[Buddha-l] India: dalits and tribals in thousandsheadto Mumbaifor conversion to Buddhism

[Gad Horowitz]

What reasons did Gandhi give for "supporting the caste system"?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jkirk" <jkirk at spro.net>
To: "'Buddhist discussion forum'" <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 7:58 AM
Subject: RE: [Buddha-l] India: dalits and tribals in thousandsheadto
Mumbaifor conversion to Buddhism


>
> >
> Gandhi was too much trying to be a good Hindu and a good Indian. Being an
> excellent actor he got more credit then he deserved. In South-India
Periyar
> (Ramaswami Naiker) was the one who stood up for the Dalits against the
> Brahmins and that was something Gandhi never dared to do.
> And that again made Gandhi more popular.
> Naming someone a child of God, a Harijan, is a good way of belitteling
him,
> of repressive toleration.
> Erik
>
> ===========
> Gandhi can be "read" a few different ways. I never said he was perfect.
> IMO he wasn't working on being a good Hindu or a "good Indian." He got
> involved in the nationalist movement in India from the start, basedon his
> earlier experiences in South Africa. He was bestowed the mantle of a
> spiritual leader by thousands of avid followers and sympathizers, and took
> this role to heart, but his spiritual beliefs were concoted from different
> directions. He read Cristian and Muslim texts as well as the Gita. He kept
> trying to unify the masses away from their various social and religious
> divisions, and failed, partly because he became wedded to the Congress
> Party. As for standing up "for the dalits against the brahmins," Gandhi
was
> a man of north India and was a Gujarati as well, both characteristics of
> someone who supported the caste system, which he did. Periyar came from
the
> south,  where anti-Brahmin movements got started early on, and they
weren't
> led only by people who were standing up for dalits.
>
> Joanna
>
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