Caste Sytem III
1. As I have said before, my hypothesis is meant to guide the research and, as such, suggests that we find that the Brahmins will exhibit more of a heterarchical…
Read moreCaste System II
Two small points before I respond to your questions. One: all I have is a hypothesis that can guide research. In itself, it is not a theory and I cannot…
Read moreCaste hierarchies
1. You ask whether “there is a perception of caste hierarchies among Brahmins”. My guess is that there is no such general perception, even if, regionally, multiple Brahmin jati’s fight…
Read moreCaste system I
1. Let me reconsider the hypothesis I propose: what we call ‘the caste system’ in India today is a hybrid beast. It is not a social structure but a linguistic…
Read moreOn the Indian Notion of Enlightenment: Reflections Based on Experience
Balagangadhara’s recent article on Enlightenment (Gyanodaya); this is based on his enlightenment. If you got questions on this paper, participate on The Heathen in His Blindness Yahoo group. Check the…
Read moreIll-formed questions
Assume that you get a Ph.D student who wants to do medical research. He comes to you and tells you that he wants to find out an answer to the…
Read moreProselytization vs. Persecution
1. Most of us would not know the difference between the Syrian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox and the Russian Orthodox Churches; many will be hard put to differentiate between the…
Read moreIs wearing a bindi religious?
Depending on the context of the discussion (say a dispute about some aspect of the Indian culture), the disputants can treat wearing the bindi or a saree as facts. However, in another…
Read moreTwo kinds of research in social sciences
There is, on the one hand, the intellectual tradition of expressing opinions and points of view. Here, as it suits thoughtful minds, one tries to express ideas carefully and in…
Read moreWhat is critique?
There is a very interesting notion of “critique”: it begins with Kant and stretches through Marx in the German philosophical tradition. In fact, it is most developed in Marx when he says…
Read more