Appendix B: Hindu Deities, Sages and Saints Who were
not Brahmins
“The origin of Sages, Truth and Rivers are unkown”—Mahabharata
This appendix lists some non-Brahmin or mixed caste great Deities, Saints
and Sages of Hinduism. It will be apparent that these great men and women
are responsible to a great extent for the development of Hinduism and that
the title ‘Brahminism’ is rather a misnomer for our Dharma.
1. Sri Rama: He was a Kshatriya belonging to the Suryavamsa. His life
is the theme of the popular Hindu epic Ramayana. He is considered the 7th
incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who in turn represents the ‘Preserver’ aspect of
God. He is considered an ideal son, an ideal king and so on. Hindu Utopia is
often called ‘Ramarajya’, i.e., ‘the kingdom of Sri Rama’.
2. Sri Krishna: He to the belonged to the Yadava sub-caste. The
Yadavas are currently enumerated amongst the ‘Other Backward Castes’ (OBC’s)
in India. He is considered the most popular deity of Hindus, and revealed
the ‘Bhagavad Gita’, which is the bedrock of modern Hinduism, and summarizes
the philosophical teachings of all Hindu scriptures in a masterful manner.
He is considered as the 8th incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
3. Lord Shiva: He is often termed as a ‘Kirata’ in the Puranas. The
Kiratas would currently fall in the ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (ST) category in
modern India. He is considered as a representation of the ‘Destroyer’ aspect
of God and is one of the chief Hindu deities. He is the chief subject of
numerous Hindu scriptures like the Shiva Purana, the Kurma Purana and so on.
4. Maharshi Aitreya Mahidasa: According to tradition, his mother was
a maid named ‘Itara’. This Rishi is credited with the compilation of the
Aitreya Brahmana and sections 1-3 of the Aitreya Aranyaka (the latter
contains the Aitreya Upanishad- one of the 10 canonical Upanishads for
Hindus) belonging to the Rigveda.
5. Rishika Lopamudra: She was a Kshatriya princess from Vidarbha, who
married Maharshi Agastya. She is the Seer of some verses of the Rigveda.
Several edifying dialogs between her and Sage Agastya are recorded in the
Puranas.
6. Maharshi Vishwamitra: He was originally a Kshatriya named ‘Vishwaratha’.
He is credited with revealing the ‘Gayatri Mantra’, the Hindu prayer
par-excellence. He was elevated to Brahminhood because of his spiritual
luster.
7. Maharshi Veda Vyasa: He was the son of a fisher-woman named
Satyavati, from Rishi Parashara. Considered the greatest Rishi of classical
Hinduism, he is believed to have give the 4 Vedas ( = the most authoritative
scriptures of Hindus) their present form. He also compiled the Mahabharata
and the Puranas, which are the mainstay of popular Hinduism. He also
authored the Brahmasutras- a text considered as one of the triple canon of
Vedantic Hinduism (the other two being the Gita and the Upanishads). His
birthday is celebrated as ‘Guru-Poornima’ by Hindu monks every year. All
Hindu monastic orders trace their lineage from him and a popular saying
goes: “vyasocchishtam jagatsarvam” meaning that so great was the learning
Rishi Veda Vyasa, that even his voluminous writings represent only the
periphery of his knowledge.
8. Maharshi Matanga: He was the son of a Shudra mother and a Vaishya
father. In fact, Chandalas are often addressed as ‘Matanga ’in passages like
Varaha Purana 1.139.91
9. Maharshi Valmiki: He was descendant from Sages but had become a
chandaala (= an outcaste) named Ratnakara, because he took to murder and
highway robbery. He was reformed by Prajapati Brahma and was inspired by the
divine Sage Narada to compose the Hindu epic par excellence- the Ramayana.
10. Rishika Sulabhaa Maitreyi: She was a Kshatriya lady who
promulgated the Saulabha Shakha of the Rigveda. She is counted among the
revered teachers of Rigveda to whom respects are offered in texts like the
Kausitaki Brahmana. The Saulabha Brahmana is now lost but is mentioned in
the Kashika- a commentary on the grammatical text named Ashtadhyayi. A
dialog of Rishika SulabhA with King Janaka of Videha on spirituality is
recorded in the Shanti Parvan (12th book) of the Mahabharata.
11. Mahatma Vidura: He was the son of Maharshi Veda Vyasa and a maid
of King Dhritrashtra (the father of Kauravas in the Mahabharata). He is a
wise man in the Mahabharata and counseled many towards truth. His teachings
are collected in the ‘Viduraprajagar’ section of the Udyog Parvan (5th book)
of Mahabharata.
12. Gautama Buddha: The founder of Buddhism belonged to a marginal
Kshatriya tribe called Shakya. He lived and died as a Hindu, although his
followers founded a new religion in his name. He advocated the supremacy of
good ethics and morality over philosophical speculation and ritualism. He is
considered the 9th incarnation of Lord Vishnu by devout Hindus.
13. Mahavira: The 24th and the last great Teacher of Jainism. He
belonged to the Kshatriya Licchivi tribe of Bihar. He advocated
vegetarianism and the centrality of compassion in Dharma.
14. Bhakta Nammalvar: The foremost of the Alvar Vaishnava saints, he
was a Shudra by birth. His composition ‘Tiruvayamoli’, which is in the Tamil
language, is considered at par with the Vedas by the Sri Vaishnava Hindus.
15. Sikh Gurus: All the Sikh Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind
Singh, were Kshatriyas. The teachings of the first 5 and the 9th Guru are
compiled in the Adi Granth- the Sikh scripture. In the face of Islamic
persecutions, they revitalized the Hindu community of what is now Pakistan
and parts of Northern India and preached the simple path of performance of
good deeds, devotion to God by recitations of His names and singing of His
glory and sharing of one another’s joys and sorrows without regard to caste.
16. Saint Kabir: He was brought-up by ‘Julaha’ couple. Julahas are a
Muslim caste of weavers. He preached in the language of the masses and many
of his verses are common proverbs in North India.
17. Narsi Mehta: He was born in a Vaishya family is a renowned
Vaishnava saint of Gujarat. One of his compositions- “Vaishnava Jana” was a
favorite of Mahatma Gandhi. According to some however, he was a Brahmin.
18. Saint Tukarama: He was a Vaishya who composed touching poems
called the ‘Abahngas’ on devotion to God. These compositions are recited
with great fervor by numerous Hindus, especially in Maharashtra by the
members of the Warakari community.
19. Saint Ravidas: He was a cobbler, and therefore of Shudra origin.
He advocated Bhakti and 16 of his compositions were incorporated in the Adi
Granth- the Sikh scripture.
20. Saint Mira: She was a Rajput Kshatriya princess of Mewar and
devoted her life to the service of Lord Krishna. Her beautiful poetical
compositions addressed to Lord Krishna are recited with great fervor by
Hindus down to this day.
21. Swami Vivekananda: One of the foremost reformers and teachers of
modern Hinduism, he was of Kayastha subcaste of Bengal. He spread the
message of Vedanta in the United States and Europe and his writings and
speeches are contained in “The Collected Writings of Swami Vivekanand.” He
founded the Ramakrishna Mission- a religious organization to propagate the
teachings of his Guru Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. In Bengal, Kayasthas
are considered as Shudras.
22. Vatsa, a descendant of Kanva RV 6.1; 8.8 etc; was called a
Shudra-putra (Panchavimsha Brahman 14.66).
23. Kakshivat, a Brahmavadin, was the son of Dirghatamas by a Shudra
maid servant (Brihaddevata 4.24-25).
24. According to Mahabharata (Anushasana Parvan 53.13-19), Sage Kapinjalada
was a Chandala and Sage Madanapala was the son of a boatwoman.
Bibliography and References
1. S. Radhakrishnan; The Upanisads; Indus (Publishers); New Delhi; 1995
[This text is the major source of this website]
2. Jagdish Lal Shastri; Upanishatsagrahah; Motilal Banarsidass; Delhi; 1970
[This book gives the text of the Upanishad in Devanagari script]
Links
1. Global Hindu Electronic Network [
http://www.hindunet.org ]
2. Yahoo Links on Hinduism
http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Religion_and_Spirituality/Faiths_and_Practices/Hinduism/
3. The Caste System
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/9089/hr/caste.html
4. The Himalayan Academy
http://www.HimalayanAcademy.com
At this website, a search by ‘Caste’ will give several articles of interest.
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