in the history/narrative of descendants of other caste groups to make them see things differently.
Whatever the truth, there are lessons to be learned. Are we going to learn them by ourselves, or are we going to wait for a church group to do it first, slap us on the face with some egregious info and whine reactively?
[right][snapback]67533[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Can we do a poll here and see how many hindus oppose coerced conversions and how many among them are actually from so called forward castes?
Caste barriers are being removed in India. Nevertheless, each individual who is a child descended from a family of a particular caste carries with him the unique memories and narrative that his caste alone carried till date.
Is there any evidence to suggest that the people who oppose conversions today consist of a group of Hindus who are descended from every caste equi-proportionally. Or is it possible that descendants of some particular caste groups are more vehemently against conversion than descendants from other caste groups.
This statistic is a politically explosive one and it is worth answering the question with an honest poll/census. If we don't do it, sooner or later Church/NGO funded sociologists will do it.
If it can be shown,for example that conversions are opposed predominantly by the descendants of relatively forward caste people it would be a victory for the people who curse Hindus. However, even if that were true it should serve as a lesson for everyone in trying to understand what it is in the narratives of some Hindus that make them opposed to conversion, and what it is in the history/narrative of descendants of other caste groups to make them see things differently.
Whatever the truth, there are lessons to be learned. Are we going to learn them by ourselves, or are we going to wait for a church group to do it first, slap us on the face with some egregious info and whine reactively?
[right][snapback]67533[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Can we do a poll here and see how many hindus oppose coerced conversions and how many among them are actually from so called forward castes?