Welcome back! Here we are, part 7. Where thing start to get sad and scary. The last time I saw it, I was surrounded by sobbing children for basically the whole middle hour. Lot’s of “Daddy, no! Why are they doing that? I don’t like this.” Let’s see if I can get through it without getting sad myself! (last part here, you can go back from there)
The last section cut off in the middle of the Pindari battle. Prabhas, while waiting for his coronation, has been traveling the kingdom. And he met young princess of the Kuntala kingdom (a small protectorate of Mahishmati) Anushka. He fell in love with her warrior spirit and decided to woo her in his own way, by pretending to be a simpleton and working in her kitchens, and letting her slowly discover who he “really” is. Not that he is the heir of Mahishmati, but that he is a brave intelligent kind man. Meanwhile, back in Mahishmati, Rana has learned through his spies that Prabhas is in love and is inspired to put his own plan in play, convincing Ramya that he has fallen in love with Anushka’s portrait. Ramya sends a proposal to Anushka, insultingly worded as though Anushka should be grateful for the honor of marrying Ramya’s son. Anushka responds with an even more insulting suggestion that perhaps Ramya’s son, since he is not strong enough to speak for himself, should tie his thread to her sword and come to Kuntala where she can protect him. Prabhas hears of this from Kattappa, who has assumed the proposal was for Prabhas not Rana, and Prabhas doesn’t mind since he understands it to mean that Anushka prefers his method of courtship in person. But then the love story is interrupted by a sudden invasion of “Pindaris”, organized roving bands of raiders that have been troubling the kingdom and are now breaking into the palace itself.
Oh, and I missed a scene! Anushka sends her response back to Ramya, in which she suggests that perhaps Rana should tie a threat to her sword and come to Kuntala where they will care for and protect him, since apparently he is such a weakling that he needs his mother to propose for him. Ramya immediately overreacts, and orders the soldiers to prepare for war on Kuntala. And Rana nods to his follower to point out that Prabhas is traveling in the area, why not just order him to capture this rebellious princess and bring her to court as a prisoner.
Now, setting aside the whole part of it where Anushka is in love with Prabhas and therefore would never want to marry Rana, this is not an okay reaction from Ramya. She isn’t reacting to the proposal, she is reacting to the insult to her son and by extension herself. It’s kind of the gender reversed version of a “Maa ki aankhen” insult. Anushka is insulting Rana, but it is aimed at Ramya. And it hits the target, Ramya gets the message that Anushka is calling her a bad mother. But the trick of it is that Ramya immediately expands that insult to be a threat towards the whole kingdom. She has been the soul of Mahishmati for so long, that this personal family issue immediately gets expanded to involve the army and the empire. And the justice system, to bring Anushka back to be put on trial, for an insult to Ramya as a person and a mother, not as a ruler.
Phew! A lot has happened! Where I left off was at the most romantic moment, Prabhas and Anushka working together to defeat a huge number of invaders, moving like two parts of the same body as they do it. And Prabhas giving Anushka practical information on how to pull off the 3 arrow trick she has been trying to accomplish, showing that he is both the better warrior than her, and he wants to help her be better. So basically, the perfect husband for her.
There is no time to talk after that, they see that the invaders are coming straight over the wall and rush to the gate. This is the time when I noticed, again, how differently the genders are handled in Kuntala. Of the small group of leaders at the wall, Anushka is clearly the “war leader”. Her brother is a good man, but he is hanging back, letting her take the lead. And Anushka, in turn, is hanging back behind Prabhas. Not because he is a man, or the man she loves, but because she know she is the superior fighter.
Battle battle battle!!!! I like how it starts, everyone is preparing themselves, and before anyone else can even move, the screen blinks, and Prabhas is already gone, running on ahead and destroying everything in his path. It shows both just how much better he is than everyone else, and also how he sees his role in war, to run ahead and take all the risks, to break the path for others. And it just looks really cool.
And then battle some more! In the middle of which, the cows with fire on their horns that I mentioned in the last section come stampeding down. And Prabhas runs among them, and then on top of them. And finally, uses their power to pull down the dam protecting the field around the palace wall and release the river on to the soldiers.
Now, in my very first review, I mentioned that it is important to notice the use of natural weapons versus manmade. Prabhas 2 almost always uses natural weapons. And when he does use manmade, he doesn’t use them as intended, using a spear as a melee weapon instead of throwing it, use chains like whips, etc. He was never taught the “right” way to do things, and so he invents his own way, and that is part of the strength of his fighting technique, that he is so unpredictable. It is also a sign of how he generally resists the rules and laws of society. He was told he couldn’t climb the waterfall, he immediately climbed it. His mother refused to stop her devotions, he moves the sacred object. And so, he resists manmade objects, things with only one purpose. He likes to use wild natural options instead.
Prabhas 1 has been trained and taught to use weapons the “right” way. To do everything the “right” way. He’s not supposed to think for himself, just follow out the pattern laid in front of him. And yet, in this battle, we see how much he has already changed. It happened even earlier, when he used the tree as a weapon in his fight with the bandits. But now it is so much more, seeing the cows just a few scenes earlier with the cowherds, and realizing that he could use both the cows and the cowherds in a new way during the battle. And even seeing the dam and the water, and using those as well.
Let’s go back to that dam. It’s not just about winning the battle, it’s about the whole story of the film. The dam releases the river which creates the waterfall which Prabhas 2 climbs up in the first movie. And which is also what Ramya calls upon when she declares that Shiva owes her a life and must save this baby. And which is where the head of Rana’s golden statue floats away at the very end.
The waterfall is a monument to Prabhas 1. His strength, his bravery, his intelligence, all of it. And it is his spirit that Ramya is calling on at the beginning of B1, even if she may not realize it at the time. It is his father, and his mother (since love for Anushka inspired the waterfall battle tactic), that Prabhas 2 senses and is climbing towards. And in the end, Rana’s statue falls and his head rolls not because of Prabhas 2’s actions, but because Prabhas 1 is sweeping him away.
“Dhivara” is still the most epic moment of both films. I suppose you could argue about that with me, but you would be wrong! It seems odd that a sequence like that would be wasted on a love story which is forgotten shortly after. But it’s not really a love song, it’s a song about Prabhas 2 achieving his destiny. Tamannah is what inspires him, but she is just unlocking something that was always inside of him. Just like Anushka inspired him to finally grab the sword and accept his position as a warrior. And this scene ties that all together. The waterfall isn’t just a waterfall, it’s a symbol of his father’s greatest accomplishment, of everything that Prabhas 1 could have been and Prabhas 2 could still be. He is proving his equality to Prabhas 1 by climbing it, even if he doesn’t know that. OH! And that’s why Tamannah says right before the love song starts “you really did climb the waterfall!” It’s not only because he accomplished a great feat out of love for her, it is this huge symbol for her people, of the greatest moment in their history, it has a weight for her, just like it does for Prabhas as the thing that loomed over their innocent forest community.
The battle is over, and as they stand on their open pavilion overlooking the wall, Anushka’s brother thanks Prabhas and offers anything in gratitude. And Prabhas admits he is in love with a woman of their kingdom. Anushka’s sister-in-law asks who this lucky girl is, and Anushka’s face tells them. But just then a messenger bird arrives, Prabhas casually holds up his arm to catch it, and then reads the message and his face changes. He admits that it is orders, from Mahishmati, he is supposed to take Anushka back with him as prisoner. Anushka immediately goes on the defensive, grabbing a torch and threatening Prabhas with it, demanding who he is, really. Prabhas smiles and replies “you are angry, even the sweetest fruit will taste bitter”. Which is a great line that I might steal sometime! And she sets his clothes ablaze, revealing his armor underneath, and the Mahishmati royal crest.
A few sections back, there was a conversation between Prabhas and Kattappa where Kattappa suggested that he should just tell Anushka who he is, she will fall at his feet. Prabhas looked doubtful. And he was right, because now Anushka does know who he is, and she is less interested than when she thought he was just an itinerant mercenary. Her family is less interested as well. The beginning of this scene looks like one of those classic “clever hero tricks family to get princess” things. They promise him he can marry anyone he wants, he picks the one girl they weren’t expecting. But it’s not that at all! Her brother and sister-in-law are delighted to find out that Prabhas loves Anushka and vice versa. After this whole battle, they are clearly a perfect match, a warrior who can not just match but exceed her abilities.
And Anushka is happy as well. You can see in this moment her whole vision of their future, co-rulers of Mahishmati, protecting their people and helping the land, together. Sure, he is just some wandering fighter who tricked his way into the palace, but she knows him well enough know she wants to marry him.
(Just like Kareena and Shahrukh in Asoka! Only Kareena’s discovery of his identity was a lot more traumatic)
The discovery that he is a vassal of the Mahishmati empire isn’t a moment of “oh good, he has a job and some power!”, it is a moment of “oh no, I want him to be loyal and responsible only to me.” Plus, a slight bit of distrust towards Mahishmati, yet another sign that it doesn’t look as pleasant from outside the palace as it does from inside the palace.
The other question this scene brings up is what exactly was Prabhas’ plan if the Pindaris hadn’t attacked. When would he have proposed? And admitted his identity. Avani in the comments did the work to track down how much time had passed between the song to Krishna in which Anushka admitted her feelings and this battle. And it is at least 2-3 days. So, why the delay? Why not immediately seek out Anushka, propose, explain his identity, and talk to her brother? Well, the practical reason is that this is the way Rajamouli laid out the film and it feels so natural that it takes several watches to notice the time gaps. But I think we can also argue, within the film, that Prabhas was just plain having too much fun to reveal himself that soon!
I think, from what we know of the characters, that both Prabhas and Anushka were enjoying the novelty of being so silly and game playing. That Prabhas would have stayed in the character of the humble simple kitchen staff, with a few winks directed towards Anushka so she knew it was an act. And that Anushka would have kept setting traps for him, with a few winks directed his way so he knew she already knew she was right. Anushka would have held off until the very last minute before asking her brother to arrange an engagement. And Prabhas would have waited as long as possible, and planned the perfect way, to explain who he is and why he played this charade.
But I think it would have had to be a pretty good explanation, because I think Anushka’s anger here comes not just from finding out Prabhas was lying, but from finding out that he is a servant of Mahishmati. That his first loyalty is not to her and her kingdom, but to some massive empire. It calls into question all their other interactions, was he just killing time with her until his “real job” started? Which, to be fair, is exactly what he was doing! She is reading the situation perfectly.
And Prabhas gives the only possible response, that he will follow the orders he has been given, but he will put his duty to Anushka above any orders.
dontcallitbollywood 
Saw the movie on Saturday. I like 1 better (it was expected too) 1 had better songs & teasing story & freshness to it.
2 by contrast, has more richer visuals but songs are not a patch on 1. More importantly 2 goes like a normal masala movie with hero’s introduction, comedy track, romance, fight, bad guy, death, revenge & more fighting.
Eventhough, the conclusion follows masala movie tropes to a T, it was not meaninhless & there was a message behind all that violence.
Two characters/symbols who are essential to understanding this message are Kumara Varma (the self-doubting Kshatriya) & Bahubali’s sword (the symbol of his Dharma)
… contd.
LikeLike
Kumara Varma:
He is almost like the deus-ex-machina of Conclusion. He is key in sealing Devasena & Bahubali’s romance & again in trapping bahubali sr to his death sentence by acting Iike an useful idiot for the villains’ schemes.
If he had chosen to remain a coward (& not a Kshatriya) then bahubali sr might never have died. Ironically it was Bahubali’s Kshatriya comment that triggered his transformation.
On the other hand, his transformation into a brave warrior, served to highlight the best of bahubali’s character & the moment he is embraced by bahubali sr after the successful battle against Pindaris, is one of the genuine heart-warming moments of the movie. It also seemed to be the moment that sealed devasena’s mind that bahubali would be a worthy & ideal partner for her. If earlier bahubali had displayed his fighting skills are no less than devasena’s, it is here he shows that his heart is as good as Devasena’s too. I rewatched this scene just to confirm that I was not imagining devasena’s reaction & it was a genuine reaction.
… contd
LikeLike
And then we come to Bahubali’s sword.
The sword which symbolises his dharma,
The sword before which Kattappa preys for penance every day(“Bahubali, you are immortal even after your death, but I am dying inside everyday”)
The sword that manages to shock-and-awe us the audience simultaneously
The sword that first confirms to everyone the transformation of Shivu to Bahubali jr
The sword if it had been used by a terrorist organisation we would have decried the barbarity of the beheading
The sword that gave us the iconic image of a walking headless zombie
The sword that gripped both Bahubalis into distrubuting instant justice.
I admit I was cheering wildly when Bahubali sr chops off the senapathi’s head despite not following due process of law. Bahubali’s explanation for violating rules is that the sword takes over his will & forces him to act to preserve dharma, even if it might be against the rules.
This is the same sword that kattappa uses to backstab Bahubali sr.
moral of the story: those who live by the sword (Kshatriyas), also die by the same sword.
LikeLike
Btw caste is a reality in Indian society.
Kshatriyas (ASSERTIVE) – warrior class, whose assertiveness is built by going beyond rules
Vaishyas (FACILITATORS) – the middle class, for whom all the rules really apply. The obervance of rules by middle class is in their own self-interest to ensure stability & predictability.
Shudras (OPPRESSED class) – these are the under-privileged, rules actually keep them down compared to other dominant/privileged castes
Brahmins (ELITES) – the privileged class who are capable of ensuring that the rules elevate/favor their class.
LikeLike
I was very interested in how the Brahmins were criticized in Bahubali. A priest never says anything helpful, their advice is always self-serving, and frequently makes things worse. Our heroes are the ones who ignore the priests, going all the way back to Prabhas 2’s introduction.
Which is not to say they are irreligious, it is clearly a criticism of the priest class, not religion in general or Gods.
LikeLike
The Chief Priest is always dressed in red and gold (not saffron)– Not saintly colours. Rather, he dresses in colours of power, blood and lust. His corruption is never hidden. The other Brahmans in the franchise- the musicians from raising of the Bhallaladeva statue scene reminded me of Brahmans that play music at Kashi Vishwanath though i’m not sure if the ones in that scene were meant to be just musicians or Brahman-temple musicians.
LikeLike
The priest in the forest village is the first priest we meet, and I was interested in how he is established as cowardly and weak. Kind of goes along with whatever anyone else says. But he isn’t greedy, or evil. Just not a real force for change in society. Of course, he is also part of a good society. Perhaps he has chosen to just go along with things because he trusts that it will all work out since his leaders are good.
LikeLike
A person who is realized, through meditation and penance, that he is Brahman (one with Supreme soul) is originally called Brahman. Fishermen and farmers also can rise to this role.
In later ages this became a position that comes by birth and not through effort. These men came to be called as brahmin community.
Some brahmins simply remain as priests who act as middlemen between a devotee/seeker and God by conducting rituals and cermonies by taking money. People naturally hate this kind of priests and ridicule them in stories and movies.
Then there are people from any community becoming spiritual masters, sages and gurus that guide a seeker to progress spiritually and realize God. They are respected and liked by kings and common people. Sage Vyasa that wrote Mahabharata was from a family of fishermen and sage Valmiki that wrote Ramayana was a tribal hunter.
LikeLike
That makes sense. I wonder, is it also because of the training required? Meaning, if you are a Brahmin who has memorized all the Unpanishads and so on, it is usually something that you start in childhood, which means your parents would have to teach you, which means they would have to be Brahmin as well who learned it in their childhood from their parents, and so on and so forth. Once that became the tradition, it would be hard to break into that knowledge pattern unless you were born into it.
LikeLike
re: “That makes sense. I wonder, is it also because of the training required? Meaning, if you are a Brahmin who has memorized all the Unpanishads and so on, it is usually something that you start in childhood, which means your parents would have to teach you, which means they would have to be Brahmin as well who learned it in their childhood from their parents, and so on and so forth. Once that became the tradition, it would be hard to break into that knowledge pattern unless you were born into it.”
Well, I believe ancient India was very much like modern day India. Would a college professor today only pass down his knowledge to children born to him and his family? We do know ancient India had proper academic institutions and we have references to princes being sent to boarding schools for education. Brahmins, the way I interpret the origin of the caste system, were priests who were school teachers and college professors and functioned like the church and ran missionary schools etc and they taught whoever was interested in doing so. They also performed religious rituals in formal settings (like a priest being called to do a christening or to bless a house). Perhaps with population growth, war and widening wealth gap, there was just more incentive for people to stay in their family businesses- brahmin’s son became a brahmin, solider’s son became a solider, and the lower classes had no means to move up the social ladder, etc.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For the priest in Mahishmati, it is his first movie 🙂
But the priest in the forest has been acting in Telugu movies for the past 30 years, combining villanism with comedy. As soon audience see him on the screen they expect comedy from him and there is no need for backstories or character establishment.
LikeLike
This whole confusion is arising because of the false equating of Brahmin with “priest.” Actually, Brahmins were never priests. The proper translation of the word and their role in society is “intellectual.” They were responsible for both keeping and propagating the knowledge of the society. They were not supposed to earn any money for doing this — it was up to the society to look after their upkeep. They were traditionally supposed to earn their livelihood by begging.
“Priests”, as in, people who primarily conduct religious rituals, especially the routine daily ones (as opposed to special major yajnas) were and are typically considered to be the lowest rung of the Brahmins, people who have managed to memorize some few mantras useful for everyday rituals, but by no means are they learned in the vedas and upanishads. (Some people who are at that level of knowledge occasionally acted as priests for certain specific, unusual, and highly complex religious ceremonies, but such people usually were invited just to do that one ceremony, and it wasn’t something they did every day to earn a living. )
As for the tribal priest in BB1, I didn’t think he was shown as cowardly or weak, but more as one who really didn’t know what he was talking about, which is pretty realistic for the situation he was in. If you recall, except for laying down the rules for who could actually perform the oath that Shivudu’s mother had undertaken, he never actually made any pronouncements about what god was going to do; he always bypassed those questions with platitudes about “God will do whatever is best”, or “How can we guess what’s on God’s mind?” This is again pretty typical for a certain class of not very well educated (in the religious sense) priests or gurus of the present day, who managed to get a reputation for great insight by mouthing such platitudes and cliches. In that sense, his was very much a stock character, albeit performed convincingly because the actor playing him is very experienced.
LikeLike
Forest priest says ‘Shivudu will do whatever he wants’. We can interpret it in two ways – the character Shivudu does what he wants and/or God Shivudu does what He wants. Sanga nods as if she understood and then immediately baffled and asks her husbad ‘what did he say?. That part is so funny!
LikeLike
Fascinating, thank you! Especially for giving that extra layer to the dialogue around his sword chop. It didn’t show up in the subtitles at all, and works perfectly with how Prabhas played the scene, as though the sword was almost controlling him.
LikeLike
I don’t have as much to say about these scenes, not because I don’t like them, but because they are more action-based instead of the plot/symbolism-heavy scenes. So that’s a relief!
– Jumping back to Ramya’s taking Anushka’s insult to her as a kingdom-to-kingdom level insult – Yes, exactly! She’d throw her country into a presumably expensive war over an insult to her family, and despite all her sacrifices–remaining married to Nasser, for one thing– that doesn’t justify her actions. It’s a bad sign when Rana’s posse has to pull her back. But we see that again later, too, when she denies Prabhas the throne over an insult to her – the people, Mahishmati itself, is literally demanding him to be crowned instead, the gods are symbolically blessing him like we talked about earlier – but no, he went against her personal beliefs, and so isn’t fit to rule. (For a second there, on my first viewing, I thought they were going to go to war with Kuntala! And how awful would that be: Prabhas will choose Anushka over the throne, sure, but he is still able to serve Mahishmati as commander-in-chief and later as laborer/engineer/unofficial king. If it came down to a Mahishmati v. Anushka choice, I honestly don’t know which choice he’d be able to make.)
– Yes, to the setup of the defenders in Kuntala, with Anushka being in charge, after Prabhas! You also see these little scenes that reinforce how she really is the second best after him, like when the one bull runs out of line, and Anushka is the only one of the Kuntala people to notice enough to brace herself before Prabhas pulls it away. And the other character note I like, too, with Prabhas running ahead is that he clearly trusts that she’ll be fine holding the forces back without having to hover, and just goes ahead to get rid of the dam. Given that the next time we see the Kuntala people, they are all on the wall without any Pindari around, apparently they did okay.
– Do we definitely find out that destruction of the dam here is the cause of the waterfall in the first movie? I thought that one came from the moat surrounding Mahishmati, that’s why the golden head floats downriver- but otherwise I love it, and the connection that it gives Prabhas 2 to his parents! (And yes, Dhivara is the most thrilling part of the entire two movies, no question about it. My breath still catches every time Prabhas makes his first leap towards Tamannah, and the arrow shot, even when that scene was recreated in porcelain form during the credits of this one!)
– Speaking of Prabhas 2, I forgot one of the points I was going to make in the last part: so I’d say one of the major themes/questions of the first movie is whether or not love/emotion is a weakness (thanks for that, Anushka’s brother.). We see love inspiring Prabhas 2 to do the impossible, like get up the waterfall and rescue Anushka, but at the same time, falling in love symbolically cripples Tamannah. So we end the first movie at a standby, with the question remaining unanswered, up until the point. Because here, not only does Anushka get to be a better fighter due to love, but also Prabhas makes his best showing in battle. (The Kalakeya battle is probably a better shot war scene, but this fight is the cleverest and most successful fight that Prabhas gets.) And it’s all because of love, retroactively giving a response to the rebel leader, who should know better, he was right there. And for that matter, Tamannah gets uncrippled too! Yeah, she’s only in a few moments of the final battle, but she is apparently over her sprained ankle or whatever it was.
– Yes, I love that reversal! That the royal family is totally totally fine with marrying their princess to some random wanderer because he is strong and clever and good, and because she loves him. But it’s when he turns out to be a super-rich prince, they all start to get a bit leery, because they know they’re going to lose Anushka to Mahismati (and she knows it too! Her face when she watches the elephant sculpture break off the flag of her ship says it all.)
– But I still think that’s only part of it, from Anushka’s perspective, though. Because honestly, she has been fine with him not revealing his identity for days (and I love your explanation for what the “plan” might have been, it makes perfect sense) and is even fine with him not telling her immediately after the hallway scene. Her grief and anger is because she was used to being the privileged one, playing this game of equals with him under everyone else’s noses, and all of a sudden she isn’t anymore. Kind of replying to your comments in the last post*, one second Prabhas is totally in sync with her, and now, he just expects her to agree with going to Mahishmati as a prisoner-of-war, and also, given how honest about the important things he is with her, I think she completely trusted him and was confident that she knew him (and vice versa! But no, he doesn’t seem to instinctively understand that she would die rather than be a captive, unlike the multiple other things he has understood about her without needing to be told.) . So for the first time, she is looking at him and realizing she doesn’t know him, and that maybe he doesn’t know her, and that is what freaks her out. And also why she relaxes when his immediate response is the one best suited to her.
*(Yes, I think she definitely knew him well enough to guess he’d be fine with being lit on fire. Or heck, they were so close together when shooting that last set of arrows, she probably felt his armor.)
– And I think it’s important too, like she says, that her pride will not allow her to be a captive. She’s even fine with being a servant, someone who works for her living (and she will, once Dandalayya comes around), but the thought of being a captive and helpless and totally dependent on someone else’s mercy is totally unacceptable to her self-sufficient personality. I don’t think she gets enough credit for this, honestly, and I know I didn’t when I watched the first one: the long-suffering mother is such a cliche in Indian cinema, even ones who defiantly proclaim that their sons will rescue them, that you don’t realize until you see this one that this is Anushka taking her greatest fear, living it for 25 years, and turning it into her weapon to defeat Rana.
– Are we talking about the swoony oath next time? Or this time? If so, there’s a whole bunch of interesting dynamics I wanted to get into, but that can wait until the next post!
…I really did think this was going to be short, I promise.
LikeLike
Wait, is that really the waterfall?!?!? I need to watch out for that when I watch the movie again!
LikeLike
Pingback: Midweek Speculative Post: I Can’t Take The Sad Ending! Here Is a Better Option for Devasena and Bahubali and Avantika – dontcallitbollywood
Pingback: Bahubali 2 Scene by Scene Summary Part 8: A Promise Lightly Given Has Consequences – dontcallitbollywood
These are not castes, but “Varna”. Castle is a subset of varna.
Kshatriyas (ASSERTIVE) – warrior class, whose assertiveness is built by going beyond rules
– Everybody learned weapons, but those who value life and like to save people are called this Varn.
Vaishyas (FACILITATORS) – the middle class, for whom all the rules really apply. The obervance of rules by middle class is in their own self-interest to ensure stability & predictability.
– No issues here. As I said, caste is a subset of varna, Vaishyas subset are Baniya ( sells or barter things ), Sonar ( Works with Gold and precious metal ), Vishwakarma ( Works with cheap metals or wood ) and so on..
Shudras (OPPRESSED class) – these are the under-privileged, rules actually keep them down compared to other dominant/privileged castes
– Basically cleaning class. They would work with dead animals, sewage etc. Only someone who is lazy or rejects all the teachings to be normal would be forced to work as shudras. E. g. Chamar ( works with dead animal pelts ), Dom ( Cleans sewage ) etc.
Brahmins (ELITES) – the privileged class who are capable of ensuring that the rules elevate/favor their class.
– Basically teachers and hoarders of knowledge. These people would teach everyone, including Kshatriyas, how to go about their business.
LikeLike
thank you! That adds a lot
LikeLike
Pingback: Bahubali Posts Index – dontcallitbollywood