Ancient Nuclear War . . . Blasted Back to the Stone Age

"A single projectile charged with all the power in the Universe...An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as 10,000 suns, rose in all its splendor...it was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes an entire race.

"The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. Their hair and nails fell out, pottery broke without any apparent cause, and the birds turned white.

"After a few hours, all foodstuffs were infected. To escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves into the river."

These excerpts purportedly taken from the Mahabharata describe a terrible war, in which weapons were used that reduced civilizations to ashes. Below is a compilation of descriptions of the effects of these weapons, copied from Rense.com (http://www.rense.com/general3/8000.htm).





Though upon a cursory perusal of the Mahabharata, I could not find these specific quotes, I did find many other representations of the weapons used that sound rather like nuclear devices leveling armies, and vehicles that are described that seems rather unlike so-called "primitive" means of conveyance.

The flying machines of the gods, called Vimana, are described in various epics such as the Mahabharata and in the Vedas. There are also various anomolous archaeological finds, including a site near Rajasthan, India which has a layer of radioactive ash, and numerous sites worldwide including vitrified sand (sand fused into glass) and melted stonework buildings that indicate the possibility that "advanced" technologies of war were used in ancient times (if technologies of great destruction could be called "advanced"). Consider the "gods" and their "flying machines" as (dare I write it?) possibly of alien origin. And consider Krishna, who is represented as having blue skin . . .



[Quite well produced History Channel documentary on the ancient UFO connection, including a discussion of the Indian texts describing possible nuclear exchanges in the Mahabharata, etc . . .

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5682121349064772632&ei=TBXBSab4FJKqrQL_kNnJAw&q=full%20movie&hl=en&dur=3]

Also consider the words of Robert Oppenheimer:



Oppenheimer, one of the primary developers of the nuclear bomb, was asked by a student if the bomb blast at Alamagordo, NM was the first. Oppenheimer, a fan of the Vedas and other ancient Indian texts responded, "Yes, in modern times." What he meant was, not including the ancient nuclear exchanges recorded in the ancient Indian epics such as the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita, etc.

Among other reasons I am writing this post is that I believe it is important to accurately remember history that we might not repeat the mistakes made by peoples of the past. To recognize the mistakes of the past can help us avoid such foolish and unnecessary destruction in the now and into the future. Though I do not maintain unequivocally that the following descriptions are truly orally transmitted accounts stylized and then written to describe ancient nuclear warfare, it is at least thought provoking to consider and contemplate that possibility. The evidences are worth some thought, at least . . .

"While borne in battle by those white steeds, that car looked exceedingly resplendent like a celestial car borne along the firmament. And like Sakra's car, O king, in the battle between the gods and the Asuras in days of old, it displayed circular, forward, backward, and diverse other kinds of motion . . . then he shot the weapon called Tvashtra that is capable of slaying large bodies of foes together . . . Dhananjaya with great speed dispelled, by means of the Vayavya weapon, that arrowy downpour shot by his foes. Then the illustrious Vayu (the presiding deity of that mighty weapon) bore away crowds of Samsaptakas with steeds and elephants and cars and weapons, as if these were dry leaves of trees. Borne away by the wind, O king, they looked highly beautiful, like flights of birds, O monarch, flying away from trees. Then Dhananjaya, having afflicted them thus, with great speed struck hundreds and thousands of them with sharp shafts." (Book 7, Section 19)

Though it might seem odd to red a description of these terrible weapons intermixed with representations of bows and arrows, keep in mind that this text was written long after the events, and after those who waged these battles decided not to pass on these terrible technologies of destruction to their descendants, for fear such devastating wars might occur again.

"Terrified by that blare, that car-host of the Samsaptakas stood motionless in battle, as if it was petrified. And all their animals stood with eyes wide open, ears and necks and lips paralysed, and legs motionless. And they passed urine and vomited blood." (Book 7, Section 18)

"Then Nila, resembling a veritable fire, his arrows constituting its sparks and his bow its flame, began to consume the Kuru ranks, like a conflagration consuming heaps of dry grass." (Book 7, Section 29)



"Thereupon, Partha shot the Brahma weapon and nearly exterminated them all. Hundreds upon hundreds of arms with bows and arrows and bowstrings in grasp, cut off from trunks, and hundreds upon hundreds of standards and steeds and charioteers and car-warriors, fell down on the ground. Huge elephants, well-equipped and resembling foremost hills over-grown with woods or masses of clouds, afflicted with Partha's shafts and deprived of riders, fell down on the earth. Many elephants again, with riders on their backs, crushed by means of Arjuna's shafts, fell down, deprived of life, shorn of the embroidered cloths on their backs, and with their housings torn. Cut off by Kiritin with his broad-headed arrows, countless arms having swords and lances and rapiers for their nails or having clubs and battle-axes in grasp, fell down on the earth. Heads also, beautiful, O king, as the morning sun or the lotus or the moon, cut off by Arjuna with his arrows, dropped down on the ground. While Phalguni in rage was thus engaged in slaying the foe with diverse kinds of well-adorned and fatal shafts, that host seemed to be ablaze." (Book 7, Section 25)

"Having dried up the Samsaptaka ocean by means of weapons that constituted his rays, the son of Pandu then blasted the Kurus also, as if he were the very Sun that arises at the end of the Yuga. Indeed, Arjuna scorched all the Kurus by the heat of his weapons, like the fire 1 that appears at the end of the Yuga, burning down all creatures. Struck by him with thousands of shafts, elephant warriors and horsemen and car-warriors fell down on the earth, with dishevelled hair, and exceedingly afflicted with those arrowy showers, some uttered cries of distress. Others set up loud shouts. And some struck with the shafts of Partha, fell down deprived of life. Recollecting the practices of (good) warriors, Arjuna struck not those combatants among the foe that had fallen down, or those that were retreating, or those that were unwilling to fight. Deprived of their cars and filled with wonder, almost all the Kauravas, turning away from the field, uttered cries of Oh and Alas and called upon Karna (for protection) . . . Then (Karna) that foremost of Bharata car-warriors, that delighter of all the Bharatas, that first of all persons acquainted with weapons, invoked into existence the Agneya weapon . . . And similarly, Adhiratha's son also baffled the shafts of Arjuna of supreme energy. Resisting Arjuna's weapons thus by his own, Karna uttered loud shouts and shot many shafts at his antagonist . . . Beholding brave warriors, accomplished in arms and covered

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with blood, strike one another, they that were timid and of weak hearts, lost their senses. In fact, all became cheerless. Nothing could any longer be distinguished. Overwhelmed with the dust raised by the troops, the battle became furious. Then the commander of the Pandava forces saying, 'This is the time,' speedily led the Pandavas on those heroes that are always endued with great activity. Obeying his behest, the mighty-armed Pandavas, smiting (the Katirava army) proceeded towards Drona's car like swans towards a lake,--'Seize him,'---'Do not fly away,'--'Do not fear,'--'Cut into pieces,'--these uproarious cries were heard in the vicinity of Drona's car. Then Drona and Kripa, and Karna and Drona's son, and king Jayadratha, and Vinda and Anuvinda of Avanti, and Salya, received those heroes. Those irresistible and invincible warriors, however, viz., the Panchalas and the Pandavas, inspired by noble sentiments, did not, though afflicted with shafts, avoid Drona. Then Drona, excited with great rage, shot hundreds of shafts, and caused a great carnage amongst the Chedis, the Panchalas, and the Pandavas. The twang of his bowstring and the slaps of his palms, were, O sire, heard on all sides. And they resembled the roar of thunder and struck fear into the hearts of all." (Book 7, Section 30)

Now there are obviously multiple possible interpretations of these verses. Keep in mind that the translation is only partially accurate, at best, and that the Sanskrit words can be rendered into many possible English translations. For example, the word translated as "overwhelmed" in the section directly above is generally translated as "comet" by the translator's own admission. A "comet" with "dust raised" could sound rather like some sort of missile hurled, or could merely be a poetic rendering of such horrible carnage.

Laramie's Lovely Lilacs . . . And Failed Ninja-Style Stick-Splicing

Laramie's lilacs are legion this year, perhaps more abundant than I can recall of any previous.



Oh so lovely and lavendar in color (and perhaps exceeding said color's namesake flower's scent in texture and emotions elicited), and with olifactory bliss awaiting the wanton nose, desirous to inhale the luscious molecules of floral intoxication the lilac bush's blooms provide.



I must admit, I did enjoy the crabapple blossoms which preceded. The subtle yet arousing scent of blossoms of the Rosaceae family (not to be confused with rosacea, a skin condition commonly known as adult acne)--nigh all have their olifactory merits, and crabapple blossoms, among the first flowers to bloom up here in the high country, are a welcome respite from the bite of winter, surpassing the scent of most proper roses by a fair span, and certainly beating the smells of burning pine and cold of wintertime.



Yet I must note, I am a bit embittered at the crabbyapple trees of this town, for last spring I endeavored to get no small number of them to receive limb transplants of a more fruitful version of their family tree, and they summarily rejected these attempts to attach full-sized-apple bearing scions to their trunks.



I dressed in black as I (with the help of one friend on one occasion) stealthily prowled around town during the early spring nights with sharp blade and saw and grafting compound in hand to covertly graft over one hundred scions onto said stubborn crabapples, evading the authorities with grace and ease as I sought to complete my mission, as I was wishin' to bring a bit less bitter a harvest to Laramie's fall.



Alas, as far as I know, not one scion successfully attached to even one single crabapple tree, despite every indication that I'd done it right.



I might add that the lilacs last spring did not smell so sweet as this season's and were hardly abundant, and that the crabapple blossoms certainly outdid the lilacs last year in terms of providing both olifactory and visual pleasure. Nonetheless, what harm could have come from a few full-sized eating apples dangling from trees otherwise covered in tiny sour fruit?

Oh well . . . this year both crabapples and lilacs have put on a good spring show, despite the fact neither provides much of a blessing, come the fall.

Lotus Flower Perfection

सत्त्व sattva (righteousness, pure being)

धर्म dharma (teaching, justice)

ऱ्त Rta (correct, true, root of English word "right," though not "as opposed to left")

Sanskrit and . . . Somali?!?!

Though this is a more obvious or intuitive connection to be drawn than the Sanskrit-Native American (Indian!) connection (see post entitled, "Maybe Columbus Was Right After All") upon a cursory study, the Somali language contains quite a number of near cognates to Sanskrit.



agal Somali, "house"
agAra Sanskrit, "house, apartment"



nin Somali, "man"
ninditAzva Sanskrit, "of a man"





The "Orishas" of Africa (guardian spirits) might well be derived from the term "rishi" from India, which denotes shaman or guru.



haruud Somali, "yellow"
Haruuda Somali, "being yellow"
haridambara Sanskrit, "wearing a yellow or green garment"
haridra Sanskrit, "the yellow sandal tree"



jacayl Somali, "love"
kalgacal Somali, "love, affection"
kA Sanskrit root, to seek , desire , yearn , love



qudcur Somali, "darkness, i.e., second half of a lunar month (when there is no moon)"
cUDAmaNi Sanskrit, "an eclipse of the sun on a Sunday or an eclipse of the moon on a Monday"



As Somalia is the nearest land across the Indian Ocean to the source of Sanskrit it should not be surprising to find vestiges of said ancient tongue in the words of Somali, and by merely flipping through (scrolling through) lexicons for these two languages, Sanskrit influence is yet again found in another seemingly distant culture's words. Yet again, the truth of the predominance of Indian (i.e., the Asian subcontinent's) influence on the whole world in ancient times is clear.

geed Somali, "tree"
gaNDi Sanskrit, m. "the trunk of a tree from the root to the beginning of the branches"

These cognates/near cognates were found by a very cursory study.



Certainly a more thorough study would uncover many more similarities and cultural kinships between India and the vast neighboring continent across the ocean, Africa. Two great southern lands that were at various times source to the outflow of humanity and culture, both to be revered and respected as ancestors to all peoples.

Unkulunkulu, son of Umvelinqangi, a Creator God, Heavily involved in the Thunder and Earthquake industry. He came down to Earth one day and married the Swamp Goddess Uhlanga. The subsequent formation of primeval reeds resulted in the birth of Unkulunkulu. This is a South African myth.

Zulu Reed Dance


In one version of the Indian story of the conception of Kārttikeya (or "Skanda", god of war) Siva's seed is carried by the Ganges and deposited in a bed of reeds, which then give birth to Kartikeya.

Murti representing the Birth of Kartikeya 


As an aside, the name Skanda seems obviously associated with the name "Iskandar," the Arabic version of the name "Alexander." Thus arises the question in my mind, was Alexander the Great an avatar of Skanda!? After all, he stopped his conquests once he reached India . . .

Scandinavia seems similarly potentially named after Skanda, who is a war God.

And back to India and Africa, it is interesting to note that the Mountain of the Devas and Devis in Heaven is Meru according to the ancient  lore of India, and Mount Meru is a prominent sacred mountain in Kenya. 

Wheel Weights and Fishing Tackle . . . Yet More Toxic Hazards To Get Rid Of For A Cleaner And Healthier World For Us All To Enjoy

S'pose I've never given it much thought. Though I've watched tire techs placing them on my wheels when balancing them after replacing tires, and noticed them alongside the highway when hitchhiking, I didn't really consider how these little chunks of lead end up toxifying our environment, and creating a serious health hazard for children.

The EPA banned lead paint back in the seventies when I was a kid, and even then I was aware of the health hazard old paint chips created--though as an avid fisherman as a child into my early adult years, I handled plenty of lead fishing weights, and even put them in my mouth to bite off excess fishing line at times. Nonetheless, lead is one of oh so many environmental toxins folks just don't think about these days.



"Lead poisoning can cause severe health effects including damage to the liver, kidneys, brain, nerves, bones and blood. Children are especially at high risk. Toxic levels of lead can cause permanent learning disabilities, retardation and even brain damage in young children. In adults, lead poisoning can cause high blood pressure and reproductive problems. In pregnant women, the fetus is particularly vulnerable to lead’s toxic effects.
Early symptoms include:
Fatigue
Pallor
Malaise
Loss of apetite
Irritability
Sleep disturbances
Sudden behavioral change
Developmental regression

More Serious Symptoms include:
Clumsiness
Muscular irregularities
Weakness
Abdominal Pain
Persistent vomiting
Constipation
Changes in consciousness
High blood pressure" (from leadcheck.com)

Well, recently a coalition of environmental groups have called for the EPA to ban lead wheel weights, which after falling off end up being ground into a powder and creating streets and neighborhoods that are a hazard to kids brains. Makes sense to call for this ban, but it seems it should logically follow that lead fishing weights should be banned as well, and lead bullets, too.

These sorts of everyday poisons that most give little thought to on a daily basis are vitally important to consider and remediate if this world is to remain sustainable into the forseeable future. Clean water, air and soil are vital for the survival of the human race, as well as for so many wonderful creatures with whom we share this planet. Sure, CO2 emmisions are an important issue, but the other toxins that are more immediately hazardous to life ought to take a higher status in our fight for a clean and healthy environment.



Check out the link below for an article on the hazard of lead wheel weights, and please consider contacting the EPA to voice your concerns regarding this issue, for the health and wellbeing of children and the environment generally.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/wheel_weights_f.php

http://www.epa.gov/epahome/comments.htm

The Importance of the Mysterious . . .

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I once had an encounter with a bigfoot--no, really!! I was doing trail work in the Pacific Northwest, and . . . well . . . if you want the rest of the story, buy the book, hopefully soon to be published, entitled Memories and Musings of a Post-Postmodern Nomadic Mystic Madman. I've also seen a faerie or two, and once had sex with a woman who shapeshifted her face whilst astride my lap (buy the book). On and on I could rant regarding my wild and weird experiences with cryptozoological creatures and mystical oddities (again, when it gets published . . . please buy the book).

In an age that places science divorced from the divine up on a pedestal, it is perhaps vital that our culture continues to maintain myths about the "supernatural" and tales of the inexplicable. Not that the discovery of hard proof of the existence of Sasquatch or some such would be a bad thing, but the continuation of the mysterious in popular culture keeps our imaginations alive, and inspires creativity. Accounts of cryptos like bigfoot and giant snakes and the little peoples of the world (which have been proven to exist, at least in the not too distant past, on the isle of Flores in Indonesia), tales of hauntings and other unexplained stuff offer fodder for children's stories and help some grown-ups keep their imaginations whirring.

Stories to tell around a campfire and the stuff of science fiction movies and books often derive from such unproven yet plausible accounts of UFO encounters and sightings of upright hairy beasties in the forest, and offer the hope that we have not seen or at least not quantified and qualified and taxonomized everything on the planet, which would be rather a disappointment to the imaginations of those who've yet a sense of curiosity and wonder. What a boring world if everything on earth were available in a science textbook, already studied to death and dissected and analyzed in a laboratory setting!!

Sonar photo of Loch Ness Monster from a 1975 expedition


I do not wish to maintain that the gov's top secret information about UFO's should be kept hidden (unless too terrible to widely publicize), or that it would be an absolute tragedy if someone found a Sasquatch body in the wilderness of Canada, or caught clear footage of the Mokele Mbembe (a purported sauropod--living dinosaur--reported in the swamps of the Congo) on film. Yet if there were no mysteries to feed the imaginings of a sixth grader bored to death with his uninspired math teacher's rants, or inspire a man or woman in the midst of a mid-life crisis to explore the jungles of Africa, or to animate the sacred dance and stories of tribal peoples round the globe, how much less wonderful would life become? Sure we'd survive, and perhaps expand our search for the unknown to beyond this world. Nonetheless, I must say I am grateful that not every species has been discovered, and that many places in the world's wildernesses (and even in the cities) hold wonders and mysteries not yet fully revealed to science's often cold and clinical approach to life.



(Representation of a tribe of Pygmies who reportedly killed a Mokele-Mbembe--"One Who Stops the River From Flowing" just a few decades ago . . . )




Below: Tasmanian Tiger, thought extinct in 1930's, filmed in 1970's . . .

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Purported Pterodactyls shot with guns then film in late 1800's . . .




LONG LIVE THE SASQUATCH, AND OTHER WONDERFUL MYSTERIES!!!!

Shame on the Senate !!!!

The Senate just voted 90 to 6 to deny Obama the ability to close the Guatanamo Bay prison, and to deny the transfer of these prisoners to the United States for fair trials and hearings. What a bunch of shitheads!!!! The many unconstitutional violations of civil and human rights that have been undertaken by the United States government at said institution need to be addressed, and the actual guilt or innocence of each individual needs to be determined.



The original use of the "camp" was to hold Cuban and Haitian refugees, until the Supreme Court declared the detentions unconstitutional in the mid-nineties. Now, a significant portion of the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility who have very likely not truly committed a crime are being held in unconstitutional detention. In domestic murder cases, the defendant is found not guilty around 20 percent of the time. There is obviously much less room for confusion in a domestic trial than on a battlefield, where civilians are quite often confused for combatants. In the case of the prisoners at Guatanamo, it is a safe assumption that more than twenty percent are not guilty of anything worthy of the harsh imprisonment, torture and humiliation they have received.



These statistics alone are enough to warrant the closure of a facility that serves no purpose other than to detain accused combatants without trial. Many of these took up arms only after the United States invaded their homelands. How many of you who do not necessarily agree with the government would take up arms if this land was invaded?

It is time for this nation to not only cease to violate international law, but also to uphold the Constitution!!! These prisoners deserve a fair trial--'cuz some of them are indeed innocent of any crime worthy of such arbitrary and indefinite detention!!



Grasping at straws to justify the Senate's action, the NYT reported that "1 in 7 Detainees Rejoins Fight, Report Found." Now let me ask you folks, if you had been held in isolation, forced to wear earmuffs and goggles that effectively make you blind and deaf, tormented, tortured and humiliated, would you not assume your captors were not rightly resisted? Would you not conclude that they were nigh to the "Great Satan" some extremist Muslims contend? It is a wonder more of them don't return to fight against their oppressors!!!

Why Meat-Eating Is Mostly Evil . . .

I have been a (mostly) vegetarian for something like fifteen years. I write "mostly" in parenthesis because I have on rare occasions eaten the flesh of felled beasties (mostly in consideration of the world's five out of six billion who are not yet aware or properly responsive to the suffering and unnecessary cruelty inflicted upon animals raised for consumption and the inefficiency and waste of precious resources that goes into raising animals for food--that, and on occasion the predator in me wants to sink teeth into flesh . . .).

Now mind you, a significant part of my nature is a hunter, and if approached with respect and due reverence, reverently receiving sustenance from animals who live their lives free in the wilderness is not a sin, in my humble opinion. Animals raised to kill and eat, especially when confined to feed lots, is exceedingly unjust and cruel, and the amount of crops and water required to raise animals for food is excessive and wasteful.

Raising animals for meat consumes 90 percent of the soy, 80 percent of the corn, and 70 percent of the grain grown in this nation. If everyone nationwide turned vegetarian, that land would be freed for more responsible use, and could be either allowed to return to a natural state or utilized to grow biodiesel crops, food for hunger relief globally, or to grow hemp, which can be used for paper pulp, plastics, and as structural material to replace the deforesting use of lumber from cutting down trees.

Regarding water use, the livestock industry is responsible, more than any other industry, for the depletion of fresh water in this country. It takes over one-hundred times more water to produce a pound of beef than it does to produce a pound of potatoes!! Eating mass-produced meat is an environmental crime!!



Estimated water requirements for various crops and livestock (m³ water/ton crop) (Wikipedia)

Beef 16726
Pork 5469
Cheese 5288
Poultry 3809
Eggs 3519
Rice 2552
Soybeans 2517
Wheat 1437
Maize 1020
Milk 738
Potatoes 133

The above table clearly displays how wasteful raising livestock for food is compared to food crops. When considering the water wasted, the wasteful use of crops to feed livestock that could be used directly as human food, and the cruel conditions of animals kept in feed lots and factory farms, the extreme pollution of water caused by livestock production, etc., etc., there is no doubt that meat-eating is amongst the greatest environmental and inhumane crimes of this land. In addition, the conditions of most animals raised for meat is atrocious.



Chickens are confined to cages in most large farms, and in such hazardous conditions those who tend to them often must wear respirators or other protective gear.



Cattle in feedlots don't have it much better . . . and worse if you consider their intelligence level.



These things said, I should add that though I do not think raising animals and then slaughtering them is without moral and ethical flaws at any level, family farms and ranches that keep free-range fed cows or maintain cage-free conditions for poultry are at least a half-step above mass-produced meat. Though I believe the ideal would be (and better soon become, or else . . . ) a vegetarian society through and through, small family farms and ranches are at least mostly cruelty free--except that most family farms end up selling some portion of their cattle to feedlots anyways.

These things said, I still maintain that hunting is the most responsible and ethical meat eating process there is. Those animals taken by hunters in their natural wild habitat live their lives free, and only experience a short period of suffering when pierced by an arrow or other projectile compared to animals who spend their whole lives in captivity, sometimes spending the better portion of those lives standing in their own feces. And any animals raised for food learn to trust humans as their providers, only to end up slaughtered by those they learned to trust.



Native Americans (er, perhaps more appropriately "Indians"--see post entitled "Maybe Columbus Was Right After All . . .") greatly revered the animals they hunted, doing ceremony and offering prayers as due respects offered their quarry.



When I lived for a short while with a Dine (Navajo) family in Arizona, Che ("grampa") Begay slaughtered a ewe (female sheep) for a Native American Church meeting this family was hosting. Though I did not observe the slaughter, my traveling companion Jonah watched as Che Willie Begay sang a Dine song over the doomed sheep, then according to Jonah's account, groaned and was visibly thrown back upon slicing the sheep's throat, as if perhaps receiving into himself the pain caused by the act. This level of empathy and respect is the least that is due a sentient being who gives its life to feed humans.

Mass feedlots and slaughterhouses are an infinite distance from the respect shown by those traditional societies who eat meat to the animals they raise for food.
Even Kosher and Halal rules (Hebrew and Muslim dietary guidelines) establish modes designed to minimize the suffering of animals raised and slaughtered for food. There is really no excuse for the cruel and inhumane modes of modern approaches to raising animals for food. Period!!

Caste and Realized, Systems and Siva--The Destroyer, If'n Ya Didn't Know

Kali, righteous wrathful bisatch who kills thousands of demons with one swath of her blade. She is Hara's consort (er, one form of Great Goddess who happens to be Siva's woman)



(Two Seikh warriors--dunno why I put this picture here, except that it kinda looks cool . . .)


Often when I talk highly of the traditions of India in conversations--specifically, in my intentions at least, with reference to certain specific tantric perspectives--I am often taken to task to justify the caste system.

Though I do not always mention that Saivism is generally opposed to--and various Sivite groups have historically and often revolted against--the falsely measured controls of the caste system, I usually do mention the ideal of the caste system is that reincarnation, or rebirth after death in cycles of samsara, actually works justly and according to the perfect harmony of the universe, with perfectly measured dharma, etc. Still, for the record, if I am beholden to a tradition in India--the mother and father land of so many dispersed traditions--it would be to Saivism and tantra and thus in tune with a bunch not so cozy with castigation and prejudice.



One group of tantricas called the kaulikas with little violence seized power from the high caste, and inverted norms by treating the high born as if untouchables, with no repurcussions. This revolt, and others like this fomented by various wild and crazy naked forest dwellers, was a non-violent overthrow of the "powers that be." The high caste folks were made to realize they were indeed beholden to even the supposedly "lowest-born" of society.



This carnivalesque inversion turned their version of ritualized "carnivale days" into the rule of the day during this group's visible prominence centuries ago. The previously high holies got a taste of thier own medicine, as those they would once have been expected to shun were shunning them, those who they would not touch now eschewing the touch of the brahmins, high-born brought low.



Imagine the egalitarianism of Mardi Gras more than respresenting or symbolically playing out the inversions of rich and poor, revered and reviled in previously held socio-economic orderings. Imagine everyday normative social hierarchies reversed, and taking hold in the other weeks of the year. This is what the kaulikas accomplished, to the degree that high caste officials had to consult the kaulikas before official actions, and were bound by the kaulikas censure. High born to some degree in subserviance to the poor.



This is more the "Hindu" tradition I'm diggin' than the one arbitrarily limits social mobility by anachronistic castes--yeah, I s'pose I'd be a dilettante revolutionary there too.



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