Asuras (Dravidians) Versus Devas (Aryans)

History is a canvas of fabrications designed to mould reality and painted always in the favor of dominating groups. Seeking objective truth in fabricated words, especially ones that have been altered over and over isn’t a futile endeavor as common sense would have it. Much can be learned by analyzing these fabrications: understanding their motives, and their conscious and subliminal psychological impact. I invoke the Ancient Indian God Agni, in his essence as a personification of the inner fire that propels us towards the Truth.

In ‘Hymns to the Mystic Fire’, the celebrated ‘Aryan’ Indian mystic Aurobindo writes: “They [European Scholars] invented the theory based on the difference of languages of an Aryan invasion from the north, an invasion of a Dravidian India of which Indians themselves had no memory or tradition of which there is no record in their epic or classical literature”. Later with an amnesiac quality, he explicitly defines Dasyus to be Dravidians and writes: “Our life is a battle between the powers of Light and Truth. the Gods who are Immortals and the powers of Darkness. They are spoken under various names as Vritra and Vritras, Vala and the Panis, the Dasyus (defined earlier as Dravidians) and their Kings”. This archetypal racism can be found in key Rig Vedic hymns praising Indra[XXXIV]: “He in his strength, with all-surpassing prowess, through wondrous arts crushed the malignant Dasyus…he smote the Dasyus, and gave protection to the Āryan color.” Wendy Doniger also equates Dasyus to be Dravidians in her work The Rig Veda. In various Aryan-Hindu imagery such as the mythic churning of the ocean, it is quite common to see Demons or Asuras depicted as Dravidians with their characteristic mustache and skin color. Genetic evidence from a recent Harvard study[1] also supports the idea of two distinct racial groups. Despite all of this, some sources still consider the Aryan migration — from some mystic region in the North Pole according to Indian National Congress figure Bal Gangadhar Tilak[2] or maybe more accurately ancient Persia based on linguistic similarities — to be a work of fiction. It is the nature of Power to be hidden in order to sustain itself, especially in an age where open dominion is frowned upon. But such veiled social narratives that emphasize on rifts is a source of exploitative power and is required to continue fooling the oppressed — or oppressing the fools in the way of Nature as some Social Darwinists would put it.

My short trips in certain regions of North India explicitly showed me the presence of such racist ideologies thriving in everyday life as a consequence of their presence in deeper shamanic/Brahminic and political levels. Although I dislike applying a limiting label on myself or anyone else — whether genetic, political, professional or one based on ideologies — a racial identity as an ‘outsider’ Dravidian was ‘installed’ and enforced because of my interfacing with elements who resonate with the Aryan identity; and it is particularly because of first-hand experiences that I am motivated to write this piece. There seems to be no contest among those who consider themselves to be Indian Aryan of their identity. In India, the term Aryan is popularly used in a racial notion, rather than one of disposition as many idealists would claim. It isn’t unusual to find schools called ‘Aryan School’[3], or Internet-unlisted ones like ‘Aryan Pride School’ that catch one’s attention during travel. Personal racist jabs started becoming a common experience throughout my travel in parts of Nepal and Rishikesh, and it is worth noting that this exclusively came from other males. Perhaps this is one of the ways in which the establishment of a conscious pecking order manifests itself when socio-economic comparisons — such as profession, one’s neighborhood of residence, family name, caste etc. — fail or are insufficient vectors. The most common racist jab involved being asked if I was from Sri Lanka or attributing a Sri Lankan identity to me, and this happened often in the introductory conversation. Although anyone reasonably civilized would not consider this to be an insult, it is meant to be one particularly because of Sri Lanka’s negative association as being an inferior, foreign and evil element in Aryan Hindu myths. Bali from Kerala and Ravana from Lanka were two Asuras conquered by heroic Vaishnavism avatars Vamana and Ram; these myths form a key part in shaping the Hindu child’s psyche and is reinforced throughout his/her adulthood.

This level of Aryan archetypal racism isn’t just restricted to Dravidians. Foreigners were Mlecchas or Barbarians, who are singularly void of any virtue or humanization. According to the Kalki Purana, the next Avatar of Vishnu will decimate the Buddhists, a movement that was once a challenge to the reigning social order. Allies were given favorable narratives but candidly depicted as inferior races. For instance, members of the Mongoloid race were depicted in myths as ape-like humanoids, Hanuman being the most well-known, particularly for his fidelity towards the Aryan-prince Rama. The below image depicts Sugriva and Hanuman as being ape-like; however, Sugriva’s wife Tara is very human in characteristic. Limiting racial inter-breeding is another patent function of myth building.

Tara, Sugriva, Aryan Lakshman and Hanuman

While I was at Rishikesh, a Sikh gentleman confided in me how after Alexander’s invasion, the Son of Shiva became known as Skanda in Northern India. Skanda is cognate with Alexander[4], who like many other God-Kings infiltrated mythic reality by replacing older narratives. In the South, Shiva’s son is known as Karthikeya, Murugan or Ayappan; the North still retains their allegiance to Alexander’s memory or his supposed Aryan descendants. The Sikh independence movement[5], he confided, is rooted in a rightful deep mistrust of India’s current shamanic power. “Narendra Modi is pure Aryan”, claimed my ‘Aryan’ ‘Nepali’ taxi driver, as I exited the Sikkhim region to reach Bhutan. I wondered what those words really meant, and if my anthropological classification of him as ‘Aryan’ and ‘Nepali’ compounded my mistrust of him because of my intertwined narrative and experiences. A proud member of the Rana clan from Uttarakhand declared how everyone knew Modi’s government was behind the religiously motivated 2002 Gujrat riots[6]. Labels killing labels. Orphans of one, pests of another.

The microcosm reflects the macrocosm, and I wonder how many of our world’s real leaders subscribe to a notion of Dharma, Maat or Justice rooted in the equality and divinity of all life. Myths are malleable and we can steer the course of our collective evolution at any point in time. The pursuit and dissemination of Truth in its purest, yet limited subjective symbolic form, has the power to transmute our myths and ultimately our consciousness. And one day it will become unnecessary to classify and we will have matured to just Be.

References:

[1]https://hms.harvard.edu/news/genetics-proves-indian-population-mixture-8-8-13

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arctic_Home_in_the_Vedas

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aryan_School / http://thearyanschool.com

[4] http://murugan.org/research/gopalapillai.htm

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalistan_movement#Initial_allegations_of_discrimination_in_independent_India

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Gujarat_riots