As I concluded writing the third part of the Cultivator’s Whipcord, a saffron-clad shudra sadhu, an enthusiastic, garrulous member of the Kabir sect parading a holy tulsi garland, a regular visitor to Pandharpur (Maharashtra) came to my house and sat on a bench on my courtyard. I asked the sadhu what it is that he desired. To which the sadhu replied:
Sadhu- Are you Jotirao Phule?
Jotirao- Yes, indeed, I am the one.
Sadhu- You are born a Hindu. Because of your English education you have been lately attacking Hinduism. So I thought I should discuss with you if the four principle Veda, the main scriptures of Hinduism, are indeed divine in origin…. and satisfy myself. I have come here for the purpose.
Jotirao- Have you yourself actually seen the four Vedas with your own eyes?
Sadhu- Well, yes. I have seen all of them in a Brahman’s house.
Jotirao- Can you offer any reliable evidence to prove that these scriptures were written by God Himself?
Sadhu- Nothing, apart from what the Brahman told me during our chat.
Jotirao- OK. To begin with do you think God has a definite shape?
Sadhu- How can he? God is supposed to be shapeless Parmatma.
Jotirao- How is it then that this shapeless God authored the four Vedas?
Sadhu- Only the Brahmans can answer that question. You’d better ask them.
Jotirao- Secondly, is it the case that God authored the Vedas with a view to liberating mankind
Sadhu- Yes, indeed.
Jotirao- Thirdly, in which language did God compose the Vedic scriptures?
Sadhu- In a Sanskrit language.
Jotirao- Fourthly, is Sanskrit understood and spoken all over the world?
Sadhu- Very few people know this language.
Jotirao- This would prove that the Vedas were not written for the upliftment of all mankind because most people of the world do not at all speak or know Sanskrit. How can a scripture, which people don’t understand, liberate them?
Sadhu- May be when they were written, people all over the world spoke Sanskrit. It is possible that later various kinds of languages developed.
Jotirao- This would mean that God did not know that there would be multiplicity of languages in the future. Does not it go against the omniscience of God? Further many German, Scottish, English scholars like Max Muller have studied the Vedas rather well. Is not it surprising that they did not disown Christianity and adopt the Vedic religion?
Sadhu- scriptures May be the thought of having to bathe thrice a day with a white thread around his neck like the Brahman in the climate of Europe scared Max Muller. In any case he alone can answer your question. How I say anything on it?
Jotirao- If God had created the Vedic scriptures for the liberation of entire mankind, the bhat brahmans would not have prohibited the shudras and the atishudras for studying the Vedas. The bhat brahmans have thus violated God’s commandment and are not the shudras and the atishudras suffering for that? Why should they trust either the God who is supposed to have created the Vedic scriptures or the scriptures themselves? Or indeed why should they call themselves Hindus?
Sadhu- The bhat brahmans have never prevented the shudras and the atishudras from studying Vedas. Several bhat brahmans go to the missionaries and teach the Vedas there. the shudras are much too poor and resourceless to study the Vedas. What can the Brahmans do? At least that is what the Brahmans argue.
Jotirao- This proves that you do not know anything of the Brahmans’s intrigue and conspiracies. Let that be. Are the missionaries who live off religion rich enough to pay for their Vedic studies? And then how about the Shinde and Holkars, rulers of the princely states? These Shudra rulers are surely not paupers. They could have studied the scriptures. Why they did not? I think you must understand that these bhat brahmans have been historically making tonnes and tonnes of money off these rulers. Have they ever thought running a school for the children of the Shudra peasant? They could have educated at least one of them. But they did not, for that would have been the end of the Brahmans’ monopoly over learning. If they had educated some of the caste brethren of these rulers, there would have been some non-Brahmans equal of the brahmans. The present state when they are all falling flat before the brahman would have drastically changed. They did not want it.
Sadhu- OK. If this is the case why can you not persuade the rulers to start schools for their Shudra brethren.
Jotirao- Even in their courts the dominance of the brahman officer continues. They would not even let a small fellow like me reach the prince and be heard!
Sadhu- Oh, my God. I never imagined that the brahmans would have had such cunning! I am now convinced that when the Shudra princes come of age these cunning brahmans would not hesitate to write to the British authorities that, as these princes cannot manage their affairs, they should not be given charge of their states just yet. Having thus improved the British authorities they must be turning these princes into performing monkeys.
Jotirao- OK. Bye-bye.
Pune, April 6, 1883 J.G. Phule (Member of the Satyashodhak Samaj)
There is no god. There is no god. There is no god at all. He who created god was a fool! He who propagates god is a scoundrel! He who worships god is a barbarian!!
Forget God!!! Think about Man!!! - Periyar E.V.Ramasamy
The New Materialists
