{"id":324,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=324"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:19","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:19","slug":"095-caste-and-democracy-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/095-caste-and-democracy-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-095_Caste and Democracy.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nCaste
\nand democracy<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>WE
\nFEAR<\/font><\/b><\/span> our correspondent who has
\ncriticised on another page the consistency of our views on caste, has hardly
\ntaken any trouble to understand the real drift of our articles. His attitude
\nseems to be that we must be either entirely for caste as it at present exists or
\nentirely against the institution and condemn it root and branch in the style of
\nthe ordinary unthinking social reformer. Because on the one hand we protested
\nagainst the ignorant abuse of the institution often indulged in simply because
\nit is different in form and spirit from European institutions, and on the other
\nhand emphasised the perversions of its form and spirit and the necessity of its
\ntransformation in the pure spirit of Hinduism, our correspondent imagines that
\nwe are inconsistent and guilty of adopting successively two different and
\nincompatible attitudes. Our position is perfectly clear and straightforward.
\nCaste was originally an arrangement for the distribution of functions in
\nsociety, just as much as class in Europe, but the principle on which the
\ndistribution was based in India was peculiar to this country. The civilisation
\nof Europe has always been preponderatingly material and the division of classes
\nwas material in its principles and material in its objects, but our civilisation
\nhas always been preponderatingly spiritual and moral, and caste division in
\nIndia had a spiritual object and a spiritual and moral basis. The division of
\nclasses in Europe had its root in a distribution of powers and rights and
\ndeveloped and still develops through a struggle of conflicting interests; its
\naim was merely the organisation of society for its own sake and mainly indeed
\nfor its economic convenience. The division of castes in India was conceived as a
\ndistribution of duties. A man’s caste depended on his dharma<\/i>, <\/i>his
\nspiritual, moral and practical duties, and his dharma <\/i>depended on his svabhā<\/font>va<\/i>, <\/i>his temperament and inborn nature. A
\nBrahmin was a Brahmin not by mere birth, but because he discharged the duty of
\npreserving the spiritual and intellectual<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-536<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nelevation
\nof the race, and he had to cultivate the spiritual temperament and acquire the
\nspiritual training which could alone qualify him for the task. The Kshatriya was
\na Kshatriya not merely because he was the son of warriors and princes, but
\nbecause he discharged the duty of protecting the country and preserving the high
\ncourage and manhood of the nation, and he had to cultivate the princely
\ntemperament and acquire the strong and lofty Samurai training which alone fitted
\nhim for his duties. So it was with the Vaishya whose function was to amass
\nwealth for the race and the Sudra who discharged the humbler duties of service
\nwithout which the other castes could not perform their share of labour for the
\ncommon good. This was what we meant when we said that caste was a socialistic
\ninstitution. No doubt there was a gradation of social respect which placed the
\nfunction of the Brahmin at the summit and the function of the Sudra at the base,
\nbut this inequality was accidental, external, vyavah\u00e3rika<\/i>. <\/i>Essentially
\nthere was, between the devout Brahmin and the devout Sudra, no inequality in the
\nsingle vir\u00e3t purusa <\/i>of which each was a necessary part. Chokha Mela, the
\nMaratha Pariah, became the Guru of Brahmins proud of their caste purity; the
\nChandala taught Shankaracharya: for the Brahman was revealed in the body of the
\nPariah and in the Chandala there was the utter presence of Shiva the Almighty.
\nHeredity entered into caste divisions, and in the light of the conclusions of
\nmodern knowledge who shall say erroneously? But it entered into it as a
\nsubordinate element. For Hindu civilisation being spiritual based its
\ninstitutions on spiritual and moral foundations and subordinated the material
\nelements and material considerations. Caste therefore was not only an
\ninstitution which ought to be immune from the cheap second-hand denunciations so
\nlong in fashion, but a supreme necessity without which Hindu civilisation could
\nnot have developed its distinctive character or worked out its unique mission.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>But to recognise this is not to debar ourselves from pointing out its
\nlater perversions and desiring its transformation. It is the nature of human
\ninstitutions to degenerate, to lose their vitality, and decay, and the first
\nsign of decay is the loss of flexibility and oblivion of the essential spirit in
\nwhich they were conceived. The<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-537<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nspirit
\nis permanent, the body changes; and a body which refuses to change must die. The
\nspirit expresses itself in many ways while itself remaining essentially the
\nsame, but the body must change to suit its changing environments if it wishes to
\nlive. There is no doubt that the institution of caste degenerated. It ceased to
\nbe determined by spiritual qualifications which, once essential, have now come
\nto be subordinate and even immaterial and is determined by the purely material
\ntests of occupation and birth. By this change it has set itself against the
\nfundamental tendency of Hinduism which is to insist on the spiritual and
\nsubordinate the material and thus lost most of its meaning. The spirit of caste
\narrogance, exclusiveness and superiority came to dominate it instead of the
\nspirit of duty, and the change weakened the nation and helped to reduce us to
\nour present condition. It is these perversions which we wish to see set right.
\nThe institution must transform itself so as to fulfil its essential and
\npermanent 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
\ntransforms itself, it will yet play a great part in the fulfilment of
\n<\/font>
\ncivilisation.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Our correspondent accuses us of attempting
\nto corrupt society with the intrusion of the European idea of Socialism.
\nSocialism 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
\na permanent solution of the economic problem of society which will give man
\nleisure and peace to develop undisturbed his higher self. Without Socialism
\ndemocracy would remain a tendency that never reached its fulfilment, a rule of
\nthe masses by a small aristocratic or monied class with the consent and votes of
\nthe masses, or a tyranny of the artisan classes over the rest. Socialistic
\ndemocracy is the only true democracy, for without it we cannot get the equalised
\nand harmonised distribution of functions, each part of the community existing
\nfor the good of all and not struggling for its own separate interests, which
\nwill give humanity as a whole the necessary conditions in which it can turn its
\nbest energies to its higher development. To realise those conditions is also the
\naim of Hindu civilisation and the original intention of caste. The fulfilment of
\nHinduism is<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font><\/span>538<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe
\nfulfilment of the highest tendencies of human civilisation and it must include
\nin its sweep the most vital impulses of modern life. It will include democracy
\nand Socialism also, purifying them, raising them above the excessive stress on
\nthe economic adjustments which are the means, and teaching them to fix their
\neyes more constantly and clearly on the moral, intellectual and spiritual
\nperfection of mankind which is the end.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> September 22, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font>
\nImpartial
\nHospitality<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe
\nEnglishman <\/i>is ever predicting new horrors for the agitators. The agitator
\nin the Press has been taken in hand, the present law is being tried to
\nintimidate him into silence and as its inadequacy in this respect is being
\nincreasingly felt the coming winter will be taken advantage of to convert its
\npresent elasticity into a cast-iron rigidity. It will then crush the agitators
\nat a single blow and the bureaucracy will have a merry time of it. In the
\nmeantime political considerations are expected to do the duty of the amended
\nlaw. The present deficiency in quality is to be made up by an extensive
\nenforcement of the law against all the miscreants. Prosecutions have already
\nbeen instituted against all the seditious newspapers, and this ill-tongued
\nmessenger of the bureaucracy has brought us the latest news that seditious
\nspeakers will shortly meet with their deserts. The College Square and the Beadon
\nSquare must not be allowed to blow the pestilential seditious winds and the mild
\nbracing air of the Pax Britannica should again form their healthy atmosphere.
\nThe prisoners’ dock in the Police Court is now, we hear, to be occupied by
\nguests from those quarters. The speakers are justly envious of the hospitality
\nwhich is being lavished on the writers and as the Englishman <\/i>now assures
\nus of an impartial treatment, let no one complain of any partiality of British
\njustice.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> September 23, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font>539<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nFree
\nSpeech<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe
\nNation <\/i>to hand has some pertinent observations as to the true meaning of
\nfree speech. Its interpretation of free speech clearly shows that we are
\ncontent with mere shadows and that we exhaust our energies in clamouring for
\nso-called rights and privileges which when analysed prove to be mere shams that
\ncannot at all satisfy people who are in the least serious about them. Unless
\npolitics were a mere pastime or a means of making name and fame with us we would
\nhave never deluded ourselves with the belief that we possess any political
\nrights and privileges under an alien bureaucracy. The bureaucracy never makes
\nany secret of the fact that its policy will always be to safeguard its own
\nsupremacy. Popular rights and such a supremacy go ill together. Right means a
\npower which has some sort of sanction behind it and as a power it can never be
\ntolerated by another power always over-anxious for its existence and supremacy.
\nThe power of the state is never afraid of the power of the citizen in free
\ndemocratic countries because there the objects pursued by both are identical.
\nBut this cannot be the case in a subject country where the so-called state
\ninterferes for its own benefit or the pretended benefit of the people under its
\nassumed tutelage. But no people with any pretension to self-respect and
\nintelligence can consent to be dictated to by a small governing body whether
\nforeign or of the country as to what conduces to their real interests. This is
\nwhere the necessity of free speech comes as an essential requisite for promoting
\nand guarding the true well-being of the people. Free speech should therefore be
\nnot only an unfettered expression of the ideas of the people as to what alone
\nwill do them good but should also be recognised as a force by the executive
\nbody. The Nation <\/i>explains the true
\nmeaning
\nof free speech in the following words: <\/span>
\n<\/font>
\n\u2014<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>"Free speech in any liberal and
\nstatesmanlike sense of the term means something more than the right of a subject
\npeople to perorate in vain in a free Press, to hold public meetings, and to
\nrecord its hopeless aspirations at unrecognised congresses.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-540<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It means, if we are sincere, the provision of facilities
\nfor the focusing and expression of public opinion."<\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Judged by this standard our crying in the wilderness with the full risk
\nof being run in whenever the bureaucracy chooses is only aimless and dangerous
\nprattle.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> September 24, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font>541<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caste and democracy                   WE FEAR our correspondent who has criticised on another page the consistency of our views on caste, has hardly taken…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","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=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}