Hanumant Upare and the Riddle of the Shudras

On the 14^th October 2012, Veteran Ambedkarite Leader Hanumant Upare had called a conference titled  “Amhi Bauddha Dhammat Pravesh Karun Swagruhi  Jaat Aahot” (By embracing Buddhism we are returning to our original home) at Nalanda Hall, Dr. Ambedkar College, Chembur, Mumbai.  Hanumant Upare belongs to OBC category. He was politically attached to BRP - Bahujan Mahasangh led by Prakash Ambedkar. He has announced to embrace Buddhism alongwith lakhs of OBC brothers. He is campaigning for its mass  conversion of OBCs to Buddhism for last few years.

Hanumant Upare is certainly doing a great job. At Chembur conference the dias was shared by many respected leaders representing the different OBC castes. They all agreed that it was the time to think seriously about this issue. It is however true that most of these leaders don’t have courage to leave Hinduism and embrace the Buddhism.

The task before Hanumant Upare is therefore very difficult. Let us discuss the issues with its gravity by studying how Dr. Ambedkar explores the matter of OBCs i.e. the Shudras.

Dr. Ambedkar Says,

“Some of those, who believe that only the acceptance of the Gospel of Buddha can save the Hindus are filled with sorrow, because they do not see much prospect of the return or revival of Buddhism in India. I do not share this pessimism.

In the matter of their attitude to their religion, Hindus today fall into two classes. There are those who hold that, ‘All religions are true including Hindu and the leaders of other religions seem to join them in this slogan. There cannot be a thesis more false than thesis that all religions are true. However, this slogan gives the Hindus, who have raised it, the support of the followers of other religions. There are Hindus who have come to realize that there is something wrong with their religion, the only thing is that they are not ready to denounce it openly. This attitude is understandable. Religion is a part of one’s social inheritance. One’s life and dignity and pride are bound up with it. It is not easy to abandon one’s religion. Patriotism comes in “My country” right or wrong, “My religion” right or wrong. Instead of abandoning it, the Hindus are finding escape in other ways. Some are consoling themselves with the thought that all religions are wrong, so why bother about religion at all. The same felling of patriotism prevents them from openly embracing Buddhism. Such an attitude can have only one result. Hinduism will laps and cease to be a force of governing life. There will be void, which will have the effect of disintegrating the Hindu Society. Hindus then will be forced to take a more positive attitude. When they do so, they can turn to nothing except Buddhism.

This is not the only ray of hope, there are hopes coming from other quarters also.

There is one question, which every religion must answer. What mental and moral relief does it bring to the suppressed and the downtrodden? If it does not, then it is doomed. Does Hinduism give any mental and moral relief to the millions of Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes? It does not. Do Hindus expect these Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes to live under Hinduism, which gives them no promise of mental and moral relief? Such an expectation would be an utter futility. Hinduism is floating on a volcano. To-day it appears to be extinct. But it is not. It will become active once these mighty millions have become conscious of their degradation and know that it is largely due to the social philosophy of the Hindu religion. One is reminded of the overthrow of Paganism by Christianity in the Roman Empire. When the masses realized that paganism could give them no mental and moral relief they gave it up and adopted Christianity. What happened in Rome is sure to happen in India. The Hindu masses when they are enlightened are sure to turn to Buddhism.”

What Babasaheb means can be summarised as follows:-

1.       All religions are not true.

2.       All religions are not wrong

3.       The masses stick to “My Religion”

4.       Masses are led by the feeling of patriotism.

5.       This patriotism prevents Hindus from openly embracing Buddhism.

6.       Instead, they find escape in other ways.

7.       Hinduism does not provide any mental and moral relief to the millions of Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes.

8.       Hinduism is floating as a Volcano.

9.       This volcano will become alive once this mighty OBCs will became conscious of their degradation and know that it is largely due to the Hindu religion.

10.   The Hindu masses when they are enlightened are sure to turn to Buddhism.

Here Babasaheb has made it very clear that one day the OBCs will definitely turn to Buddhism. The process goes through enlightenment. That the OBCs should be made conscious of their slavery and that their slavery is due to the Brahmanical Social Order. That their degradation to human in status is due to the Brahmanical laws making them to fall and decline to the perfect slaves should be made know to them.

However, the Hindus even after becoming conscious of their slavery and degradation prefer escapism is very true. In 2005, the enlightened few of the Maratha Community from Maharashtra tried to establish a new religion in the name of “Shiv-Dharma”. Not less the person than Dr. A. H. Salunkhe who is scholar and a well-known writer of several books exposing the Brahmanism to its fullest length, had taken the lead in this event as a philosopher.  A great many activist like Purushottam Khedekar aslo the leader of the Maratha Seva Sangh took initiative to establish the “Shiv-Dharma”. But ‘Shiv – Dharma’ has proved to be an escapism.

The Brahmanical Social Order has produced a great many god men and women who again save the purpose of escapism.

It is the fact that all this set of the gods, god men and women, the temples, the chanting and festivals do not provide any mental relief to the Hindu or any other person as such. This is a kind of escapism, which detracts the attention of the people from daily grievances and difficulties. Instead of fighting against the odds of the life these so-called spiritual paths, provide the run-away techniques to the masses. Moreover, there is no pinch of morality in all these so called spiritual ways.

The laws made against the shudras i.e. OBCs by the Brahmanical law – givers have degraded the shudras to their lowest status. Dr. Ambedkar has categorized these laws in his book “Who were the shudras?” (pages 55, 56). They are as follows,

1. The Shudra was to take last place in the social order
2. That the Shudra was impure and therefore no sacred act should be done within his sight and within his hearing.
3. That the Shudra is not to be respected in the same way as the other classes.
4. That the life of a Shudra is of no value and anybody may kill him without having to pay compensation and if at all of small value as compare with that of the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya
5. That the Shudra must not aquire knowledge and it is a sin and a crime to give him education.
6. That the Shudra must not acquire property. A Brahmin can take his property at his pleasure.
7. That a Shudra cannot hold office under the state.
8. That the duty and salvation of the Shudra lies in his serving the higher classes.
9. That the higher classes must not inter marry with the Shudra, They can however keep a Shudra woman as a concubine. But if the Shudra touches a woman of the higher classes he will be liable to dire punishment.
10. That the Shudra is born in servility and must be kept in servility forever.

Anybody going through these Brahmanical  laws will agree that the Brahmins have been very cruel and instrumental towards the Shudras is OBCs. Brahmins and the Brahmanical social order have physically, mentally and intellectually degraded the Shudras to the miserable conditions making then the perfect slaves.

The Shudras i.e. OBCs should now revolt against the Brahmanical social order. They should now denounce the supremacy of the Brahmanical social order. This means the Shudras should now throw away the gods, godmen, the religious books, the illogical traditions and festivals – in short the Hindutva. The Shudras i.e. OBCs should now do away with the caste system and the casteism. The Shudras should now get rid of the Brahmanical value system, which is full of inequalities, slavery, enmity, exploitation and treachery.

The Indian constitution has provided them the great help. They should now take up the constitutional values viz. Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. It should be remembered that these constitutional values have no meaning in the Brahmanical Social Order. The building of the Indian Nation based on these Constitutional Values is impossible in the Brahmanical Social Order, which is directly in contrast to these values. The Indian Nation can be built and nurtured only in the Buddhist ethos. The Shudra as a mighty force of the Indian population can change the destiny of the nation. But are the Shudras ready for this historical responsibility? Have the Shudras become free from the Brahmanical clutches? The Shudras will not be able to do this Herculean job till and until they are possessed by Hinduism and Hindutva. Dr. Ambedkar has given the solution on this problem by bringing all the Shudras out of Hindu fold and uniting them into the OBC category under the separate schedule in the constitution.

Hanumant Upare an enlightened OBC leader seems to realize this responsibility of setting the Dhammchakra Pravartan for the OBCs and thus serving this great Nation.

The task is not so easy. There are many obstacles. In the foreface written to his book ‘Who were Shudras?’ Dr. Ambedkar has described the five classes of Hindus. He says,

1. There is a class of Hindus, who are known as Orthodox and who will not admit that there is anything wrong with the Hindu social system. To talk of reforming it is to them rank blasphemy.
2. There is class of Hindus, who are known as Arya Samajists. They believe in the Vedas and only the Vedas. They differ from the orthodox in as much as they discard everything, which is not in the Vedas. Their gospel is that of return to Vedas.
3. There is a class of Hindus, who will admit that the Hindu social system is wrong, but who hold that there is no necessity to attack it. Their argument is that since law does not recognize it, it is dying, if not a dead system.
4. There is a class of Hindus, who are politically minded. They are indifferent to such questions. To them swaraj is more important than social reform.
5. The fifth class of Hindus are those who are rationalists and who regard social reforms as of primary importance; even more important than swaraj.”

This classification is true to the facts even in contemporary India, more than seventy years after it was described by Dr. Ambedkar.

The Brahmanical Social System has systematically developed the class of orthodox into more staunch believers in orthodoxy by commercializing the Gods, god men, temples and festivals and by molding even the modern science into pseudoscience  like  ‘Vastushastra’ , ‘Astrology’ and much more.

        The Vedic schools spreading the Vedas and other outdated Brahmanical Scriptures are proliferating.

The class of Hindus admitting the wrongs in the system is not ready to correct them, as they believe that now the Indian Constitution and Democracy will slowly change this ugly scenario.

        The class of Hindus, which was much interested in swaraj than social reforms, has now taken the politics as a full time job making a lot of property and prosperity in their own life. They have corrupted the Indian Constitution and the Indian Democracy.

        These are the facts in modern India. Dr. Ambedkar had therefore correctly believed in the fifth class of Hindus who think rationally.

        After a brief discussion on first four classes of Hindus and having no hopes from them Dr. Ambedkar says further, “The only class of Hindus who are likely to welcome the book are those who believe in the necessity and urgency of social reforms. The fact that it is a problem, which will certainly take a long time to solve and will call the efforts of many generations to come, is in their opinion, no justification for postponing the study that problem. Even an ardent Hindu politician, if he is honest, will admit that the problems arising out of the malignant form of communalism, which is inherent in the Hindu Social Organization and which the politically minded Hindus desire to ignore or postpone, invariably return to plague those very politicians at every turn. These problems are not the difficulties of the moment. They are our permanent difficulties, I.e. difficulties of every movement. I am glad to know that such a class of Hindus exists. Small though they be they are my main stay and it is to them that I have addressed my argument.”

        Dr. Ambedkar further says, ‘The book is written for ignorant and uninformed Shudras, who do not know how they came to be what they are. They do not care how artistically the theme is handled.’

        The OBCs i.e. Shudras in the Brahmanical Social System form the major population of India. In democratic India, the parliamentary politics can be fully controlled and monitored by OBCs. The enlightenment of OBCs will change the destiny of the nation. Dr. Ambedkar is very well aware of this fact. ‘Who were the Shudras?’ was specially written by Dr. Ambedkar for the enlightenment of these Shudras.

        The activists like Hanumant Upare who are enlightened are following a path shown by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar to solve riddle of Shudras.

        Let us be part of the struggle for emancipation of Shudras by remembering Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar when he says, “When one remembers that it is the Shudras, who have largely been instrumental in sustaining the infamous system of Chaturvarnya, though it has been the primary cause of their degradation and that, only the Shudras can destroy the Chaturvarnya, it would be easy to realize why I allowed the necessity of educating and thereby preparing the Shudras fully for such a sacred task to out weigh all other considerations which favored the deletion or if not deletion the abridgement of the quotations.”

----- Prof. Premratna Chaukekar