Dr. Kancha Ilalah’s latest book, “Post-Hindu India”, is the fourth book of the author, and is easily the best. The unique quality that I notice in his writings is its originality and earthiness. In Telugu, we call such person as Matti Manishi. He ably upgrades these qualities with a lot of research work in academic area and field studies. Obviously, his social and economic background drives his work. In that sense he is a true and able successor to Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. He enriched their message with the knowledge acquired from the field, fortified it with incisive reasoning and carried forward their torch a long, long way, within and outside the country, with the strength of his commitment and conviction.
INDIA’S INHUMAN INEQUALITIES
This book is earth-shaking. It will earn accolades from Bahujans and invite sharp arrows from the Brahmins. Why? It analyses the Hindu religion in the light of facts of life from the early days of man’s hunting civilization till today with reference to the productivity of each caste. The caste system is created by the Brahminic writers in the Rigveda, Bhagavathgita, Manusmriti and so on. Brahmins are a consumption class while Sudras, Adivasis and Dalits (who he referred to as Bahujan) are producing classes. He says that Brahmins are, thus, exploiters of Bahujan and these religious texts and subsequent commentaries, which project Brahmins as superior and Bahujan as inferior, are meant to protect and perpetuate this exploitation. Hindu religion is the only religion which blatantly claims that god created men as unequal while Buddhism, Christianity and Islam proclaim that god created all human beings equal. Any religion involves belief in a god or prophet or a holy scripture. It also involves a place of worship for all its followers.
CURSE OF MANU SMRITI
A Christian goes to church of his choice; a Muslim is free to go to a Mosque. Similarly every Christian is eligible to become a pastor and every Muslim a mulla. But in the case of Hindu religion, Dalits were barred from entering a temple, till the constitutional guarantee was given. The Constitution is violated in many a place even now.
From the inception of Hindu religion, only the Brahmin can be a priest. Nobody other than a Brahmin can become a priest. See the following canons of inhuman inequalities between Brahmins and Bahujans enunciated in the Manu Smriti and subsequent commentaries:
“If an Untouchable reads the Hindu scriptures he should be blinded and if he hears their contents while a Brahmin is reciting them, he should be made permanently deaf by pouring boiling lead in to his ears.”
“If an Untouchable performs any of the functions of the higher caste, the king should confiscate his entire property and drive him out of the kingdom.”
“Untouchables should not earn beyond their barest minimum needs, lest they should cause misery to the Brahmin.”
“The mad, the drunk, the child, the senile and the Untouchable are unfit to be witnesses in a court of law.”
“Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Brahmin on account of the excellence of his origin. Being a deity, the Brahmin is above law and above king.”
“He should tie a big broom behind his back so that the space tread by him is cleaned by himself. He should not enter temples. He should not draw water from public tanks or wells used by upper castes.”
NO DEMOCRACY UNDER HINDUISM
All the above (which was ironically created by the Brahmins in they name of god himself) show that there is no spiritual democracy in Hinduism. It is akin to political fascism of Mussolini and Hitler. This spiritual fascism creates “social smugglers”, “Intellectual goondas” and resultant exploitation and inequity, Iliaiah comes with a proposition that this is harming the country as it militates against creativity, scientific innovations and economic development. Remember the famous phrase of “Hindu Rate of Growth” of 3% increase in GDP. It is only in the last decade that we got out of Hindu growth rate. But this increased growth is accompanied by the inequity of producing a handful of billionaires and crores of poor people. After all, is not inequity a god’s creation, as per the great Manu?
REPAIR HINDUISM OR FACE DEATH
Spiritual Fascism in Christianity has been reformed by Martin Luther. But even the so called progressive thinkers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Vivekananda did not work for bringing in spiritual democracy in Hindu religion. It is in this background that llaiah is giving a spirited warning to Hindu religion to reform itself or face death. It is still not a war cry to destroy Hinduism. At the same time it is an exhortation to the shudra leaders to wake up from their slumber (injected by the Brahmins in the name of god) and strive for spiritual democracy and equality. By saying that they should follow the path of struggle of Dr. Ambedkar, Ilaiah’s suggestion is for action plans like Mahad tank entry; which in this context means take over the priesthood of the temples and temple properties.
DECLARE CIVIL WAR
Universal right to all castes is the true test of spiritual freedom and equality. If Hindutva forces resist these moves by shudras, the latter should declare a civil war to establish spiritual democracy. And if the civil war is forced on the shudras, Dalits and Tribals by the Hindutva forces, the sacred thread – which was the marker of superiority – should be used as the marker for attack, says Ilaiah. He quotes the examples of civil wars in Europe. All civil wars in the world attacked the symbols of ruling class that constructed the social self of working class as unworthy of being respected. The royal/feudal caps, dress codes, peculiarly made out shoes that they alone were entitled to use were attacked in all European civil wars. Are Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Narendra Modi, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Sharad Pawar and Karunanidhi listening? If they listen and get into action they can make it happen. Latin Americans and Africans were taken out of spiritual darkness during the expansions of Christianity and Islam. Similar moves by Budhism were eventually defeated by Hindutva forces. The same thing is now happening with Christianity as seen from the attacks in Orissa. The same obscurantist forces will try to thwart the efforts of Sudra, Dalit and Tribal movements to gain spiritual democracy and we will have to see if they can resist the onslaught of sudras who constitute more than 50% of the country’s population and who will be readily supported by another 22% of Dalits and Adivasis.
ASOKA’S WHEEL
And if the sudra leaders fail to reform the Hindu religion, should they leave it and join Christianity. Islam or Buddhism as Dr. Ambedkar did?
This book reveals that llaiah is a cattle herder, shepherd, tapper, weaver, blacksmith, gold smith, potter, tiller, harvester, barber, shoe maker, the mason, honey collector and Podu cultivator all rolled into one. He is learning the science of traffic regulation and the secrets and the value of united action from ants, bumming with the bees, cajoling the caterpillar, entertaining the earthworm, feeding, washing and riding the buffalo, selecting the grass for the sheep-every minute of his life and in every context. Such is his close study and identification with the lives of productive caste/ classes.
See his explanation of Asoka’s wheel. The invention of wheel of the bullock cart and horse carriage has led to the greatest inventions of rail engine, motor vehicle, Aeroplane, power generator, spinning wheel and industrial wheel. He sees Ashoka’s wheel as a symbol of progress.
“OM” COULD NOT PRODUCE FOOD
He says zero was discovered by cattle herders and shepherds – otherwise how could they have counted hundreds of cattle and sheep? He complains that Aryabhatta, a Brahmin, stole the idea from them and claimed it as his discovery. Ilaiah says labour is real capital hidden in the body of the labourer which comes first before and over and above plant and machinery, It is the washer man who invented the practice of bleaching. The tiller is the first soil scientist. He knows how deep to till in each type of soil and at what moisture level and for what kind of seed to be seedled. The potter is his successor scientist, who can select the right type of soil for brick making. The blacksmith is the inventor of furnace.
He rejects the idea of Aryan and Brahmin superiority. The three great Prophets Budha, Jesus and Muhammad are non Aryans. The production classes in India which feed mankind are non Brahmins “Om”, supposed to be the most powerful, magical and musical first word to come out of the mouth of the creator but it could not produce food.
Let there be no doubt about Ilaiah’s nationalism. I say this in the context of the accusation by Indiresan in a TV debate that Ilaiah is not a patriot as he is vehemently supporting the reservation for OBCs in IIMs and IITS.
HINDUISM KILLED INDIA
In Indiresan’s world anybody who does not swear by “merit” of his definition, is not a patriot. The disabilities imposed by Manu (listed above) means nothing to Indiresan. Denial of education and economic backwardness for centuries does not worry him. Concept of level playing field is irrelevant to him, constitutional provisions that give special facilities in matters of education and employment for socially and educationally backward sections make no sense to him. Bahujan children born to illiterate parents, studying in public schools, in regional language, in rural and tribal village even today, must compete on par with non-bahujan children, born to professors, judges, lawyers and civil servants, studying in English medium schools in the cities and towns. And that is the only merit that a patriot Indiresan will permit.
Ilaiah’s whole agony in this book is the harm caused to the country by Hindu religion and how cleansing the spiritual fascism will help India’s economic progress and inventive skills. When he says if Hindutva forces keep fomenting communal riots, Kashmir will become another Muslim country- he is not wishing it to happen but he is warning the Hindutva forces against manufacturing such riots.
BRAHMIN CORRUPTION
It is said that the civil war in USA made that country most productive country in the world. Ilaiah wants reformation of Hindu religion or civil war to bring the required change, to make India to reach such pace of development. One of the ills of caste system is inter-caste marriage. Marriage within family and caste groups is not conducive for physical and mental growth. Dr. Ambedkar said that in any system the head is responsible for the functioning of the rest of the organs. Since Brahmins claim and act as head of Indian society, they are responsible for the inequality, exploitation and lack of growth of the country.
Does Dr. Ilaiah go overboard in running down Hindutva forces? He talks of the extensive corruption of Brahmins in civil services. The Brahmins in civil services. The perception of people working in civil services is that Brahmins are less corrupt than others. He says sari is an undignified dress as it leaves some part of the body uncovered. Sari comes next only to burkha in covering maximum part of the body. How much of the body of the westerners is covered by their dress compared to the sari? Ilaiah says that prayer to an abstract god like Holy Book Quran and Guru Grandh Sahib leads to greater imagination and inventiveness as mothers get educated to read the scriptures and an educated mother helps her child to learn better, whereas idol worship puts an end to imagination. Sikhs and Muslims pray the abstract objects their holy texts. Their inventive skills are in no way superior to Christians and Jews.
BRAHMIN BEHIND GUJARAT RIOTS
He says the Gujarat riots are a handiwork of Brahmin forces. What about Narendra Modi, the most visible face of Gujarat riots, who is a sudra? Will he treat him as collaborator of Brahmins and enemy of the non Brahmin cause? Or has Modi become a converted Brahmin?. Impossible, even god cannot do it. Modi can opt out of Hinduism but he cannot upgrade his caste into Brahmin caste in this life. Because, as a sudra, Modi is supposed to be born from the feet and not from the mouth of Brahma, the creator.
In the end I must say this. Ilaiah laments that not a single sudra acquired the status of a philosopher so far. He disproves his own statement. His ideas and writings anoint him as the first sudra philosopher in the making.
