Arise, ye Brahminists, Or A Word to the Readers

If you are here, and bothering to read this, it probably means that you have little better to do. Aside from that obvious observation, it is probably safe to note that you have some degree of interest in the thing that gets called Brahminism, usually pejoratively. If you are like most people who use that term, you probably hate them nasty reactionary Brahminists. Oh sure, you might throw in the obligatory disclaimers about loving all of humanity, or at least the masses among them, but really, these Brahminists who control everything, a Pol Pot wouldn't come amiss in their futures, no?

But some of you might just be actual Brahminists (I mean, someone has to be, eh?) or even Brahmins (a very different thing entirely, to hear some of the Progressives tell it), and are a little bemused by the whole fuss about the Brahminists who seem to be causing all that trouble. After all, you probably see yourself as a fairly ordinary guy or gal, minding your own business (which may actually be a business), not wishing anyone any harm, even vaguely wishing everyone well. Maybe you are even a little irritated from time to time, to see all that turgid ranting about Brahminism, caste and so on each time you want to take a stroll on the intellectual side of the fence. Maybe even irritated enough to want to flip a mild-mannered bird at those that seem to make a profession of abusing you and your ancestors with fancy words. Well then, it just may be that you have found yourself a home, here on the Neo Brahminist blog.

If you are the intellectual sort (as I am sure you are--after all, why else would you be reading this?), even in a vague, unpretentious way, then you have no doubt quickly zeroed in on the "Neo" bit. Truth is, ever since The Matrix, and certainly since the Iraq War that made such stars of the neocons, you pretty much have to be Neo- if you are to be anything at all. Old Brahminists are so dhoti-angavastram, hair oil, and bad grammar,  but we Neos strive for a sense of style, even as we flip the jolly old avian.

From time to time, we (don't get too excited, you will get to comment, but at least in the beginning, the 'we' will mostly be me) might actually find ourselves exploring actual 'Neo' type Issues (with a big I at that)--what, if anything, does it mean to be what our detractors call Brahminist (what we ourselves, may, more modestly label just Hindu) in the 21st Century, knowing what it meant in the times gone by? Should we all run out & get circumcised and become Muslim, or drink the holy Kool-aid and become evangelical Christians? (I am sure you have, with the shrewdness I have already come to expect of you, have guessed that I don't think much of either option)  Or should we just mumble vaguely that, well, my parents are Hindus, but I don't call myself a Hindu, but I am quite spiritual you know, and I really dig Subbulakshmi and Pandit Jasraj and give money to SPIC-MACAY?

There is yet another option which is actually a lot more attractive, though you won't catch too many folks confessing they love it. It is this: Proudly acknowledge being a Hindu, while at the same time spewing bitter bile at those infantile upstarts Islam and Christianity, which despite their alleged inferiority, still seem to be running around Hinduism in ever-decreasing circles like a gang of coyotes on peyote laying low the most gorgeously elegant chital hart that you can imagine. It feels good to be the doomed victim, yes?

We are going to do our best to deny ourselves the delights of  vicimhood on this blog. Think of it as a revival of the highest tradition of Brahminism--that of self-denial and sacrifice. We will, instead, austerely strive to entertain and edify ourselves. We'll be serious a good bit of the time, but hardly ever earnest; erudite when we know what we are talking about, free spirits winging it when we don't. We will always obey the Vedic dictum of "satyam vada"--that is, we shall hew to the virtue of Truthiness, as enunciated by the Neo Brahminist sage Stephen Colbert. In other words, what we say here has to be Truthful, but not always pedantically factual, and mind-numbingly theoretical. Footnotes are strictly optional.

I have a number of topics that I am eminently qualified to write about, that is to say vaguely familiar with. Like that Brahminist origin myth the Purusha Suktam, the Upanayanam, The celebrated (or reviled) Aryan Invasion (or Aryan Strolling in Through The Open Door) Theory, Varnasrama Dharma, Caste, Untouchability, Magical stuff in the Puranas, Schisms and Controversies, Monier Williams, Friedrich Hegel, Katherine Mayo, Karen Armstrong, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Jinnah, and a bunch of other topics will all be grist to my mill which will masticate them thoroughly or nibble at them with understated elegance, all as a binary function of time, mood and depth of ignorance. The topic list will surely grow, albeit in a meandering fashion, over the lifetime of this blog.

You, the reader (and quite possibly aspiring blog participant) will be able to comment, and carry out a discussion among your lot, into which I might pop now and then. You are free to state your mind, I am not inclined to do much moderating or rejection of comments, though I will do both when I feel like it. There are some rules, though:

• No spamming
• No stupidity, bad grammar, or incoherent sputtering thoughts.  (Yes, I will be the judge of all of these)  At a minimum, you must be able to correctly use the word "comprise" in a sentence.
• Before posting a comment, ask yourself if you are adding anything to the style or substance of the discussion (the answer should come out 'yes')
• You can use profanity, but only in the service of aforementioned style or substance. It is much better for 'shit' and 'fuck' to be your servants than the other way around.

That's it for the introduction.  Y'all come back, now.