No god is a Brahmin, claims the Vice Chancellor of JNU, calling out Manusmriti's "gender bias"

• Image Credit: The Indian Express

• Aug 23, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

In her statement on Monday, Pandit brought up the recent death of a nine-year-old Dalit child in Rajasthan who was allegedly abused by his upper-caste teacher.

Digital Desk: Santishree
Dhulipudi Pandit, Vice Chancellor of JNU, gave the keynote lecture at the B R
Ambedkar Lecture Series, which was sponsored by the Union Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment. She asserted that Hindu gods do not anthropologically
originate from the higher caste.

Speaking on the subject of
"Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's Thought on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil
Code," Pandit urged the audience to consider the anthropological and
scientific roots of our gods. There is no Brahmin god. A Kshatriya is the
highest class. Lord Shiva must belong to one of the Scheduled Castes or Tribes.
They gave him very few things to wear as well because he sits in a cemetery
with a snake. Brahmins shouldn't sit in the cemetery, in my opinion. As you can
see, the gods do not, anthropologically speaking, belong to the superior caste.
Lakshmi, Shakti, and all the gods are included. Or, if you choose Jagannath, he
is essentially tribal. Why then do we still practice this extremely unhumane
form of discrimination?

According to the JNU VC, the
"Manusmriti" classifies all women as "shudras," which is
"extraordinarily backward."

The "Manusmriti"
claims that all women are shudras. Therefore, no woman may identify herself as
a Brahmin or anything else. I believe that getting married is the only way to
inherit your husband's or your father's caste. I think this is really
backward," she remarked.

In her statement on Monday,
Pandit brought up the recent death of a nine-year-old Dalit child in Rajasthan
who was allegedly abused by his upper-caste teacher.

"Unfortunately, a lot
of people assert that caste is still established by birth today even if it was
not historically. Does someone who works as a cobbler, whether they are Brahmin
or from another caste, inevitably become a Dalit? He declines. Because a little
Dalit youngster was recently slain in Rajasthan for no other reason than that
he had touched an upper caste's water, I feel compelled to bring up this
subject. Even so, he didn't take any. Please remember that this is a matter of
human rights. How is it possible to behave in such a way toward another person?
She uttered. She added, in reference to Ambedkar's seminal "Annihilation
of Caste," "Annihilation of caste is extraordinarily important if
Indian society wishes to perform well... I fail to comprehend why we are so
sensitive to this identity, which is rife with prejudice and inequality. And
we're willing to kill someone to defend this allegedly manufactured identity.

When discussing how caste
and gender are intertwined, she stated that women who belong to the reserved
groups are doubly marginalized. You are marginalized first for being a woman,
then for being from a so-called caste that is associated with all kinds of
prejudices.

She claims that Buddhism
demonstrates how "Indic civilization" accepted disagreement.

Because it demonstrates that
the Indic civilization accepts dissent, diversity, and difference, I believe
Buddhism to be one of the finest religions. The first person to disagree with
what is now known as Brahmanical Hinduism was Gautama the Buddha. Please keep
in mind that he was also the first rationalist in history. Dr. Babasaheb
Ambedkar revived a tradition, Pandit added.

Pandit previously held the
position of Professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration
at the Savitri Phule Pune University. He is fluent in Telugu, Tamil, Marathi,
Hindi, Sanskrit, and English. She was named the first female vice chancellor of
JNU in February and will hold the position for five years. International
relations, Asian studies, culture and foreign policy, conflict, violence, and
gender are some of her study specialties.