#im not saying they understood the hindu caste system

[summertimesadnessirl]

I mean, yes?

That's just the HP Blavatsky era?

can you imagine if "the gays" were like. obsessed with the Hindu caste system. instead of astrology.

[hindusuggestion]

When was being Hindu not "a bit tricky" with regard to the casteism, religious intolerance, and subjugation of women? Has there been a time in history like that? Do you think there will be one in the future? How will that come about?

ive been thinking abt this question all day. caste has been kinda tricky for me bc 1) my parents and I were born in Malaysia (not to say tht the south asian community there hasnt brought over caste but i feel like its somewhat diluted?) 2) ive lived the majority of my life in america and my parents wasted absolutely no time at all in assimilating,, so i never rly understood what my traditions were, let alone if it were caste based. 

from what (little) ive read of Dr Ambedkar, he seems to say tht the mix of the dharmashastras and casteist injunctions plus the belief in divine beings perpetuates caste. he also says that hindus dont mean to be casteist, its just a part of their religion, and they are casteist bc they are religious. im not sure if thts a fair representation of his beliefs, so i apologize. 

i would like to think that under the Jain and Buddhist rulers, caste was less of a problem, just given the fact tht it was the basis of those religions. even under the Muslim rulers, i like to think that it was a little better, given that i dont think caste wouldve been compliant w the Shari’a (but idk there couldve been rulings perpetuating caste bc it would make the population easier to control maybe? haven’t read to much abt it). from what ive read (which i dont think is enough) caste became the issue it is today bc the british w the help of the uppercaste Hindus had exploited it as a division, along w religion (but ofc i could and most likely am wrong)

i think, according to Dr. Ambedkar, we’re going to have to get read of ‘’’Hinduism’’’’. from what i understand, Hinduism is made up of the corpus of the dharmashastras, like how Christianity is based in the Bible. the shastras necessarily talk abt and factor in and perpetuate caste. therefore, they have to be done away with. im not sure if this includes the Vedas, as the one sukta that actually refers to caste (the Purusha Sukta) was a later addition according to linguists, aka brahmins literally putting words in the mouth of God to justify and consolidate power. that sukta also must go. basically anything and everything that mentions caste must be burned.

that still leaves us with quite a lot tho; the Upanishads, the Aranyakas, quite a few Puranas (tho there would def have to be a lot of rewriting ofc). most of this stuff is transcendental knowledge which (from what i understand) doesnt rly factor in caste. so tht, i think, is what ‘’’Hinduism’’’ would have to be.

wrt to religious intolerance and the subjugation of women; i think thts the same problem almost all religions have. as in, there r followers who r more tolerant and less misogynistic than others, based on their personal beliefs and the interpretations of their texts. also, smth tht i feel is a little unique to Hinduism is how regional it is (this is also present in other religions ofc, but from what i understand, not the extent of Hinduism? bc other religions have central canons, but we dont) i kno tht for example in Kerala the Nairs use(d) a matrilineal, matrilocal, and matrifocal family system. conversely, the practice of sati (again, from what ive read) is mostly a northern thing. tht is, ive never heard of anyone in the south practicing smth like tht (although im sure there mustve been some incidents of tht). so i think the key thing would be to move away from shastras, and more towards our regional cultures, and clip away the traditions that dont have merit

[teufelied-blog]

My trip to India

This was during my second year of university, it was summer and my friends and I wanted to go somewhere for 2 weeks to travel, so they chose India, I minded a bit at first since I was not fond of this country but at the same time was really reading into Paganism and the connections of the Indo-europeans, as well as the Swatsika so I agreed. My desire to go there was one based on the fascination of connections with ancient Indo-Europeans.

Now a little about India, the country ovbiously is a developing country, I mean we could not even drink the water, so we had to bring our own. Also, they dont have western style toilets and toilet paper, except in some hotels so this was a challenge. Personally, I never used one of those, as the smell was unbearable and it was really just un-sanitary.

The very north of India and some Sikh populations of it were fair skinned Indians, looking similar to Med-Europeans, dark hair and dark eyes. They had a caucasion face, a bit symmetrical, not too bad. The rest of India had a very brownish skin tone, some very undesirable facical structures but caucasion features a bit. The south of India had a very dravidian, very dark people with negro features.

Arriving at the airport, we had to pay someone to carry our luggage and get a ride to our residence. Immeditatley, outside the airport we noticed the garbage everywhere and were exposed to many homeless people. They also have this amusement ride where you sit on the back and a person with a bike transports you to your destination.

However, India also had some very modern buildings and huge malls, wasn't rubbish everywhere certainly, nevertheless the beggars and poverty was widespread everywhere. In the cities, it was more modern but still unbearable bathrooms.

Most of the street food was unsafe to eat, although my friends did, because the utensils and machinery was never washed.

The people in general are very family orientated and celebrate many festivals, and have a great sense of community. There are also many wild animals, such as dogs and cows roaming freely, we saw many cute puppies at a cemetry but were warned not to touch them due to many diseases they may carry.

3/5 of my friends were girls, and the indian men and women stared at them endlessly, the guys especially stared at them as if they were food porn. The look in their eyes was frightening and uncomfortable. They are able to communicate in broken English and are charmed by white people from Europe, as they believe us to be moral. (Even though they charge us ovbiously higher prices to scam us).

Now, finally, we arrived to what I was curious about their religious institutions. They go to a temple called a "Mander", it is filled with statues and idols of their respective Hindu gods.

The Mander's(temples of theirs) are very elegant and often made of marble and aesthetic materials, they look very beautiful.

However, there is immense poverty and homeless people who are very religious, but not allowed to seek shelter in these temples weather its cold or burning hot.( as I was informed). Inside the Mander, they have a black rock they refer to as a "shivling",basically you pour milk on it for blessings, and all this milk exits out their sewage system, milk was being wasted on a rock while people were starving outside.

My friends, went to do it, we were given bags of milk for it, but I came across a beggar who was literally shaking and staring at the milk, clearly he had not eaten in many days. I gabe the poor man my milk and my guide told me he said "God bless you". I have to wonder, was the blessing of a humble beggar more that of a esteemed stone which has no real purpose?

I had understood the mentality of the people and how it works, the religious institutions were for people with money, all the poor people, who I viewed on the level of animals were literally on the level of Trash to them. Behind their elegant religious institutions, were mass poverty and despair. There was nothing Aryan or Indo-european in this.

Most of their "Saints" were unable to answer my questions theologically and were deflecting and telling me some bullshit.

The society was very capitalist, and they viewed people with less money as trash.

Also, the caste system didnt make sense to me as these "Brahmin" looked like negros.

Most of their religious institutions were hollow, meaningless, lacking anything pure or organic. Everything was about making some money. The modern Hindu faith is debased and fit for such a degenerate people.

I was greatly dissapointed by my trip, there was nothing Aryan or Indo-european here. Just a decayed people, with morals that of animals. Most of the people cannot understand their own faith. It would be accurate to say their a insecure god fearing people, not god loving.

I wouldnt go back there, hardly anything beautiful or romantic was found. Ironically, my friends said they experienced great culture food and a new outlook on life, the irony. People dont see beyond the deception.

This is why Im also hesitant make connections with "Indo-europsans" its true, our ancestors spoke the same tongue and had the same gods, but the connection of blood is eternally severed. I will stick to norse Paganism, because Indo-European faith of Hinduism is distorted and no longer belonging to us.