American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1989

The Doctrine of Karma: Its Psychosocial Consequences 1 S. O m p r a k a s h 2 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Social change programs necessarily affect and are affected by the ideologies of the helpers and the recipients of help. The Hindu doctrine of Karma prescribes proper actions for all living beings according to their positions in life. The doctrine is intimately involved in the caste system and tends to perpetuate it, including the perpetuation of poverty. Based on interviews with 60 members of the lower caste in one Hindu village, the study points out how the doctrine of Karma can interfere with efforts at modernization and development. The success or failure of social change programs to alleviate poverty often depends on the extent to which they have directed attention to the ideologies of the helpers and of the poor recipients of help (Furnham, 1982). The way people explain poverty has obvious and very different implications for how it can and should be tackled. Attribution studies reveal that factors such as ability, effort, luck, and situational variables are used to explain success. Weiner (1980) has proposed a three-dimensional taxonomy of the perceived causes of success and failure: controllability, stability, and locus of control. These factors are similar to those found in poverty studies: namely, societal, individualistic, and fatalistic explanations (Feagin, 1972). Lallj ee (1981) has argued that people use a wide range of personal and culturally shared experiences to formulate explanations. Some studies of poverty have concentrated on various psychological processes found especially among the poor (Gans, 1979). ~The author is grateful to Dr. M. Thavamanit, graduating P. G. Sociology student of Humanities and Social Sciences,, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, for his critical review of this paper. 2All correspondence should be sent to S. Omprakash, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, PO-IIT Kanpur-208016, India. 133 0091-0562/89/0200-0133506.00/0 © 1989 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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Interestingly, very few studies of poverty have actually been conducted in India. Singh and Vasudeva (1977) studied the relationship of explanations of poverty to educational attainment and income. They used a Punjabi version of Feagin's items and found that societal explanations were judged most important by persons of lower educational attainment and income. They found that Sikhs and Hindus differed on only one item. At least two psychological phenomena are likely to influence explanations for poverty in different religious groups in India. The first is religious or group prejudice which is quite extensive in India (Hassad, 1978; Prasad & Singh, 1977), and the second, religiously based belief systems. There has been extensive cross-cultural work in India on the measurement of locus of control. Because of the strong belief in fate and predestination, investigators tested the hypothesis that Indians would be more likely to endorse the external (fatalistic) locus of control. However, studies have reported either contradictory or ambiguous results (Khana & Khana, 1979). This research has not taken into consideration that not all the religions in India in fact believe in the doctrine of Karma. THE K A R M A D O C T R I N E

The Hindu idea of Karma, the transmigration of souls, is described by Weber (1964) in the following way: Guilt and merit within this world are unfailingly compensated by fate in the successive lives of the soul which m a y be reincarnated innumerable times in animal, human, or even divine form . . . . The finiteness of earthly life is the consequence of the finiteness of good or evil deeds in the previous life of a particular soul. W h a t m a y appear from the viewpoint of a theory of compensation as unjust suffering the terrestrial life of a person should be regarded as atonement for sin in a previous existence. Each individual forges his own destiny exclusively, in the strictest sense of the word.

He concluded: "The mechanism of rebirth is, therefore, a consistent deduction from the super-divine character of the eternal order of the world, in contrast to the notion of a god who is set over the world, rules it personally, and imposes predestination upon it." Weber was correct, said Judith Willer (1971) in her conclusion that the Karma doctrine does not have the same logical difficulties as other religious systems. The Karma system works without a deterministic role for God. There is no problem of theodicy in the Karma system because no all-powerful god is needed or postulated. The Karma system is, in fact, not a religious system at all, but a magical one in which the individual determines his own destiny by his actions. The world is perceived to have a deterministic order, an idea which is necessary in a magical system in order to utilize empirical thinking

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and observation of order as a basis for action. The idea of the soul surviving the body is also a characteristic of a magical knowledge system. In addition to the Indian concept of a soul, there are three basic elements of the Karma system: Karma, or the idea of rebirth; Dharma, or the idea of proper action; and varna or caste, the idea of status grouping. These ideas are related. All living beings including humans have souls that do not cease to exist at death but are thought to have passed on to another body. The souls of humans can pass into other types of creatures, and vice versa. There are proper actions for all living beings according to their positions in life. The caste into which people are born determines their action or dharma. All beings are arranged into a rank order from lowest to highest with the caste positions of humans included in the structure. Those beings whose actions fit their dharma build up during their lives a certain amount of spiritual power. The amount of spiritual power thus accumulated determines whether the soul will be reborn at a higher rank. Those souls who do not follow their dharma will lose power, and consequently rebirth will be at a lower rank. Action in the present life is completely free. The individual may choose to follow or not to follow his or her dharma. The individual's actions result in the accumulation of spiritual power to advance one's position in the next life. If dharma is followed properly, it is inevitable that the person will be born in a higher position in his next life. This necessity, however, results from the natural order of the world, and no god intercedes in the process. Because humans may determine their positions by their own actions, the Karma system is not, by definition, a religion and thus cannot have a theodicy problem. Instead, as in a magical system, Karma is inherently isomorphic with observations because it is based on empirical thinking. Present ills are the result of the free action of individuals when their souls existed in some previous life. Proper action may not lead to reward in the present life, but it does lead to the accumulation of power for a higher rebirth. Virtue and reward are connected, but this connection is not in the present life but in the succession of lives of the individuals. It is not accurate to refer to a succession of lives; the life-giving characteristic of souls does not stop between bodies but first gives life to one body and then to another. It is only bodies that die, for the empirical reason that only bodies are observed to die. The magic of the Karma system is somewhat different from that found in a less complex society. The Karma doctrine explains the widespread disparity of wealth that is found in larger societies. It offers the possibility of mobility through rebirth when mobility is not possible, considering the discrepancy between the rich and the poor. Conformity to the dharma allows the individual to hope for a better existence and tends to maintain the rigid social structure. Although the individual is responsible for actions in the

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present, and may accumulate power, relative power is not gained by competition with others but is determined by whether the individual has followed a fixed set of actions corresponding to a fixed present position. The Karma system tends to maintain the social structure through pressure to conformity with it. The question remains, therefore, whether it is in the interest of some status group to promote a system whose magical character fits empirical thinking (i.e., the observation that only the body dies) of the poorer groups. Although the lower castes in India fit closely the characteristics of primitive society in which magical thinking is expected to exist, and although actions in keeping with dharma lead to individual spiritual power, the reward of spiritual power is not directly observable. Although the lower castes have no rational thought systems of their own, there may be some caste that does utilize a system of rational thought. The highest caste, the Brahmin, does in fact have an interest in maintaining the social structure as it is, since they are in the most advantaged position. The Brahmin caste had the wealth and consequently the time to develop rational thinking (e.g., the positional number system with the concept of zero, and negative numbers as debts, a precursor of cost accounting). The caste structure tends to maintain magical thinking and to keep the lower castes isolated from the upper castes. The Brahmins developed and promoted the Karma system in India.

T H E SETTING: C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S OF T H E P O P U L A T I O N The village Duari lies at a distance of 50 kilometers from Kanpur railway station. It does not possess an all-weather motorable pucka (paved) road. It is approachable through a 6-kilometer kacha (dirt) road. There is no electricity. A large number of houses are made of mud. There are 377 households, with a population of 2,240. The dominant castes are Thakurs and Brahmins. However, there are more members of the scheduled castes (lower castes specifically protected in the Indian constitution), and backward castes. The Brahmins and Kshatriyas (locally known as Thakurs) belong to the higher castes. Thakurs of this village and in the surrounding 36 villages are politically, economically, and socially dominant. Though the Brahmins are at the top of the caste hierarchy, they occupy the second position economically and in numbers. The scheduled castes and other backward castes are very much poorer than the upper castes. The majority live below the poverty line. Almost two-thirds are landless and the rest are sharecroppers, marginal farmers, and wage laborers. Employment opportunities are available on an average of 180 days a year. The average annual earning per rural household is less than 2,700

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rupees (about $200). The per capita monthly income is about 40 rupees (about $3). Earnings are less than half the income level defined by the government as the poverty line at current prices. The p o o r - t h e scheduled and backward castes in the village- depend on higher caste Thakur and Brahmin landlords. Moneylenders are active in the village. They extend loans to the poor at high rates of interest. The moneylenders gradually compel the poor to sell their land or houses to them as well as exploit them in other ways. The result is often starvation and destitution. A rich Brahmin peasant has been the Pradhan (chief) of the village for the past 20 years. The Panchayat (a five-person village court and governing body) has some members from lower castes, but they are largely inactive in village affairs and indifferent to the oppression of their own caste members. Because all are poor and they remain under the obligation of the Pradhan, or landlords in the village, they are unable to do anything against oppression. Whenever there is a case of oppression, for example, the beating of men or the rape of lower caste women, the police always take the side of the upper caste rich people, for monetary as well as caste considerations. At present, there are as many as 16 lower caste persons who have been convicted under one pretext or another by police in connivance with rich high caste people. The families of the convicted serve some landlords for their livelihoods. They live hand-to-mouth and are exposed to all kinds of exploitation. The social and religious lives of the people in this village are quite distinct. All the Hindu festivals are celebrated vigorously. Dusshra, Dewali, and Holi are the most popular festivals. Besides these, the birth anniversaries of popular gods and goddesses are also celebrated. There are 36 temples in and around the village. Rich, high caste Brahmins and Thakurs celebrate these festivals with great pomp and show. The poor lower castes and backward caste people also spend a lot to please these gods and goddesses and to follow in the footsteps of their masters. However, the lower caste people are not allowed to enter the temples even when they celebrate the festivals. In every caste, from the birth of a child, through youth, marriage, and death, various social and religious rituals are performed. If the poor are financially unable to pay for these, especially the death rites after a funeral, they are ridiculed. They are told horrifying tales about the ill effects of the misdeed of not having performed the rites. Sometimes these people are made scapegoats, subject to social threats and their lives are made miserable. Thus none, especially the lower caste people, can afford to escape from these expensive rituals. Not only will they suffer in the next birth but their deceased ones will also never rest in peace. They will suffer because their sons have not performed the ascribed rites. Thus these people will never be able to improve their rebirth status. Therefore, even the poorest among the poor attempt to fulfill the Pitri-Rinna, the son's responsibility to his father. He takes

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a loan from the Mahajan at an exorbitant rate of interest to perform these rites and is caught in a vicious circle, but he fulfills his filial responsibility. These Sraddha (funeral and ancestral) rites are performed by virtually every household in Duari for the welfare of ancestral spirits during the dark fortnight of the month of Kwar, a period designated for this purpose. After the funeral rites, sons are responsible for making an annual Sraddha offering. That is why the people prefer sons to daughters, even though it is highly desirable to perform Kanaya-dan, the ritual giving of a virgin daughter in marriage. The father gains in virtue from this ritual. The lower caste villagers in Duari find daughters a burden. According to them, their daughters' izzat (honor and virginity) is not safe in the village. They claim the high caste people do not treat their daughters as they treat the daughters of the high castes. They treat lower caste daughters as possessions and often rape them. The incidence of rape is quite high in these villages. The simple solution is to dispose of daughters in early child marriages. There is less fear of rape after marriage. Although no one can stop the rapes, when daughtersin-law or married daughters are raped, the gravity of guilt and shame is comparatively less. The lower castes try to resolve such social threats through an accepted norm. Many people were resigned to the fact that it was a matter of their fate and nothing else. Therefore, no one can prohibit this practice.

DESIGN A N D M E T H O D O L O G Y

The Village Duari is entirely Hindu. We wished to explore the possibility of explaining poverty within the framework of the doctrine of Karma. It was hypothesized that the doctrine of Karma generates negative values among the downtrodden and in Hindu society at large. The lower caste c o m m u n i t i e s - t h e Shudras (untouchables) of y e s t e r d a y - w e r e the worst victims of this doctrine. It was also hypothesized that a scientific outlook or temper generates confidence among people who adopt it and helps eradicate blind faith, ignorance, superstition, rituals, and related exploitation. The poor who adopt a scientific outlook may try to improve their own lot. We wish to explain the concept of poverty within the doctrine of Karma. The data were collected by means of interviews on all aspects of the lifestyles of the downtrodden of the village of Duari. From among the scheduled castes, 60 heads of households were randomly chosen for extensive interviews about the impact of the doctrine of Karma upon them. Since most of the respondents are illiterate, administration of a questionnaire was ruled out. Quantitative data on poverty and its relationship to the doctrine of Karma are being explored in another study.

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A Three-Dimensional Model Based on our analysis of the information in the interviews, we developed three clusters of variables related to the three components of the theory of Karma: predestination, societal impact, and personal attributes. The first dimension, predestination, has 10 aspects. (The numbers in parentheses represent the number of interviews in which the issue appeared.) (1) Doctrine of predestination (55); (2) Birth and rebirth (50); (3) Following one's calling or ascribed occupation (41); (4) Denial of academic pursuits, intellectual enlightenment, and classic literature (60); (5) Beliefs in fate (fatalism) (51); (6) Blind faith (46); (7) Subjected to suffering in order to attain moksha (spiritual power) (49); (8) Complacency with what one has (57); (9) Poverty, indebtedness, and destitution (60); and (10) Infallibility of the doctrine of Karma (60). Under the societal impact dimension, the following aspects emerged: (1) Social status by birth (60); (2) Intergroup prejudices rather than rational beliefs (60); (3) Denial of economic, political, and educational powers; monopolization of those by the higher castes (60); (4) Inequitable socioeconomic, religious, and cultural opportunities (unjust social order) (58); (5) Harassment and humiliation through untouchability, pollution, and atrocities (60); (6) Severe punishment for the violation of established codes of behavior as affronts to their dignity, and assaults (Manu Smriti) (60); (7) Denial of legal protection and political power; power is misused against the weaker (49); (8) Resultant psychological suppression leads to discouragement to organize themselves and to protest against social injustice (57); (9) Vigorous enforcement of the caste system (60). The third dimension of Karma theory is labeled personal attributes. This dimension includes the following aspects: (1) Low self-esteem (60); (2) Low initiation, which leads to lack of ability (53); (3) Ego gets hurt and escapes from reality (50); (4) Resultant fear and self-detachment (41); (5) Lack of thrift and proper management (37); (6) Low need for achievement (41); (7) No attempt at self-improvement, retarded growth (43); (8) Powerlessness, distrust, and ambivalence (59); and (9) Negative psychological syndrome (57). Personal integration is reduced or may even disintegrate with oversensitivity to events or in the face of serious challenges to one's self-esteem. An inability to cope with overwhelming difficulties may lead to unwillingness to confront issues and problems. The longer they are neglected, the more serious these issues and problems become. The thought of initiating action is fraught with difficulty because of the perceived inevitability of the power and authority relationships embedded in the hierarchical caste system. The result may be that lower caste people who are supposed to be subordinates

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feel inherently vulnerable to being judged and f o u n d wanting. As a consequence, lower caste people tend to be anxious and reserved. Appraisal o f their o w n p e r f o r m a n c e is a severely limited means for inducing personal development or growth. Learning to think positively about one's self can be self-changing or even transforming. Earlier work demonstrated the extent to which our selfperceptions are dependent u p o n others perceptions o f us, and the significance o f positive expectations on work and other performance. W h e n employers and others expect an individual to succeed, it is likely that he or she will be m o r e successful than when these others expect p o o r p e r f o r m a n c e or failure. Negative expectations are just as likely to breed failure as positive expectations are to breed success (Blake & M o u t o n , 1983). One day while I was in the field, I was discussing problems o f the lower caste households in the village with a g r o u p belonging to a C h a m a r c o m m u nity, a subcaste a m o n g the scheduled castes. At that time an old m a n approached me and begged for some paisa (small denomination coins) as alms. He made it clear that he belonged to a Bhangi community, a subcaste a m o n g the scheduled castes. This caste does the scavenging in the village, especially in the houses o f high caste people. The o l d man's emphasis that he came f r o m the Bhangi caste shows not only that he gets satisfaction by calling himself a Bhangi but also that he was pleasing his high caste masters by his behavior. The doctrine o f K a r m a induces negative characteristics a m o n g the weaker groups o f Hindus. If the subsection o f society suffered, it was because they were born to suffer. They must be made to suffer for their fate was predestined and cannot be changed. That was why, perhaps, the Shudras (untouchables) were treated as bad, as m a d dogs, by high caste Hindus. Various stringent codes were formulated to punish the lower castes and to keep them away f r o m social, religious, and educational institutions. For example, the M a n u (a H i n d u religious b o o k ) code (Ambedkar, 1936; Das, 1969) prescribed as follows: x.51 But the dwellings of the Chandals and the Shvapakas shall be outside the village, they must be made Apparatras and their wealth (shall be) dogs and monkeys. X.52 Their dress (shall be) the garments of the dead; (they shall eat) their food from broken dishes, black iron (shall be) their ornaments and they must always wander from place to place. X.53 A man who fulfills a religious duty, shall not seek intercourse with them; their transactions (shall be) among themselves and their marriages with their equals. X.54 Their food shall be given to them by others (than an Aryan given) in a broken dish; at night they shall not walk about in villages and in towns. X.55 By day they may go about for the purpose of their work, distinguished by marks at the King's command and they shall carry out the corpses (of persons) who have no relatives; that is a settled rule.

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X.56 By the King's order, they shall always execute the criminals, in accordance with the law, and they shall take for themselves the clothes, the beds, and the ornaments of (such) criminals.

It was natural that the affected people continue to be ignorant and subjected to exploitation. They developed negative personal attributes. This tendency generated certain characteristics among them such as low self-esteem, low initiation, low need for achievement, fear, powerlessness, distrust, and ambivalence, which reiterate a vicious circle perpetuating their plights. It also reinforced their faith in the doctrine of Karma, a chain reaction. To make any program successful, it behooves the applied researcher to determine people's personal beliefs about the relatively stable factors that cause poverty in various groups and the extent to which these factors are modifiable. Where these beliefs are untenable, ill informed, or prejudicial, educational programs need to be instituted to alter these cognitions. Similarly, the explanations and cognitions of the poor themselves degrading the causes of their own poverty must also be taken into consideration if social change strategies are to be successful.

A Positive Three-Dimensional Approach A positive or a rational viewpoint toward life as a basis for action includes the following three dimensions: (a) empirical-rational; (b) societal (normative) reeducative; and (c) locus of control; generalized personal control. One fundamental assumption underlying the empirical-rational dimension is that people are rational. People will follow their rational self-interest once it is revealed to them. Because the person is assumed to be rational and moved by self-interest, it is assumed that he or she will adopt the proposed change if it can be rationally justified and if it can be shown that the person will gain by the change. We can relate this set of dimensions back to the enlightenment and to classical liberalism, wherein the main obstacles to change were believed to be ignorance and superstition. The empirical-rational dimension comprises the following factors: (a) scientific approach/rational components of action; (b) status gained by one's deeds; (c) occupation by choice and individual temperament; (d) intellectual enlightenment and classical liberalism; (e) individual as the master of one's own fate; (f) annihilation of blind faith, superstition, and ritual; (g) eradicate suffering; (h) strive for betterment; (i) elimination of poverty, illiteracy, and disease; (j) question the status quo and challenge the infallibility of the doctrine of Karma. Empirical-rational thinking sheds new light and helps people to rise above caste and creed. Thus it challenges society to inculcate values such

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as liberty, equality, and fraternity. The individual is not made a scapegoat on the basis of caste or creed. This helps the individual to grow in an encouraging environment. One can explore one's worth and potential fully and in an atmosphere that encourages initiation, self-development, and selfrealization. It may be appropriate to quote Dr. Ambedkar, a social reformer who had a strong following among the lower castes during the 1960s; The Hindus must consider whether the time has not come for them to recognize that there is nothing fixed, nothing eternal, nothing Sanatan; that everything is changing, that change is the law of life for individuals as well as for society. In a changing society, there must be a constant reevaluation of old values and the Hindus must realize that if there must be standards to measure the acts of men there must also be a readiness to revise those standards.

The second dimension, normative reeducative, builds upon other assumptions about human motivation. People's rationality and intelligence is not denied. Patterns of action and practice are supported by sociocultural norms. Sociocultural norms are supported by the attitudes and value systems of individuals, normative outlooks which undergird their commitments. Change in a pattern of practice or action, the dharma aspect of Karma theory, will occur only as the persons involved are brought to change their normative orientations to old patterns and develop commitments to new attitudes, values, skills, and significant relationships, not just to populist slogans. The new model includes the following issues: (a) social status by birth challenged; (b) disregard accepted social norms and standards; (c) build countervailing power against inequities and exploitation; (d) generate awareness that facilities are appropriated by the high castes; (e) enforce the principles of equality and fraternity; (f) follow constitutional means, and help to create a national feeling; (g) annihilation of the caste system; (h) change power elites; (i) educate, organize, and agitate. The third dimension, locus of control, generalized personal control, entails the following: (a) high self-esteem; (b) high initiation, better results; (c) enhanced ego accepts challenges; (d) direct attack on one's problems; (e) belief in one's strength, growth-oriented; (f) high need for achievement; (g) efficient, skillful; (h) identity achieved; self-realization; (i) mastery over the environment. Hindus know the contradictions between the doctrine of Karma and the scientific temper. Despite the knowledge, some advocate the former. Why they choose the doctrine of Karma can best be explained in the words of India's top historian, Romilla Thaper (1987), when she said: "Traditions are not self-created by consciously chosen and the choice from the past is enormous. We often choose what suits our present needs." Reason and morality are the two most powerful weapons in the armory of a reformer. To deprive the reformer of the use of these weapons is to

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disable with reason. Can you appeal to reason and ask the Hindus to discard caste as contrary to reason? That raises the question: Is a Hindu free to follow his or her reason? There is little place in Hindu doctrine for reason to play its part. A Hindu must follow either Veda Smriti or Sadachar (religious texts). A Hindu cannot follow anything else. How is the text of the Veda and Smrites to be interpreted whenever any doubt arises regarding their meaning? Rationalism as a canon of interpretation of the Vedas and Smrites is absolutely condemned. It is regarded as wicked as atheism and the punish- " ment is excommunication. Thus where a matter is covered by the Veda or Smriti, a Hindu cannot resort to rational thinking. Even when there is a conflict between Vedas and Smritis on matters on which they have given a positive injunction, the solution is not left to reason. When there is a conflict between two Shrutis, both are to be regarded as of equal authority (Ambedkar, 1936). In India, unless the scientific temper grows among the people, all the development programs and strategies will not bring fruitful results. The whole orientation of the high caste group, and also of the people of the weaker sections, needs to be changed. A beggar is pleased to get 10 paisa whereas an affluent person will not be happy even after getting thousands of rupees. This tendency to keep the poor poor has to be changed. The present need is to focus our attention on the needy and helpless poor rather than on those who have been exploiting and appropriating all privileges to preserve their vested interests. We need to build a nation and not to create an affluent sector which has already unfairly enjoyed the lion's share.

Poverty is Not Their Problem We have in India a low caste and upper castes. The problem of Shudras or lower castes is not poverty. The problem is the denial of human rights. They should fight for their self-respect, not for their food. If they are poor, it is the by-product of their social deprivation. Once they regain their selfrespect, the problem of poverty will be automatically resolved (Omprakash, 1984; Omprakash, & Rastogi, 1985; Omprakash, & Saxena, 1987). Without destroying the doctrine of Karma and the caste system which is the mother of all evils, no tangible development is possible. Without a thoroughgoing empirical temper, no amount of economic uplift of the poor is possible. It is like pouring water on the Sahara desert. Any attempt to search for the poor class in India, or its variants (working class, casual laborer, contract laborer, or bonded laborer) will become a waste of time and resources. It is like searching for a black cat in a dark room with our eyes closed. Indian society is caste-based. Here caste is class. We have no class in India. All rich Brahmin industrialists employ only poor Brahmins. The upper caste poor has no class conflict with his more affluent caste brothers. Only caste is the reality in India.

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CONCLUSION This paper is an attempt to provide understanding of the people's perspective of their poverty with respect to the doctrine of Karma. The paper explored the three dimensions of Karma and advocates desirable alternatives. Though the conclusion is derived from a microlevel case study of a single Hindu village, it shows how established institutions based on the doctrine of karma are obstacles to development programs. In other words, our poverty eradication programs will not be successful as long as the doctrine of Karma is in vogue. Hence the desired results will never be achieved. It is the ill effects or the psychosocial consequences of the doctrine of Karma that have devitalized, depreciated, and distorted the smooth functioning of our economic and sociocultural relations. This point of view has not informed numerous other studies of poverty and of the development of the weaker sectors of society (Furnham, 1982; Weiner, 1980; Feagin, 1978; Lalljee, 1981; Gans, 1979; Hassad, 1978; Galbraith, 1962; Mandal & Mahadevan, 1983; Singh, 1983; Townsend, 1970, among others). One school of thought explains the doctrine of Karma as a purely spiritual activity, untouched by all practical motives. The other sees it as utilitarian activity, directly related to the life of the people. The latter view seems more accurate in describing how Brahmins preserve their vested interests. They keep the masses ignorant so that they are successful in exploiting them for their personal gains.

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