Understanding Hinduism by Frank Whaling

Author:Frank Whaling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dunedin Academic Press Ltd
Published: 2013-11-12T05:00:00+00:00

The Political Background, the Monarchy and Hindu Nationalism

This chapter has highlighted two basic features of the Hindu tradition. On the one hand the caste system, although it has changed over time, has provided the basic structure of Hindu society and is intimately connected with the Hindu religious tradition. This has been the case for about three and a half millennia and is unique in human history. On the other hand, in spite of this background of social stability, the Hindu tradition has never fully ruled the nation of India. The great rulers of India belonged to other religious traditions. Thus, the Hindu tradition has exercised social supremacy within India but not political supremacy.

There have been Hindu rulers at times in Indian history. They include the Magadha Empire (560–325 BCE), the Mauryan Empire (321–181 BCE), the Gupta Empire (320–650 CE) and the Vijayanagar Empire (1336–1565). However these empires were relatively small and were not pan-Indian. The Hindu religious tradition developed during their epochs, but it also survived during the Ashokan, Muslim and British epochs when states run by Hindu kings were under the political control of leaders from other religious traditions. At the end of the British era there were over five hundred native, mainly Hindu, states that continued the Hindu caste hegemony under the oversight of British agents. Thus the Hindu tradition exercised a major role in the social life of India, through the caste system, and a major influence on the religious life of India, while not exercising the levers of political power.

Priests and rulers

Part of the reason may lie in the relationship between the two higher varnas: the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas. The Brahmins, although ‘priests’, were higher in the caste hierarchy than the Kshatriyas, the ‘rulers’. Not all Brahmins have been priests and not all Kshatriyas have been rulers. The complexity of the caste system, regional and linguistic differences and historical change have all militated against this rigidity.

Nevertheless, commentators on the Hindu tradition have remarked on the unusual nature of a system wherein priests are theoretically ranked higher than rulers and where, on the face of it, religion can be ranked higher than political power.

Brahmins have traditionally been seen as ritually more pure than Kshatriyas and more versed in religious knowledge. They are, in theory if not always in fact, the key scholars in the Hindu tradition. The Kshatriyas have traditionally been seen, again in theory if not always in practice, as the rulers who maintain society, uphold dharma and protect the householder system. They built and sponsored temples, protected their subjects and their deities and, to that extent, the Brahmins recognised a ruler’s overlordship. However, the kingly role in ruling and guardianship duties involved more ‘polluting tendencies’ than were usual in a Brahmin’s life. The Brahmins have had a dual role in society. Those who are active priests in temples have engaged in functions that involve being given gifts by worshippers and such temple priests are more involved with lower castes. Paradoxically Brahmins who are versed

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