Thread

Look at all the people in our Epics and Puranas. All of them are Hindus. There is none who isn't a Hindu. Sure their are people who deny the divinity of say Narayana or Shiva but they don't deny their existence. In the Ramayan, both Shri Ram & Ravana worship Mahadeva.

All the Rakshas also pray to either Brahma ji or Mahadeva. Hiranyakashipu questions the divinity of Narayana but he doesn't deny his existence & actively vows to suppress his worship. Duryodhan doesn't see Narayana in Shri Krishna but he does worship other Gods & serves Brahmins.

Even the cows we see are stolen are killed accidentally (Karna). Their is no example of a demon killing cows to incite Devas or humans. So the point I want to make is that it's impossible to teach Hindus concept of in-group & out-group using epics and Puranas.

But what about the concept of Mlechha. Well yes but how many Hindus know it's meaning ? It isn't part of mainstream Hindu knowledge as much as Ramayana or Mahabharat is. Mlechha has come to denote a dirty person whether Hindu or non-Hindu.

So basically even a person with totally Hindu upbringing will find it difficult to grasp the concept of in-group & out-group. At max we can say that non-Hindus are Rakshas but Hindus confuse them with just "bad people" even if they are Hindus.

Please add your thoughts to this.