AN UNTOLD TRUTH
ABOUT INDIAN CULTURE
India is one of the highly developing nations of the world.
A country which is often entitled as ‘GOLDEN BIRD’ is a subcontinent of
different people in different states. The culture of India is among the world's
oldest, reaching back about 5,000 years. Many sources describe it as "Sa
Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara" — the first and the supreme culture in the
world. India is a very diverse country, and different regions have their own
distinct cultures. Language, religion, food and the arts are just some of the
various aspects of Indian culture. Contemporary Indian society is built on a
great civilization that extends back more than 2500 years .One of the darker
aspect of our culture is the caste system which was never meant to discriminate
the different castes but existed so as to unite different people irrespective
of their caste. The caste system was wrongly presented and manipulated at or
after the period of British Rule. Although the caste system and India's
extensive linguistic and cultural diversity have changed over the centuries,
the basic social and cultural patterns described by early Greek and Chinese travelers
portray an India that is recognizable today. The caste system, an integral and
pervasive part of Brahmanic Hinduism and one that developed several centuries
before Christ, has survived to this day. According to Brahman belief, the caste
system is divinely ordained and hence unchangeable by man. The system probably
originated in occupational classifications and evolved into its present form
after the system of the four major classes, or Varna, emerged about 500 BC. The
Brahmans were the teachers and priests, the Kshatriyas were the warrior-rulers,
the Vaishyas were merchants and businessmen, and, at the bottom, the Shudra
were workers and farmers. Outside the system were the non-Hindus, the so-called
untouchables, now called Harijans (children of God). These classifications were
to determine the jobs and duties and not to create discrimination within them.
Caste is derived from a Portuguese word casta which means tribe, clan or
family. They were according to the normal family trends. The Brahmans were like
the grandparents who guided and taught morals and ethics to their children. The
Kshatriyas were like the fathers who held the responsibility of providing
safety to all the members of the family. The Vaishyas were like the members who
earned money and the food for the members. The Shudra were like the female
members who did the domestic work like cooking and cleaning the house..........
This is what our Caste System emphasized and there was no
discrimination between the Brahmans and the Shudra as it has always assumed to
exist.
Membership in one of the tens of thousands of castes, which
are subdivisions of the classes, is based on birth and circumscribed by
endogamy, the largest group within which a person may marry. Some castes are
found throughout India, while others are local. Although new castes may be
formed and castes may move up and down the social ladder, the caste system has
been much criticized because of its hierarchical nature and denial of
individual liberties.] It has nevertheless, been the bedrock of an amazingly
stable society and a rich and lasting culture.
Caste and family have built up powerful loyalties that may
compete with national allegiance. Moreover, the caste system has given Indians
a hierarchical view not only of India but of the world; they rank nations by
size, culture, and power. The caste system also suggests a stability and
immutability in society and tends to foster a conservative characteristic that
describe many military establishments. However, this situation is changing, and
wealth and education increasingly are slowly replacing caste as a measure of
social status, especially in urban areas.
Dharma, karma, and transmigration are other powerful,
generally accepted concepts of Hinduism. Dharma is natural law or social order
or duty that is incumbent on every member of a caste. Karma describes an
individual's actions and efforts within his caste, the results of which will
determine his future incarnation through transmigration. How one act in this
life is thought to determine how one will improve or worsen in one's next. Many
Indians say that their guidance for life comes from the Gita, which emphasizes
the importance of an individual's performing his duty (dharma) and leading a moral
life.
To Indians, life is much more complex and less optimistic
than in prevailing Western thought. They accept logic as one influence on
life, but only one. Other influences include emotion, tradition, intuition, and
fate. Accordingly, life is unknowable, but man must strive to follow his
dharma. Fate is something to be dealt with, but also to be accepted.
The Indian view may be seen as a realistic and pragmatic
approach to life, but it also can lead to a passive, almost fatalistic,
acceptance of life. Many argue, however, that dharma requires that an
individual strive to fulfill his moral obligations. Although most Indians deny
that they are fatalists, the acceptance of life as it comes carries
considerable weight among believers.
This complex view of life makes the future appear uncertain
and less subject to human manipulation than it does to a Westerner. Rational
analysis, so vital to Western societies, has less influence in Indian society,
as so many other factors play important or dominant roles.
The acceptance of life as a mystery and the inability to
manipulate events impedes preparation for the future in all areas of life,
including the strategic.
The Indian belief in life cycles and repetitions, in
particular, limits planning in the Western sense. To Indians, cycles constitute
the be-sis of life and stand in stark contrast to the Western linear view of
time. An Indian is said to pass through four phases in life: student,
homemaker, near hermit, and wanderer forsaking family and society until death.
According to his actions (karma), he is reincarnated in another form, depending
on the status he has earned, and begins the cycle over again.
Similarly, in the Indian view, the cosmos also goes through
repeated cycles of creation, decay, destruction, and recreation. Unlike human
cycles, cosmic cycles take millions or billions of years. Indian history also
appears as a cycle of unity, decay, disunity, and reunification. A cyclical
view suggests no past and no future, just a continuing series of cycles?
The inherent pessimism and passivism of the cyclical view
suggests little likelihood of major improvement in life, though dharma demands
that one strive to lead a moral life. Even doing good deeds and leading the
good life do not end the cycle. Only through renunciation of all desires, many
Indians believe, can one break the cycle and join the Infinite in final peace
and unity. That is, each individual has at-man, or inner truth, which is one
and the same as Brahma, the world spirit, the universal truth. Atman never
ends; once free of the body, it soars and rejoins Brahma.
Thus, prevailing Indian beliefs, although changing in many
ways, differ fundamentally from the Western views, which assume a faith in
logic and human progress, the efficacy of individual efforts, a sense of
history and continuity, and a future to be shaped and worked for. The more
educated Indians, however, especially those versed in technology and
economics, are coming to recognize the need for planning and an integrated conception
of social and economic development. These tensions find expression in many
contemporary policy dilemmas, including those associated with strategic
concerns.
Now the question is...............
Will India breakup like many other countries are now
doing?? Indians usually answer it that Indian culture is the binding force that
will keep India united despite the strong regional subcultures and quarrelling
states that seem to threaten its existence. Many say also that democracy is a
pillar of a unified India. Some add that the young and growing middle class is
strengthening India and will support the Indian union.
But what do the Western nations say about Indian culture?????
The widely held
perception that culture is a central feature of Indian life may 'be a greater
force than the culture itself, which is slowly changing. Not surprisingly,
Indian strategic thinking reflects and takes direction from this culture. The
Brahmanic tradition, based on the ancient Indian epics, has a few generally
accepted tenets and characteristics that seem to have influenced Indian
strategic thinking, or the absence of it.
Hinduism, the basic element of Indian culture, is an
amorphous body of beliefs resting on a few basic tenets. It has no accepted
creed or god, no organized church, and no prophet. Ranging from the lofty
intellectual concepts of the Brahman to the very personal, emotional beliefs
of the devotees of the gods Krishna and Shiva, and to the superstitions of the
uneducated villagers, Hinduism is not a religion in the Western sense; it is
more nearly a comprehensive way of life. It has adjusted to most invaders and
penetrated the lives of Muslims, Christians, and Jews living in India.
Indians had relied on intuition and emotion for a million
years, so why should they give them up for logic, which is only a few thousand
years old. And if they call Indian beliefs to be illogical then they should
know that it was the idea of Varna that influenced Plato’s philosophical
ordering in The Republic.
-Priya Ray
raypriya28@gmail.com
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