Friday, December 29, 2023

Caste and class

 



This unsympathetic man is apparently the 145th "Shankaracharya" of the Govardhan Mat in Puri, Orissa, India. In the first clip, he attacks the Hare Krishna (ISKCON) as a bunch of unclean LARP-ers, undesirables and interlopers. In the second, he defends the caste system (or strictly speaking the varna system, which the caste system grew out of). 

Still, it *is* funny when he exposes the hypocrisy of those who "oppose caste" while having a class society of their own. For instance, the British, who still have a monarchy. Didn´t they make Victoria the Empress of India? Or the Muslims in the Indian sub-continent, who apparently have a de facto caste system. Or the Buddhists in Burma, who claim to be peaceful, but then create their own "kshatriyas" to fight the Muslims!

Browsing the YouTube channel of Govardhan Mat, I have to say that No 145 often comes across as a militant political agitator, apart from being a very "traditionalist" Hindu. 

Make of this content what you wish.   

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