I have no words for the king worshippers, though the kingdoms were replaced by a democracy decades back in India! I have some queries to Dr. Gopala..as to explain what is meant by "Backwardness by mind and not by birth". Is it not a crass observation originated from your shallow mind? Another one is ..."nobody will be allowed to enter sanctum centorum". Thanks for writng the matter of fact. This serves as an answer to my friend "Civilised Responder". Why nobody except brahmins (by birth) are not allowed into the sanctum sanctorum? Are others including shudras, and "panchamars" (all people outside of the chatur varnas) are not as pure as brahmins? Then what is meant by purity? How is it achieved? What is brahmanyam? All come by birth, isn't it. We have seen instances, in which
Re: Dalits
by Narayan on Jan 12, 2010 01:56 PM
To answer your specific question :-
Kshatriya - Strong By Valour & Grit Brahmin - Physically Weak , intellect class ( Vysya - The Employer class Shudra - The Employee class
Assuming that we are in modern times and all men are equal , can anyone enter speakers chamber and occuy that chair in parliment ? Nope. One has to have the necessary qualification and entitlement.
So seeing in the context & space of historical time - those decisions are perfectly valid and relevant to times one lived.
Re: Dalits
by Narayan on Jan 12, 2010 01:46 PM
You are out of touch with the developments in the state .. History cannot be changed - Be it Salvery in medevial times or overzelous crusaders marching over the deads or burning of Catholics for their new found fervour. The good thing is all this is changing and that is to be appreciated.
Are we ahead of times ? Nope . So few centuries from now the future man will consider us to be boorish and evil minded to practices which would seemingly be out-of -date for those times . This is part of evolution and change - this cannot be stopped and debate is meaningless.
In Kerala,no one is prevented from entering the temple including the Dalits.All will enter with bare body and nobody will be allowed to enter sanctum centorum.If Dalids feel they are prevented from entering the temple, they are wrong and the truth is otherwise. Their bacwardness is by mind and not by birth. This classification has been encouraged by politicians for their survival.Only by removing the caste and religion barrier, we can progress. As for the donation ( Dakshinai) paid in the temple, there are hi-fi techniques adopted by non hindu places of worship.Non hindus are coerced to pay certain fration of their earnings in their religious places and yet they boast they have free entry! A visit to Nagore / Velankanni will be an experience worth remembering.In reality,Dakshinas paid in Hindu temples is a peanut and nobody blames even if you don't pay.It is not true that temple entry proclamation was just an eye-wash as has been projected by somebody.
This temple entry proclamation was just an eye-wash. What were the dalits earn from it. In fact, they now lose their money from pocket by giving offering at the temples. Another smart way of getting money from the poor to sustain the otherwise ruining temples. This in a way lead to the sustenance of the uppercaste dominance of the temples at the expense of the lowercaste people. Stll you know, the lowercaste people are kept miles away from administering the matters inside the temples though their money is the major chunk of funds feeding the temples. Moreover, the dalits at the time did not call for entering the temples. That was not and is not the major problem they are facing.
Re: Temple entry
by Civilised Responder on Jan 07, 2010 11:47 PM
Amazing!! Sorry, I cant stop from responding. Where in the world do you come from? In Kerala, temples are governed by Temple Boards and these boards are constituted by an equal number of representations from all walks of life,casts, races and groups.Even more, there are temples by SNDP which is managed only by people belonging to that community.Sad that you post such comments
The author says, "there is something in what is called 'blue blood', which sets apart the rajas from the prajas. It is not pomp and grandeur, but humility, dedication and commitment to the people."
I fully agree with him. We are seeing the same situation in India now. Without the blessings of Mdm Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi, India would be in great peril.
This Maharaj tried to mitigate some of the destructive power of a racist society. Kerala is a much better society now that the racism aka caste system is not so blatant.
Re: The namboodaripad's racism was destroying Kerala
by Kumar on Jan 07, 2010 06:34 AM
Racist, hate filled heart claiming themselves to be closer to God is the biggest joke played on the wanna-be Indian civilization.
The great Maharajah of Travancore was an example of how a ruler can make a difference. His selfless and humble life was a stark contrast to the self serving kings that dotted India and has made Kerala the #1 state in India in terms of quality of life.
Re: Maharaj of Travancore
by Uaskedforit on Jan 07, 2010 01:56 PM
Sameer Bhagwat , the comments is very valid subect to one correction.... that Maharaja - Balarama Varma is no more and the autobiography is of the his younger brother who was a bit of black sheep of the family
