New Delhi: Supreme Court judge Justice Pankaj Mithal on Thursday delved into the revered Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita – which encapsulates teachings on philosophy, ethics, and spirituality – to say that there was no caste system in primitive India, instead varna system (categorisation) existed.
He said according to the varna system no one is to be considered as lower or higher, rather it is preached that everyone is an equal fragment and a part and parcel of him, the almighty.
Dwelling into the philosophical underpinning and wisdom of Gita, Justice Mithal concluded that the policy of reservation as enshrined under the Constitution and by its various amendments requires a fresh re-look and evolvement of other methods for helping and uplifting the depressed class or the downtrodden or the persons belonging to SC/ST/OBC communities.
While favouring sub-categorisation of SC, Justice Mithal said so long no new method is evolved or adopted, the system of reservation as prevailing may continue to occupy the field with power to permit subclassification of a class particularly scheduled caste as I would not be suggesting dismantling of an existing building without erecting a new one in its place which may prove to be more useful.
Justice Mithal said he is not an expert on religious scriptures but he has gone through Bhagavad Gita and Ramcharit Manas sometimes. "According to my limited understanding of the scriptures specially the Gita, I am of the firm view that in primitive India there was no existence of any caste system rather there was categorisation of the people according to their profession, talent, qualities and nature," he added.
Citing verse 13 of chapter 4 and verse 41 of chapter 18 of the Gita, he said that Lord Krishna says that I have categorised humans in four varnas according to their nature and characteristics. “Gita thus only promotes the varna system which is different from the present-day caste system. It lays emphasis on abilities, qualities and consciousness of a person to have a balanced structure of society and to bring out the best in every person. The four varnas (occupational categories) are: - Bharama, Kshatriyas, Vaishayas, and Shudras”, he said.
He said slowly the varna system prevalent was misconstrued to be a caste system which practice was found to be socially non-acceptable and as such after independence with the adoption of the Constitution. "We again tried to move into a casteless society but in the name of social welfare to uplift the depressed and the backward classes, we again fell into the trap of caste system. “We gave the privilege of reservation to the depressed or the backward class or the Scheduled Caste to bring about equality”, he said.
Intrinsic quality of each varna as per Bhagavad Gita
Justice Mithal said the Bhagavad Gita in verses describes the intrinsic qualities of each of the varnas and the varna system depicting occupational categories can also be explained with the physical body of a person wherein the head of a person which does intellectual work is called ‘Bharaman’.
"The hands which protect him and his family do the job of a ‘Kshatriya’. The abdomen which requires food to convert it into energy refers to ‘Vaishayas’, who are predominantly the farmers and merchants invested to earn a livelihood. The lower limbs (legs) do all kinds of labour work and are referred to as ‘Shudras’”, he said.
The Skanda Purana also contains a shloka, which means that everyone is born as Shudra i.e. to work and slowly each one of them elevates himself to a higher status of Vaishya, Kshatriya and Brahmin on the strength of his talent, quality, character and nature.
He stressed that it means the duties of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras were distributed according to their qualities (guns) and nature (and not by birth).
"All people have different natures and characteristics. Their personality is shaped according to their qualities (gunas). Thus, different professionals’ duties are suited to persons of different nature and character," he said, adding that since the centre of society is God (Parmatma), everyone (atma) works according to their intrinsic qualities to sustain themselves and the society.
He said according to the varna system no one is to be considered as lower or higher, rather it is preached that everyone is an equal fragment and a part and parcel of him, the almighty.
He said Gita nowhere preaches that the aforesaid varnas are on the basis of birth and are not interchangeable. “However, with the passage of time, the varna system deteriorated and the people started labelling these varnas on the basis of birth, ignoring the nature and characteristics of a person which is exactly the opposite to what is preached in Gita. The varnas were given the nomenclature of castes in a very loose manner”, he said.
He said: “Later, children of Brahmins started calling themselves as Brahmins, irrespective of whether they possessed the corresponding qualities or not. Similarly, the children of other varnas also adopted the varna of their father ignoring their own nature, talent and qualities. When this system grew rigid & birth based, it became dysfunctional."
He emphasised that Gita conveys that there is no caste system and the varna system (categorisation) referred to therein is quite distinct, based upon persons nature & qualities and, thus, there was no caste system in ancient India i.e., Bharat.
He said the misconstruction of the varna system as a caste system was a social defect that crept in with time and was not considered to be good as it divided the society and brought about discrimination & inequality.
He said Mahatma Gandhi, during the entire freedom struggle strenuously worked for the upliftment of the so-called depressed classes including 'untouchables' and he described the untouchables as ‘persons of God’ - ‘Harijans’.
Constitution does not recognise caste system
Justice Mithal said Article 17 envisaged to abolish the practice of untouchability in any form and contemplated making untouchability ‘a punishable offence’. “Notwithstanding, the objective of casteless society and the principle of equality; the original Constitution made provision by Article 15 (3) enabling the State to make special provision for women and children despite prohibition of discrimination on grounds religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth”, he said.
Justice Mithal said similarly, Article 16 (4) enabled the State to make special provision for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens and this was done with the object to bring about social equity and justice.
He said the Constitution at the same time vide Article 341 conferred power upon the President to notify certain castes, races or tribes or part of such caste, races and tribes to be deemed to be Scheduled Castes. “In fact, the constitution otherwise does not recognise any caste except for the above deeming provision. The country as such had moved into a casteless society except for the above legal fiction only for the purposes of the constitution and not otherwise”, he said.
Execution of reservation revives casteism
Justice Mithal said it is common understanding that what is conceded once to appease any class cannot be taken back and so are the benefits extended to the reserved category of persons under the constitution. “Each concession once made, just goes on swelling like a raisin/balloon. This actually happened with the policy of reservation also”, he said.
Justice Mithal said ‘reservation’ is one of the modes of helping or uplifting the status of the OBCs/SCs/STs. “Anyone who suggests another or a better way of helping the so-called depressed classes or the downtrodden or the marginalised persons of the society is immediately pounced upon as ‘Anti Dalit’”, said Justice Mithal. Citing a quote from the book Nani A Palkiwala, he said he is doing it at the cost of being ‘Anti-Dalit’.
He also referred to a letter written by former Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru on June 27, 1961 to all the chief ministers of all the states lamenting upon the habit of giving reservations and privileges to any caste or group.
He said not only the judges’ but also the former Prime Minister have appeared to be against providing reservation to any class or caste of persons on a purely caste basis and wanted to take the country forward on a merit basis.
"Thus, the reservation policy was rightly applied and since its implementation faced difficulties as some in the backward classes have marched ahead, it has become imperative to uplift the backward of the backwards, for which purpose sub-classification has become the order of the day”, he said.
