included now Muslim-majority Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, as well as now Buddhist-majority Myanmar. In their view, Islam is a foreign religion, and the Muslim invaders introduced a way of life that challenged Hinduism’s caste system and customs, thereby instigating millions to switch their loyalties from Hindu deities to one Supreme God. The caste system divides society into four varnas or categories determined by birth. On top are the Brahmans, who enjoy this status and occupy the highest position because they are from the head of the creator. The lowest are the untouchables, also known as Dalits. In between are castes specializing in war, business, and producing various items for use and consumption. Brahmins form 5% of the population, Rajputs 4%, Vaishyas 2%, Dalits and tribals 23% and others, including Marathas, Jats and Kayasthas (6 percent). Muslims are 15%, Christians 2.5%, Sikhs 2%, and Buddhists and Jains less than 1% each. Hindu nationalists believe that Islam wooed Dalits to its fold because of its egalitarian values, which challenged the Brahmans’ supremacy. They insist that many of these conversions were forced and that the creation of Pakistan in 1947 as a separate Muslim homeland makes India a Hinduonly state. Their fear that Islam may increase its influence on tribals and Dalits, who still live in abject poverty and humiliation, makes them hostile to Islam and Muslims. A demographic shift in favor of Islam also poses an existential threat to them. Hindu nationalists view themselves as an extension of the Aryan race and believe they have maintained their purity by practicing a strict caste system. But on the other hand, the twice-born or the so-called upper castes, predominantly Brahman, consider themselves the purest of the pure. Their militant organization, RSS, consists of Brahman leaders. The RSS upper caste leaders have used the Dalits and tribals as pawns against Muslims in this context. They use the resources of other twice-born castes to incite these two groups to combat Muslims. For example, many people recruited to demolish the Babri Masjid in 1992 came from castes generally viewed as lower by the twice-born. The RSS teaches and systematically propagates hatred at grassroots levels. Founded by a physician named Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 in the western Indian city of Nagpur, it seeks to propagate the Hindutva ideology and to provide a “new
Hindutva Seeks Manusmriti-based Constitution
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HE MANUSMRITI OR LAWS OF MANU (MĀNAVA-DHARMAŚĀSTRA) — BELIEVED to be the first ancient legal text and constitution among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism — Concerning Dalits/Untouchables presented below require no further elaboration and commentary, for they are so glaringly hateful, fascist and degenerate in their approach to Untouchables, who Manu referred to as Sudras. Perhaps this was why the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), who contributed immensely to the growth of totalitarian ideas in Europe during the 20th century, fell in love with this work. Unsurprisingly, a copy of this legal code was burned as a protest in the presence of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar during the historic Mahad agitation of December 1927. [Editor’s note: The Roman numerals have chapters, and the non-Roman numerals have paragraphs or verses.] In fact, Brahmanism, the basis of the RSS worldview, is human history’s original fascism [p. xxiii]. ➊ For the sake of the prosperity of the worlds (the divine one) caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thighs, and his feet [respectively] (I/31). ➋ One occupation only the lord prescribed to the Sudras, to serve meekly even these (other) three castes (I/91). ➌ A once-born man (a Sudra) who insults a twice-born [Brahmin] man with gross invective shall have his tongue cut out, for he is of low origin (VIII/270). ➍ If he mentions the names and castes (jati) of the (twice born) with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers long, shall be thrust red-hot into his mouth (VIII/271). ➎ If he arrogantly teaches Brahmanas their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be poured into his mouth and his ears (VIII/272). ➏ He [who] raises his hand or a stick … shall have his hand cut off; he who in anger kicks with his foot shall have his foot cut off (VIII/280). ➐ A low-caste man who tries to place himself on the same seat with a man of a high caste shall be branded on his hip and be banished, or (the king) shall cause his buttock to be gashed (VIII/281). As per the Laws of Manu, the Sudras are to be given the most stringent punishments for even petty violations/actions; however, the same code is very lenient toward the Brahmins. Shloka 380 in Chapter VIII, bestowing profound love on Brahmins, decrees: “Let him never slay a Brahmana, though he has committed all (possible) crimes; let him banish such an (offender), leaving all his property (to him) and (his body) unhurt.” A selection of the Laws of Manu concerning women states: ➊ Day and night woman must be kept in dependence by the males (of ) their (families), and if they attach themselves to sensual enjoyments, they must be kept under one’s control (IX/2). ➋ Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons protect (her) in old age. A woman is never fit for independence (IX/3). ➌ Women do not care for beauty, nor is their attention fixed on age. (Thinking) “(It is enough that) he is a man,” they give themselves to the handsome and to the ugly (IX/14). ➍ Through their passion for men, through their mutable temper and through their natural heartlessness, they become disloyal toward their husbands, however carefully they may be guarded in this (world) (IX/15). ➎ (When creating them,) Manu allotted to women (a love of their) bed, seat and ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice and bad conduct (IX/17). ih MAY/JUNE 2022 ISLAMIC HORIZONS
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