Hindu religion had no castes, Britishers introduced it: Kerala Governor

Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Wednesday claimed that there were no castes in the Hindu religion, which was higher-level ‘varna’ itself, and it was the British who included castes in it when they started a census in India for the first time.

The remark by Mr. Arlekar came while speaking after inaugurating the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Puthumana Thanthra Vidyalayam here.

“Hindu was never a ‘patit.’ It was always a higher-level caste with a higher-level varna. When the British people started the census in this country for the first time, they included castes in it. Otherwise, there was no caste,” the Governor contended.

He further said, “Now it is our task to reunite ourselves. If we are not united there will be no existence of this country.” The Governor also spoke about the Puthumana Thanthra Vidyalayam, saying that it was giving training of tantri to everyone irrespective of their caste. He said that giving such a training was a must, but it was more important to consider the whole Hindu samaj or society as “one caste.”

Mr. Arlekar further said that though the Constitution says there should be no discrimination based on caste, it still exists in society.

In his speech, the Governor recalled the founding vision of the institution and noted that on November 12, 2003, “Puthumana Maheswaran Namboothiri proclaimed Tanthra Vidya, reflecting the reformist spirit of the historic Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936 issued by Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, which opened temple doors to people of all castes”, a Lok Bhavan post on Facebook said.