Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit has said that anthropologically and scientifically "no God is a Brahmin and the highest is Kshatriya".
Delivering the keynote address at the B R Ambedkar Lecture Series organized by the Ministry of Social Justice, here on Monday, the vice-chancellor said, "I don't think that Brahmins can sit in a crematorium. Lord Shiva wears snakes around his neck, sits in the crematorium, and wears fewer clothes, so he may be from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community".
She stressed the need for "caste abolition" to make society better.
"We should understand the origin of our Gods anthropologically or scientifically. Anthropologically, Laxmi, Shakti, and even Lord Jagannath do not belong to the upper caste. Lord Jagannath is from Adivasi (tribal) community," she said.
The vice-chancellor said, "As per Manusmriti women are Scheduled Caste. In such a situation a woman cannot say that she belongs to Brahmin or other community."
"No God is a Brahmin. The highest is Kshatriya," she claimed.
She said that till marriage, a woman gets her father's caste and after the wedding, she gets her husband's caste which itself is regressive.
"There are many people who say that caste is not defined as per the community you take birth in but today it is based on birth," she claimed.
Recently, a Dalit boy was thrashed to death in Rajasthan allegedly for touching drinking water meant for students of upper caste.
Referring to human rights, she said no one should be meted out with such behavior.
Extending her support for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), she said Bhim Rao Ambedkar himself wanted to implement it.
"Unless we have social democracy, our political democracy is a mirage," she said, adding that the biggest tribute to gender justice will be the implementation of the UCC.
"Today too, of the 52 universities, only six varsities have women vice-chancellors, of which one is from the reserved category," she added. (AA/IANS)
