Swami Dayananda’s serious quest for morality in social life brought him into confrontation with advocates of the caste system as practiced at that time. The Swami saw the unjust privileges for upper caste Hindus and the denial of opportunities for low caste Hindus. One time, at Farrukhabad, he quoted the Manu Smriti [2:158] to prove that a person who does not possess knowledge of the Veda is a Shudra, even though he be a child of an upper caste Hindu. Swami Dayananda is recorded in Ajmer in 1866 as still believing in the caste system as practiced at that time, though with an amount of uneasiness, but years later his thinking is seen to have evolved when he refuted the interpretation of a Veda Mantra by a Banaras Pandit who claimed that God Himself established the caste system. Brahmin is God’s mouth, Kshatriya is His arm, Vaishya is His belly, and Shudra is His feet, the Brahmin Pandit explained, claiming that caste is a divine creation. Swami Dayananda replied that such a meaning is too literal, that the Mantra really means that in society, the Brahmin resembles the human mouth [with which to give knowledge], the Kshatriya resembles the arm [with which to offer protection], the Vaishya resembles the belly [with which to sustain society], and the Shudra resembles the feet [with which to ensure functionality for society].
Swami Dayananda’s theory of society was now quite precise. Caste, he said, must be seen as a social institution acting for the common good of society. Caste is not nature-made nor religious. The four castes were not created by God as distinct species of people. All people are of equal nature, of the same human species and belonging to a common brotherhood. People’s fate in a future life does not depend on following a specific caste in this current life. Caste helps to guard against confusion and organizes human work-force for greater accomplishment. And so, any Shudra, on showing qualification, can be promoted to being a Vaishya, Kshatriya or Brahmin, and likewise, any Brahmin, falling from standards, can be made a Shudra.
From the new book,
Dr. Satish Prakash
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