CASTE IN INDIA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 208, 17 August 1927, Page 8

CASTE IN INDIA

GRADUALLY BREAKING UP ADDRESS BY DR. ANNETTE. At the Hastings Rotary Club on Monday afternoon, Dr. Annette, who holds his degree in agricultural science and who has had experience of twenty years’ residence in India as principal of agricultural colleges and at all the main stations except Benares and Madras, delivered a most interesting address on ‘‘Caste in India.” Rotarian W. J. Rowe (president) presided. In opening, Dr. Annette said that included in the populatin of India were Hindus 200 millions, Mohammedans 60 millions, Buddhists 10 millions, besides Parsees and smaller religions. ' The Jainas, of Southern India (one million), were very careful not to take life, and so they could not be agriculturalists, and when they walked out their faces were covered with a veil to prevent them swallowing insects. THE WORD "CASTE.” Caste, said the speaker, was confined to the Hindus. The Mohammedans bad no caste, but pork and pigs were considered unclean, Most of the customs were, however, gradually breaking down and some of the people were beginning to eat forbidden meats, if they happened to like them. Caste, an English and not an Indian word, was derived from the Portugese word casta, meaning a race. The Indian equivalent was the word Jot, varied colours. India bad four distinguishing colours. In the early ages caste was generally recognised throughout the world, but it had disappeared except in India, where it was intensified and the penalties were exceptionally severe. Caste controlled a person from birth to death. He was a slave to it at home or abroad and he was overborne by it sleeping and waking, governing all the details of his daily life. Dr. Annette explained that caste was not similar to the classification of social rank as was known in England. In England a man might press upwards from the lowest class and rise to the nobility, but not so in India, where a man was bom in a caste and remained there.

The Brahman caste, the priestly caste, was the highest, consisting of three millions, which controlled 197 millions of Hindus, and the Surdas, or artizan class, the lowest, but social position and wealth had nothing to do with caste, as a Marajah might belong to a lower caste and he (the speaker) only knew of one case where a person was relieved from the disabilities of his caste and that was in the cases of the Marajahs of Travancore, who as they succeeded to the rulerships, were admitted, with great ceremony, to the highest caste, which permitted them to eat with the Brahmans, but not with their own family. Not all the Brahmans were occupied in discharging the priestly functions, because many were servants and orderlies, who would not touch food with their employers, hut who were allowed to brush clothes and perform similar duties in the course of their work. THE ARYANS. About 2000 8.C., owing to a tremendous uprising in Central Asia, the Aryans migrated, some going to Western Europe and a large number crossing oyei into India, where they conquered the aboriginal race. The aboriginal race had left no records, but in\the jungle were to be found tribes of aboriginals, who worshipped devils, stones and other objects. The Aryans gradually developed, creating their own caste, which they called Brahmans, round Benares, on the Ganges, and Benares, because of this association, was the holiest of holies, and if the Brahman died there lie went straight to Paradise. In fact no bad Brahman died there, because, it is said, he would never get there. About B.C. 500 the Buddhist religion was started, but the Brahman considered his followers had no right to give religious instruction and they were ultimately pushed out into Thibet and now China was the stronghold of Buddhism. A succession of struggles then ensued between the Hindus and the Mohammedans. It was said that the Hindus were, idolaters, hut that was not so. They recognised Brahma, who wqs a Trinity, as the true God, although there were many minor deities who were not true .gods. A good Hindu believed that on his death he would go to a higher, incarnation and thence, through a series of incarnations, until he ultimately entered 'the Spirit of Brahma.

STRINGENT RULES. The Brahmans in their early history made stringent rules governing caste. They believed that Brahma created humans unequal and that the Brahmans came out of the god's mouth, and so were entitled to speak for him. The Kshattriyas caste were warriors or agriculturalists, and they issued from the god’s right arm. The Vaisya caste were the commercial class, issuing from his thigh, and the Sudras, the lowest caste, the artizan and servant class, came from his feet, which signified that they must be kept under and be dim ntrodden. The first three were fair skinned and were supposed to be a twice-born people, but the fourth, the Sudras, were held not to have been twice horn. The castes were kept strictly apart and none of them would be allowed to feed with a Brahman, who treated them like dogs. Some people thought that Europeans were in the habit of treating Hindus badly, but that was not generally true, because they treated them justly, but the manner in which the Brahman treated the low caste was simply unbelievable. UNFORTUNATE FATHERS. It was unfortunate for a fattier if he had many daughters, continued the speaker, because he had to pay a Brahman for looking for a bridegroom and presents had to be made to the priestly caste, so that it was not unusual that a man with, say, £4OO a year had to spend £BOO on the marriage of his daughter and if a man had mnnv daughters he would be >n debt all his life. It might be said that he need not marry off his daughters, but caste- forced him to do so. A girl was usually married at 8 or 9. but if .she reached the-age of 15 without getting married . she would be looked down upon, and if she failed to get a 'husband, she was submitted to the vilest ignominy. This came to such a pass uiat the Brahmans recognised that the people

could not pay, so they established a sect of Brahmans, who, for a small sum, would go round and marry all the stray daughters, each for a small sum, until he had several hundred wives, and so the father was saved. TREATMENT OF WIDOWS. A woman whose husband died was also treated with dishonour, to such mi extent that the widow threw herself on the husband’s funeral pyre. That was called “Suttee” and was abolished by the British, but even now the widow was subjected to very bad treatment, had her head shaved and was looked upon as nothing more than a common village woman. The Brahman was the parasite of Hindu society and a poet said of him: Three bloodsuckers in the world there be, The bugs, the Brahmans and the flea. At the colleges that he (Dr. Annette) controlled there were large numbers of applications for admission and it was his duty to select the applicants. He would not take an application from a Brahman, because he was a very bad agriculturalist. The Kshattriyas were fine men and good agriculturalists but, unfortunately .although good agriculturalists, they were not very intelligent. The Vaisya were the commercial class, but the Sudras, the lowest class, were market gardeners, used to the earth and the handling of all kinds of manures, and they were fine agriculturalists It was very difficult indeed to deal with the different castes in the colleges. The Mohammedans never bothered him; they messed by themselves, but the management of the others, with their different foods and their caste groups, presented a very complicated problem Leather workers, weavers and those who consumed animal food were looked upon as untouchable and a Brahman would not approach them and so they got a particularly bad time It was from this class that Christianity got most of its converts, who embraced the faith because they had nothing to lose, and because Christianity was something higher, though not nearly so high as Brahmans. In saying this he in no way intended to decry the work of the missionaries, who were splendid; he only intended to show how these people fled from persecution. The Brahmans depressed the lower caste deeper still. The village schools, controlled by the Government, were open to all, but the lower caste wer put on the verandahs until the inspector came when they were seated round the walls. COW A SACRED ANIMAL. The cow was a sacred animal and so doctors could only give mutton broth to patients. The cow dung was sacred and was used as fuel and thus huge quantities of valuable manure went off in India in smoke. Dr. Annette concluded: “Caste is governing India and it has to be considered, but it is gradually breaking down, as it must do, because of the repulsion it creates among the people and because of the spread of education. Even to my knowledge it is slowly breaking up, very slowly of course, but it is only a matter of time when it will be broken up altogether.”

A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Dr. Annette at the close of his address.