Full Text: Dalits' Challenges to Religious Systems — A People Ignored by Church History

The full text of the Dalits’ Challenges to Religious Systems — A People Ignored by Church History is reproduced here verbatim from the original paper by A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel. This article first appeared in Religion and Society, Volume 36, No. 4, December 1989.

This version preserves the original wording, structure, and formatting as presented in the source document.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Dalit Movement and Its Ideology
3. They are an Oppressed Nationality
4. Failure of the Ideology of Development and Gandhian Integration
5. Failure of the Left Movement in India
6. The Cultural Expression of the Movement is Anti-Brahminism
7. The Challenges posed by the Dalit Movement
8. The Dalits and the Church Historians
9. Notes

Introduction

My brief, as given by the Church History Association of India, is ‘to reflect upon the contributions that historians of Christianity might make to the Dalit movement’. I was told that my qualification to address the Association is that I am an outsider to the historical discipline and I was not expected to present a historical paper but my involvement with the struggles of the Dalits is recognised.

I suppose therefore my primary task is to explain the overall nature of the Dalit movement, its ideology and the challenges it throws at the Church, and, secondarily, to make some comments on what kind of treatment Dalits have received in the church history. This second part is meant to raise some questions and initiate discussions, because I believe that the duty of a church historian is to interpret events in terms of the Gospel, and absence of such interpretation may distort Christian theology and Christian historical mission.

The Dalit Movement and Its Ideology

Though there are numerous small and large organisations of the Dalits all over the country such as Dalit Sangharsha Samiti in Karnataka, Indian Dalit Federation in Kerala, Dalit Maha Sabha in Andhra Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj in U.P. and Bihar, etc., the Dalit movement is far from being an organised and well-coordinated political movement with an all-India status and all-India leadership that can challenge the established socio-political order. But the same cannot be said if one looks into the ideological nature of these various groups: There is a growing awareness among the Dalits that they are members of an ancient primeval society disinherited and uprooted by the alien Brahmanical civilisation from their ancestral place in the society. This consciousness inspires in them resentment against the existing social system which they express through various forms of agitations and struggles and which is bound to acquire the momentum of a national movement in the years to come.

Let me first of all deal with some of the basic ideas, values and perceptions of this emerging consciousness which we call Dalit ideology.

They are an Oppressed Nationality

The term ‘nationality’ in the case of the Dalits needs some explanation. ‘Nationality’ is generally used on the basis of distinct race, language, territory or religion. None of these things really applies in the case of the Dalits. As a subjugated people, they have no ethnic or racial purity though in certain regions of India, Proto-austroloid and Negrito traces dominate among them. Territorially, they have been scattered all over India and linguistically they have been assimilated by the dominant cultural groups under whose sway they had become a subordinated people though some of the groups still preserve the rudiments of their own archaic language. In their long history of enslavement, their religion has been either hierarchically subordinated and absorbed into Brahmanical Hinduism or some of them have embraced other religions in the pursuit of their liberation.

In short, the indigenous inhabitants had become a people without their own history and without their own cultural individuality though they retain certain amount of cultural distinctiveness.

Their history lies buried in their folk songs, stories, myths, certain extant religious symbols and practices which on the one hand reveal elements of ancient conflicts,¹ defeat and absorption of caste values, and on the other hand manifest a religious ethos completely distinct from Brahmanical values and caste hierarchy. The reconstruction of this ancient history in the light of available material evidence, Brahmanical religious literature and Dalits’ own traditions, myths and practices, is the gigantic task facing the Dalits. It is difficult to nurture and strengthen the Dalit identity and their struggle for liberation without the aid of their history. At present the masses among them are governed by a mythological consciousness promoted by the Brahmanical religion.

If the Dalits have no historical consciousness, how could we talk of the Dalits being ‘one nationality’?

E. Durkheim, the French social philosopher, while trying to define a society says, ‘a society is not simply the mass of individuals that comprise it, nor the territory it occupies, nor the things it uses, nor the movement it carries out but above all it is the idea that it has of itself.’² What then is the central idea that the Dalits have of themselves based on their own everyday experience? It is that they are a people discriminated against socially, religiously and economically by others. Malcolm X, the leader of the Black Panther Movement in America said that, a society of socially-discriminated and economically-oppressed people should consider themselves in political terms, as ‘an oppressed nationality.’ This is what the Dalits claim in their literature and movements that they are ‘Mardhita Desiyata’ who have the right and historical responsibility to shape their own destiny. This had been Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s ideology namely ‘there should be a political partition between the untouchables and the Hindus’.³ In the title page of his book, What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables, he quotes the Greek philosopher, Thucydides, who said, ‘It may be your interest to be our masters, but how can it be ours to be your slaves?’ In other words, ‘the Dalit nationality’ is based on the Dalits’ common experience of social and religious discrimination, of economic oppression and the common challenge to shape their future deliverance.

It should be made clear that this Dalit ‘nationality’ is not based on the list of Scheduled Castes drawn up by the government for administrative reasons in the recent past in order to give them token benefits. If one approached the question historically, one might find that many communities in Scheduled Tribal and other Backward Classes list, form one nationality with the Dalits, who suffer from the stigma of untouchability.

Now the question arises: How did the indigenous people become untouchables? They certainly did not drop from heaven as untouchables. It should be recognised that certain historical forces of a political, economic and religio-cultural nature reduced them to the present day situation as untouchables. The Dalits recognise this historical force as the Brahmanical religion and their civilisation. The spirit of this religion and civilisation is caste, namely, the institutionalised, graded inequality. The Dalits recognise this religio-cultural factor as the principal contradiction with which all the other contradictions of an economic and political nature affecting them interlock and are maintained.

There is an enormous amount of historical evidence establishing the intrinsic connection of caste contradiction with the economic and political life of the country. The situation continues even today, as the kind of Hindu renaissance brought about by great men like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda, Gandhi, etc., has left untouched the social and religious roles the lower ranks perform and their ritual hierarchy. In this short paper it is not possible to go into the details of these empirical facts which can be gathered from a number of contemporary cultural-anthropological studies. In fact the kind of Hindu renaissance we had over the last 150 years has strengthened and politicised the caste Hindu nationality and their identity vis-a-vis the Dalits.

The recent insistence among the Dalit organisations on caste as the principle of organisation is a point to be noted. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who rightly emphasised it both in his writings and in the way he envisaged the Dalit politics and Dalit religion is based on two types of historical experience the Dalits have had over the last forty-five years. First is their experience of the failure of the ideology of development and the Gandhian idea of their integration within the Hindu community followed by the successive governments. The second is their experience of the failure of the Communist movement in India which emphasises class war as the principal contradiction in the place of caste war.⁴

Failure of the Ideology of Development and Gandhian Integration

The Government’s own Sixth Five-Year plan document for 1980-85 admits:

Three decades of development have not had the desired impact on these socially, economically and educationally handicapped groups. Their problems cannot be resolved through the percolation of general economic growth. The majority of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who form one-quarter of the population, are below the poverty line…. Continuing to pursue traditional occupations, they are unable to participate fully in the process of modernisation. The practice of untouchability against Scheduled Castes is a special handicap for them, and even the few educated groups amongst them are unable to compete for job opportunities created while Scheduled Tribes still remain outside the mainstream of development mainly because of their relative isolation and their exploitation by outside agencies.⁵

If this is the picture of their economic development, what about their social life? Every year atrocities against Scheduled Castes have been mounting and the ‘Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1977-78, admits that the Scheduled Castes in many parts of the country ‘… are humiliated, insulted, manhandled, assaulted, burnt alive, tortured and their womenfolk molested’. Their miseries are aggravated when they are boycotted socially and economically.’⁶ ‘The atrocities were acquiring the dimension of organised aggressiveness on the part of the perpetrators and were drifting towards class war.’⁷ The situation has aggravated in recent years.

How does Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1979, which made discrimination against Scheduled Castes more stringently punishable than the earlier Untouchability Offences Act, 1955 work? The report of the Commissioner notes that:

The district authorities, who are charged with the responsibility of enforcement of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1979, have not lived up to the obligations enjoined upon them to protect the civil rights of the weaker sections. No one familiar with the social climate in the rural areas would assert that there has been a decline in real terms.

The evaluation reports of the PCR cases of the Special Component Plan and other benefits for Scheduled Castes traces their ineffectiveness to the indifferent, often hostile caste prejudices of the police, the magistrates and the bureaucrats in the Government departments, coupled with vested economic, muscle power of the dominant caste-class groups.⁸

These reports, along with an assessment of the functioning of Scheduled Caste MLAs and MPs, the way political parties handle a committed political leader, government officer or police official to the cause of the Dalits, the hardening attitude of the caste people whenever the Dalits assert their rights, the prevention of awareness-building among them under the communal politics, the caste wars in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Bihar, more or less complete the picture of the development of the Dalits. In short, the development and integration of the Dalits with the rest of the community does not take place despite all government efforts and its huge investment because of the caste contradiction in the society. This internal contradiction was pointed to by scholars like V. S. Naipaul who said, ‘The freedom that came to independent India with the institutions it gave itself were alien freedoms better suited to another civilisation; in India they remained separate from the internal organisation of the country, its beliefs and antique restrictions.’⁹ But instead of taking these scholars seriously, the Government’s reaction to such scholars was to ban their books.

Failure of the Left Movement in India

Here I give the data from Kerala, a State which voted the Communists to power as early as in 1957. It is a historic fact that the popular forces that brought the Communists to power in Kerala in 1957 was made up of the Dalits and the Backward Castes. Why then did not the class contradiction or class struggle on which the Left ideology is based become an instrument of propelling the Dalits’ demands for social equality and their due share in the means of production? Dalits have come to realise, through their experience of the last forty-five years, that both in the organisational structure as well as in the functioning of the Communist Party, it was not able to overcome the caste factor. The party’s leadership by and large corresponds to the caste hierarchy in the society. The party organised its programmes and legislations taking into account the caste factor. For example, Dalits are organised in agriculture labour unions and they are not admitted into other unions, except the Union of the Backward Caste Toddy-Tappers though both are Marxist trade unions. In other words, trade unions are ‘organised according to traditional caste lines and even the leadership of this union come from the same caste groups. Prominent Dalit party workers never get any role in unions other than that of agricultural labour. The compensation received and the treatment given to the family of those killed in active party struggles vary according to the caste factor. If a Dalit stands as a party candidate for election, the Marxists who belong to non-Dalit castes do not vote for him.¹⁰

In other words, though the Dalit classes were the popular base of the Left movement, the caste leadership of the party made it go against the interests and claims of the Dalits. This historical experience of the Dalits in the last forty-five years proves the prediction of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar who asked: ‘Let us now examine the argument of the socialists. Is it possible for the socialists to ignore the questions raised by the nature of our society?’ He believed that a social revolution against the feudal, Brahminic, priestly culture of caste has to precede any kind of democratisation of Indian polity and the resolution of Indian economic contradictions. ‘History bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious revolutions’ said Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. What do all these facts point to? All the contradictions in our society whether it be economic or political are to be logically traced to the cultural contradiction, namely caste.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar,¹¹ Mahatma Phooley and Periar Ramaswamy understood this cultural contradiction in our society and all the three had tremendously contributed to the progress and development of the Scheduled Castes and other backward sections of our people and the struggles of these sections still move on these early foundations. On the other hand, Gandhi did not admit this cultural contradiction; he romanticised Indian cultural heritage and advocated the integration of Dalits within Hinduism. It has totally failed.¹² The Communists did not admit this cultural contradiction as they reduced everything to class contradiction. It also failed.

Therefore the logical conclusion is that the problems of Dalit liberation are ultimately to be traced to caste contradiction. These historical experiences have led Dalit organisations to give prime importance to socio-cultural change and build their movement on the principal contradiction in our society, namely, caste.

The Cultural Expression of the Movement is Anti-Brahminism

A Dalit poet from Maharashtra sings:

Siddalingaiah, the leading Dalit poet of Karnataka, sings:

Siddalingaiah continues in another poem: ‘Dalitaru Baruvaru’¹⁵

Dalit Sangharash Samiti’s slogan in Karnataka is ‘Jati bidi Mata bidi, Manuvatege jiva kodi’ - reject caste, reject religion, give life to your humanity.

‘Voice of the Weak - A Tabloid of Toiling People’, published from Delhi reports:

The All India Federation of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Caste and Minorities Employees Welfare Association (SCBWASTAMB) decided to call upon the SCs/STs and BCs to discard Hinduism and boycott Hindu temples. This was decided in the massive gathering of thousands of delegates attending the 15th special conference of the Federation held here (Jaipur) on October 8 and 9, 1988. The All-India Conference resolved that SCs and STs are not Hindus……………. that they are having their own religion……………….. The matter was closely examined from historical sociological and anthropological perspectives.¹⁶

Dalit intellectuals and leaders now realise that the consciousness of their masses shaped by vedic and puranic myths is a false consciousness serving the interests of the dominant castes and classes. A consciousness based on true history has to be formed to strengthen their identity and bring about their liberation and a new civilisation for the whole country.

This counter-cultural awakening among the Dalits against Hindu culture is inspired by the writings of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Phooley and Periar Ramaswamy. But it has a long historical tradition, going back to the great Buddha who taught:

The Buddhist account of the king as Mahasammata, the Great Elect is also by ‘contract’ in opposition to the Hindu idea of elements of divinity in the appointment of the king.¹⁸

Jainism, Ajivika faith and the ascetic tradition in Hindu civilisation itself belong to this counter-cultural stream which stands in continuity with the Indus civilisation as against the dominant vedic Brahminic civilisation. Tirukural of Tiruvalluvar, Tiruvsagam of Manikka Vasagar, the long line of Siddhar (Cittar) saints, all alive and vibrant, belong to this anti-Brahminical stream. Listen to the emphatic and blunt voice of Pambatti Cittar, a Dalit:

The same rejection is found in the modern Dalit poets. It is also found in folk tradition, folk songs, proverbs, myths, innumerable movements from among the Dalits and tribals,²¹ which have accepted the modern political ideas of equality, fraternity and justice.

The task is a political challenge to translate these ideas to cultural and economic life of the people. Homo hierarchicus will not become homo democraticus without profound socio-political and religious changes. This is the reason why Ambedkar said that untouchability was a question of power though he was conscious of the fact that it was an attitude of mind on the part of caste people which needs to be changed through a conversion of heart as Gandhi believed.

The Challenges posed by the Dalit Movement

In short, the challenges the Dalit movement throws at the Indian civilisation are the challenges of social equality, fraternity, freedom and justice. These are challenges to all religions - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or the Indic ascetic tradition itself, that deeply share at a spiritual depth.

Does this mean that Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or the Indic ascetic tradition could prove to be a political and cultural instrument of liberation? As Dalits are divided by religion, a solution based on any one religion will go against Dalit solidarity, which is a must for their liberation as an oppressed nationality. Besides, it also paves the way to a power struggle among the religions which is against the spirit of any true religion. Therefore the Dalit slogan is that they should come together irrespective of the religions to which they belong.²² The Dalits should be free like any other citizen to profess any religion of their choice or not to profess any religion at all. In other words, the Dalit Movement is secular. It does not follow from this that the Dalits do not expect a radical voice within the Christian community or any other religious community to associate itself with their movements. In fact, precisely that is what they really want from religions.

The Dalits and the Church Historians

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

— Luke 4:18-19

The spirit of this Nazareth declaration, I believe, sets the perspective for Church historians. Historically it cannot be denied that the Christian community got established in this country largely due to the aspirations of Dalits for liberation from all forms of oppression. It has now been accepted by everyone that their hope has been betrayed, that the Church failed to overcome the caste contradiction in our society, that Christians generally follow the norms and behaviour patterns of the caste society outside. Some authors feel that the situation of the Christian Dalits is even worse than that of their brethren outside, as the Christian Dalits suffer double alienation within the churches and in society.

I think to a large extent, Church historians must share the responsibility for this sorry plight of the churches.

Let me give a few instances which as I said earlier, are meant to initiate discussion and debate among Church historians. Recently I read a ‘Letter to the Editor’ in Malayala Manorama written by Fr. John O.C.D. The caption of the letter is ‘Why not tell the whole truth?’ Fr. John accuses Fr. Joseph Koikakudi and the Vadavatur Seminary of distorting the historical truth about the Diamper Synod and the missionaries’ role. He quotes from Kerala History, Vol. II, pp. 465-467 to establish that the Diamper Synod was convoked to legalise and win popular church support for missionary activities against caste practices and superstitious beliefs, and that Dr. Menezis should actually be considered as a social reformist not only of the Church but even of the Kerala State as a whole.

Now I have the feeling that the history of Diamper Synod is written from the point of view of Nazarani Christians and not of the whole people of God. It is too well known that the Syrian Church was nothing more than a caste church before the arrival of the missionaries, and the situation continues to a large extent even today. There is historical evidence to suggest that the Syrians were prompted to convert the depressed classes:

1. to counter the work of the Anglo-Saxon Protestant missionaries.
2. to continue their hold on slave labour.
3. and increase their political bargaining power.

Even at the baptism given by the Syrian Church the converted Pulayas were exhorted that they should not now deem themselves to be exalted to the position of the Syrians, that God’s words could be followed whatever be the status in which one finds oneself and that there was no need to change it. To which Pulayas responded that they would continue to be Pulayas.²³

If these charges are true, what kind of Church history do we have? I would call it Syrian history not Church History. During the missionary period there was general uneasiness about the presence of caste consciousness among the Christians though the missionaries had been divided on this issue or some of them misunderstood the nature of caste ideology and compromised with it. The mass movements generally also occurred along the lines of caste or tribal identity, which made the task of the missionary more difficult; particularly when caste corresponded to denominational divisions within the Christian community. However the Dalit intellectuals and writers feel that the missionary contribution was far greater than the native caste leadership of the Church today who have happily adjusted to the present social system. There are a number of reasons, historical and others, for their stand:

1. The caste Christian leadership opposed the Depressed Classes demand for communal representation as championed by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. They supported Gandhi's integrationist approach as they were more concerned to appear as good boys before the feudal caste leadership of the Congress since they did not suffer from social stigma and economic deprivations. Now after nearly sixty years, not only the Dalits but even some constitutional experts and political scientists feel that proportional representation is the only answer to democratise our political system and bring about a just social order.
2. When Gandhi and the Congress criticised the conversion of the Depressed Classes to Christianity, the caste Christian leadership also gave the unsolicited advice to them not to regard a change of faith as a means to mere social advancement.²⁴ One could understand that they were incapable of understanding the nature of Indian Brahmanical Hinduism and culture in relation to the Depressed Classes. They could be ignorant of the reasons why Dr. Ambedkar declared at Yeola in 1935: 'I will not die a Hindu', and the Depressed Classes at every annual conference passed a resolution to quit Hinduism. A stand continues in the Dalit Movement today that they were historically never Hindus and they should renounce and quit Hinduism.²⁵ But how could the caste leadership be ignorant who really 'socially advance' with the help of missionaries, the caste Christians and Syrian Christians or the Depressed Classes?
3. The recent attempt at indigenisation of Christian liturgy betrays an absolute ignorance of the history, culture and the nature of Brahmanical religion on the part of its protagonists. It never occurred to them that Brahmanical history, culture and religion is *opus alienum* - the work of the enemy as far as the Dalits were concerned. The Dalits' historical conflicts, their economic and political and cultural subjugation by their enemies appear in Brahmanical history and religion in the form of religious myths and stories which have been literally swallowed by caste Christian leadership and their historians.
4. In the name of inter-faith dialogue and understanding what has been happening is nothing more than a bonhomie between Christian caste clerics and Brahmin pundits.
5. The struggles of Dalit Christians in the diocese of Punalur, Vijayapuram, Kottayam, Bangalore, Bellary show the unwillingness of Church authorities to give due share and representation to Dalit Christians.
6. While the Church defends the minority rights, it refuses to democratise these minority rights by extending the principle of proportional reservation to Dalit Christians in the Church's own institutions.
7. Even the steps recommended by all-India church bodies and official documents are not implemented in practice, as the local church leadership is biased against these measures. For example, the Vijayapuram diocese which has 85% Dalit Christians does not even celebrate Justice Sunday recommended by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India.²⁶
8. The Church leadership is feudal and anti-Dalit. It became very clear when the Church organised a liberation struggle against the Communist Government of Kerala in 1959, the real reason was to scuttle the Land Reform Bill which threatened church and temple property. In fact the struggle turned out to be anti-Dalit since land to the tiller was their slogan. In many places the priests led the march against Dalits, shouting, 'We will make you drink gruel out of areca bark bowls. We'll make you call us, "Master."' Even my own limited experience with some bishops and clergy in connection with the study of Christian Dalits and the march of Wayanad tribals for their ancestral land confirm this charge.
9. Much of the church activities amount to depoliticising the poor Dalits. Though Pentecostalism, Charismatic movements, etc., are extreme forms of it, other churches are not free from it. The need of the Dalits is to acquire a historical consciousness of how they were disinherited from their ancestral land and to identify the real nature of the various economic, cultural and political forces at work in the society.
10. The movement of the Christian Dalits from mainline churches to Pentecostal groups betrays that they are unhappy and not cared for in these churches. Case studies could be prepared on these.
11. The persistence of caste groups along denominational lines is partly due to the in-built tribal characteristic of ethnic blood groups and partly there is no all-out coordinated action within the churches against caste consciousness, and for socio-religious reform.

I would say these are some of the experiences of Dalit Christians. This state of affairs can be changed only if the Church historians develop an overall general perspective on Indian history from the point of view of the present day Dalit predicament, and help the Church to understand the historical forces that brought about this situation so that the churches understand their theology and mission in terms of the liberation of all the people of God.

‘So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter’ (Ecclesiastes 4:1).

Notes

1. Cf. D.D. Kosambi, The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India, p.16. ↩
2. E. Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, p.618. ↩
3. Thus Spake Ambedkar, ed. Bhagavan Das, Vol. I, p.122. ↩
4. 'History bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious revolutions'. Ambedkar gives a number of examples from world history. B.R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste, pp.68-69. ↩
5. Sixth Plan Document 1980-85, Govt. of India, Planning Commission, p.417. Dalits' economic situation in Kerala: P. Sivanandan of the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum sums up the economic emancipation of the Dalits in this decade in the following words:

   'To sum up in the foregoing appraisal of the major economic programmes initiated for the upliftment of the Dalit population in Kerala, we note that the effective gains accrued to them are quite marginal. In all aspects of land allotment, employment generation and asset creation in the agricultural sector, the Dalits do not seem to get their due share of benefits. Programme for mensuration of occupations in other sectors are also quite ineffective. In short, inspite of a large number of developmental schemes for the overall economic advancement of the Dalit, they remain to be emancipated. Economic emancipation would still be harder than the social or political.' Centre for Development Studies, Ulloor, Trivandrum-I, Paper presented in a consultation on 'Dalits and the Left Movement' at Trivandrum, Aug. 1988.

   Cf Author's papers, published in Economic and Political Weekly, and Social Scientist. Cf. Dr. Babu Vijayanath: Report of the Commission on the Socio-Economic Conditions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1982. ↩
6. Report of the Commissioner for SC & ST, 1978-1979, p.119. ↩
7. Commissioner's Report 1978-1979, p.231. ↩
8. Commissioner's Report, 1977-78, p.3. For a recent report on the 'Nature, Extent and Limitations of Protection of Civil Rights and the kind of problems district authorities face in Southern States, I draw your attention to the report presented by Shri Syed Abid Ali, I.P.S., the present head of Civil Rights Enforcement Cell in Karnataka at a seminar held in 1988 in Bangalore. Published in Religion and Society, CISRS Publication Trust, June 1988. Cf V.R. Krishna Iyer, Justice Friends and injustice in Deeds for the Depressed Classes, Indianoci Institute, New Delhi. ↩
9. V. S. Naipaul, A Wounded Civilization, 1977, p.157. ↩
10. Cf 'The Dalits and the Left Movements', a collection of essays to be published by CISRS edited by A.M.A. Ayrookuzhiel. B.R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste, pp.68-69. ↩
11. Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it a social democracy. On the social plane, we have in India a society based on the principle of graded inequality, which means elevation for some and degradation for others. On the economic plane, we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth, as against many who live in abject poverty. On 26th Jan. 1950, we are going to enter into a life of Contradictions. In politics we will have equality and In social and economic life we will have inequality'. B.R. Ambedkar's summary statement to the Constituent Assembly on Nov.25,1949. ↩
12. A survey conducted in 1985 in Kerala by A.K. Vakil found that out of 68 village temples none are accessible to Dalits. If the relations between Dalits and caste people are so bad in Kerala, the situation is much worse, according to Vakil's study, in other parts of the country like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, etc, where the exclusion of Dalits by caste people extends not only to their temples but also to village wells, hotels, barbers and washerman. For full details, cf A.K. Vakil, Reservation Policy and Scheduled Castes in India, New Delhi: Asish Publishing 1985, cf also Swami Anand Thurth, Untouchability Gandhian Solution on Trial, by A.M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel, published for the CISRS, Bangalore, by the ISPCK, Delhi, 1987. ↩
13. V.L. Kalekar, quoted in Barbara Joshi, Untouchable: Voice of the Dalit Liberation Movement, Select Book Service Syndicate, New Delhi; ↩
14. Thousands of Rivers, by Siddalingaiah, Trans. From Kannada by Sumatindra Nadig. Published in Deccan Herald Weekly Magazine, Sunday Herald Jan, 6, 1980. ↩
15. Dali Songs (p.14) Pub. By Hosadikku Prakashana, S.A. Vani Institute of Commerce, Journalists Colony, Bangalore 560 002, Trans, from Kannada: A Lakshman Rao Kadam. ↩
16. Voice of the Weak - A Tabloid of Toiling People, Vol. 6 No. 6, Oct. 1988, Baput Bhavan, Bat Nagar, Karol Bagh, New Delhi. ↩
17. Vasalasutta, 21. ↩
18. Romila Thapar, "Ethics, Religion and Social Protest in the First Millennium B.C. in North India," in Ancient Indian Social History, Orient Longman, 1978, p.49. ↩
19. Pambatti Cittar, in David Buck, Dance, Oh, Snake Dance: pp. 107-109. ↩
20. Cittar Gnanakkovai, Pambatti Cittar, verse 123. ↩
21. It is not possible to go into this culture and movements in detail, at least in this paper. ↩
22. 'Let the Dalits unite irrespective of their religions. Build National Dalit Liberation Front to fight for their Rights.' A joint statement published by a number of Dalit Organisations in Kerala, both Hindu and Christian. ↩
23. The Chronicle of Fr. Palakunnal Mathai Mariam, quoted by Joseph Palikunnel, 'Problems of Dalit Christians' in Through Kerala History. Kerala History Congress, 1989. ↩
24. Statement issued by the Bangalore Conference Continuation, a group of nationalist Christians, quoted by John Webster, 'Christians and the Depressed Classes Movement in the 1930'. ↩
25. The All-India Federation of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward Caste and Minorities Employees Welfare Associations (SCEWASTAMB) decided to call upon the SCs, STs and BCs to discard Hinduism and boycott Hindu temples, This was decided in the massive gathering of thousands of delegates attending the 15th special conference of the Federation held in Jaipur on October 8 and 9, 1988. The All-India conference resolved that SCs and STs are not Hindus...... that they are having their own religion... The matter was closely examined from historical, sociological and anthropological perspectives. ↩
26. Cf. Memoranda published by Vijayapuram Diocese Converted Catholics Association. ↩

📄 This page was created on 28 May 2026. You can view its history on GitHub, preview the fileTip: Press Alt+Shift+G, or inspect the underlying source.