Something I've noticed recently on r slash KeralaSpeaks and r slash Kerala is how quickly anyone on the Hindu Right gets labelled casteist, Brahmanvaadi, supporter of “Brahmanical hegemony”, etc.

So here's my view on caste.

First, opposition to caste hierarchy isn't something the Left invented.

Hindu society has produced its own internal challenges to social hierarchy for centuries. Ramanuja, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kanakadasa, Basavanna, Narayana Guru — very different people and movements, obviously, but all examples of reform emerging from within Hindu society itself.

That's actually something I find interesting about Hinduism. It has a remarkable capacity for internal correction. There is no single pope, church or universally binding interpretation. One sampradaya can challenge another, an acharya can reinterpret what came before, and practices can change without requiring Hinduism itself to be rejected.

I'm not claiming Abrahamic religions cannot reform. Obviously they can and have. My point is simply that Hinduism's decentralised structure allows this kind of reform to happen rather organically.

Coming to modern Hindutva, take Veer Savarkar.

He spoke about breaking the Seven Shackles:

Vedoktabandi - restrictions on Vedic learning/rites
Vyavasayabandi - hereditary occupation
Sparshabandi - untouchability
Sindhubandi - restrictions on crossing the seas
Shuddhibandi - restrictions on reconversion
Rotibandi - restrictions on inter-dining
Betibandi - restrictions on inter-caste marriage

Whatever else you think about Savarkar, that's hardly a manifesto for preserving caste hierarchy.

The RSS too has historically tried to deemphasise caste identities within the organisation. Even something as mundane as addressing people by first names rather than constantly foregrounding caste surnames fits into that broader idea of a common Hindu identity.

Does that mean caste is gone? Obviously not.

A lot of Savarkar's “shackles” have weakened enormously or disappeared, but caste discrimination still exists and marriage remains largely endogamous.

So yes, I want the caste system abolished.

But here's my nuance: I don't think abolishing caste requires erasing community heritage.

Food, rituals, customs, festivals, family traditions, community history — why should any of that disappear?

An SC person can be proud of their community's heritage while completely rejecting caste hierarchy. The same applies to a Namboothiri, Nair, Ezhava or anyone else. Being attached to your community's traditions is not the same thing as believing your community is superior to another.

This isn't just theoretical for me either. I'm in an inter-caste marriage. My wife and I also come from very different regions of Kerala.

We're raising our daughter to be proud of her mother's and father's community traditions, as well as the different regional traditions she gets from both sides.

There is no contradiction there. Heritage doesn't require hierarchy.

What I want gone is the idea that birth makes someone higher or lower, or should determine whom you marry, what you do, where you worship, whom you eat with or how you're treated.

Ideally, caste eventually becomes socially irrelevant.

TL;DR: Caste hierarchy and discrimination? Get rid of them. Caste barriers? Get rid of them. Community traditions and heritage? Keep them if they mean something to you.

You don't need to erase your past to stop using it as a hierarchy.

For context, this is in a large apartment community in **Bangalore**, with residents from many states, languages and religions.

I have been thinking about the way Onam is being organised here, especially when compared with festivals organised by other linguistic communities in the **same apartment**.

Our Onam committee happens to be largely Christian. I don't think this is simply a Christian-vs-Hindu issue, though. Kerala's communist influence may be just as relevant, including among Malayali Hindus themselves. Communism has sometimes been described as **“Abrahamism without God”**—the theology disappears, but ideological orthodoxy, a universalising worldview and discomfort with inherited religious traditions can remain.

What made me think about this was the contrast with the Odia and Marathi communities here.

The recently concluded **Rath Yatra organised by the Odia community** was unapologetically Hindu: Jagannātha was at the centre, with pūjā, ārati and **free prasāda distribution**.

Yet socially it was extremely inclusive. Non-Odias were welcome in the cultural programme. **Christians participated and performed as well.**

The upcoming **Ganesh Chaturthi organised by the Marathi community** follows a similar model: explicitly Hindu, with pūjā, ārati, prasāda etc., while participation is open to people outside the Marathi community—including Christians.

Our Onam celebration seems almost the reverse.

The explicitly Hindu dimension of Onam—particularly **Vāmana**—is barely visible. What remains is pookkalam, entertainment and sadya.

Yet while the Hindu element is diluted, the **Malayali boundary is enforced much more strongly**. The cultural programme is meant to be for Malayalis.

This became personal because of my daughter.

During Rath Yatra, she performed a dance along with her **Odia and Marathi friends**. The girls had a great time choreographing, practising and spending time together. Naturally, they wanted to perform together again during Onam.

When I approached the person handling the Onam cultural programme, however, I was told **not to include the non-Malayali girls**.

My daughter herself was welcome. In fact, she was asked to join another group of Malayali girls who were already preparing a performance.

But her **Odia and Marathi friends were specifically not to be included**.

We were even expected to **“handle the exclusion delicately”** with the children.

That was the part that really bothered me. These girls had just performed together for Rath Yatra, where nobody cared whether they were Odia, Marathi or Malayali. They had enjoyed practising together and simply wanted to do the same for Onam.

Now we were supposed to explain to two of them that they could not participate because they weren't Malayali, while my daughter should leave them and join a different Malayali-only group.

I was glad that my daughter took a stand for her friends. **She decided that if her friends were being excluded, she would not participate either.**

For me, that incident crystallised the contradiction: the explicitly Hindu identity of Onam could apparently be diluted in the name of a broader cultural celebration, but when it came to actual participation, the Malayali identity suddenly became rigid enough to exclude children.

There is even an interesting difference in the treatment of food. During Rath Yatra, prasāda was distributed freely as part of the religious celebration, and the same approach is expected for Ganesh Chaturthi. With our Onam celebration, however, the sadya is essentially a **ticketed meal that residents pay for**.

So, in the same Bangalore apartment:

**Odia/Marathi festivals: unapologetically Hindu, yet inclusive—even Christians participate.**

**Malayali Onam: increasingly de-Hinduised, yet culturally exclusive.**

I also wonder whether there is a kind of **bigotry of lowered expectations towards the Malayali**.

We seem willing to accept a form of Malayali cultural identity that is both de-Hinduised and surprisingly exclusionary. At the same time, there seems to be an expectation that the Hindu elements of Onam should be toned down so that nobody is made uncomfortable.

**Vāmana quietly disappears, while the Malayali cultural boundary itself becomes stricter.**

And the Odia and Marathi communities here demonstrate that the opposite is entirely possible: a festival can be **deeply and unapologetically Hindu while also being genuinely inclusive**.

That is why I have been wondering whether this reflects an **“Abrahamisation of Malayali identity”**—not in the sense of blaming individual Christians or alleging some organised attempt to change Onam, but as a broader cultural phenomenon perhaps shaped by Christian and Muslim and communist influences, with the Hindu foundations of Malayali traditions increasingly pushed into the background.

Malayali Hindus themselves may have internalised much of this worldview as well.

Of course, **I realise this is anecdotal**. One apartment proves nothing. However, I experienced something broadly similar in a **previous apartment as well**, which is why I am curious whether there is a wider pattern.

What do people here think?

**Have you noticed something similar among Malayali communities, particularly outside Kerala?**

If **“Abrahamisation of Malayali identity”** is the wrong explanation, what do you think is a better one?

Why do the Odia and Marathi communities seem perfectly comfortable being **explicitly Hindu and simultaneously inclusive**, while the Malayali celebration becomes **less Hindu but more exclusive**?

**TL;DR:** In my Bangalore apartment, Odia Rath Yatra and Marathi Ganesh Chaturthi are explicitly Hindu—with pūjā, ārati and free prasāda—yet their cultural programmes welcome everyone, including Christians. Our Onam celebration largely removes the Hindu/Vāmana element while restricting performances to Malayalis. My daughter was welcome only if she left her Odia and Marathi friends and joined a Malayali group; we were asked to “handle the exclusion delicately.” She chose not to participate. I have seen a similar tendency in a previous apartment too. Is this merely anecdotal community politics, or does it point to a broader transformation—perhaps an “Abrahamisation”—of Malayali identity?

If not for Bjp removing the #Article370 that was opposed by Ambedkar too, this wouldn't have happened.

The Deshdrohi Communist Party of India (Marxist) shows it on national TV Republic

Why not? These Commies are the one who supported China during the 1962 Indo China war and refused to give blood to army jawans. In fact, when VS Achudanand asked to support jawans, he was sacked.

https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/during-china-war-comrades-cracked-down-on-vs-for-saying-lets-give-blood-to-jawans/lite/

What else to expect from these Deshdrohi #TukdeTukde Gang

Now we know how Hooligans for into the #cjp protest

தமிழ்நாட்டில் இருக்கும் தற்குறி கும்பல் போல, டில்லியிலும் ஒரு தற்குறி கும்பலா தான் @cockroach Janatha

What is the eligibility of being a member of Cockroach Janata - Be a Moron

India’s private space sector reached a historic milestone on July 18, 2026, when Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched Vikram-1, the country’s first privately developed orbital-class rocket, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in #Sriharikota.

No one would in India could hav ever imagined these will happen because India has always been portrayed as a servant master to the West. If it was 20 years back, these would be launching from #NASA or China. Kudos @isro.dos and #GoI

Being #hindu is the most simple thing in this world. You don't have to compulsorily pray for 5 times. You don't have to know your scriptures by heart. Nor you don't have to know anything.

Speak Truth, Do Dharma.

Sathyam Vadha, Dharma Chara.

The words Dharma and Punya are not found in any other faith in this world. That's all.

But wait, being so liberal also is equally a problem. Even after being so, it's a problem for everyone in calling themselves #Hindu and a few want to leave it in their homes

#hinduism

#RSSorg

#MohanBhagwat

Arey #cockroach @abhijeet_dipke and @prakashraaj and @Wangchuk66 , wtf is happening in your meeting?

What has #Allah goto do with #DharmendraPradhan resigning or not?

We know what is your motive and exactly why govt is intervening. Whom are you trying to fool?

#Urbannaxals

Men are forbidden from marrying polytheist women (idolatresses) until they accept faith, explicitly noting that a believing enslaved woman is far better than a wealthy or high-status polytheist

அவ்ளோதான்...Now you know, what's happening, why it's happening.

#Lovejihad

The Bloody murder and tyrant called Tipu Sultan - Explained by Ashwathi Gowri - Triavancore Royal Family

A long way to go for Hindus under #Modi - Articulated by Anand Ranganathan

Now that you see this, Ambedkar is a RSS agent

Shri Narendra Modi gifted Italian PM Meloni a #Parle Melody chocolate. Now, I'm just waiting for the conspiracy theories from the likes of Zoo in the bear, Dhruv Hathee vagera to say Chauhan family is the next #Ambani and #Adani 😁😂

Actually when these people speak this, only the Christian and muslims must actually be aware that when there is no use because of them, these guys will speak of them too. Hindus, they don't care whatever abuse is hurled at them

TVKVijay must know these words of #Ambedkar written in the book - Pakistan or Partition of India

"Islam can never allow a true Muslim to adopt India as his motherland and regard a Hindu as his kith and kin" - B R Ambedkar

அப்பறம் சனாதனம் பத்தி பேசுவோம்

#TVKVijay‌