MISSION AMONG THE POOR International, Inc.

DALITS

I  Introduction

The history of the Dalits in India, of course, began around 1500 BC (3500 years ago) when finally the already settled people, the people of the Indus cities were defeated and forced by newcomers, people known as Aryans, to loose all their privileges and become dasa (slaves) of the conquerers. They are the very dasa, who taday have decided to address themselves as Dalits, have reached to their present state, according to Bishop Pickett "by centuries of exploitation and servility". Known for their hard-working body, intelligent mind and sagacious heart, it is believed that the Dalits had a rich cultural tradition. Historians agree that they were among the original inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent, and founders of the Indus Valley Civilization, which was rich and sophisticated. Later they came to be economically and politically poor not only by one but by many successive invaders.

In the Indian caste system, a Dalit, often called an untouchable, or an outcaste, is a person who according to traditional Hindu belief does not have any 'varnas'. Varna refers to the Hindu belief that most humans were supposedly created from different parts of the body of the divinity Purusha. The part from which a varna was supposedly created defines a person's social status with regards to issues such as who they can marry and which professions they could hold. Dalits fall outside the varna system and have historically been prevented from doing any but the most menial jobs.

II Terminology

Dalit is not a caste name. Dalit is the latest and currently most politically correct of many terms used for the former "Untouchables" of India. Offensive terms used mostly in the past include chura, bhangi, neech, kanjjar, and mirasi. Harijan was a term for untouchable, coined by Mahatma Gandhi, which means Children of God-Hari is another name for the god Vishnu. Neo-Buddhist Dalits try to make 'Harijan' appear as a disgrace to all Dalits as it comes from a Hindu name.

The word 'Dalit(a)' comes from the Indo-Aryan root dal, and means 'held under check', 'suppressed', or 'crushed', or, in a looser sense 'oppressed'. Historically, the roots of the term 'Dalit' even go back to pre-biblical Hebrew and pre-classical Sanskrit era. Its ancient form is found in East Semitic group of languages collectively known as Akkadian. In Akkadian, the root is dalalu (be weak or humble). In Hebrew the root is very close to Sanskrit dal (to crack, open, split, scatter, crush, destroy), that which is dall (poor, be low, be reduced, helpless. The poor, although they are often forgotten in our classical literatures, play a large role in the Bible. The concrete Hebrew vocabulary of that time permits us to call forth the pitiful cortege of terms: ras "indigent", dal "frugal" or "meager", ebyon "unfilled mendicant", ani and anaw (in the plural anawim), the "degraded" and afflicted one. In the LXX, ptochos generally translates one of five different Hebrew words. In most cases it is synonymous with penes, another Greek usage for poor.

III  Some Notable Facts

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a Dalit, and one of the leaders of the Indian Independence Movement, is considered the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, in which Article 17 abolishes untouchability. Ever since, under the aegis of the Constitution of India, a 'Reservation System' (privileges in education and other services given only to the Dalits) has been implemented for the benefit of the Dalits which is a step toward affirmative action. The terms Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) and non-caste tribes are also used in the Indian legal system to refer to this social group in India.

In the context of traditional Hindu society, Dalit status has often been historically associated with occupations regarded as ritually impure, such as any occupation involving killing, handling of animal cadavers or night soil (human feces). One million Dalits work as manual scavengers, cleaning latrines and sewers by hand and cleaning away dead animals. Engaging in these activities was considered to be polluting to the individual who performed them, and this pollution was considered to be 'contagious'. As a result, Dalits were commonly banned and segregated from full participation in Hindu social life, while elaborate precautions were sometimes observed to prevent incidental contact between Dalits and other Hindus.

An estimated 40 million people in India, most of them Dalits, are bonded workers, many working in slave-like conditions to pay off debts that were incurred generations ago. The majority of Dalits live in segregation and experience violence, murder, rape and atrocities to the scale of 110,000 registered cases a year according to 2005 statistics. No one believes these numbers are anywhere close to the reality of crimes committed against Dalits. Most crimes go unreported, and few registered cases ever get to trial. Many Dalits who have converted to other religions in the past few centuries continue to retain their Dalit heritage. In the 1991 census, Dalits numbered just over 130 million and constituted more than 16% of India's population.

Discrimination against Dalits is not limited to the Hindu community. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that non-Hindu Dalit groups have traditionally not been recognized as Scheduled Castes under hiring quota laws. The Dalit Muslims or "Arzal", as well as Dalit Christians form an integral part of the caste system in South Asia among Muslims and Christians. Many Dalit Muslims are discriminated against by the upper-caste "Ashraf" Muslims, and Dalit Christians discriminated against by upper caste Christian priests and nuns. Dalits and similar groups are also found in Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In addition, the Burakumin of Japan are also compared to Dalits, as are the Baekjeong of Korea. The large majority of the Dalits are Hindus, although some in Maharashtra state of India have converted to Neo-Buddhism. In Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim nation, more than 60% of the 1.4 million Hindu minority are Dalits.

Descendants of indigenous lower-caste converts are discriminated against by "noble", or "ashraf" Muslims who can trace their descent to Arab, Iranian, or Central Asian ancestors. The Dalit Muslims are referred to by the Ashraf and Ajlaf Muslims as Arzal or "ritually degraded". In Pakistan, there are estimated to be 6.8 million Mayazurs (bonded laborers) in Punjab and another 7.5 million in Sindh. Although the Pakistani Supreme Court has ruled bonded labor unconstitutional and the National Assembly has passed laws prohibiting it, these laws remain largely unenforced due to the influence of large landlords.

Dalits form a class among the Sikhs who stratify their society according to traditional casteism. Kanshi Ram himself was of Sikh background although converted because he found that Sikh society did not respect Dalits and so bacame a neo-Buddhist. There are sects such as the Ad-Dharmis who have now abandoned Sikh temples and the 5 Ks. They are like the Ravidasis and regard Ravidas as their guru. They are also clean shaven as opposed to the mainstream Sikhs. Other backward among Sikhs include Jhiwars, Bazigars, and Rai Sikh (many of whom are Ravidasis). Just like the violence against Harijans (Hindu Dalits) and Muhajirs (Muslim Dalits), there has been violence against Sikh Dalits.

In the Indian states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and a few other regions, Dalits have come under the influence of the neo-Buddhist movement initiated by Ambedkar. Some of them have come under the influence of the Neo-Buddhist and Christian missionaries and have converted away from Hinduism into religions such as Christianity and Buddhism in what they have been told is an "attempt to eliminate the prejudice they face". In the officially Hindu country of Nepal, Dalits and other populations are turning to Buddhism from Vedic Hinduism. Reasons cited are to embrace non-violence and as a response to the caste system, which has led to a substantial increase in Buddhism in the population while those professing Hinduism have decreased from 88% in 1961 to 80% and declining at present.

IV  Indian Renaissance & Casteism

The peaceful co-existence of India is challenged by the multi-religious context and its various related problems such as discrimination, untouchability, fragmentation etc. From time immemorial, all religions have preached the eternal values and virtues of the universal humanhood, peace, love and compassion. But in the real life, the relationships between humankind on the basis of color, caste and religion has been evident and it is in its zenith in the first decade of the 21st century.

In India, the caste system makes a sense of superiority and inferiority and causes other social taboos. The Dalits are still victims of a cruel and oppressive socio-religious order. The very social status of Dalits is the result of cunning device of the social stratification in the Hindu religious system called Varnashrama Dharma. Dalits, the original inhabitants of India were made to believe, down the centuries, that they are born as polluted untouchables. And their destiny and low social status are said to have been caused by their karma (actions) in their previous birth (poorva janma). As an advaitin, Swami Vivekananda believed the Upanishidic equation Tat Tvam Asi to see God'd presence in all. While speaking on caste-divisions, Vivekananda defended that varna division was natural and a means to progressive civilization. His theology of emancipation of the Dalits revolved around the spirituality behind the varna order. For Vivekananda, the liberation of Dalits, therefore, was in the distant future after each Dalit passing through several births.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak defended caste duties as vocations entrusted to people according to their nature to serve one another for the welfare of all, lokasamgraha (inspired from Bhagavat Gita). By defending the caste duties as yajna, Tilak seems to suggest that the end, lokasamgraha justifies the means, caste duties or violent actions. Interpreting Bhagavat Gita's idea of the fourfold varna order Aurobindo Ghosh believed: "the works of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras, says the Gita, are divided according to the qualities, gunas, born of their own inner nature, spiritual temperament, and essential character (sambhava). Thus, he too asserted that the Dalits had to be satisfied with their position and perform their svadharma in order to climb the ladder of varna order to reach the status of Brahmin through subsequent births. Gandhiji saw svadharma, one's own caste duties guided by one's natural guna imbibed by birth as a means to attain equality. He believed that "Varnashrama had its origin in the idea of svadharma".

People of Hindu religion were inclined to remain in their castes and to perform their prescribed duties for religious reasons. The idea of fate thus gained a stronghold on the Hindu mind. The status and position of the Dalits of Indian renaissance remained low in spite of the so-called reform movements at the dawn of India's freedom from the British. India's freedom was in fact, independence for the upper castes rather than for the Dalits. The Dalits continued to be in bondage under the upper castes, the neo-colonists. In such a context, all our attempts at a Dalit hermeneutics of the Bible could be genuine, only when our solidarity with the Dalits enthuse them to decide on their own.

V  Status of Dalit Women

India, the home for more than 400 million women, is a country stepped in its plurality of traditions, customs, religions, and institutions. As such the image of the Indian women is far from uniform. In the case of Dalit women an added stigma of untouchability is placed on them making them more vulnerable victims of all kinds of discrimination and atrocities. The Women's Movement in India has emphasized that Dalit women are the 'dust of dust' in Indian society-the thrice oppressed, brutalized, and abused not only by the upper castes/classes but by Dalit men too.

Dalit women who are victims of patriarchal constrains within the Dalitfold itself are emerging as a volatile force to challenge all the degradation that is helped on them. They are the targets of sexual abuse by upper castes in a context of caste/class clashes, of state sponsored violence in various forms and of domestic violence in the hands of their own men. Dalit women draw strength in their newly found organized power as Dalits and more specifically as Dalit women.

A Dalit Christian woman is a woman, a Dalit, and a Christian. There is in India a tradition defining what each of these identities involves which is so strong that a Dalit Christian woman can be described as thrice handicapped or thrice alienated on the basis of her gender, her caste, and her membership in a minority religious community. If viewed from within the perspective of that tradition, the description is an accurate one; women, Dalits, and Christians are definitely not only looked down upon but also made to feel their inferiority in many different ways.

VI  The Question of Dalit Identity

The issue of cultural identity is a central question in the Dalit movement from its very inception. It has led to seeking different kinds of recognition by segments of Dalits at different times. They had sought recognition as Hindus, first settlers, laboring masses, depressed classes, untouchables, Indians, Buddhists, and simply as human beings at different phases of the movement and in different parts of the country, although such claims need not necessarily be exclusive. Socio-cultural discrimination of Dalits and their economic and political deprivation are indeed two sides of the same coin. The need for a multi-pronged approach to emancipation must therefore be a basic premise of any common ideology. The search for a common ideology must be rooted in the ideas, values, and perceptions of Dalits themselves, based on their own experiences of social reality in India. It is out of this that they can discover strategies for change.

Fear, insecurity, inferiority complexes, servility, hopelessness, and despair have enslaved millions of Dalits in India. They have been targets of frequent attacks of retribution and violence in the hands of upper castes. The emergence that Dalits as a "new people" out of the dregs of a history of being a "no people" is perhaps one of the major symbols of hope in our times. The search for a common ideology cannot ignore the existing linguistic, religious and cultural diversities or the geo-political reality that has scattered Dalits into the four corners of the country. But the unity within this diversity based on the socio-cultural and politico-economic oppression of Dalits draws them together in a common quest for humanhood.

Dalits and tribals who together form the adi-people, the indigenous people, need to come together to trace their socio-cultural roots, and expose the onslaughts from the dominant culture and the caste system which has penetrated Dalit and tribal populations. While the tribals have been more able to survive the onslaughts due to their geo-political togetherness in pockets of India, Dalit populations need to reclaim their essential relationship with the land-their homeland. The common ideology we seek must therefore derive from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The mission of any common ideology is therefore to proclaim release to the captives, to preach goodnews to the poor, and to give sight to the blind.

The incarnational ideology, identifying itself with the weak works toward making them strong. It is a dynamic ideology working in and through history but also in the process of transforming history itself for the blessed state of "eternal life". The incarnational ideology does not belong to any religion, not to Christianity, not to the church, and not to any political party; but it is meant for the whole of humanity; for it is rooted in the humanity of Jesus. The incarnational ideology seeks ideological expressions in all times and all places and beckons us toward the realization of the vision of the Kingdom of God.

VII  Indian Christian Theology

Only in the recent past some writings here and there are coming out as theological reflection of the Dalits. But so far, there have been no concerned efforts to articulate the faith reflection of the Dalits in a systematic way. Therefore it is seriously felt that only authentic and contextual Biblical theology in India should take the Dalit situation and experience seriously into consideration. In other words, Dalit theology becomes the authentic Indian Christian Theology.

There is an important difference between earlier Indian Christian Theology and the contemporary Indian Christian Dalit Theology. The earlier one was based on the religious and philosophical categories of India. But the present Dalit Theology is a challenge to the religious and philosophical perspectives under which the present Dalit oppression is legitimized. Dalit Theology tries to re-read the text, which has been used to legitimize the statusquo.

The present or the traditional Indian Christian Theology is the outcome of the experiences of the upper caste Christian converts, where immediate purpose was to interpret their new faith (religious experience) in the light of their previous faith of Brahmanic Hindu traditions, which was, and is, a religion of a minority even within the Hindu traditions. Because of the above mentioned reason and others, the current Indian Christian Theological expression is not relevant to the needs of the majority of the people, especially the Dalits, which also includes Christian Dalits. Therefore, there is need for a renewed Indian theological expression, which has to be based upon the experience of the ordinary people, particularly the Dalits themselves. The theological expressions ultimately will be according to the needs of the Dalits, which means it becomes the basis of the struggle to regain their lost identity and basic rights.

Till recently, the whole theological endeavor was in the hands of the upper class and the so-called high caste Christians. Only in the recent times, a very few Christian Dalits have been able to equip themselves theologically and have begun to articulate themselves. The atrocities against the Dalits are becoming more organized and they need to struggle for their lives. Most of the Dalit people are powerless poor in the villages and conscious efforts have not been taken to make the theological reflection to be coming out of their experience. M. E. Prabhakar says, "to speak of Dalit Theology is a liberative action in itself, considering that theology has been for too long the preserve of the elite, an academic discipline and an intellectual activity, with little or no direct contact with realities experienced by people".

Aravind P. Nirmal, the Father of Dalit Theology, further says: "Broadly speaking, Indian Christian Theology in the past has tried to work out its theological systems in terms of either Advaita Vedanta or Vaishisanth Advaita. Most of the contributions of Indian Christian Theology in the past came from caste converts to Christianity. The result has been that Indian Christian Theology has perpetuated within itself that I prefer to call the 'Brahmanic' tradition. This tradition has further perpetuated intuition inferiority oriented approach to the theological task in India. One wonders whether this kind of Indian Christian Theology will ever have a mass appeal".

James Massey joins company with Nirmal when he says: "what is missing from the current Indian Christian Theology is the experience of the Christian Dalits..." Theology to be meaningful has to be contextual and relevant. Its task is to address particular situations in the knowledge of the Christ event. In fact the Biblical examples themselves are a compendium of contextualized theologies. Also it is noticed that Dalit Theology rightly understood is not communal. It does not seek to promote the liberation of the Dalits alone thereby putting the non-Dalits outside the place of salvation. Rather, it does seek to challenge the tendency to legitimize caste oppression of the Dalits but at the same time seek to include all the really converted non-Dalits within its purview.

VIII  The Struggle of the Dalits & Church

The Christian churches in India are divided and sub-divided into hundreds of denominations and each denomination is once again suffering from division arising from the difference of caste, class, rite, language, race and purity of blood. Each group is vying with each other and what lie behind are the "power politics" of the leaders and the elites. Often ordinary Christians are made victims of these tensions and conflicts. The discrimination toward Dalit Christians from the side of the elite also makes communal feelings within the church. Thus, the church is divided within itself on communal grounds fails to be credible sign and instrument of unity and reconciliation.

It is true still the majority of the churches and church persons are not willing to take up the 'Dalit Issue', particularly if it has to be the question of the Dalit Christians. The Dalit Christians form in a real sense, the body of Christ in India, because more than 75% members of Christ's body are Dalits. In this sense the Church in India is a Dalit Church and because of this the role of the churches becomes important for the Dalits. It is indeed a matter of shame that the church has carried into its fold in fact the caste system and that Dalits has been denigrated and discriminated against. Their search for dignity and equality in conversion has been denied to them in all that pertains in the Church, even today. The church has been slow to express solidarity with Dalits when they have faced violent retribution in the hands of upper caste landlords, and it has been tardy in efforts to wrest from the Government the reservations and benefits lost when they come to the Christianfold.

The church's solidarity with the poor presupposes the faith commitment or a theological commitment on the part of the church and the part of every member of the church, and on the part of every Christian.  Solidarity with the poor demands of us a basic faith commitment to a kenotic theology, a self-emptying commitment to the cause of the poor. In practical terms, it means a need-based life style, not a want-based consumeristic lifestyle. Only if we are able to limit our wants may there be something to share with the poor. Solidarity with the poor means stepping in for the poor, identifying totally with the poor, accepting the poor and being accepted by the poor, giving for the poor and received from the poor, participating in the joys and sorrows of the poor, and sharing in the shame and glory of the poor. Thus the church's solidarity with the Dalits should become a real living, everyday experience for every Christian.

                                     -Johnson Thomaskutty