The Freedom of Dalits
Though, most of the modern ardent Hindus would hypocritically dismiss the idea that caste system was indeed originated from the Vedas, it is against the facts. The following verses of Purusha from Rig Veda indicates that caste system was most probably originated from the Vedas. Purusha is the cosmic being.
'What did the Devas do with the limbs of the Purusha?
What did the Purusha’s face and shoulders become?
What did His thighs and feet become?
His face became the Bhramana –The learned.
His shoulders became the Kshatriya – the Warrior.
His thighs became Vysya – the businessman.
The Purusha’s feet became the Shudra - the worker or the servants.'
The aforementioned verses imply that the lowest part of the cosmic being became the Shudras thus are of the lowest class. This claim is further affirmed by the laws of Dharmashastra, the laws of Manu from Manusmriti which stood as the most authoritative Vedic rulebook for centuries. Let us look at the following laws from Manusmriti. What do these tell you?
Do you see how Dalits are oppressed systematically in Hinduism? Or do you still fail to acknowledge the facts because of your irrational love for the religion which you grew up with? Religion always remained as the favorite weapon of the cunning ones. For what does a human being fear more than the death! And it is religion which (of course falsely) claims that it knows everything after death, before death and about death. Wouldn’t then it be tempting for the people to fall for religion which claims to know so much?
Religion has always adjusted itself and redefined itself according to the advancements in science. Some aspects of religion which are proto-sciences are the greatest of the scientific knowledge for the believers, what more can be expected out of them who fail to see what’s before. If it is written that grasses are blue in their worshiped rule-book then they would ask you to see beyond the greenery of grasses. Some of them might even give you an example of green grass boiled in alcohol and dipped in iodine to get the blue-black color and tell you that you failed to see beyond what seems. What in the earth is truth after all? With all the flawed scriptures they make you fall in love with the religion and if you are a dalit then they will crush with power which they have garnered from the gullible ones by showing them the fear of death and claims of fake knowledge beyond death.
If the dalits truly desire to be emancipated, then it would be wise for them to detach themselves from these webs of religion and artificial classification and live non religious lives. I just don’t understand why majority of dalits still desire to follow religion despite of being oppressed for thousands of years by it. Is it the feeling of subservience that they have acquired in these centuries?
And in this century, some Brahmins will allow you to enter their temple; what does that make you my dalit friend? A privileged one? You will still be a dalit till you follow their rules. Dalits don’t need to break any rules to live a respectful life, they just need to abandon them. They must not think about themselves as individuals in terms of Brahmins. It is imperative for a dalit to altogether abandon the rules made to systematically oppress them forever and live a free life.
A person might assume that the world has changed a lot. But no, my friend! South Asia is still stuck in the following law of Manusmriti. ‘All castes (varna) would be corrupted (by intermixture), all barriers would be broken through, and all men would rage (against each other) in consequence of mistakes with respect to punishment.’ The dharmashashtra assumes that inter-caste marriage is the greatest of corruptions. It has declared that the dalit blood is the lowest and the worst. And the things will not change, till we do not abandon this great heap of inhuman stupidity in its entirety.