Is India a feudal society?
Judging from my life experiences I would say yes.
As I mentioned in some earlier articles I had been harassed and victimized by certain powerful people. What I want to stress on in that experience is that all of society cooperated with them for decades even though they were breaking the law. There was a conspiracy of silence in which everybody I knew cooperated.
It is possible that my family was threatened with harassment if they did not cooperate. This is familiar tactics with the police when they want to capture a criminal. They generally put pressure on the family members of the accused. There is a scene in the Hindi movie, Shootout at Lokhandwala starring Sanjay Duttwhich illustrates this. The wife of a criminal is pressurised by the police when they are trying to get him to surrender.
But it is difficult to understand why ordinary people who are not being paid a salary and whom I had not harmed in any way cooperated with my tormenters. I have to put it down to the following reasons:
- People in India are not educated and find it difficult to make ends meet. They will be happy if they can please high society people in any way. I would not go so far as to say that the general public does not know right from wrong. But in the absence of their being penalised it is not surprising that they should be tempted. Which leads me to the second point.
- A dysfunctional criminal justice system. People do not respect the law.
It is not surprising that I should want to criticise a society when I have suffered as much harm as I have. My career was ruined and even worse it led to my having a mental ailment.
I think that if you look at the Constitution this sort of society was not what our founding fathers would have wanted. We have one of the most progressive and idealistic Constitutions in the world.
The disadvantages of a feudal society are as follows:
- One of the fundamental principles of a democracy is that there should be checks and balances on people who wield power. As the English saying goes – Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. If independent people do not distinguish between right and wrong then this fundamental principle is violated and leads to an unjust society.
- In Buddhist meditation it is not uncommon for practitioners to develop occult powers. But Buddhist philosophy does not give much importance to these powers. In fact it is said that it is best if you do not get them. The basic principle is that if you do not have the wisdom to wield power wisely then it is best if you are kept away from such temptations. Karma is karma and you will only harm yourself if you misuse the powers given to you.
I read in the novel, Rising Sun, that Japan was a feudal society in the 19th century. The western nations were able dominate it at that time. Japan transformed itself. It invited many Western specialists to advise them on how they should change their government and their industries. The result if there for everyone to see. Despite the Second World War Japan is now one of the premier nations in the world.
I’ll end here. Please comment on the article if you liked it or even if you didn’t. Feedback from my readers keeps me going.
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