The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India

Thought, Movements and Development

Simhadri Somanaboina, Akhileshwari Ramagoud, Simhadri Somanaboina, Akhileshwari Ramagoud

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000462807
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This handbook presents an authoritative account of the development of movements, thoughts and policies of OBCs (Other Backward Classes) in India. Despite the adoption of egalitarian principles in the Indian Constitution, caste inequalities, discrimination and exclusionary practices against people from backward classes and other lower castes continue to haunt them in contemporary India.

A comprehensive work on the politics of identity and plurality of experiences of OBCs in India, this handbook:

— Features in-depth research by eminent scholars on the Other Backward Classes (OBC) social and political thought, OBC movements and OBC development and policy making.

— Discusses the life, ideologies and pioneering contributions by Gautam Buddha, Sant Kabir, Jotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, Shahu Maharaj, Narayana Guru, B.R. Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia, and E V Ramasamy Periyar and leading social reform movements.

— Examines OBC issues with case studies from various Indian states to look at issues of pre- and post- Mandal India; backward caste movements; and reclamation of the Bahujan legacy.

— Critiques public policies and programs for the development of OBCs in India.

— Reviews the status of Muslim OBCs in India and of the invisibilized nomadic communities.

— Reviews the impact of globalization on the economically backward lower castes and the impact of development initiatives for the excluded people.

The first of its kind, this handbook will be essential reading for scholars and researchers of exclusion and discrimination studies, diversity and inclusion studies, Global South studies, affirmative action, sociology, Indian political history, Dalit studies, political sociology, public policy, development studies and political studies.

Part I

Thought and ideology

DOI: 10.4324/9781003152873-1

Outrageous inequality, discrimination of the worst kind, personal and collective denigration, deprivation and daily humiliation of the so-called low castes who comprise a majority in society has been borne stoically for several centuries by the people. However, at the same time, the injustice of the caste system regularly threw up rebels who formulated theses, mobilized people and led movements, mostly peaceful, to enthuse the masses to revolt against the system that had condemned them for life as “low” people.

While thinkers like Gautama Buddha, a prince who renounced his world of privilege to discover a new way of living and thinking, promoted a casteless society, reservation was introduced for the oppressed and the marginalized by Shahu Maharaj in his kingdom of Kolhapur about 150 years ago. Reformers spoke up against the religious and social practices that treated fellow people as less than humans and oppressed them. The new paths they showed and new thinking they evolved found resonance among the people.

Then there were remarkable poets who were subalterns who, over three centuries from 14th century onwards who made it their mission to bring about a change in the society where the majority of the people were enslaved in the name of caste. These “sant poets” or “saint poets” through their radical anti-caste poetry, brought about an awakening among the masses through the people’s language.

Foremost among reformers, Jotirao Phule is considered the forerunner of various social movements in Maharashtra. He promoted “truth-seeking” by the individual rather than follow religious dictates. He was the leading proponent of education for women as a measure to end gender inequality. Savitribai Phule, walking hand-in-hand with her husband, Jotirao Phule, waged a battle with society that was against educating girls, especially those of the marginalized. The couple recognized that education was important if the exploited people were to throw off the chains of bondage.

Revolutionaries were thrown up by the exploitative system of Brahminism who countered it and mobilized movements against it. These included spiritual leaders like Narayan Guru of Kerala, socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and the iconic B.R. Ambedkar.

Brahminism is so deeply entrenched in Indian society that it continues to hold its sway even in the 21st century monopolizing every social, governmental, financial, academic and policy-making institution. Yet, protest continues, guided by thinkers, their thought, ideology and actions.

1
THE BACKWARD GOD

Gautama Buddha’s liberative agenda for the Shudra/OBCs

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd

DOI: 10.4324/9781003152873-2

The Shudras of India, a vast section of whom are known as the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), had not acquired an identity of their own until recently. For a long time in Indian history, they did not search for socio-political thinkers that helped them to change their lives. During the freedom movement, the nationalist leaders identified their heroes based on their understanding of history and Hindu mythology. Quite ironically, most of them traced their national identity or cultural and political greatness vis-à-vis the history of colonial rulers to kings who ruled parts of the Indian subcontinent, or alternatively, chose mythological characters from Ramayana or Mahabharata as their heroes. Some Brahmin writers invoked the names of Chanakya (Kautilya) and Manu as their ancestral thinkers. Only Dr B. R. Ambedkar examined the relationship of Gautama Buddha and the Dalit (Untouchables) of India.

Some Shudra/OBC caste leaders owned the heritage of Satavahanas in Andhra Pradesh, or Kakatiyas, and some (Yadavs all over India) owned the heritage of Srikrishna, the mythological hero of Mahabharata. We can see many such attempts of different caste communities owning the heritage of kings who ruled that linguistic region ¹ (Ilaiah 2000). But the Shudra/OBCs have never seen the relationship between their transformation and Gautama Buddha as a thinker and Buddhism as a school of thought.

There are two ways in which the historically exploited and oppressed communities become empowered: 1) by systematically presenting their contribution in production, artisanal activity and economy, and 2) by tracing their heritage to great socio-economic and political thinkers and prophets who have changed the course of the world. The Dalit-Bahujan and OBC writers did not realize this basic historic fact in relocating themselves in Indian history. The ownership of mythological figures, kings and the heritage of certain kingdoms would not empower the community and leadership of a given movement because there is hardly any argument that could be built around their life that can empower the community that claims that ownership. If they anchor on their productive skills, the history of that productive activity in relation to the present status of the community, the community’s claim over resources in the state structure and in power structures will acquire a definite legitimacy.

In addition to such claims around their contribution to nation-building if they reposition their ideological understanding owning the tradition, culture and theoretical postulates of liberation of such thinkers and reformers, then their claims, arguments and the very understanding of the community would change quite significantly ² (Government of Maharashtra 1987). For example, if a community anchors on the mythological status and role of Rama or Krishna, no social reform based on their anchoring is possible as these figures have no teachings that suggest social reform. Instead, if an oppressed community anchors on Gautama Buddha’s teachings, on the institutional systems (O’Brien 2014) that he built and on the moral codes that he evolved, it would help such a community to reposition itself in the present context and even fight against discrimination and empower itself. In order to fight caste-based discrimination, the oppressed communities/castes must necessarily own the historical legacy of persons who built a casteless society and institutions. In my view, the OBCs must turn to Buddha to relocate their position in society and empower themselves.

Gautama Buddha was born in a tribal chieftain family called Sankhya. He became an alternative god for people who were opposing the Varna system in ancient India, and thus undermined the divine images of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and of course, Rama and Krishna. By the 21st century, Buddha had become a spiritual beacon with a following of about 7.5 percent of the global population. Thus, Buddha is the largest known and most revered Indian in human history. His devotees outnumber the devotees of any Hindu mythological god.

Buddha revolted against caste culture and institutions and established a Sangha as an alternative to the caste-based social system that existed then. However, today, most of his followers are outside India, particularly in Southeast Asia because Buddhism was driven out of India around medieval and early modern times by the Brahminical forces.

One of the reasons that it was driven out of India is that it posed a challenge to the Brahminical social order. Though Buddhism adopted the caste-free Sangha system it could not influence the society outside its fold. The Hindu caste system became more energetic after Adi Sankara’s anti-Buddhist campaigns in the eighth and ninth centuries AD. Although Buddhism as a religion does not occupy much social space in India today, the Buddhist Sangha model serves as a utopian possibility (Krishnan 1986).

One of the many reasons that Gautama Buddha renounced the throne was that he had to perform the ritual of animal sacrifice and assume the status of Kshatriya, a caste (Varna) that was/is next to Brahmins. He seemed to have realized that Indian society was becoming fragmented with more and more caste divisions. The Brahminic forces composed the Rig Veda with a preamble that Brahma (the Creator), created Brahmins from his head, Kshatriyas from his shoulders, Vaishyas from his thighs and the Shudras from his feet. Today’s OBCs are the same Shudras, with minor changes in the status of their socio-economic life, who were said to have been born from the feet of Brahma and hence were assigned the lowest position in the social order. But there is no change in their spiritual status. In any religious society, the social status of people depends on their spiritual status. In the Hindu religion the OBC social status is the same as that of Shudras in ancient and medieval times. Even today the OBCs cannot take up the job of a Hindu priest. They cannot head any Hindu religious institution such as Mutts. They cannot perform the rituals of worship in temples or for the Brahmins and other higher castes. The frozen hierarchical system of Varna and castes was firmly in place with rigid implementation of Varna/caste theory by the time Buddha started establishing Sanghas. Under the Varna system, kings were subordinate to the Brahmin priests. The Brahmins’ disassociation from the productive processes and work was a reality by then.

As a revolt against the caste-centric Hindu social system, Buddha established Sanghas that were caste-free and were open to all irrespective of Varna or gender provided he/she agreed to abide by the Sangha rules. The Sangha rules did not recognize the caste-based divides as that would go against the Vinaya and Nirvana principles that were the core of Buddha’s thought. Those core principles were inscribed in his Eight-Fold Path—Right Views, Right Aspirations, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Means of Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindedness and Right Rapture.

From the very beginning, Buddha ignored the caste law by admitting Upali, a barber by birth, into the Sangha. Upali subsequently rose to become one of the Sangha’s leading members. He asked Buddha if a person of “low birth” such as he could join the order. Buddha ordained him before the princes and asked the princes to pay homage to Upali, who by then had become an Arhant. An Arhant is a Bhikku, who takes full membership and works full time for the Sangha system. He became the chief disciple of Buddha who knew the rules of the order and was the foremost disciple in practicing Buddha’s precepts. Barbara O’Brien writes:

The Shudras were consigned to being servants and laborers. They were not permitted to be educated. However, a Shudra could learn a skill, and Upali chose to learn to be a barber. His skill as a barber earned the patronage of the princes of the Shakya clan in Kapilavastu, where Prince Siddhartha had lived before he became the Buddha.

(Krishnan 1986)

One day, about three years after his enlightenment, Buddha returned home to Kapilavastu. He needed a haircut. Upali was summoned to the palace. Upali received his first teaching in meditation as he cut Buddha’s hair. It is said that Upali quickly mastered the four dhyanas. At the end of Buddha’s stay in Kapilavastu, several of the princes who were Buddha’s kinsmen decided to follow him and become monks. Upon hearing this, Upali shed tears. A prince named Aniruddha, who would go on to become a great disciple of Buddha, took note of Upali’s sorrow. Aniruddha spread out a blanket and asked the princes to leave their gold and jewels on the blanket for Upali as a final reward for his good service. And then the princes left. Upali took the blanket full of treasure and started to walk home. After a while, he stopped. If the princes of Kapilavastu could leave all their possessions to become disciples of Buddha, why couldn’t he? He left the blanket hanging on a tree and began his search to find Buddha.

As he walked, however, he began to have doubts. Would Buddha accept a lowly person as himself as a disciple? Upali sat down by the road and wept in despair at the thought of Buddha not accepting him as a disciple. Another of Buddha’s disciples, Sariputra, found Upali weeping and asked him what was wrong. Upali asked if a low-caste Shudra like him could be accepted as a disciple and enter the order alongside the sons of kings and Brahmins. Certainly, Sariputra replied. Anyone who can keep the Precepts can be a disciple of Buddha. Sariputra and Upali walked together to find Buddha.

The Shakya princes were still waiting to greet Buddha when Upali joined them. The princes and their barber were taken to Buddha. All of them bowed at his feet. Buddha asked Upali to come forward. The Buddha enquired about the conscious decision to join the Sangha system. Upali agreed to all the principles that Buddha informed him about. Buddha knew that he came from a barber background. Buddha told Upali that in the Sangha, caste or former occupation did not matter. The only rank that mattered was seniority. And then he asked Upali to receive the ordination. Then Buddha ordained the astonished Upali, right there before ordaining the Shakya princes, meaning that Upali was now their senior and was due obeisance from them. Buddha told the princes that to give up the material world they would also have to give up social distinctions and privileges.

Upali expressed his gratitude by learning and keeping the Precepts. As might be expected, the “rules guy” was not always popular with other monks and nuns. On one occasion, word got back to Buddha that Upali had been treated disrespectfully by other members of the order. So, Buddha gathered the monks and nuns and lectured them on the importance of the Precepts. As time went on, respect for Upali grew in the order. And when the Buddha passed, Upali was needed more than ever. The disciple Mahakasyapa was leading a number of monks to Kushinagara when news of the Buddha’s death reached him. The news caused some monks to grieve, but one monk said he was glad to be able to do as he wished. Mahakasyapa was disturbed by this remark and worried for the future of the Sangha and the Buddha’s teachings. So, he convened a great assembly of senior monks, all Arhants, to consider how to preserve the teachings and the order.

It was at this assembly that the disciple Ananda recited all of the Buddha’s sermons from memory. And then Upali was asked to recite the monastic rules. The assembled monks agreed that the recitations were accurate. These recitations became the basis for the Sutta-pitika and the Vinaya-pitika of the Pali Tipitika, which are ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART I Thought and ideology
• PART II Backward class movements
• PART III OBC development and policies
• Index