04-27-2007, 09:22 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I have already posted a passage where the author says how Smartha Brahmins and Iyengars are shunned by this group of Madhwa Brahmins as impure.
This was the attitude of one sect of Brahmins towards another, but it is a reflection of how India, full of Hindus, had divided itself up into little pockets of jealousies and discrimination. This attitude is fading now but has not disappeared. It is exactly this parochial (<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nonsense! This is the attitude of people whose traditions are divergent and diverse, of communities that take their traditions, rituals and practices seriously. I don't know much about these specific communities, but we used to have this in AP as well. Again, this is mostly because of divergent traditions. The fact that people no longer fight about them is usually because of two reasons:
1. Most people today (Brahmins included) are not aware of the traditions of their sect.
2. Most people today (Brahmins especially) don't take their religious traditions seriously.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But fortunately things are changing in India. One nephew of mine is marrying a Kashmiri Pandit in a couple of months. Another marries a Punjabi girl from Jammu next week. I quote these only as family examples - but there are many such unions caused by a refreshing breakdown of barriers that Hindus had. Drop the barriers first don't keep on posting objections and conditions to ask everyone to prove that he is not Christian/Muslim/psec/marxist/atheist etc first. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not to belittle all your nephews, sengotuvel, <b>[EDITED]</b>. And as I pointed out before, they don't particularly care for the tradtions of the Madhwas, or of anyone else's for that matter.
This was the attitude of one sect of Brahmins towards another, but it is a reflection of how India, full of Hindus, had divided itself up into little pockets of jealousies and discrimination. This attitude is fading now but has not disappeared. It is exactly this parochial (<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Nonsense! This is the attitude of people whose traditions are divergent and diverse, of communities that take their traditions, rituals and practices seriously. I don't know much about these specific communities, but we used to have this in AP as well. Again, this is mostly because of divergent traditions. The fact that people no longer fight about them is usually because of two reasons:
1. Most people today (Brahmins included) are not aware of the traditions of their sect.
2. Most people today (Brahmins especially) don't take their religious traditions seriously.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->But fortunately things are changing in India. One nephew of mine is marrying a Kashmiri Pandit in a couple of months. Another marries a Punjabi girl from Jammu next week. I quote these only as family examples - but there are many such unions caused by a refreshing breakdown of barriers that Hindus had. Drop the barriers first don't keep on posting objections and conditions to ask everyone to prove that he is not Christian/Muslim/psec/marxist/atheist etc first. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not to belittle all your nephews, sengotuvel, <b>[EDITED]</b>. And as I pointed out before, they don't particularly care for the tradtions of the Madhwas, or of anyone else's for that matter.