GAVARAS COMMUNITY THE LIONS

[Display of caste in public life is a sin - Observance of caste traditions in religious life is a boon] 1. Introduction: Hinduism is a belief, not a religion. Hinduism defined four Varnas to classify the section of people, to denote their nature of lively-hood duties. The four Varnas are, Brahmana, Kshathriya, Vysya and Sudra. The main duties of Brahmanas are protecting and propagating Hindu Dharma, Kshathriyas are to rule the kingdoms to protect the people, Vysayas are to do business and cultivation, and Sudras to do supportive duties to the general public. These were the kind of duties strictly followed in Hinduism in puranic “Bharata”. The history presents to us, that there are major migrations of people from one place to another, following the expeditions of their Kings or due to natural calamities or political conditions. The same history also reveals that, the migrated Kings and then people could not fit themselves in the traditional classification of Hindu society. This resulted in further classification of “Varnas” into “Jati” known as caste. As per Oxford Dictionary, “Caste” is defined as “each of hereditary classes of Hindu Society”. The Word “Caste” is originated form Spanish or Portuguese “Casta”, which means “lineage” or “breed”. The Word Caste also means-Class, Degree, Grade, Level, Position, Rank, Status and Stratus. When the Aryans arrived in India, they introduced four terms, “Halika-Cultivator, Sethi- Merchant, Kolika-Weaver and Gadhika-Druggist”. Hence, prior to the era of Christ and soon after that, Hinduism is the only concept ruling in Indian sub-continent. Then came the Islam and Buddhism. These two major “Dharmas” significantly changed the social structure of Indian society. At the same time, frequent changes of kings (or rulers) in every pockets of India also triggered the dilution of mono-society into multi-pronged society. Hence, the system of Surya Vamsa and Chandra Vamsa, further split into sub-groups, based on Varna or Gotra. Further, to “Gotra”, the culture of “Surnames” also creeped into Indian society making sizable and multiple groups even in villages. This kind of splitting of Varna into Jati, Jati into Caste, and Caste into Sub-Caste, adoption of Islam, Buddhism, Jainism and finally Christianity resulted in the social concept of “Unity of Diversity” by the cause of Indian Freedom struggle. However, in my opinion, the British in-a-way helped integration of diversified and fractured Indian society into a systematic society, because of strong and peaceful freedom struggle lead by the leaders. Prior to this, even British are also trapped into the localized concept by way of introducing “Zamindari System”. This happened as they initially entered the Country as “East India Company” for doing business, and ultimately lead to looting of valuable natural resources of India. During this time, they are forced to recognize and trade with localized “so called rulers” who are already struggling for their existence during “French Rule” as Northern Circars. Prior to British Rule the French controlled major part of “Andhra Desa” in the name of Northern Circarsater, British introduced “Presidency” like “Madras Presidency” for entire South India. These kind of multiple socio-political conditions imposed upon Indian society, which is basically an agrarian based collection of small Kingdoms, gradually changed it into an industrial entity. After the introduction of “Legislative” ruling in the Indian sub-continent, the British made it mandatory to get official approval for “Caste identification”, which is being continued in the present Independent India. Though the British used “Castes” for identifying different classes of people in the society, for extending some administrative benefits to the down-trodden, the same caste is know being used in all walks of life, which is not good for 21st Century Indian Society. In the following section, the evolution of “Gavara” caste is presented, for the benefit of knowing th