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In Defence of Caste and against “Cross-Breeding” in Kerala: Golwalkar

 

Golwalkar was invited to address the students of the School of Social Science of Gujarat University on December 17, 1960. In this address, while underlying his firm belief in the Race Theory, he touched upon the issue of cross-breeding of human beings in the Indian society in history. He said:
 
Today experiments in cross-breeding are made only on animals. But the courage to make such experiments on human beings is not shown even by the so-called modern scientist of today. If some human cross-breeding is seen today it is the result not of scientific experiments but of carnal lust. Now let us see the experiments our ancestors made in this sphere. In an effort to better the human species through cross-breeding the Namboodri Brahamanas of the North were settled in Kerala and a rule was laid down that the eldest son of a Namboodri family could marry only the daughter of Vaishya, Kashtriya or Shudra communities of Kerala. Another still more courageous rule was that the first off-spring of a married woman of any class must be fathered by a Namboodri Brahman and then she could beget children by her husband. Today this experiment will be called adultery but it was not so, as it was limited to the first child.
[M. S. Golwalkar cited in Organizer, January 2, 1961, p. 5.]  
 
The above statement of Golwalkar is highly worrying in many respects. Firstly, it proves that Golwalkar believed that India had a superior Race or breed and also an inferior Race which needed to be improved through cross-breeding. Secondly, a more worrying aspect was his belief that Brahmans of the North (India) and specially Namboodri Brahamans, belonged to a superior Race. Due to this quality, Namboodri Brahamanas were sent from the North to Kerala to improve the breed of inferior Hindus there. Interestingly, this was being argued by a person who claimed to uphold the unity of Hindus world over. Thirdly, Golwalkar as a male chauvinist believed that a Namboodri Brahman male belonging to a superior Race from the North only could improve the inferior human Race from South. For him wombs of Kerala’s Hindu women enjoyed no sanctity and were simply objects of improving breed through intercourse with Namboodri Brahamanas who in no way were related to them. Thus, Golwalkar was, in fact, confirming the allegation that in the past male dominated high caste society forced newly-wedded women of other castes to pass their first nights by sleeping with superior caste males.
 
Golwalkar in this lecture also supported much despised regime of Casteism. In the course of his speech he said:
 
 "Today we try to run down the Varna system through ignorance. But it was through this system that a great effort to control possessiveness could be made…In society some people are intellectuals, some are expert in production and earning of wealth and some have the capacity to labour. Our ancestors saw these four broad divisions in the society. The Varna systemmeans nothing else but a proper co-ordination of these divisions and an enabling of the individual to serve the society to the best of his ability through a hereditary development of the functions for which he is best suited. If this system continues a means of livelihood is already reserved for every individual from his birth."
[M. S. Golwalkar cited in Organizer, January 2, 1961, pp. 5 & 16.]  
 
Astonishingly, Golwalkar expressed these Racist, anti-women and anti-egalitarian views not in the presence of some uneducated or lumpen crowd but before a noble gathering of gentry consisting of the faculty and students of a prime university in Gujarat. In fact, Golwalkar was welcomed by Dr. B. R. Shenoy, Director of the School while he arrived at the auditorium. The press reports make it clear that there was no murmur of protest against such fascist and ridiculous ideas. It shows the degree of respectability which high caste oratory enjoyed in Gujarat and explains why Hindutva could make inroads in this region.
 
It is surprising that despite holding such ideas which openly denigrated women and society of Kerala, RSS has been able to create pockets of influence in Kerala. There is no denying the fact that after Gujarat and Orissa, it is Kerala where RSS finds itself well-entrenched. It is due to the RSS’ old habit of lying and expertise in hiding its evil designs. How the RSS attempts to do it can be understood by the way it tried to hide the above views of Golwalkar. When it published the collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi in 2004 under the title—Shri Guruji Samagr—in 12 volumes it simply omitted the above degenerated ideas. The volume 5 carries (item number 10) the above speech of Golwalkar (pages 28-32), minus two paragraphs which contained the above thesis of Golwalkar. It is their bad luck that they have not been able to remove old copies of Organizer from the libraries. It seems that RSS continues to believe that it can fool all the people all the times! It is high time that voters in Kerala should seek answers from RSS leaders about these obnoxious ideas not about Muslims and Christians but about Hindus themselves.

 

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