CASTE – MISSIONARIES, CONVERSIONS & SOME INTERESTING INSIGHTS.

ABBE J.A DUBOIS  had been in India, as a missionary under the guidance of the Missions Etrangeres, Paris, from 1792 to 1823. He was ordained in the diocese of Viviers in 1792, at the  age of twentyseven, and left  France in the same year. On reaching India in 1792 he was attached to the Pondicherry Mission; and for the first few years he seems to have laboured in what are now the Southern Districts of the Madras Presidency.

The Abbe in a letter dated Aug 7, 1815 to W.J.Esq Mysore, states that Christianity of the Catholic  persuasion  was first introduced into India a little more than threehundred years ago; at the epoch of the Portugese invasions. ie. early 1500’s. One of the first missionaries was the famous St.Francis Xavier, a Spanish  Jesuit, known under the appellation of the Apostle of India .The Abbe says  that Xavier  ‘is said to have made  many thousand converts,’ which includes the ‘caste of fishermen at Cape Comorin’.After  him, ‘jesuits  were sent from every catholic country to India, to forward the interests of the gospel’.

The Abbe says that these Jesuits ‘insinuated’ themselves into the Hindu society , and ‘made a great number of converts  among ALL CASTES of Hindoos. The Abbe claims that he had seen ‘authentic lists’ made up about seventy years ago, ie lists compiled around 1745, showing the number of native Christians region-wise. In the Marawa region it is about 30,000, in the Madura region  above 1,00,000, in the Carnatic 80,000, and in Mysore 35,000. He informs the readers that by 1815, ‘hardly a third of this number is to be found in these districts respectively’.He further states that (quote)‘ I have heard that the number of converts was still much more  considerable  on the other coast, from Goa to Cape Comorin; but of these I never saw authentic lists.’ From the figures provided by the Abbe, after the first wave of conversions beginning with the  early part of  year 1500, though the Missionaries could win over a sizeable number of converts, all such natives who got converted  subsequently apostatized  and went back to their old faith. Thus the FIRST PHASE of Missionary Enterprise from 1500 to 1800 ended in abject failure.

A note about the word ‘insinuation’. In another letter written on 16^th Nov. 1816, the Abbe has mentioned that like the Jesuit missionaries before him , he himself adopted the tactic of  ‘insinuating’ himself amongst the Hindus. (p.87, 130)“An insinuation is a sly way of saying something, usually something insulting. It can also be a way of worming your way into a group or situation. "You're dumb!" is an insult. An insinuation is different: it's a way of indirectly saying something. Insinuation evolved from the Latin insinuationem, meaning "entrance through a narrow way.” So an insinuation is like an insult that sneaks in the back door. Mentioning that your cousin could try harder in school could be an insinuation that your cousin’s lazy. Another kind of insinuation is when someone, often through flattery, gets herself accepted by others. Both kinds of insinuations are sneaky.” https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/insinuation

In spite of the worming his way into the society of Hindus, and winning their confidence, he could make only a few INFERIOR converts. Amongst the Hindus in S.India , he was like

a Trojan horse. (Trojan horse -( b ) fig. a person, device, etc., deliberately set to bring about an enemy's downfall or to undermine from within.-Oxford Dict.) But, ultimately  his efforts got thwarted, and he came to the conclusion that it is futile attempting to convert the Hindus, and those who got converted and embraced Christianity, had done so not because of any conviction regarding the tenets of that religion, but did so out of ‘material and marriage’ considerations, and such individuals were mostly Pariahs or the scum of society. The Abbe’s own confessional  words are given in the following quote.

  Quote from the book "Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore ":- “The Abbé Dubois makes the following remarks: "During the long period I have lived in India, in the capacity of a missionary, I have made with the assistance of a native missionary, in all between two and three hundred converts of both sexes. Of this number two-thirds were Pariahs or beggars, and the rest were composed of Sûdras, vagrants, and outcasts of several tribes, who, being without resource, turned Christians in order to form new connections, chiefly for the purpose of marriage, or with some other interested views. Among them are  to be found some also who believed themselves to be possessed by the devil, and who turned Christians after having been assured that on their  receiving baptism the unclean spirits would leave them, never to return; and I will declare it, with shame and confusion, that I do not remember any one who may be said to have embraced Christianity from conviction, and through quite disinterested motives. Among these new converts many apostatized, and relapsed into Paganism, finding that the Christian religion did not afford them the temporal advantages they had looked for in embracing it; and I am verily  ashamed, that the resolution I have taken to declare the whole truth on this subject forces me to make the humiliating avowal, that those who continued Christians are the very worst among my flock."—DR. ALLEN'S India, p. 522.

EXCERPT FROM

Robert H. Elliot. “Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore.” iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Robert H.Elliot had  cited  the above paragraph (as a footnote), in the chapter titled ‘Caste’ of his book  ‘Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore.”. He informs us that it appeared in Dr.Allen’s book ,India. Originally these words of Abbe is from his book “Letters on the State of Christianity  in India”  first published at London in 1823. (p.134) . (This resource at present is freely available on the net.)

These men, ie.the missionaries, who consider themselves as  agents of God, if we care to notice, are not of pure heart and they do not profess any unconditional love. The word ‘insinuation’ used  by the Abbe, numerous times in his writings and correspondences , constantly reminds us of this fact.

ECONOMIC CRISIS - Are we just dispensable pawns for US Financial Institutions & stone- hearted leaders?

The following article , 'WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS TO A DOLLAR ADDICTION (copied below) which has appeared in today's The Hindu newspaper, reveals many facts of in-sincere governance, that reflects adversely on the so called 'leaders' of the G-20 nations. These leaders are the 'elected representatives' of the people from the respective nations.Did they have the long-term welfare of the people uppermost in their minds or only the thought of short-term political gains in their hometurfs, while they took  collective decison for a 'fiscal booster' in the year 2008 ?

The facts revealed by this article 

(1) The fulcrum or the fundamental premise, on which the current economic crisis hinges, is "US shows  recovery" after the "2008 financial meltdown'. Actually US recovering must be Gospel for us in this globalised economy, as it will also bring us good tidings in this net-worked world. But unfortunately the ground experience is stressfull for the majority citizens of

this country.

(2) This positive sign, of  the slight movement upwards in US economy, now  wakes the conscience(of authorities  ?)  which triggers the realisation that expansion of credit by printing currency cannot be an eternal remedy. Therefore 'The Federal Reserve begins to taper excess liquidity as a consequence' (of US showing recovery). This  results  in the following action:- 'US Federal Reserve  withdrawing its $85-billion-a -month liquidity support to the domestic economy over the next year'. The US Fed had 'declared this statement in May indicating withdrawl of  liquidity in near future.' We the ordinary citizens will never know whether these words will be followed up with action. And just this announcement has sent the markets in a tizzy.

(3) The current economic crisis is actually rooted to the '2008 financial meltdown'. At that time, the causes of the crisis was  the 'expansion of credit', which boomeranged starting with the housing bubble in US. And that crisis thereafter spread across the world.

(4) Now it seems, that the solution to the 2008 crisis, was still more expansion of credit. Read the following passage from the article." Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Ahluwalia says after the economic crisis in 2008 the focus largely remained on boosting the global economy through fiscal expansion. There was consensus among all G-20 economies to go for a fiscal booster. "

(5) We are made to wonder how our PM , Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is  considered to be an 'economist of repute and credibility' , could be a party to such "unconventional monetary policies" ?What had compelled him to be a party to such decision taking ? Did he succumb to

US Pressure or bandwagon effect? Or did he think of giving a steroid shot to the Indian economy, that will brighten the prospects of his Govt. continuing in power? In any case he was not 'faithful and true' to the subject (economy) he studied and practised !! This is the least that could be said about this hideous affair impacting on many lives across the world.

(6) There was consensus amongst the G-20 leaders for the 'fiscal booster' which was unconventional. This is likely to have happened after Presiden George W Bush's  talk on the subject. "President George W. Bush told the first G-20 meeting at Washington, after the 2008 financial meltdown, that the emerging economies will have to play a big role as engines of world growth."  After deciding to boost the economy through fiscal expansion, which is most likely a US idea,  'there was hardly any formal discussion on coordinating the monetary policies at that time'.- Now in 2013, it looks like we had walked into a trap (honey-trap) laid by the Americans.

(7) The expansion of credit/liquidity  by the Americans is questionable .That is why it is called 'unconventional monetary policy'. Look how they have done it . "The U.S. then resorted to the most unprecedented injection of liquidity in its history as the central bank balance sheet expanded from about $870 billion before the crisis to $3 trillion today. The additional $2 trillion freshly printed dollars were pumped in three phases, described as QE1, QE2 and QE3. This was done largely because the U.S. economy was not showing any signs of reducing its unemployment rate since the peak of the crisis."

(8) The US it seems waited for 50 months after the peak of the crisis. ie the 2008 financial meltdown. That means it waited for 4 years and two months after 2008, hoping the situation will improve. Then only it embarked on printing dollars, as per the article in The Hindu. Quote

from the article " In all past episodes of depression/recessions, the U.S. economy had bounced back to its pre-crisis employment within 12 to 24 months. This time things did not improve significantly even after 50 months. This resulted in the highly “unconventional monetary policy” which is coming back to haunt the emerging economies." This suggests that it started printing dollars for 'the fiscal booster' only in 2012. ? How credible are these facts presented here. ? Did the dollar inflows into India and other emerging economies , start only in 2012?  Considering that a decision was taken in 2008 to boost the global economy through fiscal expansion!!!

(9) The emerging economies that are impacted negatively due to Fed's actions are Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa, India, Brazil and Malaysia. China & Japan are not in this list,(being in the same region), and these two countries are lenders to the US Govt.

After reading the article, one becomes doubtful of US intentions and actions and the following questions pop-up in the mind.

(a) US economy is only 'showing' recovery. Is this recovery really going to effected by sucking off the wealth from the above countries including India, whose currency has depreciated , to whom US can sell dearly and buy cheaply. Is not this the conceited plan of US in effecting a recovery.? 

(b) At this point in time why US wants to  strike Syria, when its 'acolyte' ie UK is not going along with it ?The previous wars in Iraq and Libya had boosed the economic prospects of US companies.!! If US is itching for an attack on Syria, is it that its economy had NOT really shown any signs of recovery. In this age of 'futures' trading, is US announcing the results beforehand, before actions are taken on the ground. 

(c)  As per Noam Chomsky, the Really Existing Capitalist Democracy existing in US is a

plutocracy. And more than 70% of its population are kept out of any decision making after the elections. Actually the same is happening in parliamentary democracies everywhere. So are all these  decisions and the events based on that ,to benefit the rich and poweful in all nations, at the cost of the poor. ?

What the PM said in Parliament about   the Indian economy . (The Hindu, 31/08/13, Page 12, National ,http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/pm-need-of-the-hour-is-more-difficult-reforms/article5077814.ece)

(1)   Exports :- “On the export side, “weak demand in our major markets has kept our exports from growing.” Exports were further hit by a collapse in iron ore exports. Taken together, these factors made “our current account deficit unsustainably large,” he said.

(2)   Imports :- “Prior to 2010-11, the current account deficit was more modest and financing it was not difficult. Since then, there had been a deterioration, mainly on account of huge imports of gold, and a higher cost of crude imports and recently, of coal.”

(3)   Intraneous  factors : - “Not only had the rupee been hit because of a large current account deficit, part of it was a needed adjustment as inflation in India had been much higher than in advanced economies. Therefore it was natural that there had to be a correction in the exchange rate to account for this difference.”

(4)   Blessing in disguise :-“ “To some extent, depreciation can be good for the economy as this will help to increase our export competitiveness and discourage imports,”

(5)   Extraneous factors :- “The sharp and sudden depreciation of the rupee, he said, was due to unexpected factors such as the situation in Syria and the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve tapering its policy of quantitative easing as the U.S. economy was recovering. This led to a reversal of capital flows which was now sharply pulling down not just the rupee but also the Brazilian Real, the Turkish Lira, the Indonesian Rupiah, the South African Rand and many other currencies.” (Is the U.S economy really recovering ? Are they not jumping the gun, thinking of better prospects (only ephemeral) after military intervention in Syria ?Really Existing Capitalist Democracy in America is a plutocracy. Few people take the decisions there, serving own interest)

(6)   Remedies :- “Clearly we need to reduce our appetite for gold, economise on the use of petroleum products and take steps to increase our exports.” (There was another time when India was the dump-yard for bullions of silver and gold. The economy was not (made) complex at that time, foreigners paid for  our manufactures in gold and silver.- How are we to economise  the use of petroleum products, since we have moved  away from an agricultural economy to an automobile economy. ?- Exports are likely to improve since Indian goods will now be cheaper, “provided” there is world-wide demand )

(7)   Warning of  treatment  based on Milton Fried man’s Shock Doctrine :-“ While admitting that there were several problems facing the economy and investor sentiment was affected, he said the country would face “short-term shocks” but expressed confidence that growth in the current fiscal would rise to 5.5 per cent, up from a decade’s low of 5 per cent in 2012-13”.

(8)   Provided further data for public consumption, engendering in us cognitive dissonance ““It is important to recognise that the fundamentals of the Indian economy continue to be strong. India’s overall public-debt to GDP ratio has been on a declining trend from 73.2 per cent of GDP in 2006-07 to 66 per cent in 2012-13. Similarly, India’s external debt is only 21.2 per cent of GDP, and while short-term debt has risen, it stands at 5.2 per cent of GDP. Our forex reserves stand at $ 278 bn, and are more than sufficient to meet India’s external financing requirements.” - If the fundamentals of the economy continue to be strong, the chronic problems we are facing should never have arisen !!!! Now we the people are thoroughly confused !

For the PM  'the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve tapering its policy of quantitative easing as the U.S. economy was recovering' is only just one causes for the current crisis.  Whereas the article  by Mr.Venu underpins that  Fed Policy is solely responsible for the crisis.

Will the people by and large have full knowledge about this crisis? Is economics a proper science, able to predict effects  from causes. That is, if a given set of initial conditions are provided,will economists be able to determine the final outcome/s. If this be affirmative, how will we judge the actions of the G-20 leaders. 

Whatever it is, we the ordinary people are short-changed by govts., financial institutions and uncaring and unsympathetic leaders. And there is no reason for hope.

Op-ED Article of 01/09/2013

Withdrawal symptoms to a dollar addiction - M.K.Venu

The G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, that begins on September 5 will probably show greater urgency in tackling emerging risks to sustainable global growth. It will call for much closer cooperation between the developed and developing worlds, as also among emerging economies, in dealing with the “catastrophic consequences” of the United States Federal Reserve withdrawing its $85-billion-a-month liquidity support to the domestic economy over the next year. Cumulatively, the U.S. has pumped an additional $2 trillion of freshly printed greenback since the 2008 global meltdown to support its banking system and the economy at large.

The prospect of the withdrawal of some of these dollars from the global system has sent shivers down the backs of many emerging economies, including India. The rapid currency depreciation in many of these countries, such as Indonesia, Turkey, South Africa, India, Brazil and Malaysia these past few months, especially after the Fed’s statement in May indicating withdrawal of liquidity in the near future, was discussed at the G-20 Finance Ministers’ mid-July meeting in Moscow. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had spoken to U.S. officials at the Moscow meeting and expressed concern at the negative impact of the Fed’s actions on the emerging economies.

India's concerns

India has already flagged the issue by stating how “unconventional monetary policies” followed by the U.S. and EU have ended up creating new risks in the system. Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Ahluwalia says after the economic crisis in 2008 the focus largely remained on boosting the global economy through fiscal expansion. There was consensus among all G-20 economies to go for a fiscal booster. There was hardly any formal discussion on coordinating the monetary policies at that time. The U.S. then resorted to the most unprecedented injection of liquidity in its history as the central bank balance sheet expanded from about $870 billion before the crisis to $3 trillion today. The additional $2 trillion freshly printed dollars were pumped in three phases, described as QE1, QE2 and QE3. This was done largely because the U.S. economy was not showing any signs of reducing its unemployment rate since the peak of the crisis. In all past episodes of depression/recessions, the U.S. economy had bounced back to its pre-crisis employment within 12 to 24 months. This time things did not improve significantly even after 50 months. This resulted in the highly “unconventional monetary policy” which is coming back to haunt the emerging economies.

According to Dr. Arvind Virmani, who represented India as Executive Director at the IMF in the post-crisis period, “We at the IMF did express concern that the massive quantitative easing by the United States was particularly going into some eight emerging economies, India being one. The liquidity boost also led to a big increase in oil and commodity prices which also contributed to high inflation in emerging economies.” Dr. Virmani agrees managing such massive inflows, and now possible outflows, is a big challenge for developing economies like India.

One of the key concerns of the G-20 meet in St. Petersburg will be how emerging economies can manage the outflow of dollars that is bound to occur as the U.S. shows recovery and the Federal Reserve begins to taper excess liquidity as a consequence.

Indeed, beyond a point U.S. monetary policy cannot address global concerns. The U.S. will necessarily look inward until there is some visible improvement in its own employment data. In fact, one of the criticisms of the G-20 forum was that it had become just a talk-shop after the first two meetings in 2009 in Washington and Pittsburgh. The first two meetings showed urgency among countries to work together in a coordinated manner because the economic crisis was at its peak. Recall how President George W. Bush told the first G-20 meeting at Washington, after the 2008 financial meltdown, that the emerging economies will have to play a big role as engines of world growth. At that time America looked most vulnerable. But today some of the emerging economies seem more vulnerable with their currencies crashing.

The possibility of a substantial tapering of the dollar deluge of the past is making developing economies think hard about innovative solutions. They will also have to come up with unconventional alternatives like bilateral and regional currency swaps to tide over short term liquidity problems. For instance, there are reports that BRICS countries may reach a quick consensus on the sidelines of the G-20 summit and work out the modalities of the proposed $100 billion Currency Reserve Fund(CSF) to tide over short-term liquidity problems. This was decided in principle at the BRICS summit at Durban, South Africa earlier this year. China has apparently agreed to contribute to nearly 50 per cent of this fund. India, on its part, is trying to save up on its dollar liability by preparing to discuss local currency trading with its non-U.S. trade partners. It is going back to Iran for rupee denominated oil purchases. India must be pragmatic and not get ideologically constrained in this hour.

venu.mk@thehindu.co.in

Emerging economies that are feeling the pain as the U.S. winds down its liquidity injection must use the G-20 summit that begins today to formulate a pragmatic response

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/withdrawal-symptoms-to-a-dollar-addiction/article5091086.ece (original article at the above link)

PM: need of the hour is more difficult reforms 

(Report in The Hindu dtd 31/08/2013)

GARGI PARSAI“Rupee decline a shock but we’ll address problem through other steps”

“We need to reduce our appetite for gold, economise onthe use of petroleum products and increase exports, ” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tells the Rajya Sabha on Friday.— PHOTO: PTI/ TV GRAB

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the sudden decline in the value of the rupee was a “shock” but the government would address this problem through “other measures,” not by reversing the process of reforms or through capital controls.

Making identical statements in both Houses of Parliament, Dr. Singh sought a political consensus for carrying out “more difficult reforms” such as reduction of subsidies, insurance and pension sector reforms, eliminating bureaucratic red tape and implementing the Goods and Services Tax. Reforms such as GST were essential to restore growth and required States to come to an agreement.

The sharp and sudden depreciation of the rupee, he said, was due to unexpected factors such as the situation in Syria and the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve tapering its policy of quantitative easing as the U.S. economy was recovering. This led to a reversal of capital flows which was now sharply pulling down not just the rupee but also the Brazilian Real, the Turkish Lira, the Indonesian Rupiah, the South African Rand and many other currencies.

Prior to 2010-11, the current account deficit was more modest and financing it was not difficult. Since then, there had been a deterioration, mainly on account of huge imports of gold, and a higher cost of crude imports and recently, of coal. On the export side, “weak demand in our major markets has kept our exports from growing.” Exports were further hit by a collapse in iron ore exports. Taken together, these factors made “our current account deficit unsustainably large,” he said.

“Clearly we need to reduce our appetite for gold, economise on the use of petroleum products and take steps to increase our exports.”

Not only had the rupee been hit because of a large current account deficit, part of it was a needed adjustment as inflation in India had been much higher than in advanced economies. Therefore it was natural that there had to be a correction in the exchange rate to account for this difference.

“To some extent, depreciation can be good for the economy as this will help to increase our export competitiveness and discourage imports,” the Prime Minister said.

While admitting that there were several problems facing the economy and investor sentiment was affected, he said the country would face “short-term shocks” but expressed confidence that growth in the current fiscal would rise to 5.5 per cent, up from a decade’s low of 5 per cent in 2012-13.

“It is important to recognise that the fundamentals of the Indian economy continue to be strong. India’s overall public-debt to GDP ratio has been on a declining trend from 73.2 per cent of GDP in 2006-07 to 66 per cent in 2012-13. Similarly, India’s external debt is only 21.2 per cent of GDP, and while short-term debt has risen, it stands at 5.2 per cent of GDP. Our forex reserves stand at $ 278 bn, and are more than sufficient to meet India’s external financing requirements.”

The Prime Minister’s statement in the Rajya Sabha was marked by sharp exchanges between him and Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley after Dr. Singh charged the BJP with stalling crucial reforms Bills by repeatedly disturbing proceedings. In the Lok Sabha, several Opposition members staged a walkout, dissatisfied with his statement. (Original link http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/pm-need-of-the-hour-is-more-difficult-reforms/article5077814.ece

CASTE – IT’S REDUNDANCY IN URBAN AREAS

Robert H Elliot,(1837-1914), British Planter who had spent 38 years of his life in Mysore, Karnataka, says that Caste laws cannot be enforced in towns and thus the benefits of Caste are not felt there. People in towns mostly have a anonymous existence, compared to the villages, and community laws and customs are followed readily and willingly in a rural setting , necessitated  due

Robert H.Elliot

to the constant and proximate interaction amongst community members and also due to limited privacy.

Mr. Elliot considers towns and cities as hubs of ‘progress and intellectual advancement’, and in this context he asserts that adherence to caste laws and customs  ‘is fraught with a multitude of painful and vexatious evils’. He had come to this conclusion, after  making due  allowance,  considering the  ‘evils of large cities’. He believes that those  townsfolk who had ‘maintained a fair state of morality’ without being ‘materially affected ‘ by the ‘bad habits and customs of the white races’, will

retain such moral principles whatever the circumstances may be,  but regarding those whose moral scruples are not shaped by caste laws or other factors  and had ‘never led a steady life’, one need not consider ‘with whom they mixed’. From the above one can infer that, as per Mr Elliot, good and bad had already been segregated in the cities and good will remain so even if surrounded by evil, and therefore the role of Caste acting as a moral restraint becomes redundant in towns and cities.

Mr Elliot further quotes the remarks made by Mr.Dadabhai Naoroji, from a report published in the journal of the East India Association. In the words of Mr

Naoroji himself, two incidents regarding the baneful effects of Caste in the city of Bombay  are presented. And it is strange as well as surprising to note that as per Mr.Naoroji, ‘the present system of caste interferes with progress among the HIGHER CLASSES’.

But in his final conclusions concerning caste and morality, after one-to-one comparison of  the factors relating to morality of people in Indian and British countryside, Mr Elliot reposes infinite faith in the ‘value of caste in keeping up feelings of superiority and self-respect’. Without any doubt, he  ‘establishes’ that ‘there are no drawbacks, and many striking advantages, connected with caste as far as the country populations are concerned’.   

EXCERPTS :- “Having thus glanced at some of the effects of caste institutions as they affect the rural population, we will now consider caste as it affects the people of the towns. Following, then, the same order, and directing our attention to the same points selected for consideration when treating of the rural classes, let us ask how far caste has operated with the townspeople as regards the connection of the sexes and the use of alcohol. And here we shall find that the subject may be dismissed in almost a single sentence; for caste laws, as regards these points, can never act as a moral restraint, because the possibility of enforcing them cannot and does not exist. Nor need I waste time in proving that people in towns, whether in India, or any other part of the world, may readily do things which could never escape the prying eyes of a country society.

Then, as regards the segregation from foreigners, it is evident that we need

employ little time, for such of the town populations as have maintained a fair state of morality amid the evils of large cities, are not likely to be materially affected by the bad habits and customs of the white races; and as for those who have never led a steady life, it would not much matter with whom they mixed. But caste not only brings with it no good as far as the town population is concerned, but its continuance is fraught with a multitude of painful and vexatious evils, which meet us at every turn, for it hampers the actions, and clogs those efforts at progress which are the natural result of intellectual advancement. And here I cannot do better than quote the words of a Parsee gentleman, whose unceasing efforts to aid the progress of India entitle him to be placed in the very highest rank of those who spend much time and labour to produce effects which they can never live to see the fruits of. These remarks of his, which I am now about to quote, were made at the close of a paper on caste, which I read at a meeting of the East India Association, and are quoted from the report published in the journal of the Association. After fully granting that, in the condition of society existing at the time the system of caste was established, it may have done a great deal of

good, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji proceeded to remark on the way the present system of caste interferes with progress among the higher classes, and then gave several instances to illustrate his observation. "The great struggle," he said, "which is now going on in Bombay about the widow-marriage question is an apt illustration of this; and, also, the fear of excommunication prevents a large body of natives from coming to this country, and profiting by their visit. It is often said, 'educated Hindoos ought not to care for this excommunication;' but those who say that, little think what excommunication means. A man who is excommunicated may not care for it for his own sake, but he has his family to consider. What is to be done with daughters? They cannot marry if their father is excommunicated, and the result is, therefore, most serious to them. I knew of one instance of a native gentleman who, being excommunicated from his caste for having visited England, had, on the death of his child, been put to the very painful necessity of having the body carried by his servant, without anyone accompanying him."

It would be impossible, I think, to furnish two better instances of the evils of

caste to people desirous of shaking off in any way the habits of their forefathers; and a more melancholy picture than that of this unfortunate man setting out with his dead child without a single friend to accompany him it would indeed be difficult to find. Many other illustrations might, of course, be given; but enough has been said already, and we may safely consider it as a settled question that, as far as the people of the towns are concerned, the sooner caste is abolished the better.

I may here be permitted to remind the reader that we have considered the effects of caste, as regards the country population, in two very important particulars: first of all, as to the morality of the sexes, which is controlled to such a large extent by caste law; and secondly, we have looted at the effects of caste as controlling the use of alcohol, and consequently limiting the crimes and evils that can in most countries be traced to drinking. On both of these points we have compared an Indian county with any county in Great Britain, and saw reason to think that morality, as regards the points under consideration, is

better in Manjarabad than in any British county. And, by facts which may be brought from many quarters of the globe, we have seen that it is a universal law that inferior races have a tendency to adopt the vices rather than the virtues of superior races, and that, therefore, caste laws which enjoin social separation are of the highest value. We have seen, too, the value of caste in keeping up feelings of superiority and self-respect. We have also seen that these caste laws can exist without  retarding the progress of the people, or their desire for education. And, finally, taking all these points into consideration, we concluded that there were no drawbacks, and many striking advantages, connected with caste as far as the country populations are concerned.

In the next place, we looked at the circumstances of the people of the towns, inquired as to how caste has affected them for good or evil, and came to the conclusion that not only does no good arise from caste, but that it is plainly and

unmistakably an unmitigated evil.

Keeping these conclusions firmly in mind, let us now advance to the

consideration of a third question, which naturally arises out of those facts which I assume to have been established.” (pages 389-398  of 798)

More positive contributions of CASTE  to Indian Society can be read at 

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-widow-re-marriage.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/india-vis-vis-great-britain-state-of.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-system-vis-vis-alcoholism-indian.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-and-womens-safety.html

http://msradha.blogspot.in/2013/08/caste-contributed-positively-to-indian.html

EXCERPT FROM

Robert H. Elliot. “Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore.” iBooks. 

This material may be protected by copyright (From Chapter VIII ,CASTE)

This resource is freely available on the net. It is very important for our imagination of our past.