A couple of pieces of news, some new and some old, combine here:
1. A copy of the Gospel of Judas, has been restored and authenticated in a project by National Geographic which seems to indicate that Judas was asked to do by Jesus what he did. This is contrary to what is suggested by the New Testament. It has got a lot of coverage lately.
http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/about.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas
2. The current seer of the Kanchi Mutt and the ongoing criminal case against him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanchi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayendra_Saraswati
Taking a step back:
The Kanchi Sankara Mutt is a Hindu religious monastery of large influence in South India especially the state of Tamil Nadu. The previous head of the Kanchi Mutt - the Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati has been for most of my childhood and adolescent life, the towering "Guru" figure as far as symbolism and religion is concerned. The term "Guru" although it has entered the English language and is often used as someone who is an expert at something, is not the traditional use of the word. It means Teacher and historically the Guru has been the teacher of the Holy scriptures and/or the Culture in the form of arts and crafts. The Guru of an influential Mutt like the Kanchi Mutt is similar in position to the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church or the the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Kanchi Mutt dates back more than a thousand years and owes its existence to and one of the very few set up by Adi Sankara and his disciples. The Kanchi Mutt's footprint is primarily Kerala - Palakkad and along the Kaveri through the fertile belt with Kumbakonam, Tiruchirapalli and Thanjavur area as the heart. Geographically as well, these areas are in the center of Tamil Nadu and away from the Bay of Bengal Coast.
This Kaveri belt is fertile (as fertile as Tamil Nadu soil and climate allow). The primary crops are Rice paddy and Sugarcane. I see this area as the Roots of the Tamil Iyer Brahmins. This section of Indian Hindu society currently forms a large portion of Economic "Upper Middle Class" in the state of Tamil Nadu but forms a minority considering the state population as a whole. They typically favor and occupy salaried positions, historically in the British run and later Independent India's Central Government Beauracracy, Nationalized Banks and University Faculty. Over time this has transitioned slowly to Large Indian and later Multinational Corporations, exporting many members of current and thus future generations to Hi Tech industries and Research Labs in the US and to a lower extent in the UK and rest of Europe. They also manage and run thousands of Hindu temples some of which are covered by Aadhinams (higher management authority) and some of which are independent and managed by trusts - some profitable, some not. Some of the Aadhinams fall under the purview of the State Government. Due to the nature of the salaried jobs, most have migrated from being landowners in the lush Kaveri rivershed to the Cities specifically Trichy, Madras, Bangalore, New Delhi, Bombay in that order. As earlier mentioned the migration has tended to be in many cases tens of thousands of miles to the North West. Tamil Iyer Brahmins are for the most part conservative in their personal life, liberal in their public life, value personal security, are conscientious workers, religious and prejudiced. These traits are shared among almost all Indians, but I can't say for sure. India is a hodge-podge of cultures with too many microcosms and a very thin veneer of a national identity.
The "Western World" is largely ignorant of the internals of India, Hinduism and the Caste System. They're and have been for as long as I can remember intertwined and in fact fused together. For many I meet here in the US, what they know about India has been gleaned from watching The Simpsons (Appu character), Dilbert (Asok character) and their impression of a fellow worker from India as concentrated in specific industries such as Basic Science Research, High Technology Industry and in some specific regions such as the NY Metropolitan area, cab and limo drivers. For the baby boomers, it was probably Ravi Shankar, Goa, Ashrams and those penguins in saffron - Hare Rama, Hare Krishna. May be the Taj Mahal. They know how to order "Naan" and "Chicken Tikka Masala" when they visit the neighborhood Indian restaurant and "Tall Chai with Skim Milk" when they visit Starbucks. They and I both know - that this information is like a grain of sand on the beach and this difference in knowledge gained as can be gained only by living in a country and raised in a certain type of family for much of one's formative years is a differentiator on how we look at life today and why I split the subject of this rather messy sentence into "They" and "I". "But hey, if I don't need anything more than to order some spicy Indian cuisine occasionally, why do I need the extra info?" No need at all.
The Indian caste system has long been seen as fair and a way to achieve Division of Labor in the society by those who stood to gain - typically the "higher" castes and as blatantly unjust, exploitary and cruel by those of the "lower" castes. This view has as with western cultures been replaced by one where stereotypes are frowned upon but nevertheless exist. I mean the way Duke's Lacrosse team is mostly made up of Caucasians and UCLA's basketball team is mostly made up of African Americans.
As with any social system, the Hindu/Indian caste system is not just the 4 castes but a tree (in many places more than 6 levels deep) of subcastes and complex interactions between them.
Having been introduced this in a way textbooks or resource material on the Web might, a person new to Indian culture might actually overestimate the rigidity of the structure. I (as does any introspective person in any culture at any time in history) see my generation as part of the transition between the old and the new. Also, most of this information while can be absorbed from Published Resources (capital P), this background is how I see it and not keeping "Political Correctness" in mind. Much of what is here might just be a matter of perspective and not factual at all, so take it with a grain of salt and be ready to ignore it as you would a grain of salt.
Coming back to what started all this:
The actions, the publicity and all the news surrounding the current head of the Kanchi Mutt are malodorous from a distance. Politics stink. Religion and Politics are never independent and "Separation of Church and State" is a purely theoretical idea and makes for a good objective - much like the idea of Democracy. In uncertain times, Religion and Faith gives the Common Man a certain reassurance of better days ahead that no government can.
I have preferred to stay away from all news articles regarding the latest goings on at the Kanchi Mutt - very much sticking my head in the sand, afraid that what I hear or read might corrupt the dear memory of a Mutt and the previous head - a great Seer who has passed away.
This, I believe, is very close to what an ardent believer in the Catholic faith might find himself/herself in. A slow recession from the comfort of rigidity, scripture and simplicity. The slow drying up of a lake where everyone who was submerged in it found company. A clear demarcation between "Correct" and "Incorrect" which was given to you and the subjects of decisions not so complex in times when the given "Correct" was also probably the logical "Correct" decision.
Hinduism as compared to Catholicism is in some ways stronger and I believe capable of withstanding this onslaught. When Buddhism was new and threatened to take over the whole of the Indian subcontinent in the early part of the previous millenium, Hinduism morphed by giving up human and animal sacrifice (except in West Bengal curiously where Goats are sacrificed/Mutton is allowed). Brahmins till then who had been permitted to eat meat, were subtly steered away and reached a state where a Brahmin could eat only "Pure Vegetarian" food also cooked by a Brahmin. The human head in the sacrifice gave way to the coconut. Hinduism has been a regional stronghold in India relying on intelligent metamorphosis of its followers, leaving it up to them to define what is "Hinduism" rather than rely on proselytization.
Advaitam which defines Hinduism to a certain extent defines more the spiritual and philosophical aspects of the religion as it pertains to a single individual than the actual rites, rituals and restrictions. This by nature is less prone to conflicts due to its abstractness and also leaves much space for interpretation.
Hmmm, Advaitam... May be a topic for another day.
QOTD
"Which is it, is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's?"
-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
