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Brahmins on India’s elite campuses say studying science is natural to upper castes: Study

I researched Brahmin domination in science in India. Most Brahmins I talked to thought they were natural inheritors of the scientific practice.

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The domination of Brahmin and the upper caste scientists have given a Brahmanical identity to science in India. They have been perceived to be the natural inheritors of scientific practice, an assertion reaffirmed by scientists and researchers during my fieldwork in Bangalore, India.

Even after the introduction of various inclusive policies such as reservations for marginalised groups in educational institutions, there is a stark absence of such groups in India’s leading scientific research institutions. Available data show few scientists from the Dalit and other marginalised sections in most of the leading Indian scientific and technical educational institutions. This absence led me to undertake ethnographic fieldwork at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), one of Asia’s leading scientific research institutions.


Eating and learning

Most of the scientists who work at IISc obtained their PhDs or postdoctoral training from leading American or British universities. Official data clearly show that the demography of IISc has changed little. It is still demographically and culturally dominated by Brahmin and upper caste scientists. Available data from other leading scientific and technical institutions such as IITs also show the absence of Dalits and OBC scientists.

The entry of non-Brahmin scientists has not changed this image. Many virtues of Brahmin culture have been normalised in the scientific institutional settings. The domination of vegetarianism in India cannot be merely seen as food preference and choice as reports show that there are cases of discrimination on what one eats and cases reported on the existence of separate wash basins and entrances for vegetarians and non-vegetarians for example, as mentioned previously, in IIT Madras.

The majority of the Brahmin scientists I spoke to at IISc were vegetarian. IISc has three major student dining halls (Mess), called A, B, and C: A mess is for pure-vegetarian food, B mess is for north Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and C mess is for south Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Even though Brahmins and other upper caste students and researchers ate at the B, and C mess, majority of the Dalits and non-Brahmins ate either at the B or at the C mess.

Some Brahmin scientists I spoke to informed me that they had tried non-vegetarian food when they were in Western universities. Food becomes a way of preserving their cultural and caste memory. Though these scientists continue to be vegetarians, they did not associate their food habits with their caste backgrounds. Instead, they justified vegetarian food habits as scientific.


Also read: The IITs have a long history of systematically othering Dalit students


Caste linking science and passion

Due to their early entry into the Western education and their knowledge of English, it was the upper castes and Brahmins who benefitted, reshaped and negotiated these new forms of knowledge. They redefined the image of science as Brahmin and Bhadralok (educated upper caste Bengali) knowledge, which in turn was reaffirmed as the biography of science in India.

This norm is visible from Sudarshan (names used are anonymised for ethical reasons), a Tamil Brahmin scientist who works in the field of Aeronautics, when stating that the Brahmins are ‘passionate’ about learning, and others are interested only in ‘money making’.

Speaking with Sudarshan at his office, I realised how the perception of science being a Brahmin profession was entrenched. I asked him why there were no non-Brahmin scientists or only few non-Brahmin scientists in the institutes of higher scientific learning such as IISc. He responded,

These guys are not interested to ‘waste’ time like us. They think it is better to go for a technical or business education, so that they would get immediate benefit. Science and research will not have an immediate effect. It takes time to get benefits. The most important thing one ought to have while pursuing research is ‘patience’, which we don’t find among these groups. . . 

Sudarshan did not think that he was offending anyone, but shared a common belief among many scientists that Brahmins are meant to do science and research, and that they are ready to sacrifice for knowledge.

Sudarshan was not the only scientist who argued in this way. Many scientists with whom I interacted thought that learning and science was part of the Brahmin culture. Sudarshan’s views reaffirm the alleged naturalness of Brahmins’ intellectual superiority.

When scientists like Sudarshan narrate their family background, they wish to convey that despite their poverty, they could study and become scientists as their family ‘valued’ education, and for them it is ‘natural’ that their family valued education.

This tendency to focus on their deprivation while ignoring the privileges of their Brahmin origin is observable throughout the personal writings and interviews with the Brahmin scientists. This acceptance and negotiation made Brahmins the ‘inheritors’ of knowledge. It is this image which led Jagadesan, a Dalit scientist to tell me over coffee that IISc means Iyer Iyengar Science Campus (Iyers and Iyengars are Brahmins from the state of Tamil Nadu and settled in different parts of South India).


Also read: IIT Bombay is just the latest among India’s elite colleges promoting food casteism


Cultural capital and access

Being Brahmins who had educated family members, it was not just passion, but also their cultural capital that helped them in doing science.

As Satish Deshpande observed, ‘Having encashed its traditional caste-capital networks and converted it into modern forms of capital like property, higher educational credentials and strongholds in lucrative professions, this section believes itself to be “caste-less” today’. This disavowal and denial of caste in their everyday life by claiming a liberal identity was common among the scientists of IISc. They would describe themselves as liberal, but when it comes to questions of reservation, they would be very sceptical. They believed, as Sudarshan said, in order to do science, one needs to have ‘passion’, and ‘sacrificial mentality’. They believed that reservation may affect the quality of research, and reservation will produce scientists who are not passionate about science and research.

The public should be informed regularly regarding the number of Dalit, ST and the OBC scientists that they appoint, and various strategies that they employ to make the scientific and technical education more inclusive. If this debate around the underrepresentation of scientists does not happen, the elite institutes such as IISc and IITs will remain ivory towers and will not be accountable to the public.

This is an edited excerpt from “Brahmins as scientists and science as Brahmins’ calling” in Public Understanding of Science. It has been published here with permission from Sage Publications.

The author is an anthropologist of science, teaches at the Department of Sociology, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. Views are personal.

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332 COMMENTS

  1. Is brahminism the soul of India
    As some people are making it look like.what is their contribution to India and the world at large.these highly enlightened souls have made no inventions of their own.they are good at innovations.

  2. Brace yourself everyone. The propagandist from Jesus and Mary college has a problem with Iyer and Iyengar college and cooked a story.

  3. why high populated brahmin community failed in development? Low populated brahmin state kerala and tamilnadu development is high why?
    Hard work and God’s blessings are matter and
    GOD IS HONOUR. He created everyone equal

  4. India is still at the bottom in many areas in world stage, which only shows the inadequacy of brahmins who supposedly leads India. Today, Brahmins are competing with the elites of over 150 nations, not with other castes. Don’t forget that.

  5. What is a brahmin anyways. It’s a group of mixed race mulattos that developed around temple cults. They are just trying to make a living as a group by sticking together just like other groups in India and across the world. They are not that extra smart either. As westerners told in a forum, these indian intellectuals are just rote learning idiots.

    • Some idiots like u will find it easy to utter bullshit against anyone but when they come across the reality they name it a propaganda.cuz they can’t digest it and the reality is brahmin dominates everywhere (you choose ur area of interest and then google it about what percentage of brahmin are there)
      Rest in peace in advance. Lol

  6. This article is full of shit spread as Gospel, probably paid for by RSS and Brahmin Samaj in the USA. Brahminism is the biggest reason for the casteism causing the majority of Indian society supposedly relegated to “lower castes”, to be left behind through their indoctrination through religious garbage in Hinduism that only Brahmins are allowed to learn and keep knowledge. There many more excellent minds from so called lower castes and non-brahmins who have contributed to India and the world. This author is either a dumbass copying some article or fed some lies by some idiots. Brahminims is the reason for existence of castes, far worse than apartheid and slavery in South Africa and other western countries. This indoctrination by the religious means, that the country like India has lagged behind. Due to this slavish mentality created by brahmins, is the only reason the rest of the society has not yet exterminated brahminism. The author should really understand the society and background and then spew such garbage. Majority of these brahmins are nothing more than dregs and less than medicore crap that are happy to tell everyone that they are brahmins and upper caste so deserve special treatment. Organizations like RSS and Brahmin Samaj must be banned in the USA. Anyone of Indian origin who wants to enter US, must be examined for if they support RSS, which is a NeoNazi, and extremest organization. Under the laws of the United States they can be barred from the USA or prosecuted for their activities, supporting neonazi and hindu extremism.

  7. Only a communist, christian and muslim hardcore ideology can write such an article against Brahmins, its a common sense that scientific work cannot be helped by providing reservations. What I find strange is denial that if a brahmin struggle through proverty to reach where they want to then the author ignores the fact and still tries to impose that due to caste he became a scientist. Brahmins I know have never done anything wrong to anyone but it has become fashion among communist, christians and muslims to instigate other hindu castes against the brahmins so these hardline religion can dominate hindus by keeping them divided, I have never seen any brahmin live on media come an abuse any other caste or religion, in recent time communist christian and muslim journalist have made it a habit of enforcing abuses on brahmins by using other hindu caste. The author looks like to be on a mission from islamic, christian and communist nation to destroy whatever is left of science in India. Everywhere around the world all scientific work need scarifice and hardwork as only creative, wisdom, intelligence and knowledge can give success in this field. Reservation cannot bring intelligence, knowledge, creativity and wisdom but only education.

    Highly racist editor pick by The Print. It is strange Print calls itself liberal but any secular and liberal ideology is nothing but highest form of racism hidden under the veil of liberalism. Pure hatred of author against a particular community is visible, hope the author writes same about christain instutition like Harvard, Standford because IISC and these are in the same league.

  8. Really funny how people have come here defending Brahmins even though we all know they have oppressed the lower castes. But what we have to understand here is it’s not a fight against brahmins (people) rather it is an ideological fight, wherein this bramanical/manusmriti/manuwaad ideology must be eliminated. The article actually brings out what people still think in cities and it speaks about top indian institutes whom we look up to. Its shocking that scientists who have to be above all these things still have casteism entrenched in them.. I guess this is the mirror which people do not want to see and hence we can see so much trolling on this article. Kudos to The Print, keep it up and keep showing us the mirror

  9. if u prefer vegetarian then ur Brahmin, communal, casteist, Right wing and so on,, but if you are vegan ur cool, liberal, modern and so on. The amount of shit this article has is directly related to the stupidity of thoughts it was convey.

    • Absolutely correct.. A completely biased piece of article…. He has stereotyped every Brahmin by calling them elites. I have seen poor Brahmins study hard and having impeccable knowledge and going to iisc for research.. Writings like these are meant to spread hate and nothing else

  10. First of all, this author /researcher needs to understand why Brahmins excel in education consistently.
    Since the ancient times, under the varna system the Brahmins performed the duty of education, teaching and research. The word Brahmin is associated with the one who is in search of the Brahman or the eternal absolute truth and constantly edevaours to perfect himself towards the cause of purification of his atman so as to achieve his goals both material and spiritual through righteous action and the lords grace. He is ex[ected to be well educated in Vedic Philosophy and practice the same through the sampradaya that he belongs to by learning the process through an acharya. This process is continuous and he is expected to lead a life of virtue and engage in vedic teaching. Again the Brahmins not only educated the eligible through the vedic education system but also were consience keepers as far as the society was concerened. This is why the reason they also carried out pravachans to dissiminate the general public on the science of Dharma and rightieouness. The whole process was of self discipline and evolvement of the right faculty of thought which is followed till day in Tamil Brahmin families and also Brahmins in other parts of India. This is the reason that Brahmins do not beleive in any social disruptive argumentation, mud slinging or anti social activity . By nature we are sensitized from a very young age that we need to follow our Dharma as mentioned in the scriptures and that is what leads us to both personal evolvement, development and our ability to contribute to society through learning and education. In those times it was Vedic leraning, in these modern times, it is both Vedic learning as well as western based modern scientific knowledge. The Brahmins are resolute in their duty and dharma and have been so despite facing atrocities, mass genocides and coercion , humiliation and murder and rape of their community perpertuated by the following forces
    Mughals during their time
    Dalit propaganda activitsis backed by Dravidian politics in Tamil Nadu- Political leaders such as Periyar, Karunanidhi and his paid goons.
    Breaking India forces such as the Christian Missionaries who identify academicians, so called liberalists, pastors etc who align themselves with Dravidian politicians , Congress and other political parties to create a negative hate narrative on Brahmins . The sole purpose and objective is to destroy the brahmin community and the Hindu dharma institutions engaged in furthering of veda patshalas etc so that they can wipe out the nation from the practice of vedic sanathana dharma and its ways and methods of peaceful living. Once they have done this it is easy for them to convert at large this nation into a Christian state and plunge us all into slavery and domination of the western nations. The Vatican Pope will therefore have succeeded to enforce its ever lasting Dotorine of Christianty in India too.

    As mentioned earlier, the self discipine followed by the Brahmins since ages in terms of Food habits , education, prayer and philosophy according to their sampradyas is the reason for their capability to be successful in knowledge domains .

    If in the IITs and IISCs as the author mentions there are separate eating places for vegeterian and Non Veg food, that does not amount to discrimination. It is the choice that is available for people according to their preferences as much we would like to go to a Veg or a Non-Veg hotel. The author has shown less of her intelligence by mistaking this as a discriminatory activity. In fact Brahmins are aware of the nature and tastes and vasanas of others who prefer Non Veg and hence they choose to dine separately. There is nothing wrong about it. The statement made in this article is aimed at creating discrimination and hatred towards Brahmins. The Brahmins have the right to demand a separate eating place to demonstrate their sensitivities. There is nothing unconstitutional about it.

    Another aspect worth noting is that the total reservation for Dalits and backward communities in the country is approximately 80 to 90 % in all states. The Tamils Brahmins constitute much less than 1% of the entire population of India . The composition of Brahmins in the entire nation too is less than 2-3% and this has been the case all through ancient, medivial and modern times. Yet the narrative is that Brahmins are opressors of the lower castes or the Dalits. The economic status of Brahmin community even today is still in the category of lower middle class to middle class starta. In the early times, the Brahmins used to live on grants and bhiksha unlike in these times where they perform other economic activities driven by knowledge of modern science and technology. Therefore blaming Brahmins to be cause of social inequility, untouchability and discrimination is a well crafted national propaganda by the so called social reformers such as Ambedkar , EV Ramaswamy Periyar and the resultant Dravidian and Dalit parties who have brainwashed not only untouchables but also the upper class educated elite Hindus into accepting this.

    Despite all the repression such as beating up Brahmins, cutting their poonals ( sacred thread), raping their women and children and mass murder committed by Dravidian parties , the Brahmins have consitently kept their focus and excelled in education as knowledge professionals which is why they are dominating the science and mathematics professions.

    Dalits cannot bring about their upliftment because they have got used to reservations and political propaganda which is not aimed at their economic development but at using them as vote banks for the growth and wealth creation of politicians who use Ambedkar as their solgan and symbol.
    It is sad that rather than realizing this truth, they continue to sucumb to articles written by acdemics who are paid by the missionaries to create hatred for Brahmins and Hindus in general.

    Worst the media and as such in this case “The print” also seems to find it correct to publish these articles which are implicitly driven by hatred for Brahmin community. Such articles spew posion resulting in disharmony , hatred and distract our young student population from education and development and rather make them available as political instruments for personal gains of politicians.

    The Author Renny Tomas is from a Chrsitian background and it is no doubt that there is an implicit attitude to spew hatred on the progressive and peaceful Tamil Brahmin community just because they dominate their position in Science and Technology due to their academic competitiveness.

    Indeed a shameful action to gain popularity.

    • Before going on the defensive, it would be good if people can introspect and accept the fact that they had privileges over centuries denied to others. Even when it comes to Krishna, the one who lived with and loved the illiterate Gopis and Gopikas, instead of acknowledging God is for everyone (Krishnudu andhari vadu), there is a beaufiful and famous song that says “unnai marai odhum gnaniyar mattube kaanbar” (only the scholars who recite vedas will be able to see you). When it comes to competitive exams, the kids coming from Educated family, good school, coaching classes perform better – but that doesnt prove anything as it is not about level playing field (and so not really merit). Worst is when in private corporations, the careers and promotions are dominated by one community (and there is no way of measuring competence or performance). I sincerely believe in Hindu philosophy and reincarnation. Just for a minute put yourself as born as the brilliant one in a downtrodden community and a poor family in your next birth and then try to look what you will see and feel

      • Nice joke women getting reservation on the money of upper caste , want reservation on caste basics, women mind cannot be reserved , and because of hindu I’m india lower caste are getting uplifting , otherwise we can see what’s happening with Hindus in neighbouring countries, Hindus changes them with time they accept new things , that’s beauty of hindu that could not be find in any other and maximum of social workers and NGO are run by upper caste those are funded by upper caste for the upliftment of underprivileged. Most of Hindus leave in pakistan are lower caste and those who are coming to india under CAA are helped by upper caste , but dumb ass hate reservation head will not get the truth until you will leave in a place where hindu were in minority.

  11. After this pandemic lockdown, I see lot of such articles Anti-Hindu or Anti-Brahmin flowing through vehemently in social media. My assumption is that these are by the fringe groups who think this will destabilize Right wing politics (Thinking they are pro Brahmin and Pro Hindu), and mainly in south India, they want to exploit the economic slowdown because of Covid-19 in their favor. Otherwise why this anti-Brahmin will crop up all of a sudden when this community is just concentrating in coming up the ladder in spite of no reservations for the past 70 years when the first reservation for underprivileged community in Education started in 1954. For what Brahmin community had done in the past all their present generation paying the penalty and future generation will continue to pay. I am sure everyone here would agree that out of all the riots which broke in the southern states of India it was definitely communities other than the Brahmins who involved and Brahmin community never had the muscle power nor the majority (2% or less out of the overall population) to focus on. So, it was clearly the other communities who are making sure that the underprivileged should stay in their same social status put the blame on Brahmins when it comes to the question of “Welfare of the underprivileged communities”. For any reservation that is given in the society, the government should have a clear vision of how long this should be given and what they expect out of it in the society in a long run say 50 to 100 years. In Spite of all these reservation in education and employment for 70 years the plight of the underprivileged communities have changed only a little thanks to the communities which want the plight to continue for vote bank and other benefits. This whole article which tells vegetarian food has a separate entrance should show more interest when you see the plight in education and employment for these communities have not changed much…… not because of Brahmins. Your inspiration to write this article also will be someone who is longing to have this separation continue and you got this scapegoat “Brahmins” to change the focus. Don’t you think continually depriving a community for what their ancestors did in the name of reservation is also not justice? This is not a real leftist thinking. After some decades this community will become a minority (They already are and migrated across the globe). In the same logic, women who are deprived in the society for long, how many of you are in favour of a bill where 40% reservation for women in Education and Employment for another 100 years till equality is redeemed. You know what, women who were deprived of everything in many communities in the past have come up in status quo without much of reservation for them.
    The 10% reservation for economically poor bill passed in 2019 is not followed in many states. Tamilnadu gives 69% of reservation based on caste. Who thinks it is scientifically the right approach?

    • Don’t just pour your filth by just twisting the history. The history is bloodshed and we won’t forget it. Brahmins are the oppressors they simply enjoyed being the top of the varna scale. All human are equal and there is no proud by virtue of birth. If given all the sources the so called OBC’s,SC, ST’s will excel far beyond the shit heads.

      • Madam, we are in 21st century the schools, colleges and universities are open everyone. There is no gurukul here. Teacher teaching for 50 students in a class. If one student is bright other student is not, do you want to use reservation to increase the IQ of lagging student. How does it work logically?

  12. Inculcation of scientific temperament and enterpreneural mindset in Indian masses is need of hour.
    Even most of Brahmins and Banias lac it.
    Basically Indians are good workers.

  13. इसलिए मुझे लगता है।क़ी दलितों के लिए एक अलग देश होना चाहिए। यहाँ भारत में ब्राह्मण केवल खुद को ही बुद्धिमान समझता है।ये नस्लभेद नहीं है तो क्या है।भारत का मीडिया आर्यभट्ट ,भास्कर को ब्राह्मण बता बता कर
    दूसरी जातियो को निचा दिखता है। जिसे दलितों के बच्चो पर बुरा असर पड़ता है। उनके अंदर anxiety बड़ जाती है। और फिर वे विज्ञान से हटकर राजनीती की तरफ चलें
    जाते है।वो विज्ञान के प्रति अपना self steem खो देते। अगर हमारा अलग देश होगा तो हमारा मीडिया होगा जो हमे गौरवान्वित करेगा। हमारे शिक्षक होंगे ।कोई धर्म नहीं होगा ,जाती नहीं होगी। हमारी एक क्रिकेट टीम होगी।जिसका मैच भारत से होगा ।फिर दोनों देशों के बीच कॉम्पटीशन आयेगा। तब दलित कम्पटीशन करेंगे। फिर जब दलित को सम्मान मिलने लगेगा । फिर इसका विलय भारत में होगा।

    • If so -called Dalits and Bahujan Samaj decided to have a separate country , by sheer numbers, most of the India will belong to them. The only place for the Brahmins, will be a small section of the Indian landmass, where countries like Pakistand or China will easily wipe out the Brahmins.

      This is what Dr. Ambedkar said, that he does not respect a country where he and his community is treated worse than a dog is. In fact a dog is treated better than a Dali or a non-Brahmin. No matter how brilliant, intelligent a Dalit or Bahujan Samaj person is they are looked down upon by the Brahmins. In fact the only way to exterminate Brahminism is to stop the birth of Brahmins by forcing all Brahmin women to marry Dalits and Bahujan samaj men and force them to change their brahmin names. This is what the Muslims did, Force the brahmins to change their identity and wipe out their biased history and myths spewing the garbage which they use to indoctrinate the society.

  14. I read the full paper on the Public Understanding of Science journal. It reads very much like an agenda-driven piece of work. Her own biases and prejudices are evident in every paragraph of this paper. Let us look at some examples from the paper:

    1. Renny Thomas attacks the Brahmin scientists for preferring to eat vegetarian food. Many of these scientists accepted they have tried non-vegetarian food, but have gone back to a vegetarian diet. They were open-minded enough to try and then decided that vegetarianism is better. What is wrong with that? She thinks this is part of brahminical “dominance”. Just as no meat-eater is forced to or asked to become a vegetarian in free India, why is the diet of this one group a problem? IISc messes are open to everyone. No one is prevented or in anyway made to feel uncomfortable if they eat in mess A or B or C.

    2. Next, she has an issue with the brahmin scientists knowing and enjoying classical music. She says, “They used their knowledge in classical music as a form of cultural capital to distinguish themselves from the non-Brahmins who did not possess the wherewithal to acquire classical music in their childhood.” The cultural events at IISc are open to everyone. One Dalit scientist apparently told her that he prefer film music. What is wrong with this? If you don’t know or don’t enjoy a particular type of music, then go with what you like. Why is knowledge/preference for a certain type of music discriminatory?

    Another quote: “For them (Brahmin scientists), equality was about a level playing field and opportunities, which anyone irrespective of their caste backgrounds and the resultant social stigma could enter and make their name in science. However, the apparent castelessness and claims of objectivity among scientists coexisted with a significant interest in genealogies and family origins and in their preferences for distinct food habits and taste in music.” The brahmin scientists behind proud of their family history, eating vegetarian food and preferring classical/carnatic music are considered major offenses by Renny Thomas.

    3. Then, she goes on to attack famous scientists who have made great contributions to India. About G. Padmanaban, an internationally renowned biochemist, she says he “talks about the reason why he wanted to pursue his research in biotechnology and agriculture. He stated that India being a poor country he wanted to contribute for the upliftment of poor people. Surprisingly, even when he talks about underdevelopment, poverty and malnutrition, he does not mention the Dalits who were the main victims of poverty and discrimination.” Note the irony here. The man said he wanted to go into research to uplift the poor people – the majority of whom are likely Dalits. But the professor gets attacked because he did not mention the word “Dalit”. Similarly, she attacks Raja Ramanna, the father of nuclear energy in India, saying that in his autobiography, “he talks about everything except the caste inequality”

    4. A brahmin scientist, who apparently came from a poor family, told her about how despite his family’s poverty they believed in getting a good education, which led him to eventually becoming a scientists. She castigates him for talking about his poverty and not about his “brahminical privilege”. In Tamil Nadu, if you are poor Brahmin, you are absolutely on your own. Not only do you not get any reservation, you also have to absolutely be at the top of the class to get into a good university. Instead of appreciating this, he is made out to be a villain.

    Thomas wanted to spend a year at IISc to say how horrible brahmins are. She couldn’t find anything horrible. Many of them supported reservation up to university level and said when it comes to high level research, choose based on merit. As result, all she has is their food habits, musical preferences and lack of mention of caste in the autobiographies of former scientists. Her affiliation (Jesus and Mary College) exposes her agenda.

  15. Im boycotting this site for low grade writing. This is a true antihindu brahminphobic post. Brahmins are not even 1% of the majority even in Hindu subcaste, yet they work hard to attain education (without any reservations and without any financial support from government) and do noble work of pedagogy around the world. We live in a society in 21st century of peace loving brahmin society oppression and not giving them equal opportunities compared to others ( as a brahmin I can’t even dream of getting a reserved seat for education and jobs.) Are you so jealous about their success around the world that you hate non violent, veg eating , minority brahmin? Research is not a selfish business they are doing, research is about making contribution to the society by solving social problems using research and also sharing their knowledge to young generation for societal benefits. Any brahmin professors do not descriminate based on caste- they give equal knowledge to all the students regardless of their caste or religion. Why don’t you target greedy corporate class people who make fat pockets and care only about money than society? Did your Jesus told you to hate other caste just because they are working harder in life and doing better than you?

    • Now the Brahmins have left no room for doubt, for they have
      propounded a most mischievous dogma, which the Brahmins have spread
      among the masses, is the dogma of the infallibility of the Vedas. If the
      Hindu intellect has ceased to grow and if the Hindu civilization and
      culture has become a stagnant and stinking pool, this dogma must
      be destroyed root and branch if India is to progress. The Vedas are a
      worthless set of books. There is no reason either to call them sacred or
      infallible. The Brahmins have invested it with sanctity and infallibility
      only because by a later interpolation of what is called the Purusha —
      Sukta, the Vedas have made them the lords of the Earth. Nobody has had the courage to ask why these worthless books which contain nothing
      but invocation to tribal Gods to destroy the Enemies, loot their property
      and give it to their followers (have been made sacred and infallible). But
      the time has come when the Hindu mind must be freed from the hold*
      which the silly ideas propagated by the Brahmins, have on them. Without
      this liberation India has no future. I have undertaken this task knowing
      full well what risk* it involves. I am not afraid of the consequences. I
      shall be happy if I succeed in stirring the masses

      B.R Ambedkar
      Introduction to Riddles in Hinduism

      • It is not exactly clear what you want to do and what problem are you pointing out at? If Purusha Sukta is waste, you are not forced to read it or follow it. How has this Sukta harmed you? If you want to rid Hindus of whatever, what is it you want to take away from them and still make them be Hindus? Hope you are not talking about conversions to Christianity, as Hindus are free to follow or not to follow Purusha Sukta, Vishnu Sahasranama, Lalita Sahasranama, Durga Chalisa, Hanuman Chalisa, Shiva Chalisa, etc etc etc and still remain Hindus. So, how are the Hindus binded and by what?

      • Br ambedkar who had been taught by brahmin teacher that you will not mentioned , who supported him for eduction asshole propagandist, if there was so much of caste why constitution being accepted by everyone every hindu , even ambedakar said in last he didn’t studied any scripture so , his thought was wrong and he was propagandist too just to make certain followers of him for politics dumbass . Caste in hindus , did you caste is in every relegion and all others are more rigid , hindus will themselves with time but I think free reservation is getting over in your head .

  16. This is a true antihindu brahminphobic post. Brahmins are not even 1% of the majority even in Hindu subcaste, yet they work hard to attain education (without any reservations and without any financial support from government) and do noble work of pedagogy around the world. We live in a society in 21st century of peace loving brahmin society oppression and not giving them equal opportunities compared to others ( as a brahmin I can’t even dream of getting a reserved seat for education and jobs.) Are you so jealous about their success around the world that you hate non violent, veg eating , minority brahmin? Research is not a selfish business they are doing, research is about making contribution to the society by solving social problems using research and also sharing their knowledge to young generation for societal benefits. Any brahmin professors do not descriminate based on caste- they give equal knowledge to all the students regardless of their caste or religion. Why don’t you target greedy corporate class people who make fat pockets and care only about money than society? Did your Jesus told you to hate other caste just because they are working harder in life and doing better than you?

  17. Ever heard of Aryabhat, Bhaskar, Varahamihira, Ramanujan,C V Raman, Chandrashekhar, Rabindranath tagore, Abhijit binayak Banerjee?

    • Hey Dumbass, there are far more names which are not Brahmins and have contributed to the Science. Many of those were not even Brahmins, but Brahmins appropriated them after their contribution, or else how else will the Brahmins survive except by stealing and begging?

  18. Name any so-called Brahmin, who is even 1% of Tesla, J.K. Rowling, George R. R. Martin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Albert Einstein,Isaac Newton,TATA, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln, Ved Vyasa, Valmiki, Ambedkar.

    • Who invented zero?
      And: Aryabhat a North Indian brahmin

      Ever heard of Ramanujan?
      The famous Tamil brahmin , fellow of royal society.
      How many dalits have won Nobel prize?

  19. What Brahmins have achieved?? People here talking ill of Mr. Gupta calling him bania, and talking pride in themselves calling Brahmins. Lol. Baniyas and dalits are the one who make possible for Brahmins to eat taxes like in old times , when mughal and British ruled. Your Sanskrit mantras were of no use. Just like know your research is of no use , all inventions are done by western people, beef eaters. All Indian researchers eating public taxes , and talking rubbish. It’s same ,when your pet dogs bite you. Even when mughal came it was dalit who payed taxes for brahmins, son of a bitch

    • Don’t you ever dare to talk about Sanskrit. India was heavily modernised even before the western people started to think A B C D. Kautilya’ Arthshasthra, Kalhana Rajanathrangini, Chnakya’s Rajaneethi, and lakhs of such scholars were there in ancient India. Sankrit is the most suitable computer language, proved many researches. Why don’t you take pride in your culture?

    • Exactly. The Print is doing business and owner of Print is Shekar Gupta. Gupta is from Banya community.

  20. It is very clear from the article that the author had the conclusion in mind and has put in some text just trying to corroborate that conclusion

  21. Such articles and so-called research by a self -styled intectual published pseudo-sickular leftist Shekhar Gupta clearly shows that even if brahmins today care two hoots about caste and such divisions, such indiscriminate individuals will do everything to keep the matter alive. Having served in a completely secular and casteless environment for more than three decades, wherein life and death was judged by raw courage and personal sacrifice, it is shocking to see the petty-mindedness of pseudos trying keep social rifts in the people of the country alive at any cost. Shame on the writer and bigger shame on Shekhar Gupta for making such a write-up public.

    • These sickular liberals have no other work than to criticise Brahmins and Hindus. If one is a scientist, so he is scientist only, Not a Hindu Scientist, not a Dalit scientist. It is because of such liberals that India is not progressing in science.

  22. I have no issues with the findings of the study. But as a researcher, my only concern is with the ethics of disclosing the identity of the institution…does the author/researcher have the permissions to disclose the name of the institution? Even if the author/researcher did get it prior to commencing his research, was the institution fully aware that he was planning to disseminate the findings of the study in a popular medium of this kind? I have my doubts, particularly because the researcher/author is talking about sensitive such as religion and caste. .. Also, would the researcher actually be able to look “Sudarshan” in the eye after having built his career on the data that he collected from him and then decided to represent him in such a manner? There is an ethical issue here and it would be nice to know how the researcher negotiated these issues..

  23. I am student at IISc and I have never felt anything like that.
    This article is just bullshit and based on a very few people’s opinion with believe in caste.
    I have friends from all background from all over the country. I am from very small place and I have faced discrimination because of my caste but I m in IISc for last 5 years and nobody has asked what is my caste. And I have never come across anyone who has thinking like what is described here.
    Please don’t spread negativity.

  24. Being a scientist has got nothing to do with caste. It’s all about the mindset. It’s a piece of crap that you have researched further dividing the society. Why don’t you go and research how many Brahmins are below the poverty line? Caste has got nothing to do with economic and intellectual strength of person. Please stop dividing the society like this.

  25. Indian media has nothing to do but only casteism, regionalism, language, nepotism, paid media is dangerous then terrorists . God save this nation from reservation in all places . Main reason of brain drain is reservation but no one cares to correct it. Reservation is being being enjoyed by elite SC, ST, OBC for generation by deriving the rights of their own brothers , shame on such opportunists , parasites, in all four pillars of democracy making it a feudal democracy .

  26. So long as Communists exists with their pseudo names like Benny, Pinny and all, society will never change. Most of the Brahmins or so called upper castes have already migrated out from places like Kerala and Tamil Nadu and thriving better. These missionaries and converts have only one slogan left, remove Brahmins from all institutions. So much of of reservations. Can Benny Thomas take his daughter to a hospital to be treated by a doctor who got the job and degree, just because he had quota to be filled and came their purely based on his caste? So much hate? If it is US, I would sued him for a sum, which he and his entire family cannot earn in next 4 lives. In India, nobody cares and there is no law punish these hate mongers. Shekar Gupta, you will achieve nothing by such hate journalism.

  27. The reason why India’s premier technology institute has NEVER done any research of significance is it is entirely BRAHMIN dominated. They don’t allow any others to even enter and suffocate them at every possible way.

    • Brahmins are very few in numbers. All others are so huge in numbers and very intelligent too. Why do they not set up institutions and spread their knowledge and prove their efficienty so that your point can be proven?

      • The reason why India’s premier technology institute has NEVER done any research of significance is Indians are not that smart including brahmins. They are just rote learners. What is brahmin anyways. It’s a mulatto mixed race group that developed around a temple cult. They are all pretty much the same.

  28. why do you post such horrible and terrible personal views? People like the author are sick, All these days they wanted reservation in Jobs and Promotion and successfully stopped brahmins from occupying higher posts and now want to stop Brahmins from studying also.,

  29. Dravidian ideology introduced and nurtured by the christian church has succeeded in ethnically cleansing a huge portion of the Brahmin population from Tamilnadu. Now they want them out of education and research field as the church cannot carry on its nefarious activities in IIT and IISc campuses as long as the brahmins are well entrenched over there. This nonsensical article points towards that direction. When the non hindu right to eat beef is taken as a major issue by the leftists, then why can’t the hindus have the right to eat vegetarian food in a seperate dining hall?

  30. Dear print!
    We could read the fine print behind your print.
    I must ask is there no law against such fake news media’s?
    There should be some mechanism to bring them to justice!
    These goons are not above the law.

    And Renny Thomas ! FYI Jesus was an Hindu Saint! 🤣🤣

  31. Calm down guys….. They are not defaming any community, religion or INDIA, as a journalists they are just presenting data.

    • He is not presenting data. He is a lecturer at Jesus and Mary College. A church funded institute,where you are required to be a Christian to hold any position. If you were from south India,you would be knowing,these Christians are a real threat. West is turning atheist so church needs new followers and print is helping them.

  32. To the Editor The print

    Thanks for publishing this article . After reading all these , a common man can understand that this is purely biased one and clearly to create a division to the society.

    As you say if all the top positions are held by Brahmins , it’s because of their hardwork , determination and dedication. They had no reservations , no govt funded stipend ,no reservations in jobs, still they attained which is appreciable. Right from independence the India Govt had introduced reservation system. No brahmins prevented backward caste to study or to attain top positions any where. Apart from this most of the govt organisations and universities have earmarked reservation for each positions to backward class . Dr Ambedkar as we all know was from a backward class who was a backbone in framing Indian Constitution mentioned that, the reservation for Blackward class should be given for only 50 years. Now we are on 75th anniversary of independence still this reservations not stopped but increased. If nothing is achieved inspite of all these how you can blame brahmins?

    By this article we all know that this is purely a drama script written for few politicians and religious leaders.

    Once again thanks and appreciate your effort of Divide and Rule.

  33. I am appalled by the standards of the article. Public Understanding of Science is a 3rd rate journal in Anthropolgy. Opinions of a few people as touted as a a study? Under the guise of ethnographic study, the author has pushed his biases, with no statistical relevance to what is mentioned here. The author Renny Thomas is hardly of a repute, his google scholar page shows his previous work in sub-par journals, hardly cited by others (which is an independent aspect of how his work is judged). His highest cited work (10 citations) consist of 6 self citations. Meaning, he has cited himself saying great job dude. Such kind of practices are frowned upon in the western academia. The least The Print can do when coming up with such articles is to ensure quality & have authors of a minimum repute!
    I am disappointed with the print. Yellow journalism still lives on in India!

  34. This article is promulgating idea of ISI Pakistan
    It is disheartening to know that Congress party , has become so desperate for power that it is promoting division of Indian society

  35. Why there is no research on poor Brahmins working as rickshaw pullers and scavengers.
    Anyway,compliments to wire for racking issues to divide further the already divided society.

  36. The brahmins claim and assume intellectual superiority for they didn’t allow others to study .They denied the acquirement of knowledge by lower communities. OBCs ,SCs and STs became marginalized because they were denied education and they had been treated untouchables.
    The article reveals sheer nonsense s and the author’s biased mind set

  37. This news portal needs to be seriously boycotted… Do they have any idea on what are they writing!!?? These people are anti India and now is the time to expose such bigots.

  38. “This norm is visible from Sudarshan (names used are anonymised for ethical reasons), a Tamil Brahmin scientist who works in the field of Aeronautics, when stating that the Brahmins are ‘passionate’ about learning, and others are interested only in ‘money making’.” This statement gives all reasons why Dalits and OBCs don’t choose science. Pure science is an area where there is no money or power. They would rather do graduation or engineering, join government service so that they can make money to last seven generations. By the way, has this narrow minded writer checked the field of Karnatak Music? Which language, and caste is predominent?

  39. बामण इस देश की मेरिट नहीं हैं बल्कि कलंक है ।
    इस देश में व्याप्त भूख,गरीबी, बेरोजगारी, किसानों की आत्महत्या, युवाओं में बढती आत्महत्या, देश के हर कौने में हुई आतंकवादी घटना,पाकिस्तान की इंटेलिजेंस ब्यूरो ISI को भारत की गुप्त सूचनाएँ देना आदि सभी प्रकार की समस्याओं के लिए बामण प्रत्यक्ष या अप्रत्यक्ष रूप से जिम्मेदार हैं ।
    इनके लिए भी तो Study करो।
    बामणों ने इस study के माध्यम से भारत देश की तमाम अन्य जातियों को बेवकूफ़ दिखाने की गंदी व घटिया हरकत की है।

    • srinivas ramanujan, c.v raman, bal gangadhar tilak, chandrashekhar azaad, ram prasad bismil , rani laxmi bai, mangal pandey, chanakya, kaun the.
      har cheez ke liye brahman zimmedaar nahi hai
      jab bhi invasion hua , sabse zyaada brahmin maare gaye.
      1990 me bhi kashmir me brahmins maare gaye

      • Where were the other castes in Kashmir?? It was Brahmins who first collided with paki against Dogras taking side of Pandit Nehruu to throw out all hindus except Kashmiri Pandits. Karma seen…..

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