Caste in Stone

10

Once upon a time, the ruling class wanted to gift its progeny the right to enslave others. What was meant to be a rationally thought out equitable division of labour became a rigid hierarchy, cast in stone for an eternity. The poorest castes were reduced to untouchables. Even their shadows couldn't be trampled upon. Brahmanism ruled for more than two millennia. Move away from that sepia-tinted photograph, which has stagnated in our lives for centuries and walk into Thakur Arjun Singh's lair. He has successfully pushed through a solution, which is based on the simplistic logic that one wrong corrects another. So, we have a reverse caste system in place. Zoom out of this picture and fast- forward yourself a thousand years hence to Circa 3008 AD. Visualise this portrait of the Indian society in the distant future. Brahmins are pleading with the government of the day that the....