Is there any possibility of increasing the Brahmin population?

Is there any possibility of increasing the Brahmin population?

During the late 1990s and the early 2000s, a gentleman associated with a Brahmin association used to visit many households in the city, including ours. Whenever he met young men or women of marriageable age, he would advise them to have four or five children to help increase the community's population.

Around 2002 or 2003, he suddenly disappeared from the association's activities and stopped visiting households in the city. We later learned that the gentleman’s daughter had eloped with a man from a different community who worked in a menial job. Consequently, the gentleman distanced himself from the association.

At that time, I was either in the final year of my Master’s degree or searching for a job. Following this incident, three thoughts struck me:

1. Is it truly possible to increase the population by having four or five children?

2. If so, how can we protect these children and raise them with traditional Brahminical qualities?

3. How did a gentleman who was busy advising society fail to monitor his own daughter's actions?

A primary concern is that many Brahmins fail to lead their families along a "dual path." The first is the spiritual path, which includes performing daily rituals, learning shlokas, and involving girls in traditional activities like bhajans. It also involves teaching youth how the community differs in cultural norms and the necessity of protecting the *Rishi Vamsa Gothra*, which is only possible through marriage within the community. The second is the professional path, which provides a livelihood through activities that gain monetary support without breaching traditional duties.

If Brahmin men and women follow this dual path, only then will the community be protected.

As I have noted in many of my posts, because Brahmins are law-abiding citizens, child marriages stopped completely following the implementation of the Sarda Act in the 1930s. Generally, Brahmins now marry in their late 20s or early 30s—and for some, even their early 40s—so the possibility of having four or five children is low. Therefore, that gentleman's advice is practically impossible.

Furthermore, when political parties engage in "Brahmin-bashing" or the implementation of the EWS quota is delayed, Brahmin associations cannot easily fight back against the ruling state government due to the population being only 3% to 4% and scattered across Tamil Nadu.

There are a few things we can do:

* Support political parties that provide electoral opportunities to the Brahmin community.

* Protect the Brahmin lineage by advising children on the importance of the dual path: professional excellence and spiritual duties.

* Avoid blindly supporting any single political party; if opportunities are provided by a specific party, we should switch our support to them and not worry about "wasted" votes.

In conclusion, we need to maintain our population at a minimum of 3% to 5% by having at least two children per family, while ensuring we maintain a balance between professional excellence and traditional duties.