Teachings of Confucius

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Philosopher

N.Anandam

Confucius (551-479 BCE) is one of the greatest moral preachers of the world. He lived in China during the fifth century BCE. His teachings are the basis for the Chinese culture. The teachings of Lao-tze and Buddha play an important role in shaping the Chinese culture. Their teachings echo in the entire South-east Asian countries. The teachings of Confucius are simple and sharp. This article outlines his teachings broadly.

Confucius made no claim that he was divinely inspired. Like Gautama Buddha, he refused to deal with questions concerning God, life after death and the unseen world. He discarded the idea of serving the spirits. He declared that the saintly men ought to take part in worldly affairs. He emphatically said that withdrawing from the world and associating with birds and animals are wrong since they have no affinity with us. We need to treat fellow people as equals. He asserted that we are bound to relieve and lessen the sufferings of the fellow people both directly and indirectly. We are bound to co-operate with fellow people to achieve common objectives. We need to restore order in a disordered society.

Confucius taught about the duties that the different units of society owe to each other. He said in great detail what he thought about those various duties. He grouped them under five heads: those of rulers and subjects; husbands and wives; fathers and children; elder and younger brothers and those of friends.

Confucius mentions in detail the ideals that rulers should follow. He says that the rulers must use their moral sense and run the government based on eternal moral values. If righteous men lead the government, good government grows as rapid as the growth of vegetation in fertile soil. The rulers must have sense of justice which is nothing but recognition of what is right and proper. To honor those who are worthier than ourselves is the highest expression of the sense of justice. Social inequalities need to be based on moral and merit basis. Only if the social inequalities remain based on moral character, skill and talent, development of a government of the people is possible.

Confucius says: Love of knowledge is akin to wisdom. Strenuous attention to conduct is akin to compassion. Sensitiveness to shame is akin to courage.

When a man understands the nature and use of these three moral qualities, he will then understand how to put in order his personal conduct and character. When a man understands how to put in order his personal conduct and character, he will understand how to govern men. When a man understands how to govern men, he will then understand how to govern a nation.

When the rulers pay attention to the cultivations of their personal conduct, there will be respect for the moral laws. Where the government honors worthy people, they will not be deceived by the crafty officials. When the rulers become the protector of the common people, the mass of the people will exert themselves for the good of the state. When the rulers show kindness to the strangers from far countries, people from all quarters of the world will flock to the country. Thus, Confucius teaches many ideals to be followed by the rulers.

Confucius championed strong loyalty, ancestor veneration and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, recommending family as a basis for ideal government.

He mentions many values to be followed by the individuals. He advises that individuals should think twice before they act. Everyone need not be saint and it is enough if one acts as a gentleman. A man who has a beautiful soul always has some beautiful things to say, but a man who says beautiful things does not necessarily have a beautiful soul. A truly great man will be courageous to do what is right.

A man who loves truth or learning is better than the man who knows it. The man who finds happiness in it is better than who loves it.

A man who repays kindness with kindness encourages people to do good. But a man who repays evil with evil, warns the people from doing bad. Repaying evil with kindness is the sign of a generous character. Repaying kindness with evil is the sign of a criminal.

Confucius says that human beings are born pretty much alike, but through their habits they gradually grow further and further apart from each other.

It is Human beings that make truth great and not truth that makes human beings great.

His teachings mainly warn that, individuals should not do unto others what they do not want others to do unto them.

Confucius defines clearly who is superior man and inferior man. He says that the superior man understands what is right; the inferior man what will sell. The superior man is broad-minded towards all and not a partisan; the inferior man is a partisan, who is not broad-minded towards all. Further he adds that the superior man goes through his life without any one preconceived course of action or any taboo. He merely decides for the moment what is right thing to do.

Confucius’s moral teachings emphasis self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars and attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules. Confucian ethics are therefore considered a type of virtue ethics. In short, Confucius’s moral system is based on empathy and understanding others rather than divinely ordained rules.

However, present-day thinkers evaluating his teachings with reference to the present condition comment that giving much importance to ancestor veneration and insisting blind obedience to elders, wife to husband, children to parents are not relevant in present condition. In addition, political thinkers say that Confucius fails to enlighten how people or nation should face the violence of the brute invaders. Their comments on Confucianism are quite reasonable.

In spite of that, other teachings are wise and applicable in the present times as well. Because, they inspire and motivate the people to become moral abiding voluntarily. His definitions to superior man and inferior man are simple, plain and straight. There is no ambiguity in his teachings. That is the greatness of his teachings.

- the modern rationalist

Hindi row: How Periyar, Anna continue to inspire the language of resistance

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Hindi Imposition

Spontaneous and democratic revolt against Hindi Imposition in Tamil Nadu

N Vinoth Kumar

Tamilians don’t just love their native language (Tamil) but also take great pride in it. Renowned poet Bharathidasan even went on to say that “if anyone disrespects Tamil, I will not remain silent, no matter what”.

Similar arguments were put forth by social reformer and Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar, and later by his disciple CN Annadurai, affectionately called as ‘Anna’ who founded the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

While Periyar wrote and spoke against Hindi based on the social events of the time, Anna made it a political issue. Their arguments were supported by other intellectuals such as Maraimalai Adigal, a Tamil scholar, and Ma Po Sivagnanam, who founded the Tamil Arasu Kazhagam, a political party that rose during the anti-Hindi agitations.

Together, all these writings and speeches became the knowledge base for a long and unending resistance against the imposition of a language, particularly Hindi, over Tamil, that continues to resonate even today.

Many believe that it is because of these resources that any move to make Hindi a ‘common’ or an ‘official’ language across the nation has been met with fierce objection at every level.

But critics of the agitation dismiss them as ‘language chauvinists’ and even ‘anti-India’. They often fail to see the arguments behind the opposition.

Common language vs Official language

Many among the current generation believe that the move to make Hindi as the ‘official language’ by the Union government (both in the past as well as present) was the main reason behind the vociferous opposition against the language.

Those against the ‘imposition’ of Hindi argue that by trying to make Hindi a ‘common language’, the government is sending a message that the language should be taught to people of non-Hindi-speaking States so that they have no difficulty in communicating with people from a Hindi-speaking State. This thinking behind making communication easier for a Hindi-speaking person is seen as a kind of dominance.

Organised and disciplined protest against Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu

In the 1920s, during the freedom movement, there were also discussions on using a ‘common script’ for all the languages and that script would be ‘Devanagari’, which is used for Hindi. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi welcomed the step, believing one can learn all the languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam using the Devanagari script.

The first backlash against Hindi

It was in this backdrop that Periyar EV Ramasamy wrote an article titled ‘Thamizhirkku Dhurogamum Hindi Baashaiyin Ragasiyamum’ (Betrayal of Tamil and the Secret Behind Hindi) in his magazine Kudi Arasu under the pen name Chithiraputhiran. Published in 1926, it was the first article in Tamil against Hindi imposition. This was a decade before the first phase of the anti-Hindi agitations that took place in 1937-1940.

Periyar equated Hindi with Brahminism in the article. He believed that the language is used to spread the Brahminical religion ‘Hinduism’. He also targeted Gandhi since the latter was at the forefront of making Hindi a common language.

“With a nationalist view, Gandhi tries to make Hindi the common language of the country. For that, he spends the people’s money. More than half of the money spent for Hindi is from non-Brahmins,” he wrote.

Out of 100 per cent, Brahmins are only three per cent. But they constitute 97 per cent who know Hindi and only three per cent of non-Brahmins know the language, he argues.

Periyar and Anna

“Even though some of the non-Brahmins who learnt Hindi could have come forward to teach the language, they were not treated properly. How much money was spent for Sanskrit? It was used only to create discrimination as Brahmins, non-Brahmins and Sudras,” said Periyar.

While attacking Hindi, Periyar was also worried about the future of Tamil language.

“Are there enough schools to teach Tamil? Even the schools which teach the language are filled with Iyers, Iyengars, Acharyars, Raos and Sharmas. These Brahmins get the ancient palm manuscripts from non-Brahmins, translate in their language (sanskritised Tamil), publish it using the money collected from non-Brahmins and sell it to non-Brahmins for Rs. 10 and Rs. 25 and make a profit in lakhs,” Periyar wrote.

The government has formed a committee to bring out a Tamil dictionary. But that too has a lot of Brahmins, he pointed out.

“If some of us ask whether a Tamil book shouldn’t have Tamil words, they say that Tamil can be developed only when words from other languages are introduced to Tamil readers. While I call water as ‘Thanni, they use the Sanskrit word ‘Jalam’ for it and then claim that is the only right usage. Then what is the purpose of having ‘Thanithamizh’ (pure Tamil)? What is the meaning of ‘love for one’s mother tongue’?” he wondered.

‘No place for Hindi’

When Hindi as a common language was opposed, its defenders came up with the ‘official language’ move. Under this, the official communication language, teaching language and exam language would be Hindi. During this time, it was said that English can be continued as a link language till the time Hindi is developed into the official language.

This only inflamed the anti-Hindi opposition, whose proponents saw this move as a ‘Damocle’s sword’ hanging above their head.

This led to agitations in Tamil Nadu in three phases in Tamil Nadu. The first was between 1937 and 1940, the second between 1946 and 1950 and the third in 1965. While the first two agitations erupted because Hindi was made a compulsory subject in schools, the third agitation took place when the Official Language Bill was passed. It was then that Anna spoke and wrote against the imposition of Hindi.

Two of his speeches, one in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and the other in the Rajya Sabha, were later published as books — Hindikku Ingey Idamillai (1968) and Anna Speaks (1975).

“Even today my honorable friends of the Congress would forgive me for saying that the Congress has presented and the government has accepted two national anthems, Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana. Neither of these two national anthems is in Hindi language. They come, just as my friend Mr Gupta (Bhupesh Gupta), from Bengal. That shows that whatever be the claim that the honorable home minister makes, that Hindi has progressed very much, how can I be compensated when I am told that Hindi is becoming progressive when I have got a 5,000-year-old language and when I am not able to make that language the official language of India?” he said in the Rajya Sabha in 1963.

He added that the English edition of ancient work on Tamil grammar Tolkappiyam was being released by the President. “We possess such an inheritance. Let not my friend, Mr Bhupesh Gupta, feel that we are acting like some toadies, and therefore we want English.”

When there were discussions about the use of words ‘may’ and ‘shall’, which were found in the Bill, Anna asked: “Why do you enact such an imperfect Bill throwing us to the wolves, asking us to go the courts to know the real meaning or the judicial meaning of the simple word ‘may’? The Home Minister has stated that if ‘may’ is replaced by ‘shall’, there may arise many difficulties. Difficulties do arise, but the Law Department remains there to ease out the difficulties and present a Bill acceptable to all.”

He drew insights from Periyar about using a language without a mixture of words from another language. He continues:

“The Prime Minister has been saying that Hindi should be simplified. If a language becomes the national language, take it from me, from my experience of the working of the Tamil language, the pressure will be to make it more and more pure and not more and more simple. You can never simplify the language after making it official or national. In the case of Tamil mixed with Sanskrit, the mixture has been taken out and there is purity of language there. That alone will happen in Hindi States. When that happens and when we are asked to learn simple Hindi, is it not a handicap race?”

Later, after his arrest, along with DMK cadre, for opposing the imposition of Hindi and observing Republic Day (January 26) as a ‘Black Day’ on January 25, 1965, Annai said in the Upper House in March: “I would like to have a lingua franca for India through a very natural process, in due course of time, without the backing of a government and it ought to be sponsored by the people. Anything coming from the government, especially from this government, is anathema for millions of our people”.

Opposition to English dominance

Around this time, Tamil Nadu also saw opposition to English, key among them was from freedom fighter Ma Po Sivagnanam, who is fondly referred as ‘Ma Po Si’, and founded Tamil Arasu Kazhagam in 1946 to push the Congress in the State to use Tamil in its administration and education.

In his book titled Gandhiyum Aangilamum (Gandhi and English) published in 1962, Sivagnanam argues why Gandhi advocates the use of mother tongue and opposed English dominance.

“There are two reasons why Gandhi wanted Hindi to be a common language. One, Hindi is spoken by a large number of people. Two, it can be learnt easily. However, he opposed the imposition of Hindi,” writes Sivagnanam.

He went on to say that in Tamil Nadu, opposing Hindi means supporting English which dominates Tamil.

“Opposing Hindi language is different from opposing Hindi imposition. Those who oppose the consideration of Hindi as a ‘common language’ are either enslaved to English or against national integration. But the stand of people who oppose Hindi imposition is different. They accept Hindi as a ‘common language’ but they oppose it because the government is trying to make it an ‘official language’ before non-Hindi speakers could even learn Hindi,” he wrote.

According to Sivagnanam, Gandhi asked people to accept Hindi only as a ‘common language’ but not as an ‘official language’. Even though he accepted Hindi as an official language, Gandhi did not think it as an “immediate, imperative” thing.

“People who learnt English are the ones behind the caste, communal violence and head separatist movements,” wrote Sivagnanam. One can gauge from such allegations how much animosity the ‘Tamil Only’ groups nursed towards making English a ‘common language’ or as an ‘associate official language’.

For Gandhi’s first claim (that Hindi is spoken by many), which became a standard argument for many (supporting Hindi) later, Anna had a retort in his 1963 speech.

“It was stated that Hindi has got the claim to become the official language because it was spoken by 42 per cent of the population. If this 42 per cent were to be scattered throughout the length and breadth of India, the argument would be logic and it would be ethical also but this 42 per cent is concentrated in compact and contiguous areas. It is not spread over. Therefore, if 42 per cent is taken into consideration you are conferring a permanent, perennial advantage on a compact and contiguous area in India and conversely a permanent disadvantage to other areas,” he said.

For Gandhi’s second claim that Hindi can be learnt easily in a month, if one dedicates four hours a day, Anna, at a separate event, quipped: “Yes. Hindi can be learnt in three months. Because there is nothing more in that language to learn beyond three months.”

Source; ‘The Federal’

- the modern nationalist

The Madras Presidency in 1940’s and the then Affairs

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Thus Spake Ambedkar

The non-Brahmins, said Mr. E.V. Ramasamy Naickar, constitute 70 per cent of the population of the Madras Presidency, the Brahmins only three per cent yet six out of ten posts those of ministers, President of the Council and Speaker of the Assembly, were given to Brahmins, Over fifty per cent of the Gazetted posts are held by Brahmins, Sixty per cent of the higher non-Gazetted posts are held by Brahmins. Mr. Naickar quoted chapter and verse to prove that the Brahmins had increased instead of decreasing during the Congress regime.

As soon as the Congress came into power 1937, it dissolved the School Committees which contained a majority of non-Brahmins and appointed fresh school committees with Brahmins in majority.

It manipulated and maneuvered District Board elections, postponed them or hastened them as it suited their purpose of getting a majority of Brahmins returned. It disqualified hundreds of voters on the slightest pretext and entire villages were thus deprived of the right to the vote. It introduced the literacy qualification for franchise and thus—because 90 per cent of the Brahmins are literate and 93 per cent of the Non-Brahmins illiterate—increased the voting strength of the Brahmins and decreased that of the non-Brahmins.

2,000 Schools closed?

And in order that education might be confined to Brahmins only, declared the Speaker, the Government completely and entirely closed down as many as 2,200 village schools on the plea that Government had no money for maintaining them.

While they had no money for these schools, twelve lakhs of rupees were granted for starting a Brahminical College for the study of Vedas, Puranas, etc., meant exclusively for the Brahmins in the beginning and employed some forty to fifty men, all Brahmins on salaries ranging from Rs. 200 to 600.

Ninety per cent of the medical men are Brahmins, 90 per cent of the lawyers Brahmins. Under Government rules non-Brahmins would have to get representations in Government’s legal appointments. Government issued a most extraordinary and outrageous order leaving it to the various district court bars to elect public prosecutors. And since these bars are dominated by Brahmins all the police and public prosecutors except one were Brahmins.

Government Ban on Goldsmiths

Brahminism in Madras, said Mr. Naickar, had gone mad to such an extent that Government actually issued an order forbidding the goldsmiths of the province who aspired to be Brahmins from describing themselves so and using Brahmin surnames. The order further instructed district and other courts and revenue offices that no communications received from goldsmiths with Brahmin surnames should be registered, acknowledged or taken cognisance of. It was rescinded only after a terrific campaign.

The Temple Entry Bill was another eye-wash. It did not vest the right of entry of the Harijans. It left the decision to temple authorities who were to act according to “public opinion.” Whether public opinion was in favour or against was to be decided by the temple authorities themselves without any sort of machinery for assessing the “public opinion.”

In the nation-building departments the Government had a shameful record. It closed down schools… two thousand of them cut down grants for scholarships for non-Brahmins. Depressed Classes and Muslims, and, in fact, did everything to turn the masses into hewers of wood and drawers of water to be exploited and ruled over by the all-wise Brahmin.

The press was controlled by the Brahmins so that it was impossible to get non-Brahmin grievances redressed, and their activities reported.

The Congress promised everything to everybody. During its election campaign there is no falsehoods too mean to be indulged in, no promise too hypocritical. Landlords were told that all land revenue would be abolished, tenants were told that all rents would go by the board, merchants were promised goods free of duty, famine stricken areas were assured of rain through the favour of Gandhiji who was in direct communication with Varuna, God of Rain, districts stricken with epidemic were given hopes of escape from the calamity if they voted Congress……

* GATHERING WIND TO “SMASH CONGRESS”

Justicite Leader to Sail in same Boat with Jinnah and Ambedkar

Plans for the formation of an anti-Congress front are being vigorously canvassed by Mr. E. V. Ramaswami Naicker, leader of the Justice Party in Madras who has been in Bombay for the last five days.

Activating New Views

To a city which has recently been regaled with stories of “atrocities” committed by the Congress against Muslims, Mr. Naicker is trying to infuse the virus of a disease which had been troubling Madras for some time–Brahmanophobia but from which this province has been free to a considerable extent.

Mr. Naicker is the leader of the Justice Party of Madras which counted among its leading lights men such as Sir Shanmukham Chetty, the present Dewan of Cochin, Sir A. Ramaswami Mudaliar, Commerce Member to the Government of India, Sir K. V. Reddi, who was for some time the Acting Governor of Madras and Premier of the interim Cabinet and the Raja of Bobbili. In the 1937 elections the Justice Party was swept off the field by the people, an overwhelming majority of whom are non-Brahmins, but who were sick of the antics of the party. With the eclipse of the party the big leaders gave up leadership of the party and passed on to more truthful pastures. This has brought up Mr. Naicker to the leadership of Justicites.

Out To “Smash Congress”

 Mr. Naicker used the anti-Hindi agitation in Madras to come into limelight and now that the Congress Ministry is out of power, he is trying to use the opportunity to resuscitate the Justice party and “Smash the Congress.” And in this task, he is trying to seek the help of Mr. M. A. Jinnah and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

Gathering Wind

Mr. Naicker had lengthy talks with Mr. M. A. Jinnah and Dr. Ambedkar in the course of which he is understood to have narrated to them, with the help of an interpreter, the alleged acts of oppression against the non-Brahmins. He is also understood to have explained that theirs was not a minority question in Madras. The non-Brahmins who formed about 97 per cent of the population were being subjected to the tyranny of the small Brahmin minority which was completely controlling the Congress policy in the province. Since the Muslim League and the Depressed Classes were also fighting against the same organisation, he suggested that they should make common cause.

Mr. Naicker’s disapproval of the Constituent Assembly plan is understood to have evoked the sympathy and support of the League leader.

LET US COME TO TERMS

*Dr. Ambedkar’s Plea to Mr. Gandhi

Madras, September 24

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, leader of the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation addressed a large gathering this evening for over 100 minutes, strongly defending the Viceroy’s declaration of the community’s position in the national life of India and defining the attitude of the community to the future.

He recalled many events during the Round Table Conferences, in 1930 and the role he had played therein. He remarked: “If India had been let down in the Round Table Conference, it was not by the Scheduled Castes: it was let down by Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Sastri and others”.

Drawing the analogy of Ireland, Dr. Ambedkar wanted to tell his Hindu brethren that he had a thousand excuses to adopt the attitude that Sir Edward Carson had adopted, and say “Damn your safeguards”. They had realised the interests of the country as a whole and promised to support any demand for home rule, with only a small condition attached to it, namely, reasonable safeguard for them.

“I would like to ask Mr. Sastri and Mr. Gandhi whether our attitude is not patriotic, noble-minded and generous. How much we are forgetting the Brahmanic rule under which we have been suffering for the last 2,000 years in the hope that we are getting safeguards and that we may, with the help of other generous elements in country, be able to build up a system under which not only this country will grow to the fullest nationhood but we shall grow to the full manhood?” he said.

“I would tell my Hindu brethren they had better revise the mentality, and they have to take into account the sacrifices we are prepared to make. Let us come to terms and settle this question.”

Dr. Ambedkar then referred to the Gandhi-Jinnah talks and said that the communal problem was not merely a problem between Hindus and Muslims, but it involved Scheduled Castes, Christians and other minorities as well. In a matter of such nature, he felt the wisest and safest course was for all representatives of different minorities to get together and arrive at some agreement. It appeared to him that any deal between two men would be to rob the third man.

If Mr. Gandhi gave Mr. Jinnah something more than he was entitled to that something would, he was afraid, come out of his (Ambedkar’s) share.

It is understood that Dr. Ambedkar and Mr. E. V. Ramasami Naicker, leader of the Dravidan Federation, had a long discussion on Sunday over the question of Dravidastan, the resolutions passed at the Salem Conference of the Federation and ‘self-respect movement in the province’.—Associated Press.

Courtesy: Source Material on Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and The Movement of Untouchables, published by the Publication Division, Government of Maharashtra

- the modern restaurant

Stigma as ‘Sudras’

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Periyar Speaks

On July 27, 1969, Thanthai Periyar headed a rationalist conference at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. The central idea of his speech was that we would continue to be degraded as ‘Sudras’ as long as fanatics blame our people for making the idols in temples impure by our touch. The content of this speech is in brief as follows:

Dear comrades,

A rationalist conference is being held at this moment. We must infer from this that it is our duty to propagate rationalist views and eradicate irrational thoughts and practices.

Belief in god, religion, scriptures and ancient mythologies as well as fabricated history are against rationalism. They are detrimental to our society. They keep us degraded at all times and hinder our knowledge. We remain gullible and superstitious by their impact. They aggravate our ignorance. We are striving to eradicate this degradation and our aim is to draw our people out of the darkness of ignorance.

Long ago people used to behave like barbarians. They attempted to destroy things useful for humankind. They were incestuous and ignorant of the meaning and value of life. We are propagating to eradicate gods, religion and ancient scriptures fabricated by those people.

We should have in-fact eradicated all these long ago. We do not aim at destroying anything which came into vogue when we were all fully civilised. We look back at the period prior to that when barbaric people designed gods, scriptures and myths. No one with an iota of sense would oppose our protest. Barbarians who generated all those falsehood have made their heirs adhere to them irrationally. Their descendants are following them selfishly and safeguarding them with a malicious ulterior motive. This necessitates our protest. This is the only factor behind our provocation. People who were incestuous, soaked in barbarism are being considered upper caste people while people who led a clean life adhering to the codes of morality are degraded as low caste people. Why should this deplorable condition continue? Great thinkers, sages and saints who lived in this country had never bothered about the disgraceful life of the repressed people.

Temples are not required by our country because none of the gods seems to have been perfect and venerable. None of their spouses seems to have been chaste or faithful. Why should man accept god and religion? If he accepts them, he should be prepared to tolerate his wife’s extra-marital affairs. No sensible person would stoop to such an unabashed level of existence, even if he admits accepting god and religion. People who had been promoting such filth in society have all been hailed as great men. Senseless simpletons earned name and fame. All the meaningless practices born of stupidity were dumped on our people. We must mercilessly abolish the entire filth thrust on us by fanatics. We rationalists must strive to eradicate them, at any cost.

Every religion is soaked in superstition. All religious leaders are rogues. They babble that religion is based on Vedas. When were Vedas framed? Who framed them? There is no evidence for this. We are told that men who designed Vedas and religions were born of animals. They expect us to accept and believe this without raising any question. We are compelled to tolerate their stupidity. If we adopt Christianity, we must also accept his abnormal birth. Thus, every religion is backed by idiotic explanations. None of the religions makes any sense.

The so-called epics, Mahabharat and Ramayana talk about men who lived for sixty long years and that they had sixty wives. To accept these fables is to accept the idiocy and superstitious concepts in them. Unless a man accepts those idiotic narrations, he cannot accept Rama as  god. It is amazing why these gods pushed their wives into adultery. Our objective is to eradicate all such obnoxious fables which takes us for a ride. Our mission is to completely annihilate superstition.

These fanatics use god, religion and scriptures to hood-wink us but they themselves violate them and lead a hypocritical life. They do not really believe in them. These pretentious brahmins have come up in life without toiling. They hardly work but flourish. We work hard but exist as incorrigible fools, leading a deplorable life. Can we ever keep all our doors open and go to bed for the convenience of thieves? Think for yourself whether that would make any sense. Tolerating senseless concepts is also paving way for the prosperity of others. I urge you all to think deeply over this.

We must dare to abolish stupidity and curb wickedness around us. Selfish people hood-wink us for their own survival, without any hesitation. Therefore, there is nothing wrong if we strive to abolish our disgrace in society. We are in no way inferior to brahmins. Similarly none of the brahmins is superior to us in any way!

If a brahmin has the right to go near an idol in a temple why should we be denied the same right? What ill-effect would our proximity to the idols cause? If they are really gods, why should there be such a discrimination? Why should temples have large doors to protect gods? An idol of god under a tree is sometimes licked by a dog but nobody bothers. When the same idol is kept inside a temple, we are blamed for making it impure by our proximity and touch. Is there any justice in this accusation?

The idols under trees are also worshipped alike with rituals followed in temples. No one blames a man for making those idols impure by his touch. Nor does anyone say that those idols have become powerless when dogs licked them.

Brahmins have prevented our touching the idols only for their own survival and for no other reason. We thought our people would realise facts and barge into temples and also touch the idols treating it as a challenge, but so far the awareness is not there in them. They continue to exist as insensitive human beings. Hence, we must take steps to awaken such people. It is our mission to make our people understand their deplorable condition.

People who invented and spread the belief in god had never ever said that our touch would make god impure. It is only a person who ekes out a living and survives to flourish gradually, who blames us for causing impurity. Such malicious people keep shrieking that the idols in temples should not be touched by ‘Sudras’.

As long as temples exist and as long as it is told that our entry would make them impure – the stigma of ‘shudras’ would also be on us as an irremovable disgrace. Gullible people exist as concubines of brahmins. They shamelessly stay outside temples and worship. We have to shun and ignore such insensitive people who willingly endure humiliation.

We never agitate for our survival. We fight for the welfare of society, for the sake of every common man. Our protests are for our honour and self-respect. Hence, we should ignore insensitive fools and carry on with our noble task. This cannot be accomplished unless we prepare ourselves and be ready to ignite the spark. I am planning to hold shortly an agitation with this purpose. In order to motivate you for participation we conduct such conferences and offer educative explanations. Our aim is to make you ready for collective protests. The objective of this conference is to inspire you all and make you join me when I launch that protest shortly.

I was scared of obstacles to the D.M.K. party. I thought some unpleasant occurrences could ruin the party. But I have a sigh of relief to see them arriving at an amicable decision in the election of the party president. Kalaignar Karunanidhi has been unanimously elected president of their party, following his contest. Navalar Nedunchezhian has also been elected the general secretary of D.M.K. – Now, Karunanidhi heads both, the party as well as the rule of the State. My fear too has vanished.

When Anna (C.N. Annadurai) founded the D.M.K. party, he wanted me to be its president. He declared that I was its president and added that he would wait for me. He announced that the chair of the president would remain vacant until I assumed the post. He went ahead with party activities quite magnanimously functioning as its general secretary. That chair of the president has been occupied only now. I commend Kalaignar Karunanidhi and Navalar Nedunchezhian who conveyed their consent to hold election and bring out this situation amicably. Now I believe that nothing can harm this party. I am greatly relieved. Our lives and our future depend on their rule. The Tamil people can derive benefits only through them. None can help our people reap numerous benefits other than these well wishers.

As long as our policies are supported, we shall be faithful to the rulers headed by their party and render our support to them in return. We assure our patronage to them. But we shall never be mute spectators if anyone imperils our policies and principles. We must extend our wholehearted support to this rule which cares for the welfare of our society. To the best possible extent, we should protect this government from their rivals and prevent every single harm.

God has been designed by senseless people. God is an outcome of sheer stupidity. Selfish people wanted smartly to eke out a living and survive. Hence, religions were formed. God and religion are not meant for people whose minds operate on a higher level of intellect. Realising this truth, people should avoid visiting temples. None shall apply any sort of ash on their forehead. Women must not be allowed to visit temples. Religious festivities and events must not be held. I urge you all to strictly follow this.

The root causes of the deplorable condition of our country are god and religion. Christian nations could progress not because of the Christianity. When Christianity was severely criticised and when the vulgarity and obnoxious concepts embedded in that religion were exposed, people acquired an awareness. They understood the undesirable and unacceptable segments of that religion and were subsequently enlightened. They perform several miracles and amazing feats as an outcome of their intellect and realisation. Similarly our people should approach everything rationally, shed their ignorance and achieve advancement in life. This is my sincere appeal to all my comrades who have assembled here.

Courtesy: ‘Viduthalai’

Translated by M.R. Manohar

- the modern rationalist

James Randi

“I just want people to question, question, question” James Randi, the pioneer of skeptical movement passed away!

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James Randi, an inveterate skeptic and challenger of paranormal power, passed away on 20th October 2020 in USA at the age, 92. He lived as an internationally acclaimed magician and escape artist. He used to tell himself, “I am an explainer. I’m certainly not trying to do magic. But I’m obsessed with exposing those who use it fraudulently”. His contention on magic is that it is based solely on earthly sleight of hand and visual trickery. Nothing divine or supernatural prevails in it. He was always careful to describe himself as an investigator, not a debunker and insisted he was always open to the possibility of super natural phenomenon but simply found no evidence of it after decades of research. By challenging along with the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal he offered a payout ranging up to $ 1 million to anyone who could demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal phenomena under mutually agreed, scientifically controlled conditions. Randi said while there were many takers, none of them earned a cent.

At a public healing session led by televangelist Peter Popoff in Detroit in 1955, Randi sent in a man disguised as a woman, whom Popoff promptly cured of ‘uterine cancer’.

Randi was condemned as an emissary of the devil, receiving hate mail and threats veiled in biblical references. He was frequently sued for defamation and loss of income by those he pursued, but he claimed he never paid a dime in damage.

Randi toured the world extensively, wowing through with his standard magic shows but also challenging claims of paranormal and other inexplicable phenomena, from household poltergeists and Ouija boards to flying saucers and reports of ships and planes lost in Bermuda Triangle. All he found were based on exaggerated stories, media hope or physical manipulation.

As a pioneer of skeptical movement, James Randi has contributed a lot for the cause of humankind nurturing rationalist outlook and to act accordingly.

As a rationalist movement, Dravidar Kazhagam pays respect to the great warrior who fought against the so-called supernatural and paranormal deeds that attempt to keep the humankind stagnant both in thought and action.

Salute to James Randi!

K.Veeramani
President Dravidar Kazhgam
Chennai, India
25th October 2020

Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar did burn the Manusmriti!

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Thus Spake Ambedkar

This story was first published on January 26, 2016 (Towards Equality:  Why did Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar publicly burn the Manusmriti on December 25, 1927). We are re-publishing it.

Manusmriti Burning Day

On December 25, 1927, huge strides were made in the movement for self-dignity of Dalits. Under the leadership of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, a small town/village, Mahad in Konkan, the coastal region of Maharashtra, made history.

Manusmriti Burning Day, the day that the text of caste Hindus epitomizing hegemony, indignity and cruelty to Dalits and mlecchas (that included women) was publicly burned in a specially constructed symbolic funeral pyre before Dr Ambedkar and thousands of volunteers gathered to protest and agitate.

The Mahad satyagraha had been organised so that Dalits could drink from the Mahad (Chavadar) water tank, a public water source open to all. A previous legal notification of the Collectorate authorized free access to all.

Despite the existence of this order, caste hegemony and oppression had not created conditions for access to this facility for the oppressed. On the eve of the protest, caste Brahmins had obtained a stay order from a local court against untouchables accessing water from the tank!

Pressure of an unimaginable kind was put by caste Hindus to somehow abort the protest. This included tightening access to any public ground for the proposed meeting. Finally, a local gentleman Mr. Fattekhan, who happened to be a Muslim, gave his private land for the protest, extending solidarity with the struggle. Arrangements for food and water as also other supplies had to be made meticulously by the organisers facing a revolt in the village. A pledge of sorts had to be taken by the volunteers who participated in the protest. This pledge vowed the following:

I do not believe on Chaturvarna based on birth.

I do not believe in caste distinctions.

I believe that untouchability is an anathema to Hinduism and I will honestly try my best to completely destroy it.

I will not follow any restrictions about food and drink among at least all Hindus.

I believe that untouchables must have equal rights to access to temples, water sources, schools and other amenities.

The arrival of Dr. Ambedkar to the site of the protest was cloaked in high drama, faced with the possibilities of all kinds of sabotage from other sections of society. He came from Bombay on the boat “Padmavati” via Dasgaon port, instead of Dharamtar (the road journey), despite the longer distance. This was a well-planned strategy, because, in the event of boycott by bus owners, the leaders could walk down five miles to Mahad.

In front of the pandal where Dr Ambedkar made his address, the “vedi” (pyre) was created beforehand to burn the Manusmruti. Six people had been labouring for two days to prepare it. A pit six inches deep and one and half foot square was dug in, and filled with sandalwood pieces.

On its four corners, poles were erected, bearing banners on three sides. The banners said,

1. “Manusmruti chi dahanbhumi”, i.e. Crematorium for Manusmruti.
2. Destroy Untouchability
3. Bury Brahmanism.

It was on December 25, 1927, in the late evening, at the conference, that the resolution to burn the Manusmruti was moved by Brahmin associate of Ambedkar, Gangadhar Neelkanth Sahastrabuddhe and was seconded by PN Rajabhoj, an untouchable leader. Thereafter, the book Manusmruti was kept on this pyre and burned. The Brahmin associate of Ambedkar, Gangadhar Nilkanth Sahastrabuddhe and five six other Dalit sadhus completed the task. At the pandal, the only photo placed was that of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. This has been interpreted to mean that, at this stage the Dalit leadership, including Dr. Ambedkar had yet to be disillusioned with Gandhi.

In his presidential speech Ambedkar said that the aim of the movement was not only to gain access to the water or the temple or to remove the barriers to commensality; the aim was to break down the varna system which supported inequality in society. He then told his audience about the French Revolution, and explained the main points of the Charter of Human Rights enunciated by the French Revolutionary Council. He pointed out the danger of seeking temporary and inadequate solutions by relating how the rebellion of the plebians of Rome against the patricians failed, primarily because the plebians sought only to gain a tribune of their choice instead of seeking to abolish the system dividing society into patricians and plebians.

In the February 3, 1928 issue of the Bahishkrit Bharat (his own newspaper) he explained the action saying that his reading of the Manusmriti had convinced him that it did not even remotely support the idea of social equality.

The root of untouchabilty lies in prohibition of inter-caste marriages, that we have to break, said Ambedkar in that historic speech. He appealed to higher varnas to let this “Social Revolution” take place peacefully, discard the sastras, and accept the principle of justice, and he assured them peace from our side. Four resolutions were passed and a Declaration of Equality was pronounced. After this, the copy of the Manusmruti was burned.

One sees here a definite broadening of the goal of the movement. In terms of the ultimate goal of equality and of the eradication of the varna system, the immediate programme of drinking water from the Mahad water reservoir was a symbolic protest, to herald the onset of a continuing struggle for dignity.

The other crucial points of Dr. Ambedkar’s speech were:

“…So long as the varna system exists the superior status of the Brahmans is ensured….Brahmans do not have the same love of their country that the Samurai of Japan had. Hence one cannot expect them to give up their special social privileges as the Samurai did in the interest of social equality and national unity of Japan. We cannot expect this of the non-Brahman class either. The non-Brahman classes like the Marathas and others are an intermediate category between those who hold the reins of power and those who are powerless. Those who wield power can occasionally be generous and even self-sacrificing. Those who are powerless tend to be idealistic and principled because even to serve their own interest they have to aim at a social revolution. The non-Brahman class comes in between; it can neither be generous nor committed to any principles. Hence they are preoccupied in maintaining their distance from the untouchables instead of with achieving equality with Brahmans. This class is weak in its aspiration for a social revolution…..We should accept that we are born to achieve this larger social purpose and consider that to be our life’s goal. Let us strive to gain that religious merit. Besides, this work (of bringing about a social revolution) is in our interest and it is our duty to dedicate ourselves to remove the obstacles in our path.

There was a strong reaction in the section of the press, perceived to be dominated by the entrenched higher caste interests. Dr Ambedkar was called “Bheemaasura” by one newspaper. Dr. Ambedkar justified the burning of Manusmruti in various articles that he penned after the satyagraha. In the February 3, 1928 issue of the Bahishkrit Bharat he explained the action to burn a thing was to register a protest against the idea it represented. By so doing one expected to shame the person concerned into modifying his behaviour. He said further that it would be futile to expect that any person who revered the Manusmriti could be genuinely interested in the welfare of the Untouchables. He compared the burning of the Manusmriti to the burning of foreign cloth recommended by Gandhi. Protests the world over had used the burning of an article that symbolised oppression to herald a struggle. This was what the Manusmurti Dahan was.

The tactical retreat

Meanwhile, condemned by a sudden Court ruling to hold back the satyagraha of drinking water from the public water tank, Dr Ambedkar explained the dilemma faced by on the one hand the government/British Collector and entrenched high caste interests.

In a note entitled ‘Why the Satyagraha was Suspended’ in the 3 February 1928 issue of the Bahishkrit Bharat, Ambedkar said, “The untouchables are caught between the caste Hindus and the government. They can attack one of the two. There is nothing to be ashamed of in admitting that today they do not have the strength to attack both of them at the same time. When the caste Hindus refused to concede the legitimate rights of untouchables as human beings willingly and on their own initiative, we thought it wise to arrive at a peace (agreement) with the government…… There is a world of difference between a satyagraha launched by caste Hindus and one launched by untouchables. When the caste Hindus initiate a satyagraha it is against the government and they have community support….. When the untouchables launch a satyagraha all the caste Hindus are arraigned against us.”

He observed further that the agitation of the untouchables was not limited to the Mahad water tank. It had been launched to achieve the larger goals the untouchables had set for themselves. The answer to whether it could have been sustained depended upon one’s estimate of the loss and the hurt that would have resulted from the satyagraha and the means that were available to protect the people from this loss and hurt. If the people had seen that they could not recover from the loss inflicted on them by one satyagraha in Mahad they would never rise again to join another satyagraha. This question had to be weighed.

What stands out is the openly rational, almost calculated approach to the strategy of the struggle and a willingness to present it as such. There is no effort to obfuscate or mystify it. Ambedkar responded to the concern that the withdrawal of the satyagraha would give caste-Hindu slanderers an opportunity to scoff at the untouchable leaders, by saying merely that he had not launched the satyagraha to win their approbation.

Courtesy: sabrang

-the modern nationalist

Protest : MILESTONE – BURNING THE MANUSMRITI IN TAMIL NADU

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Protest

October 1927

The first voice to burn the Manusmriti to ashes was raised by the veteran leader of the depressed, M.C. Raja on 17th October 1927 at the Adi Dravidar conference held at Katpadi, Vellore district.

December 1927

On 4th December, the Self Respecter J.S. Kannappar burnt the Manusmriti at Gudiyatham in the North Arcot District Self Respect Conference, organised by Thanthai Periyar

May 1981

The Women’s Wing of Dravidar Kazhagam burnt the Manusmriti on 17th May 1981 throughout the State of Tamil Nadu.

March 2017

Again, the Dravidar Kazhagam Women’s Wing burnt the text of the Manusmriti on 10th March 2017 throughout Tamil Nadu.

February 2019

Asiriyar Dr. K. Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam led the agitation on 7th February 2019 at Chennai and burnt the Manusmriti. The Manusmriti burning agitation was conducted by the Blackshirt cadres of Dravidar Kazhagam on the day throughout the State of Tamil Nadu.

- the modern nationalist

How Brahmins enslaved the south Indians?

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Enslaving brahminical practices devoid of hygiene

The Brahman in his pride of intellectual superiority, residing largely in the domain of religion, was determined to maintain his privileged position against the mass of animistic belief which he found when he entered the plains of South India. He was unwilling to undertake the always difficult process of securing an intelligent conviction in those who were of a different way of thinking; he chose the easier way of self- accommodation, and compromised what to him was truth in order to achieve the selfish end of maintaining his position as spiritual dictator to his fellows. Lacking in his composition the hard grain which refuses to stretch conviction beyond the confines of truth, he found that his philosophy was sufficiently elastic to cover any superstition, however absurd, and to condone any custom, however immoral. He was thus able to secure for his order not only the direction of public ceremonial in the temple, not only the exclusive authority to interpret both the recorded wisdom of the past and the common traditions of successive generations, but the even more powerful influence of the domestic priesthood. His was the voice which declared the propitious day for the family undertaking, and it was he who ordered at a price the domestic ritual to be observed at birth, at marriage, and at death. He could make any concession to local prejudice which he might think desirable, and he incorporated into his own more philosophical system the crudities of an inferior faith. What was the Animism which thus formed the testing of sincerity in these Aryan invaders of India? It is a view of the world as inhabited by spirits (animae). It is recognition of dark, mysterious forces of which no account can be given. Every object or process which was unknown or unusual was held to be the abode of mysterious power. But, further, such powers were invariably held to be malignant. The unknown was considered to be invariably inimical, and such worship as was paid was no grateful offering symbolizing the allegiance and the devotion of the worshipper, but a propitiatory gift intended to buy off the threatening peril. That is to say that the Dravidian, and still more the aboriginal tribe in the hills, lived in an atmosphere of fear ; such things as the snake, or such experiences as that of disease, indicated to him the presence of a malignant power before which he bowed in terror, and which he sought to pacify by such offerings as were within his reach. Ignorance and fear were the twin motives of his religious observance. The priests who presided over his ritual were sorcerers who were learned in the arts of magic, and who were able thereby to appease and propitiate the hostile power. Then the supreme mystery of death played no small part in forming his creed. That which had left the body was conceived of as a ghost, and a hostile ghost, which needed propitiatory offerings if it was to desist from its otherwise inevitable menace to living beings. The worship of ancestors, always an instinct in primaeval man, thus became linked with the worship of inanimate objects, whom one claim to worship was that they were dangerous. Ancestral worship it was which imported into the faith of the people those traces of belief in a personal deity which may be detected in Animism. The doctrine of transmigration was developed later, but its traces, too, are to be found in the primaeval belief which we are now considering, since the wandering ghost might find a new habitation in some other human body or within some natural object. Such a religion, it will be easily seen, lends itself to every form of superstition, and usually passes away as education narrows the realm of the unknown, and reveals the causes of natural phenomena. How, then, are we to explain the fact that the Hindu religion remains full of this element of superstition, so that even the twice-born Aryan who subscribes to a philosophy of pure idealism is as much under its influence as if he were the merest Animist? The answer is that this element persists because it was taken up into the more intellectual system. It was brought into alliance with the philosophy of the Aryans. These last were not concerned with driving away from the minds of their Dravidian brethren the darkness which enveloped their minds, but rather with the exploiting of it to their own advantage. Their priests stretched their philosophy so as to cover every form of religious observance, however degrading it might be. By peaceful penetration they secured a complete spiritual supremacy. Incorporation gave them dominance. But it was at a terrible cost. Their own thought, which had approached a true monotheism, became debased by idolatry, and such gleams of moral consciousness as appear in the earlier and loftier hymns of the Rigveda were speedily quenched in the allowance, and the practice, of gross immoralities. The principle of accommodation and compromise led to moral and spiritual corruption. The whole process has been analysed for us by a master mind in the terrible verses which we find in the first chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, and the history of religion in India is the object-lesson which verifies the apostolic indictment of natural religion, so swiftly assuming the most unnatural forms unless led to its fulfilment by Divine revelation.

Some tribes have retained their Animism almost without admixture, but these are tribes which have retreated before the invaders of their country into the fastnesses of the hills. Others have been so far influenced by Aryan thought that they now find themselves related to it in a sense. They have, indeed, no part in the worship offered by their superiors, nor does the Brahman priest attempt to control them. They are outcast from the four great divisions of Hindu society. These latter are dependent upon them for all sorts of menial labour, and often exact this so unscrupulously as to reduce their victims to a condition of serfdom, if not of actual slavery. These, again, have approximated, as far as they were allowed, to the custom of the higher classes, and there are traces among them of some attempt to set up caste distinctions within their own community, separate as this is. There is, however, a distinct penetration of thought derived from Aryans among these despised people. Anything approaching a system of philosophy is not to be sought among them. It is entirely absent. But the effects of Brahmanical thought are to be found even among their crude conceptions. Just as the Aryan has allowed himself to be affected by Animistic belief and superstition, these Animists have breathed the atmosphere of Pantheistic teaching, until there have appeared among them the same moral confusions, the same lack of moral responsibility, and the same hopelessness of salvation, which characterize those who accept Pantheism as their interpretation of God and the World. It is these three factors which must be considered as the real hindrance to Christianity, the caste of the Brahmans, the general caste system, and Indian Pantheism. The mind of the Aryan thus passed to a more polytheistic conception, and there was no staying that process when it had once begun. But as the Vedic poets speak of the one god they are immediately addressing at any moment as supreme, and heap upon him all the highest attributes, while not denying the divinity of other gods, the term Henotheism has been coined as expressing more accurately than either Monotheism or Polytheism the Vedic conception of the Divine.

But side by side with this polytheistic process there sprang up a tendency destined to play an all-important part in shaping the Hindu conception of God. Against the Polytheism thus early beginning to appear there was bound to be a reaction on the intellectual side, due to the demand of the mind for some central unity in its conception of God and the world, and thus there arose, fitfully at first there are indications even in the Vedic hymns but later in gathering force what we call Pantheism. In its full development the unity desired was found by roundly denying the existence of anything but God. Necessarily this deity was an impersonal Substance/ and the neuter Brahma was chosen as the name for that deity. With this tendency there went another. The intellectual movement did not stand alone; there went with it the sacerdotal. The more popular movement was in the direction of appeasing or cajoling the deity, and the method adopted a natural one of great significance was that of sacrifice. This gave rise to a priestly class, and the latter set out to exploit in its own interests the religious feeling of the time, which had then passed from the stage of adoration to that of securing favour or averting disaster. Under the title Brahman the priest finally secured the pre-eminent position in India, and still holds that position.

(to be continued)

(Published with due acknowledgement to the author)

 - The modern rationalist

Why American Children Stopped Believing in God?

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faith vs. freewill

Cameron Hilditch

In a report released earlier this year from the American Enterprise Institute, Lyman Stone tracked the history of religious belief, behavior, and association in the United States since the Founding. It’s a magisterial work, and I encourage readers to download the report here and peruse it for themselves.

Stone’s research helps us to understand the decline of religious faith in America over the past 60 years. Secularization is, to be sure, a hugely over determined development in American history, and just about everyone has a theory about how it’s happened and why. Religious conservatives would probably cite the loosening of the country’s morals that began in the ’60s and ’70s. Secular progressives might mutter something about the onward march of “Science” and “Reason” over time. But the data seem to show that the main driver of secularization in the United States has been the acceleration of government spending on education and government control over the curricular content taught in schools.

Here our secular progressive might raise his head again, perhaps feeling a bit smug about this finding. “See!”, he says. “Children used to be deprived of education and the life of the mind! They were stuck in the doldrums of ignorance and squalor before the benevolent hand of the state reached down and lifted them up into the world of literacy and critical thought. All that was needed was a little education to free them from hokey superstitions.”

It’s a simple theory, befitting the minds of those who have historically espoused it. But it’s falsified by the data. Stone cites the seminal work of Raphael Franck and Laurence Iannaccone on this point, who meticulously tracked religious behavior over time in their own work. According to Franck and Iannaccone, “higher educational attainment did not predict lower religiosity: More and less educated people are similarly religious.” Nor did they “find that industrialized, urban life reduces religiosity: A more urban and industrialized population was associated with greater religiosity.” The link between intellectual progression/modernization and secularization is non-existent. As Stone summarizes:

Theories that religion has declined because urbanization is hostile to religiosity — or because modern, educated people are inherently skeptical of religion — get no support in the actual historic record.

It turns out that religiosity is usually determined very early in life. All the data suggest that, by and large, kids brought up in religious households stay religious and kids who aren’t, don’t. Consequently, childhood religiosity has been, and remains, the most important indicator of America’s religious trajectory. The story of religious decline in America is not the story of adults consciously rejecting the faith of their forefathers: It’s the story of each generation receiving a more secular upbringing than the generation preceding it. What accounts for this secularization of childhood over time? Taxpayer dollars.

Childhood religiosity was heavily affected by government spending on education and, to a lesser degree, government spending on old-age pensions. Thus, while more educated people were not less religious, societies that spent more public money on education were less religious. It is not educational attainment per se that reduces religiosity, but government control of education and, to a lesser extent, government support for retirement.

Researchers originally tried to explain the relationship between government control of education and secularization by putting it down to the State’s increasing willingness to care for the needs and wants of its citizens in a comprehensive way — a task traditionally carried out by religious institutions. Once people are no longer beholden to a church/synagogue/mosque for their material well-being — or so the theory goes — they see little reason to stay.

But this theory just doesn’t account for the data we have. As Stone observes, it’s belied by the fact “that the vast majority of declining religiosity can be attributed to changes in educational policy, rather than welfare generally.”

So how do we explain this link between education policy and religious belief given that academic attainment itself isn’t a factor? It’s quite simple, really. Children learn more at school than reading, writing, and arithmetic. They imbibe a whole set of implied assumptions about what’s important in life. By excluding religious instruction from public schools, the government-run education system tacitly teaches students that religious commitments are not a first-order priority in life. Faith in God becomes a sort of optional weekend hobby akin to playing tennis or video games. Christ and Moses are treated by teachers and administrators like weapons or drugs — confiscated upon discovery.

In this way, the hierarchy of values communicated both explicitly and implicitly to students in American high schools excludes religious claims from the outset. College, career, and popularity become the existential targets toward which the arrow of each student’s soul is aimed by bow-wielding commissars across the country. In a context such as this, secularization becomes ineluctable. The New Testament itself says that religious belief is shaped more by the places we look for praise and validation than by naked ratiocinations: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you’re not looking for the glory which comes from the one and only God?” (John 5:44). But the secular public high school dispenses validation and praise according to different criteria than any of the major faiths. This is why government control of education has resulted in religious decline. As Stone writes:

. . . the content of education matters. Evidence that education reduces religiosity is fairly weak: American religiosity rose considerably from 1800 until the 1970s, despite rapidly rising educational attainment. But the evidence that specifically secular education might reduce religiosity is more compelling. Indeed, statistically, most researchers who have explored long-run change in religiosity find that education-related variables, which I have argued are a proxy for secular education, can explain nearly the totality of change in religiosity.

That last point bears repeating. Most researchers have found that “education-related variables… can explain nearly the totality of change in religiosity.” For religious conservatives who care about the fate of American culture, it cannot be emphasized enough that education is the whole ball game. All other policy areas amount to little more than tinkering around the edges. How we got to a place where this is the case is a sad story in and of itself (and one that I told in part here). Nevertheless, it remains the case that public schools often are not a smooth fit for conservative families, especially religious ones. Even worse than that, we can now see signs that the ideology imposed upon government-educated children is changing. What used to be the state-imposed orthodoxy of benign agnosticism is being replaced by a full-blown intersectional pseudo-religion with its own priests, prophets, saints, and martyrs.

The time has come for religious parents to take their children back from the state. It simply will not do anymore for faithful Americans to drop their sons and daughters off at the curbside every morning for the government to collect as if they were taking out the trash. As I’ve written before, a broader reconsideration of public schooling will not be cheap. It will require, among other things, the establishment of charitable private education co-operatives if we’re to heed the dictates of the world’s great faiths by keeping the interests of the poor at the forefront of our minds. But the only real road to religious revival is the one that begins with each parent’s first step out of the public school’s doors.

Source: ‘Yahoo! News’

The article narrates about the distancing of religion and the related practices at the public schools of United States of America. The public schools are secular. But at the same time the article speaks about the right of religious freedom of individual to get religious education to his/her wards separately by choosing the exclusive institutions meant for that.

– The Modern Rationalist

Rights and Responsibilities

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Periyar Speaks

In the issue of ‘Kudi Arasu’ dated 19th February 1949, the editorial penned by Thanthai Periyar made it crystal clear that rights and responsibilities are inseparable. Unless a man is made aware of his rights, one cannot expect him to realise his responsibilities. The content of the editorial is as follows:

Daring Misconduct

Starvation and scarcity have spread almost everywhere in India today. Following this crisis, dishonesty and disrepute have also increased in our society. After rejoicing over the grant of independence, people have started planning smartly how to deceive one another and how to exploit others by disguising. Our people are now ready to execute any nefarious task without qualm. Such people dare stoop to any level in order to disregard law. Social order and dignified conduct are being totally neglected.

Rise in Suicidal Deaths

The rotten interior and stinking corruption inside our society recently have made an impact outside, in the form of widespread crimes such as murders and heists almost everywhere in Tamil Nadu.

This is a matter of grave concern for every Dravidian. We hear about novel devices of robberies and different types of murders. We have been actually enjoying our own ignorance in this country. We take pride in our idiocy rather than getting rid of it. It is said that the lifting of ban on liquor has brought down the number of murders in cities. But ironically the cases of suicide have been rapidly increasing as per the reports we get every day.

Organized Crime

They say that our nation was enslaved before 15th of August, 1947. The incidents of robberies during that period were less, compared to their alarming rise today. Poverty and the temptation to survive at any cost made people in the past indulge in criminal activities, either without any accomplice or with hands and glove. Evidence for most of the thefts were found out those days and the culprits were all nabbed by the police. But now a days criminal cases are mostly unsolved and there is an alarming rise in crime-rate. This makes us feel that a huge gang of outlaws is operating as a racket of goons. Behind every organized crime, perhaps a group functions collectively with unity and criminal loyalty.

Imminent Danger

If the government comes out with a comparative analysis of pre-independence crimes and post-independence crimes in the country, with year-wise particulars of all the thefts and murders, the revelations would really be shocking. If this annoying condition in society does not change and if no measure is chalked out for a change, a day would soon come when a man would be looked down upon with contempt and ridicule if he has not stolen anything or killed anyone. Our society would be forced gradually to exist in such a deplorable condition if we do not wake up now.

Not impossible

A trader who stays away from black marketing today can never become prosperous. An advocate who is truthful and conscientious would not even be respected today as an advocate. A Congressman who avoids bribery, unfair tactics for license and recommendations would not be admired as a Congress warrior or martyr. Similarly, with the passing of time, a virtuous man would be mocked at as a hair brained idiot. It would not be a matter of surprise if noble men are ridiculed as stupid nuts. Erosion of culture may be treated as a great virtue.

Inactive Rulers

How to reform this rotten society and pave the way for the advancement of our people? This is the burning problem today. We are seriously worried over this issue and we have been pestering the rulers to wake up and act fast but they continue to be insensitive and inactive. They expect people to correct themselves on their own without any remedial measures by the political leaders and administrators. Most of the eminent Congress leaders ask us why people shun their responsibilities when they are very well aware of their rights. But we do not hesitate to disagree with them, because we do not find true sense of rights reflected among our people.

Obvious Irony

If these big people find lack of responsibility in our people, we would like to ask the rulers what steps they have taken so far to enable people realise their responsibilities. When we are all actually losing our rights, how funny it is on their part to say that people have a strong sense of their assured rights!

People are actually sad because of denial of rights but the rulers and political leaders have not understood their grief at all.

Our Reflection

These big people keep yelling that people are not evil – individuals are evil. Why don’t they honestly admit that as custodians of society, it is their failure? If the leaders behave in a topsy-turvy manner and an utterly disgraceful way, how are they going to lead our society? It is high time the rulers stopped blaming it on the common public. Remedial measures and corrective steps have to be chalked out if they realise atleast now that it is our own contemptible conduct which is echoed all over our society. We are all a part of this society. Hence if we reform ourselves, we can find the entire society reformed, can’t we?

True Sense of Rights

Responsibility in fact blossoms from one’s rights. If the rights are all safe, there is no need to search for responsibility. Those who murmur that people are aware of their rights, but are yet irresponsible, do not seem to have understood in the first place what “sense of right” really means.  It is also likely that they intentionally distort the truth to pull wool over our eyes. But the intention is puzzling.

Sense of Belonging

Rights and responsibilities are not only inseparably linked, they have also blended and become one as a mixture. All of us usually find the co-existence of both. One does not exist without the other. As members of this society we should realize that every act of ours would affect the society. If we fail to realize this and shoulder our responsibilities, it would only mean that we do not regard the society as our society and the country as our country. It would imply that we do not claim our rights since we do not own them. If we are the proud owners of this society and this nation, we would demand our rights naturally and from those rights our responsibilities would also inevitably crop up. But what is it that our rulers, backed by the Congress, have done so far to make our people really happy about their sense of rights? What achievement shall we expect from them?

Rewards of Labour

Every labourer must be able to enjoy the fruits of his labour. He must not exist as a mobile corpse. But this continues to be an unfulfilled desire for our labourers. If his rights are seized, how could a labourer have a sense of responsibility?

Unpalatable Truth

If the grant of rights to the common man is under the control of a chosen few, how are we to expect sense of responsibility in the common man? It is the denial of his rights which causes his irresponsibility. This is the unpalatable truth.

Line of control

Just as walls are constructed to shield a house, our country needs a line of control to ensure that its wealth and resources are utiliZed exclusively within the country itself. No man should be denied livelihood in his own country. He must be allowed to exist and survive on his own native land, without giving up his roots.

Our Demand

In language, arts, culture and civilization all the rights should be owned by the people. This must be implemented in practice by our rulers and leaders. People who toil restlessly should live with all comforts. There should be absolute equality without any disparity or discrimination. To make every common man confident of his identity is the prime duty of our rulers and leaders. This is what our Dravidar Kazhagam strives for today. Only such a true sense of rights can mould our people as noble citizens. Unless this happens, social order and communal harmony would not emerge. Impeccable conduct of people and their responsible acts depend on their sense of rights.

Source: Kudi Arasu

Translated by M.R. Manohar

NB: The mentioning of Congress Party in the article has to be viewed from the historical perspective. Periyar was critical about the Congress Party and its leaders since it was the original brahminical party in the political arena. The present saffron political parties were not prominent then and later they usurped the brahminical patent openly from the Congress party.

– MR

- the modern rationalist

What does Religion Truly Mean? Which is True Religion?

By | on January 1, 2021 | 0 Comment

Periyar Speaks

Excerpts from Periyar’s speech delivered on 4th February 1947 at Kilakarai town in today’s Ramanathapuram district, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammed

Dear Comrades and friends, today’s meet is certainly an exceptional one since it is on the day of the birth of Prophet Mohammed who existed selflessly for the enlightenment of succeeding Muslim generations. He was a scholarly guide to nearly sixty crore population of the world on the path of religion and an unparalleled preacher with forethoughts who sacrificed himself for the cause of public welfare. For the Islamic community this day is sacred and felicitous.

What Religion means to me

The credit should go to Islam for inviting me to this meet, though I am against religion, according to some people. I seem as one who denies the existence of God. Inspite of such misconceptions about me I have been invited to deliver a speech today. Naturally, my presence here would be puzzling to some of you. That is because my views on god and religion have been misunderstood. Therefore I wish to explain to day what religion really means to me and which is true religion in my opinion.

It is Islam religion which has been guiding people in the right direction by preaching values of life and serving them with a broad minded outlook and liberal approach. Among millions of species on earth, man alone is a social animal with reasoning power and intellect. He needs a hold to lay the path for a life of co-habitation. Therefore he does need religion to co-exist peacefully with others and to refine himself. A path laid for this purpose is considered by man as religion. Muslims call it Islamic way and Christians too treat their route as Christian way of life. There are other different views such as Saivities, Vaishnavites, and Tamil people views. Infact, it is not yet clear which language the word ‘religion’ originated from. For most people this word is still quizzical. There is no definite consensus in this regard.

Deceptive Views

Some people babble that religion binds man with god and that it leads man to reach god. This is skullduggery in my opinion. It is a crazy view which is absolutely deceptive. Why should man alone be bound and unified with god? Don’t birds, beasts and animals have the right for bondage with god? Are they not god’s creations? Should we mean that all other creatures are on the highest level of intellect, unlike man, to reach god?

Objective of Religion

Why is religion inevitable for mankind? It is indispensable because it can make him a humanist in interactions with other people. It can make his character unblemished and conduct impeccable. Instead, if he remains self centered and avaricious, dreaming of his own salvation and his own attainment of divine glory, I would call his religion a sign of insanity and a concept utterly malicious. Ignoring his responsibilities in this world as if life on earth is illusory, his religion is absolute idiocy. Because of this view of mine I am being labeled an anti-religion by some religious fanatics. I am against religions which make people ignoble. But I am always in favour of any religion which makes every man and woman truly righteous. I would always welcome a religion which makes a man honest, helpful and real humanist.

Religious Exponents Today

None of the virtues stated by me could be found today in the Aryan religion called Hindu religion. It cannot be seen in any activity of its exponents. Flesh trade, theft, murders and exploitation of the poor labourers are all acceptable to them inorder to attain salvation. The Aryan religion approves degrading and dividing people. Uncouth ruffians and lumpens suppressing others are not a crime at all for them. Should we not annihilate such religions? I am very particular about eradicating only such evil religions.

If religions spread the message of love and humanism why do we hear about unrest, violence and crimes from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari, all over our country? Does any of such insane religions have atleast one noble objective? In brief, the unrest widespread is caused only by the clashes between Aryan and non-aryan elements. The strife between Hindu and Muslims, brahmins and non-brahmins, Aryans and Dravidians – all these are infact strife between the Aryan and non-Aryan. Clashes among various other religious sects are also to be viewed as strife between the Aryan and the non-Aryan. The ulterior motive of each is to have the country ruled as per the codes of it and as per the policies and principles underlying it. This objective applies to the commotion and revolt cropped up by almost all in some religions.

Religious Harmony

Religions are the root cause of political and social rebellions in our country. But there is religious harmony between our Dravidar Kazhagam and Islam. On the surface level there may be difference but we are both amicable. We are on the same wave length of belief that all are equal by birth and that there should be no discrimination. Infact Muslims, Christians and Dravidians could be clubbed as one single race of identical policies.

Some Work Hard-Some Hardly Work

The instigation of the Aryans always ignites violence and unrest everywhere. A Muslim Dravidian, a Christian-Dravidian and a Dravidian who is neither a Muslim nor a Christian, lives as a loyal Indian and dies as a faithful citizen, leaving behind all that he earned lifelong, either here or abroad. Such noble people can never betray the nation or harm its people. The Aryan religion comprises two groups of people – one that works and consumes, the other which consumes without producing. One works hard while the other hardly works. Hence, we find endless religion-based unrest. This unrest would end, only if the Aryans realize that the objective of a religion should be public service and efforts to establish equality and universal brotherhood.

Barbaric Provocation

Some crazy religious exponents instigate people to lay down their lives for the sake of their religion. This is absurd. It is a barbaric provocation. It is like forcing a man to sacrifice his life for his wife. Why should he lose something which he has to protect? Does it not sound ridiculous? Such senseless provocations would only make people hard-core criminals-not refined individuals who could love and care for others. Don’t you agree with me? If a man believes that love is god and god is love but violently assaults his opponent, does it not seem ridiculous? Is this the way to safeguard a love based divine religion?

Muddled Views

If people are given the correct definition for religion and made to know the objective of religion, there would be no discrimination between the Islamic and the Dravidian. Inspite of belonging to the same religion, if people maintain distance from one another in public life and in activities of day to day routine life, can it be considered a religion in the first-place? Is it not betrayal, wickedness and selfishness?

Most people in our country do not have a clear idea pertaining to the concept called religion. Their views are muddled. The Dravidians, other than the Islamics and Christians, are involved merely in mutual recriminations and mud-slinging. They have nothing in common in principles and policies. I find only pretensions, hypocrisy and personal vendetta caused by pride and prejudice.

Mere Abbreviation

People who are other than Muslims and Christians are generalised as Hindus but it is not explained whether it is the name of a community, race or religion. The word “Hindu” must be an abbreviation for the word “Indian”, – just as a man of Arabia is called ‘Arab’ and as a person of Russia is called ‘Russian’. I believe that religion has nothing to do with the word ‘Hindu’. Research scholars have come out with various explanations but none calls it a religion. There is no authenticated record to prove that it is a religion.

For Buddhism and Christianity, we are aware of the origin and the founders. Even for Saiva religion and Vaishnavism, we have related names of Siva and Vishnu. But without any reference to founders, relevant records, names of gods and supporting evidence if a religion is adopted and followed, how are we to accept it blindly as “Hindu religion”?

Strategy of Brahmins

Taking advantage of the confusion prevailing, brahmins daringly proclaim that there is no religion called “Hindu religion” and that it is in fact their Aryan religion. The term “Hindu religion” is actually being strategically misused to keep gullible people confined in the darkness of ignorance. Wicked people smartly use the term to reap benefits for their own prosperity.

Another coterie of brahmins keep babbling that Manusmriti is the code of conduct for the Hindu religion. Thus, we find that none has reached the bottom of this mess. As long as the term ‘Hindu’ is in vogue, religious revolts, rebellions and recriminations are sure to exist. There would be absolute peace in India if this term “Hindu” is annihilated.

The Dravidians called Hindus should educate people sufficiently in this regard. Degradation and disgrace of every sort must vanish. Denial of god and religion can never harm this world. On the other hand, there are some reforms atleast to some extent, which is a solace.

Courtesy: ‘Kudi Arasu’

15th & 22nd February 1947

Translated by Prof. M.R.Manohar

- the modern rationalist