சித்தர் சிவவாக்கியர் பாடல் (045)

சாதியாவது ஏதடா சலம் திரண்ட நீரலோ

பூதவாசல் ஒன்றலோ பூதம் ஜந்தும் ஒன்றலோ

காதில்வாளி காரைகம்பி பாடகம் பொன் ஒன்றலோ

சாதிபேதம் ஓதுகின்ற தன்மை என்ன தன்மையே?

—சித்தர் சிவவாக்கியர் பாடல் (045)

Is there caste¹? Is it not the water in semen and menses²?

The gate of the human body³ is one. All five principles⁴ are one.

The jewels they wore in ears and nose are made of one⁵–the Gold*?

What philosophy⁶ is it? That preaches caste distinction.

—Siddhar Sivavakkiyar Hymn (045)

¹ As per Manu Smriti* human beings can be classified based on the duties they perform, as mentioned below:

—the Brahmins: priests, scholars and teachers.

—the Kshatriyas: rulers, warriors and administrators.

—the Vaishyas: cattle herders, agriculturists, artisan and merchants.

—the Shudras: laborers and service providers.

One more class of doing low-level duties much lower than Shudras were added later hence it became five classes, but the most demeaning part of all of it was, they were later manipulated and associated with one's birth. So on later stages the classifications were not based on duties performed by an individual but rather they were associated with their birth. In simple terms people born of that caste has to perform only the duties their fathers and forefathers were doing demanding the service of their ancestors to be continued irrespective of the nature of the individual, his intelligence, his prowess, and his passion, hence a birth in lower class was always tainted with impurity and evilness, whatever the good nature the person was bequeathed with, hence over a period of time, it totally shackled the humankind so badly that even the very breath of the Shudras were willfully branded as evil and impure. The same applied between a Vaishya and a Kshatriya; a Kshatriya and a Brahmin, to an extent, a Shudra should not come anywhere near to a Brahmin. Even some text call for 30–50 feet distance to be maintained between a Shudra and a Brahmin, so worse were the casteism during those days, especially during Siddhar Sivavakiyar’s period—9 Century AD.

* The Manusmṛti (Sanskrit: मनुस्मृति), also spelled as Manusmriti is an ancient legal text among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism. It was one of the first Sanskrit texts translated during the British rule of India in 1794, by Sir William Jones and used to formulate the Hindu law by the colonial government.

The source of the above footnote on Manusmriti: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Smriti

Furthermore, the Brahminic Hinduism that is commonly followed by Hindus in India has its foundation deeply rooted in caste classifications preached by Manu Smriti. Even today in most of the Hindu temples, only the first class called the “Brahmins” are allowed to touch the idols in Hindu temples, and perform rituals and poojas for the deity in the sanctum sanctorum, where no other class is suppose to do it, or go anywhere near it. Unless these sorts of caste based distinctions are completely abolished, so that duties and roles are not taken by birth, rather by prowess, passion and intelligence, the Indian society will remain to be humanly underdeveloped though they make great advancements in science, art, and education, its resource will always be a slavery to the caste system, including that of the first class, as they are indirectly bonded to this system, the religious, the spiritual part of it, which now has inevitably become the backbone of Brahminic Hindusim.

² Like the water in semen and menses the finite vital-life force in each one of us is the same. In other words, the question is when God is present in everyone, how can one discriminate people based on their birth?

³ The gates here means the pathway to liberation of soul—the crown chakra (பிரம்மம்). Every human being as one of it and it is one for all.

⁴ Though the five elements space, air, fire, land, and water exist as different principles they were born out of  the one principle, the creator of all, both material and immaterial.

⁵ Though jewels are different in nature, they are made of gold similarly we humankind, though we are different and unique in nature, we are all made up of that one principle, called the source, the parabrahmam, the God.

⁶ Here Siddhar Sivavakiyar is questioning the goodness in philosophy that preaches caste based discrimination.