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,
No comments:
Post a Comment