{"id":2839,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2839"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:07","slug":"144-bande-mataram-21-9-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/144-bande-mataram-21-9-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-144_Bande Mataram 21-9-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBande Mataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, September
\n\t21st, 1907 } <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\t<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nCaste and Democracy
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWe fear our correspondent who has criticised on another page the consistency of our views on caste, has hardly taken any trouble to understand the real drift of our articles. His attitude seems to be that we must be either entirely for caste as it at present
\nexists or entirely against the institution and condemn it root and branch in the style of the ordinary unthinking social reformer.
\nBecause on the one hand we protested against the ignorant abuse of the institution often indulged in simply because it is different
\nin form and spirit from European institutions, and on the other hand emphasized the perversions of its form and spirit and the
\nnecessity of its transformation in the pure spirit of Hinduism, our correspondent imagines that we are inconsistent and guilty of
\nadopting successively two different and incompatible attitudes. Our position is perfectly clear and straightforward. Caste was
\noriginally an arrangement for the distribution of functions in society, just as much as class in Europe, but the principle on which
\nthe distribution was based in India was peculiar to this country. The civilisation of Europe has always been preponderatingly
\nmaterial and the division of classes was material in its principles and material in its objects, but our civilisation has always been
\npreponderatingly spiritual and moral, and caste division in India had a spiritual object and a spiritual and moral basis. The division of classes in Europe had its root in a distribution of powers and rights and developed and still develops through a struggle
\nof conflicting interests; its aim was merely the organisation of society for its own sake and mainly indeed for its economic
\nconvenience. The division of castes in India was conceived as a distribution of duties. A man’s caste depended on his
\ndharma<\/i>, his
\n   
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 682<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\tspiritual, moral and practical duties, and his dharma <\/i>depended
\non his swabhava<\/i>, his temperament and inborn nature. A Brahmin was a Brahmin not by mere birth, but because he discharged
\nthe duty of preserving the spiritual and intellectual elevation of the race, and he had to cultivate the spiritual temperament and
\nacquire the spiritual training which could alone qualify him for the task. The Kshatriya was a Kshatriya not merely because
\nhe was the son of warriors and princes, but because he discharged the duty of protecting the country and preserving the
\nhigh courage and manhood of the nation, and he had to cultivate the princely temperament and acquire the strong and lofty
\nSamurai training which alone fitted him for his duties. So it was with the Vaishya whose function was to amass wealth for the
\nrace and the Sudra who discharged the humbler duties of service without which the other castes could not perform their share of
\nlabour for the common good. This was what we meant when we said that caste was a socialistic institution. No doubt there was a
\ngradation of social respect which placed the function of the Brahmin at the summit and the function of the Sudra at the base, but
\nthis inequality was accidental, external, vyavaharika<\/i>. Essentially there was, between the devout Brahmin and the devout Sudra, no
\ninequality in the single Virat Purusha of which each was a necessary part. Chokha Mela, the Maratha Pariah, became the guru
\nof Brahmins proud of their caste purity; the Chandala taught Shankaracharya: for the Brahman was revealed in the body of
\nthe Pariah and in the Chandala there was the utter presence of Shiva the Almighty. Heredity entered into caste divisions, and
\nin the light of the conclusions of modern knowledge who shall say erroneously? But it entered into it as a subordinate element.
\nFor Hindu civilisation being spiritual based its institutions on spiritual and moral foundations and subordinated the material
\nelements and material considerations. Caste therefore was not only an institution which ought to be immune from the cheap
\nsecond-hand denunciations so long in fashion, but a supreme necessity without which Hindu civilisation could not have developed its distinctive character or worked out its unique mission.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tBut to recognise this is not to debar ourselves from pointing
\n   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\tout its later perversions and desiring its transformation. It is the
\nnature of human institutions to degenerate, to lose their vitality, and decay, and the first sign of decay is the loss of flexibility and
\noblivion of the essential spirit in which they were conceived. The spirit is permanent, the body changes; and a body which refuses
\nto change must die. The spirit expresses itself in many ways while itself remaining essentially the same, but the body must change
\nto suit its changing environments if it wishes to live. There is no doubt that the institution of caste degenerated. It ceased to
\nbe determined by spiritual qualifications which, once essential, have now come to be subordinate and even immaterial and is
\ndetermined by the purely material tests of occupation and birth. By this change it has set itself against the fundamental tendency
\nof Hinduism which is to insist on the spiritual and subordinate the material and thus lost most of its meaning. The spirit of caste
\narrogance, exclusiveness and superiority came to dominate it instead of the spirit of duty, and the change weakened the nation
\nand helped to reduce us to our present condition. It is these perversions which we wish to see set right. The institution must
\ntransform itself so as to fulfil its essential and permanent object under the changed conditions of modern times. If it refuses to
\nchange, it will become a mere social survival and crumble to pieces. If it transforms itself, it will yet play a great part in the
\nfulfilment of civilisation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tOur correspondent accuses us of attempting to corrupt society with the intrusion of the European idea of Socialism. Socialism is not an European idea, it is essentially Asiatic and especially
\nIndian. What is called Socialism in Europe, is the old Asiatic attempt to effect a permanent solution of the economic problem
\nof society which will give man leisure and peace to develop undisturbed his higher self. Without Socialism democracy would
\nremain a tendency that never reached its fulfilment, a rule of the masses by a small aristocratic or monied class with the consent
\nand votes of the masses, or a tyranny of the artisan classes over the rest. Socialistic democracy is the only true democracy, for
\nwithout it we cannot get the equalised and harmonised distribution of functions, each part of the community existing for
\n    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\tthe good of all and not struggling for its own separate interests,
\nwhich will give humanity as a whole the necessary conditions in which it can turn its best energies to its higher development.
\nTo realise those conditions is also the aim of Hindu civilisation and the original intention of caste. The fulfilment of Hinduism
\nis the fulfilment of the highest tendencies of human civilisation and it must include in its sweep the most vital impulses of modern life. It will include democracy and Socialism also, purifying them, raising them above the excessive stress on the economic
\nadjustments which are the means, and teaching them to fix their eyes more constantly and clearly on the moral, intellectual and
\nspiritual perfection of mankind which is the end.    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 685<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, September 21st, 1907 }   Caste and Democracy   We fear our correspondent who has criticised on another page the consistency…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-07-bande-mataram","wpcat-54-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}