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The Lottery of Birth: On Inherited Social Inequalities
An egalitarian ethos has not been a prominent feature of Indian civilization, at least since the decline of Buddhism over a thousand years ago. All people, it is believed, are created unequal, born into a hierarchy of status and dignity, and endowed not with universal but particular rights and duties. This has greatly amplified the unfairness of accidents of birth in shaping one’s lot in life. Despite a long history of resistance, such inequalities have thrived and mutated, including under European rule, modernity, and markets.
Starting with the deeply moving stories of three writers, Arora explores the origins, persistence, and textures of inequalities rooted in the lottery of birth in India—of caste, class, gender, language, region, religion, and more—and their intersections in daily life. Blending scholarly rigor with moral intelligence, these essays engage with the Bhagavad Gita; the legacies of Ambedkar and Gandhi; Indian modernity, democracy, and nationalism; linguistic hierarchies; reservations; violence against women; identity politics; and much else that today weighs on Indian minds.
Starting with the deeply moving stories of three writers, Arora explores the origins, persistence, and textures of inequalities rooted in the lottery of birth in India—of caste, class, gender, language, region, religion, and more—and their intersections in daily life. Blending scholarly rigor with moral intelligence, these essays engage with the Bhagavad Gita; the legacies of Ambedkar and Gandhi; Indian modernity, democracy, and nationalism; linguistic hierarchies; reservations; violence against women; identity politics; and much else that today weighs on Indian minds.
300 pages, Paperback
Published April 2, 2017
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263 people want to read
About the author
Namit Arora
4 books30 followers Namit Arora chose a life of reading and writing after cutting short his career in the Internet industry. Raised in north India, he lived in Louisiana, Northern California, Western Europe, and travelled in scores of countries before returning to India over two decades later in 2013. He is the author of (1) Speaking of History: Conversations about India's Past and Present (with Romila Thapar), (2) Indians: A Brief History of a Civilization, (3) The Lottery of Birth, a collection of essays on inequality, and (4) the novel A California Story (US) / Love and Loathing in Silicon Valley (India). His web home is shunya.net.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 19, 2020
Namit Arora, scores rank 190 all India rank in IIT and gets his admission in IIT,Kharagpur. Everyone rewards him for his academic merit. But author, Namit Arora says he didn’t deserve all the thunder and applause. But he says he can’t take much credit for it. And analyses his own success and says his success was not his own but being at the right place at the right time made him achieve it. So he says in his case, born in an upper caste household, inheriting privileges of being born there , his parents having university degrees added to his advantage. His birth in the family was entirely random. And therefore he inherited decent place in the hierarchy of status and dignity. So here comes why the title “lottery of birth” and because of which he never faced any caste discrimination, any social or physical restrictions on account of gender , nor was troubled by his sexual orientation, no malnutrition, no physical or mental disabilities etc. So what bothered him was lottery of birth where people’s world success or failure was because of accidental inheritance of caste,class,gender,region,religion and other inherited inequalities. So this book contains essays written by Namit Arora on topics. I will write about few of them-
1)He talks about Dalits,who had been ostracised by the society, also untouchables,shudras and says they were denied education, made to do menial jobs and sites example from Mahabharata where Brahmin teacher Dronacharya tricks his low caste disciple Eklavya who is a better student in archery, to give him gurudakshina (thumb) in order to not compete with high class Kshatriya Arjuna . In High caste telling , there are praises of Ekalavya for his obedience towards his teacher rather than saying Dronacharya as a biased teacher. Today caste remains most imp factor in social life. Caste is still seen as an identitity.
2)Namit Arora talks about transgenderism. Hindu mythology and scriptures uphold caste hierarchy and accept transgerderism though not socially desirable. While Mughal rule supported Hijra (minority group).But the British found them as most polluted people and called them as criminal tribes and took away the legal right to collect alms from peasant households. Author gives example of a person called Revathi what she had faced in life because of being a transgender, how she had been banished from the family and the society.
3)About varnasystem- the arrival of Indo-Aryans - they had encountered long settled communities, which were divided based on occupation such as guilds which were not hierarchical, hereditary. And the culture of indo aryans became dominant and they introduced three Varnas(color) Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas . They added a fourth varna - shudras(labourers and artisans) . Later, highest purity points went to upper classes in the Varna system and lowest to workers associated with dead bodies, human waste, tanneries, butchery etc and considered them as outcastes, gave rise to rigid caste system. This led to trampling of basic rights to shudras (oppressed). The cleaning of other peoples shit by hand, tanneries became entirely hereditary and became natural place in the caste hierarchy, bonded labour, sexual exploitation were common too. In order to move up the caste hierarchy lower caste group have also started imitating the ways of life of upper castes (sanskritisation) . Even though government has provided affirmative action ,though people have become financially better than their previous generations, they’re still considered as low castes(because of deeply entrenched caste system).
4)Reservations- reservations are really important in India that has embraced western models of economic development built on capital, professional education that amplifies the advantages for social elites. And so reservations are still a valuable instrument of social justice without which India can not achieve its full promise of democracy. The initiative to reserve women seats in legislatures and parliament has extensive support of upper class elites, but has vehemence against caste based reservations.
5)Decolonising the mind- how British controlled us- author mentions “ economic and political control can never be complete or effective without mental control”. Indians are heierarchy bound wrt Indian literati(English sitting atop like Brahmin and our languages sitting low), we accord a higher caste to the British and subconsciously elevate their literary culture, though it serves as lingua Franca ,it’s not the language in which the Great Indian novel can be written today unless all the social classes across the country read, write, talk, think, dream in that language.
Unless we tackle this social evil in the country, any kind of development - technological or economic can never bring any change. period.
The author quotes Buddha’s dharmic duties-
“It is proper to doubt. Donot be led by Holy Scriptures, or by mere logic or inference ,or by appearances, or by the authority of religious teachers. But when you realise that something is unwholesome and bad for you, give it up. And when you realise that something is wholesome and good for you, do it... be prepared to let go of even the most profound insight or the most wholesome teaching. Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence.”
1)He talks about Dalits,who had been ostracised by the society, also untouchables,shudras and says they were denied education, made to do menial jobs and sites example from Mahabharata where Brahmin teacher Dronacharya tricks his low caste disciple Eklavya who is a better student in archery, to give him gurudakshina (thumb) in order to not compete with high class Kshatriya Arjuna . In High caste telling , there are praises of Ekalavya for his obedience towards his teacher rather than saying Dronacharya as a biased teacher. Today caste remains most imp factor in social life. Caste is still seen as an identitity.
2)Namit Arora talks about transgenderism. Hindu mythology and scriptures uphold caste hierarchy and accept transgerderism though not socially desirable. While Mughal rule supported Hijra (minority group).But the British found them as most polluted people and called them as criminal tribes and took away the legal right to collect alms from peasant households. Author gives example of a person called Revathi what she had faced in life because of being a transgender, how she had been banished from the family and the society.
3)About varnasystem- the arrival of Indo-Aryans - they had encountered long settled communities, which were divided based on occupation such as guilds which were not hierarchical, hereditary. And the culture of indo aryans became dominant and they introduced three Varnas(color) Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas . They added a fourth varna - shudras(labourers and artisans) . Later, highest purity points went to upper classes in the Varna system and lowest to workers associated with dead bodies, human waste, tanneries, butchery etc and considered them as outcastes, gave rise to rigid caste system. This led to trampling of basic rights to shudras (oppressed). The cleaning of other peoples shit by hand, tanneries became entirely hereditary and became natural place in the caste hierarchy, bonded labour, sexual exploitation were common too. In order to move up the caste hierarchy lower caste group have also started imitating the ways of life of upper castes (sanskritisation) . Even though government has provided affirmative action ,though people have become financially better than their previous generations, they’re still considered as low castes(because of deeply entrenched caste system).
4)Reservations- reservations are really important in India that has embraced western models of economic development built on capital, professional education that amplifies the advantages for social elites. And so reservations are still a valuable instrument of social justice without which India can not achieve its full promise of democracy. The initiative to reserve women seats in legislatures and parliament has extensive support of upper class elites, but has vehemence against caste based reservations.
5)Decolonising the mind- how British controlled us- author mentions “ economic and political control can never be complete or effective without mental control”. Indians are heierarchy bound wrt Indian literati(English sitting atop like Brahmin and our languages sitting low), we accord a higher caste to the British and subconsciously elevate their literary culture, though it serves as lingua Franca ,it’s not the language in which the Great Indian novel can be written today unless all the social classes across the country read, write, talk, think, dream in that language.
Unless we tackle this social evil in the country, any kind of development - technological or economic can never bring any change. period.
The author quotes Buddha’s dharmic duties-
“It is proper to doubt. Donot be led by Holy Scriptures, or by mere logic or inference ,or by appearances, or by the authority of religious teachers. But when you realise that something is unwholesome and bad for you, give it up. And when you realise that something is wholesome and good for you, do it... be prepared to let go of even the most profound insight or the most wholesome teaching. Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence.”
June 22, 2017
A terrific collection of accessible, incisive essays. A few thoughts:
*I wish they'd make this required reading at the high school level in India
*The book covered a lot of theory I'd studied in sociology classes (and as a journalist who covers development I keep abreast on some of these issues) - so I was interested, but also in familiar territory. I can see how someone approaching the whole Dalit and caste trope for the first time would find it hard to incorporate into their world view...especially our "caste-blind" elite classes.
*I loved the chapter on the Gita and why it became a codified 'Holy' text as well as how flawed the arguments in it are, and how they undergird the caste system.
*After reading this, I've ordered Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste; I didn't realize how his politics were subverted by others, to the detriment of so many: women, lower castes, everyone who's marginalized actually.
*I appreciate that he addressed his own biases and privilege so very openly. As we know, transparency engenders trust.
So, all in all, it was an easy read with really accessible arguments and opinions. I was already familiar with about two third of the theory, so I'm rating it lower than a 5. But, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see privilege and counter it.
also posted on Amazon. I wish they'd cross post automatically
*I wish they'd make this required reading at the high school level in India
*The book covered a lot of theory I'd studied in sociology classes (and as a journalist who covers development I keep abreast on some of these issues) - so I was interested, but also in familiar territory. I can see how someone approaching the whole Dalit and caste trope for the first time would find it hard to incorporate into their world view...especially our "caste-blind" elite classes.
*I loved the chapter on the Gita and why it became a codified 'Holy' text as well as how flawed the arguments in it are, and how they undergird the caste system.
*After reading this, I've ordered Ambedkar's Annihilation of Caste; I didn't realize how his politics were subverted by others, to the detriment of so many: women, lower castes, everyone who's marginalized actually.
*I appreciate that he addressed his own biases and privilege so very openly. As we know, transparency engenders trust.
So, all in all, it was an easy read with really accessible arguments and opinions. I was already familiar with about two third of the theory, so I'm rating it lower than a 5. But, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see privilege and counter it.
also posted on Amazon. I wish they'd cross post automatically
May 2, 2024
I am glad I read this book. Hopefully, it has started me on a path to further educating myself on merit, caste, privilege, gender, religion and more. I might very well have to revisit ideas from this book and read other referenced sources to even begin to digest the content in this collection of essays. The fact that these ideas brought me face-to-face with the shock of a clouded sense of self-awareness, is saying something about the power this book.
May 10, 2018
The path of development, in which growth and equity command equal attention, always require understanding of the social justice. The truths of social justice is hard to fathom but deserve a deeper scrutiny. The Lottery of Birth navigates through mazes of the identity, gender, justice and equality with a lucid prose. The book will definitely help young minds in developing critical sensibility and more judiciously assess many injustices of our society.
Read
September 22, 2017Reading this book made me smarter. Arora's essays are so timely and relevant. After I'd finish each one, I found that its topics related to many conversations in the news, at my workplace, among family and friends, or in other articles or books I was reading. I also found it so interesting to read about race relations or workplace prejudice or sexism in India and then compare it to my American experiences. Namit Arora straddles these two cultures and countries with understanding, awareness, and aplomb, and his vast reading and knowledge base assert his credibility. There's so much to digest here, and so much to savor.
June 10, 2018
A deeper look at the skeleton of India's caste system, it's origin, its source of strength, its derivatives and it's ever growing symbiotic relationship with the socio-political structure of our country.
May 27, 2018
This unique collection of essays takes the reader through the varieties and degrees of inequality that persist in Indian culture. Beginning with the experience of the personal, the first three essays in the book review life from the perspectives of Dalits and Hijras, those who are held back due to their caste or gender identities. From there, the essays take on a broader view, providing thoughtful and incisive analysis into India’s systems of structural inequalities, where they came from, and why they persist. The author examines how religion, politics, history, and socioeconomics often serve to reinforce injustices meted out against caste, class, and gender. What makes this book absolutely unique and powerful is that the author interrogates his own background and personal history even as he considers the lives of others, comparing and contrasting how the systems of inequality have differentially privileged or burdened himself and others. It’s this honesty and sensitivity which give the book not only a penetrating depth but also a moral force to be reckoned with. Any reader interested in contemporary India will deepen their understanding by reading this book.
February 15, 2022
This book is a collection of essays written by Namit Arora for 3 Quarks Daily. Section 1 of the book covers caste and gender equalities. This according to me is the strongest part of the book. The very first essay on Joothan is an eye opener and Namit Arora has analyzed it beautifully. After reading this essay, now I am looking forward to read Joothan. Another essay in this section Beyond Man and Woman tries to look at life of transgenders in India and their place in society. I was left wanting more after finishing this particular essay.
Section 2 covers inequality in India with a special focus on history of caste and historical social ramifications of it. Author has looked at multiple works such anthropology to religion. The essay on Bhagvat Geeta was particularly interesting as it made me look at certain characters from a different perspective. I have always been skeptical about the character of Parshuram, now I have become skeptical of Krishna as well.
"Indeed, the arguments that Krishna employs to persuade Arjuna to fight often seem cold, too distant, manipulative, and even warmongering—unlike the rest of the Mahabharata which comes across as decidedly anti-war." These lines show the kind of arguments author has used to debunk Geeta. He has successfully questioned the sanctity and place of Geeta in today's India.
Section 3 and 4 of the book were weakest for me. The essay on Delhi being a city of rape did not fit in with rest of the book. Some of the other essays, specially Decolonizing My Mind and On the Politics on Identity, I felt there were certain gaps in my knowledge as they felt more of a commentary on other works. The strongest essay in this section was on Ambedkar and how upper caste Indians needs to read more of him while looking at him as an intellectual as well as Dalit savior.
All in all, it was a good read and it gave me list of other books and works that I will be on the lookout for.
Section 2 covers inequality in India with a special focus on history of caste and historical social ramifications of it. Author has looked at multiple works such anthropology to religion. The essay on Bhagvat Geeta was particularly interesting as it made me look at certain characters from a different perspective. I have always been skeptical about the character of Parshuram, now I have become skeptical of Krishna as well.
"Indeed, the arguments that Krishna employs to persuade Arjuna to fight often seem cold, too distant, manipulative, and even warmongering—unlike the rest of the Mahabharata which comes across as decidedly anti-war." These lines show the kind of arguments author has used to debunk Geeta. He has successfully questioned the sanctity and place of Geeta in today's India.
Section 3 and 4 of the book were weakest for me. The essay on Delhi being a city of rape did not fit in with rest of the book. Some of the other essays, specially Decolonizing My Mind and On the Politics on Identity, I felt there were certain gaps in my knowledge as they felt more of a commentary on other works. The strongest essay in this section was on Ambedkar and how upper caste Indians needs to read more of him while looking at him as an intellectual as well as Dalit savior.
All in all, it was a good read and it gave me list of other books and works that I will be on the lookout for.
November 3, 2022
Completed 70%. An average read.
August 10, 2024
Changed the way I think
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews