Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2018/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Fascinating, Jayanand, but, for some of us outside India, the caste system seems very restrictive, and certainly doesn't appear to be just a tribal arrangement. The murder a few days ago, reported by the BBC, of a Dalit in Gujurat - by higher Kshatriya caste men - because he had the temerity to buy and ride a horse, sticks in the craw more than a bit. Douglas On 03/04/2018 02:25, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG wrote: > Douglas, > Thanks for looking. > > That thread is very strong, actually. I should also be wearing it, as I am > also a Brahmin, but I do not (though both my sons do!). It is just a > caste/tribal distinction nowadays, nothing more, nothing less. It is > incredibly useful, though, both as a safe place to hang house keys, and as > a backscratcher. > > All the old caste distinctions, which, as originally envisaged, 3000 years > ago, were really all about slotting people into work areas where they could > be most productive, are all gone. It is really no different to the class > divides in Western society, except it was codified, and flexible as > originally envisaged.. Over the millennia, the caste orders became > ossified, and rigid, and you were born into it and could not escape, even > if you wanted to. Today, they are just tribal distinctions, though very > much alive and rigid in societal norms, fighting for the most part for ever > increasing Govt handouts (so what is new?). So much so, that even > Christians and Muslims have retained their original castes after conversion > here, and still maintain the distinction.. It is probably one of the more > successful societal orders in human history, having lasted the longest, > being pretty stable, and still thriving, at that! > > Cheers > Jayanand > > On Tue, Apr 3, 2018 at 6:33 AM, Douglas Barry <imra at iol.ie> wrote: > >> Fascinating, Jayanand. >> It was a good shot of the man, and I suppose wearing that easily snapped >> thread indicating his priestly caste is also an age old barrier to >> physical >> work too? >> >> Douglas >> >> >> On 02/04/2018 11:45, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG wrote: >> >>> Don, Jim, Robert, Philippe, Alan, Bharani >>> >>> Thanks for looking. >>> >>> Actually what the person is reading is interesting. It is a magazine on >>> traditional Hindu religious philosophy published locally, not in Sanskrit >>> or Tamil, but in English! >>> >>> To decode the image a little further, the thread over his left shoulder >>> (actually should be nine threads knotted together) indicates that he >>> belongs to the Brahmin caste, and the vertical lines of ash on his >>> forehead, which signifies a trident, means that he is a worshiper of >>> Vishnu, one of the supreme trinity of gods in the Hindu pantheon, >>> collectively known as Trimurthi. >>> >>> Cheers >>> Jayanand >>> >>> On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 9:46 AM, scleroplex via LUG <lug at >>> leica-users.org> >>> wrote: >>> >>> Wonderfully timeless. >>>> Bharani >>>> >>>> Message: 12 >>>> Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2018 21:31:58 +0530 >>>> From: Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> >>>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>, PSM >>>> <psm-1857 at googlegroups.com> >>>> Subject: [Leica] Mylapore >>>> Message-ID: >>>> <CAH1UNJ1raZdJNmxwXevBHwmbnUDLrON6PRdeJc6yyAkmqnTVbw at mail. >>>> gmail.com> >>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Leica Users Group. >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >>> >>> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >