I enquired with our elders in my area, and found that 40 years back they were using around a dozen rice varieties (in my region alone), all lost now.

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http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=2137

Claude Alvares

13 January 2012

In 1982, Dr M.S. Swaminathan withdrew from his position as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SACC) and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission – he was also earlier secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture – and defected to join the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based at Los Banos in the Philippines as Director-General. The word ‘defected’ is used here on purpose: in no other country of the world would a scientist in such a strategically important position, privy to all the country’s scientific secrets particularly of those related to food, be permitted to leave and overnight become the employee of an institution controlled by two private foundations so closely allied to American capitalism and US foreign policy interests.

IRRI had been set up in 1960 as part of America’s efforts to control and direct rice research in Asia, even though American is hardly a rice eating country. A famous plant-breeder had once said, in regard to rice: ‘He who controls the supply of rice will control the destiny of the entire Asiatic orbit. The most important thing to the majority of the Asia is not capitalism or socialism or any other political ideology but food which means life itself, and in most of Asia, food is rice.’

Earl Butz, a former US Secretary of Agriculture, is notorious for one sentence that he uttered in a course of an otherwise utterly insignificant life: ‘If food can be used as a weapon we would be happy to use it.’

And today, as we near the end of the twentieth century, we have to admit that the research concerning the two major cereals that rule our lives – wheat and rice – is wholly directed and controlled by institutions set up under American imperialism.

In many ways Dr Swaminathan’s appointment to IRRI would have been considered a demotion. While in India, he had lorded it over a scientific establishment that employed thousands of scientists, in the Philippines he would have not more than 200 scientists under him. The principal compensation, however, was the money, income tax free.

Already this international institute, always run by American directors, was facing the collapse of its High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) strategy, as seed after seed fell victim to waves of pest epidemics. Urgently required was a massive expansion of IRRI’s rice germplasm, genes from which were essential for passing on resistance to the HYVs. The largest collection of rice varieties, of rice germplasm, remained in the Indian sub-continent. Swaminathan’s appointment was critical to this quest.

The IRRI is not a premier institute of science. It is a privately-controlled agricultural research centre. Even so, it is difficult to conceive of a man with Swaminathan’s record becoming its director general. Unless of course the person being appointed is known more for his ability to get things done than for his scientific work. Certainly no scientist with an equivalent scientific record would have found an appointment as director of, say, the Max Planck Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), or the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). I ask[ed] knowledgeable people in the Philippines how Swaminathan could have been appointed to the post of director general of IRRI. The most plausible answer was also the funniest.

There were apparently three applicants for the post. The first, a vice-president of the Rockefeller Foundation, insisted on coming to the institute with both his wife and his mistress, if he got the job. The second candidate, from West Germany, was found, upon examination, not to have a degree that he had stitched on to his name. In comparison, Dr M.S.  Swaminathan whom an article in the 1979 Yearbook of Science and the Future, published by the Encyclopedia Britannica, put in the company of Paul Kammerer and Cyril Burt, two of the leading scientific frauds of the twentieth century, appeared white as snow.

*

India is rice country. Rice is a critical component of a complex eco-system, tied to legends, used as symbol, essential witness at religious ceremonies and rituals. Such an immense preoccupation with rice would, which is to be expected, call forth its own brand of competence to grow it; so we find a bewildering number of techniques, some of which even today place Indian rice farmers, some Adivasis, in a class far ahead of international science.

In the Jagannath Temple at Puri in Orissa, I was told, freshly harvested rice is presented to the deity everyday, and various varieties of rice, placed in pots, one on top of the other, with a single flame beneath the lowermost, still cook simultaneously. In Chhattisgarh region there is a rice variety called Bora, which can be ground directly into flour and made into rotis. Other varieties have fascinating names, like the kali-mooch of Gwalior, the moti-chur and the khowa; the latter, as its name signifies, tastes like dried milk. The dhokra-dhokri, with its length of grain over 14 mm is the longest rice in the world and the variety Bhimsen has the largest width; there is variety called udan pakheru – because of its long, featherlike structure.

There may have been as many as 1,20,000 varieties of rice in the country, adapted to different environments, and selected and evolved by farmers for specific human needs. These varieties are a product of nature’s desire for diversity, eagerly husbanded by indigenous and non-formal science.

The Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), at Cuttack, had been working on the different problems associated with rice culture ever since it had been set up in the late 1950s. Dr R.H. Richharia took over as its director in 1959, and a number of competent scientists had come up with interesting work that sooner or later would converge into a strategy to produce more rice. Already in 1963, C. Gangadharan, a CRRI scientist had, for example, produced a mutant variety that was short-statured and produced high yields. The institute had also been working on Taiwanese and Japanese varieties. The work was slow because it takes time to discover which varieties are stable, and resistant to diseases and pests.

Gangadharan has placed the history of rice research in India into three major periods and the developments are highly suggestive. The first phase, from 1912 to the 1950s, concentrated on pure line selections, and by the end of the period, a total of 445 improved rice varieties, mostly the result of pure line methods of selection, were bred.

But what is interesting for our purpose and which starkly illuminates the major schism that would soon develop between indigenous science and ‘international science’ is the broad list of objectives of this early research. Gangadharan lists nine including earliness, deep water and flood resistance, lodging resistance, drought resistance, non-shedding of grain, dormancy of seed, control of wild rice, disease resistance and higher response to heavy manuring. Since pure line selection is itself based on natural selection occurring over centuries, there was no problem of incompatibility between genes and the environment, and therefore no pest problem.

The second phase was less promising. It involved the initially unsuccessful effort at hybridising the Japonica and Indica varieties. The objective, writes Gangadharan, ‘was to transfer the high yielding ability and response to fertilisers that characterise the Japonicas into local Indica varieties which are adapted to local conditions of culture and to the prevalent diseases and pests. Japan had used chemical fertilisers from the beginning of this century and Japonicas showed a response under Japanese conditions whereas the Indicas had not been cultivated under high fertility conditions.’

Only four successes were reported from this programme. The problem was that the Japonicas were both photo-period and temperature sensitive and additionally the seed had been brought from some of the coldest regions of Japan. When these varieties were planted in the tropical environment, they not only gave different but negative results. The introduction of the Philippines semi-dwarf varieties put an abrupt end to this line of research. Later the CRRI imported seed from the milder, temperate region of Japan. This time the efforts were successful but IRRI’s control over the rice research programme would effectively keep these efforts out of circulation, and science.

Which brings us to the third phase inaugurated by IRRI, and also the subject of this investigation.

IRRI was established on the basis of a note written by a Rockefeller official in 1959. Both the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations put up the money to start the institute, which was established formally in 1960 and began functioning fully in 1962. From start to finish, the CRRI would be no match in an unequal battle all the way. The IRRI officials would literally buy rice scientists from different parts of Asia, and take over most of the outstanding talent simply because of IRRI’s ability to offer them salaries not only in dollars, but out of proportion to what they received in their own countries, and its ability to provide accommodation, and opportunities for educating staff children anywhere in the world.

By 1966, IRRI had come up with its first success. It is important to emphasise that whereas the CRRI had nine objectives governing its research, IRRI had only one. IR8 was a semi-dwarf rice variety, the result of a cross between an Indonesian tall rice plant and a Taiwanese dwarf variety. Distinctive of the plant was its ability to stand heavy fertilisation, and heavier yields, without lodging. (It also inaugurated a vast market for American fertilisers all over Asia). Without water, fertilisers and pesticides, IR8 did not perform extraordinarily better than the older rices. The disadvantage of the latter was solely that they tended to lodge when given extra nutrients, thus leading to losses.

The CRRI had, as mentioned earlier, been working with identical material and in fact had isolated dwarf varieties from Taiwan that were free from susceptibility to viral attacks. When the news arrived that the Indian government was planning, at the insistence of IRRI experts, to import the new IRRI seed in bulk into India, Dr Richharia, CRRI director, objected.

The government seems to have found Dr Richharia’s advice contradictory: earlier, it had been informed by the CRRI that Taichung varieties could provide a breakthrough in rice production; now Richharia was objecting to their import. The contradiction stemmed from the fact that bureaucrats and politicians have little grounding in genetics: they did not seem to understand that seed tested after numerous adaptive trials over many seasons, and then selected and multiplied, is radically different from seed imported in bulk from abroad. The latter, because of its mixed population, will contain seed carrying disease and which might be susceptible to pests. IRRI at that point of time was too keen to get its seeds grown on a large scale before decisions could be reversed, to subscribe to caution of any kind.

It was also the tremendous leverage that the Americans maintained over the Indian science establishment that enabled IRRI to ride roughshod over the protests of Indian scientists. Though the country was allegedly nonaligned in politics, most of its policies in science and economics were largely under the control of Americans. Thus the community development programme originated with Albert Myers. Douglas Emswinger of the Ford Foundation once boasted that he had better access to Pandit Nehru than any of the latter’s cabinet colleagues. Dr Richharia first came to know of his appointment to the director’s post at the CRRI from an American, Prof Claim. Dr. Robert Chandler, director of IRRI, reported directly to Agriculture Minister, C. Subramaniam.

Chandler, in his recent account of the IRRI, An Adventure in Applied Science, has admitted that he had never seen a rice plant when he took over as director of IRRI. Yet, it was at his instigation, and because he had been castigated once by Dr Richharia for bringing rice seed into the country without a quarantine certificate, thus violating the country’s laws, that the government decided to retire Dr Richharia, at that time one of the world’s leading rice specialists.

Once IR8 and TN1 had become fairly established within India and all rice research oriented solely in the direction of semi-dwarfs using these parents, IRRI would naturally retain the lead, with large doses of political clout and advertising to make up for shortfalls in science. Rice scientists from Asia, if they wished to make a career, would have to support the IRRI research direction.

One additional significant factor that seems to have made an impact on the government at the time was the disastrous harvests of 1965 and 1966. What weighed with the Government of India (and also former President Marcos of the Philippines) in choosing to uncritically deploy IRRI technology, was that the latter, for the first time, offered an almost automatic method of raising food that would place it within the control of the administration, taking it out of the hands of the peasants. If the government concentrated its resources in a few, well-endowed areas, using the HYV package, it could produce a sizeable output of food that would be independent of the whims of the monsoons. Again, the very method of agriculture, based on expensive inputs, required credit, and this assured the government that a good proportion of the grain thus produced would end up in the market, in the hands of government procurement agencies, and could then be used to keep prices stable in the cities.

Two major developments totally ruined the prospect of a promised land overflowing with rice and honey. The first was economic: the oil price hike of 1973 effectively limited a fertiliser-based agricultural strategy. It would make Green Revolution inputs so expensive that they would have to be subsidised by Governments if farmers were not to give up using them forever. The second major problem, also irreversible, arrived in the form of disease and insects. The growing of varieties with a narrow genetic base (all with the same dwarfing gene, dee-gee-wo-gen), upset insect ecology and invented entire generations of pests. Dr Swaminathan has himself made quite a shameless summary of the fate of IRRI varieties, in a recent issue of Mazingira. He writes:

‘It is difficult to develop a variety that has a useful life of more than five to six years in tropical environments unless genes for horizontal (more stable) resistance are identified and incorporated. Year round rice cultivation causes disease and insect organisms to occur in overlapping generations and increases the chance of new races or biotypes developing; thus new pest problems continuously arise. Variety IR8, released in 1966, suffered from serious attacks of bacterial blight (BB) in 1968 and 1969. In 1970 and 1971, outbreaks of rice tungro virus (RTV) destroyed IR8 yields throughout the Philippines. The IR20 variety, released in 1969, had BB resistance and RTV tolerance, and it replaced IR8 in 1971 and 1972. However, outbreaks of brown plant hopper (BPH) and grassy stunt virus (GSV) in 1973 destroyed IR20 in most Philippine provinces. Variety IR26, with BPH resistance, was released in 1973 and became the dominant Philippine variety in 1974 and 1975. In 1976, a new BPH biotype attacked it and IR36 was released; it had a different gene for resistance to the new BPH biotype and replaced IR26 within one year. It is now the dominant variety in the Philippines. Its resistance to BPH has held till recently, but it is now being threatened by ragged stunt and wilted stunt (both new diseases), as well as by another new biotype of BPH (No. 3).

In India, the situation was equally horrifying. All of Dr Richharia’s predictions had come true. ‘The introduction of high-yielding varieties,’ noted a task force of eminent rice breeders, ‘has brought about a marked change in the status of insect pests like gall midge, brown planthopper, leaf folder, whore maggot, etc. Most of the HYVs released so far are susceptible to major pests with a crop loss of 30 to 100 per cent… Most of the HYVs are the derivatives of TN1 or IR8 and therefore, have the dwarfing gene known as dee-gee-wo-gen. The narrow genetic base has created alarming uniformity, causing vulnerability to diseases and pests. Most of the released varieties are not suitable for typical uplands and lowlands which together constitute about 75 per cent of the total rice area of the country.’

The IRRI counter-strategy against the pests involved breeding of varieties, with genes for resistance to such pests, taken from wild relatives of the rice plant and its traditional cultivars. All of a sudden it seemed critical that massive efforts be made to make as complete a collection of the older varieties: many of the traditional Indicas were found to be important donors for resistance. Gene incorporation strategy, in other words, required vast germplasm resources, most of which were to be found in India. The recruitment of Dr M.S. Swaminathan would be instrumental in the task of collection.

In India, again, Dr Richharia stood in the way.

After he had been retired from service at Chandler’s insistence, Richharia had gone to the Orissa High Court, where for three years, alone, he fought a legal battle that ruined his family, disrupted the education of his children, and brought tremendous strains on his wife’s health. The legal battle was successful, for in 1970, the Court ordered his reinstatement as director of the CRRI. He had redeemed his honour.

In the meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh government had appointed Dr Richharia as an agricultural advisor, and the rice man set about his disrupted rice work once again, with his usual zeal. Within the space of six years, he had built up the infrastructure of a new rice research institute at Raipur. Here, this extraordinarily gifted and imaginative rice scientist maintained over 19,000 varieties of rice in situ on a shoestring budget of Rs. 20,000 per annum, with not even a microscope in his office-cum-laboratory, situated in the neighbourhood of cooperative rice mills. His assistants included two agricultural graduates and six village level workers, the latter drawing a salary of Rs.250 per month. Richharia had created, practically out of nothing, one of the most extraordinary living gene banks in the world, and provided ample proof of what Indian scientists are capable of, if they are given proper encouragement.

An attack of leaf blight that devastated the corn crop of the US in 1970, and which had resulted from the extensive planting of hybrids that shared a single source of cytoplasm, and the continuous attacks on IRRI varieties, impelled IRRI to sponsor a Rice Genetic Conservation Workshop in 1977. Swaminathan attended it as an ‘observer’. The report of that workshop begins with the statement: ‘The founders of IRRI showed great foresight when in 1960-61 they planned the establishment of a rice germplasm bank.’ Nonsense. The certified aims and objects for the institute merely talk of a collection of the world’s literature on rice. The workshop, being held 17 years after the establishment of IRRI, indicated that the germplasm problem was becoming important only now.

After the workshop, IRRI’s covetous gaze fell on Richharia’s 19,000 varieties at the Madhya Pradesh Rice Research Institute (MPRRI). Not only had Richharia now uncovered a fascinating world of traditional rices, some of which produced between 8-9 tonnes per hectare – better than the IRRI varieties – he had also discovered dwarf plants without the susceptible dwarfing gene of the IRRI varieties. His extension work among the farmers would soon begin to pose a direct challenge to IRRI itself.

IRRI staff members journeyed to Raipur and asked for his material. Still moulded in the old scientific tradition, he refused because he had not studied the material himself. He was decidedly against any proposal for ‘exchange’, for this could only mean giving up his uncontaminated varieties for IRRI’s susceptible ones.

So the IRRI did the next best thing: it got the MPRRI shut down!

The ICAR floated a scheme for agricultural development in Madhya Pradesh, particularly for rice. The World Bank contributed Rs.4 crores. The condition laid down was: close down the MPRRI, since it would lead to a ‘duplication of work.’ At a special meeting of the MPRRI Board, Madhya Pradesh’s chief secretary who was not a trustee was present. He had been earlier connected with the Ford Foundation. A resolution was passed closing down the Institute, and the rice germplasm passed over to the Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (JNKVV), whose vice-chancellor Sukhdev Singh also joined the IRRI board of trustees. Scientists were sent to IRRI for training in germplasm transfer, and Richharia’s team was disbanded.

This time too, they locked Dr. Richharia’s rooms and took away all his research papers.

On June 4, 1982, Dr M.N. Shrivastava, rice breeder, JNKVV, wrote to P.S. Srinivasan, the IRRI liaison officer, addressed it care of Ford Foundation, New Delhi, enclosing two sets of material as requested by T.T. Chang of IRRI: ‘First set (264 accessions) is from our early duration collection and second set (170 samples) is part of those varieties which were identified to be popular with the farmers of Madhya Pradesh and Dr R.H. Richharia, former director of MPRRI, purified them and recommended replacing originals with these purified versions.’

But with Richharia out of the fray, nature herself now jumped into the ring. It responded with the necessary mutations, and began to lay low the new pest resistant varieties, rendering even the strategy of gene incorporation, of temporary utility. And then, in a fashion that only those with some respect for nature’s awesome ways would understand, it delivered the coup de grace.

The distinctive success of the HYVs lay in their being short stemmed, able to stand heavy nitrogen applications without lodging, when compared with the older varieties. The incorporation of more and more genes from traditional cultivars not only passed on resistance characters, but also the tendency to lodge. Ergo, modern varieties began to lose their non-lodging character, the main advantage they had against the older cultivars. Research Highlights for 1983, an IRRI publication, observes:

‘Modern rices produce high grain yields with large amounts of applied nitrogen. However, heavy applications increase lodging, which reduces yields. Additionally, as higher levels of insect pest and disease resistance have been bred into modern semi-dwarf varieties, lodging resistance has tended to decline.’

The green revolution in rice had begun to involute.

What then have been the ‘achievements’ of such corrupt and politically naive science? (One set of all IRRI germplasm has been sent to Fort Collins, the maximum security installation in the US, without the permission of the Indian government). Has such science achieved any of its declared aims? Bharat Dogra summed it up:

‘Starting from just five million hectares in 1970-71, over 18 million hectares or nearly half the area of (rice) has now been brought under the HYVs programme till 1982-83… Therefore, this crop must have received a substantial share of the benefit of the overall increase in irrigation and the increase in the overall consumption of NPK fertilisers. However, compared to the increase in the area under HYVs and the increase in fertilisers and irrigation, the production of rice has increased to a lesser extent. During the period mentioned above (1970-71 to 1982-83), the production of rice has gone up from 42.23 million tonnes to 46.48 million tonnes. Assuming the production of non-HYVs did not experience any increase at all and all the difference in rice production was on HYVs land, we get an increase in production of about 4 million tonnes as a result of extension of HYVs programme to nearly 13 million hectares of land. In other words, an increase of 0.31 tonnes was achieved with HYV per hectare. This is a relatively small accomplishment which could have been easily achieved even without the expensive HYV programme and its infrastructure by making better use of village-based resources.’

A 33-member official working group headed by K.C.S Acharya, additional secretary in the ministry of agriculture, has determined that the growth rate of rice production after the Green Revolution has been less when compared with the pre-Green Revolution period.

Millions of hectares of rice are now routinely devastated by BPH and other pests and no compensation is available to farmers who are induced to take to such ‘modernised’ agriculture. Such pest infestations have been introduced into the Indian environment. The IRRI officials knew what they were doing, and they did it for the cheap objective of wanting to assert IRRI primacy.

The unmonitored, hasty introduction of HYVs of seed has led to genetic erosion of tremendous proportions, as hundreds of priceless traditional varieties have been lost to mankind. It is only in the eighties that the IRRI has begun to acknowledge the true worth of the older varieties. What a curious circle of events!

The IRRI inaugurated the revolution in rice by holding in ridicule the basis of traditional agriculture – the traditional cultivar, itself the result of close trial and error experimentation by farmers over decades – and sought to displace it with its own product, the HYV. However, since the HYV was not closely adapted to any environment, it required extensive support, having attracted pest infestations on a mass scale. Protection could only come from the same traditional cultivars, which at the time of HYV propagation, had been loaded with abuse.

Is there a way out: how can such a state of science exist nearly 40 years after independence? Why does the director of the CRRI continue to remain as a trustee of the IRRI, which he has been since 1979? To continue and deepen the dependence? The IRRI has no future, politically, and also as far as research is concerned. Politically, its future was tied to former President Marcos, and Filipino farmers and scientists had already begun to demand its closure. As far as research is concerned, the IRRI has no new ideas, and is now eagerly visiting China to learn Chinese techniques of growing hybrid rice, the next frontier in rice yield enhancement.

The CRRI has ample talent to match Chinese science. It has still vital access to hundreds of indigenous cultivars (a recent count of rice collection centres indicated that there were about 44,000 varieties, whereas the IRRI has 70,000). What then should be done?

First, the CRRI should be upgraded to international standards, for that is the only sure guarantee of the funds it needs, and which it has been deprived of, ever since Indian politicians decided to back IRRI science. Today, the CRRI germplasm unit does not have even a jeep to operate its collection of rice cultivars.

Second, all further export of rice germplasm to IRRI should be banned, since germplasm is part of our national heritage, and its preservation is enjoined by the Constitution in the chapter on Fundamental Duties. Third, steps should be taken to gradually replace IRRI varieties, and all those having IRRI parents, with productive indigenous varieties in the fields. This is already happening in the Philippines: farmers are exchanging old varieties with each other, disowning IRRI seeds, aptly described as ‘seeds of imperialism’ and ‘seeds of sabotage.’

There seems to have been some awareness at the level of the government that the rice revolution had been grounded, due to environmental and economic factors. The late Prime Minister, Mrs Gandhi, had asked Dr Richharia for a rice production increase plan. After he submitted it, he heard no more about it. After an article by Dom Moraes on Richharia, the M.P. Government hastily set about attempting to find some funds to ask the latter to resume his work. Now that proposal has been scotched by the same forces that once got the MPRRI to close down.

More than 25 years have passed in this costly, wasteful, environmentally unsound, flirtation with the exogene. The sorry and sad record only serves to underline the principle – despite our continuing mesmerisation by western science – that for genuine development of any worthwhile kind, the indigene is still the best gene.

(Courtesy Dr Claude Alvares)

 [This article was first published in The Illustrated Weekly of India, March 23, 1986; the issues remain relevant – ed.)

I am sharing some of my random thoughts on this aspect here.

Economy, Administration and Social Structure:

Economy doesnt exists independantly on its own.   It needs a society, and a governance & administrative structure to thrive.  So depending on the kind of government, and the kind of society, the economy will take its shape.

Today, in india, two kinds of economies exist.

1. The economy that exists in the rural areas, that functions in traditional way, and is a continuation of our civilization.  This economy is people oriented, and people based.  This economy is also Need based.

2. The Economy that exists in Urban Centers like Metros, Cities, and towns.  This is market based, and Population based.  (there is difference b/w people based and population based).

In villages, due to the traditional jathi based societies, everyone had been doing their kula profession.  So there is no competition for capturing any other’s market.  Trading here is largely about exchange of products, for their respective profession.

On the other hand, in urban centers, we have only population and NOT society.  The buying power of these population constitute the market potential of that town.  This market potential varies depending on the size of the town or city.

Next, how can a city function?  The indian government had been enforcing its urbanisation policy, since independance.  But till liberalisation of 1990s, the size of each of the urban centres did not expand much.  The reason is because, these cities were depending on Rural society.  Cities served just as integrating point for villages.

However, after liberalisation, almost all cities witnessed a cancerous growth.  Particularly the metros, like chennai and Mumbai, and recent ones like Bangalore. These growths were largely because of Export Money, and artificial free flowing of indian currency.  Because of this, the indian cities, once a trading and integrating point of indian villages, had now become, centres of business, serving foreign clients, and foreign corporates.  BPOs, Software Companies, Industrial estates, all served foreign corporates, and their exhorbitantly high income is due to Currency difference.  One dollar begets them 50 indian rupees, and thus creating extreme disparities.  Due to this foreign based export oriented industry and business, the life style in these cities were shaped based on western model.  Malls, parks, over-bridge, theatres, and you name it..  everything is built on western model.  As a result, the economy in these cities,  also evolved resembling western economies, rather than indian rural ones.

When big Foreign Retail Corporates like Walmart wants to enter india, they exactly target these urban economy, and NOT the rural economy.   No corporate can compete or prosper in our rural economy, because it is decentralised, and based on people and relation.

What is use of shouting against government, when we ourselves destroy rural economies and create westernised ones?

Imagine, how many villages had been destroyed to create a chennai metro.  Which means, how many village economies, how many local markets, and how many farming based families collapsed?

And till today, many cities are expanded by dismantling the village panchayats, all across the country, and our Nationalist Intellectuals, are totally silent on this.  No one had so far questioned the Urbanisation policy of the government in these 60 years.

And i find no meaning in their current opposition to FDI in retail.  Are they trying to convey, that only indian urbanites had the right to destroy rural economy and NOT the foreign corporates?

The solution lies in strengthening our traditional local economy, and developing our national economy on top of it.  And if we can do that, we can boldy challenge Wal-Mart to come and try their luck in our country.  I bet, they cannot compete even an inch in our traditional people based economy.

To quote an example, can any corporate replace mumbai dabbawalas?  That is the power of people based, and jathi based economies.  (And for your info, most members in the dabbawalas belong to a single caste.  I think their caste name is malwa )

First, let me come to the supporting groups.  The main reason for them to support varnashrama dharma is the call by late paramacharya, of kanchi mutt to protect our dharma. Because he said it, dharma had become a Biblical call to protect.

The opposing groups, often cite dalits, untouchability, and accuse that varnashrama dharma had oppressed these people for thousands (!!!!!) of years.

The reason for all these, is the lack of understanding of what is meant by varnashrama dharma.  Only manu smriti was the source of information for all of them, and most people project manusmriti as Biblical Authority for whole of Hinduism.  No one had ever seen or studied manu smriti with open mind.

This post is an attempt to clear all the FUZZ around this.

Varnashrama Dharma is NOT totalatarian :

Most of us think, that manu smriti is a totalatarian book like the bible, or the Indian Constitution.  This is wrong.  Varnashrama Dharma, is only for the settled society. NOT for all people.    There are so many people groups, where varnashrama dharma doesnt apply, and that they lived independant of the settled society.

To quote an example, Sri Rama is a kshatriya.  But what do we say with Guha?  He is NOT a shudra, NOR a panchama.  He is the chief of a fisherman community, a semi-tribal group.  Varnashrama Dharma do NOT apply to them.

Arjuna and other pandavas were kshatriyas.  But Ekalavya??  He is just chief of a tribe.  And varna dharma doesnt apply to them.

In Short, all tribal societies are outside Varna Dharma, and varna is NOT mandatory for them and NOT enforced on them.

Infact, the varna based societies had co-existed with these groups peacefully, recognising their rights over the forest.  Look at the following texts of Manu Smriti.

 On failure of witnesses (from the two villages, men of) the four neighbouring villages, who are pure, shall make (as witnesses) a -decision concerning the boundary in the presence of the king.

259. On failure of neighbours (who are) original inhabitants (of the country and can be) witnesses with respect to the boundary, (the king) may hear the evidence even of the following inhabitants of the forest.

260. (Viz.) hunters, fowlers, herdsmen, fishermen, root-diggers, snake-catchers, gleaners, and other foresters.

The above quote from manusmriti says, that king should consult the local people and also the inhabitants of the forest, like herdsmen, hunters, fishermen.

What does this indicate?  The settled society, based on varna dharma is confined within its boundaries.  The forest, hills, and other areas like grazing lands, belonged to the tribals and other people groups, and they were freely continuing their livelihood.

Manu Smriti is NOT Bible:

Is there any society in europe, that exists outside the purview of Bible?  Except for some micro-Minorities (like Roma Gypsies), there is nothing.  The Bible classifies the whole world in to Believers and Infidels, in which, the infidels are either to be converted to christianity or destroyed.  In short, its not allowed for any people group, to exist outside Biblical Society.

And varnashrama dharma is being perceived on the same lines, by a section of our people.  That’s wrong.  Varna classified people outside varna as Avarna, but recognised their rights over their land.  Varna Dharma doesnt attempt to convert others.  Infact, it only throws people out of varna system, if they dont adhere to it.

Varnashrama cannot be Followed:

Many people often say, that everyone have to follow Varna Dharma.  This is total rubbish.  Manu Smriti is NOT a bible to be followed or believed.  Varna dharma is NOT a religion.  Its NOT a belief based system. These are just frameworks with roles and responsibilities for a settled society.

To give an analogy, suppose you are working in a particular company, and there are certain rules to be followed for the role you held in that company.  Will it be sensible, if you change your company & roles, but still want to follow the previous rules?  Same applies to varna dharma. It needs its own social model to be applied.  When you migrate to westernised cities, you should discard your varna and dharma.

And varna dharma applies only to vaidiha society.  NOT to Asuric society. Today, the westernised cities are based on mlecha model, and totally asuric.  And by living in such cities, one cannot even think of varna dharma.

So the hindu activists should realise this, and stop confusing themselves with varnashrama, in the name of “Protecting Dharma”.

Manu Smriti is NOT a Constitution:

Today, any one violating the Indian constitution is punished by the judiciary.  The accused will be  either fined or imprisoned.  Few set of Hindus are made to think that the same thing happens in the case of varnashrama dharma.  This is wrong.

Varnashrama Dharma is NOT a totalatarian like the Indian Constitution.  Its just a framework for a settled society which lives in areas (Gramam & nagaram) with demarcated boundaries.  People are free to come out of it and live in a different place.  Varna Dharma doesnt prevent them. Infact, it excludes a non-adhering person out of varna setup, rather than arresting and torturing him like Indian Constitution does.

Does the Indian Constitution give that freedom?  Can any one say “I dont want to be subjugated by Indian Constitution, and at the same time live here?  Does Indian Constitution allow this?

Now tell me, who is oppressive?

NOT all Dalits are Shudras:

This word is recent invention and exists only in past 100 years.  It is not used even in british documents on indian society as late as 1850s, indicating common people never used this.  Its irony, that the Hindutva people, hang on to this political identity.

Shudras are NOT dalits.  Shudras are referred as Putra Varga.  Meaning, the group of people, to be protected by the kshatriyas at any cost.  Shudras are NOT obliged to fight in war.  Its only the kshatriyas who has to fight the war and face death.

NOT all people groups, classified as Dalits are Shudras.  Many tribal groups who migrated to plains were also classified as Dalits (or SC) by government.

Untouchability:

Now, with the details so far discussed, if we look at untouchability, it is perfectly valid and sensible.  People from brahmana varna who has to follow stricter codes of life, cannot afford to mingle with the tribals or other incompatible people groups.

Untouchability is perfectly valid, when followed within the vaidiha society like traditional Bharatheeya gramams.  There the shudras themselves realise this and hence keepts distance away from brahmanas. But, if the same brahmana ( & other varnas too), comes out of that setup, settles in asuric centers like westernised urban Cities, and still follows untouchability, it is ridiculous.  Because, that person himself becomes untouchable.

The Conclusion:

All the consusion started, only when the Britishers started conquering India.  As explained in my earlier post , they changed the varna system in to a racial Caste System based on European concepts.  Later, the missionaries, and the marxists, who dominated indian intellectuals & Academic space, continued this in Universities, Media, and Government Policies.  The result:  The Indian State, had been always hostile to Bharatheeya Society.  The Indians (the class of people, educated in english, and reside in Metros), had been highly contempt of our traditional society.   Everything is seen only through perspective of Oppression, Suppression, and Discrimination, till today.  Ironically, it is these very same Indians, who had colonised whole rural india, exploits it for their daily survival.

Some points to conclude.

• The Tribals, who are now categarised as STs , had always been recognized by indian kings, and their rights over their forest land, had been acknowledged.  It is Indian Constitution and Indian Government, which oppresses them.  Again, its ironical, that the very oppressor itself is proclaiming itself as saviour, by categorising them as ST.

• The Hindu Activists, and the Hindu supporters, have to realise that, they have only either-or option.  Either, they can live in Westernised Urban Centers and DISCARD varnashrama dharma, OR they have to come out, and live in traditional Indian Villages & Nagaras, as per Varna Dharma.  They should NOT attempt to mix both.

• Since all traditional bharatheeya villages, and Nagaras had been colonised and destroyed by Colonial Indian State, today, even if one wants to adhere to varna dharma, could not do so.  Bcoz, the required ecosystem is refused for them.

• The varna system, had allowed NON-Varna Tribal Societies to co-exist, and interacted with them.   But the totalatarian Indian State, is NOT allowing a varna society to exist, and had destroyed all traditional villages.   Who is oppressive?  the Indian State or Varnashrama Dharma?

Background of the issue:

The paramakud conflict was between pallar community and Police who prevented them from celebrating the Imanuel Sekaran Guru Pooja.  The police reasoning is that this function is used as disguise to cause caste conflict. There seems to be some truth, as few days before, a pallar community teenager was murdered (obviously by mukkulathors), for writing some obscene comments on Muthuramalinga Devar.

From what i understood from various sources, John Pandiyan, one of the leader of pallar community, was arrested on the way, and it was feared that he would be encountered or killed in police custody.  So the community people started protesting to release him, and the resulting shoot out and violence that followed.

The Pallar Vs Devar Clash :

If we look at the history of this clash, it all started with murder of Imanuel Sekaran, by supporters of Muthuramalinga Devar, the man who joined Forward Bloc of Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose.  Historically, the devars were the ruling community in many regions, who fought vigourously against British (the polygar wars) and never gave in.  This made them permanent enemy and the british reduced them to utter poverty in many places.  Once a ruling case, they became slaves of the colonial oppression .  Yet even after losing political control, they retained the dominance.

There was no problem as long as their dominance is not challenged and for the pallar community they accepted the dominance bcoz they had their own survival means.

The problem started, when western style of Gangster Politics Or Vote based politics (which people call as democratic politcs) was introduced by britishers, where any party gaining majority votes can form government.  In an attempt to gain more votes, the politicians tried to consolidate their caste men.  But the problem is that common people in all castes are NOT behind power, bcoz every jaathi had the autonomy and a peaceful life as they had a profession to live.  The problem becomes more challenging, bcoz, the pallar community and others, favored the leaders from devar community (who were dominant) of their area. How will these policians make their community people to vote enmasse for him?  They started pitting against one another.

The main culprit was christian missionaries, and the communists.  The reason are obvious.  The communist ideology is always violent, under the disguise that they are fighting for oppressed people.  But how come they survive here, when the dominance of devar (once the rulers) was accepted by pallars, and both lived in peace?

The christian missionaries, wanted sinned, poor and destitute people, so that jesus could come as saviour.  But how can they survive, when the pallars are happy enough to have a survival means, the freedom to have their kula temple, the freedom to marry, the freedom to have jaathi panchayat to resolve issues among themselves, and the freedom for social function?  Can a missionary be able to harvest soul from these people?

The first clash started when Imanuel Sekaran started to do politics against Muthuramalinga devar, where he started insulting him and as a result, he was murdered.  A permanent enmity was ensured there after, and the communists, marxists, christians and all vested interests played the oppression card and unleashed heavy propoganda for the past one century (which itself is the most brutal terrorism inflicted on our society).

Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Devar and pallars:

The British government had classified hundreds of caste across india as Criminal Tribes.  In tamilnadu, the pallars and kallars (one of mukkulathor community) were both classified as criminal tribes.  Muthu ramalinga devar fought against this, on behalf of Pallar community too.

When land ceiling act was implemented, he distributed his  lands to pallar communities  also.

Can any one believe this?

The psychological Angle:

How does a falling power behave?  You can get the answer from what british did with various nations when they have to end colonialism.  They engineered India-pakistan partition, and till today ensured that these two entities are at each other’s throat.  Otherwise, the growth of such vast country would have made them a third world country.

It is the same case with all local ruling communities.  why do you expect a different behaviour from them?

Infact, i would say, our ruling castes were thousand times more superior than these british colonisers.  When the dominance of ruling jaathis was accepted by others, there exists peace .  Whereas, when british or america dominate other countries, the result is colonialism and economic exploitation.

Can any one explain, Why is British pound at such high rate or why American dollar at such high rate?

The Myth of Caste Oppression:

There are hundreds of jaathis in tamilnadu?  But the jaathi clash is confined only b/w two or three jaathis.  In North Tamilnadu, it is b/w vanniyar and parayars.  In South Tamilnadu, it is between Devars and pallars, and b/w nadars and pallars.   There is no clash b/w pillais and pallars.  There is no clash b/w choliya vellalars and pallars.  Or in North, there is no clash b/w thondai vellalars and parayars.

Has anyone every analysed these phenomenon?  Never.  The propoganda has been so strong, that any fair and open minded analysis of caste problem is virtually made NOT possible.

The caste oppression in India is always a media and academic propoganda war against indian society.  Infact, if there was any western style oppression, you can always track that to british jameendari system.  In hindu society, there was only fight for caste dominance, and NOT for oppressing others.   And this fight was only during british rule, where every jaathi is enslaved by totalatarian corporate governance created by british.

The Hindu Opinion on paramakudi is a bullshit, which only repeats the old established propoganda.  It only invokes caste oppression, victimisation, and other extreme negative arguments, that pushes any reader in to depression.  It is these kind of media conspiracy, that has been preventing free thinking on caste.  For every single caste related issue, the dalit oppression is invoked without any second thought.  Even when a dalit person raped a girl of his own community, the media projects with abstract title, “Dalits raped”.   Such acts, in any fair society, would have been invited fiercest punishment of media persons.

But india is a taken for granted society. 

Can we free our society from the clutches of these intellectual assault?

Some Media reports on paramakudi:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tamil-Nadu-police-firing-Toll-rises-to-six/articleshow/9952814.cms

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/paramakudi-firing-%E2%80%98barbaric%E2%80%99-stalin-128

One of the reason, people go against caste system are due to some tactically formed arguments, which is often repeated in academic and media circles. Listed below are some of those which i remember.

1. Caste system classifies people based on birth.

2. Birth Based Discrimination

3. Caste system forces people in particular profession for thousands of years.

4. Caste system promotes untouchability.

 if you had come across any other such arguments, please share it in the comment section, so that i can include it in the list. I will deal with each of the above, in subsequent posts in this series.

 Caste System Classifies people based on birth:

A powerful argument, that makes many hindu intellectuals, defenseless. The perception made is that, just because a person is born in a particular jaathi, he is to carry over the baggage of that identity for his entire life, unable to come out of it.

The falsehood of this argument can be gauged from the very simple question: how many people wanted to come out of their jaathi? The reality is that people (including dalits) fought for respect for their jaathi, rather than coming out.

Inspite of this reality, why is that no hindu intellectual had ever countered this false propoganda? The reason is lack of understanding of our jaathi setup, and also because most hindu intellectuals are urban dwellers, who dont know anything about the rural setup.

Today, this gap is diminishing, as more youths from rural area got educated and work in urban centers, and able to see both sides of the world.

 Varna and Jaathi:

There is so much confusion b/w varna and jaathi. The english word caste is being interchangeably used to denote both.

Varna is a social framework that existed as a model for creation of governing units. (whether its a dhesam or a samasthanam). The varna is just a classification and does not identify with any race.

On the other hand, the jaathi is the direct identity of people groups. A jaathi is based on kulam and gothram. A gothram is a group of people coming from same paternal lineage. Which means, all people in a gothram are brothers and sisters.

A kulam is a group of gothrams, having matrimonial bondings. So a kulam is a total composite of individual gothrams. A kulam with gothrams, along with the kula profession constitutes a jaathi.  So naturally, jaathi can only be based on birth.  There is nothing wrong in it.

We can understand more on this, if we look at the society. In tamilnadu, there were 4 ancient dhesams. Chola dhesam, pandya dhesam, chera dhesam and thondai dhesam. The brahmanas residing in chola dhesam are called choliya brahmins, whereas those in pandya dhesam are pandya brahmins. So as, a farmer in chola dhesam are called choliya vellala, whereas in pandya dhesam are called pandya vellala.

So here, brahamana denotes the classification, whereas choliya brahmin denotes a group of people living in chola dhesam. Brahmana is a varna, and choliya brahmin is a jaathi.

A choliya brahmana would not marry with a pandya brahmana or brahmins from other region.

Also, there are different sects, like adhi saivar, deekshithar, etc who also are classificed as brahmana, but a different jaathi.

What is caste?

As the british slowly conquered india, they started introducing western model of administration, to govern this vast land. For that they attempted to study the indian society, which they did not know much. In that process, they started seeing indian society from the western perspective.

The first thing, they looked in our society is a religion, that is similar to christianity. Then a social order, that is similar to western master slave model. The budhism, sikhism, jainism are centered around single personality who created that, and hence britishers, approved it as separate religion. Whereas, the rest of the numerous diverse culture, doesnt fit in to their framework of religion. So they grouped all else, in to single identity called Hinduism.

Next, the four varnas, which manu smriti described was being taken as four castes, and being categorized on the model of western Upper/Lower caste. And this became a base for all the propoganda later unleashed.

Varna, a social framework, is being treated as westernised caste, and manu smriti, a time bound law book, being treated as religious book similar to bible. And this flawed classification became official, and all govt policies taken based on this. And the same blunder is being followed even after independance.

Consequences of British Classification:

This british classification had resulted in disastrous consequences in indian society. The varnas, which earlier were based on dharma, was now converted to a race. The brahmins, in a varna setup, would become a shudra, if he did not follow brahmana dharma. But when this varna transformed in to caste system ( due to british classification ), this condition is removed. A brahmin would be a brahmin by birth, no matter, whether he is a drunkard or goes to caberat or eats meat or eats beef.

The values in a social system are enforced by the rulers. In our case, the new ruler, the britishers, discarded these values, and let the system degrade. After so called independance, when the same administrative structure was retained and continuing till today, how do we expect any change in the corrupted caste system?

So when values is removed from a system or setup, it naturally degrades and perishes. This is true for all institutions.

What about Jaathi?

As said earlier, the varnas are just conceptual framework. Its not direct identity. The brahmins all over india learnt vedas, and hence british made a horizontal classification, and grouped all brahmins as one caste. However, the other varnas, identified themselves based on the region. Eg: gomathi chettiyar, devanga chettiyar, kamma nayakar, thottiya nayakkar, choliya vellalar, pandya vellalar etc.. These identities are multi-dimensional, based on region, profession and lineage. Hence difficult for horizontal classification.

So these different jaathis are also tagged to the caste system, which till this date, had created so much confusion, that a typical hindu intellectual could not understand, what is a kulam, jaathi, and varna. And hence the extreme Birth Based Hysteria.

( I will write a separate post on this varna, jaathi and kulam later)

Need of the Hour:

The hindu intellectuals has to first throw away the british classification, and start looking at our society from a fresh perspective. So far, there has been no single indegenous study, about our society, and social setup. All official documents rely on british sources, which means, an entire generation of indians are educated from alien perspective.

The original varna dharma has to be upholded. The anglicised brahmins, who went for government jobs, and other private sector jobs should discard their brahmana identity, since as per original varna dharma, they cannot be called a brahmana. Infact they dont have anything to lose by discarding this identity, and instead, they can choose a new identity or name for them ( for now, lets call them Ex-Brahmins). On the other hand, such an act, will help us shield the traditional brahmins, from the vicious propoganda . The Ex-Brahmins have to realise, that the traditional brahmins bore the brunt of the actions, done by them.

At the intellectual level, the Ex-Brahmins should make attempts to undo the british racial classification of the varnas, and establish the original purpose of the varna dharma. Also, the Ex-Brahmins, as a matter of self-introspection, should do a study on how, the anglicised brahmins who went to government jobs, affected the traditional brahmins so that the remedial measures be taken atleast from now.

Today, there are more than 35000 temples in tamilnadu, which do not have any one to do even One kaala pooja. The reason is emigration of traditional brahmins to other jobs. Only the Ex-Brahmins, who are relatively wealthy now, can create a conducive environment for these traditional priests, support them socially & economically, and encourage them to continue their brahmana dharma, learn shastras, ayurveda and be multi-skilled. The Ex-Brahmins, if they ever cared to uphold the dharma (spoilt by them), should come forward for this.

 Unless we do this, we can never be able to stop the current degradation of our society, culture and religions.

Links for References:

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/article/castesystem.htm

The hatred on caste has become an ideology, that any counter thought has been nailed in the bud.  Just by mentioning the word “birth-based”, one can make person spit venom on caste system, suspending all kind of meaningful discussion. I call it as Birth Based hysteria..

I was perplexed with such mindless argument a number of times.  On further analysing this trend, i found a number of factors, as root cause for this birth-based hysteria. I intend to break this intellectual enslavement, through this post and if possible, a series of posts.

The people behind:

If we look at the people who progates this “birth-based hysteria”, we come across the following categories.

• The anglo-dubashi brahmins (NOT the traditional brahmins), who were the first to get english education, took to westernised urban life-style and got isolated from traditional society.  Their off-springs naturally take that line. These people carry over, every british created propoganda, without any question.  For them, british gave us lot of good things, and hence we should be thankful to them.

• People educated in English medium, took to corporate jobs, and settles in urban centers like Metros (which i call as Urban Ghettos).

• Idelogically aligned persons.  Mainly those subscribing to the Communists, the Dravida Movement.

• The Christian Missionaries, who are the first to start this propoganda and source of all anti-caste literature.

• The Hindutva (RSS, VHP and all their wings) , who wanted to unite the hindu society, on the model of western institutions.

• Hindu Intellectuals, both in india and abroad, who had been occupying key positions in various institutions.

• People who claim as liberal, atheists and secular.  This group contains people from all the above categories, often colluding with one another.

I might have missed other type of people.  Please point out in the comment section, if the readers find any.

Every group has their own reason for taking this anti-caste stand.  But there is a common factor found in these these groups.  They are all uprooted from traditional society for various reason, and got settled in urban centers both during the british period, and after independance.  They are dis-connected from villages, read about the  caste-system and rural society, based on official british literature, and then form their opinion.

It is these groups, who often resort to the birth-based argument and project that caste system forced people to remain in particular profession for thousands of years, and discriminate people based on birth.

But what does the actual people in rural india, belonging to traditional societies say about the jaathi?  These people still do their jaathi profession, based on birth.  The farmers, the barbers, the cobblers, the blacksmith, the brahmins all continue their traditional profession, and that’s how the rural economy runs through.  Do all they complain that jaathi was birth based?  They would ridicule you, if you say this to them.

Few years back, I was surprised when a dalit worker while working in our fields said to me, “Who will look after this village, when all have studied and move to cities?”.  I will write more on this in separate article.

The reality:

The people who oppose birth-based are those who are just employees in a corporate concern.  I call them as Corporate Coolies. They dont own their job, and are just mercenaries, in contract for particular job. Their family (wife & children) have no role in their work, and hence become idle, taking up what ever they like.  Having been accustomed to this life style, these people develop a negative mindset, that the jaathi based profession, where son take over his father’s profession, is an oppression that is against free will.   Because of corporate life sytle, they become highly individualised, and have no rooted society/community to rely on.  Their life becomes fixated.. ie, to work in company for five/six days in a week, rest on weekends, and then again start to work.  An annual holiday of one or two weeks, will give them a break, after which they again start their routine work.  and when the corporate company performs poorly, they would be fired, to save costs.

Being uprooted from the society, they dont have any other options.  So as for their children.

Whereas, look at those birth based jaathis of our traditional societies.  The whole community is involved in the profession.  And the entire family works in that same profession (Wife, children).  No layoffs.  When there is less business, the community shares the opportunity, and so as when there is more business, it is also shared.  The person who becomes more successful in the profession, leads the community, helping those not-so talented.

In Short, an entire community owns that profession.  There is a collective entrepreneurship and a collective ownership.  And there is a culture, based on their profession, and a temple for their community.

Some successful examples to show are:  Marwaris, chamars of UP, Ramgadiyas of Rajasthan, Nadars of tamilnadu.  All developed through birth based community profession.  ie, son took over father’s profession and further improves it. This is the indic model, which we had for thousands of years.

Whereas look at the present corporate model.  A single person own large enterprises.  Workers are just individual, and not related to business.  The wages are fixed on market value and NOT on survivability. There is no social support for the worker.  And importantly, there is no family involvement.  ie, the company treats the worker as an individual and never cares about the family.   The son/daughter of the worker cannot take over the father’s job, and they have to search for new one.

Let’s leave the jaathis. Look at those enterprising families today.  Doctors running their own hospital, a trader having his own shop, a businessmen running his company, an industrialist running his factory.  They all own an enterprise, which they want their sons or daughters to take forward.   And no one complains these birth-based inheritance.

So what do you think about this birth-based profession? Should we still continue with the tirade against jaathi?  Can we come out of the british/missionary created propoganda?

There’s a complete record of temple treasures

Dr R Nagaswamy

Last Updated : 17 Jul 2011 01:01:36 AM IST

The offerings of gold and gems to Padmanabhaswamy, valued in billions, are not anonymous. Records of the gifts have been properly documented for centuries. Padmanabhaswamy temple archives contain several hundred bundles of palm leaf manuscripts called “churunai”, each bundle containing one lakh manuscripts of documents detailing the day-to-day administration and events of the temple. These documents are in Malayalam, Tamil, and Koleluttu scripts. It is estimated that there are 3,000 bundles of records, meaning that the total number of palm leaf documents would be about 30 crore! Unfortunately, these have not yet been deciphered and published. The few that have been published so far show systematic recording and documentation of gifts to the temple which would give enough information to fix the date, even the type of donors, of this huge wealth in the temple treasury.

In early 15th century (1425 AD), the then King Vira Ravi Varma constructed a record room in the temple compound. Another record (1486 AD) says that two categories of accountants were appointed—one, Karana-kanakkan, an accountant or caretaker for legal documents; the other, Pandara-kanakkan for maintaining accounts of valuables and jewels. The duty of the Pandara-kanakkan was to write and preserve day-to-day accounts of the temple and also maintain correct account of the temple treasury and the revenue collection. It was all very strictly done.

It is now known that in 1931 there was an effort to open the vaults of the main cells in the temple. They could not be opened; the attempt was abandoned. But a few other rooms were opened, and inventories prepared. Therefore, the present wealth consisting of treasures, jewels, gold image, coins, vessels and the rest belong to an earlier period. There is yet another record of 1874, which registers and seems to suggest that a great number of gifts were pouring into the temple through pilgrims like Sankaracharya, who offered kanikkai (offering). The record also says the Hindu representatives of Mohammed Ali Nawab of Arcot and the British government, besides the rulers of Kashi, Nepal, Vijayanagaram, Kashmir, Mysore, Gwalior, Cochin, Kozhikodu, Pudukkottai and others had paid homage to Lord Padmanabha during that period. It shows that the donors representing all of India have visited the temple, a unique record of national integration. It is likely that the treasures now being inventoried were presented mostly between 1700 and 1900. One of the great personalities who gifted enormous wealth was the illustrious Rani of Travancore, Gowri Lakshmi Bai, early in the 19th century. In addition to these offerings, it is seen that the revenue realised from the temple land and other possessions, meant for meeting the expenses of the temple services, were also turned into valuables and kept in the treasury.

It is clear that the rulers of Travancore protecting the Padmanabhaswamy temple have taken adequate measures almost from the 12th century onwards to safeguard and administer the wealth of the temple. This is what has preserved the Lord’s wealth. It is not unlikely that documents about the wealth after 1900 are also available in some of these churunai bundles. Significantly, nowhere is there any mention or suggestion that the king’s treasures could have been kept in the temple for safety as has been surmised. According to 11th century Chola inscriptions, which ought to be the Agama tradition applicable to all Agama temples, it is not permissible to bring an outsider’s property inside the temple.

The foremost need, therefore, is to put a batch of youngsters under competent directorship and get these manuscripts digitised and transcribed in modern characters. This temple, which follows Vedic tradition, had a great Rig Vedic school that existed for over 500 years but was closed down about 40 years ago, when the temple lands were taken away under the land reform programme. This remarkable school had preserved the Vedic tradition from 15th century and had produced two of Kerala’s two tallest and outstanding scholars, namely, Narayanan Nambudri, who wrote Tantrasamuccaya, a book on architecture, and Narayana Bhattathiri who wrote Narayaneeyam, a book on Lord Guruvayurappan. Bhattathiri ’s work bears the testimony to the ethos of Kerala’s devotion and Nambudiri’s is the basic text of Kerala’s architecture. There must be only 15 survivors from the last batch of students, all above 70.

What should be done now to bring this tradition back alive? A small amount of money can revive a great devotional tradition, the principal drive that promoted such gifts of wealth, and, more important, preserved it with the highest integrity and honesty.

The writer is former director, Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology

Also pls read my earlier post of mine on padmanabhaswamy temple treasure

I have mentioned the quote from tolkappiam in the last post.

இயற்சொல் திரிசொல் திசைச்சொல் வடசொல் என்று
அனைத்தே செய்யுள் ஈட்டச் சொல்லே..

இயற்சொல்:  The original tamil, and the region is mentioned as senthamil region. (செந்தமிழ் மண்டலம்)

திசைச்சொல்  – the region where the tamil is deviated.  It is also called Kodunthamil. (கொடுந்தமிழ் மண்டலம்)

Tolkappiam mentions that there are 12 lands (naadu) belonging to this Kodunthamil mandalam.

செந்தமிழ் சேர்ந்த பன்னிரு நிலத்தும்
தம் குறிப்பனவே திசைச்சொல் கிளவி

This Tamil Virtual University page lists out the 12 naadu in the kodunthamil region.

The malayalam is also one of the Kodunthamil ( deviated tamil dialects).

Senthamil Region (செந்தமிழ் மண்டலம்):

This Tamil Virtual University Link gives details about senthamil region, where pure tamil is spoken.

வையையாற்றின் வடக்கும், மருதயாற்றின் தெற்கும், கருவூரின் கிழக்கும் மருவூரின் மேற்கும் என்ப

ie, North of Vaigai River, south of Marutha river, east of karur, and west of maruvoor.

we can conclude that the region b/w the capital of chera, chola and pandya kingdoms are considered as senthamil region, where original tamil is spoken.  All regions outside these, are called kodunthamil region, where a corrupted dialect of tamil was spoken.

Vadasol (வடசொல்): (Words emanating from North of Tamil region)

வடசொல் கிளவி வட எழுத்து ஒரீஇ
எழுத்தொடு புணர்ந்த சொல் ஆகும்மே   – pg-64

Explanation from this page..

the meaning is that, words from North of tamil region, is also accepted, provided they be adapted to tamil grammar.

eg: namaskar => namaskaram (நமஸ்காரம்)

Mukya => mukkiyam (முக்கியம்),

uthaharaan  => uthaaranam (உதாரணம்)

Also, the vadasol is mostly used for nouns..  they are NOT used for verbs..

1. As per media reports, the government has said, the wealth would remain with temple and go will not interfere.

2. Another article in IE, stressing that treasure should belong to lord.

3. Excellent Article in IE by archeologist Nagasamy.. He says, the wealth belongs to Padmanabha samy and NOT to royal family nor temple.

4. Another Article in IE by Archeologists Nagasamy, who says that all wealth are accounted..  so far, 30 crore manuscript leafs detailing donors..

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The recent discovery of padmanabha temple treasure where the golds and other ornaments found in secret chambers underground, is estimated to be around 1 lakh crore.  This temple belongs to the royal family of the travancore state, which is one of the small princely states of india.

How much would the Britishers had looted india?

As of independance, there were more than 500 princely states in india, and major kingdoms like mysore, jaipure etc.  The jewels found in the padmanabha temple should have been hidden there by the royal family of travancore to hide from britishers.  This to my estimate is after paying all the tributes to the britishers.

When such a small princely states had so much of wealth, how much would the british had looted from all the other princely states of india?  Suppose, we assume that on an average, 1/10th of this treasure (10,000 crore) be possessed by 500 small princely states.  It comes around 500 x 10,000 crore = 50,00,000 crore.  and this is as per current market value.   But the value of antiques is unlimited.  The temple jewels fall under the category of antiques, and hence the values is far far higher.  

The extent of loot, during 1857 war is not included here.  During 1857, so many rajyams were destroyed by britishers, and the treasury taken over.  The estimate of that loot is beyond my comprehension.

Some pertinent questions here:

• The temple is under the control of Travancore Royal Family.  So naturally, the treasure found in that temple belongs to them.  If the government forcefully acquires these treasures, then what is the difference b/w british loot and the present government loot.

• Who is that Sunderrajan, who filed a petition before supreme court?  He has requested for a government take over, which itself is malicious.  What are his backgrounds?

• The petitioner had requested that the government should take over the temple the government themselves because the temple management is not proper.   It is ridiculous and irony.  Because, both the government and the judiciary is ridden with full of corruption.   By Historical accounts, we had always found that native indian kings had governed their region more efficiently than any of the colonial indian government.  Can we say, the government should handover the administration back to these erstwhile kings, because they are ridden with corruption?

• This temple is a perfect example to judge who the rightful owner for a temple is.  Sri Padmanabha swamy temple belongs to royal family, and it is they who has been maintaining this rajya temple for generations.  It is they who has to decide whom to allow and whom NOT allow inside the temple.  Temple is NOT a public property.  The public can worship there, but cannot claim any rights over it.  Temple is NOT like a church. While a church is a place of gathering for worship, a temple is a place where the god himself resides.  So the sanctity of the temple has to be maintained.  The government nor the court dont have any business to meddle in the affairs.

• In eastern cultures, the king has been the protector of dharma.   They had always governed our country, far far better than rest of the world.  Unusual in western countries, the king is subservient to the presiding deity, as we find in the padmanaba temple case.  The travancore king calls themselves as padmanaba daasa.  When they commit wrong, the presiding deity will restore dharma.  So they are not absolute monarch, NOR the dictators we usually find in the west.   This is true for most indian kings.  We can always find such rajya temples in all dhesams.  The Hindu intellectuals should understand that there is no dharma, without a king.

• Unlike the modern westernised urban ghettos (also called as cities, metros etc) the temple is centre of our bharatheeya nagaras, around which the nagara is designed and built.  I dont know the old architecture of the city of tiruvananthapuram.  If any one has details, please share in the comment section.  The whole city is administered and regulated by the royal family before independance and tiruvananthapuram seemed to be a planned one. The present colonial indian government had taken over the control from them during independance, and left the city to degrade itself.  This is how the our culture and our religion had declined, which the hindu intellectuals are refusing to understand.

• The temple jewels should rightfully belong to the royal family, and they should be allowed to raise a security force to maintain it and use it as per dharma.  The effort to take over temple by government has to be resisted strongly.

Already janatha party president Subramanya swamy and Jayalalitha o f ADMK had publicly accused Sonia Gandhi of stealing antiques in india.  It seems, the present incident is a conspiracy to steal the assets of padmanaba perumal.  The bagwan has to deliver the justice here.

Well..  i dont find any relation..  but Subramanya Swamy had linked both in his recent tweet on Hinduism.. he was replying to my question whether animal sacrifice be accepted as part of hinduism.  His tone of reply was that even two tumbler system was also part of hinduism, and that just like we cannot accept it, animal sacrifice is also NOT accepted and to be discarded.  An unfortunate attitude from a learned person like him.

His reply reflects the opinion of many other english educated urban people.  Its a sad fact, that even staunch hindus from urban centre hold such a contempt for the rural/village culture, because they did not like it.   The reason is lack of exposure and interaction with villagers, and also the constant negative exposure by the media on the rural society.

This post is an attempt by me to document the life style of the villagers and the culture associated with them.

Two Tumbler System:

Just like untouchability has been a propoganda success, the two tumbler system has been successfully projected as a worst kind of evil. But in reality its not.

The two tumbler system was a practice followed in tea shops of villages, where separate glasses will be maintained for dalit communities and other predominant communities.  The main reason for this practice is same as that of untouchability – the conflicting life styles of these communities.

My question is:  What is wrong with two tumbler systems?  What is there oppressive or discriminative in this?  The tea shop owner maintains different set of glasses for different communities.   He did not deny tea to any one.

It is the missionaries and the marxists, who first started this vicious propoganda, on their utopian values of equality.  Since the intellectual space has been totally occupied by these people, there has never been neutral and unbiased discussion on this issue so far.  So even the hard core hindutvavadi has no option but to adopt these lines.

But it is sad to see even outspoken people like Subramanya Swamy believed in this distorted and malicious propoganda.  Coming from a brahmin family, he should have known how much importance, our hindu people gave for the acharams. 

Some background info on Tea Shops:

When did the tea shops emerge?  It was first introduced and marketed by britishers in villages.  It was very recent commercial invention.

Why did two tumbler systems emerged?  Because, our indian society did not have such commercial public entity before. There was no habit of eating in public shops on those days.  Even one dalit community wont drink water in other dalit community.  Every jaathis had their own acharams.  In such a scenario, how would one expect our society to respond to a commercial entity created for business interests of british tea corporate companies?

Next, the Tea itself is against the hindu values.  Many hindutva people often claim hinduism is sanatana dharma.  But sanatana dharma is a sustainable way of life, without exploiting nature.  Tea has been produced by destroying thousands of acres of forest in hills, which is totally adharmic.  Tea shops are a marketing end for these tea companies, and hence it is also an adharmic entity.

The Animal Sacrifice:

Many equate animal sacrifice with slaughter of animals.  Again it is the uprooted urban brahmins who hold this view, and who propogate this ignorance to others.  Animal sacrifice is a ritual in all vellala communities in south india.  This is done in shakthi worship, and also in tantric worship.  In tamilnadu, the animal sacrifice is mostly offered for karuppanna swamy, muneeswaran and other kaval deivams.  The moolavar and utsava deivam is worshipped in regular way.

I will share a real life incident in our community which i heard from my elders.  60-70 years before, there was kula guru for most vellal communities.  Most kula guru would belong to adhi saiva sect.  They maintain a madam with vedagam padashala, and would be the authentic source for temple agamas in that region.

Our community elders on those days, renovated our kula temple in 1940s, and our kula guru offered to conduct the kumbabishekam.  As part of the ritual, a brahmin who accompanied the kula guru, carried the kalasam of karuppanar in our temple, and he was possessed by that god. (in tamil it is called as “Arul”) . He knelt down and was in excited state.  Our kula guru tried to give ash to calm the karuppanar inside him, but it did not work out.   Then he gave lemon for him to bite, and still it did not work.  Then he asked for a chicken and gave it to him.   He immediately cut down the chicken and then calmed down.

Our community people on seeing this were shocked, and stand still.  The guru then explained that, it was NOT the brahmin, but karuppanar who had possessed him, and he has to give what that god wants.

[ NOTE: This kind of divine possession is another rural spiritual dimension, which many urban hindus ridicule.  Chatrapathi Shivaji used to be often possessed by his kula devata Bhavani Amman, and foretell him the dangers he would face.  Please read the life history of shivaji]

In my maternal village, there used to be annual ritual, where male buffaloes would be sacrificed to the goddess sellandiamman.  The same ritual is practiced till today in Bihar and Nepal.  But it seems Bihar government had banned this ritual, and in my area also, it was banned 30 years before.  An unwarranted religious intimidation from the government, which i feel is influenced by english educated brahmins there in bureaucracy.

In my analysis, there was a reason for this sacrifice of Buffaloes. Cow was an essential part of indian society, and Bull was the pulling force for ploughing.  So both cow and bull became part of farming life.  In the case of buffaloes, the female buffalo would be yielding milk, whereas the male buffalo was unsuitable for ploughing.  What will the society do with these?  It is beyond the capacity of individual farmers to maintain the male buffaloes, because every year, the female will yeild one more.  So these kinds of rituals would have been created based on the needs of the society.

Another aspect of this animal sacrifice is that it was followed by tribals living in forest.  They have their own kaval deivam (vana devata) which they believed to protect their forest. When plains people started settling by clearing forest land, they adopted the vana devata as their kula deivam as and continued the tradition to pacify the goddess which would be ferocious.  In mettupalayam, the vana badrakali is a ferocious and powerful goddess, and till today, lakhs of devotees offer goats and hens there.  As usual, the government is trying to stop it but without success.

The worshipping pattern of shakthi sthalams is entirely different from that of Shiva and vishnu temples.  The temple architecture is also different and pooja pattern is also different.  The shakthi sthalams is associated with nature and the pancha bootha forces acting in it. Naturally it is largely associated with farming communities, and farm labour communities, and the reason is obvious.  Farming is dependant on nature, and done by clearing forest lands.

The english educated brahmins, in order to project their version of Hinduism as peaceful and loving religion, had completely hidden  this rural form of worship. We can see so much contempt & hatred from urban hindus, and  neo-hindus on virtually every village culture.  Why this intolerance?

Subramanya Swamy has been working on starting a new TV called “Krishna TV”.  He says it is for the cause of hinduism and hindu values.  I asked him a question, whether my community culture has any place in his version of Hinduism.  His indirect answer was NO. 

So i have the subsequent questions. 

• Am i Hindu.
  
• Are crores and crores of rural people, who follow shakthi worship, and offer animal sacrifice, NOT part of Hinduism?  
• Creation, protection and destruction are very well recognized in Hindu philosophies.  Why do you want to project Hinduism on the patterns of christianity, as religion of Love?
• What exactly is the reason for urban people unable to accept animal sacrifice as part of the Hindu way of life.  Is it because, they are already christianised much?
• What is the difference b/w the attitude of Christianity over pagans, and the attitude of urban hindus over bharatheeya rural culture?