'We Are Like The Jews' : ASHOKAMITRAN

outlookindia.com: Politics apart, Brahmin-bashing is rampant in literary and cultural worlds too

For the Tamil Brahmins, it has been one century of being on the defensive. The community feels castrated. The Brahmins have never anyway been the placard-holding type; they have rarely expressed their feelings openly. The Tamil Brahmins have been used to taking insults. Hence perhaps the lack of visible protests or reactions. Theirs is a guilt-ridden existence, their spirit has been killed by a negative self-perception… They have been driven to a quiescent state. Their situation is very similar to that of the Jews in the 1930s.

They gave up the kudumi (tuft), began to sport moustaches like non-Brahmins, changed the manner in which they spoke Tamil, changed their attire, some even began to eat meat… they did everything so that they are not identified as Brahmins in the public sphere. These were all modes of defence, strategies for survival.

Today, few Brahmins speak the brahminical dialect. Despite all these camouflages, even today 50 percent of the Brahmins stand out in a Dravidian setup. One can easily mark them out physically! They are so obvious! Over the years, it has been fed into their psyche that they are different from the Dravidians. The Dravidian movement always called them vandherigal (immigrants/ outsiders)… Even in non-Vedic classical texts, there’s an injunction to safeguard and feed the Brahmins.

The Brahmins gave up on government jobs, and in whatever they did have had to work harder to prove themselves. Natural discipline and thrift are brahminic qualities that have survived. If a nonbrahmin has a windfall he just spends it on meat and drink. The Brahmin always saves for the rainy day.

Brahmin-bashing is not confined to politics. It is a pastime of the cultural and literary worlds as well. Even the Tamil film industry merely caricatures the Brahmin. It is a totally non-brahminised public sphere that Tamil cinema depicts. It is very difficult for a Brahmin to get a foothold in the film industry today—as an actor, assistant director or lyric writer. Earlier, when Brahmins played a significant role in establishing the film industry, the world of cinema had a neutrality, but today an obviously non-Brahmin ethos permeates it.

Kamal Hasan is a beef-eater who to debrahminise even espoused the philosophy of the Dravidar Kazhagam. Mani Rathnam is an intelligent filmmaker, he is a good entertainer, and yet the intellectual class of the little magazines circle targets every film he makes. There’s an undercurrent of anti-brahminism in everyday life.

see no possibility of a good leadership emerging from this community. Jayendra Saraswati certainly would not have made for a good leader. He is very poor in his understanding of religion or politics. C. Rajagopalachari would have been a good choice, but then he is not around. Institutions like Thambras cannot really provide the leadership we need.

My father-in-law owned a lot of land. Each time he got a daughter married, he sold a part of it… today his family owns no land. Even rituals have merely become social occasions. The marriage rituals are also much-abbreviated to reduce costs. Fortunately, the upanayanam (thread ceremony) still continues, but this is more an occasion to meet up with relatives. Sandhyavandanam should be done three times a day by a thread-wearing Brahmin. It is good thing to do. But who performs it? A Brahmin does sandhyavandanam only once in his lifetime and that is on the day the thread is bestowed on him. 50 years hence, perhaps even upanayanam would be given up.

Rituals are not easy to follow. They require a lot of energy and money. The 13-day post-death rituals are very, very difficult to observe. When my sister died, we stopped with the cremation rituals. Soon we may not have priests who know how to perform these obsequies. I have told my sons not to perform them for me... I of course remember my father on the day of his death, but I also wonder why are we really bringing the spirits of the dead back to this stupid world.