In recent weeks, a poster promoting an academic workshop titled ‘South Asian Capitalism(s)’, jointly organised by UC Berkeley, IIT-Bombay, and UMass Amherst, has sparked a firestorm of controversy. The event’s stated aim is to explore how “capitalist accumulation is socially structured across South Asia". A worthy and timely topic. But the visual framing of this discussion undermines its credibility. By uncritically importing a European class pyramid, and by populating the top layers with distinctly Hindu imagery, the poster does more than miscommunicate; it distorts history, revives colonial stereotypes, and fuels religious bias.

To understand why this is deeply problematic, we must examine three interlinked issues: the mismatch of frameworks, the selective targeting of Hindu symbols, and the erasure of indigenous socio-economic thought.

Mismatch of Frameworks: Western Pyramid For An Eastern Tapestry

The most prominent element of the poster is the classic “Pyramid of Capitalist System". This cartoon first appeared in late 19th-century Europe, reflecting the Marxist critique of industrial capitalism:

•​At the base: workers and peasants, “We feed all."

•​Above them: military and clergy, “We shoot you," “We fool you."

•​At the top: capitalists, “We rule you," and finally, “We eat for you."

This image emerged in a very specific historical context, rapid industrialisation, the rise of factory labour, the dominance of a capitalist bourgeoisie, and the church’s role as a legitimising force.

To transplant this pyramid wholesale onto South Asia is intellectually lazy.

South Asia’s social and economic history cannot be flattened into European categories of “proletariat", “bourgeoisie", and “clergy". India’s lived realities have always been more layered and localised:

•​Village self-governance and guilds (shrenis) coexisted with imperial states.

•​The varna system, as described in ancient texts, was meant to be functional and fluid, not a rigid hierarchy by birth.

•​Spiritual and economic life were interwoven, with temples often acting as centers of education, charity, and skill development, not merely instruments of control.

As I have argued in my other articles on historical framing, imported conceptual templates risk erasing........

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