A letter to Prinita Thevarajah on casteism and yoga - Part 2

 In my previous article A letter to Prinita Thevarajah on casteism and yoga - Part 1, I wrote:

A scholarly friend noted that the Hindu scriptures are adamant that Yoga is for all varnas, Jatis and genders; also, many yoga preceptors come from "lower" castes.

Prinita Thevarajah

I had sent his rebuttal as an attachment to the email to Ms. Thevarajah. I reproduce his comments in this post:

This is the most ridiculous article that I have ever read on Yoga. The Hindu scriptures are actually adamant that Yoga is for all varnas, Jatis and genders. 

• Even if one is born in a low Varṇa or happens to be a woman devoted to Dharma, through the practice of Yoga they will attain the Supreme Goal. Mahābhārata 12.240.34

• All have a right to practice austerity, include one of a low varṇa. But he should have conquered his senses, and his mind. Austerity takes one forward on the road to heaven. Mahābhārata 12.295.14

• By seeking recourse to this Dharma of Yoga, women, Vaishyas, Shudras and even those born in sinful wombs attain to this Supreme State. Then what to say of the learned Brahmanas and Kshatriyas who are always engrossed in doing their Dharma and practice the means to attain Brahman. - Anugita 4.61-2, Ashvamedhika Parva of The Mahabharata.

Many other verses can be cited. In the early medieval period, the strongest proponents of Yoga were Natha Yogis, and most of their 9 primary teachers (Navnath) were Shudras or from communities that would be called Dalits today: Jalandharnath, Charpatnath, or even their founder Matysendranath (considered a fisherman by some). 

In this article, the author harps on a single issue that Yoga in the west derives from the school of B.K.S. Iyengar and Krishnmachari, who were both from Brahmin descent. What she fails to note is their spiritual lineage - Shri Vaishnava tradition. In that tradition, Nathamuni is said to have written the Yogarahasya, which is said to have been recovered miraculously by Krishnamachari in modern times.

There is no stricture against any Varna-Jati or gender not eligible to practice Yoga. In fact, the Yoga Rahasya attributed to Shri Nāthamuni even devotes considerable attention to how women, and especially pregnant women, can practice Yoga.

The Shrivaishnava cannon is crowned by the Thiruvayamoli of a Nammalvar - called the Dravida Veda. He was a Thevar (Shudra), and his 1000 hymns are called the Samaveda in Tamil. When we visit temples of this sampradaya, the Pandit places on our head a crown representing Nammalvar.

Ms. Thevarajah might well have remembered that the greatest Tamil classic on Yoga, a part of the Nayanmar sacred canon, is the Tirumantiram, authored by Tirumular - a low caste cowherd.

A letter to Prinita Thevarajah on casteism and yoga - Part 1

A Facebook friend alerted his friends to Prinita Thevarajah's article How Casteism Manifests in Yoga and Why It's a Problem, https://www.byrdie.com/casteism-in-yoga-5119378 published on Byrdie, a website about health and beauty.

Prinita Thevarajah

In addition to maintaining The Bahu of Bengal blog, I maintain the Cold Cream 'n' Roses blog about fashion and beauty: see https://thestylepagep2.wordpress.com/.  It is disheartening to see a beauty site like Byrdie promote anti-Hindu bias.  Byrdie appears to be falling prey to "woke" politics that other beauty media have fallen prey to.

As usual, I had to write a letter to Ms. Thevarajah, with a copy to Byrdie:

From: thebahuofbengal@gmail.com

to: prinita@fariharoisin.com

cc: contact@byrdie.com

Dear Ms. Thevarajah,

... I promised to write a thorough-going letter to you concerning the content of your article How Casteism Manifests in Yoga and Why It's a Problem, https://www.byrdie.com/casteism-in-yoga-5119378.   Below are my comments, which I have grouped according to section:

Understanding the Caste System

Your article contained the usual nonsense about the Brahmin-Dalit binary – Dalit being the current term for those who were considered “untouchable.” There are two castes that are "ranked" below Brahmins and above Shudras: the Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers) and Vaishyas (merchants). Not all atrocities perpetrated on Dalits came from Brahmins.

Colonizers defamed Brahmins as they formed the intellectual elites. By destroying Brahmins, they sought to break Hindu society. I compare this to persecution of intellectuals under Pol Pot or Mao. Read The Colonial Genesis of Anti-Brahminism, https://pragyata.com/the-colonial-genesis-of-anti-brahminism/ by Ram Swarup.

Your comment “the mammoth victory of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) confirmed the country’s ongoing values of fascism, patriarchy, and caste” is funny – both funny odd and funny ha-ha. Narendra Modi comes from an Other Backward Class caste, and President Ram Nath Kovind is a Dalit who was born in a mud hut.

Am I to take The Caravan as an authoritative source? It is a leftist news source.

The Manifestation of Caste Systems in Yoga

Your comment that “dharma highlights the laws that make social order” does have a ring of truth to it: indeed, Sri Krishna exhorts the reluctant warrior Arjuna to fulfill his duty as a Kshatriya in the Bhagavad-Gita.  Dharma can also apply to upholding the natural and cosmic order.  In the end, dharma is a Sanskrit non-translatable for which there is no adequate English translation.

Nothing prevents a Dalit from learning Sanskrit today. Being uneducated does not necessarily lead to violence.

A friend on Facebook commented:

And what a shallow and erroneous reduction of karma and dharma. Does she go into the Yama and Niyama angas of Yoga in the context of karma and dharma? Does she even know what they are? Practice of the first two angas is a life-long process. Doesn’t ahimsa naturally prescribe against the “caste violence” she is decrying?”

Towards A Holistically Decolonized Practice of Yoga

A scholarly friend noted that the Hindu scriptures are adamant that Yoga is for all varnas, Jatis and genders; also, many yoga preceptors come from "lower" castes. As his comments run an entire page, I decided to add them as an attachment to this email [note to readers: I will make this available in Part 2].  Have an open mind and read his comments.

I hope that our comments will encourage you to reconsider some of your views and develop a more nuanced view on caste and yoga. Be advised that I will publish this letter on The Bahu of Bengal blog.

Yours sincerely,