Brahmins the known and unknown facts...

POOR BRAHMINS

It is amazing to see that how fiction can become truth in course of time! Let's examine truth based on facts and real history. 

To start with, there is not a SINGLE Brahmin God in Hinduism! All Gods are from backward castes, dalits and trials. Actually, Brahmins never created the concept of Gods in Hinduism. 

There was not even a SINGLE Brahmin king that ruled India. To be able to oppress others requires positions of power. Brahmins were teachers, scholars, priests, advisors but not rulers. The Brahmins' traditional occupation was that of temple priest (purohit), officiating religious functions. Their sole income was biksha (alms) given by the landlords (non-Brahmins).

Another section of Brahmins were teachers, that too without salary. Vedic literature was mostly written by non-Brahmins. The most powerful of the dharma shaastra, that gives Brahmins a high status, is the Manusmriti written by Manu, a non-Brahmin. Brahmin means a profession (Varna) - not a caste.

If the reading and writing of Sanskrit was confined to Brahmins, then how do you have the tribal Valmiki composing Ramayana? Ved Vyas, who classified four Vedas and wrote Mahabharata, was born to a fisherwoman.

Sanskrit was used mostly by non-Brahmin writers - there are very few scriptures in Sanskrit authored by Brahmins. We consider the teachings of Ved Vyas, Vashishta, Valmiki, Krishna, Rama, Agasthya, Vishwamitra, Shrunga, Gowtama, Buddha, Mahavira, Tulsidas, Thiruvalluvar, Kabir, Vivekananda, Narayana guru etc. as most valuable. If none of them were Brahmins, why cry out loudly and blame that "Brahmins did not allow you to learn?" There are numerous works on bhakti by non-Brahmin bhakti saints. The truth is that the Brahmins never prevented others from learning.

Brahmins were neither rich nor powerful at any point of time in history. Pick up any old Indian story book, you will see gharib Brahmin’ (Poor Brahmin) quoted as a virtue. (Remember Sudama-Krishna story?). Though their profession was considered as highest stature of the society, the Brahmin ascetics' only way of survival was alms given by people.

The biggest contribution of Brahmins is sustaining the best language ever spoken in the earth - Sanskrit. If you learn English or Arabic, you have commercial benefits. Nobody ever promoted Sanskrit but without any benefits, Brahmins took up voluntary task of learning Sanskrit. Now you accuse them of monopoly in Sanskrit!

Besides, Brahmins were not Kings. They didn't enjoy powers or had wealth. They worked hard on gaining knowledge and led life of austerity. So there is no question of exploitation by Brahmins.

When population of Brahmins range from just 2% in Tamil Nadu to 12% in Uttarakhand, how can they dominate the majority?

After reading all this can anyone blame Brahmins?

Sudesh DJV writes on contemporary subjects in the form of Articles and poems which are in the interest of the Nation in particular and for Mankind in general.