Chanakya Neeti - 11 - Proof for todays wrong interpretation of 'Cast system'

~*ಚಾಣಕ್ಯ ನೀತಿ-11*~

||ವಿಷಾದಪ್ಯಮೃತಂ ಗ್ರಾಹ್ಯಂ ಅಮೇಧ್ಯಾದಪಿ ಕಾಂಚನಮ್|
ನೀಚಾದಪ್ಯುತ್ತಮಾಂ ವಿದ್ಯಾಂ ಸ್ತ್ರೀರತ್ನಂ ದುಷ್ಕುಲಾದಪಿ||

ವಿಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆರೆತಿರುವ ಅಮೃತವನ್ನೂ, ಮಲ ಮೂತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿದ್ದಿದ್ದರೂ ಸಹ ಬಂಗಾರವನ್ನೂ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು. ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠವಾದ ವಿದ್ಯೆಯು ನೀಚರಲ್ಲಿದ್ದರೂ ಸಹ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಶಿಷ್ಯನಾಗಿ ಅದನ್ನು ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಬಹುದು ಹಾಗೂ ಯಾವ ಕುಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದರೂ ಸಹ ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯು ಸದ್ಗುಣಸಂಪನ್ನಳಾಗಿದ್ದರೆ ಅವಳನ್ನು ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಬಹುದು. ಇದಾವುದೂ ತಪ್ಪಾಗಲಾರದು.

2 great observation on education and respect for good women. I am happy to see it documented. Note Chanakya was the founding member and PM of mauryan court. His words means, policy of the state. The statement is significant because, women enjoyed a special status in that time and caste system was not applicable for women. It also means, caste was more considered as a profession ( as men were the main earners) than the way it is treated today. The marking of strict cast boundary was to protect the skill and trade, rather than to divide people. This is not different from world cultures. We have 'smith' in England, whose family was in the trade of black smithy (metal forming). The western society had protected trade at family level, while Indian system protected it at higher cooperative level. System to protect trade and skills is a necessity. We have it today as, patents, copyrights, trade marks & NDA. Some NDA of MNCs prohibits employees to join opponents for say 5 years. Bonds are taken to protect skill trainings by companies like Wipro, TCS. IAS officers are prohibited to join businesses for 2-3 years after retirement. So cross trade restrictions exist today as well. Muslim and to a greater part British, turned it as the kind of "caste definition" we see today. During subjugation, they caused economic imbalance among these traders. The caste groups started orienting with economic class (upper, middle & lower). So some castes got the names associating as Upper/Lower castes. The economical backwardness make them feel inferior. Instead of economic policy of rulers, the 'bad' tag got associated with religion. This was a propaganda to divide the nation by British. Due to schooling, many youngsters believe 'Hindu' is bad because of caste system. Isn't it time to re -educate us on truth?