Dr.Payal Tadvi’s suicide: Why our caste system is a tragic misunderstanding

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India’s caste system is a curse. Dr. Payal Tadvi, a young, 26-year-old gynaecologist of ‘lower’ caste was its latest fatality last week. Rohit Vermula from Hyderabad, Dr. Mariraj from Tamil Nadu and many others were claimed by this curse only sometime ago.

Our caste system is a multi-generational, centuries old tragedy. Of Greek proportions.

This tragedy has made the original framework for a good society into a deadly tool for discrimination and exclusion.

Framework for a good society? Did you just roll your eyes? Hold on and listen.

When the caste or ‘varna’ system was originally conceived in Vedic times, it was related to one’s dharma. No, not the dharma of religion and rules.

Dharma originally meant 'Your natural duty'.

Dharma, the basis of varna system, accurately means  'Your intrinsic, natural way of being'.

The way nature has made you. It is a lion’s dharma to hunt and kill, right? Queen bees will feed on royal jelly and live long, while worker bees will only serve and die quickly without procreating. A female mite will lay eggs and then have intercourse with its own children.

It is the law of nature.

So are you telling me they are animals, but we humans should not be behaving this way?

No, just wait some more.

Sri Krishna is said to have urged Arjuna to fight a war he did not want to, because it was his dharma. War is bad, you might say, no none should be fighting them. Wrong. Warriors or Kshatriyas should be. It is their dharma. Of course the Kshatriya types today are not all meant to fight wars. They are meant to be leaders, protectors, motivators and activists. A modern CEO is a Kshatriya type. So is an honest politician.

The five dharma types: Five operating systems

Nature has divided our human specie into five sub-species, the Vedas tell us.

Brahmins are the educators, scientists, teachers of any society.

Kshatriyas are the warriors, leaders, politicians.

Vaishyas are the businessmen, CEO’s, entrepreneurs and entertainers, solution givers.

Shudras are the community builders, those workers in large organisations run by vaishyas. They are the devoted service class.

Malecchas are the outsiders, the disrupters, the innovators and inventors.

Also Read: Young Indians resist Yogic Sciences: Why they are right, yet wrong

Simon Chokiosky, in his book:  “The five dharma types: Vedic wisdom for discovering your purpose”, classifies Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as the malechha types. Imagine that. That’s because the malechhas or untouchables originally left society to pursue odd, irregular, novel ideas and paths. That is why these ‘outsiders’ are the inventors and innovators of our world.

Your dharma or your caste is like your pre-installed operating system. It will give you an indication of what work best suits you. Knowing your dharma type will tell you how you can best serve society while earning a good living. You will flourish only when you are being exactly who you are supposed to be. Only when you are following your own unique purpose.

You see, following Dharma or natural law is essential for fulfillment. Professional, personal, existential. Whichever.

The five varna types in Vedic society were of equivalent status, like five limbs of an organism which lifted and supported each other in their ‘natural service’. Service towards  the efficient functioning and  progress of the community, the society, the nation.

Caste is non-heritable: It isn’t a matter of family and blood line.

The most important point now. Genetics and heredity do not dictate our dharma types. True dharma is non-heritable. It is not passed down in families. It depends on our individual samskaras. Samskaras are the collection of impulses we carry across lifetimes, but that is a topic for another day.  What is important is that our samskaras will, in all probability, be different from our parents. The son of an engineer need not necessarily become one, the son of a politician one, nor the daughter of a sweeper a sweeper. That is not dharma.

The original varna or caste system has become a victim of oversimplification. Probably because it is easier to sort people according to heredity and lineage. Or else it was a power play, to conserve knowledge and power among the brahmins and Kshatriyas. Maybe passing down trade secrets within families was easier. Whatever be the reasons, the original caste system has been dangerously oversimplified. 

 It has become a liability, a shame to the truth.

 Dharma has been reduced to a disturbing cultural artefact.

Reference: The five dharma types: Vedic wisdom for discovering your purpose”, by Simon Chokiosky.

Shweta Singh is the author of the book "The Grandmaster: Across the Blackhole".