HOLIGRATIVE PSYCHO-HISTORY OF INDIA
V. George Mathew
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.
