Actual Varna Vyavastha and Swami Dayanand

Today, a great antagonism can be witnessed about Varna Vyavastha in many rallies and public statements by some proclaimed dalit leaders. If it had been in 1950s or 1960s, I would have said that it is their anger towards the discrimination that they faced in the past few centuries. But today, in year 2018, I am forced to say that this is mere a politics.

Without understanding the form of Varna Vyavastha that was based on guna karma swabhava of a person, these leaders want to burn the scriptures wherefrom it came. Swami Dayanand, the great social reformer and scholar of his time, pointed towards the ancient Varna Vyavastha. According to this, anyone with intellectual abilities is Brahmin, the warrior class is called Kshatriya, the business minded individuals are known as Vaishya and those who are unable to do all this and can perform only physical labor are Shudra. There are some examples that we can see in ancient history. Vishwamitra, who was born as Kshatirya became Brahmin in his later age, Jaballi Rishi whose father was unknown and it is said that he was a son of a prostitute, also got the status of Brahmin. As per Manu Smiriti, which many people want to burn, Brahmin can become Shudra also and Shudra can also become a Brahmin. Kathak Samhita says, “Don’t ask Brahmin who is his parents, if he has fulfilled the eligibility of knowledge, then he is the Brahmin”.

Ironically, I have seen a proud Hindu condemning Swami Dayanand as he said at a place in Satyarth Prakash that Shudras should serve other three varnas. I would only like to say here that first one should understand the actual meaning of varnas. Swami Dayanand’s Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra  were not birth based, but they were just adjectives to a person’s qualities as stated in ancient scriptures.

Who Is ‘Shudra’ according to Swami Dayananda

The word ‘Shudra’ has been a subject of dispute since the time when some reformers started ridiculing the cast system. Of course, the present day cast system cannot be accepted. Swami Dayanand Saraswati is one of the names who fought against the prevalent system of his time.  But, he also indicated the evidences, which had shown that the cast system was based on gun karma svabhava (quality, deeds and nature) of a person.

But, here I found some gentlemen quoting a line from Satyarth Prakash, one of the popular treatises of Dayananda, in which he said that Shudra should serve other varnas, and trying to prove him a castist. But, perhaps they forgot to read the other part of his book, in which he clearly said that a Shudra can become a Brahmin and similarly a Brahmin can become a Shudra according to the deeds. A long description has been written by him to prove that the varna system is according to deeds not according to birth. According to Satyartha Prakasha and his other books, Shudra is a person who is not able to do the mental work (which can be from any family) but can do the physical work. About other varna, Brahmin is the person who is learned, Kshatriya is the person who is warrior and Vaishya is the person who has the ability to do the business. A Brahmin’s son or daughter can be Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra, and similarly the child of other persons of other varnas can be of any varna. The person who has the physical ability and not the mental efficiency often serves the persons with mental ability, and the same thing Swami Dayanand described about Shudra.

So, the Shudra according to Swami Dayanand has nothing to do with its pet definition. It is Arya Samaj founded by him where Shudra can also become a Pandit.