The Helots of Sparta & The Helots of India!

Dear friends,

“The roots of the (problems of the) present lie deep in the past”, said, William Stubbs. The history of Sparta teaches a very significant lesson to us.

How a small invading race subjugated the  natives who were ten times larger in size, how the invaders made the natives  slaves to do all the hard work, did not allow them any role in real governance, tortured them for centuries, etc., are given in the following pages in brief.

There had been revolt in Sparta too against the suppressors which is comparable to the way in which the subjugated races in India were redeemed during the era of Buddha.

The contemporary Indian situation where the people of only one Varna cling on to the post of priests in all the income-yielding temples and the manner in which they have arrogated to themselves all the sensitive departments like RAW, IB, MEA and MHA, to cite a few, makes a reading of the history of Helots in  Sparta very relevant.

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The Helots of Sparta 

& 

The Helots of India

In Sparta, the Spartans subjugated the natives and continued to exploit them in a variety of ways.

"The story of Sparta's decline and fall is an object lesson in the intimate relationship between social organization and military power"

- John Kitson.

Spartan society was completely dependent on the systematic exploitation of the natives who were called as Helots, the slaves, who had been used as agricultural labourers and as porters during military expeditions.

The invasion and subjugation

The Spartans were Dorians i.e., the people from Doris which was in central Greece , a group of invaders who spoke a Greek tongue. They pushed into the Greek peninsula during the early Dark Ages. (Comparable with the Aryan invasion in India but the contrast is the Aryan invasion was actually migration and they acquired influence through marginalisation of natives by acquiring proximity to the native-chiefs).

Eventually they settled in the valley of the Eurotas River in the Peloponnese. {comparable with their settlement in the Gangetic valley of Aryavartha}

 
The Spartans did not mingle with the people they had conquered or allow them to become their equals as citizens. Only these minuscule less than 10% Spartans could take part in the governance of the nation. {Comparble with the Varna classification through which they created an aloofness for their blood and language}.

Instead they made them helots, or serfs, and forced them to work on the land. (Comparable with the classification of the entire Dravidian society as Sudras first.)

In their new state the Spartans became a privileged upper class, freed from the need to do any work. (Comparable with the manner in which the Aryans classified themselves as Brahmins and became the privileged upper class and freed themselves from the need to do any hard work.)

Only Spartans enjoyed the full rights of citizenship. The helots had no rights at all. (Remember Manu and his predecessors )

Perioeci in Sparta and Vysyas in India

A third class of people, the perioeci, were allowed to trade and manage their own affairs but they had no political rights. {Comparable with the creation of Vaisyas from out of the suppressed Sudras}

As with other Greek city-states, land hunger forced Sparta to try to find new land. But instead of establishing colonies, the Spartans attacked and conquered the neighboring province of Messenia. Once again the original inhabitants were enslaved and became helots {Comparable with the Aryan migration to South making all the South Indian Dravidians Sudras}

With the largest territory in Greece, Sparta became prosperous. She developed a flourishing Culture and found enjoyment in art, music and dancing. For a time, it seemed that Sparta might become the artistic centre of the Greek world. (Comparable with the way in which the Aryans who hated music originally became aware of the importance of it and acquired the talent from the native Dravidians and later denied access to the natives of the very arts snatched away from theim.)

Contemporaneous to Buddhist rebellion

But suddenly the peace and prosperity came to an end. In 620 B.C. the Messenians, aided by some of their neighbors, revolted. (Comparable with the Buddhist era of religious revolt.)

 
Only with the greatest efforts were the Spartans able to crush the revolt and survive. (Comparable with the manner in which Buddhism was crushed and driven out of India.)

 
The Messenian revolt was a great turning point in Spartan history. It taught the Spartans a lesson they were never to forget. To survive, they decided, they must be strong enough at all times to crush internal rebellion or outside attack. For Sparta's Possible enemies outnumbered her by at least ten to one. (Comparable with the 3% in India)

They did not know how to misuse religion

The Spartan solution was as simple as it was drastic. The Indo-Aryan solution was cooked up Hindu religion and carnivorous Arthasasthra in the post-Buddhist period followed by Manu.

Spartan society changed completely. If survival meant being strong, Sparta was prepared to do anything to become Strong. At a stroke she banished the "unnecessary and useless" arts which had made Sparta an interesting and exciting place in which to live. Sparta became an armed camp. The Indo-Aryan camp became a rendezvous of conspiracy. They created a class among the Sudras to fight for the Aryans against the Sudras and gave them the name Kshatriyas.

Every Spartan man, woman and child was ex­pected to make any sacrifice to help create the powerful army which alone could ensure Sparta's survival. (The Indo-Aryans created only one man among them to be their leader, the Sankaracharya, and made him to sacrifice for the welfare of the entire group of Indo-Aryans. They, in turn, respected him to the highest extent and that respect alone was to be considered as the reward. However, he was also kept under watch by a group of hardcore people among them that he really does not do anything which would go against their collective interests. In the context, the only thing they actually sacrificed was slowly giving up their non-vegetarian food habits and accepting Lord Siva into their fold by becoming vegetarians. The connection between the words 'Sivam' and 'Saivam' would show that the original native Saivites had been vegetarians.)

Care for their wards

From the cradle to the grave, every Spartan devoted his life to the state. If new-born babies showed weaknesses which suggested they would not become good soldiers or mothers of strong men, they were not reared, but left on the slopes of Mount Taygetus to die. In contrast, the Indo Aryans were not that merciless towards their children. They developed a method by which even the least qualified among them would be able to survive. They wanted to avoid the mistake committed by the Spartans in demoting those among them who were without the talents required. Because, the Spartans' practice of demoting the people of their own race for want of talent had created another group among them seething with rage and caused the downfall of all the Spartans. The story of the rebellion by such demoted groups' leader called Cinadon is very interesting and this led to the downfall of Spartans. Our Indo-Aryans did not want to take any such risk. They evolved methods to make food available even for the least qulified among them. So the group "Saundi Brahmins" came into existence. So did the Manu's law too.

Chapter IX. Slo.317. "A Brahmana, be he ignorant or learned, is a great divinity, just as the fire, whether carried forth (for the performance of a burnt-oblation) or not carried forth, is a great divinity." Slo. 319. Thus, though Brahmanas employ themselves in all (sorts of) mean occupations, they must be honoured in every way; for (each of) them is a very great deity."

"Chapter X.85. By his origin alone a Brahmana is a deity even for the gods,.."

However, the way some of them branched out of their practice of Hari worship and  became Saivites to take control of the Siva temples which resulted in the Iyer vs Iyengar divide is relevant for consideration in the context.

Poison their mind when young

Boys were taken from their homes at the age of twelve and placed in barracks to be trained as soldiers. Here they learned unquestioningly to obey those in authority, to endure physical hardship, and to acquire the skills that would enable them to take their place with the greatest soldiers of the ancient world. (Comparable with the manner in which the Brahmins in the Kanchi University are kept away from the 'Sudras' to teach them all sorts of conspiracy to be carried over from one generation to other. Their goal to become soldiers themselves is in sharp contrast with the manner in which the Indo-Aryans make some Sudras fight the other Sudras for the protection of Aryans.)

Condemned by world

The Spartan way of life has often been condemned. It has even been seen as the forerunner of later dictatorships. (Comparable with the fact that no country admires Indian religious order. Comparable also with the fact that the Brahminocracy was really dictatorship through oligarchy.)

In Makers of Ancient Strategy, Barry Strauss calls the helots "communal serfs" ("chattel slaves") who lived in harsher conditions than medieval serfs. Unlike real serfs, Helots could be killed without just cause.

  

Family Life

The population of Sparta was replaced by reproduction. Immigrants were not welcome and the enslaved Helot population made more slaves unnecessary. Family life as we understand it existed for the two lower classes, the Helots or slaves and the Periocei or merchants, but for the upper class Spartans such family life did not exist. (Comparable with the manner in which they did not permit lower classes to become hermits; comparable with the purpose of killing of Sambuka by Rama)

Spartans did marry and marriage was expected. In fact, if a satisfactory marriage was not arranged, the unmarried men and women of that age group were put in a dark room and were expected to come out paired off. Spartan babies were inspected for perfect health and if there was a defect, the child was killed. The purpose was to raise fine Spartan leaders for the next generation. Spartans did not have a home and family life as we understand them. Spartans ate in community dining halls and male children after age 7 lived together in barracks. (They did not know the art of getting everything without sacrificing anything. This is in contrast to the manner in which the Indo-Aryans get everything according to their whims without their sacrificing anything except conscience.) The Spartans had a clear goal in mind and the state functioned to achieve that goal. All basic functions were interrelated and one must realize this interdependence to fully understand Spartan society. (Comparable with the Indo-Aryans tricks of making the government do everything to achieve their goal. The Spartans did not know how to divide the Helots, how to introduce untouchability and how to set one Helot against the other in the name of caste.)


Change was not tolerated and extraneous matters, such as the arts, were not encouraged. Fear of the Helots motivated the Spartans to adopt their way of life. The Spartans had conquered their neighbors by about 680 B.C. and enslaved them. In 462 B.C, Sparta crushed a Helot rebellion. The rebellion showed that the Helot threat was real. Sparta, as a society, was necessarily turned inward on and against itself.

War against co-citizens

The Spartans spent "their lives nervously policing the Helots for signs of revolt. Individual Helots were ritually humiliated--for example, by forcing them to drink massive quantities of alcohol as object lessons for young Spartans in the virtues of moderation". But more serious was the dreaded Krypteia which meant ,"the Secret Matter", (which is comparable with the present day CIA, KGB and the one-community dominated RAW, IB of our country). This was a stage of graduation and this course was deliberately shrouded in mystery and misinformation.

Training for assassination and murders

"Before being inducted into a mess unit, the would-be graduate was required to serve as a member of this highly secretive team of state-sponsored assassins". A state of war was declared every year on the Helot population. Thus, in order to retain their grip over the numerically superior Helots, the Spartans ensured that "that the state is constantly at war with itself", says John Kitson.

Every trainee Spartan was expected to 'hunt' and kill a helot as part of his training". These trainees, during the training period called 'Krypteia' snuck about the Helot territory, especially at night, and assassinated those Helots thought to be outstanding in any way--it could be fatally dangerous for a Helot to be regarded as handsome, intelligent, or ambitious. (For a similar purpose, the Indo Aryans had Manusmriti and had TADA, POTA and a variety of laws for suppressing the voice of the oppressed. The assassination of Aadhitha Karihaalan by the Indo-Aryans is to be recalled in the context) Helots outnumbered citizens by as much as seven to one, (Comparable to the proportion of Indo-Aryans who constitute 3% in India) and the primary purpose of the Spartan army was to control 'the enemy within'.

It is worth-quoting Chanakya, the first political terrorist of the world, in the context. Chanakya had said that "mercy, bashfulness, living like one who is not an Arya, pity, desire for the other world, strict adherence to virtuous life, generosity," etc., are "obstruction to profit." -Page 383 - Book IX- Chapter IV.-Arthasasthra -Translated by Dr. R.Shamasastry with an introductory note by Dr.J.F.Fleet, I.C.S.- Mysore Printing and Publishing house, Mysore- Eighth Edition - 1967). The manner in which this terrorist is venerated by the media is also relevant for consideration by the readers.

                   

Hindu Temples were used for conspiracies

The directions of Chanakya as given in Arthasasthra excerpted below would explain everything without further comments:

v  “Contrivance to kill the enemy may be formed in those places of worship and visit, which the enemy, under the influence of faith, frequents on occasions of worshipping gods and of pilgrimage.”- Page 428.-Book XI –Chapter V.

v  “A wall or stone, kept by mechanical contrivance, may, by loosening the fastenings, be let to fall on the head of the enemy when he has entered into a temple;

v  Stones and weapons may be showered over his head from the topmost story;

v  Or a door – panel may be let to fall;

v  Or a huge rod kept over a wall or partly attached to a wall may be made to fall over him;

v  Or weapons kept inside the body of an idol may be thrown over his head;

v  Or the floor of those places where he usually stands, sits, or walks may be sprinkled  with poison mixed with cowdung or with pure water;

v  Or under the plea of giving him flowers, scented powders, or of causing scented smoke, he may be poisoned;

Aristotle and Jawaharlal Nehru

Aristotle described the helot population as “like an enemy constantly sitting in wait.” "Unlike slaves of other communities, Sparta’s helot population was not imported. Therefore, they were more aware of their heritage and their loss of freedom. This made them more likely to revolt. Tensions between Spartans and the helots was a prime reason for Spartans to enforce as much equality and conformity as possible among themselves." In the context, one may recall what Jawaharlal Nehru has also said about the Indo-Aryans.He says that there was some kind of democracy then. "But let us always remember that this democracy was more or less confined to Aryans themselves. Their slaves, or those whom they placed in low castes, had no democracy or freedom… Thus we have to bear in mind that, on the one side, the Aryans kept down the working class and did not allow it any share in their democracy; on the other, they had a great deal of freedom among themselves." (Glimpses of World History - Page 25).

  

Truth triumphs

The Greek town of Sparta is, now, a bustling regional center; the Eurotas valley is still lovely, but there is no archaeological reminder of its terrible past. "Ironically the ruins of the former Helot city of Messene, which stand high above the Kalamata plain, are much more impressive".

"The Spartans failed to rebound after Leuctra because they could not find a way to deviate from entrenched habits of rigid hierarchy, state terrorism, and social conformity"- Josiah Ober.

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