06-14-2009, 05:11 AM
Namaskar,
I was going through the complete works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 4 and
came across an article "Aryans and Tamilians" where Swamiji speaks on:
1. Why the Brahmins( men of knowledge ) are considered as highest in the
social order of India , and not Kshatriyas ( Kings and warriors) as in all
other european countries.
2. Then a bit of explanation on the caste system and mention that it was not
on birth.
3. Then problems created brahmins arrogance and appeal to all brahmins and
non-brahmins to rise towards the right ideals then to fight over between
themselves.
4. Then a firm disapproval of the Aryan theory and a message to bridge the
north - south differences and He says " even taking for granted that both
these grand sub-divisions of Indian humanity came from outside the Western
frontier" ( Both here implies corrupted-caste system and north-south
divisions) and an appeal to rise out of this false notion .
5. Finally, a good article to be read slowly and in the right earnest
Aryans and Tamilians
By Swami Vivekananda
From: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda , Volume 4 , Pg.296
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.in...ol_4_frame.htm
A veritable ethnological museum! Possibly, the half ape skeleton of the
recently discovered Sumatra link will be found on search here, too. The
Dolmens are not wanting. Flint implements can be dug out almost anywhere.
The lake-dwellers-at least the river-dwellers must have been abundant at one
time. The cave-men and leaf-wearers still persist. The primitive hunters
living in forests are in evidence in various parts of the country. Then
there are the more historical varieties-the Negrito Kolarian, the Dravidian,
and the Aryan. To these have been added from time to time dashes of nearly
all the known races, and a great many yet unknown-various breeds of
Mongoloids, Mongols, Tartars, and the so-called Aryans of the -philologists.
Well, here are the Persian, the Greek, the Yunchi, the Hun, the Chin, the
Scythian, and many more,- melted and fused, the Jews, Parsees, Arabs,
Mongols, down to the descendants of the Vikings and the lords of the German
forests, yet undigested-an ocean of humanity, composed of these race-waves
seething, boiling, struggling, constantly changing form, rising to the
surface, and spreading, and swallowing little ones, again subsiding-this is
the history of India.
In the midst of this madness of nature, one of the contending factions
discovered a method and, through the force of its superior culture,
succeeded in bringing the largest number of Indian humanity under its sway.
The superior race styled themselves the Aryas or nobles, and their method
was the Varnashramacharathe so-called caste. Of course the men of the Aryan
race reserved for themselves, consciously or unconsciously a good many
privileges ; yet the institution of caste has always been very flexible,
sometimes too flexible to ensure a healthy uprise of the races very low in
the scale of culture.
It put, theoretically at least, the whole of India under the guidance-not of
wealth, nor of the sword-but of intellect-intellect chastened and controlled
by spirituality. The leading caste in India is the highest of the Aryans -
the Brahmins.
Though apparently different from the social methods of other nations, on
close inspection, the Aryan method of caste will not be found so very
different except on two points:
The first is, in every other country the highest honour belongs to the
Kshatriya-the man of the sword. The Pope of Rome will be glad to trace his
descent to some robber baron on the banks of the Rhine. In India, the
highest honour belongs to the man of peace- the Sharman, the Brahmin, the
man of God.
The greatest Indian king would be gratified to trace his descent to some
ancient sage who lived in the forest, probably a recluse, possessing
nothing, dependent upon the villagers for his daily necessities, and all his
life trying to solve the problems of this life and the life hereafter. The
second point is, the difference of unit. The law of caste in every other
country takes the individual man or woman as the sufficient unit. Wealth,
power, intellect, or beauty suffices for the individual to leave the status
of birth and scramble up to anywhere he can.
Here, the unit is all the members of a caste community. Here, too, one has
every chance of rising from a low caste to a higher or the highest: only, in
this birth-land of altruism, one is compelled to take his whole caste along
with him.
In India, you cannot, on account of your wealth, power, or any other merit,
leave your fellows behind and make common cause with your superiors ; you
cannot deprive those who helped in your acquiring the excellence of any
benefit therefrom and give them in return only contempt. If you want to rise
to a higher caste in India, you have to elevate all your caste first, and
then there is nothing in your onward path to hold you back.
This is the Indian method of fusion, and this has been going on from time
immemorial. For in India, more than elsewhere, such words as Aryans and
Dravidians are only of philological import, the so-called craniological
differentiation finding no solid ground to work upon.
Even so are the names Brahmin, Kshatriya, etc. They simply represent the
status of a community in itself continuously fluctuating, even' when it has
reached the summit and all further endeavours are towards fixity of the type
by non-marriage, bv being forced to admit fresh groups, from lower castes or
foreign lands, within its pale.
Whatever caste has the power of the sword, becomes Kshatriya ; whatever
learning, Brahmin ; whatever wealth, Vaishya.
The groups that have already reached the coveted goal, indeed, try to keep
themselves aloof from the newcomers, by making sub-divisions in the same
caste, but the fact remains that they coalesce in the long run. This is
going on before our own eyes, all over India. Naturally, a group having
raised itself would try to preserve the privileges to itself. Hence,
whenever it was possible to get the help of a king, the higher castes,
especially the Brahmins, have tried to put down similar aspirations in lower
castes, b'y the sword if practicable. But the question is: Did they succeed?
Look closely into your Puranas and Upa-puranas, look especially into the
local Khandas of the big Puranas, look round and see what is happening
before your eyes, and you will find the answer.
We are, in spite of our various castes, and in spite of the modern custom of
marriage restricted within the sub divisions of a caste (though this is not
universal), a mixed race in every sense of the word.
Whatever may be the import of the philological terms "Aryan" and
"T'amilians:", even taking for granted that both these grand sub-divisions
of Indian humanity came from outside the Western frontier, the dividing line
had been, from the most ancient times, one of language and not of blood. Not
one of the epithets expressive of contempt for the ugly physical features of
the Dasyus of the Vedas would apply to the great Tamilian race ; in fact if
there be a toss for good looks between the Aryans and Tamilians, no sensible
man would dare prognosticate the result.
The super-arrogated excellence of birth of any caste in India is only pure
myth, and in no part of India has it, ,we are sorry to say, found such
congenial soil, owing to linguistic differences, as in the South.
We purposely refrain from going into the details of ;his social tyranny in
the South, just as we have stopped ourselves from scrutinising the genesis
of the various modern Brahmins and other castes. Sufficient for us to is
evident Madras note the extreme tension of feeling that between the Brahmins
and non-Brahmins of the Presidency.
We believe in Indian caste as one of the greatest social institutions that
the Lord gave to man. We also believe that though the unavoidable defects,
foreign persecutions, and, above all, the monumental ignorance and pride of
many Brahmins who do not deserve the name, have thwarted, in many ways, the
legitimate fructification of this most glorious Indian institution, it has
already worked wonders for the land of Bharata and is destined to lead
Indian humanity to its goal.
We earnestly entreat the Brahmins of the South not to forget the ideal of
India-the production of a universe of. Brahmins, pure as purity, good as God
Himself: this was at the beginning, says the Mahabharata, and so will it be
in the end.
Then anyone who claims to be a Brahmin should prove his pretensions, first
by manifesting that spirituality, and next by raising others to the same
status. On the face of this, it seems that most of them are only nursing a
false pride of birth ; and any schemer, native or foreign, who can pander to
this vanity and inherent laziness by fulsome sophistry, appears to satisfy
most.
Beware, Brahmins, this is the sign of death! Arise and show your manhood,
your Brahminhood, by raising the non-Brahmins around you-not in the spirit
of a master -not with the rotten canker of egotism crawling with
superstitions and the charlatanry of East and West-but in the spirit of a
servant. For verily he who knows how to serve knows how to rule.
The non-Brahmins also have been spending their energy in kindling the fire
of caste hatred--vain and useless to solve the problem-to which every
non-Hindu is only too glad to throw on a load of fuel.
Not a step forward can be made by these inter-caste quarrels, not one
difficulty removed; only the beneficent onward march of events would be
thrown back, possibly for centuries, if the fire bursts out into flames.
It would be a repetition of Buddhistic political blunders.
In the midst of this ignorant clamour and hatred, we are delighted to find
Pandit D. Savariroyan pursuing the only legitimate and the only sensible
course. Instead of wasting precious vitality in foolish and meaningless
quarrels, Pandit Savariroyan has undertaken in his articles an the
"Admixture of the Aryan with Tamilian" in the Siddhcinta Deepika, to clear
away not only a lot of haze, created by a too adventurous Western philology,
but to pave the way to a better understanding of the caste problem in the
South.
Nobody ever got anything by begging. We get only what we deserve. The first
step to deserve is to desire; and we desire with success what we feel
ourselves worthy to get.
A gentle yet clear brushing off of the cobwebs of the so-called Aryan theory
and all its vicious corollaries is therefore absolutely necessary,
especially for the South, and a proper self-respect created by a knowledge
of the past grandeur of one of the great ancestors of the Aryan race-the
great Tamilians.
We stick, in spite of Western theories, to that definition of the word
"Arya" which we find in our sacred books, and which includes only the
multitude we now call Hindus. This Aryan race, itself a mixture of two great
races, Sanskrit-speaking and Tamil-speaking, applies to all Hindus alike.
That the Shudras have in some Smritis been excluded from this epithet means
nothing, for the Shudras were and still are only the waiting Aryas-Aryas in
novitiate.
Though we know Pandit Savariroyan is walking over rather insecure ground,
though we differ from many of his sweeping explanations of Vedic names and
races, yet we are glad that he has undertaken the task of beginning a proper
investigation into the culture of the great mother of Indian civilisation-if
the Sanskrit-speaking race was the father.
We are glad also that he boldly pushes forward the Accado-Sumerian racial
identity of the ancient Tamilians. And this makes us proud of the blood of
the great civilisation which flowered before all others--compared to whose
antiquity the Aryans and Semites are babies.
We would suggest, also, that the land of Punt of the Egyptians was not only
Malabar, but that the Egyptians as a race bodily migrated from Malabar
across the ocean and entered the delta along the course of the Nile from
north to south, to which Punt they have been always fondly looking back as
the home of the blessed.
This is a move in the right direction. Detailed and more careful work is
sure to follow with a better study of the Tamilian tongues and the Tamilian
elements found in the Sanskrit literature, philosophy, and religion. And who
are more competent to do this work than those who learn the Tamilian idioms
as their mother-tongue?
As for us Vedantins and Sannyasins, we are proud of our Sanskrit-speaking
ancestors of the Vedas ; proud of our Tamil-speaking ancestors whose
civilisation is the oldest yet known ; we are proud of our Kolarian
ancestors older than either of the above-who lived and hunted in forests; we
are proud of our ancestors with flint implements-the first of the human
race; and if evolution is true, we are proud of our anaifial ancestors, for
they antedated man himself. We are proud that we are descendants of the
whole universe, sentient or insentient. Proud that we are born, and work,
and suffer-prouder still that we die when the task is finished and enter for
ever the realm where there is no more delusion.
--
devishakti_india
( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/divyabhakti )
I was going through the complete works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 4 and
came across an article "Aryans and Tamilians" where Swamiji speaks on:
1. Why the Brahmins( men of knowledge ) are considered as highest in the
social order of India , and not Kshatriyas ( Kings and warriors) as in all
other european countries.
2. Then a bit of explanation on the caste system and mention that it was not
on birth.
3. Then problems created brahmins arrogance and appeal to all brahmins and
non-brahmins to rise towards the right ideals then to fight over between
themselves.
4. Then a firm disapproval of the Aryan theory and a message to bridge the
north - south differences and He says " even taking for granted that both
these grand sub-divisions of Indian humanity came from outside the Western
frontier" ( Both here implies corrupted-caste system and north-south
divisions) and an appeal to rise out of this false notion .
5. Finally, a good article to be read slowly and in the right earnest
Aryans and Tamilians
By Swami Vivekananda
From: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda , Volume 4 , Pg.296
http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.in...ol_4_frame.htm
A veritable ethnological museum! Possibly, the half ape skeleton of the
recently discovered Sumatra link will be found on search here, too. The
Dolmens are not wanting. Flint implements can be dug out almost anywhere.
The lake-dwellers-at least the river-dwellers must have been abundant at one
time. The cave-men and leaf-wearers still persist. The primitive hunters
living in forests are in evidence in various parts of the country. Then
there are the more historical varieties-the Negrito Kolarian, the Dravidian,
and the Aryan. To these have been added from time to time dashes of nearly
all the known races, and a great many yet unknown-various breeds of
Mongoloids, Mongols, Tartars, and the so-called Aryans of the -philologists.
Well, here are the Persian, the Greek, the Yunchi, the Hun, the Chin, the
Scythian, and many more,- melted and fused, the Jews, Parsees, Arabs,
Mongols, down to the descendants of the Vikings and the lords of the German
forests, yet undigested-an ocean of humanity, composed of these race-waves
seething, boiling, struggling, constantly changing form, rising to the
surface, and spreading, and swallowing little ones, again subsiding-this is
the history of India.
In the midst of this madness of nature, one of the contending factions
discovered a method and, through the force of its superior culture,
succeeded in bringing the largest number of Indian humanity under its sway.
The superior race styled themselves the Aryas or nobles, and their method
was the Varnashramacharathe so-called caste. Of course the men of the Aryan
race reserved for themselves, consciously or unconsciously a good many
privileges ; yet the institution of caste has always been very flexible,
sometimes too flexible to ensure a healthy uprise of the races very low in
the scale of culture.
It put, theoretically at least, the whole of India under the guidance-not of
wealth, nor of the sword-but of intellect-intellect chastened and controlled
by spirituality. The leading caste in India is the highest of the Aryans -
the Brahmins.
Though apparently different from the social methods of other nations, on
close inspection, the Aryan method of caste will not be found so very
different except on two points:
The first is, in every other country the highest honour belongs to the
Kshatriya-the man of the sword. The Pope of Rome will be glad to trace his
descent to some robber baron on the banks of the Rhine. In India, the
highest honour belongs to the man of peace- the Sharman, the Brahmin, the
man of God.
The greatest Indian king would be gratified to trace his descent to some
ancient sage who lived in the forest, probably a recluse, possessing
nothing, dependent upon the villagers for his daily necessities, and all his
life trying to solve the problems of this life and the life hereafter. The
second point is, the difference of unit. The law of caste in every other
country takes the individual man or woman as the sufficient unit. Wealth,
power, intellect, or beauty suffices for the individual to leave the status
of birth and scramble up to anywhere he can.
Here, the unit is all the members of a caste community. Here, too, one has
every chance of rising from a low caste to a higher or the highest: only, in
this birth-land of altruism, one is compelled to take his whole caste along
with him.
In India, you cannot, on account of your wealth, power, or any other merit,
leave your fellows behind and make common cause with your superiors ; you
cannot deprive those who helped in your acquiring the excellence of any
benefit therefrom and give them in return only contempt. If you want to rise
to a higher caste in India, you have to elevate all your caste first, and
then there is nothing in your onward path to hold you back.
This is the Indian method of fusion, and this has been going on from time
immemorial. For in India, more than elsewhere, such words as Aryans and
Dravidians are only of philological import, the so-called craniological
differentiation finding no solid ground to work upon.
Even so are the names Brahmin, Kshatriya, etc. They simply represent the
status of a community in itself continuously fluctuating, even' when it has
reached the summit and all further endeavours are towards fixity of the type
by non-marriage, bv being forced to admit fresh groups, from lower castes or
foreign lands, within its pale.
Whatever caste has the power of the sword, becomes Kshatriya ; whatever
learning, Brahmin ; whatever wealth, Vaishya.
The groups that have already reached the coveted goal, indeed, try to keep
themselves aloof from the newcomers, by making sub-divisions in the same
caste, but the fact remains that they coalesce in the long run. This is
going on before our own eyes, all over India. Naturally, a group having
raised itself would try to preserve the privileges to itself. Hence,
whenever it was possible to get the help of a king, the higher castes,
especially the Brahmins, have tried to put down similar aspirations in lower
castes, b'y the sword if practicable. But the question is: Did they succeed?
Look closely into your Puranas and Upa-puranas, look especially into the
local Khandas of the big Puranas, look round and see what is happening
before your eyes, and you will find the answer.
We are, in spite of our various castes, and in spite of the modern custom of
marriage restricted within the sub divisions of a caste (though this is not
universal), a mixed race in every sense of the word.
Whatever may be the import of the philological terms "Aryan" and
"T'amilians:", even taking for granted that both these grand sub-divisions
of Indian humanity came from outside the Western frontier, the dividing line
had been, from the most ancient times, one of language and not of blood. Not
one of the epithets expressive of contempt for the ugly physical features of
the Dasyus of the Vedas would apply to the great Tamilian race ; in fact if
there be a toss for good looks between the Aryans and Tamilians, no sensible
man would dare prognosticate the result.
The super-arrogated excellence of birth of any caste in India is only pure
myth, and in no part of India has it, ,we are sorry to say, found such
congenial soil, owing to linguistic differences, as in the South.
We purposely refrain from going into the details of ;his social tyranny in
the South, just as we have stopped ourselves from scrutinising the genesis
of the various modern Brahmins and other castes. Sufficient for us to is
evident Madras note the extreme tension of feeling that between the Brahmins
and non-Brahmins of the Presidency.
We believe in Indian caste as one of the greatest social institutions that
the Lord gave to man. We also believe that though the unavoidable defects,
foreign persecutions, and, above all, the monumental ignorance and pride of
many Brahmins who do not deserve the name, have thwarted, in many ways, the
legitimate fructification of this most glorious Indian institution, it has
already worked wonders for the land of Bharata and is destined to lead
Indian humanity to its goal.
We earnestly entreat the Brahmins of the South not to forget the ideal of
India-the production of a universe of. Brahmins, pure as purity, good as God
Himself: this was at the beginning, says the Mahabharata, and so will it be
in the end.
Then anyone who claims to be a Brahmin should prove his pretensions, first
by manifesting that spirituality, and next by raising others to the same
status. On the face of this, it seems that most of them are only nursing a
false pride of birth ; and any schemer, native or foreign, who can pander to
this vanity and inherent laziness by fulsome sophistry, appears to satisfy
most.
Beware, Brahmins, this is the sign of death! Arise and show your manhood,
your Brahminhood, by raising the non-Brahmins around you-not in the spirit
of a master -not with the rotten canker of egotism crawling with
superstitions and the charlatanry of East and West-but in the spirit of a
servant. For verily he who knows how to serve knows how to rule.
The non-Brahmins also have been spending their energy in kindling the fire
of caste hatred--vain and useless to solve the problem-to which every
non-Hindu is only too glad to throw on a load of fuel.
Not a step forward can be made by these inter-caste quarrels, not one
difficulty removed; only the beneficent onward march of events would be
thrown back, possibly for centuries, if the fire bursts out into flames.
It would be a repetition of Buddhistic political blunders.
In the midst of this ignorant clamour and hatred, we are delighted to find
Pandit D. Savariroyan pursuing the only legitimate and the only sensible
course. Instead of wasting precious vitality in foolish and meaningless
quarrels, Pandit Savariroyan has undertaken in his articles an the
"Admixture of the Aryan with Tamilian" in the Siddhcinta Deepika, to clear
away not only a lot of haze, created by a too adventurous Western philology,
but to pave the way to a better understanding of the caste problem in the
South.
Nobody ever got anything by begging. We get only what we deserve. The first
step to deserve is to desire; and we desire with success what we feel
ourselves worthy to get.
A gentle yet clear brushing off of the cobwebs of the so-called Aryan theory
and all its vicious corollaries is therefore absolutely necessary,
especially for the South, and a proper self-respect created by a knowledge
of the past grandeur of one of the great ancestors of the Aryan race-the
great Tamilians.
We stick, in spite of Western theories, to that definition of the word
"Arya" which we find in our sacred books, and which includes only the
multitude we now call Hindus. This Aryan race, itself a mixture of two great
races, Sanskrit-speaking and Tamil-speaking, applies to all Hindus alike.
That the Shudras have in some Smritis been excluded from this epithet means
nothing, for the Shudras were and still are only the waiting Aryas-Aryas in
novitiate.
Though we know Pandit Savariroyan is walking over rather insecure ground,
though we differ from many of his sweeping explanations of Vedic names and
races, yet we are glad that he has undertaken the task of beginning a proper
investigation into the culture of the great mother of Indian civilisation-if
the Sanskrit-speaking race was the father.
We are glad also that he boldly pushes forward the Accado-Sumerian racial
identity of the ancient Tamilians. And this makes us proud of the blood of
the great civilisation which flowered before all others--compared to whose
antiquity the Aryans and Semites are babies.
We would suggest, also, that the land of Punt of the Egyptians was not only
Malabar, but that the Egyptians as a race bodily migrated from Malabar
across the ocean and entered the delta along the course of the Nile from
north to south, to which Punt they have been always fondly looking back as
the home of the blessed.
This is a move in the right direction. Detailed and more careful work is
sure to follow with a better study of the Tamilian tongues and the Tamilian
elements found in the Sanskrit literature, philosophy, and religion. And who
are more competent to do this work than those who learn the Tamilian idioms
as their mother-tongue?
As for us Vedantins and Sannyasins, we are proud of our Sanskrit-speaking
ancestors of the Vedas ; proud of our Tamil-speaking ancestors whose
civilisation is the oldest yet known ; we are proud of our Kolarian
ancestors older than either of the above-who lived and hunted in forests; we
are proud of our ancestors with flint implements-the first of the human
race; and if evolution is true, we are proud of our anaifial ancestors, for
they antedated man himself. We are proud that we are descendants of the
whole universe, sentient or insentient. Proud that we are born, and work,
and suffer-prouder still that we die when the task is finished and enter for
ever the realm where there is no more delusion.
--
devishakti_india
( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/divyabhakti )