Caste system was evolution as per time and conditions!!!
- I heard Mudaliars were converts from Jainism.
- Kallars were soldiers of Pandya Kings. After the fall of the Pandya dynasty, their soldiers got forcefully migrated into the forest(Somewhere, around today’s Theni district). With no education and civilisation. Eventually, they had to rob for survival. Which ultimately became their caste.
- Similarly, Pandya Kings Lineage was, forced migrated to another side. Finally, they became Pallars. Today they are classified as SC.
Kallars & Pallars should be a less than 600-year-old caste assuming the fall of the Pandya Dynasty around 1400.
Once we got colonised, Britishers amplified the caste divide, by destroying the history and used it for the benefit of religious conversion.
Caste system was once created to benefit the ecosystem. Caste System was built around skills, and that formed a lineage and carried over generations. But, it has become irrelevant now as;
- Today we have moved away.
- Today we are living in an era which criticises nepotism.
- Today a goldsmith son is a Software Engineer and a priest son is a banker.
I don’t see a point in an identity which we no longer practice. For example, Chettiars were an influential community in Tamil Nadu, and they were money lenders or merchants. I’m sure many of the Chettiars have built a career in Software, Movie, Politics, Medicine etc. which is out of their community business(குல தொழில்).
I don’t see a point in having an identity which we are no longer a part of it.
It is time we move forward and break the divides around caste and religion. Let’s fight against appeasement politics, let’s kill nepotism, let’s get the common civil code.
Let’s practice what we preach.
AnandNataraj 