THE GREATNESS OF VEDAS???

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