As I concluded writing the third part of the Cultivator’s Whipcord, a
saffron-clad shudra
sadhu, an enthusiastic, garrulous member of the Kabir sect
parading a holy tulsi garland,
a regular visitor to Pandharpur (Maharashtra)
came to my house and sat on a
bench on my courtyard. I asked the sadhu what it
is that he desired.
To which the sadhu replied:
Sadhu- Are you Jotirao Phule?
Jotirao- Yes, indeed, I am the one.
Sadhu- You are a born Hindu. Because of your
English education you have been lately
attacking Hinduism. So I thought I should
discuss with you if the four principles Veda, the
main scriptures of Hinduism, are indeed
divine in origin…. and satisfy myself. I have come
here for the purpose.
Jotirao- Have you yourself actually seen the four
Vedas with your own eyes?
Sadhu- Well, yes. I have seen all of them in a
Brahman’s house.
Jotirao- Can you offer any reliable evidence to
prove that these scriptures were written
by God Himself?
Sadhu- Nothing, apart from what the Brahman
told me during our chat.
Jotirao- OK. To begin with do you
think God has a definite shape?
Sadhu- How can he? God is supposed to be
shapeless Parmatma.
Jotirao- How is it then that this
shapeless God authored the four Vedas?
Sadhu- Only the Brahmans can answer that question.
You’d better ask them.
Jotirao- Secondly, is it the case that God
authored the Vedas with a view to liberating
mankind
Sadhu- Yes, indeed.
Jotirao- Thirdly, in which language did God
compose the Vedic scriptures?
Sadhu- In a Sanskrit language.
Jotirao- Fourthly, is Sanskrit understood and
spoken all over the world?
Sadhu- Very few people know this language.
Jotirao- This would prove that the Vedas
were not written for the upliftment of
all mankind because most people of
the world do not at all speak or
know Sanskrit. How can a scripture, which
people don’t understand,
liberate them?
Sadhu- May be when they were written, people
all over the world spoke Sanskrit. It is
possible that later various kinds of
languages developed.
Jotirao- This would mean that God did not know
that there would be multiplicity of
languages in the future. Does not it go
against the omniscience of God? Further many
German, Scottish, English scholars
like Max Muller have studied the Vedas rather well.
Is not it surprising that
they did not disown Christianity and adopt the Vedic religion?
Sadhu- Scriptures May be the thought of
having to bathe thrice a day with a white
thread around his neck like the
Brahman in the climate of Europe scared Max Muller.
In any case he alone can
answer your question. How I say anything on it?
Jotirao- If God had created the Vedic
scriptures for the liberation of
entire mankind, the bhat brahmans
would not have prohibited the shudras and
the atishudras for studying the
Vedas. The bhat brahmans have thus
violated God’s commandment
and are not the shudras and the
atishudras suffering for that? Why should they
trust either the God
who is supposed to have created the Vedic scriptures or
the
scriptures themselves? Or indeed why should they call themselves Hindus?
Sadhu- The bhat brahmans have
never prevented the shudras and the atishudras
from studying Vedas. Several bhat brahmans
go to the missionaries and teach the Vedas
there. The shudras are much too poor
and resource less to study the Vedas.
What can the Brahmans do? At least that
is what the Brahmans argue.
Jotirao- This proves that you do not know
anything of the Brahmans’s
intrigue and conspiracies. Let that be. Are the
missionaries who live off religion rich
enough to pay for their Vedic studies?
And then how about the Shinde and Holkars,
rulers of the princely states?
These
Shudra rulers are surely not paupers. They could have studied the scriptures.
Why they did not? I think you must understand that these bhat brahmans
have been historically making tonnes and tonnes of money off these rulers.
Have
they ever thought running a school for the children of the Shudra
peasant? They
could have educated at least one of them. But they did not,
for that would have
been the end of the Brahmans’ monopoly over learning.
If they had educated some
of the caste brethren of these rulers, there would
have been some non-Brahmans
equal of the brahmans. The present state when
they are all falling flat
before the brahman would have drastically changed. They did not
want it.
Sadhu- OK. If this is the
case why can you not persuade the rulers to start schools
for their Shudra
brethren?
Jotirao- Even in their courts the dominance of
the brahman officer continues. They
would not even let a small fellow
like me reach the prince and be heard!
Sadhu- Oh, my God. I never imagined that the
brahmans would have had such cunning!
I am now convinced that when the Shudra
princes come of age these cunning brahmans
would not hesitate to write to the
British authorities that, as these princes cannot
manage their affairs, they
should not be given charge of their states just yet. Having
thus improved the British authorities they must be turning these princes into performing
monkeys.
Thanks.
Time for me to take leave of you!
Jotirao- OK.
Bye-bye.
Pune, April 6, 1883 J.G.
Phule (Member of the Satyashodhak Samaj)
There
is no god. There is no god. There is no god at all.
He who created god was a
fool! He who propagates god is a scoundrel!
He who worships god is a
barbarian!!
Forget God!!! Think about Man!!! - Periyar
E.V.Ramasamy
