A dear friend of mine once confided in me that her boyfriend would face significant opposition from her family because he was not a south indian. She would face opposition from his family because she is not of the same caste (brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, shudra) as he is.
There have been times where people have opted not to date a potential guy/ girl in order to avoid the hassles of this opposition. I honestly feel that in today's day and age, such barriers are meaningless when the following assumptions hold true:
-You have never been raised a specific way from a particular old age
-The way you have been raised is exactly the way your potential guy/ girl has been raised (in a broad sense) and the details can be adjusted to or eliminated
-You HAVE been raised in a traditional, particular way of ye olde age and you have absolutely no intention of raising your kids that way.
In the good old days, caste restrictions existed for a very specific reason. They wanted to maintain their gene pool, their occupation, their customs and their lifestyle.
The occupational barriers, which existed in recent history, were primarily due to caste i.e. a brahmin had to be a priest and a kshatriya had to fight wars and expand his kingdom. In this modern era, occupations are not bound by caste, so what sense does it make to create a barrier based on this reason?
The second possible reason for these barriers include the lifestyle. But then, as per my blog written before titled 'So who is the right one for you', this reason should be looked for no matter what. Therefore, it does not make sense to restrict this to caste and region alone. It would behoove an individual to marry someone who shares the same lifestyle as him/ her than someone who has a drastically different one.
The third reason entails maintaining the same customs as the forefathers. This point becomes irrelevant when the parents themselves do not follow the customs or if the child does not intend to follow the same customs, there exists no logical reason to create this artificial barrier of caste.
Finally, to say gene pool is limited by caste is foolish since the lowest class in Indian culture has produced gems such as Dr. Ambedkar. This is not to say that any one caste is superior to another, but that limiting one's search for a potential due to caste or ethnicity (north indian/ south indian) might in itself be a limiting factor for finding the best compatible gene pool out there.
When thought about logically, it does not make sense for the elders to restrict their young 'uns when it comes to searching for a mate, nor does it make sense for them to restrict their own search in the market for an arranged marriage. Age old traditions are exactly that - age old! Why hold on to traditions that do not resonate with the inner conscience or make logical sense? For tradition for the sake of tradition is foolish...
There have been times where people have opted not to date a potential guy/ girl in order to avoid the hassles of this opposition. I honestly feel that in today's day and age, such barriers are meaningless when the following assumptions hold true:
-You have never been raised a specific way from a particular old age
-The way you have been raised is exactly the way your potential guy/ girl has been raised (in a broad sense) and the details can be adjusted to or eliminated
-You HAVE been raised in a traditional, particular way of ye olde age and you have absolutely no intention of raising your kids that way.
In the good old days, caste restrictions existed for a very specific reason. They wanted to maintain their gene pool, their occupation, their customs and their lifestyle.
The occupational barriers, which existed in recent history, were primarily due to caste i.e. a brahmin had to be a priest and a kshatriya had to fight wars and expand his kingdom. In this modern era, occupations are not bound by caste, so what sense does it make to create a barrier based on this reason?
The second possible reason for these barriers include the lifestyle. But then, as per my blog written before titled 'So who is the right one for you', this reason should be looked for no matter what. Therefore, it does not make sense to restrict this to caste and region alone. It would behoove an individual to marry someone who shares the same lifestyle as him/ her than someone who has a drastically different one.
The third reason entails maintaining the same customs as the forefathers. This point becomes irrelevant when the parents themselves do not follow the customs or if the child does not intend to follow the same customs, there exists no logical reason to create this artificial barrier of caste.
Finally, to say gene pool is limited by caste is foolish since the lowest class in Indian culture has produced gems such as Dr. Ambedkar. This is not to say that any one caste is superior to another, but that limiting one's search for a potential due to caste or ethnicity (north indian/ south indian) might in itself be a limiting factor for finding the best compatible gene pool out there.
When thought about logically, it does not make sense for the elders to restrict their young 'uns when it comes to searching for a mate, nor does it make sense for them to restrict their own search in the market for an arranged marriage. Age old traditions are exactly that - age old! Why hold on to traditions that do not resonate with the inner conscience or make logical sense? For tradition for the sake of tradition is foolish...
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