Speakers:

Shri Kalyan Viswanathan & Smt. Esther Dhanraj  

Most Hindus think that Hinduism / India has had a Caste system for thousands of years because that is what our textbooks say. Some Hindus recognize that the word Caste did not exist within the Hindu world, or the Indian lexicon until the colonial era. Further, the word Caste came from Castas, a Portuguese and Spanish word, which later morphed into English as Caste. 

In this webinar, we will begin to explore the distortions and consequences that arise when a social order that originated within one paradigm is interpreted and represented from an entirely different paradigm. We will discuss complex challenges that arise at the confluence of Hindu and Western thought and contrast the Hindu experience with its Western representation. 

This webinar will leave attendees with the pressing urgency of intellectual decolonization and illustrate how the concept of Caste became solidified and encrusted around Hindu society in our contemporary era.