Gauḍīya Siddhānta

On June 18, 2024, a controversial 600-page report was issued by a one-man committee appointed by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The report advises the government to ban the wearing of tilak on foreheads and remove sacred threads from the hands of school students. The government has released an 18-page summary of that report , which starts with a quotation from B.R. Ambedkar, a political figure from Maharashtra who headed the committee that drafted the constitution of India: "Hindus must consider whether the time has not come for them to recognize that there is nothing fixed, nothing eternal, nothing sanatan." This statement takes a satirical jab at the " sanātana dharma " of the Hindus, which includes the systems of varṇa and jāti . Coming from the Mahar (Dalit) caste, which was considered untouchable in those days, Ambedkar was frustrated with the varṇa and jāti system followed by Hindus at that time. He eventually gave up Hinduism and became a Buddhist, vigoro...