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Arundhati Roy Faces Flak from Anti-caste Scholars for Claiming 'Brahminism Not about Brahmins' https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/arundhati-roy-says-brahminism-not-about-brahmins-anti-caste-scholars-want-to-know-what-its-about-2848759.html
Ok, everyone.
Are the Syrian Christians brahmin?
Are the Syrian Christians brahmin?
They are dominant caste.
Their caste status most closely matches the caste status of Nayars.
They are considered "forward" by the Kerala state.
Their caste status most closely matches the caste status of Nayars.
They are considered "forward" by the Kerala state.
That which we understand as brahmin didn't exist in Kerala until centuries after the supposed date of St. Thomas arrival in 52CE
However, the Syrian Christian understand themselves through a brahmin conversion narrative.
The story is: St. Thomas came across 100 brahmins taking a ritual bath. And he performed a miracle. The brahmins asked to be baptized.
Some Syrian Christians have brahmin house names. The Syrian Christians are patrilineal like Kerala's namboodiri brahmins. Like the namboodiri brahmins they practiced and continue to practice dowry.
These, and other traditions and their oral histories bolster the unsubstantiated brahmin claims of the community.
And then there is race and colorism. As supposed brahmins, the Syrian Christians claim to be "Aryan" as differentiated from "dravidian" Dalit Bahujans. They believe themselves to be "fair" because they believe themselves to be Aryan brahmins.
And now class: dominant caste ppls in Kerala were and continue to be landowners. Over many centuries, the Syrian Christians worked in tandem with Nayar and brahmin dominate castes and solidified economic power especially through land ownership.
It is casteist bullshit for any Syrian Christian to claim they are "Christian" as if the Syrian Christians don't have caste.
It is also casteist bullshit to imply that their religion places them closer to Dalit Bahujan Christians, when in fact, their class interests and caste and racial endogamy places their politics, practices, and "traditions" with the namboodiris and nayars.
Are the Syrian Christians brahmin? Technically probably not.
Are they dominant caste and supportive of brahmanical patriarchy?
Oh, yes. They are.
#smashbrahmanicalpatriarchy
Are they dominant caste and supportive of brahmanical patriarchy?
Oh, yes. They are.
#smashbrahmanicalpatriarchy
