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HOLIGRATIVE PSYCHO-HISTORY OF INDIA Holigrative Psychology Institute, Thiruvananthapuram
– 695 583 Holigration is a neologistic word which is short for
holistic integration. Integration stands
for harmony within a system. Holistic
integration is harmony within and without.
In fact there is no real difference between harmony within and without;
both are complementary. Holigrative Psychology tries to understand and deal with behaviour using
the IAS personality concepts. Holigrative
Psycho-history attempts to interpret history using the Holigrative theory. Holigrative Psychology considers heredity and
environment to be continuous. Cumulative
ancestral experience becomes heredity.
That which is ‘perceived’ as adaptive or useful is reinforced and that
which is reinforced across generations tends to become part of heredity. Personality is shaped by environmental
experiences and climate plays a major role in shaping the personality of
people. Personality characteristics
change by environmental experiences, but characteristics which have evolved
over a long period of time across several generations tend to persist. The Indian Temperament Holigrative Psychology makes interpretations on the
basis of the IAS (Inertia, Activation, Stability) theory of personality. The theory supposes that in every society
there are people with different combinations of these three components. Societies differ in terms of the average
levels of the three personality components.
Climate is one among the many determinants of personality and therefore
places with hot climate are likely to produce more I, places in the lower half
of the temperate zone will have a higher mean for S, upper half of the
temperate zone is likely to favour physically aggressive type of A and still
higher regions are likely to produce more people with high linear intelligence
and ritualistic behaviour. Indians are of mixed racial origin. Consequently their temperament is also
mixed. However, there is at least some
degree of S (Stability) expressed in simplicity, gentleness, mildness and
deterministic acceptance of the inevitable, in all Indians. The climate and long mixing of different
races have contributed to this. Each community in India has its own racial history
involving specific origins and amalgamations.
People have poured in from different other places throughout
history. The sasthras say that Brahmins
are white, Kshathriyas are red, Vaisyas yellow and Sudras black indicating that
these groups have different racial backgrounds and different places of origin.
The primary meaning of the word Varna which is used to mean caste in Sanskrit
is colour. When a migrating community
has sufficient number of persons, they may maintain their separate
identity. Otherwise they merge which an
existing group most similar to themselves in terms of physical and mental
characteristics. Framework for interpretations Each theorist makes interpretations of a culture from
the point of view of his own culture.
Holigrative concepts have been derived from a study of comparative
religion and spirituality, particularly south Indian spirituality. Many people confuse between religion and
spirituality, intellectual understanding and enlightenment, etc. Pure spirituality occurs in a society where
most people are Stable (Sathwik). They
may work very hard, but with a feeling of harmony with themselves, other people
and all nature. Self-realisation occurs
spontaneously or with a little deliberate detachment. There are many stories of hard-working and successful
business men renouncing all wealth and getting enlightened or bursting into
song with little formal sadhana or effort.
In fact the main method of getting enlightened of the 18 famous Tamil
siddhas is “doing nothing” (in the sense of absence of egoistic doership) in sharp contrast to the hard penance and
effortful sadhanas of Jains and Buddhists and Ashtanga yoga of Patanjali,
suited for people with different types of temperament. Major Indian Peoples Though considerable mixing has taken place, it is
still possible to roughly delineate the different major groupings of Indian
communities in terms their origin and history. The Indianoids and early Mongolian
mix Science supposes that prehumans evolved in Africa
around 10 million years ago and they gradually spread all over the world. They continued to evolve both in Africa and
the other continents. There would have
been continued intermixing of these intermediate species as well. There is a
claim that skulls of prehumans (named Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus) around 10
million years old have been unearthed from India. The real homo sapiens also is supposed to
have evolved in Africa around 2 lakh years ago.
They also gradually spread to all continents. They are supposed to have reached India
around 70,000 years ago. Exposure to
different environmental conditions and experiences and intermixing led to the
development of different races and subraces.
India on the whole is a hot country near the tropics and this climate
produces I (Inertia) conditions characterized by laziness and lack of
self-respect. The colour of the early
inhabitants would have been dark brown or black which prevents light rays from
going in. They have broad noses which
facilitate cooling of the air as it goes to the lungs. They are generally classified as belonging
to Australoid, Negro and Negrito races.
In the tropics there is no need to store food or prepare for winter or
build big structures. These people
(Indianoids) do not travel much. They
lead settled lives or move around in a relatively small area. They make use of local materials for building
simple dwellings as well as things for daily use. They exist on simple agriculture and trapping
small animals. Their religion is based on superstitious beliefs. There would have been continued migrations
from Africa and these migrants would have merged in the already existing
Indianoid population. For example, the
Negros brought as slaves and servants of the Portugese and Dutch in many places
merged with the Indianoid population though in a few places where there were
large numbers of such persons they retain their separate identity. Human beings migrating from Africa reached the end of
the road in eastern Asia stopped by the Pacific Ocean. The yellow population in
East Asia (by mistake called the Mongoloid race under the misconception that
they originated in Mongolia) had a high reproductory rate and soon there was no
space there. I use the term Mongoloid to refer to the whole of the yellow race
and Mongolian to refer to people who specifically evolved in Mongolia. Southern Mongoloids are of short
stature. Northern Mongoloids are tall
probably as a result of mixing with the Nordic race. Mongoloids have round
faces. They have relatively short arms and legs. They have heavily padded face and slanting
eyes. They spread north and through the Bering straight crossed over to the
Americas. Another branch spread south
and populated south east Asia. Around
10,000 B.C. they started pouring into India also through Asam. This migration continued till very recent
times. They spread west along the sub-Himalayan valleys and they also spread
south near the Bay of Bengal coastlands.
These Mongoloids (after considerable mixing with natives of south east
Asia) mixed with the different local Indianoid populations in varying
degrees. The Mongoloid race has a
typical sex-wise division of occupational roles. Females do all the work and males specialise
in fight. The yellow race also has a
very clear ingroup-outgroup mechanism.
They are very close to those whom they perceive as members of their
ingroup. They have no hesitation in
killing or fighting those whom they perceive as
outgroup. They are fierce
warriors and once they start fighting they forget their own personal safety
(Bruce Lee and Jackie Chaan in films).
They fight sacrificing themselves for group protection. The British recognised this characteristic
and formed the Gurkha regiment. They tend to eat everything. Local Indian tribes with a great deal of
Mongoloid mix became aggressive tribes and those with less Mongoloid mix show
more docile and lazy characteristics.
There would be very few Indian tribes without any Mongoloid mix. Of course the Mongoloid mix generally tends
to be greater as we approach the north east. .
The groups today classified as Adivasis (aboriginals), Dalits or
scheduled castes (plains tribes) and tribes (forest dwellers) are derived from
the mix of Indianoids and early immigrants from the north east. These groups generally keep the buffalo
rather than the cow for milk. Till about
half a century ago, the languages spoken by the Indianoids could not be
understood by the others. Increased
interaction and exposure to the media and modern education have obliterated
these differences now. The Indianoids with the early Mongolian mix formed
about 25% of the total Indian population, spread over 500 castes and tribes. In
spite of a great deal of racial mixing, even today they retain their identity
to a large extent. The Ivians from the Indus Valley
civilization Climate is one of the factors affecting
personality. A very cold climate induces
fear of getting frozen and across several generations creates the need to
compensate for this insecurity in terms of rituals and hyperintellectualisation. A cold climate seems to induce physical
aggressiveness. A very hot climate
induces laziness, self-hate and destructiveness (Inertia). A moderate climate is most conducive to
Stability. Stability is also ease of
instinctual transcendence and therefore contributes to spirituality. It has
been observed that all major ancient civilizations including the Sumerian,
Egyptian, Chinese and the Indus Valley arose in the lower half of the temperate
zone between the latitudes of about 23.5 to 43.5 degrees. Lower Mesopotamia was the cradle of human
civilization. The Elamite civilization
developed around B.C. 4000. Elam (Ezham)
was the area on the eastern side of the mouth of the two rivers Euphretis and
Tigris. Many linguists suppose that Elamite and Tamil belong to the same
Elamo-Dravidian language family. Both the Elamite and Indus Valley scripts have
not been deciphered yet. Ur was a city
in Mesopotamian area with a population of 65000 inhabitants. Elam (Ezham) in Tamil now means
SriLanka. Originally it referred to the
whole of south India and there is a view that the original meaning of the word
was motherland. Ur (oor) in Tamil means
place of settlement. The Elamites built
large structures using burned bricks and mud.
They also developed urbanization.
Groups of Elamites migrated south–east and settled in the Indus valley
around 4000 B.C. Figurines of the type
found in Elam with exaggerated representation of the eyes have been found in
Indus Valley also. The earliest Indus Valley civilization centre was in
Mehrgarh, west of Indus Valley. The
Elamites also merged with the local populations (Australoid mainly and Negroid
to a lesser extent). Slowly they
migrated eastward and developed the big urbanised culture which is now known as
the Indus-Valley (Ivian) civilization.
The Elamite civilisation spread West to the area inbetween the two river
mouths and a thousand years later became the Sumerian civilisation. The Elamite
script developed into the cuneiform Sumerian script which has been deciphered.
Close similarity between the Sumerian language and Tamil has been observed. For
eample, "father" is Appa in Tamil and Abba in Sumerian, mother is
Amma in Tamil and Ama in Sumerian. The Indus Valley civilization was highly
developed in material, mental and spiritual levels. It covered an extensive area. Towards the end, around 1500 B.C. it extended
up to Delhi in the East and Narmada in the south. Around 1400 cities have been unearthed though
all of these may not have existed at the same time. The Ivians were artists, craftsmen and
traders. They were hard working people.
They had a highly organized system of agriculture with large granaries and
storehouses. They lived in highly planned cities with broad roads and
two-storied terraced buildings. They had
a script (developed probably from the Elamite script). They made beautiful objects of art, necklaces
and other ornaments. They had sailboats
and bullock carts. They had wind
mills. They played chess. They had stringed musical instruments. They
had trade contacts with all the civilisations of their time namely Sumerians,
Egyptians and Chinese. They therefore to
some extent would have mixed with people of these cultures also. Racialy they
belonged mainly to the Mediterranean and Australoid races. Some Mongoloid and Negroid skulls have also
been excavated from the area. Theirs
probably is the first globalised culture in the world. Their caravans went up to China opening up
what later came to be known as the silk route.
Travelling such long distances and seeing and mixing with people of
different cultures would have had a deautomatising and opening up effect on
their consciousness. The most important
feature of the Ivian civilization is the absence of weapons used in war. They were peaceful people. Trading values cannot coexist with
fight. Trading values involve respecting
the other man and his right to possess what he has created or collected. Several figurines in what later came to be
known as yogic postures (meditating padmasan) have been found. The Ivian culture comes closest to what has
been conceptualized as a pure S (Stable) culture or a culture of pure
spirituality. Since it was a vast
culture, some sort of religion and some gods would have been there fore some
people at some time, but largely it was a spiritual culture. The Indus cities, in contrast to lesser
cities in other ancient cultures show the conspicuous absence of temples and
palaces. The houses are more or less of
the same size, built using baked bricks. There is a public bath. There is a sophisticated water supply system
and drainage connected to each house. They had flushing toilets. They were
probably governed by enlightened rulers (or kings) unanimously nominated by the
people. The dignified bust of an enlightened ruler (with a string tied around
the head having a circle on the Ajna chakra) is often misnamed as the “priest”
king. They lived in harmony with all
nature. They considered all nature
sacred. There is much importance
attached to animals and big trees as seen in their seals. There are several seals of enlightened men
and women with a halo, often surrounded by adoring animals. The figure of an animal about to be speared
in the presence of an enlightened person wearing a headdress with horns is
often misrepresented as ritual sacrifice.
It is more likely to be a poster warning against wanton killing of
animals issued by an enlightened ruler.
A man holding two erect tigers is likely to be a holy man before whom
wild animals behaved like tame (story of Ayyappan riding tiger in south India) rather
than a god fighting two tigers at the same time. A human figure with three
heads in Indian tradition represents an enlightened person who sees past,
present and future (trikala jnani) and not necessarily a god.. There are many
figurines of women often misinterpreted to be fertility or mother
goddesses. The Indus valley female
figurines represent no more the
fertility mother goddess than the semi nude female figures found in abundance
in magazine covers and advertisements in modern cultures. The enlightened persons or kings of the
Indus Valley tradition in later periods would have become gods and goddesses
like Pasupathinath. The swasthika (both
clockwise and anticlockwise forms) is in the list of Ivian symbols. The same has been found in ancient China
also. The Yin Yang figure representing transcendence of the dualities
is a modified form of Swasthika (where the centre point is the point of transcendence
of the two moving arms. There is an
Ivian moulded tablet showing two birds on a boat and two coconut trees. The
boat is the spiritual wisdom which takes you across the ocean of worldliness.
The two birds, one eating and the other merely watching represent karthru bhava
or egoistic doership mode and sakshibhava or passive witness mode. The bird is
Hamsa which in classical Indian mythology flies from the gross to be
subtle. Ancient Taoist philosophy also
speaks of the mode of transcendence (Wei wu-wei or action non-action mode). Druids were pre-Christian priests of Europe. Many people think that there is a connection
between Dravid and Druid and that Ivian migrants would have contributed to the
Druid practices of venerating nature, leading prayers and magic. The Indus valley region was made fertile by the
rivers running down from the Himalayas.
Himalayas are highly earthquake prone and earth quakes would have been
much more frequent then than now. Earth
quakes cause alteration in the path of rivers and also cause floods. The Ivians were troubled by these floods periodically. Sometimes a whole city was destroyed by
floods. The starting point of a city was
a citadel (small fortress) around which the city grew. The people could take refuge in the citadel
from minor floods and also attacks by enemies.
Some cities were rebuilt above the ruins of earlier cities as many as
seven times. The earlier cities appear
to be bigger and more neatly planned indicating that the builders came from
another area (Elam) which already had developed an urban culture. Finally around B.C.1500 the Ivians gave up
and decided to migrate further east.
There has to be more than one cause to account for the Ivians covering a
large area to quit. Epidemics,
population pressure and invasions from different groups of migrants from the
north-west would have hastened their movement towards the east. Their culture got diffused as they spread all
over peninsular India. However their
influence is seen maximally in south India (central Kerala and middle portion
of Tamil Nadu along the Kaveri river ending in the ancient port town of
Poompuhar. Another migration went to the
north-east ending in Bihar first and later in Bengal area. Figurines of females
with elaborate headdress of the Indus Valley type have been found in ancient
Magadha. Among the different caste
groups in India the Ivian influence is maximally seen among the Vaisyas (who
traditionally handled all art, craft, trade and organized agriculture). The Ivians had trade contacts with south
India. Their ships probably came to the
south for spices and gold and it is possible that at the end of Ivian
civilization many groups migrated to south as well as Bengal on ships. The word Dravid was initially used in Sanskrit to
refer to the Ivians. Dramil was
originally Tamil. Original Ivian
languages no doubt got altered as a result of amalgamations with the Indianoid
languages. There are groups of people
speaking Dravidian languages in the north like Brahui of Afghanistan and
Baluchistan and Kurukh in the north-east indicating the northern origin of Tamil. Mythology states that Tamil was created by
sage Agasthya (he was probably the first to write Tamil grammar) who migrated
from the north to south. The word Dravida
has been politicalised much and acquired many different meanings. When DMK (Dravida Munnetta Kazhakam) was
formed, originally it was a party of the Vaisyas in Tmail Nadu. Later it was
expanded to include the Dalits and backward classes for numerical strength and
today it has becomes a party of all people in Tamil Nadu. The term Dravidian originally did not refer
to any particular race, but to a community of people (Ivians) racially mixed
who lived in Indus Valley and developed a high degree of civilization and
culture. Later on the word Dravida acquired
the meaning south. An in-depth understanding of south Indian culture is
necessary to correctly understand and interpret the Ivian culture and
civilization. There is evidence for the beginning of rice
cultivation in the Indus Valley. As the
Ivians moved to south and north-east India, they would have shifted to rice
cultivation as paddy is more suited for these areas. They created an elaborate network of paddy
fields with a very sophisticated irrigation system. In Kerala they started using wood also to
build their houses, as wood was abundantly available, but the type of house was
Harappan, called Nalukettu with an inner courtyard. Different types of cemeteries (with Dolmen
tombs, burial cists and Jars) have been found in different places in the south. Many of these megalithic burial monuments
resemble Mediterranean megaliths. Cave characters resembling characters in the
Indus script have been located in a few places (Edakkal and Perumkadavila in
Kerala). There was a public bath in each
settlement. The old kings lived close to
the tank, and their houses were more or less the same type as the rest of the
houses. The king was called ko and his
residence was the kovil. There was a
tradition of intense love and devotion to the king. The king lived for the
people unlike in I societies where the king exploited the people and in A
societies where the people existed for the king. With increased mixing with the
Indianoids, the system of worshipping dead kings came into vogue and the kovil
became the temple and the king’s residence started being called ‘kovilakam’ as
different from the kovil. Ancient brick
structures (for example temples) have been found both in South India and Bengal. Though Bengali is no longer a Dravidian
language and has been influenced by other language families, similarities
between Bengali and Tamil in syntax and other aspects have been noted. Both languages are musical and lyrical. Tamil is the simplest of languages with a
minimum number of letters (18) and easy to pronounce words in contrast to
Sanscritised Indo-European languages where there is a tendency to use hard
consonants and combinations of consonants to make words high sounding. Tamil is
the language of egolessness. Both Bengali and Tamil have several words to
differentiate subtle human feelings and emotions (for example, anpu, nesam,
pasam, kathal, etc. to denote different
types of love in Tamil). There is similarity in appearance and skin colour
(light brown) between Bengalis and south Indians. There is more Mongoloid mix in Bengal and
more Indianoid mix in south. Both Tamils and Bengalis are proud of their
language and culture. Both like to live
the good life, eat good food, go on relatively long tours, etc. Caste and religious separations are less
marked in these cultures as seen in intermarriages, compared to other
places. There is a marked tradition to
respect women and motherhood and also elders in both cultures. The practice of calling female children
'mother' is found in both cultures. The Baul tradition (wandering singers) in
Bengal is paralleled by the tradition of Pandarams in the south. Both Bauls and Padarams like the Tamil
siddhas do not worship local deities. Pandarams were Saivites and they used to
bury their dead in a sitting posture and not cremate them. The root word ‘Pand’
in the south means olden times, it also means related to royalty (Pandara),
anything of value like ornaments (Pandam), as well as storehouses and trade
(Pandika). Pandi also refers to the southern most portion of south India and it
is one of the the earliest Tamil royal dynasties. In north India the root is
related to knowledge of truth (Panda, Pandit).
The mystic tradition, the idea of transcendental godhead (as different
from specific gods) is present in both South India and Bengal. Siva was probably an enlightened Ivian king who lived
in the Sivalik hills near the Kailas-Manasasarovar area. He married the daughter of Daksha, a king of
Central Asian migrants. Daksha does not
invite Siva for a yaga he conducts because of Siva’s Dravidian practices (may
be like keeping a cobra around his neck like the Ivian kings wearing animal
horns). Agastyar goes south at the time
of Siva’s marriage (around B.C.1000?).
Agastya is of short stature. He
was not admitted into a Vaishnava temple at Kuttalam because of his Saivite
practices. Siva in the North Indian
culture got identified with Rudra of the Vedas and became the god of destruction
while in the south Sivam is “mangalam” (auspiciousness or positivity). In Rig Veda, Krishna is the name of a native king who
fights the migrants. Krishna is
considered the only Poorna Avathara (complete manifestation of divinity). He is neither Brahmin nor Kshathriya. He is king of Yadavas. Yadavas kept cows and
not buffalo. He is dark complexioned. He
keeps a peacock feather on his head like the Ivian kings wearing animal horns.
He is considered urbanized (Naagar) living in a city. When his people were
repeatedly attacked by Jarasandha, he migrates along with his people to far
away Dwaraka, where they build another city, instead of fighting Jarasandha
like the Ivian migration to far south and Far East from Indus Valley. Both Krishna and Buddha were adopted into the
emerging popular Hindu tradition as incarnations of Vishnu by the Puranas. But
Krishna was retained and Buddha dropped later on. The term yoga is probably Indo-European. (Latin root Jungere, pronounced Yunjere and
the English Yoke, Join) . The idea of
two initially separate things joining does not sound very appealing to the
Saiva tradition, not even to the much later Saiva siddhanta. Saivism stresses a pre-existing inseparable
harmony and vibrationary reality. Yogic
postures are natural body positions of an enlightened person. The term yoga was probably first used in
Jainism, later in Buddhism and adopted in Hinduism during the Upanishadic
period. Similary the mantra Om is also
Indo-European in origin. Om means ‘all’
in several European languages (eg. Omni,
Omlette, Ombutsman, etc. Om as sacred
syllable is used in Jainism, Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism. In Zorastrianism and Sikhism the syllable On
is used instead of Om. The analytical
divison of the four yogas is also not in line with south Indian spirituality in
which parabhakti (as different from muda bhakti or worship of different
personal gods) and jnana are the same and this is the natural state of a
detached person who lives in harmony. The word India is derived from Sindhu. H of Persia becomes S in India and I in
Greek. Sindhu is Hindu and Saraswathi
is Harahwathi. Therefore the words
Hindu and Indian are most applicable to the Ivians because they have been in
the Indus region for the maximum duration and most Indian values have come from
them. Coming of the Saks The European race is generally called the white
race. They were by mistake called the Caucasoids
under the earlier mistaken notion that they originated in the Caucasus Mountains. This race has three subdivisions based on the
degree of latitude of origin. The lowest
is the Mediterranean race with light brown skin colour. They were responsible for the ancient
civilizations in Mesopotamia and regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea
including Egypt. The middle European is
called Alpine and they have more whiteness of skin colour than the
Mediterranean. These people correspond to the Mongolians in East Asia. The
Celts are Alpine and to some extent they got mixed with the Mongoloids in the
return migration of the Mongoloids from the east. Northern Europeans are supposed to belong to
the Nordic race. . In Asia the
corresponding area is northern Russia and Siberia. They have absence of skin colour and
therefore most white, to favour formation of vitamin D with weak sunlight. They are tall and have blonde hair and blue
eyes. They have long faces and narrow
high nose to facilitate heating up the air as it goes to the lungs. The Saks originated in the Kazhakhstan area in lower
Steppes, south of Russia i.e., south central Asia. They are red in colour. They migrated
north-west, crossed over to America and became red Indians in America. They belong
to the middle European (similar to Alpine) race. They were forced to move
westward as a result of the return migration of the Mongoloids. The Chinese built the great wall to defend
themselves against these warring Mongoloids.
The numbers of the warring Mongoloids invading the West increased as time went by and in the fourth
century A.D., it became the Hun invasion and in 14th century the
invasion of Europe by Khans. The Saks
would have mixed with the Mongoloids to some extent and also with the Celts. They came to be known as Scythians in Greece,
and Saxon in Germany, after mixing with the local natives in those areas. They entered Egypt and mixed with the royal
families originally belonging to Mediterranean stock. They were an
aggressive fighting race when they
entered Indus Valley. They had iron
weapons unlike the Ivians who were skilled in the use of other metals for
non-military purposes but did not use iron. The Saks would have hastened the
departure of the Ivians from the Indus Valley.
The Saks (Kazaks) came to be known as Kshatriyas in India (Kshayathiya
in Persia). They recognized the
spirituality of the Ivians. Their
attempt to develop spirituality the violent way led to Jainism. All the 24 Jain Thirthankars were kings and
Kshathriyas. Adinath, the first
Thirthankar is supposed to have lived in Ayodhya in Kathiawad area on the West
coast some time before 2000 B.C.
Jainism is a religion of extremes. Living in harmony with nature of the
Ivians became absolute non-violence in the case of Jains. There is a tree and an animal associated with
each Thirthankar. Only extreme ascetic practices like long hard penance and
absolute non-violence could nullify the aggressiveness and egoism of the Saks. Sanyas would have been a natural state after
Vanaprastha (retiring to the forest) in the Indus civilisation. Rigveda
expresses surprise at seeing bands of wandering people wearing orange
colour clothes and showing siddhis of
various kinds. The Jains formalized it
and also introduced the system of monks
living on alms so that the egoism and conquering tendency could be neutralized
for final victory over one’s own self.
Buddha is called Sakya Muni.
Buddha’s father was a Sak, but his mother belonged to the Lichchavi
community, probably of Ivian origin.
The Lichchavi community had unanimously elected leaders, though they
accepted the rule of Jain kings. Buddha had considerable regard for Lichchavis
and probably was influenced by its natural spirituality and this led to his
theory of moderation. The
Lichchavis had a city of burned brick
structures at Vaisali. Clay seals of the
Indus Valley type have been unearthed from Vaisali. Buddha himself had to undergo hard penance
and struggle with different intense effortful sadhanas before he could attain
enlightenment. And as a consequence he
had to preach for the rest of his life also. Coming of the Sarmas One strain of original migrants from Africa would
have travelled steadily northwards, after a long period of time coming near the
north pole. They would have undergone
maximum evolutionary changes in the transition from tropics to the polar
regions. The Rig Veda contains passages
describing a place where the sun never sets.
People of all races admire white skin colour, blonde hair, blue eyes and
Nordic body proportions. Dolls having
these characteristics are made and sold all over the world. If you ever lived in a place with subzero
temperatures you will start admiring fire and the sun. You will also develop a root insecurity
resulting from the fear of being frozen to death. This insecurity will cause a hidden
aggressiveness and restlessness which you channelise through rituals and
hyperintellectual speculations. You
worship the Sun and like to sit near a fire, throwing whatever excess food you
have as sacrifice to the fire god. The
Sarmas were a Nordic race. They were an intellectual race given to rituals and
ceremonies. They would have come down and finally settled in Sarmatia. Sarmatia is the old name of Poland. Sarmas were perhaps driven southward from
north central Asia by Poles from Norway.
Many other places where they settled temporarily later on have also been
known as Sarmatia. Even today in Polish poetry the land is referred to as Sarmatia. Poland is West of Siberia. The horse sacrifice (Aswa Medha) was
practised till recently in that area .
There is an eye witness record of horse sacrifice in Siberia as late as
the 20th century. They must have passed through Southern Russia
(settling there for some time) in their south-east migration. Saraswat Brahmins
claim that they came from southern Russia and that this fact is recorded in
scrolls in their Partagali Mutt at Goa. As the Sarmas came
to south eastern Europe, they came into conflict with the Saks. Sarmas called themselves Suras (they for some
time settled in Suria, called Syria in
English and the Saks in Asuria, called Assyria in English). Those with purer Mongoloid features seem to
have been called Rakshasas. A sect of Saks went to Persia and they developed
the religion of Zorastrianism. Their
conflict continued in India as the Brahmin-Kshatriya conflict. Parasurama’s father was Brahmin and mother
Kshatriya. He inherited physical courage
from his mother but identified with his father’s community. He went round exterminating Kshatriyas. When one branch of the Sarmas entered the Indus
valley, most of the Ivians had probably left.
Descrptions of taking over a walled city and the knowledge and medicine
of the people and the siege of Hariyupia (Harappa) by Indra in Rig Veda might have taken place when
the Indus cities were occupied by later immigrants. The alter name of Indra the chief of gods in
the Vedas is Purandhara meaning destroyer of cities. However the Ivian-Sarmatian
struggle would have continued inside peninsular India. If at all the
Sarmas usurped any land from the Ivians
it must be using intelligence rather than physical force, as represented in the
mythological story of Mahabali. Mahabali
was a noble king and the non-Ivians were jealous of his popularity. Therefore Vishnu goes to him disguised as a
poor Brahmin and requests him to give enough land for him to place his foot
three times. A noble king grants what is
requested. Then Vamana shows his real
form and takes over heaven (Himalayan regions were known as Devaloka) and earth
with his two feet and with the third, pushes Mahabali down to Patala (Patala is
south of Vindyas) and people believe that Mahabali came and lived in south
India (Mahabalipuram and later Mavelikkara in Kerala). Keralites still celebrate Onam as the
official state festival believing that
Mahabali returns on that day. One
commonly made statement is that when Mahabali ruled, all men were equal,
referring to the fact that there were no caste or class distinctions in the Ivian
tradition. The Sarmas
probably did not come into direct contact with Ivian spirituality until much
later. Being an intellectual people they
were keeping a record of their experiences and history in poetry form committed
to memory. The Jains claim to have had
scripts right from the time of Adinath though there is no epigraphic evidence
for the same. Buddhist scriptures were
written down shortly after Buddha’s death.
This script is based on Brahmi.
There is epigraphical evidence for writing down Vedas only from
A.D.150. There is evidence for Tamil
Brahmi script in south India from inscriptions dating as far back as 300
B.C. Perhaps whatever was written on
perishable media got lost in time and what ever was handed down through human
memory, namely the Vedas continued to exist.
The earlier part of the Rig Veda (Samhita), composed around 1500 B.C., gives
the picture of a people who had travelled long distances and achieved much
mental elevation and broad mindedness.
They worshipped the forces of nature and offered sacrifices to nature
gods and drank soma (mixture of ephedra, cannabis, opium, etc.). The effedra plant does not grow in India and
the substitute Soma plants do not contain any hallucinogen and therefore the
practice of Soma drinking gradually stopped.
There is evidence for the ritualistic use of these substances in ancient
times in central Asia. The next part of
the Vedas called Brahmanas describe rituals.
There is a beginning of philosophy in Aranyakas. The Upanishads which are the last additions
to the Vedas(7th century B.C. to 3rd Century A.D.) contain the intellectualised philosophy
probably influenced by Ivian, Jain and Buddhist contacts. There is about 1000 years gap between the
early Vedic Sanskrit and the language of the Upanishads which is closer to
modern Sanskrit. The Arrival of the Varmas Pouring in of the warring peoples with some early
Mongoloid mix through the north east continued all along. Even at the beginning of the English period
there were conquests of Asam from Burma.
Burman and Varman are interchangeable in the north east. Invaders of purer Mongoloid stock from Burma
came to known as Burmans. They went on
conquering area after area throughout India.
They also mixed with local royal families. Rajputs of Rajastan are Saks,
but their king was from Bengal who invaded and defeated them. The Varmas joined the Kshathriya caste which
even originally might have had some Mongoloid blood. The presence of Mongoloid characteristics in
the Kshathriya community has been noted by anthropologists. They also introduced matrilineage and worship
of female deities like Durga and Kali. The original skin colour of Kshathriyas
changed from red initially to reddish yellow later on. Development of the Caste system The Aryan Controversy and the Aryan
Invasion Theory Aryan only means higher born. It is a relative term. In a practical sense it means foreign. It relates to the degree of difference from the
Indianoids. Africans will not be considered
high born, because they are black and like the Indianoid. Sarmas will be most Aryan because they are
most white and have maximum the Nordic characteristics, generally admired. Compared to them the Saks will be
non-Aryan, as they are middle European with some Mongoloid mix. Generally Vaisyas (Ivians) are accepted as
Aryans, but of the third or last grade.
In this general sense, Aryan means non-Indianoid. Manu Smriti considers all those who migrated
from outside India like Dravidians, Saks, Yavanas (Greeks), Pahlavas (Persians)
and Chinese, etc. as Aryans but degraded because they do not practise vedic
rituals. Only those Aryans who practised vedic rituals namely the Brahmins
became Grade 1 Aryans, the Kshatryias became Grade II Aryans because they had
power and owned land, and Vaisyas Grade III Aryans because they had money. Because of the absence of a singular
meaning, the term Aryan causes confusion in academic discussions. Genetic studies are under way and in general there
seems to be an indication that the central Asian connection of Aryans (Grade 1
& 2) and Afrikan connection of Indianoids are being supported. It is observed in the DNA of males among
Brahmins and Kshatriyas and women among Indianoids. Whenever different groups interact, the struggle for existence is inevitable. But to say that invasion by central Asian
migrants is the only factor accounting for the departure of Ivians from the Indus Valley is an
exaggeration. Formation of the Different castes Brahmins The Sarmas constitute the main component of Brahmins.
Intermarriages and conversions (by Deeksha karmas) would have been common in
the early periods. Migrant groups
showing similar mental and physical characteristics would have been accepted
totally. Among Brahmin groups the Misras
probably are migrants from Egypt (Misra Desa).
Black eyes and black hair are dominant characteristics, and through
intermarriages, the Sarmas would have lost some of the Nordic
characteristics. But still in most
Brahmin communities those of high rank with all the rights and privileges
especially the right to conduct yagas show more Nordic characteristics. There have been Brahmin kings in several
places in India. But they were not able
to continue for long against the fierce military prowess of the
Kshatriyas. Brahmins form only around
3.5 % of the Indian population. The British considered them their nearest
colonial cousins. Brahmins in south India and perhaps Bengal also show
more evidence of racial mix. Namboodiri
Brahmins of Kerala are in general light brown in colour and tend to be more
Saivite than Vaishnavite. There is a
also a belief that only a small number of them came from north and that many
were converted from local (Ivian?) settlers.
However those who have higher rank among Namboothiris are those with the
right to perform yagas and they do show greater Nordic features. The hot climate of India would have been enervating
for those who evolved in a very cold climate.
My own supposition is that the Nordics originally were not physically
very aggressive, but it is possible that the hot climate transmuted
the physical aggressiveness into ritualism and intellectualism. They would have found it difficult to work
outside and also to fight and defend themselves. They soon realized that their survival
depends on the creation of a servant class which will be loyal to them, work
and fight for them. Every community has
its restrictive customs of interacting with other communities. Untouchability had to be introduced to
counteract the tendency of the non-whites to touch the white or interact with
them closely. The British also realized
this and in many of their colonies different forms of untouchability had to be
introduced. For example apartheid in
South Afrika. Separate hotels and water
taps and railway compartments for whites and blacks. Blacks had to sit in the
back seats in buses. In India also,
Indians were not allowed to walk on the malls (main roads) or enter residential
areas of the whites. The castes considered higher, especially the Brahmin males
interbred with the Indianoids and the offspings formed the Sudra caste. Sudra power also increased the bargaining
capacity of the Brahmins with the rulers.
Military and administrative power was with the Kshathriyas. The Brahmins tried to impress the kings with
their scholarship and rituals for getting favours. They also declared themselves as the highest
caste. Power is power and throughout
history we find kings usurping properties of Brahmins who with their
intelligence amassed wealth or property. Revival of Jainism and the establishment of
Buddhism in 6th century B.C. made yagas unpopular and Brahmins went
out of business. We read of many poor
Brahmins like Kuchela in literature.
Acoording to ancient literature brahmins had to collect the discarded
grains from fields for survival. Many
kings felt pity on the Brahmins and made it a custom to give them alms and also
food. Many Brahmins joined Buddhism and throughout the history of Buddhism we
read of Brahmin Buddhist monks. Brahmins
being able to sense the wisdom of Jains and Buddhism accepted practices like
vegetarianism. Both Buddhism and Jainism became corrupt by 3rd century A.D., because
it is not easy for people with an A (aggressive) temperament to remain detached
or keep up celibacy. Many of the Jain Mahapurushas like Rama and Krishna and
Buddha were declared as incarnations of Vishnu in the Puranas. Brahmins started using intellectual debates to defeat
Jainism and Buddhism by argument. However a Brahmin Buddhist monk by name Siddhanagarjuna
came to the rescue in 3rd century A.D. . He travelled all over the country,
defeating Hindu Brahmins in debate, reestablishing Buddhism. This revival could
not last long. Jainism and Buddhism were again declining after 5th century and
in 8 th century A.D. Sankara reestablished Brahminism through intellectual
debates and created what is today known as popular Hinduism. The animistic
religion of the early Vedas was abandoned in favor of the Indianoid iconic
religion, justified and rationalized through the intellectualised philosophy
derived from Ivian spirituality combined with practices and popular gods
borrowed from Jainism and Buddhism. From that time only Brahmins could become
Pujaris of temples or Heads of the four
or five monasteries established by Sankara.. Only Aryans (Brahmins, Kshatriyas
and Vaisyas) were eligible for Sanyasa . There are many evidences showing that the
philosophical wisdom found in the Upanishads is intellectualized version of
Ivian spirituality. Several stories in the Upanishads (like the story of
Pravahana and Swetaketu in Chandogyopanishad) indicate that Jnana was
originally with the kings (Ivian) and only later on imparted to the Brahmins.
Intellectual learning and effortful sadhana however are supposed to be blocks for
enlightenment in the Ivian tradition. In south India as well as Bengal there
are stories of numerous saints and sages who got illumination simply by cutting
social ties or renouncing the world. Also it is realized that the most
enlightened persons need not be the most well known. A man who looks like a
madman or beggar in the street may be in a state higher than that of the most
acknowledged and revered spiritual giant. Kshathriyas
Kshatriyas are Saks coming from north west combined
with Varmas of purer Mongoloid descent coming into India from the north east.
Perhaps the community which was having the maximum material benefit from the
caste system and the struggle among the different castes for survival, was the
Kshatriyas. Even in 1980, after all the land reforms, Kshatriyas who formed
only about 5.5 % of the population owned about 80 % of the land. Original Indianoid
kings were little more than tribal chieftains, though often oppressive and
exploitative and the people as a whole led humble contented lives. The oldest
kings possibly in the Ivian tradition were noble people often with a great deal
of aesthetic talent and personal virtue who commanded respect from people
because of their personal characteristics. The Kshatriya kings were originally
Saks. They would have mixed with the Ivian royal families to some extent and to
some extent they would have defeated the Ivians in battle. The Saks originated
in south central Asia and they could retain some of their vigor in the hot
climate. They probably had some yellow race mix initially and later on more
pure yellow race fighters joined the Kshathriya community as Varmas from the
northeast and Huns and Mugals from the north West . Mugal is the Persian word
for Mongol. Though the Mugals came from Turkey they considered themselves as
Mongolian in origin. The Kshathriyas and Mugals considered it their duty to
keep fighting neighboring kings and amassing their land and property. When a
king conquers the neighboring country everything in the country including land,
properties, wealth and women becomes his. He could redistribute the land among
whomever he liked on a kind of lease, the tenants being obliged to give tax
which may get revised from time to time depending on the needs of the king to
build big palaces, temples or go on a fighting spree. Whoever wrote the
Dharmasasthras were forced to justify the plunder and invasions, saying that
the Kshatriya dharma was to fight and grab the neighboring kingdom. Kshatriyas
were not without any virtue. Kshatriyas had their own honor and code of
conduct. They were honest and straight forward. They were not crooked. They
will not hit a man behind his back. They will not join together and kill a
defenceless man but challenge him for a duel. They will not fight after sunset.
They will not run away like a coward, but fight valiantly till death, etc.
Brahmins managed to impress the kings with their scholarship and rituals and to
some extent succeeded in controlling and moderating the kings as rajagurus and
advisers. Such kings had to make a show of power and pomp to impress people and
had to keep fighting to show off physical courage. In some places at least, the
Brahmins convinced the Kshatriyas that for better progeny, Kshatriya women
should beget children from Brahmin males. Brahmins must have found that this is
a way to dilute the aggressive gene of the Kshatriyas. Real genetic warfare ! Vaisyas
The Vaisyas formed about 6 % of the Indian
population. The wealth of a country depends mainly on intelligent organized and
planned effort in agriculture, production of goods and trade, and the presence
of skilled workers and craftsmen. Keeping cows, production and marketing of
milk and milk products was an important business in ancient times. Vaisya is
the name given to a collection of communities in India pursuing such means of
livelihood. Till the 18 th century professional artists also were included in
this category. and most well known artists came from this community. Dancers
and devadasis came mainly from this
community. Devadasis were originally
court dancers at the time of Ivian kings. When the palaces became temples, the
dancers became devadasis . With less noble people becoming kings, the system
became corrupted. It is to be noted that mere land owners are not considered
Vaisya as people who merely owned cows were also not considered Vaisya.; only
those who actively organize, execute and supervise cultivation of large areas
or keep cows for large scale production and sale of milk would be Vaisya. . In
many states land was owned by Kshathriyas to a large extent and Brahmins to a
small extent, but the people in charge of cultivation were often Vaisyas. I
have expressed the opinion earlier that Ivian migrants would have become the
Vaisya community, particularly in south India and Bihar-Bengal area. Other
migrants from different lands like Phoenicians, Jews, Arabs, Romans and Chinese
coming for trade and settling down here would have merged with the Vaisyas. In
the sasthras Vaisyas are said to be yellow in color. This must be the light
brown of Ivians mixed with the yellow of the Chinese. During the Jain-Buddhist
period many Vaisyas were in these religions. In Kerala many of this group would
have espoused Christianity, starting from the 1st century as
evidenced by the absence of a significant Hindu community involved in trade in
Kerala. The Christians in Kerala were also known to have close ceremonial ties
with the Hindu temples (many of them originally Jain or Buddhist) till the 16th
century. Once the Indus valley civilization was discovered and
its advanced nature highlighted, all major communities in India claim to have
descended from it. A Brahminist theory of Indus valley civilization is that the
‘Aryan race' originated there and that it later on came to India as the higher
caste groups. There is the Brahminical claim that Vedas came from the Ivian
civilization. However, the Samhita part of the Vedas (earliest) makes no
reference to typically Indian things like the elephant or peacock but
highlights the horse which is not an Indian animal at all. Sanskrit is an Indo-European language and
shares almost all root words with Latin and Greek. Among all the different
communities in India Brahmins show maximum Nordic characteristics showing
connection with high latitudes. There are small communities like the Brogpas of
Ladak and Nuristhanis of Afghanistan who claim to be of pure ‘Aryan' descent.
These groups may not be racially as pure as they claim to be but they do show
northern Caucasoid or Nordic features. They live in relatively simple
settlements and show no evidence of having been heir to a great civilization.
The central Asians practised cremation of the dead as against burial in
cemeteries of Ivians. Central Asians had a different style of pottery (painted
grey as different from the plain red or black colored Harappan pottery). The
Saks called the Ghaggar-Hakra river Harahwathi (after the goddess Harahwathi of
Persia) which the Sarmas later on would have pronounced Saraswati. The river
has been becoming narrow and gradually drying up over a long period of time and
now it is active only during the rainy season. Painted grey pottery (of the
central Asian migrants) has been obtained from sites closer to the centre of
the river, but not from the sites away from the centre of the river while
earlier Indus city sites were found away from the centre, indicating that the
central Asian migrants came and settled in the area much later compared to the
Ivians. The Brahmins however are intelligent people and have been able to
absorb the best elements of all influences: Ivian, Jain and Buddhist as the
Westerners are doing today. Brahmin scholars have elaborated and systematised
Indian thought. Some people who favour the Indianoids argue that some
Indianoid groups have come from the Indus Valley civilization. However, no
Indianoid group living in close proximity to the mainstream society or totally
isolated from the mainstream society show any cumulative evidence of remnants
of a sophisticated civilization. Often claims of Ivian origin is made on the basis
of a single factor. For example it is said that the Santhals have a script
resembling the Indus script. But it is also said that Santhal script is of very
recent origin and that it was created for them by somebody who was not even a
Santhal. The script contains only a small number of signs in contrast to the
Indus Valley script having more than 500 discovered signs. There can be many
accidental similarities and coincidences because of the limited number of
possible geometric shapes. If the Santhal script was formulated by a single
person, he perhaps knew the Ivian symbols. Even if it is shown that Santhals
were having the script for a very long time, it would only mean that they got
it from Ivian migrants and they have been holding on to it because they could
not get more efficient scripts while the Ivians left the same for more
efficient scripts (like Brahmi and Kharoshti) . The language of the Gonds is
more similar to Dravidian root than Santhal language. Mere similarity in
language alone is not sufficient to establish a migrant connection. The
original Gond language would have been modified as a result of contact with
Ivians. The same Indianoid root language would have influenced both the
Dravidian root and Gondi, at some time in history. There are many examples in
recent times of tribals losing their original language in a short period when
mixing with other groups. Indianoids did very simple things, in agriculture,
housing, etc. For example in cultivating paddy, each family cultivated its own
paddy using dry farming. Even now some tribals in the South do this. No
Indianoid group has been found to create wetland paddy fields for large scale
cultivation of paddy which involves organized collective planning and effort
for a sophisticated irrigation system ensuring the required level of water in
the field all the time. The usual area of a tribal settlement is around 200
square kilometers. There are strong prohibitions about anybody going outside
the area and anybody who ventures out is excommunicated. This is indicative of
the fact that they have evolved in that locality for a long time. Brahmins have
no restrictions about travelling by land. Brahmins all over India desire to
visit the four holy places in the Himalayas at least once in their life time.
Namboothiri Brahmins of Kerala have their own ghat in Benaras. Sankara goes all
over India four times in his short life span of 32 years. However, Brahmins
were prohibited from crossing the seas. This indicates that they were never a
trading community, crossing seas for trade. Vaisyas, on the other hand used to
travel long distances by land and by sea in ships going to places like
Singapore for trade. The Pandians of the south were very ancient mariners. The Sudras generally claim that all civilization was
theirs in the Indus Valley and that the Aryans who came from central Asia
usurped all of it and made them servants. However the fact remains that there
is no evidence that the Sudras ever in history showed any dynamism needed to
create a civilization as seen in the Indus Valley and therefore this claim is
not substantiated. The Sudras
Sudras form definite communities in every state of
India amounting to nearly 50 % of the Indian population. The Indianoids are not
included in this. Sudras had already crystallized as a definite community or
category around the turn of BC to AD when the Manusmriti was written. Many
authorities have concluded that the Sudras resulted from intermixing of the
Aryans and the Indianoids. Perhaps many of the Indianoid groups were not suited
for this and those with some ancestral connection to Sudan in east Africa were
found most suitable. The Sudras were originally servants of the Aryans, either
serving them or fighting for them. Most of the restrictions and controls in the
Dharmasastras are directed at Sudras and
not against the Indianoids. It is true that Indianoids coming into close
interaction or contact with the others were often enslaved or tricked into
bonded labour or contracts disadvantageous to them. But in many states there were
Indianoid groups (particularly tribals in the forest) or other communities (not
included in the fourfold caste system) not coming into close direct contact
with the “Aryans” and these groups had their own way of life and freedom,
having little interaction with the members inside the caste system. It is noted in history that exploitation of the
indigenous people by whites takes place when the whites come down to the
tropics where they are unable to work or function effectively in physical
terms. They need servants or slaves. The Anglican church leaders took a stand
against racial discrimination, sitting in England. The north American whites
accepted abolition of slavery because north America is relatively cold and
there whites could manage without slaves. On the other hand in South USA they
needed slaves to work in the cotton fields. This ended in the American civil
war which was a battle between whites favoring abolition of slavery and whites
who wanted to continue slavery. A somewhat parallel situation arose in India
also. The British introduced the Indian Penal Code from 1836 granting equal
rights for all citizens breaking age old caste rules. This led to a lot of
riots and unrest until a new balance and resettlement gradually emerged. Racial mixing induces what is called the hybrid
vigor. The Sudras benefited maximally from the lifting of caste restrictions
and modern English education open to all. In many states, Sudra groups
developed economically and culturally and became the communities highest in all
round development . The Outcastes and Panchamas
Outcastes are those who do not come under the caste
system. By usage the term outcaste has probably acquired a derogatory meaning.
Theoretically there are many groups in every state who do not come under the
rigid caste system and each of these groups had a certain status in society
(high or low) depending on their physical and mental characteristics. The term
Panchama(meaning fifth) generally refers to the Indianoids or the earliest
inhabitants of the land and seems to have an acquired derogatory connotation. Interaction among the different castes and
communities
Ivians were mixers. They were not racists. There is
no evidence of class or caste in spite of several types of skulls being found
in the Indus Valley. This would have continued after their migration to
peninsular India. They would have employed the Indianoids as workers. The
Indianoids were happy to work for them because of more efficient methods of
agriculture, and storage methods assuring them of regular food supply all the
year round. The Ivians would also have taken wives from the Indianoids. The
Vaisyas have the tradition of employing Indianoids, but do not practice any
rigid form of untouchability. I would say that the Vaisya community is likely
to have maximum Ivian base. Next in line come the Kshatriyas and Sudras,
equally, who are near Vaisyas in the caste hierarchy on either side. Among the
different castes in India, the extremes, namely, Brahmins and the Indianoids
would show least Ivian component. People in the Vaisya community were the
entrepreneurs, the builders, planners and executers of all the development one
sees. Kings in general wanted them to live in their country because they were
needed for economic development. The question remains why the Ivians did not
build any city with the same magnitude and quality like the developed cities
found in the Indus Valley . The answer is that they were not let free to do
that. Wherever they went there were Indianoids and soon they were followed by
the Central Asian migrants. The Ivians were the victims of jealousy and
prejudice from the other communities. Significant taxes can be collected only
from the prosperous and the Kshatriya kings taxed them heavily. The Vaisyas had
to pay for all the war games of the kings, their forts, palaces, temples and
monuments and support their armies and wives (often larger in number than the
army). Throughout India one hears stories of how Vaisyas were forced to run
away from one kingdom to another because the king pressed them for more taxes
or the king had an eye on their women. Invading armies looted whatever they
could. In Kerala in relatively recent times, there is the case of a king who
borrowed a huge amount of money from a merchant. When the merchant asked for
the money back, the king cut both his ears and put him in prison. The true culture of an individual or a society
reveals itself at the time of a crisis. A person with a high degree of root
Stability may get transformed to a higher plane. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was
outwardly an ordinary man. But the crisis that he faced made him the Mahatma.
It was like Purandara Dasa or Pattanathu Pillayar getting transformed by a
crisis in their lives. Gandhi was not killed by the British, but by the prejudices
of his own countrymen. He could not even see independent India for one full
year. He knew from experience that the common people in India could not fully
understand his moral stand against the British. The common people were often
resorting to violence. As soon as India got independence, he wanted the
Congress party to be dissolved because he knew that the methods that he used
against a foreign power and their unfair laws will be misused to create
indiscipline and disorder in independent India . Independent India
The primary responsibility of proper leadership is to
create right system in the country created through right laws where
constructive and intelligent work is encouraged and destructive impulses are
curtailed. Proper leadership should encourage all people to appreciate, learn
from and imitate the hardworking sects of the population.. Proper leadership
also promotes personal growth in the form of Stability in people. Right
politics encourages positive self-regard and self-respect in people which is
the fundamental requirement for personal growth and consequently any real
development. Independent India chose to be a democratic republic.
The rule by kings who used brute force to grab the neighboring country and
exploit the entrepreneurs was apparently over. However the hangover of this
tradition continued into independent India. Politicians are doing what the
oppressive rulers were doing. People do not know what freedom is. They think
freedom is the right to destroy other people and their freedom. Jealousy and
oppression merely took new forms like bribery and corruption. Communism and the
supposed progress of Soviet Union and China became an excuse for government
domination, nationalization of any successful private enterprise and thereby
oppressing the entrepreneurs. Even after Russia and China have accepted free
market economy, India finds it difficult to allow individuals freedom to
enterprise in different spheres like industry, education, health care and so
on. It seems emotionally difficult to allow hard working and enterprising
people to get ahead. Income tax at one time was 95 paise per Rupee, unheard of
in any other country. The money collected as tax is wasted in all kinds of
wasteful government departments and public sector undertakings. Not even the
old kings would have squeezed that much. The entrepreneur had no individual
freedom. He was always in the straight jacket of rules and regulations. Nothing
could be done without bribes for permissions. If a man is successful, the
political parties demand huge contributions. They come with lists of people to
be appointed who will do no work but have to be given whatever they ask.
Electricity was in the public sector. Poor quality undependable power supply
made any development difficult. Other countries managed by people with knowledge and
experience of what constitutes an efficient society introduced the hire and
fire policy, giving the management right to increase or decrease pay or to hire
and fire anybody who did not fit socially or psychologically or who was not
suitable or who could be replaced by a more efficient person. Such countries
developed fast economically. In a country like India where large sections of
the population have considerable Inertia, the public sector system with job
security is least applicable. A small number of government offices may be
required. In any government office, employees should be taken on contract for a
maximum of five years and at the end of every five years jobs should be
auctioned, taking the most qualified and efficient persons willing to serve for
minimum pay. It is the height of social injustice to take (often on the basis
of bribes or personal influences) inefficient people as government employees
and give them high salaries and pension which get revised when they strike and
clamour for more when the majority of people (including many who are capable of
doing better work for much less pay) do not get even the bare minimum for
subsistence. In India under the pretext of helping the workers the politicians
formulated labor rules promoting laziness, inefficiency and indiscipline.
However they have exempted domestic help from the purview of labor laws because
they want discipline within their own family. They perhaps wanted to destroy
the industries as most of the politicians were not industrialists and that is
what most of the people with destructive tendencies and jealous feelings also
wanted. In countries where self-respect is valued, a job is
to be given to the man who would do it best. Nobody in such countries would
want to hold on to a job (or an elected position) if a better and more
qualified man is available for it. In India seats in elected bodies and jobs
are reserved for women, backward communities and so on. Prime ministership is
reserved for sons and widows of former prime ministers. Soon in the Indian
version of democracy, there will be reservation for proportionate
representation of mentally retarded and insane people and perhaps animals also.
The key to real upliftment of a community is primarily by fostering
self-respect. Absence of self-respect leads to degeneration. I am all for
uplifting the backward sections of the population. But any material help given
should not be such that it dampens the human spirit. Branding a community
backward and reserving jobs does not foster self-respect. Similarly spoon
feeding the tribals by merely pumping money and material aids only increases
their feelings of incapacity. It is like giving with the hands and at the same
time pushing down with the feet. A child from a backward community goes to
school carrying a greater weight of shamefulness resulting from positive
discrimination due to the special concessions on the basis of supposed
backwardness than books containing unnecessary factual information. Independent
India does not seem to care for quality, efficiency or merit. We should have
honored the freedom fighters and given them handsome pensions and all that, but
as elected representatives we should have elected people with demonstrated
capability in that kind of job. Election commission should have encouraged
unanimous election as MLAs and MPs of the most just, fair minded, competent and
educated persons with experience in constructive management. In USA they have
found that people with management experience make best administrators and now
they appoint “city managers” to manage cities. They generally elect as
President persons who have built up successful business ventures. Now in India
we elect people with experience in destroying things. The election commission
should have started the tradition of educating the public for responsible
election. The election commission now does not even publish the bio-data of the
candidates and indirectly encourages formation of vested interest groups as
political parties. The multi-party system evolved in countries where people
have high A (Activation) involving disciplined competitiveness and this is
unsuited for a country like India where people have a different temperament. At
the start itself the election commission should not have officially recognized
any political party. In really democratic countries, democracy is understood as
freedom in economic, religious, and such other matters. In India democracy is
understood as right to vote for one among two or three vested interest groups
competing with each other in curtailing freedom of individuals even to walk on
the road or run their business. Each political party shows its strength by
declaring bands, hartals, strikes, etc. using violence. In truly democratic
countries political parties promote discipline and respect freedom of citizens.
In India political parties encourage indiscipline and violence and lack respect
for those elected to power and disobedience to laws. Strikes and unrest in
educational institutions have adversely affected character formation of
students. The greatest wastage has been in education in the public sector,
spending so much of our resources to destroy the character of the coming
generations through training in violence and indiscipline. Political activity
in India after independence seems to be channelising base emotions and
destructive impulses of the people. Communism in other countries is a system which favors
public ownership of means of production. If so communists should not organize
strikes in government owned enterprises. But in India the communistic party
organizes strikes in the public sector also. Communist party in India has grown
maximum in places where there was a strong Vaisya community, or groups of
people capable of creative innovation and intelligent enterprises, like Kerala
and Bengal. There is no commitment to the system of public ownership but there
is only destruction of private ownership and public sector companies alike, or
mere indiscipline for its own sake, stemming originally from self-hate. The
destructive impulse has generated considerable negative vibrations in the
country and we seem to have only destructive politics. Way Out
The only way
out seems to be to educate the general public in what true democracy should be
in a country with glorious traditions. The public should be made conscious of
how the system of public enterprise is unsuitable for India and how state
supported monopolistic capitalism is different from true market economy. The
public must be made to recognize corrupt politics which encourages them to be
aggressive beggars clamouring for more privileges or demanding more wages. They
must be made to realize what laws promote discipline and self-respect and hence
development of the nation and what kind of system promotes personal growth of
people and economic development of the nation. | ||
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