Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Volume 7 Article 6

January 1994

The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue

A.M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel

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Recommended Citation Ayrookuzhiel, A.M. Abraham (1994) "The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue," Journal of Hindu- Christian Studies: Vol. 7, Article 6. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1094

The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. - , Ayrookuzhiel: The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue

The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue

A.M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society Bangalore

THE DALITS OF India who follow Marathi in which the religious toots of caste different religious traditions are beginning to consciousness in the popular Hindu mind is come together these days as one people. brought out in clear terms. The scene takes While their main concern is to fight place at the threshing floor of a farmer, economic, political and cultural Bapu Patil, a caste Hindu. The author' of the marginalization, what it means to the story is a young educated Dalit boy. His religions to which they belong is the grandfather Yetalya, an elderly Dalit, question raised in this paper. In order to addresses the Patil as "Anna", a term of answer this, we should first have an idea of reverence: the kind of questions and problems they Yetalya: How could you say that, Anna? raise with respect to different religions. This Yetalya is certainly not one of Thereafter we can proceed to some of the those claiming equality. How can implications of this process for interfaith one, in that case, account for God's understanding and cooperation. creating religion and castes? Bapu PatH: Come on, don't you know that the The Dalits and the Traditional' Hindu rain-god got enraged because you - Heritage, ' the Mahars and Mangs - have profaned religion, and abandoned caste, have defiled Lord Vithoba of A. The St~d of the Dalit Liberation Pandharpur. How else can you Movement account for the drying up of the In the literature of Dalit liberation and Chandrabhaga river?' [Bapu PatiI ideology their writers and poets declare war added insult to injury.] on Hinduism. Author: I could take it no more. I felt my cheeks burning. But I quelled my I ask for temper and, cutting Bapu PatH short in my rights as a man the middle of his fiery tirade, burst out, Each breath from my lungs "PatH, will you kindly tell me what you sets off a violent trembling meant when you accused us of in your texts and traditions forgetting religion, abandoning our caste your hells and heavens and of polluting the god? And if a fearing pollution religion can't tolerate one human being treating another simply as a human I will uproot the scriptures like railway being, what's the use of such an tracks inhumane religion? And if our mere Burn like a city bus your lawless laws' touch pollutes the -gods, why were the They explain these ideas through short Mahars and Mangs created at all? And who, may I know, who indeed, created stories and other literary forms available to them? And would you please tell me the them to reach the Dalit masses. The name of the god whom the Mahars and following is an excerpt from a short story in Mangs can claim as their own?"2

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These Dalits who follow Dr B.R. groups or a section of them not only lost Ambedkar are convinced that they cannot their social autonomy and economic redeem their self-dignity and humanity independence but also their religio-cultural remaining within Hinduism. Some of them self-identity as a separate group by losing advocate conversion to Buddhism and exhort control over their gods, places of worship their followers to stop worshipping Hindu and the right to administer to their own gods and observe Hindu beliefs and people's religious needs. Furthermore, many practices. 3 Others exhort the Dalits to of them internalized brahminical versions of follow a secular rational path as all religions myths relating to this historical process and are instruments of social control and voluntarily accepted demeaning ritual roles political manipulation in the hands of the in village festivals, temple rituals and powerful and well-to-do sections in every domestic rites corresponding to a servile religion. class in a semi-feudal economy. B. The Stand of Traditional Academic C. The Present-day Situation of the Dalits and Religious Circles within Hinduism The traditional academic and religious The definition of the Scheduled Castes writers both in this country and abroad (Dalits) as Hindus by the Government, its consider the Dalit tra<;litional religion as part policy of extending the benefits of of the Hindu heritage, though they admit reservation to Hindu Dalits, the inclusion of that their religion still preserves certain popular Dalit shrines under the State distinctive ethnic and religious cultural Devaswom boards in which Hindu Dalits features. Historically this is justified in the have nominal representation, the renovation sense that dominant brahminical religion as of Dalit places of worship by the Hindu it evolved over the centuries subjugated and Mutts and organizations, the deep absorbed many primeval tribal groups with psychological attachment of the Dalits to their gods, goddesses, religious rituals and Hinduized gods of their early tribal days, the customs along with their sacred groves. similarity of some of their customs and Priests of the dominant brahminical tradition rituals with those of the rest of the. Hindu wove new myths by identifying them with population make a large section of the Dalits one of the chief or minor deities in their believe that they are ill fact Hindus; and tradition, or made them wives, children or they participate in HiJ?du festivals and rituals vehicles of their gods. 4 For instance, the in varying degrees. tribal god or Orissa became· identified with Hindu political and cultural Vishnu, Murugan of Adidravidians became organizations like the Bharatiya J anata Party, identified with Skanda of the North Indian Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rastriya Swayam traditions, Ayyanar of Chattan of the tribals Sevak Sangh, Bharat Sadhu Samaj, etc. are in the Western Ghats with its Buddhist also very keen to keep the Dalit population associations became Sastha of Sabarimala, within the Hindu fold because of the born of two male gods: Vishnu and Siva, political weight it will add to the Hindu according to brahminical myths in the community. Given the Government's Puranas. This religious hierarchical political and economic patronage and subordination was a complementary traditional religio-cultural practices of the historical process to the concerned tribal Dalit masses and their low level of groups' political and economic sUbjugation. 5 awareness, it is difficult for them to Some of the authors call this historical understand the stand of Dr B.R. Ambedkar process "Hindu imperialism" or "Brahmin that unless substantial changes take place internal cultural colonialism" , because within Hindu theology, worship practices through this process the concerned tribal ~ and nature of the priesthood, it is impossible

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol7/iss1/6 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1094 2 Ayrookuzhiel: The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue 15

for the Dalits to redeem their human dignity political background of the Dalit Liberation within Hinduism. Movement's attempt to bring about Dalit D. The Dalits and Other' Religious national solidarity irrespective of the Traditions religious traditions they belong to. At the same time they recognize that the Dalit In the course of history the Dalits embraced masses may continue to profess different other religions like Islam, Sikhism, religions. Therefore it is necessary in the Christianity and Buddhism in their search context of their common struggle for for freedom and human dignity. Much of liberation that those who belong to different these conversions took place when these religious traditions understand each other's religions offered political patronage to the religion as well as the problems they face helpless Dalits. Even in the case of their within it to build a national solidarity of the conversion to Buddhism, it was part of the Dalits as members of one oppressed group. political mobilization of the Dalits under the The question is what this approach means to leadership of B.R. Ambedkar which made the concern of Interfaith Dialogue. them accept his ideology of conversion as a E. The Dalits and Interreligious Dialogue: necessary part of acquiring self-healing and getting rid of the stigma as untouchables. i. First of all the Dalits are very critical of There was another type of religious much of what goes on in the name of movement among the Dalits in history. Interreligious Dialogue. I quote here just one These were around untouchable and lower­ example of such criticism made by a very caste saints who condemned caste practices distinguished Dalit Supreme-Court lawyer. and preached a religion of interiority and When a paper was circulated in the common humanity. Ravidasis, Kabir World Conference on Religion and Panthis, Dadu Panthis, Satnamis, Valmikis Peace (IV Assembly) held at Nairobi, and scores of groups following the teachings Kenya, in 1984, Hindu and Jain ofless well-Jmown saints in different regions delegates from India threatened to walk of the country belong to this type. While the out if the word Untouchability was not Dalit Liberation Movement recognizes the deleted. One member went so far as to fact that the problems of the Dalits cannot threaten to go on hunger strike if the be solved without their sharing political, issue was raised in the conference. economic and cultural power in the wider Indian memb~rs of the W.C.R.P. issued society, n<:me of these religions by a statement which was published in all themselves offer an avenue in that direction. the national papers published from Delhi stating that there is no On the contrary, caste-cultural differences untouchability in India. "Untouchability coupled with class factors mark out the Dalit was a thing of the past", the spokesman communities in all the major religious asserted. traditions. Generally speaking, both political In the V Assembly held at and religious leadership in all the major non­ Melbourne, Australia, in January 1989 Hindu religious traditions lies with the non­ through the clever manipulation of DaHt sections of the respective community. Hindu and Jain members of the Even when a particular religious community W.C.R.P. (India), the word - such as a sect within Christianity - is "untouchables" was substituted by made up of 100 percent Dalits, the class and "marginalized people" in the declaration educational differences of the leadership issued at the end of the conference. make it impossible for it to align itself They wanted to give an impression to the world that the only disability or completely with the interest~ of the Dalit difficulty that the deprived and masses. disadvantaged people in India suffer This, in general outline, is the socio- from is poverty, which in fact is a gross

Published by Digital Commons @ Butler University, 1994 3 Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, Vol. 7 [1994], Art. 6 16 A.M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel

misrepresentation of facts. Poverty ofa Because their caste is low? Brahmin, or for that matter, any upper­ When such men tread the earth caste man arouses sympathy but the Hast seen it quake with rage? poverty of an untouchable arouses Or does the brilliant sun hatred and hostility owing to the deep­ Refuse to them its rays? rooted prejudice inculcated by 6 Oh Brahmans, has our God religion. E'er bid the teeming fields ( 2. IThe Dalits' approach to dialogue centres Bring forth the fruit and flowers around their liberation and humanization. For men of caste alone? The Dalit Movement's approach to religious Or made the forest green dialogue is that "the Sabbath was made for To gratify the eyes man, not man for the Sabbath", a stand of none but Pariahs? advocated by Dr B.R. Ambedkar who has Oh Brahmans, list to me! set the direction of Dalit liberation. In In all this blessed land dialogue circles in India it is Dr M.M. There is but one great caste, Thomas who has consistently argued for a One tribe and brotherhood similar approach in the praxis of One God doth dwell above, And he hath made us one interreligious dialogue. According to him the In birth and frame and tongue. 7 most fruitful area of interfaith com­ munication and cooperation will be in the Patira Kiriyar laments: area of humanization of our society. One When shall our race be one great hopes that such an approach might lead to a brotherhood self-renewal of all our religions as the Unbroken by the tyranny of caste, " followers look at their religious beliefs and which Kapila in early days withstood practices from the point of view of justice, And taught that men were one in times social equality and freedom. As the Dalits now passed?8 belong to different religious traditions, these God, according to these saints, takes no questions have to be raised in all the account of caste or family, of high or low religions in the context of dialogue. It gives born. He welcomes women, Sudras and to the followers of these religions an Chandalas. He craves for their 10ve.9 He opportunity to develop a new hermeneutic of who calls another "Siidra" or "Paraya" is their respective scriptures, ritual practices the real Sudra. He is the one worse than a and social ethics. Paraya. Eating flesh does not make one Historically the religion preached by the Paraya. Dalit and the lower-caste s(!.ints does provide the necessary critique of existing caste­ Vemana says: consciousness among the followers of Why dost again and again abuse a different religions in India. Though much of paraiar? these utterances and songs were originally Are not his blood and flesh and thine made against the brahminical. priestly one? tradition, they apply with equal force to Of what caste is he who is inmingled other religions as well. I shall give some with him? examples of such religious teachings as these The deity animates his entire works will be questions uppermost to the Dalits in any form of interreligious gatherings. They do not see that all castes are in fact one. lO a. The essential unity of humankind and the oneness of God Do rain and wind avoid some men among the rest https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol7/iss1/6 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1094 4 ) Ayrookuzhiel: The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue 17

b. They condemned the caste in unequivocal d. They cursed the Brahmin priests. Some of terms the saints compared them to the dogs of the If we look through all the earth street howling out the vedas, and to Men, we see, have equal birth. whores. 13 Here are· the words of Made in one great brotherhood, Chokhamela, an Untouchable saint from Equal in the sight of God. Maharashtra. Food or caste or place of birth Cursed be their actions, cursed be their Cannot alter human worth thinking Why let caSte be· so supreme? Cursed be their birth and their life! 'tis but folly's paSsing stream Cursed be their "Knowledge of the While the iron age doth last, Absolute" """ 'tis all but vain talk. Men are, good in every caste There is neither pity nor forgiveness nor Blustering fools all men despise; peace in their hearts! None are good in such men's eyes. Cursed be those postures and those hair­ Viler than the meanest race knots, Is the man before whose face in vain have they put on an ascetic garb! Others only Sudras are. Says Cokha, cursed be the birth of such Hell for him shall ne'er unbar people: In the end they will endure the torments of Empty is the caste-dispute: hel1!14 All the castes have but one root Who oil earth can e' er decide e. They denounced pilgrimages, ritual purity Whom to praise and whom deride? and called for a religion of purity of mind, Why should we the pariah scorn, compassion and active service. When his flesh and blood were born Like to ours? What caste is He Against Pilgrimages Who doth dwell in all we see?l1 A dog that has gone to Tirupati does not become a lion. A pig that goes to Kasi is no elephant. c. They rejected the authority of the Vedas A whore that goes on pilgrimages to Sri Shylam and other Brahminical books is no modest woman. They will journey on The four Vedas, Six kinds of Shastras, pilgrimages to Kasi and the bridge of The many Tantras and Puranas, Rameswaram. They can hereby behold piles of The Agamas which speak of the arts, stones but not heaven, not even one of .them. If And various kinds of other books thou givest food to Brahmins, they say it will be Are of n6 use, just in vain. profitable to thee; if you were to give to dogs So dance Snake, dance! where would be the harm (inferiority)? They say that one soul resides (both here and there) in In a status of stone whanged with a chisel each. IS D'ya think there's understanding? D 'ya think the idiots of the world Against ritualism Have any understanding? Not in the smoke of sacrifice, Will a flaw in a pan go away Nor in the chant of Vedic hymns If you rule it with tamarind? Does God look for the lowly mind Ignorance won't go away from the idiots That fitly enters into bliss So dance Snake, dance! The fiery God is found by those Who lust no more - who feel no pride - We'll set fire to divisions of caste, Whose sense close 'gainst sin and self - We'll debate philosophical questions in the Who humbly walk before their GOd,16 market place, We'll have dealings with despised The chanting of the' four Vedas households, The meticulous study of the sacred scripts, We'll go around in different paths.12 The smearing of the holy ashes, ~ And the muttering of prayers,

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Will not lead you to the Lord! Steeped in impurity, all of them passed away! Let your heart melt within you. While mourning others, they'll soon fall dead in And if you can be true to yourself their tum Then you will join the limitless light Yet, in their foolishness, they do not invoke the and lead an endless life. Name! You dumb fools performing the rituals How can they take pleasure in this body of with care and in leisureliness theirs? Do gods ever become stone? In the end, it will remain bare. What can I do but laugh? Says Cokha, do not put trust in your body At the end Yama' s noose will fallon your Of what use are temples, neck!20 And of what use are sacred tanks? Slavishly you gather to worship In temples and tankS. 17 Concluding Remarks

f They denounced the idea of purity and The religion preached by the untouchable pollution and lower-caste saints - many of whom "Thou art unclean! 0 touch me not!" - were wandering ascetics without any They cry. But who can draw the line? economic base and political support - never What man was born without a spot? struck institutional roots in India even In each man's flesh sin has a shrine. 18 among the untouchable masses, though small

' bands of disciples kept their tradition alive !i - If the pollutions caused by a birth or a death be I real, and if the qualities co:mmunicated by that in different parts of the country. The touch be destroyed to what end is it for a soul to teachings themselves remained as folk become a hermit. wisdom in the lower strata of society. They were never a threat or challenge to popular - Defilement appears nowhere in the least but exists in our ideas; whoever considers it will see beliefs and practices centred around temples that the beauty ,of the world is in truth extreme. and places of pilgrLmage, massively If thy ignoranc~ depart, wisdom shall shine with supported by brahminical myths and stories thee. 19 and presided over by Brahminpriests. The poverty, ignorance and lack of education "All the five elements are equally impure kept the masses, including the untouchables, The same impurity pervades the whole world! If that be so, what is it which may be called pure as superstitious as ever, given to the fear of or "impure"? evil spirits and addicted to rituals of The body itself is the very source of filth! propitiation. The ideas of purity and At the beginning and at the end, it is full of filth: pollution built into the brahminicalliterature Who is it then who could get pure? I do not were naturally internalized, probably know! because these ideas originated from the Says Cokha, I myself wonder; tribal past of the people themselves. How could anyone ever get rid of impurity? Brahmin priests only religiously Who is pure, who is impure? institutionalized them with myths and forms My Vigala is beyond both! of cult practices to their own advantage. Who was ever polluted and by whom? The anti-brahminical stance of the Dalit He alone is totally pure, by His very nature! literature has not only religio-cultural but The impurity of all the five elements is present also political implications in the democratic in all bodies: political set-up of India today. The Who can ever be pure in this world? traditional worldview of the Dalits, Says Cokha, my ViHala alone is pure. dominated by the {ear of evil spirits and He the formless - yet standing on the brick! ritualism, is being increasingly challenged, In impurity they were born, in impurity they not only by the Dalit literature but also by died: 'Scientific and rational ideas in the realms of

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol7/iss1/6 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1094 6 Ayrookuzhiel: The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue The Dalits, Religions and Interfaith Dialogue 19

their economic, social and political life. Popular Prakashan, reprint 1988: p.l 00; One may wonder whether this emerging R.S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism, Macmillan historical situation of the Dalits with their (2nd edn.): pp.I-4; K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, A increasing conscientization, decisive political History of South India, Oxford University importance and growing economic base may Press: pp.101-2. not lead to a renaissance of all Indian 6 "Epilogue" by Bhagwandas, Advocate in the Supreme Court, in: B.R. Ambedkar, Slavery religious. traditions. The anti-brahminical and Untouchability, which is worse? stance of the Dalit is a question mark before f i (Bhagwandas, ed.), 1989: pp.52-3. all Indian religions as all these religions are 7 "The Brotherhood of Man", Kapila, from infected by caste-consciousness to varying The Folk-Songs of Southern India, degrees. It is here that the religion preached translated and commented upon by· Charles by the Dalit saints comes into focus as they E. Gover, Madras: Higginbothanis and Co., indicate the nature of the religious problem 1971: pp.168-9. faced by the Dalits, as well as the direCtion 8 Ibid.: p.159. of renaissance and renewal required of them 9 See fn. 17. in the context of dialogue. Will it become a 10 Quoted by C.P. Brown, Verses of Vemana, focus and an agenda in interfaith dialogue? Asian Educational Services, 1986 (1829): pp.21O-5. 11 Telugu Folk Song on "Caste", Gover, op. cit.: p.275. Notes 12 Pambatti Cittar, quoted by K. Kailaspathy in his "The Writings of the Tamil Siddhas" in: 1 "White Paper" by Sharankumar Limbale, Karine Schomer and W.H. McLeod (Eds.), translated by Priya Adarkar, in Poisoned The Santa - Studies in Devotional Tradition Bread edited by Arjun Dangle, Bombay: of India, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987: Orient Longman, 1992: p.64. p.390. 2 "The Poisoned Bread" by Bandhumadhav, 13 Quoted by Brown, op. cit. translated by Ramesh Dnyate, in Poisoned 14 "CokhfuneHi, an Untouchable Saint of Bread, op.cit.: p.148. Maharashtra", by Charlotte Vaudeville, in: 3 Cf. the additional vows Dr B.R. Ambedkar Ganther D. Sontheimer (Ed.), Bhakti in had recited at the time of his conversion to South Asian Regional Literatures, Buddhism, a practice continued by Dalit Heidelberg: South Asia Institute, University Buddhists. For detailed information cf. of Heidelberg, 1981: p.86. Bechert Heinz: Buddhismus, Staat und 15 Quoted by Brown, op. cit.: pp.200-1. Gesellschajt, vol. 3, Wiesbaden: Otto 16 Gover, op. cit.: p.31. Harrassowitz, 1973. 17 Civavakkiyar, as cited by Kailaspathy, op. 4 D.O. Kosambi, The Culture and Civilization cit.: pp.390-1. ofAncient India in Historical Outline. Vikas 18 ·Gover, op. cit;: p.274. Publishing House, 1~87 edn.: pp.45-50, 19 Vemana, op.cit., Verses 861, 870: pp.208~ pp.168 ..71. 10. 5 Cf. D.O. Kosambi, op.cit.: pp.171-2; An 20 "Cokhfunela ... ", op. cit.: p.67. Introduction to the Study of Indian History,

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