Full Text: The Role of Religion in Dalit Liberation: Some Reflections

The full text of the The Role of Religion in Dalit Liberation: Some Reflections is reproduced here verbatim from the original essay by A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel.

This version preserves the original wording, structure, and argumentation as presented in the source document. The essay is organised as a series of ten theses examining the relationship between religion, caste, and Dalit liberation in the Indian context.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Thesis 1
3. Thesis 2
4. Thesis 3
5. Thesis 4
6. Thesis 5
7. Thesis 6
8. Thesis 7
9. Thesis 8
10. Thesis 9
11. Thesis 10
12. Notes

Introduction

Anyone who philosophises in the Indian context today has to take serious note of the deep yearning of the Dalit community, who constitute one fifth of the Indian population of 900 million, for freedom, dignity and economic well-being. But any serious and critical scrutiny of our civilisation with regard to the Dalit situation in a historical perspective reveals that religion, politics and economics have been interlocking with each other both in the past and in the present. The following points are some of my reflections put down here for greater clarity.

Thesis - 1: The Dalits suffer from religious imperialism and internal cultural colonialism.

The religious tradition which is generally referred to as “Hinduism” cannot be considered the religious heritage of the Dalits for the simple reason that the Dalits suffer the stigma of untouchability in that tradition. The Vedas, the Puranas, the Dharma Sastras and ritual traditions of the Brahminic priestly class with their value of purity and pollution, their philosophical concepts like Karma, Svadharma, Adhikara assign the Dalits a low status and they are excluded from the Brahminic religious world. All the same the sociological fact is that the various different communities of people that constitute the Dalits of today do worship the Gods in the Hindu pantheon presided over by the Brahmin priests.

Historians of Indian civilisation explain this phenomenon by pointing to the manner of evolution of the composite Hindu tradition. Priests of the dominant Brahmanical tradition assimilated various primeval tribal Gods and Goddesses by identifying them with one of the chief or minor deities in their tradition or made them wives, children or vehicles of their Gods.

This religious hierarchical subordination was a complementary historical process to the concerned tribal groups’ political and economic subjugation.

Thesis - 2: Religious factors play a limited role in changing social consciousness

Here one is reminded of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s saying, “Preaching did not make caste system nor will it unmake it.” In other words, Brahmanical religion did not most probably create caste system by itself. The anti-Brahmanical religious preaching cannot unmake the caste system by itself. For instance, it is quite natural and probable that Brahmanical ideas of clean and unclean people reflected the social conditions in ancient India resulting from economic, political, ethnic and cultural differences and conflicts among the people. But once they were conceptually built into religious rituals, they become instruments to perpetuate class, ethnic and gender interests and privileges. In the same way empirical studies suggest that the meanings, content and the field of application of concepts like Karma, rebirth, Svadharma, Svadhikar is very much determined by the material, cultural and educational conditions of the people. It means, unless efforts are made to change the material conditions and political powerlessness of the Dalits, by providing them with alternative religious symbols, they will continue to have limited value.

Thesis - 3: The religious problem of the Dalits cannot be solved by building anti-Brahmanical political alliances or other religious traditions.

The anti-Brahmanical nature of the Dalit literature and the need for the Dalits to acquire political power make some leaders to advocate Dalit alliance with other religious minorities such as Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. But the majority of the Dalits feel that it is a dangerous path of religious confrontation and Dalit interests will be a casualty in such religious conflicts.

Secondly, the general malady affecting the Indian society such as caste consciousness and discrimination against women persist in all religious traditions in India and the need of religious renaissance applies to them as much as to the Hindu tradition.

Thirdly, even though the Hindu Renaissance has failed to bring about any change in temple and domestic rituals based on the concept of clean and unclean or to accept the Dalits as religiously equal by conferring on them the right to become priests in temples, there is a very vocal and articulate section among the Hindus who would uphold human equality and social justice on a secular political platform along with like-minded people in other religions. Dalits feel such secular political atmosphere would be most suitable to promote their economic, political and educational interests, and the Dalits should have the freedom to choose a religion that upholds their human dignity.

Fourthly, it is most unlikely that all the Dalits would at any time in history may belong to any one religion. The Hinduised Dalits have deep emotional attachment to the gods of their early tribal days, like for instance God Murugan of Tamilnadu, Lord Ayyappa of Kerala, God Jagannath of Orissa who have now become part of the Hindu Pantheon. Therefore, an anti-Brahmanical political front will not solve the religious problem of the Dalits and it might harm them in the crucial area of their economic and political struggles.

Fifthly, like in other religions, Hindu tradition has the internal theological resources for self-criticism. For instance, many Dalits as well as non-Dalit writers, poets and religious leaders used Advaita philosophy for criticising the practice of untouchability and caste consciousness. The concept of God in some systems of Hindu thought and practice also does not permit untouchability and caste as we shall see in this thesis.

Sixthly, the Hindu civilisation is more open to the principle of rationality and evolution in the absence of religious dogmas and centralised religious authority.

Thesis - 4: The main stream Hindu Renaissance so far failed to come to grips with the nature of the religious problems which the Dalits suffer under Brahmanical Hinduism.

Hindu Renaissance certainly played a crucial and a very important role in paving the way for the emergence of democratic modern state as opposed to, say a state governed by Brahmanical Dharma Sastras as is done in some Islamic countries which have Shariat as the State law. The Dalits of today therefore, for the first time in their history, possess the necessary political instruments to further promote their struggle for liberation. But the primary reason for this historical development was the revolt of the backward castes and the Dalits. Similar political pressure operating in the country is felt by BJP, VHP, RSS and Bharat Sadhu Samaj who have passed resolutions and calling for the eradication of untouchability and to step up the welfare activities among the tribals and the Dalits.

All the same it cannot be said that these programmes are very dissimilar to the old Brahmanical imperialism or cultural colonialism as these programmes have so far not led to any meaningful changes on pollution, nature of priestly authority nor has it brought about changes in the administrative control of caste temples and other centres of institutional power. The impact of science and secular humanism on caste has had been negligible. But many observers of the social scene in India believe that Hinduism at the moment is in a revival phase rather than in a renaissance phase.¹⁵ All the reform movements such as Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Ramakrishna Mission, Theosophical Society, Divine Life Mission, Servants of India Society etc., seem to have settled down as some sort of sects within the composite religious heritage extending its influence on this situation. To expect a system which was historically a tool of absorption and dominance, to become an instrument of liberation to its old victims is, improbable. It is a mistake to club together anti-Brahmin movements with Hindu renaissance which worked within the Brahmanical religious framework.

Thesis - 5: Major religious traditions in India remain very much outside Dalits’ history, culture, struggles and movements. Therefore, if they are to help the emancipation of the Dalits there should be a meaningful inculturation of these religions into the history and aspirations of the Dalits.

Both the religious and political parties, as they are presided over by caste people tend to divide the Dalits. This is not always so, especially since the Dalits themselves have differences amongst themselves due to their heterogeneity in terms of their ethnic roots, cultural identity, level of educational awareness and other material conditions. Their all-India situation is further complicated by linguistic differences. Since the crux of the Dalit problem is their all-round powerlessness, it can only be addressed politically in the Indian context today. Politically the Dalits can meet this challenge effectively if there is unity and solidarity among them across different religions and political parties. As all major religious traditions remain very much outside Dalit history, Dalit culture, their struggles and sufferings, their movements and their leaders, these traditions cannot be thought of as possible cultural instruments of building Dalit identity or as vehicles of their self-expression and aspirations, though all of them may have at theoretical level conceptual resources to facilitate such an historical process of assisting Dalit liberation.

Therefore the praxis of the process of building Dalit identity should begin with the reconstruction of their history, recording of their struggles and movements, the biographies of their heroes and leaders, the study of their traditional religious symbols especially since the Dalits still preserve distinctive ethnic and religio-cultural heritage in various degrees despite their absorption into Sanskritic Hinduism and their conversion into other religions.

Thesis - 6: Though the traditional religion of the Dalits is ambiguous in character, there are positive aspects to it such as its community-orientation and people-centredness. The tradition of the Dalit saints generally advocates worship of God in spirit and truth and condemns external rituals and magical practices.

Though the traditional world-view of the Dalits is beset with beliefs about magic, spirits, gods and goddesses causing evil, appeasement of ancestral spirits and gods in rituals, spirit possession and exorcism in worship etc., they have more egalitarian, community-centered and people-oriented rituals in their heritage like common sacrifice. Under divine inspiration any member of the community, man or woman, boy or girl can dance, pray and prophesy. Prayers are said by their elders for the prosperity of the village, country, the world and all its creatures. There are rites of passage and festivals which symbolise their communion with nature. Festivals are either around stages of life of members of the community or around change of seasons in nature, showing a people-centred and nature-oriented spirit.

There are gods like Pottam Teyyam of the Malabar Pulayas who calls for righteousness and divine retribution. There is a large amount of folk-songs, poems of Dalits and backward classes, saints, who condemn caste, ritualism, pilgrimage, priest-craft and calls for worship of God in spirit and truth. These could form the common body of the Dalit religious heritage irrespective of their religious affiliation in order to reinterpret the past and reconstruct the future.

Thesis - 7: A truly Dalit religion or theology has to assist them in realising their human dignity and spiritual equality with the rest of the people.

Religious history of the Dalit community reveals a deep yearning for liberation from Brahmanical Hinduism. One finds it manifested in the course of history in four different ways.

1) A folk religious tradition conflicting with the Brahmanical religion in the form of myths, songs, proverbs, festival of abusal, customs and ritual practices centred around Dalit gods and goddesses.

2) Religious conversion to other great traditions such as Islam, Christianity and Buddhism in order to get rid of the stigma of untouchability and the feeling of being an excluded community.

3) Religious protest movement started by sages who are themselves from untouchable and backward castes such as Siddhars, Ravi Das, Kabir, Namdev, Dadu, Chokkamela, Ghasi Das and scores of other less known saints throughout the country.

4) Denunciation of Brahmanical religion advocated by leaders like Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramaswamy Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, have become the very ideological core of Dalit socio-political awareness-building and mobilisation for the liberation struggles in recent times.

Thesis - 8: Historical movements among them though based on their cultural solidarity helped them to a considerable degree in their economic and political emancipation. All historical movements among the Dalits such as of Ravi Dasis, Valmikis, Kabir Panthis, Satnamis, Neo-Buddhists for humanisation were led by Dalit sages and leaders. They were based on their cultural solidarity as a distinctive oppressed group. These have led to greater social mobility and political participation in their history.

Mahatma Phule, Periyar Ramaswamy, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia, also advocated similar anti-caste cultural revolution as the best way to democratise Indian society. Various Dalit groups in the country, in spite of their mutual antagonism and ideological differences generally follow this mode of struggle based on their social deprivations and cultural solidarity, rather than on class solidarity. Dalit intellectuals and poets give priority to this social cultural revolution as the best way to solve their economic and political problems.

Thesis - 9: Though Brahmanical Hinduism has the theoretical resources to meaningfully integrate the Dalits, much of this historical emancipation of the Dalits has come to them through their own religious movements which is counter to the Brahmanical tradition. Dalit literature today continues to be in the same direction.

The principle of critique against caste consciousness comes from two types of religious-philosophic perceptions in the Indian tradition. One is the advaita vedantic conception of the universe and the other a conception of the ultimate reality very similar to the one God, one humanity, found in Christian and Islamic traditions. Both these streams are found in the ascetic and the saints traditions familiar to India, sometimes in the spiritual life of the same person and the movement he initiated, though without any logical clarity as to its exact nature. Though Brahmins, backward castes as well as Dalit saints are found following this spiritual path, much of the virulent attacks against casteism, denunciation of ritualism and priest-craft, criticism of Brahmin priests came from untouchable sages or saints who were barbers, butchers, or tailors by profession, low in the esteem of the larger society. They rejected the absolute authority of the Vedas, called for a religion of humanity, emphasised the need for purity of mind and heart against external ablutions, fasting, rituals and pilgrimages. It can be truly called the religion of the unclean people against Brahmanical priestly religion of external purity, gods and rituals. Though the common people, particularly the untouchables in different regions, followed these rebellious prophets in small groups and sects, they were unable to convert this religion of the anti-establishment into an all-India counter-cultural religious movement.

Thesis - 10: The Dalits of today live for the first time in their own history within a political framework wherein their participation in the decision-making is assured, wherein their economic life in principle and in practice to some extent need not conform to their traditional caste occupations, wherein a small percentage of them get educated.

Under the impact of modern political, rational and scientific categories of thought, their traditional world-view dominated by religion is changing. Broadly speaking there are two streams of thought among them. One group considers itself as Hindu and follows its traditional religious practices and participates in the Brahman controlled worship in varying degrees. The group following Dr. B.R. Ambedkar feels that the Dalits cannot redeem their human dignity and self-respect and obtain social equality within the Brahmanical religious system and advocates conversion to other religions, particularly Buddhism. Most of the Dalit intellectuals, writers and poets belong to this second group.

I am inclined to think that this second group might set the pattern of their liberation unless the Brahmanical Hinduism undergoes radical renaissance under the political threat which the estrangement of the Dalit community poses to the rest of the Hindus.

NOTE:
References could not be included as we could not trace the book from which this article was taken.

Notes

📄 This page was created on 24 April 2026. You can view its history on GitHub, preview the fileTip: Press Alt+Shift+G, or inspect the underlying source.