Thread by @sankrant

Can anyone give a reference from the original Mahabharata in Sanskrit where it refers to Eklavya's "caste." 😀

Eklavya is a prince. Drona does not want anyone to surpass Arjuna as an archer. Out of attachment he asks for Eklavya's thumb.

https://twitter.com/sunnydayton/status/1340461780762578946

Stories are made-up to backfit colonial narratives. The egalitarianism in Mahabharata is remarkable, compared to any ancient society. Remember Aristotle refers to some people as "natural slaves."

Interesting, the author of Mahabharat does not look positively on Drona's action.

See this thread:

https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1000321587906723840?s=20

Epic stories can be interpreted at many levels. But this is not what the text of the Mahabharata says.

https://twitter.com/SPariv/status/1501246894139494401?s=20

https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1066022366457692160?s=20

https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/864943139043237888?s=20

These "old" movies are not that old. All are after colonialism and the construction of "caste."

Interesting all the atrocity movies about zamindars is made out about "caste system." But zamindar is a persian word. When and why did zamindaari start?

https://twitter.com/IRajGajjela/status/1501256193603342336?s=20

https://twitter.com/sankrant/status/1263652634147184641?s=20

Mughals created zamindars as "tax collectors." The British made these into land "owners" with proprietary rights over the land and the people—modelled over British aristocracy, not "Hindu caste system". And who was blamed?

The reference is Britannica for British rule.

Why? The same reason why so many Indian movies, in all languages, made Mughal-British zamindari system into the evils of "caste" complete with the "evil Brahmin."

Why—"a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions..."

https://twitter.com/IRajGajjela/status/1501260033559961605?s=20

Interesting. And Eklavya is a prince, the son of the Nishad King. Nowhere is he referred to as "low caste."

https://twitter.com/Hinduism_Ebooks/status/1501262896738668545?s=20

Lol "adivasi" is a modern made-up category by translating the English word "aboriginal." It is a way to justify White colonialism by mapping its atrocities onto the native peoples they colonized. There is no such classification in the Mahabharata.

https://twitter.com/achutbhandarkar/status/1501301349044129794?s=20&t=FIl4pDDFNPF9rwjNZXDVFg

This is as likely an explanation as any. And if his father was a general in
the Magadha army, he’s accepted as a kshatriya varna.

How did we make up this story of Ekalavya’s “caste” as the reason for Drona’s actions? Where there is no such reasoning in the Mahabharat.

https://twitter.com/Sai_swaroopa/status/1501425523670413313

This is the reason. We feel Drona’s actions were unfair. This is part of the role of a Hindu epic, to pose such questions of dharma to sharpen our understanding.

But those feelings of unfairness about a specific act are made up into a story of “caste” unfairness for propaganda.

https://twitter.com/RaghuVHyd/status/1501525901665660929

These are learning stories in the Hindu tradition, just as the story of King Bali. What is right action, who acted rightly, who did not, these debates sharpen our moral reasoning.

But they are turned into tools of propaganda in colonial/Left polemics, losing the original.