User:Nitin Trivedi

FACTS ABOUT BRAHMINS

According to the Puranas, Brahmins were created from the mouth of Brahma so that they might instruct mankind. This was why they were considered the highest of the four castes, as they had the most to do with intellect. Since it was recognised that knowledge is the only thing that remains with a person throughout life, Brahmins, as teachers, were duly respected. In ancient times, this name was specifically applied to those priests of the Atharva Vedas whose place was at the northern side of the altar during sacrificial ceremonies. The Brahmins conducted the daily rites, the purification ceremonies sacrifices and taught the Vedas. Their life was divided into four stages .Brahmins had to maintain a strict code of conduct and exemplify ideal behavior. Which they had to go through in the prescribed order. Since they were the teachers, preachers and priests they had to be proficient in sacred knowledge through the Vedas. They had to maintain a strict code of conduct and exemplify ideal behavior. They were to be kind and gentle. For this, they earned certain privileges. They were regarded as the highest class and respected by all, to the extent that they were treated almost like gods by commoners and kings alike. They were given special gifts, dana, dakshina and were free from oppression and immune from capital punishment. It was considered to be the gravest of sins to kill a Brahmin. Only a priest could partake of the sacrificial Soma and eat the remains of the sacrifices, for no one else was regarded holy enough to eat the divine leftovers. Initially, a person became a Brahmin on the basis of his knowledge of the Vedas. In time, the Brahmins began interpreting laws to their own advantage to maintain their privileges. And because of this unassailable social and moral authority, they were unchecked. Thus, according to the Brahmins themselves, they were the chiefs of all created beings, entitled to all honour. The Shatapatha Brahmana declares that there are two kinds of divinities: gods and Brahmins who have learnt the Vedas. Only the Brahmins were allowed to read and teach the Vedas and hence monopolised the privilege of priesthood in the later Vedic period. They also established that one was born into a caste, which could not be changed except to be outcaste. This became the common practice, which survives till the present. Today most Brahmins are engaged in other secular activities. However, only a qualified Brahmin can conduct religious ceremonies. These professional priests are now called Pandit, Bhatt or Shastri. There are several subdivisions within the Brahmin caste. Earlier, the different Vedas were preached by Brahmins belonging to specific gotras. The subdivisions are therefore based on their gotra or on geographic location. Presently there are 1,800 subdivisions. A Brahmin should be able to trace his origin to one of the seven great sages - Kashyapa, Atri, Bharadvaja, Gautama, Vishvamitra, Jamadagni and Vasishtha. Of these seven, Vishvamitra is said to have been born a Kshatriya and later became a Brahmin after performing severe penance. Geographically, Brahmins are divided into two main groups - of the north and of the south, each of which has five divisions. The categories of the north are Kanyakubja, Sarasvata, Gauda, Mithila and Utkala. Those of the south are Maharashtra, Telinga, Dravida, Karnataka and Malabar. Each group claims to be the highest category. By common perception, Brahmins involved in the funerary rites are considered the lowest category.

Dravidian Origin of Brahmins

After reading early British interpretations of the Rig-Veda during the 19th century, it becames very fashionable among newly western-educated Bengali and UP Brahmins (GAUR branch) to create an "Aryan origin" historical myth for themselves. This ideological exercise was based largely on appropriating the history and heritage of distant Saptha Sindhu (present-day Punjab region) decades before the British “India” empire reached there in the 1840s. Soon a whole new industry of "Brahmo Samajis", "Arya Samajis", "Hindu-Maha-Sabas", RSS, and others was founded on these fancies and complexes. These organizations, in essence, launched the so-called modern "Hindutva" nationalistic movement.

There is, however, overwhelming evidence pointing to a dravidian origin for the Gaur and Dravida branches of the Brahmins (the Suraswats of the northwest have been traced to the "Magi" Solar priests of the Sakas or Indo-Scythians). Here is some of the very compelling evidence on Brahmin origins (the term "Brahmin" below refers to the Gaur/Dravida branches).

A) The Brahmins' own genealogic records trace their origin and ethnicity to Shankarcharya and his cohorts of Malabar who later migrated northward near the end of the Buddhist-era (8th century AD). The Brahmins of Malabar can hardly be labeled "Aryans".

B) The more authentic hymns of the Rig-Veda were composed by the Vedic Aryans of the ancient “Saptha Sindhu” country (located northwest of the Yamuna river up to the Indus river). These hymns depict the Aryans as having only three Gods - Indra, Varuna and Mitra - as per se the Persian Avestan and describes them eating cows. Moreover, Avestan refers to "Rathastriyas","Vashiyos" and "Athravans" as members of "Arya" society, however, there is absolutely no mention of any "Brahmins"! Moreover, the more authentic Rig Vedic hymns contain verses such as "Indra, the destroyer of Krishna-yoni-dasyus" and Brahmanical literature depicts mythological battles between Indra (an Aryan Vedic God) and Krishna (a dark-skinned dravidian god) where Krishna is the victor and hero! Nor do we see any Vedic gods in any present-day Hindu Brahmin temples.

C) Brahmins and their non-Aryan deities are spread throughout southasia, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Bali, Malaysia. The physically traits of these communities are largely indistinguishable from the local population. "Brahmin" is hardly a racial concept. D) The Sanskrit language expanded from the Punjab region to the rest of the subcontinent as some minority "Arya" groups broke RigVedic taboos and ventured southward from Saptha Sindhu (into present-day UP and beyond) occupied by the dreaded "dasyus". It appears that some of these groups managed to conquer some tracts of UP and found themselves ruling over a largely dravidian population. Out of political expediency, they most probably began using the local dravidian priests - the Brahmins - to entrench their new social order over the largely dasya population. This explains how the Brahmins, although ethnically separate, began appearing as the "borrowed" agents of the Vedic Kshatriyas outside of Saptha Sindhu. It also explains their acquisition and use of Sanskrit – just as Indians and English today.

E) Passages of Brahmanical literature (e.g. Gita, Karna Parva) "forbids" Brahmins from traveling to the Punjab region (west of Yamuna) and refers to the Vedic Aryans there as "mlechhas". This would be like the Rabbis "forbidding Jews from Jerusalem"! Clearly, the historical record as kept by the Gaur Brahmins themselves shows they had very little cultural, ethnic or historical ties to Saptha Sindhu - the land which spawned the RigVedic Aryan civilization in southasia