Brahmins

Brahmins – who are they . where do they originate from.  Any proper credible verifiable evidence , as to their true origins ? More than 1, 200 clans of Brahmins . Some are considered backward classes . Everyone don’t intermarry , interact .  Some of the Brahmin clans are --- Manu / Modh / Sha / Datta / Valmika / Rai / Bharathavarsha / Mithila / Parashara / Vasishtha / Vyasa / Kar / Kali / Pandit / Salman / Gopinath / Gouthama / Viswamithra / Dhanwanthari . 

Chittpavan Brahmins are said to be Jews – Godse , Savarkar were Chittpavans .
   
Swami Vivekananda ( born Narendranath Datta ) --  extremely racist , one of the Highest degree Freemason , in his time . Groomed and promoted by Freemasons & Knights of Queen of England.  Hero of both Reformed Hinduism & Sanatanis .  Sanata Dharma - promoted  by Freemasons & Theosophists like Annie Besant …. Benares Hindu University was founded by British. They  promoted  Sanskrit .  Madan Mohan Malavya was a just a front man.

How come Indus Valley Civilisation – if at all it existed - is applicable to everyone in the present day massive nation called India?. What is the justification? It must have been practiced by a very small number of people , if at all it existed .   

The opposition  is always controlled . Led by Freemasons. Example = CAA , NCR =  Asaduddin Owaisi whose father was a protégé of Nizam of Hyderabad/ freemason ,who follows- MalcolmX , Maududi.  – ( The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen or AIMIM (translation: All India Council for Unity of Muslims) ..  has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927 in the Hyderabad State of British India .  It was founded and shaped by Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khan Qiledar of Hyderabad State with the "advice" of Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Nizam of Hyderabad and in the presence of Ulma-e-Mashaeqeen in 1927 as a pro-Nizam party.  Then it was only Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and the first meeting was held in the house of Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khan on November 12, 1927.

Written like a piece of local history, this book tells the story of Udupi and other places in South Kanara (Coastal Karnataka) from the perspective of these 'Business Brahmins'.It also presents an analysis of kinship, religion and community in a Brahmin merchant caste which, in some ways, do not correspond to received ideas of Brhmin orthodoxy.

Gouda Saraswats Brahmins are a part of the wider Saraswat community, descendents of the tribes who once resided in the Saraswati River Valley. The Saraswati River is surrounded by mystery although its exact origins have been documented in many historical documents including the Vedas which are widely considered to be the basis of the present day Hindu religion and culture. This write up aims to chart out the exact details of how the community came to be in the present geographic locations spread throughout India from the banks of the great Vedic river.

In 2014, on the Indian Independence Day August 15, a ritual took place in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, during which 108 married couples were initiated into the worship known as the Pañcāyatana Pūjā. The ritual, which had almost died out in most parts of India, is a worship of five gods in the aniconic forms of five different stones. The married couples all belonged to the group of Smārta Brahmins, a subgroup of the priestly class in the traditional Hindu society. This chapter examines the background for this event, which is part of a broader re-traditionalization of Brahmin values and lifestyle in Tamil Nadu. For historical reasons the priestly authority of Brahmins has been strongly challenged in Tamil Nadu, and the effects of globalization further add to the weakening of their traditional identity. The revitalization of the traditional lifestyle, however, does not come easily but is supported by several different media forms, from how-to-literature in books and on the internet, to different types of merchandise made available by a willing commodification industry. These struggles for a renewal of authority are not only mediated by the material forms of a traditional lifestyle, but must take place within the framework of the mediatized and commodified society of contemporary India.

The Yogācārabhūmi, a massive compilation of the early Yogācāra “school(s),” contains a comparatively short section dedicated to the critical examination of sixteen “allodoxies” (paravāda), mostly non-Buddhist doctrines, practices and institutions, some of which go back to the Brahmajāla- and Śrāmaṇyaphalasūtra of the Dīrghāgama. This section, which could go back to the late 3rd century CE, is a remarkable milestone in the history of philosophy in the Buddhist environment in that it summarizes and updates earlier canonical arguments, adapting them to a new polemical context, and reveals Buddhist philosophy’s profound indebtedness to sūtra literature. The present paper analyzes allodoxy no. 14 (agravāda), the brahmins’ claim to socio-religious superiority, i.e., to be the purest and most excellent of the caste-classes.

In this paper I have tried to bring forth a case of Brahminical appropriation of popular shrines by asserting their caste-ritual authority’ through reformulation of myths and appropriation of resources. The term Brahminical appropriation has been used to emphatically illustrate the process of marginalisation and alienation of the dominant low castes by the Brahmin priests in connivance with the high caste state officials, for certain economic and political gains. The political and economic process of such appropriation
has been systematically analysed within the north-western Himalayan social milieu that I came across during the course of my field survey on the Siddha network in 1991-93. Data was collected from 12 Sidh shrines-of which three have been brahmanised, one is in the process of transition and needs to be tracked closely. Three others are managed by the kanphata jogis, and the remaining five by members of the low castes.

All of man’s activity is directed towards attaining that what is pleasant to him and preventing that which makes him suffer...Even then the Vedic Karma could not be performed...This is how and why Dharma was created, the four Varnas being in a sense its four pillars...Consider the number of virtues expected of Brahmin performing sacrifices for others...The king, who, even though he takes taxes from his people, remains oblivious to their protection, is considered a great sinner...He is fully entitled to the knowledge of Vedanta...Karmas like Vedic sacrifices etc. destroy the negative residue of sins accumulated by us over our many births...This is called working as a servant under God.

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Guerreros y sacerdotes: las castas en la escritura del clero nativo de la India portuguesa (siglo XVIII).  In: De la Vega, Lia Rodriguez; Lavolpe, Francisco.  Diversidades. Asia Y Africa en perspectiva desde América del Sur. 1ed. Buenos Aires: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Universidade Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, 2013, pp.4-18

This article [written in German] presents the first critical edition (based upon twelve mss. and six medieval works) of the so-called Epistula Bragmanorum ad Alexandrum (Ep. Bragm.), a fictitious letter sent by the Indian Gymnosophists to Alexander the Great advising him not to attack their island. To support their argument, they describe their simple and virtuous way of living; they have nothing Alexander would want to take.
The accompanying study tries to place the Ep. Bragm. in the tradition of the Alexander Romance and in the context of epitomes and Christian encyclopaedias. There are numerous similarities and correspondences, especially with the Collatio Alexandri et Dindimi. The Ep. Bragm. actually has the form of an introduction to an epitomized version of the Collatio.

Khemer Kings called themselves DEVARAJA- God King. In that sense they took upon themselves the functions of both the Brahmins and Ksatriyas. Both terms connected to the Indus valley Civilizations and hinduism - fat away from Cambodia or Kambujdesh as it was called. Why and how this happened. fascinating study.

Indian caste system is the most unrepresentative character of diversity and inclusion. This presentation charts the position of representation and lack of diversity in the Indian social, economic, political, judicial, and cultural sphere.

Indian education, legislature, bureaucracy, judiciary, film, advertising, business, finance and industries are controlled by few caste groups who are historically and traditionally dominant.

The data debunks the myth of India as an inclusive society. India is (man)handled by ~4% of Brahmins controlling over 50% of Indias important resources.

Dalits, Tribals, OBCs, Muslims continue to be the most unrepresented groups in India.

Female representation across all the caste and religious groups continues to be the most unrepresented in India.

The transformation of the ancient brahmanical faith into modern Hinduism can be regarded as the most distinguishing feature from the Gupta period onwards. Buddhism no longer received as much royal patronage as it did earlier. Brahmanism had come to the forefront. The Gupta rulers especially provided filling to the Bhagavata Sect of Hinduism. They called them selved Bhagavatas, worshipped Lord Vishnu performed Asvamedha yajnas, gave large donations to brahmanas, and built many temples. In Hinduism a bhāgavata (a vṛddhi derivative from bhagavant-'lord'), is a devotee, worshipper or follower of Bhagavant namely Vishnu in his personal aspect as Lord Krishna. The form of worship is called bhakti which has the meaning of 'adoration'. Historically, Bhagavatism corresponds to the development of a popular theistic movement in India, departing from the elitist sacrificial rites of Vedism, and initially focusing on the worship of the Vrishni hero Vāsudeva in the region of Mathura. [1] It later assimilated into the concept of Narayana where Krishna is conceived as svayam bhagavan. According to some historical scholars, worship of Krishna emerged in the 1st century BC. However, Vaishnava traditionalists place it in the 4th century BC. Despite relative silence of the earlier Vedic sources, the features of Bhagavatism and principles of monotheism of Bhagavata school unfolding described in the Bhagavad Gita as viewed as an example of the belief that Vāsudeva-Krishna is not an avatar of the Vedic Vishnu, but is the Supreme Krishnaism Historically, the Bhagavatas worshipped Vāsudeva-Krishna. /// An early depiction of Vāsudeva-Krishna on a coin of Agathocles of Bactria, 190-180 The Heliodorus pillar, dedicated by a Greek ambassador from the court of Indo-Greek king Antialcidas circa 100 BCE, contains the first known inscription related to the Bhagavata cult in India.

The Dalit political consensus is derivative of cross-class aspirations. The Dalit polity is deeply tied to the humanitarian issues of justice, equality and freedom.
Justice against inequalities heaped upon them for generations continues to haunt their existential reality. Generation after generation, the disenfranchised Dalit gentry tries to survive the mayhem caused by social, religious, economic, political and moral injustices.

Having performed his Dharma as a king for many years, and observing the graying of his hair...When he continued to perform this worship daily without fail, his heart melted with a surging, ever-increasing love for God...Suddenly a lion roared, and the poor creature, frightened out of her wits, panicked...Even during the course of performing his religious duties, which required single-minded devotion, he would rise up, again and again, to check on the young one...He had become so terrified of any attachment to anybody that he stayed all alone...The pious Brahmin was much worried about his son...Whenever somebody wanted him to do something, Bharata would ungrudgingly do whatever was asked of him..... Observing his excellent physique, they chose him to share the load...It seems as though a man is walking on it, but the foot of the man who walks on the earth is also made of the same earth.

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Looking at the early educational activities of the anti-caste movement in the Western Indian Bombay Presidency (1848–1882), the article sheds light on the diverse, and sometimes contradictory social effects of the colonial encounter. The military defeat of the Maratha Empire, the setting up of colonial educational governance, and the emergence of missionary education had disrupted social and religious certainties. In this moment of crisis, reformers turned to education to intervene in the ongoing social transformation processes. From the perspective of the shudra-atishudra – the serving, labouring, and untouchable castes, who formed the lowest stratum of Western Indian society – the new political situation provided a space to challenge the established structures of caste and gender domination. The article starts with a discussion of colonial-governmental and missionary educational interventions, and proceeds to analyse anti-caste radicals’ educational activities against this background. Schools, popular literature, and public performance aimed to create a reflexive knowledge among the shudra-atishudra about their own position in society, and the ways to change it. Finally, the article explores the anti-caste movement’s varying interpretations of the changes in education and society. While anti-caste writers of the 1850s welcomed the new educational opportunities, their voices were highly critical of colonial education policy in the 1880s. In the nineteenth century’s struggles over caste, gender, and education, privileges and exclusions had been reworked in a colonial-modern framework. Still, important steps had been taken towards democratising and universalising Indian education. DM for Full Copy

The current hyperbolic preoccupation with race in the Anglosphere has provided an opportunity for some to link caste to race as though they are cognate phenomena of oppression. The depiction of Brahmins as the epitome of whiteness at the apex of the Indian caste system, is actually generated from within the same western framework that treats race as a salient difference.

Contesting Shi‘ism: Isna ‘Ashari and Isma‘ili Shi‘ism in modern South Asia

Saleem Khan
The Shia dominance of the legal profession in British India :A Study of Lawyer-Politicians of Bihar

‘Ulema, religious rituals, sectarian violence and aristocrats have generally been the focus for studies on Shi‘ism and Shi‘as in South Asia, while high caste, upper middle class British educated Hindu Brahmins such as the Sapru-Nehru clan usually provide the focus for studies on lawyer-politicians. Yet some of the best barristers of British India were Shi‘as by origin or choice. A few like the Muslim modernist Syed Amir Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah have been the subject of several publications. In particular, the focus of this paper is on the Shi‘a Muslim Barristers of Bihar, who have received much less attention.  Centred on two brothers, Sir Ali Imam and Justice Hasan Imam of Patna, and their distant younger relative Sir Sultan Ahmed of Gaya, they each rose to the apex of both the political and legal professions during the British Raj. The elder brother Sir Ali Imam headed the Muslim League, while Hasan Imam became the leader of the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress. Sir Sultan Ahmed, in contrast to the Imam brothers, later on came to head the All India Shi‘a Conference. The descendents and relatives of the Imam brothers acquired an elite education, often at British private schools, Oxbridge and the Inns of Law, and were well represented in the Indian Supreme and High Courts until the 1970s. This paper also looks at the relations between these Bihari Syed Shi‘a barristers with the much larger Sunni community, the Hindu majority, and their co-religionists in Awadh.