Thread by @shrikanth_krish

H-Twitter spends so much time arguing on semantics of old texts

Endless debates on whether varNa is birth based or not

Discussing "shAstras" has its place

But shAstra talk is overdone when it is a prop to avoid confronting reality and the hard tradeoffs that modernity presents

Debating shAstras and commentaries etc can be fine in a theology / philosophy interest group

But it's problematic when public discourse itself revolves around 2000 year old texts

It's a bit like the movie Titanic where someone starts playing the violin and piano at a time when the ship is about to sink

I am not saying that one should not discuss or study shAstras

I have done that myself on twitter on many occasions

But it's problematic when it ceases to be an academic discussion but becomes a political prop one uses to sidestep thinking about the present and future

THe counter typically is -

Hey...ancient texts have great wisdom

But these debates are seldom about mining "wisdom" from ancient texts

If it were, we would be discussing numerous ancient texts from all disciplines

From Aryabhatta to Rajasekhara.
From Kaṇāda to vAsudeva Sarvabhauma

Instead of engaging in reactionary ping pong on the subject of caste using a few verses from Manu Smrti and Gita

So the intent is seldom to mine "wisdom" from the ancients

The ancients here are merely political tools that help us score pyrrhic victories in debates that dont bear much relevance to the reality that is marching ahead at breakneck speed