Her father hired a hit man ...

"They were young, glamorous and dreamily in love.

Pranay Perumalla strode into the wedding hall in a midnight blue suit, his face lit by a grin as he clasped the hand of his bride, Amrutha Varshini. The couple draped huge garlands of flowers around one another’s necks and relatives threw grains of yellow rice that caught in their dark hair. 

But even as they celebrated, they were already in danger. 

One bright afternoon less than a month later, the couple left a doctor’s appointment in the small southern Indian city where they grew up. A man came up behind them carrying a large butcher knife in his right hand. He hacked Pranay twice on the head and neck, killing him instantly.

Pranay, 23, was a Dalit, a term used to describe those formerly known as “untouchables.” Amrutha, 21, belongs to an upper caste. Her rich and powerful family viewed the couple’s union as an unacceptable humiliation. Her father, T. Maruthi Rao, was so enraged that he hired killers to murder his son-in-law, court documents say."  Washpost

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As a board member at a major foundation I voted for many years on decisions to award grants to social scientists for post graduate research.

The underlying mind set of my colleagues on the board as well as the hired staff of the foundation was such that "culture" (the accumulated customs and folkways of a people) are not real and that they only mask the true causes of behavior which are in the end always revealed as economic.

I do not exclude economic factors from the assembled causes of behavior but my colleagues at this foundation certainly disdained "culture,"  "the culture thing,"

In the end I resigned from the board.

Here, pilgrims we have the case of a father in law who hires an assassin and instructs him to kill his daughter's beloved for the sole apparent reason of the husband's lack of status as a member of a recognized caste.  There is no apparent economic reason for the father's action unless one wishes to think of the waves of foreign invasions and establishment thereby of new social systems in India as being essentially economic re-structuring.

pl

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/a-young-indian-couple-married-for-love-then-the-brides-father-hired-assassins/2019/08/19/3d1ce9a0-a1d0-11e9-a767-d7ab84aef3e9_story.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India

Comments

[Vegetius]

These are the kind of people who anti-American tech companies use to censor their platforms are import to steal work from native-born Americans.

[Barbara Ann]

Which kind - the murderer, the father, the victim, the loving bride, millions of other Indian Deplorables just trying to earn a rupee, most of whom would most likely condemn this despicable act?

The Indian caste system is the cause of many injustices, but I do not think we can lay the blame for Globalist offshoring at its feet. The proprietor of WaPo and his ilk would be a more appropriate target.

[Barbara Ann]

O/T but did Trump just have a minor "basket of deplorables" moment? Splitting the Democrats is one thing, insulting Jewish Democrat voters is quite another. Trump of all people should know the difference.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I do not think that you know anything at all about Dalit Life in India.

US Deplorables are living lives of utter dignity and security compared to those poor souls.

Dalit women are often raped and the orphan girls would become temple whores.

And then there is that little matter of honor killing among Muslims, Shia, Sunni, zEbadi, Salafi....

Ask any of the Indians in your acquaintance.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I would add the honor killing of women in Muslim countries as an aspect of Muslim culture.

[Fred]

"They change their stars, not their hearts, who cross the sea."

H1b visa holders don't become different people by taking an expat job here or anywhere else.

[Terence Gore]

What those who want to override the existing culture may be thinking is that the importance of the new ideal outweighs a few personal tragedies. (as long as they are not affected)

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

I agree. Cultures are different. Borders and militias to defend them are a necessary human evil. The East Indian caste system is powerful. I was half-way down the totem pole just because I attended a public American university. Boston elite are called Brahmins for good reason. Blindness about this is overwhelming. Democrats can’t blame the Russians anymore for their faults so it is now White Racists who are the scapegoats. The West is on a fast track splitting apart into a myriad of ethnic tribes so the elite can get richer. The only way to avoid a civil war is to restore democracy and the rule of law for everyone and govern with equality and fraternity.

[doug]

Did Trump just go brain dead. "Great disloyalty" will drive away a significant fraction of the Jewish neocons in spite of his relationship with Bibi. And it's going to put Bibi in an awkward spot as well.

[Jack]

Sir

I don’t claim any expertise in Indian culture. However two decades ago I traveled frequently in India as we invested in many businesses. My exposure was to the educated upper middle class managers and wealthy business owners. While most were educated in the West and had good understanding of western mores and management principles when it came to their personal lives they were deeply imbued with their cultural predilections. Caste and social status as well as the behavior of their children particularly daughters were definitely guided by the traditions of their culture. Weddings of their children were a particularly momentous occasion and no money was spared in how ostentatious it would be as it reflected on their social status. Marriages were arranged by parents and brought together prominent families of equivalent status and most importantly required the two sides were of similar religion, language and sect.

From my limited exposure to Indians in India I completely concur with your point that culture plays a huge role in their behavior. This story is not unusual.

[Amir]

This type of “honor killing”, a crime that is regularly seen in South-Asia (not only India), is as much a cultural expression of those people as pederasty is for the ancient Greeks and pedophilia in the Catholic church. The “honor killing” is a deterrent to ensure “tribal cohesion”. In this case the patriarchy of the richer upper caste, want to delineate their dominion. Similar to some Islamic villagers or Jewish fundamentalists or even Christians ( www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-christian-honour-killing-kerala-kevin-p-joseph-southern-dalit-a8375891.html ) Reproductive rights of a women are seen as a family possession and not an individual right for the women. Surely even in US, some upper class men think that women can not make decision about their own reproductive rights. The difference being that there are more technologies around in US to achieve the end result.

[Mathias Alexander]

How far is culture determined by economics?

[Amir]

How can a president suppress the provision of healthcare, in this particular case women- & reproductive health services and how does that compare to India’s Government? https://twitter.com/repwexton/status/1163853445213896704?s=21

[turcopolier]

Terence Gore

People awarding post grad study purses are not supposed to be using them to foster their hopes for the future.

[turcopolier]

Amir you are about 40 or 50 years behind the times in the US. You are describing mid 20th century America.

[turcopolier]

That depends on what you consider to be "economics."

[turcopolier]

Amir

US government contributions to Planned Parenthood are just that. Contributions.

[BABAK MAKKINEJAD]

Tribes have been extinct in Iran for a very long time - as well as in much of India and Pakistan - yet the honor killings have been going on.

The Catholic Church cannot hold a candle to the Muslim world when it comes to pederasty; which had been going on for centuries.

In India and in China, millions of females fetuses are aborted and the only thing standing between a similar practice in Iran is the old Fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini against abortion.

[BABAK MAKKINEJAD]

I once read that among the Germanic tribes of Northern Europe, who clearly had a marginal economy, it was customary for women to attend the tribal councils. In some tribes, women could speak and be heard, in some women could vote on the topic of discussion.

However, a cursory reading of The Book of Kings, or various fables of Muslim world, makes it quite clear that women were treated as property - among the ruling strata.

[John Minehan]

Hard to make that distinction at times.

How much was the father-in-law in your example's action predicated on his peers who excluded him from economic activity because he had a Dalit son-in-law?

How much was his objection based on his perception that his son-in-law was either a "gold digger" at his daughter's expense or an arriviste who would damage the family's social standing (and economic prospects).

Economic's and culture are intertwined.

For another example think of the PRC's OBOR, it makes no western economic sense but might promote social stability in the PRC, which might be essential to keeping their economy afloat (or not).

[Fred]

Amir,

Perhaps Representative Wexton could let us all know many live births have there been in the maternity wards of Planned Parenthood in VA-10.

[Barbara Ann]

Babak

Thanks for your comment, it is great to see you back on SST.

Your knowledge of the wretchedness of Dalit life may well be superior to my own, however, I do not see how this observation derives from my comment. This did not concern Dalits and it was certainly not my intention to compare them to US Deplorables.

My experience of Indians has been primarily via working with them in the offshoring/outsourcing industries. I never heard one voice support for honor killings. My point was simply that there are many kinds of people in India, as everywhere else and that objection to offshoring or the use of immigrant (in place of domestic) labor does not need to be rooted in national or cultural stereotyping. There are far more sound objections to these practices, oft discussed here.

To your other point, I think we can expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth in WaPo and elsewhere over Afghanistan in the not too distant future. M K Bhadrakumar, whose views on South Asian geopolitics are often prescient, has been arguing for some time that a final deal between the US and the Taliban now looks highly likely. A return to a Taliban dominated government and Sharia law looks inevitable soon thereafter. Trump will doubtless be harangued for abandoning the womenfolk of Afghanistan as it returns to its cultural norms. Will this affect 2020? I think not.

[MP98]

We can't be judgemental.
All cultures and societies are equally important:
"Diversity is our strength."
Actually, I don't care what other people in other societies do.
If the Afghans want to live in the 12 century, let them.
What I do care about is not turning my society (USA) into a third world toilet under the guise of "diversity."

[Offtrail]

Colonel,

Thanks for making an effort to point out this obvious truth. As a person with religious beliefs I certainly agree that "the culture thing is real", and that money doesn't underlie all decisions. At the same time, not sure I would go so far as Mr Rao in this situation.

[turcopolier]

john Minehan

Sophistry. i hope you enjoy it.