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Manusmriti not only laid down the rules prohibiting
untouchables from getting the education, punishing untouchables and women for
not following the rules of Manusmriti, it also defined how community divided
into the castes should name their children.
I have many times wondered why names of Dalits (especially
Dalits of my parents’ generation) are bad and sometimes derogatory such as
Manga (Begging/Beggar), Jalah (one who doesn’t know anything, kind of
retarded), Kachra (Rubbish) (remember famous movie Lagan’s Dalit character’s
name?) etc. I am sure older generation can surely bring worse names than what I
have mentioned here and were assigned to Dalits.
I also remember my father telling me that Dalits were not
allowed to name their kids’ good names as were so-called upper castes. Still,
you can hear backlash news if some Dalit names his/her kid “differently” than
what society accepts. Many a time, Dalits are even killed for having the same
name as of some so-called upper caste person.
I always knew there must be something in the Brahminical
scriptures that prohibits Dalits from having good names. Today, I stumbled upon
the following verses from the Manusmriti, law book of Hindus that guidelines
how society should have names/surnames and no wonder Brahminical society
followed –
II – 31. Let (the first part of) a brahmin’s (denote)
something auspicious, a kshatriya’s name be connected with power and a
vaishya’s with wealth, but a Shudra’s (express something) contemptible.
II-32. (The second part of) a brahmin’s (name) shall be (a
word) implying happiness, of a kshatriya’s (word) implying protection, of a
Vaishya’s (a term) expressive of thriving, and of a shudra’s (an expression)
denoting service.
Source : velivada.com
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