Rationalist reformer of the 19th century, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, had predicted that religiosity of people will diminish with the spread of Western education in India.
Aroon Tikekar
Rationalist reformer of the 19th century, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, had predicted that religiosity of people will diminish with the spread of Western education in India. For a long to time, this did not happen, proving Agarkar wrong.
However, socio-religious reform did eventually take root in Maharastra like it did in Bengal and religious rituals lost their significance. But with the recent revivalist techniques mooted by 'nationalist' Hindu political parties to accrue political advantage, observation of rituals have once again gained ground among the elite and in the Indian diaspora abroad.
It cannot be denied that the brahmin community was, and is, by far the most reformed community, as the leaders of reformation came from that community.
Many of the brahmin reformers rejected the caste system based on birth. They also totally disapproved of one community monopolising all intellectual properties.
It could be safely said that there are more atheists, rationalists, critics of the Hindu religion among the brahmins of Maharashtra, than those in other communities. These communities shunned their traditional profession and allowed their knowledge of the scriptures to atrophy by swarming into liberal professions like teaching and practising law and medicine, for example, in search of better prospects.
The brahmins of Maharashtra aspired for modernisation, and the non-brahmin communities for Sanskritisation, as a means of upward mobility.
Year after year, the brahmin priests have dwindled in number as priesthood is no longer included in the list of respectable professions. The progeny of former priests have chosen other walks of life, that are both attractive and challenging, and many are seen holding top positions there. The brahmins of Maharashtra are today almost cut off from the mainstream and are running after greener pastures, both within and outside India.
This class is no longer interested in practising priesthood. It is in search of name, fame and money.
Though many priests today have acquired the trappings of modern living and more pay, there is no opportunity of earning name and fame. Moreover, their knowledge of the scriptures has, over the generations, depleted and they cannot explain many a ritual.
Obviously this situation demands an import of priests from the North as well as the South. The hosts are more interested in celebrating various rituals than knowing that the priests of Maharashtra are Rigvedics, and those from the North are Yajurvedics.
The difference hardly matters to hosts, who are oblivious to the meaning of sanskaar that go with each ritual, and the priests, too, seem to have forgotten to observe the aachaar samhita they are expected to comply with.
Tikekar is a senior Marathi journalist and writer
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