From: raman@cs.utexas.edu (Raman Rajagopalan)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
Subject: Re: Finally, a few words.. (on intercaste marraige)
Date: 18 Dec 1992 18:43:08 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: bathtub.cs.utexas.edu

In article <kat.724719090@reg> kat@doe.carleton.ca (Kathiravan Krishnamurthi) writes:
>
>   Why don't people lower their castes by marriage if they are bent on it.
>That where they talk about caste again.
>
>Kathiravan

You are subtly hinting that higher caste people have a superiority complex
when it comes to marraiges, and they should give that up if they want
to enjoy the reservations benefits associated with lower castes.  This is not
so simple.  I agree there is a lot of social stigma associated 
with marrying someone of a different caste, and that is a bad thing.  

However, all castes avoid mixed caste marriages, not just the upper castes.

Because.....

There is more to caste than reservations - there are beliefs and habits.
You and Meenan have personally demonstrated that the (for example) Brahmin
habits of doing sandhyavandanam, meditation, sanskrit prayers, etc., are
not universally accepted.  There are differences in social habits as well:

1) Not all castes practice vegetarianism.
2) There are differences in clothing:  lungi/dhoti, method of wearing sari,
   nine yards versus six yards.
3) Different groups use different spices in cooking.
4) There are differences in the spoken language, even if all the groups speak  
   tamil.
5) Different group celebrate different holidays, and in different ways.
 
   There are probably many more things that can be added to the list.

Remember that part of the idea behind an arranged marraige is to find someone 
as similar to you as possible to reduce potential friction later in life.  
People of the same caste would likely have been exposed to the same set of
social habits/practices.  An intercaste marraige may mean more things to
work out.  Most people probably see too many differences in the day-to-day 
habits of different castes to actively seek an arranged marriage with a 
member of another caste.  After all, why add extra hassles?  Arranging a 
marraige is complicated enough as it is - especially for the girl's side.  

I would verture to guess that LOVE is blind, for those guys and gals who 
go through that route.   I know a brahmin-muslim couple who are quite happy,
but I would bet neither set of parents would have arranged it!!!

-------------------------------

In conclusion,

Don't use the lack of interest in mixed caste marraiges as a tool
for forward caste bashing.  As in the USA, a person should be able to practice
his beliefs without government interference.  Your recommendation is saying
"give up your beliefs and adopt ours or we won't grant you admission in 
colleges or allow you to secure a government job".

In fact, the current reservation schemes go further, since they discriminate
by birth rather than personal habits/wealth.  They are effectively saying:
"We don't care what your personal habits/beliefs/needs are, even if they
are identical to ours.  Because your ancestors practiced some habits/enjoyed 
some benefits different from ours, we will reserve seats in colleges and jobs 
against you."

- raman rajagopalan