NAGALAND STRUGGLE

THE NAGALAND NAGAS AND DRAVIDIANS

N.Nandhivarman General Secretary Dravida Peravai

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar is a genius who had dealt in depth about the racial question that dominates Indian history, society and political space. In his collected works Volume 7 Ambedkar wrote about the Shudra history quoting extensively from Vedic texts.

  

He says “The Aryan race theory is so absurd that it ought to have been dead long ago. But far from being dead the theory has a considerable hold upon the people. There are two explanations which account for this phenomenon. The first explanation is to be found in the support which this theory receives from the Brahmin scholars. This is very strange phenomenon. As Hindus, they should ordinarily show a dislike for the Aryan theory with its express avowal of the superiority of the European races over the Asiatic races. But the Brahmin scholar has not only no such aversion but he most willingly hails it. The reasons are obvious. The Brahmin believes in the two nation theory. He claims to be the representative of the Aryan race and he regards the rest of Hindus as descendents of non-Aryans. The theory helps him to establish his kinship with the European races and share their arrogance and superiority. He likes particularly that part of the theory which makes the Aryan an invader and a conqueror of non-Aryan races. For it helps him to maintain and justify his over lordship over the non-Brahmins.” [Page 80 Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches published by Education Department of Government of Maharashtra in 1990]

It has become imperative to deal the Aryan theory first before we arrive at the Dravidian or Naga racial theories. The new light shed by Dr.Ambedkar will be of immense help to understand the racial question and the subsequent racial conflict that dominates Indian minds for some centuries.

“The second explanation why the Aryan race theory is not dead is because of the general insistence by European scholars that the word varna means color and acceptance of the view by a majority of Brahmin scholars. Indeed this is the mainstay of the Aryan theory. There is no doubt that as long as this interpretation of the varna continues to be accepted, the Aryan theory will continue to live “wrote Ambedkar on 10 th October 1946.

That is in Indian context. Till date we have in every town hotels named as Aryan Bhavan more particularly in Tamilnadu than elsewhere proving the mindset had not changed even in times when scientists debate whether there is a genetic basis for race. Scientists say it is nothing more than political prejudice, and let us examine the ground reality.

“The genetic basis of race ad the superiority of one of them over the other died a sudden death during the 1936 Aryan Supremacy Olympics in Berlin. That was when Jesse Owens, a black United States athlete, exploded in the track and field events. He won four gold medals and broke number of world records simultaneously. Hitler refused to shake hands with him and instead stormed out of the stadium in disgust at the star’s triumph over his much hyped Nordic Caucasian team. This reopened the most disastrous chapter of the modern 20 th century eugenic movement. It also led to the renewed politicization of race. It was subsequently used by the Nazis in the thirties and forties to justify genocide. It was the rational for the holocaust and whole sale extermination of Jews, gypsies and other so called disease carrying low IQ, morally bankrupt ethnic groups solely on the basis of fundamental genetic in equality. There was never and still is not a single shred of evidence for dividing a species from one ancient African mitochondrial DNA into superior or inferior races” wrote The Times of India, leading English daily in its Mumbai edition’s editorial dated 1^st November 2004.

The color prejudice myth must have to be exposed. Professor Ripley in his book Races of Europe [page 466] asserts that earliest Europeans were of dark complexion. “We are strengthened in this assumption that the earliest Europeans were not only long headed but also dark complexioned, by various points of enquiry thus far. Judged therefore either in the light of general principles or of local details, it would seem as if the earliest race in Europe must have been very dark. “

It is a matter of concern how color prejudice created castes in India though nowhere in the world such a cruel system of suppression exists, that too with religious sanction. The word religion itself is derived from Latin word religare, which meant bundle of beliefs. Among the bundle of such beliefs, the caste prejudice inculcated in Indian minds is mental slavery that roles the roost till date.

Dr.B.R.Ambedkar says “ Turning to the Vedas for any indication whether the Aryans had ay color prejudice, in Rig Veda i.117.8 there is a reference to Ashvins having brought about the marriage between Shyavya and Rushati. Shyavya is black and Rushati is fair.

In Rig Veda i.117.5 there is a prayer addressed to Ashvins for having saved Vandana who is spoken as of golden color. I Rig Veda ii.3.9 there is a prayer by an Aryan invoking the Devas to bless him with a son with certain virtues but of [pishanga] tawny [reddish brown] complexion.

These incidents, Ambedkar say shows that the Vedic Aryans had no color prejudice. How could they have? The Vedic Aryans were not of one color. Their complexion varied, some were of copper complexion, some white and some black. Rama, the son of Dasaratha has been described as Shyama i.e. dark in complexion, so is Krishna the descendent of Yadus, another Arya clan. The Rishi Dirghatamas who is the author of many mantras in Rig Veda must have been dark in complexion. Kanva is an Aryan rishi of great repute. But according to the description given in Rig Veda x.31.11 he was of dark color.

“To take up the meaning of the word Varna, and to see in what sense it is used in Rig-Veda, Ambedkar does a word count of all hymns of Rig-Veda. The word Varna is used in Rig Veda in 22 places. Of these in about 17 places the word is used in reference to deities such as Ushas, Agni, Soma etc, and means luster, features or color. Being used in connection with deities, it would be unsafe to use them for ascertaining what meaning the word Varna had in Rigveda when applied to human beings. There are four and at the most five places in the Rig-Veda where the word is used in reference to human beings.

Having dealt the word extensively and intensively in Rig-veda Dr.Ambedkar traces the word in Indo-Iranian literature. He says the word Varana or Varena in Zend Avesta used in the sense of faith, religious doctrine, choice or creed or belief.’

This evidence from Zend Avesta, Dr.Ambedkar opines as to the meaning of the word Varna leaves no doubt that it originally meant a class holding to a particular faith and it had nothing to do with color or complexion. Then Dr.Ambedkar summarizes his findings by saying that the Vedas do not know any such race as the Aryan race. He further adds that there is no evidence in the Vedas of any invasion of India by the Aryan race and its having conquered the Dasas and Dasyus supposed to be natives of India. There is no evidence to show the distinction between Aryans, Dasas, and Dasyus was a racial distinction. The Vedas do not support the contention that the Aryans were different in color from the Dasas and Dasyus.

It would need a lengthy argument to say that all humans are one, and all human beings have a common gene called sangene in them. We have to quote extensively from the book Journey of Man by Spencer Wells to prove that first human beings originated in Africa and they are black. The spread of human race from Africa is best illustrated in the web pages of www.bradstone.com, where they show the chart of the spread with time frame. The fact to be borne in mind is that in spite of prejudice destined to disappear as universal reason, scientific progress and information age enlightening our intellect; it seems to be the contrary in Indian society still clinging to caste prejudices. Our society had failed to root out prejudices. Immanuel Kant described Enlightenment as man’s release from self incurred tutelage. We still live under such mental tutelage accepting Aryan supremacy and our inferiority status in caste hierarchy. It is here the argument of Ambedkar assumes great importance. If the Aryan race theory is buried its counter theory the Dravidian theory too had to go. When Dr.Subramanian Swamy wrote an article in The Frontline dated  July 18-2003 to blast the Dravidian Movement, only two leaders from Dravidian movement wrote a rejoinder, one being then General Secretary of Dravida Kazhagam K.Veeramani and me. Let me quote few paragraphs from what I wrote

“All humans are one and scientific studies have revealed that there exists a common gene in all human beings and that common gene is called sangene. The mapping of human genes for 50 years had thrown more light on the oneness of humanity, as theories of continental drift, especially the map fit theory, had proved beyond an iota of doubt that all continents were held together once and drifted. So to accept that humanity is one and the world is one, science had to unearth mysteries. The common gene in every human being had also proven that the theories of race are culture oriented. While race is disproved both Aryan and Dravidian theories have to die. Perhaps Dr.Swamy wants the Aryan concept too to die and if that were the case, one can welcome to some extent his wishful thinking. The Second World War waged by Hitler propounding the supremacy of the Aryan race, which he demonstrated with the killings of millions of Jews, still reminds us that whoever claims superiority over fellow beings in the name of his race of birth will be taught a befitting lesson by mankind Around 60,000 years ago, a man--identical to us in all important respects--lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Showing how the secrets about our ancestors are hidden in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the cutting-edge science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. We now know not only where our ancestors lived but who they fought, loved, and influenced. Informed by this new science, The Journey of Man is replete with astonishing information. Wells tells us that we can trace our origins back to a single Adam and Eve, but that Eve came first by some 80,000 years. We hear how the male Y-chromosome has been used to trace the spread of humanity from Africa into Eurasia, why differing racial types emerged when mountain ranges split population groups, and that the San Bushmen of the Kalahari have some of the oldest genetic markers in the world. We learn, finally with absolute certainty, that Neanderthals are not our ancestors and that the entire genetic diversity of Native Americans can be accounted for by just ten individuals. It is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind--as well as an accessible look at the analysis of human genetics that is giving us definitive answers to questions we have asked for centuries, questions now more compelling than ever.

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