In what could be the last nail in the coffin of votary of Mandal politics who swear that backward castes and Dalits have been exploited for thousands of years, a team of international genetic scientists has proved that there never was any caste system in the country in old times and the present day caste classification is of recent origin.
The American Journal of Human Genetics, a venerated scientific journal, in its August 8 issue has published the findings of the international team of scientists which includes researchers drawn out from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and the Harvard Medical School in the USA. Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj, senior scientist, CCMB, Hyderahad, told The Pioneer over telephone that there is no scientific or technological basis for the classification of the Indian population as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras or Dalits. “We found that the entire population of the country, ranging from north to south and west to east, has the same genetic composition. There is nothing in the human genome or the genes (the life building blocks) which prove that there are differences between the above mentioned groups,” explained Dr Thangaraj, who earlier had demolished the Aryan-Dravidian theory through another research project.
The study confirmed beyond any doubt that modern day India is the result of recent population mixture among divergent demographic groups. Mixture between different population was rampant. “Endogamy, the practice of marrying within the local community and a key attribute to the caste system, became a norm later,” said Dr Thangaraj. Dr David Reich, professor of genetics, Harvard Medical School, team leader of the scientists from the USA said the caste system as seen in present day India was of recent origin. “There was no caste system before 4,000 years. It was the setting in of the endogamy which froze everything in place,” explains Prof Reich with the data and observations collected out of testing more than 100 Indian population groups.
Interestingly, the team had established that there were only two ancestral population groups in pre-historic India. “The present population which we see in India emerged from these two ancestral population through marriages which we address as admixing,” said Dr Thangaraj. Dr lalji Singh, Vice Chancellor, Banaras Hindu University and one of the lead researchers in the project was more emphatic while summing up the scientific observations “There was no caste system in the sub-continent,” he said. According to Dr Thangaraj, the caste system was a ploy deployed by a group of people settled in villages and other settlements to protect their vested interests. “It is similar to the scions of Nehru-Gandhi family controlling the Congress and members of the Karunanidhi clan in Tamil Nadu calling the shots in the DMK. Only members of these families can lead their respective parties. The caste system is an extension of this unwritten rule,” said a senior Indian member of the research team.
Dr Gyaneshwar Chaubey, well known genetic scientist, Tartu University, Estonia, had proved that there never was a Brahmin in his Chaubey village in UP as recently as 700 years ago. “It is nothing but politics and commercial interests,” he had told The Pioneer. So, political parties in the country fighting election with caste-based politics and those who criticise inter-caste marriages, better take note. There is no scientific basis for the issues on which you are fighting each other.