Brahmanism: Encyclopedia II - Brahmanism - Challenge To Brahmin Supremacy and Caste System

Brahmanism - Challenge To Brahmin Supremacy and Caste System

Brahmanism - Buddhism

Such a man arose in the person of a prince of Kapilavastu, Siddhārtha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism (about the 6th century BC). Had it only been for the philosophical tenets of Buddha, they need scarcely have caused, and probably did not cause, any great uneasiness to the orthodox theologians. He did, indeed, go one step beyond Kapila, by altogether denying the existence of the soul as a substance, and admitting only certain intellectual faculties as attributes of the body, perishable with it.

Yet the conception which Buddha substituted for the transmigratory soul, viz. that of karma (work), as the sum total of the individuals good and bad actions, being the determinative element of the form of his future existence, might have been treated like any other speculative theory, but for the practical conclusions he drew from it. He altogether denied the revealed character of the Veda and the efficacy of the Brahminical ceremonies deduced from it, and rejected the claims of the sacerdotal class to be the repositories and divinely appointed preservers of sacred knowledge.

Chapter 26 (Verse No. 383-423) of Dhammapada which is one of the most sacred Buddhist text explains how Buddha always questioned Brahmins. He opposed the Brahminism, which was present at that time.

Buddha preached with regard to the final goal, the nirvana, or extinction of karma at the time of death thereby denying transmigration og soul after death. He preched to practice ahimsa in this life to avoid misery which is appealing to the some section of the people. It would be out of place here to dwell on the rapid progress and internal development of the new doctrine. Suffice it to say that, owing no doubt greatly to the sympathising patronage of ruling princes, Buddhism appears to have been the state religion in most parts of India during the early centuries of our era. To what extent it became the actual creed of the body of the people it will probably be impossible ever to ascertain. One of the chief effects it produced on the worship of the old gods was the rapid decline of the authority of the orthodox Brahmanical ritual, and a considerable development of sectarianism.

Brahmanism - Charvaka

Also known as Lokayata, is a thoroughly materialistic and atheistic school of thought with ancient roots in India. Available evidence suggests that Carvaka philosophy was set out in the Brhaspati Sutra in India, probably about 600 BCE.

Carvakas cultivated a philosophy wherein theology and what they called 'speculative' metaphysics were to be avoided. The Carvakas accepted direct perception as the surest method to prove the truth of anything. Though their opponents tried to caricature the Lokayatikas' arguments, the latter did not completely reject the method of inference.

Whereas caste system is at the core of Brahminical philosophy, the Carvakas denounced the caste system, calling it artificial, unreal and hence unacceptable. "What is this senseless humbug about the castes and the high and low among them when the organs like the mouth, etc in the human body are the same?" (Prabodhachandrodaya, 2.18)

They considered artha (finance) and kaama (satisfaction of desires) as the two purposes of life, discarding the other two — dharma (religion) and moksha (salvation) — proclaimed as a fourfold goal system by the Brahminic thinkers.

Brahmanism - B.R. Ambedkar

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was born in very lowest religious stratum of the Brahminical (Hindu) caste order known as Untouchables or Dalits. Social rules were dictated as per the Brahmanical Hindu religious scriptures such as Manusmriti, Vishnusmriti, Gautam DharmaSutra etc in Indian society. Ambedkar was the major revolutionary figure of modern India to fight against the ideas of untouchability, caste system and Brahminic supremacy embedded in the Indian society.

He single handedly laid the revival of Buddhism in modern India which he saw as the most natural religion for the emancipation of oppressed classes of Brahminical society. The magnum opus of his work is The Buddha and His Dhamma. He was an inspiration for millions of Dalits untouchables who converted to Buddhism.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Challenge To Brahmin Supremacy and Caste System", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki