Strategies - Practices

Context of casteism

M C Raj

Introduction
India is once again passing through a socio-economic-poitical and cultural
struggle. The Hindutva forces are trying vehemently and have succeeded to
some extent to establish a socio-political system that will establish the economic
hegemony of the dominant castes in India. When the British colonizers were
leaving India there was a major conflict within the Indian society initiated by the
Hindutva forces. They wanted to establish a Hindu Nation, a nation based on the
dominant cultural values as enshrined in the Vedas1, Puranas2, Smirits3 and Tan-
tras4. They did not succeed. Through vote bank politics they are on the brink of
achieving their objective of constructing a cultural nationalism that will take over
the Nation-State in India. Their success will announce the dawn of a new phase
in the hegemonic history of Brahminism. The new phase will mark the transfer
and consolidation of power in the hands of the conventional foes of the poor and
the marginalized people, the Dalits, the Women and the tribal people of India in a
liberalized Globalization context. This will be a major site of violation of rights of
the people of India. India is not one country. It is a multiplicity of countries. India
does not have one culture. It is a multicultural society. India does not have one
language. It has thousands of languages. It does not have one people with one
identity. It has people belonging to different religions and castes.

The people of India who have been traditionally oppressed and marginalized in
the name of caste have started asserting their rights and fighting back on many
1. Vedas are philosophical and theological writings of Hinduism that promulgate the religious doctrines of
Brahminism.
2. Puranas are the story forms of transferring Brahminic doctrines to the common people.
3. Smritis translate the Brahminic Doctrines into normative order and normative prescriptions.
4. In popular understanding Tantra means trickery. They are instruments of popular consumption and
internalization of what is said in the Puranas.
fronts. This has resulted in escalated violence by the supposedly non-violent
dominant caste and in increased violations of the Human Rights of the people by
the State. The Indian State is a conglomeration of the dominant caste-class
forces. The resistance and resurgence of the hitherto marginalised people is an-
other site of violations of rights. In this Paper I try to explain how dominant caste
forces have established and perpetrated systemic and structural violence, ex-
ploitation and oppression of the Dalit people, depriving them of their dignity, self-
respect, land, labor, education, livelihood and life itself. I also trace the history of
the strategies and programs of the Dalit people for claiming and gradually estab-
lishing their legitimate rights in the context of the emerging Nation-State in India.

Origin of Caste System

One of the major projects of Brahminization is the establishment of the caste sys-
tem as a social order. It is graded inequality dogmatically ushered into this world.
S. Radhakrishnan who is acknowledged as one of the best Indian philosophers
offers the following about the origin of the caste system. “The Purusa Sukta has
the first reference to the division of Hindu society into the four classes. To under-
stand the natural ways, in which this institution arose, we must remember that
the Aryan conquerors were divided by differences of blood and racial ancestry
from the conquered tribes of India. The original Aryans all belonged to one class,
every one being priest and soldier, trader and tiller of the soil. There was no priv-
ileged order of priests. The complexity of life led to a division of classes among
the Aryans. Though to start with each man could offer sacrifices to gods without
anybody’s mediation, priesthood and aristocracy separated themselves from the
proletariat. Originally the term Vaishya referred to the whole people. As we shall
see, when sacrifices assume an important role, when the increasing complexity
of life rendered necessary division of life, certain families, distinguished for learn-
ing, wisdom, poetic and speculative gifts, became representatives in worship un-
der the title of Purohita, or one set in front. When the Vedic religion developed
into regulated ceremonials, these families formed themselves into a class. In
view of their great function of conserving the tradition of the Aryans, this class
was freed from the necessity of the struggle for existence. For those engaged in
the feverish ardor of life cannot afford the freedom and the leisure necessary
thought and reflection. Thus one class concerned with the things of spirit came
into existence. The Brahmins are not a priestly class pledged to support fixed
doctrines, but an intellectual aristocracy charged with the molding of the higher
life of the people. The kings who became the patrons of the learned Brahmins
were the Kshatriyas or the princes who had borne rule in those days. The word
Kshatriyas comes from Ksatra, “rule, dominion”. It has the same meaning in the
Veda, the Avesta and the Persian inscriptions. The rest were classed as the
people or the Vaisyas.” The following is said of the Brahmins,” In his own house
he dwells in peace and comfort, to him for ever holy food flows richly, to him the
people with free will pay homage-the king with whom the Brahmin has preced-
ence... The division into Aryans and Dasyus is a racial one, being based on blood
and descent”.5

Babasaheb quotes from Katyayana about the origin of the four castes.

“There is no difference of castes; this world, having been at first created by

Brahma entirely Brahmanic, became (afterwards) separated into castes in con-
sequence of works. Those Brahmans (lit. twice born men), who were fond of sen-
sual pleasure, fiery, irascible, prone to violence, had forsaken their duty, and
were red-limbed, fell into the condition of Kshatriyas. Those Brahmans, who de-
rived their livelihood from kine, who were yellow, who subsisted by agriculture,
and who neglected to practice their duties, entered into the state of Vaisyas.
Those Brahmans, who were addicted to mischief and falsehood, who were covet-
ous, who lived by all kinds of works, who were black and had fallen from purity,
sank into the condition of Sudras. Being separated from each other by these
works, the Brahmanas became divided into different castes”.6

Purusa Sukta of Rg Veda gives the narration of the creation of the world in many
verses. Verses 11 and 12 pertain to the Caste system.

Verse 11, “When (the Gods) divided, the Purusha into how many parts did they
cut him up? What was his mouth? What arms (had he). What (those objects) are
said (to have been) his thighs and feet”.

Verse 12, “The Brahmana was his mouth. The Rajanya was made his arms; the
being called the Vaishya, he was his thighs, the Shudra sprang from his feet”.

Commenting on this is the following;” The Indo-Aryan society has an official grad-
ation laid down; fixed and permanent with an ascending scale of reverence and a
descending scale of contempt. The scheme of the Purusha Sukta is unique in as
much as it fixed a permanent warrant of precedence neither time nor circum-
stances can alter”.7

Caste – Division of Laborers

Many Hindu scholars have tried to justify this system of graded inequality through
philosophical discourses. However, the type of exclusivism that caste system has
effected in the society cannot be wished away, nor can it be pushed under the
carpet through pious and high sounding philosophical gongs. The general argu-
ment forwarded in the legitimization of the caste system is that it is a division of
labor. It is the way that the Hindu society has been ordered and that it has
worked well for millennia. First of all it must be said that it is not a division of
labor. As Dr. Ambedkar clearly points out it is a division of laborers. It is a division

5 . S Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, Vol.1, pp.111-112

6 . Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol.5. pp.193-194
7 . T H P Chentharassery, Ambedkar on Indian History, p.41
of people. Our next question is why did the Brahmin propagandists choose this
way of organizing society? There must be a specific purpose behind this way of
organizing the people. Caste system is not something that is natural. It is not
commonly prevalent in the natural societies. The Black people of Africa, the Adi-
vasis of Asia and the Dalit people were not organized on caste basis. Why then
did the Aryans bring caste system into India? It is because they found that this
system was one of the best tools for them to keep the society in eternal division
and through that division to perpetuate their hegemony in the larger society. But
also within the Aryan society itself it came handy to establish and maintain the
superiority of the Brahmins over all the other caste people. The third aspect is
that the caste system has worked till now because of the total objugation of the
Dalit people by the Brahminic forces all throughout history. They have ensured an
all-round surrender of the Dalit people through the technologies of unrestricted
oppression, manipulative co-option, perennial dependence, and the denial of
education and livelihood opportunities. It is a shame to say that a system has
worked well for a long time this way. If the Dalits are being kept in chains as bon-
ded laborers even today and they agree to all the terms and conditions of the
dominant caste fellows while being kept in chains can we call it a good system.

Graded Inequality
The Brahminic order has been toying with Dalit identity, as it liked. Originally,
when caste system came into being in India the Dalit people were clubbed into
the Shudra identity. Shudra then was an identity for all those who did not belong
to the three castes that were identified within the gambit of caste system. In pop-
ular story as narrated in the Mahabharatha Shudra was the fourth grouping in the
caste system. When Arjuna goes to Kurukshetra he saw in front of him host of
warriors who brought him up, who played with him, who studied with him, his
friends, his team mates, his class mates, his brothers, cousins, his teachers etc.
He had to fight a war against them and kill many of them and win the war over
them. They never learned together to do this to one another. He would never
imagine the exercise of the art of war against those who taught him that art. He
refused to take up to the bow and the arrow. Then Krishna, the schemer, who
was also the charioteer of Arjuna, took him away from the battlefield and started
his long religious discourse so as to convince Arjuna that he should fight the
battle of Kurukshetra. The discourse, apart from many other discourses also has
a popular version of the caste discourse.8 The Brahmin comes from the head of

8 . Extracts of the discourse as given in Mahabharatha. “I myself have created the arrangement known as
Chaturvarna assigning them different occupations in accordance with the native capacities. It is I who am
the maker of this Chaturvarna (Gita. IV.13) The educated should not unsettle the faith of the uneducated
who have become attached to their occupation. He himself should perform the occupation of his Varna and
make others perform theirs accordingly. An educated man may not become attached to his occupation. But
the uneducated and dull-minded people who have become attached to their occupation should not be
spoiled by the educated by putting them on a wrong path by abandoning their own occupation. (Gita. III.
26,29) Oh, Arjun! Whenever this religion of duties and occupations (i.e. this religion of Chaturvarna) de-
clines, then I myself will come to birth to punish those who are responsible for its downfall and to restore
it.” (Gita. IV.7-8)
Brahma. The head is ascribed a superiority because of its thinking function. By
implication it means that feeling is an inferior function. Those who have know-
ledge have the highest status in society and in religion. By implication it means
that those who have been the opportunity to acquire knowledge and will be
treated low in society. Brahmins, having emanated from the head of Brahma
have the karma of learning, acquiring knowledge and teaching. The next caste of
people who are a grade lower emanate from the shoulders of Brahma. They are
the Kshatriyas, the warriors. Even today in the modern battle shoulders are cru-
cial. For the bow and arrow shoulders are essential. The Kshatriyas have the
karma of fighting in the battlefield. At this juncture Krishna utters his famous
dictum that one should perform his karma without ever looking at the result. The
consequence of one’s action is not the responsibility of the subject who acts but
belongs to the karma of the object. The next ones in the caste ladder are the Ver-
ity’s. These are the traders. In those days, as it is these days in many parts of the
world, the traders had to move from place to place to mobilize raw materials as
well as to sell their products. Thighs were the focal point for traders’ movement to
different places. Since the Verity’s originated from the thighs of Brahma their
karma is to trade and make a living. It is their profession. The profession of the
Brahmin is to acquire knowledge and do all such things that are related to the
realm of knowledge. The Kshatriya’s profession is to fight in the battlefield. The
feet, though used primarily for seasoning the land for cultivation, is also used for
multiple purposes. Those who made cultivation as their profession, the farmers
are primarily the Shudras. They originate from the feet of Brahma. It must be re-
membered that before modern technology arrived farmers and agricultural
laborers used to season the slushy land for paddy cultivation by stamping over it
the whole day. But then those who played a supportive role to the farmers such
as the carpenters, the blacksmiths etc. were also Shudras. Not only they, but
also all those others who did all sorts of menial jobs belong to this last grade in
the caste. Status is attached to each caste according to their gradation. In the
course of time the Shudra identity was restricted to those who allowed them-
selves to be co-opted into the Aryan religion and accepted their gods. They also
agreed to their women being used by the Aryans either through marriage or oth-
erwise. Those who refused to accept the gods brought by the Aryans and main-
tained their independent indigenous identity were pushed out of the mainstream
and they later became a separate category of people called the untouchables. In
India all those who have a history of untouchability are the Dalits.

Shudras – The Lowest Caste

Before we go in detail about the untouchables let us have a look at what the Ary-
ans have to say about the Shudras when the Shudras and the indigenous people
were identified as one category. Some have asked as to why we should be once
again highlighting what Manu or others have written about us centuries ago.
True, we need not be once again mentally colonized by the evil discourses of the
Brahminic forces. But now we must understand that it is not possible any more to
colonize our minds and therefore, we should make our people aware in a con-
sidered manner of the historical injustice and dominance that have been perpet-
rated on us. Only when we understand that, will our people be able to recognize
the causes of our present existential objugation. Unless our objugation is prob-
lematized with all its causative factors and other compulsive factors our alternat-
ives will not be appropriate. We may be administering wrong remedies to the
right disease. Apart from that it is also necessary to show to our people the
shenanigans of the dominant forces so as to arrest any further objugation.

Volume 7 of Dr. Ambedkar’s writings and Speeches traces these Brahminic

ascription and norms vis-à-vis the Shudras.

“The Brahman caste is sprung from the gods; the Shudras from the Asuras”

“The Shudra must not be spoken to when performing a sacrifice and a Shudra
must not be present when a sacrifice is being performed”

“Food touched by a (Brahman or other high caste person) who is impure be-
comes impure but not unfit for eating. But what has been brought (be it touched
or not) by an impure Shudra must not be eaten”

“Some call that Shudra a burial ground. Therefore, the Veda must not be recited
in their presence”

“If a Brahman dies with the food of a Shudra in his stomach, he will become a vil-
lage pig (in the next life) or be born in the family of that Shudra”

“If he (Shudra) places himself on the same seat with his superior, he shall be
banished with a mark on his buttock.
If he spits on him he shall lose both lips.
If he breaks wind against him he shall lose his hind parts.
If he uses abusive language, his tongue.
If a lowborn man through pride give instruction (to a member of the caste) con-
cerning his duty, let the king order hot oil to be dropped into his mouth.

“Now if he listens intentionally to (a recitation of) the Veda, his ears shall be filled
with (molten) tin or Lac”

“For he who tells him the law and he who enjoins upon him (religious) observ-
ances, he indeed together with that (Shudra) sinks into the darkness of the hell
called Asamcrita”

“One duty the Lord assigned to the Shudra - service to those (before mentioned)
classes without grudging”
“(The name to be chosen should be) auspicious in the case of a Brahmin.
Indicating power in the case of a Kshatriya
Indicating wealth in the case of a Vaishya
And indicating contempt in the case of a Shudra” Babasaheb has taken the
above from many Brahminic literature such as Apastamba Dharma Sutra, Bri-
haspathi Smriti, Gautama Dharma Sutra, Vishnu Smriti, Manu Smriti etc.9

The discourses change in character and tone after the Dalit people were cast
aside as untouchables. Though the term used is still Shudra these discourses
largely refer to the untouchable people. Babasaheb sums up in his own words in
ten point all that is prescribed for the Hindu society vis-à-vis the untouchables.

1. The Shudra is to take the last place in the social order

2. The Shudra was impure and therefore no sacred act should be done within his
sight and within his hearing.

3. That the Shudra is not to be respected in the same way as the other classes.

4. That the life of a Shudra is of no value and anybody may kill him without hav-
ing to pay compensation and if at all of small value as compared with that of the
Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya.

5. That the Shudra must not acquire knowledge and it is a sin and a crime to give
him education.

6. That a Shudra must not acquire property. A Brahmin can take away his prop-
erty at his pleasure.

7. That a Shudra cannot hold office under the State.

8. That the duty and salvation of the Shudra lies in his serving the higher classes.

9. That the higher classes must not inter-marry with the Shudra. They can
however keep a Shudra woman as a concubine. But if the Shudra touches a wo-
man of the highest class he will be liable to dire punishment.

10. That the Shudra is born in servility and must be kept in servility forever.10

Further Babasaheb brings out the following from the Manusmriti.

9 . Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol.7., pp. 40 - 52

10 . Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, op.cit., pp.55-56
 “Manu, the Law Giver gives legal recognition to the institution of the four Varnas.
To lay down the law of the four Varnas seems to be the principal object of Manu’s
code. This is clear from the opening verses of the Code. They state that:

1.1.The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected mind, and,
having duly worshipped him, spoke as follows:

1.2.Deign, divine one, to declare to us precisely and in due order the sacred laws of
each of the (four chief) castes (Varna) and of the intermediate ones.

Not only he gives it his legal sanction; he makes it incumbent upon the King to
uphold the institution:

VII.35. The king has been created (to be) the protector of the castes (varna) and
orders, who, all according to their rank, discharge their several duties.

VIII.24. All castes (Varna) would be corrupted (by intermixture), all barriers would
be broken through, and all men would rage (against each other) in consequence
of mistakes with respect to punishment.

Manu makes breach of Caste a sin and prescribes three different punishments to
one who has become a Patit by loss of caste.

The Dalit People – The Outcast(e)s and Un-

touchables
When the Aryans came into India the indigenous people were not one homogen-
ous group. There were many groups of them living with or without close interac-
tions. The groups that lived were not identified as caste. There were at least ten
groups of the indigenous people in India when the Aryans arrived. “The Kol-Bhil
of Koibhajan (now called Bharat) having ten tribes (viz.Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu,
Anu, Puru, Kuru, Panchala, Bharta, Tritsu and Dasyus11) were living in this coun-
try without any discrimination before the coming of Aryans. The Aryans came
here, applied the policy of ‘divided and rule’, propounded the theory of casteism
and converted all our ten tribes into about 6000 castes and also sowed the seeds
of discrimination among our people”.12 The Dalit community is a casteless com-
munity. Dalitism is castelessness. Since people in India have internalized caste
very much they cannot think of natural groups except as caste. Even Christians
11. The word, though clearly applied to superhuman enemies in many passages of the RG Veda, is in sever-
al others applied to human foes, probably the aborigines, especially in those in which the Dasyu is opposed
to the Arayan who defeats him with the aid of the gods. The great difference between the two is their reli-
gion. The Dasyu are styled “not sacrificing”, “devoid of rites”, “addicted to strange vows”, “god hating”
and so forth. Thomas R. Trautmann, Aryans and British India, p. 208.
12 . Subhas Chandra Musafir, A Section of Educated Dalits have Become Mini-Brahmins, Dalit Voice, July
15-31, 1999, p.22
and Muslims in this country are considered to be different castes in many re-
gions. It is a mistake on the part of the British to have registered the different
communities of the indigenous people as sub castes.

Manu, the Hindu Law-giver has prescribed the following punishment to those
who associate with the Dalits.

XII.60. He who has associated with outcasts, he who has approached the wives
of other men, and he who has stolen the property of a Brahmana become Brah-
marakshasa.

In this life the punishment which a Patit has to undergo was twofold. One was ex-
communication. The nature and character of excommunication prescribed by
Manu has been prescribed by him in the following terms:

XI.181. He who associates with an outcast, himself becomes an outcast after a

year, not by sacrificing for him, teaching him, or forming a matrimonial alliance
with him, but by using the same carriage or seat, or by eating with him.

XI.182. He who associates with any one of those outcasts, must perform, in order
to atone for (such) intercourse, the penance prescribed for that (sinner).

XI.183. The Sapindas and Samanodakas of an outcast must offer (a libation of)
water (to him, as if he were dead), outside (the village), on an inauspicious day,
in the evening and in the presence of the relatives, officiating priests, and teach-
ers.

XI.184. A female slave shall upset with her foot a pot filled with water, as if it were
for a dead person; (his Sapindas) as well as the Samanodakas shall be impure
for a day and a night.

XI.185. But thenceforward it shall be forbidden to converse with him, to sit with
him, to give him a share of the inheritance, and to hold with him such intercourse
as is usual among men.

The other was disinheritance.

IX.201. Eunuchs and outcasts, (persons) born blind or deaf, the insane, idiots
and the dumb, as well as those deficient in any organ (of action or sensation) re-
ceive no share.

XI.186. And (if he be the eldest) his right of primogeniture shall be withheld and
the additional share, due to the eldest son, and in his stead a younger brother,
excelling in virtue, shall obtain the share of the eldest.”13

13 . Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol.5., pp.172-174

 Origin of Untouchability
The popular way of describing how untouchability came into existence is narrated
in the Ramayana. Trishanku who is a native king is brave and good. He was also
a handsome person. Therefore, he wanted to reach heaven (remember this is an
Aryan narration) with the same body. Since Vasishtha, whom he approached for
help advised him against attempting anything like that Trishanku approached the
sons of Vasishtha. Unable to bear his insistence the sons of Vasishtha cursed
him and said, “Be you a chandala”. What is a chandala? Ramayana narrates that
further. The next morning Trishanku woke up a different person altogether, an
untouchable, ugly of form, attired in dirty clothes.

He was driven out of his kingdom and Vishwaamitra takes pity on him and says
“O, king, I have heard of your righteous rule. I offer you refuge; be not afraid. I
will arrange for the sacrifice, which will enable you to enter heaven in your own
body. And in this very chandala form you shall reach heaven despite your Guru’s
curse. Of this you be sure”.14 Vishwaamitra transfers all the powers of his Tapas
to gain entry into heaven for this chandala king, who in his chandala body rose to
heaven. The world saw the power of Vishwaamitra’s Tapas. However, as soon as
Trishanku reached heaven Indra pushed him down saying,” Who are you, enter-
ing heaven with a chandala body? Trishanku fell from heaven, head downwards,
screaming, “O Vishwaamitra! Save me!”.15

The paradigms of Brahminization of the country as well as of identity transforma-

tion for the people of this land are manifest.

·They are not supposed to look good and have a beautiful body. If ever they happen
to have a beautiful complexion then the Aryans will change them into ugly looking
ones through their curse.

·The other side of the paradigm is that the darkish, ugly looking natives have been
cursed by the heavens.

·The native people should never aspire to go to heaven on par with the Aryans. Not
only this land but the next world also belongs to them. The natives belong neither
here nor there. That is why when Trishanku fell from heaven Vishwaamitra stops him
on the way and the chandala king is hanging between heaven and earth.

·If the native kings or their people aspire to reach heaven it is possible only through
the austerities of the Aryans. Only through their power can something be done in the
heavens and with gods. However, even if they manage to reach the heavens they
will not be acceptable to the gods and will be pushed down. The natives can at the

14 . C. Rajagopalachari, Ramayana, Bhavan’s Book University, p. 22

15 . C.Rajagopalachari, op.cit., p.23
most reach a place in between heaven and earth and can remain as the stars in the
sky.

The development of such paradigm of objugation was purported to assure the

complete submission and co-option of the Dalits. One after another the native
kings were either subjugated or were killed and there was a design behind this.
According to Ramayana, one of the core epics of Hinduism, Rama their god des-
troyed 14000 Dalit Ancestors.

Untouchability – Objugating Stratagem

Untouchability and caste are mental construct of a diabolic mind specifically
aimed at taking away all the resources of this land and objugating the people of
this land in return. Brahminism produced innumerable discourses for the estab-
lishment of untouchability as a divine order for the peaceful running of the soci-
ety. Dalits do not believe in untouchability. The core value of Dalitism is inclusive-
ness. Therefore, untouchability is outside the purview of a Dalit worldview. In its
very construction untouchability is negative. To identify a people as untouchables
is the worst thing than can happen to human civilization. Untouchability can be a
punishment in human design of things. How it can form an identity of a people
based on religious doctrine and sanctioned by philosophy and theology is beyond
all human comprehension.

The untouchability that has come to stay as an ascribed identity to the Dalit
people is a mental construct, part of an objugating stratagem. Untouchability is
metaphysical. It belongs to the realm of the mind. In the realm of the mind we
need to see what is the cause and what is the effect. Where does the cause of
untouchability lie? Does it lie with the one who is ascribed untouchability or with
the one who ascribes untouchability? There is only one possible pollution in the
mental realm of the Dalit people according to the Brahminic paradigms. This pol-
lution is the refusal to accept Brahminic gods, religious dogma, customs, rituals
and other practices of Hinduism. If this is the actual cause of the mental pollution
and uncleanness for which untouchability is ascribed then it must be ascribed to
all those who refuse to accept Brahminism as a way of life. However, Hinduism
does not ascribe untouchability to people of other religions. If the cause of un-
touchability is the pollution in the minds other than the rejection of Brahminism
then it can be only acceptance of untouchability as a mental category. The Dalit
mind is not a reception center of the dogma of untouchability. In fact, in the Dalit
mindset there is no space for untouchability. It is a mindset that likes to touch and
be touched. It welcomes all. It provides unlimited space to all people. The Dalit
mindset is the victim of this discourse of pollution and its consequent untouchab-
ility. Untouchability is suffered both in mind and in body. The effect of the dis-
course of purity-impurity and pollution falls on the Dalit community as a whole.
Harijan – Co-opting Stratagem
Another important sub-project of identity transformation as part of the main pro-
jects of Brahminization is the identity of Harijan that is given to the Dalit Com-
munities. By excluding the Dalit communities from the caste system Brahminism
has virtually closed its doors from the Dalits. The original intention was to exclude
the Dalits from its peripheries. But then, when the protests against this evil sys-
tem were mounting, especially through the emergence and spread of Buddhism
the Brahminic forces began to sit up and think back. There was immediate
counter strategization for keeping its fold intact. The technology of co-option was
unleashed. Buddha has been declared as another incarnation within the Hindu
pantheon. The modern avatars of this Brahminic ploy have let the doors of reser-
vation open to those who convert themselves to Buddhism while closing them to
those who convert themselves to other religions. Having succeeded in co-opting
Buddhism, Brahminism does not see any resistance to its hegemony.

In recent times however, Dalit communities have begun to assert themselves as

the indigenous people of this land and have started exposing the cozenage of
Brahminism. Counter discourses have been developed to effectively arrest the
onslaught of Brahminism as a hegemonic rallying point. The neo-Brahminic
forces understood this impending danger to their hegemony and they started
their stratagem not to let the Dalit people off their hook. By hook and crook they
want to have the Dalit communities in eternal bondage. The sub-project of the
modern era started sometime in 1920 with one Narsi Mehta of Gujarat who called
the Dalit people as Harijans. The reason for his choice of this name is a reflection
of the mental corruption that has set in the Hindu culture. It was invented as a
term of abuse. Brahminism has succeeded in legitimizing prostitution by taking it
into the temple through the Devadasi system. Devadasis are generally Dalit wo-
men. When the question of representation and identification came up for discus-
sion during the British regime the Dalit people had to be given an identity. It was
the suggestion of this Mehta to identify the Dalit people as Harijan. Jan means
people. Hari is one of the Trinity of Brahminism. Harijan means the people of
god. It is a high sounding word. But the real meaning is different from what it
sounds like. His meaning is that the Dalit children are born out of temple prostitu-
tion, the Devadasi system. They do not know the name of their fathers. Nor will
the mothers be able to remember the name of the true father as many Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and others prostitute the Dalit women in the vicinity of the
temple. Since the Dalit children are born out of the sexual act that takes place in
the temple and since they do not know to which caste they belong and since they
do not have a caste they must be called the children of god, Hari Jan, Harijan. It
was in this highly derisive meaning that this name was given to the Dalit people.
It was an attempt to rub salt into an injury.
Double Speak of Gandhi
Later, in the political struggle M K Gandhi needed to keep the Dalit leaders and
Dalit communities with him for support and solidarity. If the Muslims had to be
taught a lesson the Dalit communities had to be prevented from joining forces
with them. There was all the possibility they would join the Muslims. The techno-
logy of co-option had to be further sharpened to keep the Dalit communities with-
in the Hindu fold. During the communal award dialogue his own fear was that the
“untouchable hooligans will make a common cause with Muslim hooligans and
kill caste Hindus”.16 He also made the following plea in one of the meetings, ”I am
here today to ask for a reprieve for my caste Hindu Brethren”. 17 Gandhi put up a
show that he was a champion of the Dalit people and shed crocodile tears on
their behalf. Though a Baniya by caste, he was Brahminic through and through in
that he had something in his mind and spoke something else to people. He gave
the name HARIJAN to the Dalit people once again and made it stick on them with
the stamp of his appropriated authority and his apparent sympathy towards the
untouchable people.

Labor and Communication

According to Habermas, labor and interaction are the two basic process of social
synthesis.18 The Brahminic society denies precisely these two things to the Dal-
its. While allowing labor to the Dalits it denigrates the same by attaching it to
caste and not allowing mobility of labor. While it sticks some labor to some castes
it removes the price label of the same labor and replaces the same with caste la-
bel. By labeling labor through caste it makes it a free labor. Through the caste
system it has effectively prevented interaction. Babasaheb points out that in the
Hindu cultural milieu there are no common actions, there are only parallel ac-
tions. Hinduism kills public spirit. The Brahminic society prevents existence in
communication. “There is an utter lack among the Hindus of what sociologists
call ‘consciousness of kind’. There is no Hindu consciousness of kind. In every
Hindu the consciousness that exists is the consciousness of his caste. That is the
reason why the Hindus cannot be said to form a society or a nation. There are
however many Indian whose patriotism does not permit them to admit that Indi-
ans are not a nation, that they are only an amorphous mass of people. They
have insisted that underlying the apparent diversity there is a fundamental unity
which marks the life of the Hindus in as much as there is a similarity of habits and
customs, beliefs and thoughts which obtain all over the continent of India. Simil-
arity in habits and customs, beliefs and thoughts there is. But one cannot accept
the conclusion that therefore, the Hindus constitute one society. To do so is to
16 . Quoted from M.Desai 1953, by G.Aloysius, Nationalism without a Nation in India, 1998, p.184
17 . Quoted from Pyarelal 1932, by G. Aloysius, ibid,p.184
18. Political Discourse, Explorations in Indian and Western Political Thought, Ed. by Bikhu Parekh and
Thomas Pantham, p. 182
misunderstand the essentials which go to make up a society”. (Babasaheb
Ambedkar). Therefore, as long as Brahminism survives social synthesis is im-
possible in Indian politics. As long as Brahminism and Casteism thrive social dis-
integration will be increasing.

Habermas believes that a normative order can act as a harbinger of peace in any
social revolution. Even if there are different communities a Normative Order can
bring peace in a revolutionary and in an evolutionary context. However, when
normative order is further consolidated through normative prescriptions there will
be a real danger. Normative prescriptions, only in as much as they are confined
within the ambience of the life world action of a community can be the vanguard
of peace. When there is a differential application of the normative prescription,
namely, one set of prescription for one community and another set of prescription
for another community then it becomes an external disturbance for the com-
munity. This is the way the Brahminic normative order and normative prescrip-
tions have functioned in the society for millennia. They continue to do the same
even in the post colonial Indian society. As long as the Hindutva, Brahminic
forces continue to apply this differential normative order and prescriptions to dif-
ferent castes and communities in India, as long as they strive to bulldoze the
identities of people with a single Hindutva identity there will be no peace. The re-
sponsibility for promoting and preserving peace lies at the very doorstep of those
who point an accusing finger at the oppressed people as the destroyers of
peace. What underlies this accusation is the veiled threat that if the Dalit people
and the minorities do not tread the path laid out by the dominant forces they will
be taught a lesson. No one can expect lasting peace in a context of such veiled
‘invitation’ to subjugate oneself.

Untouchability - Tool of Violations

In India, as in many other countries of South Asia, the violations of right to life
and dignity assume barbaric dimensions in the caste system. The State in India
is not only an active conniver with economic forces of exploitation but has an
identity with that part of the civil society which assiduously seeks to maintain
caste hegemony it has established over the indigenous people and women. Un-
touchability is the demon that acts as the agent of caste system. While the viola-
tions of Human Rights in many other countries assume an individual dimension,
in India, which is governed by a ruling caste, it is a whole people who are denied
their rights. Though legal rights are enshrined in the Constitution of India, civil
rights are constantly being violated through the collaboration of the State ma-
chinery.

Roots of Untouchability
 If the forces of Globalization have succeeded in disintegrating the local people
socio-economically and culturally, Casteism did it long ago and is continuing to
make the Dalit people the worst victims of its hegemony. If globalization with its
ideological roots in capitalism has created a class of people who are subjugated
and makes them to struggle for survival Casteism with its ideological roots in
Brahminism did it much earlier and created untouchability in its worst inhuman
forms. It objugated the indigenous people to such an extent that even after three
millennia it takes pride and legitimizes, through multifarious discourses, the es-
tablishment and sustenance of such a social organization. Therefore, we may ar-
rive at a position that the sources of violations of Human Rights in India are reli-
gion, caste and the economic system.

Prevalence of Untouchability Today

A common discourse that is produced and dispersed with an evangelical zeal is
that caste discrimination is a thing of the past and that all stories of caste atrocit-
ies are concocted. It must be stated here that such a discourse is in fact fabric-
ated as a self-defense. The reality of India as reflected even in the caste domin-
ated media is that caste discrimination, and the ‘terrorist’ practices attached to it
continue even today in as crude forms as it used to exist centuries ago.

∙The latest in the series of caste killings is the one in Kurnool District of Andhra Pra-
desh. The Nation-State is an active collaborator in perpetuating such heinous crimes
against the Dalit people in different parts of the country.
“Nonetheless, the police would not bestir themselves. The minions of law
∙An example
and order, rumor
of such had it,
a state ofeven partook
affairs is the of the sweets
cleansing distributed
of the chamberby ofthe
B Prasad, a
tycoons’ men as soon as Guha Niyogi’s murder was an accomplished
Dalit, and Additional District Judge in the Allahahabad High Court with water fact.from
It was a most curious spectacle. The identity of those who actually shot
Ganga by Ashok Kumar Srivatsava who took over from the Dalit Judge.
him through the window of his bedroom and those who financed them-was
no secret; some of them bragged openly about what they had done. The
If such
police a however
thing could take
would notplace
even in the places
register where justice
first information is expected to be
reports.....The
metedprosecution of the case, it is obvious from the observations ofareas
out to the Dalit people, one can easily imagine other where the
the judges,
Statewas is most
involved. The done
shoddily matter went
and the upped
evidencetheadduced
Parliament
hadfor discussion
wide gaps; theand was
given a ceremonial
Government, burial after
it seemed some
could ritualistic
not care protest. the guilty ones were
less whether
brought to justice or not”.19
All the accused in the Karemchedu murder case of Dalits in Andhra Pradesh,
were acquitted recently for lack of evidence. Compare this with the case of
Shankar Guha Niyogi whose murderers were also let free for lack of evidence.
The State, which has to file, the case in all such events makes a weak case to be
presented to the court with intended loopholes so that in the course of time the
dominant powers could get away scot-free.
The recent atrocity on the Dalit settlement in Kodaikanal by the State machinery
because the Dalits decided to boycott the elections is representative of the way
the State represses democratic dissension of the Dalit people.

Untouchability - Operating Forces

Add to this also the caste bias of some judges as evident from the ‘Ganga
cleansing’. This is not a case in isolation to be dismissed as an aberration.
Speaking of the Supreme Court of India, R K Garg writes: “The citizen is often
shocked; why did the Supreme Court lean in favor of vested interest? The reason
is simple. Laws are enacted to recognize or to create old and new rights. These
rights become vested rights defended by vested interest. The Courts are there to
enforce these rights. By habit, training, and equipment, judges get used to paying
an awesome respect for vested rights, which are the bedrock of the legal frame-
work given to them for administering justice”.19

Referring to the Shiva Sena and Hindutva forces that represent the dominant
side of the contemporary nationalistic discourses, Jyothi Basu has remarked re-
cently that they are barbarians. This is not an individual opinion. A more scientific
exposition of such a statement comes from Ashok Mitra: “The Shiv Sena Maestro
is joyously ensconced in the knowledge that he is above the law, the government
at the Center is frozen by the fear of him, the government nominally in charge of
the administration in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra is in any case under the
thumb of the Shiv Sena boss. A no-nonsense applied philosophy has assumed
center stage. Much in the style of the Austrian ex-corporal in the closing days of
the tottering Hindenburg regime, the Shiv Sena chief is spreading the legend that
law is what he says it ought to be and order is to let loose his bandicoots on who-
soever he does not approve of. It is pointless for the Amnesty International to tell
us any further about the nitty-gritty of human rights. A government exists at the
Center, State governments at one level down the echelon, it does not matter
though, India has already attained a state of total lawlessness”. 20 The case of the
Shiv Sena chief is taken here as an exemplification of the dominant caste rot that
has set into all veins of life in India.
19 . Professor D.N.Sandanshiv, Human Rights and the Primacy of the Constitution’s Directive Principles,
Untouchable! Ed. by Barbara R Joshi, pp.130-131
20 . Ashok Mitra, Guilty Must be Punished, Deccan Herald
That untouchability has not been removed in a country, which boasts of a high
level spirituality is an indication of the sham that runs through the live veins of the
ruling caste oligarchy. While speaking of the imperialism of the West is in place
what about the imperialism of Bharat over a large section of the people from
whom it inherited this land? For the Dalit people the immediate enemy is Brah-
minic imperialism. Shouting about Western cultural invasion from rooftops does
not make much sense to the Dalit people because they experience the hegemon-
ising shenanigans of the dominant caste forces day in and day out in their lives.
Public memory is short and therefore, it may be well to remind us of the State-
ment of Ashok Singhal about the present President of India who said that Mr K R
Narayanan does not know the culture and history of India. Is it a sheer accident
that not a single Dalit has been appointed in the last 30 years in ICHR?

The Extent of Untouchability

Some forward the argument that the recent increase in the atrocities on Dalits is
an indication of a higher level of awareness among the Dalit communities about
themselves. It is only now that these atrocities are being reported. There is truth
in this viewpoint. However, it must be stated firmly that the atrocities on Dalit
people, as on women, have been there for centuries. With the rising Dalit aware-
ness of their identity and rights, these atrocities have been increasing recently
with a qualitative difference. These are now carried out systemically and structur-
ally.

The decade of development during Indira Gandhi’s regime registered more than
40,000 cases of atrocity against the Dalits. According to a recent report in the
Deccan Herald of 29 July 1998, Mrs. Maneka Gandhi made gave the following
details to the Parliament. “Despite the Constitutional mandate, untouchability is pre-
valent in 12 States - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pra-
desh, Maharashtra,
a) WheneverOrissa,
the Rajasthan, Tamilnadu,
Dalit people Uttar cultural
assert their Pradesh rights
and Pondichery”.
and The
report further
refusestates that it the
to accept is prevalent in a mild
hegemony form in sixcastes.
of dominant States and
TheUnion Ter-
ritories,Tsundur
Jammu and Kashmir,
atrocity Punjab,
in Andhra Haryana,
Pradesh and Himachal
the one inPradesh,
BadanavaluGoa and Del-
hi. The ofrest of the States
Karnataka where,
are just accordingfrom
two examples to the
the government
South. untouchability is
not practiced are the North Eastern States and West Bengal. Therefore, we may
conclude b) that the Government
Whenever has accepted
the Dalit people the prevalence
assert their economic of untouchability
rights by in
the whole of India.
laying a claim to natural resources, especially to land. The
Soolanayakanahalli atrocity in Tumkur District and the recent
one in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh are large-scale
Untouchability
atrocities that remain- Causal Factors
fresh in our memory. Today
The whole Dalit
community in a village has to pay a heavy price for a land
It is notdispute
only thebetween
number individuals.
of atrocities but also the type and the reasons that
count. We may identify three major causes for the increasing atrocity on Dalits.
c) Whenever the Dalit people assert their political rights by
courageously taking recourse to the provisions in the
Constitution and independently participate in the legal system
of the country.
 The killing of Shri Krishnaiah in Bihar by the Rajputs needs a special attention.
He was the District Magistrate, a Dalit from Andhra Pradesh, of the Indian Admin-
istrative Service and was murdered in broad day light by the Rajputs(reported to
be Anand Mohan and his wife Lovely Anand). The Rajput community of Patna
later celebrated the courage of the murderers and Anand Mohan is today a mem-
ber of the Parliament. The broad day light killing of Thiru Murugesan of Melava-
lavu village in Madurai district of Tamilnadu elected as the President of the pan-
chayat is just a replica of the umpteen number of such cases all over the country.

Untouchability - Increase in Evidences

We may note the following as some examples of the atrocities on the Dalit
people in the Independent India.

∙1. 61 people were killed while sleeping, most of them Dalits, in Laxmanpur Bathe of
Bihar on 01 December 1997 by the Ranvir Sena. Those killed included 27 women-8
of them pregnant- and 17 children.21

∙2.Anita(30) of Randevi village, under the Nakud police station was stripped, her
face blackened in front of the panchayat and her bottom thrashed with shoes for
naming two of her Jat neighbors in a case of theft at her house.22

21 . Liberation, January 1998

22 . Usha Rai, Hindustan Times, 18 September 1997
∙3.A Lucknow police sub-inspector forcibly took a Dalit woman to a private guest-
house to entertain his guests and the woman was later repeatedly raped by the
group, even as a constable stood watch.23

∙4. Chandavva who was sleeping with her 14-day-old baby was attacked and thrown
out. An irate mob set fire to the huts with kerosene. The life long earnings, food
grains went up in flames in from of their eyes. They were on the streets with clothes
they were wearing.

This was the common scene in the Dalit localities of Halepet, Buddhanagar and
Diggi Agasi of Shahadpur town, which witnessed unprecedented and extensive
anti Dalit riots on August 19, 1997. The sub-castes of Dalits, Holeyas and Madhi-
gas were targeted by the furious non-Dalit mob.24

∙5. In 1977 in the State of Uttar Pradesh alone 92,000 Dalits were deprived of their
allotted land and there is no record of how many of them were killed.25

Untouchability - Forms of Practice and Penalties

The type of reign of terror that is perpetrated on the Dalit people gives generally
the picture of the forces that boasts of a superior culture but is truly in need of
civilization. For those who live in the cities blissfully unaware of what is happen-
ing to millions of their fellow beings around the country the following may be
shocking. It is important to remember that we are speaking of things that are tak-
ing place in 1998 and we are only one year and a half away from the 21st cen-
tury.

∙The Dalit people are served coffee and tea in hotels in separate glasses, which they
themselves have to wash. They have to stand outside the hotel and sip their coffee.

∙They are not allowed entry into places of worship. In many places the Dalit masons
construct the temple but as soon as it is dedicated the Dalit people become untouch-
able.

∙In village festivals they will be served meals separately only after everyone else has
finished and only the leftovers will be served to them.

∙The Dalit people are not allowed to draw even drinking water from tube wells of the
government in the dominant caste streets.

23 . Pioneer, 3 September 1997

24 . Indian Express, 28 August 1997
25 . Untouchable, Ed.by Barbara R. Joshi, p. 119
∙The Dalit people are also forced to perform conventional caste ‘jobs’ free of cost.
Such duties include announcing the death of dominant caste person to relatives of
the person wherever they may live; digging graves; removing dead animals; beating
drums during funeral processions and village festivals; free labor during village fest-
ival etc.

∙Any dissension on the above said matters will immediately be met with a thorough
beating up of the Dalit people in order to teach them a lesson. When that fails there
follows a social boycott of the Dalits, which practically is an economic boycott. In the
event of a boycott the Dalits will not be allowed to walk through the main streets of
the village, will not be given any provision in the shops, will have no entry into the
flour mill to grind their grain. Dalit women will not be allowed into the fields at dusk to
ease themselves, will not be given any work in the fields till the Dalits agree to the
terms and conditions of the dominant caste people. If anyone gives the Dalit people
job in his field he/she will have to pay a fine.

Sites of Violations
These sites of violations of rights are common to both the forces of Globalization
and that of Brahminization.

∙Male Domination - Objugation of Women

∙Domination over Nature, Ecology

∙Assertion of Religious Superiority, assertion of one caste as supreme - caste first;

assertion of the individual as supreme - individual first

∙Assertion of cultural superiority and paradigms of universalism.

∙Based on religion - for Normative order, normative standards and normative pre-
scriptions

∙Religion for you poor (heaven in the next world) - wealth, power and status for us
(in this world)

∙Purity-Impurity; Superior-Inferior; Heaven-Hell; This world-Next world; Earth-Heav-

en; Body-Spirit; Rationality-Emotion dichotomies

∙Cultural Unity - Cultural Diversity (Diverse Groups are enemies)

∙Criminalisation of objugated people

∙Claim to absolute truth, ownership of Truth, their science is more truthful, Universal
science Vs Perspectivism

∙Civilization - Barbarism discourse

∙One Nation, One people, One culture, One language, One religion discourse

∙Privatization, Liberalization, Democracy - the economic agenda of both

∙One is to judge-the other is to be judged, not worthy of ruling

Alternative

The Organization REDS in Tumkur District of Karnataka in Southern India, who is

a meaningful partner of ICCO has evolved many alternatives not only for its work
but for the whole Dalit community in India. To this extent More than ten books
have been produced, some of them are voluminous on the Dalit people. The
Strategy of Dalitization visualizes not only a different India but a different world
when governance goes into the hands of Dalit and other indigenous women of
the world.

Dalitization

The type of transformation that is visualized and desired by the Dalit people is
called Dalitization. This is not going to be a single stroke event. Many projects of
Dalitization are evolved in this recent history of Dalit resurgence. The ultimate
goal of the projects of Dalitization is to make all indigenous people of the earth to
walk towards an unbroken future. In the course of the transformation of civiliza-
tion many more projects will emerge. For the time being the following projects of
Dalitization may be made the best use of.

1.The Project of Opening Horizons

This project refers to the strenuous endeavor that needs to be made by all indi-
genous people to establish the cosmic people in the path of native wisdom that
will have strong foundation in the ripple impact of the cell systems. Wisdom can-
not be commercialized in the cosmic order of governance. Wisdom belongs to all
people in the way their cell systems are equipped to hold it and nurture it. Know-
ledge systems of the world will be completely open to all people of the earth and
will be made available to all. There will not be a privileged class of intellectuals
who will have ownership over knowledge systems. It will be the responsibility of
the United Supreme Council of Communities to make sure of access to systems
and structures of knowledge. There will not be any selective distribution of know-
ledge and information as prevailing in contemporary world systems. Knowledge
is for all people of the earth. Preferential treatment will be given to women and in-
digenous people of all nations in order to rectify the historical denial that has
been done to them vis-à-vis education and learning. In the project of Dalitization
all financial allocations will be made to make knowledge and information avail-
able to all people, especially to those who have been denied access to know-
ledge and information historically. This process of opening up horizons will take
into serious consideration the historical injustice that was done to groups of indi-
genous people in the denial of access to knowledge and information.

Community Education will be an essential ingredient of the development of wis-

dom in this project of Dalitization. Community education will be an effective
strategy of striking a hitherto non-existent congruence between emotive and cog-
nitive order in the society at large as well as in the learning individual. All com-
munities of people will have absolute freedom to educate the children of their
communities in their history and culture. The State will have no deterministic role
as to what should be taught and what should not be taught in the communities of
people. However, the State will ensure that no dominance will come into any ef-
fective play in the Mechanisms and Instruments of National governance.

2.The Project of Land Recovery

Communities of people belonging to the dominant order have till now treacher-
ously expropriated the land of the indigenous people through multifarious
shenanigans. One may be reminded of what Bishop Desmond Tutu has said of
the White people. He said that when the White people went to Africa a few cen-
turies ago they had their Bible in their hands and the Black people had their land
with them. After the While rule in the Black country, today the Black people have
the Bible of the Whites in their hands and the White people have the land of the
Blacks in their hands. It is easy to make a statement like this. Who will give back
the land to the Black people? The same type of betrayal has taken place in all
parts of the world. The worst of it has been done to the Dalit people. Land
grabbing by the dominant caste people through illegal means continues un-
abated till today. Land is a significant location of drawing life and energy for the
indigenous people. This is also the key locale of violation of many rights of the
Dalit people. In order not to give back the stolen land at all dominant order has
enacted many strict laws of private ownership of land. In post modernist capital-
istic form of governance the economic forces have free access to all land of indi-
genous people through governments. This project does not visualize deprivation
of land for the rich. However, there must be a sustainable level of land for all indi-
genous families of all nations. To that extent the United Supreme Council of Na-
tions will ensure that those who have amassed unreasonable extent of land as
personal property will have to give up some of it. Land will be taken from those
who have excess only in as much as it is required for the sustainability of all
people. There will be no attempt to strike uniformity among the people in terms of
possession of the extent of land. There can be many variants in land ownership.
However, all people of the earth must have land. Such a re-distribution of land to
all indigenous people will not be the responsibility of national governments but
will be that of the United Supreme Council of Nations.
3.The Project of Wisdom March

Dalit people have been characterized as a people who do not have the capacity
to think deep. This ascription has come after banning education and the possibil-
ity of learning. However, now it is evident that given a chance Dalit people can
even overcome any hurdle and prove their mettle in the field of philosophy. The
many volumes of Babasaheb Ambedkar bear ample evidence to the existence of
a discipline School of Philosophy among the Dalit people. He is our star. No
doubt! But he has risen from us. He did not descend from above. He is not the
only one. There are thousands of others throughout history. Starting from the
mythical Valmiki who is an untouchable and wrote the Ramayana Epic for the
Brahmins one can enlist huge volumes of names of Dalits who have produced
thesis after thesis. Vyasa who wrote the Mahabharata is a Shudra Intellectual.
When Brahminism needed someone to write the Constitution of post-British India
they chose the untouchable Ambedkar. This book is a humble attempt by a Dalit
along with many thousands of Dalit ancestors, as well as contemporary Dalit
writers.

In this Project of Wisdom Recovery the specificity of all indigenous systems of

knowledge will be given equal status. Wisdom can only be different according to
cultural specificities. There can be no universal wisdom worth its name. Wisdom
becomes wiser only when multiplicity is recognized. When wisdom is imprisoned
in the narrow confinement dominant groups it becomes very unwise. Therefore,
‘universal truth’ and ‘only truth’ will have no legitimacy within the Project of Dalit-
ization. Many truths and multiple ways will be the order of the Projects of Dalitiz-
ation.

The specific nature of this Project is the formal recognition that will be accorded
to all indigenous systems of knowledge irrespective of whether they are written
down in black and white or not. All value systems that are alive within living com-
munities, even if they are not written down, even if they are not brought under the
highly sophisticated abstract levels of logical discourses will be recognized as
Schools of Philosophy under this Project. Financial allocations will be made to
enable intellectuals emerging from indigenous communities to put down in writing
whatever wisdom lives in communities of people with their own cultural manifest-
ations and symbols.

4.The Project of Cultural Resurgence

Dalit culture is unique and specific. It is one of the world cultures that still keep
alive the innateness of a community and lives by its worldview and value systems
derived from this innateness. Unfortunately though, it has lost many of its mani-
festations and symbols to Brahminism. It is now in the danger of losing all its
symbols and live by a subverted culture. The many values which have made the
Dalit community survive the unrepentant assault on its dignity and life are much
alive in the community of Dalit people. Dalit immanence has a strong value fun-
dament. This immanence is what existed when the Aryan race rose to rule this
region. It marked the arrival of a transcendence that is the handiwork of an order
that was hell-bent on heaping indignity on the natives of this country. However, it
is not enough to have the values deep inside the community. The Dalit values
must come alive with surging enthusiasm and get integrated into the Mechan-
isms and Instruments of National Governance and guide the destiny of this na-
tion.

In this Project of Dalitization conscious and concerted efforts will be taken to in-
tegrate Dalit culture as an essential and inseparable part of Indian culture. Dalit
culture is the progenitor as well as the precursor of all that can be termed as Indi-
an culture today. However, it will not be an attempt to claim Dalit culture as the
only culture of India. There are many other cultures in this country. Dalit culture
generously recognizes the space that belongs to all such legitimate cultures that
are drawn from the history of this region. Therefore, In this Project of Dalitization
there will be a legitimate space for multiple cultures. If this cultural paradigm is
recognized and received well there is no question of a universal culture that per-
tains to India. In a vast country like India which is a multiplicity of nations it will be
a contradiction to mark anything as Indian culture. There are specific cultures
and this Project will recognize the legitimacy of all specific cultures.

Appropriate financial allocations will be made for researching on the specific di-
mensions of Dalit culture and the way other groups and castes have appropriated
the specificity of Dalit culture. Based on such researches concerted attempts will
be made to extricate Dalit culture from the clutches of dominant cultures and re-
juvenate the same to become essential part of Indian culture. This way India will
be liberated from much of its hegemonic traditions and dominant order.

This Project will be in line with all that is explicated in the section on Culture.

5.The Project of Transforming Civilization

When history of India is written in this country it is a history of the victory of dom-
inance over the indigenous people of the earth, the Dalit people. Dalit history is
never given the recognition that it should rightly have. Much of Dalit history also
lays buried in the mythical and puranic history of Brahminism. They have been
given a quiet burial by the dominant forces of India. They need to be resurrected
from the dilapidated rubbles. It is time the world knew of the history of Dalit resili-
ence, of the history of Dalit inclusiveness, of the history of Dalit protest, of the
history of Dalit labor, of the history of internal governance by Dalit women etc. It
is also of paramount importance that Dalit people themselves knew of their rich
history and be proud of it. Many historical truths lie hidden in indigenous com-
munities of people. If they are not brought out into the open they will never see
the light of day any time. The oral traditions of the indigenous people need to be
written down and handed over to future generations not only of their communities
but also for the entire world.

Obviously history and culture go hand in hand. Therefore, in this Project of Dalit-
ization all humanly possible attempts will be made to re-establish the history of
this country but giving due recognition to Dalit history and Dalit pre-history. Com-
parative studies will be made with histories of other indigenous people of the
world so that by drawing a common line in the pre-history it will be possible to re-
cognize the mechanisms that led to the objugation of the Dalit and other indigen-
ous peoples of the world. By rewriting the history of the Dalit and other indigen-
ous peoples of the world it will be possible bring back their glorious past into the
present so that the future of the world may be freed of the utterly hopeless hege-
monic order that is gripping the world today. This Project thus will lay the first
possible steps for the slow but sure transformation of civilization. In the cyclic
process of the cosmic movement and change transformation of civilization is a
must and it can start from the Dalit lessons that humanity can learn from Dalit
history. This Project of Dalitization will offer some of the best possible options be-
fore the world to survive, sustain and celebrate life by being an essential part of
the cosmic order.

Appropriate financial provisions will be made without fear or favor to re-write the
inclusive history of India, which is the main face of Dalit history. Textbooks and
history books will be revisited in this Project so that all people will take pride in
owning a history of their own. In the cosmic order, histories of other people be-
come crucial locations of learning wisdom and not feeling low or high in compar-
ison to others.

6.The Project of Dalit Religion

The project of History Recovery should take one naturally to the question of Dalit
religion as this has been lost in the mangles of history. So bad is the effect of
Brahminic domination in India that many Dalit people and intellectuals are reluct-
ant to acknowledge that there was a Dalit religion among its people. Many left
oriented intellectuals without much ripple impact similar to that of the Dalit bodies
question the integrity of the revival of a religion for the Dalit people. Such intellec-
tuals sit firmly saddled in the hegemonic foundations of their own religions and
question the need for a religion for the Dalit people. Even if one takes the Marxi-
an tool of social analysis religion becomes a must for the oppressed people. Ac-
cording to Marxian tool of social analysis religion is the meaning system in the
dominant systems of governance. But as a meaning system, religion can also
provide a liberation meaning. Dalit religion does not homogenize the Dalit people.
There are many groups of Dalits in different parts of India. The Ravidasis have
their own religion. The Valmikis have their own. The Adi Dharmis have their own.
A Dalit religion is proposed to those Dalit who seek a religious path for their liber-
ation but mistakenly embrace one or other of the dominant religions. Ultimately
they oscillate a dominant religion and their historico-cultural identities and lin-
eages. Whatever may be the name one gives to the Dalit religion two basic ten-
ets of Dalit religion are taken from their deep historical and cultural roots. These
are: a) Worship of Earth as Mother b) Worship of Ancestors. These two become
the pivotal points of convergence of the Dalit communities whatever differences
they may have among themselves.

The strategy of setting aside religion for the personal realms is derived from the
incompetent communication of the hegemonic order. Religion has never been
‘personal’ exclusively. Religion has always been of the community and is also
now despite the development of pretentious discourses to the contrary. That reli-
gion has a vital role in the governance of the world even today can never be dis-
puted by those who are in the world of competent communication. That religion is
the foundation of many economic strategies and activities and that religious has
given leadership to the evolution of economic systems can never be denied by
those who are within the purview of competent communication. After having es-
tablished absolute dominance over the indigenous peoples of the world through
religion the hegemonic order seeks now to dispel religion to personal realms. The
subconscious insecurity is that with the same Instrumentality the subjugated
people can now become equals and take a substantial portion of the resources of
the cosmos for their use. In the deepest recesses of their cell systems the bodies
of organic beings belonging to the hegemonic order know that the same meaning
system that is called religion can become as much liberative as it was domineer-
ing.

Dalit religion is a public affair. Dalit religion is politics, is economic and social and
all comprehending at the same time. In the Project of Dalit Religion it is a mean-
ing system that will revolutionize the ripple impact in the cell systems of the op-
pressed people and bring about a hitherto unknown transformation in the order of
the human world. This transformed human order will be fine-tuned to slip into the
cosmic order.

7.The Project of Internal Governance

The cumulative consequence of more than three thousand years of unmitigated

oppression and exploitation of the Dalit people boils down to just one fundament-
al denial. This is the denial of the right to govern themselves as a community of
people. Much of the recognized violations of the rights of Dalit people could have
been easily prevented or would not have taken place at all if the Dalit people
were able to govern themselves as a community of people. This is the success of
the Brahminic order that while not allowing the Dalit people to govern themselves
it has allowed them to be plucked away by other dominant religions. Today the
Dalit people are governed by the normative order of Brahminism and not by their
own internal normative order handed over to them from their ancestors. However,
a normative standard and a normative order are still very much alive within the
community though the courage to bring them out into the open is much in want.
Just as all other communities of people the Dalit people must have a formal order
by which they will be able to ordain their lives drawing strength from the ripple im-
pact in the cell systems of their bodies.

This Project of Dalitization can very easily be misinterpreted by vested interests

as a claim to separatism. This Project does not mean to stake any claim to sep-
aratism in the context of the modern Nation-State. However, this Project of Dalit-
ization is a very clear assertion of the right of the Dalit people to have their spe-
cificity. It is ironical that the modern world of enlightenment that attaches an un-
questionable integrity to individualism feels so insecure of the Dalit people’s legit-
imate right to have an internal system of governing themselves. It is not that this
is a new thing. It is there very much in the community. However, the dominant
groups of the hegemonic order have not allowed the Dalit people to evolve the
same in a formal way as that would spell a sure death to dominant caste hold
over the land, labour and dignity of the Dalit people.

This project of Dalitization seeks to integrate the Dalit people into the national life
of the country. However, it refuses to let the Dalit people to become part of the
nation in the same way that the dominant caste society desires. The dominant
caste society seeks to integrate the Dalit people into national life in their subjug-
ated existence so that the present status quo of graded inequality may continue
without being challenged and changed. This Project argues that this is not good
for the nation to integrate the Dalit people as a subjugated nation. It will prove to
be a weak link in the chain of international relationships. The Dalit people should
be integrated the life of the nation as owners of the nation and not as its slaves.
Apart from what it means to the nation the Dalit community all over India does
not compromise on this question of liberty and equality. Therefore, in the argu-
mentative position of negotiable and non-negotiable the issue of internal gov-
ernance becomes non-negotiable.

This internal governance of Dalit liberation will be realized through the establish-
ment of Dalit Panchayat. In this Project of Dalitization, Dalit Panchyats become a
key component. All Government policies and decisions for Dalit development will
have to pass through the sanctioning authority of the Dalit Panchayats all over
the country. The concept and strategy of Dalit Panchayat is explicated in Dalito-
logy written by the same author.

8.The Project of Don’t Touchability

This project refers to a strong assertion of the Dalit community to protect their
women from the aggressive and often violent advances of dominant caste
people. It also refers to a self protective mechanism drawn from the innate
strength of the community against the barbaric atrocities of the dominant caste
people. This will be a natural consequence to the project of internal governance.
When internal governance is ensured and enhanced there will be very little
chance for dominant orders to play havoc with the dignity of resilient Dalits.

In this Project of Dalitization it is visualized that the Dalit people will be assisted
by the United Supreme Council of People to defend themselves against any sort
of aggression and assault by residual and compulsive dominant forces. The Su-
preme Council will allocate required funds for the training and capacitation of in-
digenous and Dalit women to protect themselves and to protect other people of
their values in society.

9.The Project of National Governance

Basing themselves on the strength gained through internal governance the Dalit
people begin their march to participate in national governance as a community of
people capable of guiding the destiny of the nation to new realms. Dalit com-
munities do not believe in national integration that believes that they should be
integrated into the mainstream as they are, a subjugated people. For the Dalit
people participation in national governance is their power. The bipolarity of power
as dominance and power as resistance will now become a tri-polarity with the ad-
dition power as participation. With the strength of the number they have Dalit
people will become a political force to reckon with if they have internal gov-
ernance as a community. Then will this country be redeemed with the inclusive
values of governance drawn from the history and culture of the Dalit people. Gov-
ernance according to the Dalit order will usher in a new era of politics and politic-
al governance.

This project of Dalitization seeks to establish a national political party of the Dalit
people which will sustain itself from the strength of the Dalit people themselves.
Pat experiences have proved beyond doubt that the power to govern gained
through an alliance with others does not have the strength to sustain itself in the
long run on the terms and conditions of the Dalit communities. This is because a
community that does not have the strength to govern itself can never hope to
sustain a power to govern the nation in its hands. It is a very simple logic. Yet the
compulsive desire for the enjoyment of political power drives many in Dalit lead-
ership for a blind pursuit of short term political power. This Project will declare a
moratorium on fragmented formation of political parties. It will declare a moratori-
um for gaining political power in the hands of Dalits until the time when the com-
munity has the cultural, historical and spiritual strength to govern itself on its own
and thus will be in a sure position to hold on to the political gains that will accrue
to it over a period of many decades. Then will the floodgates of participation in
national governance will be let open.

By the sheer strength of its number the political strength that is thus gained will
be unassailable by dominant forces.
 10.The Project of Primacy of Dalit Women

It is with a strategic focus that this project of the Primacy of Dalit Women is
brought at the end so that it may remain imprinted in the cell systems of the read-
ers. This is the core project in Dalitization. Dalit community is still governed to a
large extent by its women in the families. Dalit men may put up a façade of hav-
ing authority and power. But Dalits know how much of governance women have
taken into their hands in running the family. However, there is a general realiza-
tion that this governance by women has been revived much too late. Having lost
many heritages of history and culture, land and dignity Dalit women are the ones
who are still providing survival and a semblance of dignity to the Dalit communit-
ies. Governance by women is the ancient tradition and culture of the Dalit people.
All that is said about future governance of India and of the world is possible only
when authority and power for governance are transferred to Dalit women. This
may sound a bit far fetched. But that is going to be the future hope of the world.
For Dalit women power and authority are two names for responsibility to distrib-
ute material and spiritual values. The world must give it a try. If it does not, the
cosmic order will strike in such a way that Dalit women may naturally begin to
govern.

This Project is placed in the overarching context of transformation of civilization.

Restoring the primacy of women cannot be brought under the narrow confine of
strategies nor of programmes. It is much wider. Its boundaries stretch into the lar-
ger horizons of civilization. When women take up the reins of governance it will
be the beginning of a new civilization though in Dalit history it will be just another
coming back of our past into the future.

The present systems and structures of the Nation State and Democracy will
slowly dissipate and there will be direct democracy of communities of people in
the world. The world cannot bear the beast of burden of such huge militarization,
individualization, marketization, consumerism and their incompetent communica-
tion. It is bound to burst on the face of the present hegemonic order. The next
phase of civilization will be a cosmic civilization led by Dalit and other indigenous
women of the world.

Dalit community is governed by Dalit women. Such forms of inclusive gov-

ernance are possible in the body of women in general. However, unfortunately
women of the dominant order tend to imitate the male order in their peripheral
endeavor to liberate themselves. This is a normal human behavior in communic-
ative interaction though it does not lead to the type of results that women expect
to happen. Since the cosmos is filled with dominant cognitive and emotive waves
of the male order it is only natural that the cell systems of women are over-
weighed by these waves. Cell systems in the bodies of dominant caste women
find fulfillment in the type of dominance that their men enjoy. Therefore, if gov-
ernance is with women in general it becomes problematic as in all likelihood it will
lead to a replacement of one form of dominance by another form. That is not the
type of governance that will augur well for the whole of cosmic beings and cos-
mic order. If governance has to be in an order that will not lead to another form of
dominance and hegemony it should go to those whose cell systems have not de-
veloped the capacity for dominance, arrogant expropriation, aggrandizement and
violence. Such human beings who are incapable of sustained violence and hege-
mony are the Dalit women and other indigenous women. Realization of a world
that will be a partner in the cosmic order is possible only when Dalit and other in-
digenous women begin to govern the world. When this happens all organic be-
ings of the cosmos will be able to exult in the ripple impact in their bodies that the
cosmos has reclaimed us instead human beings reclaiming the cosmos. Such re-
clamation of organic beings by the cosmos will spell the liberation of all human
beings and will in effect integrate them into the cosmos as cosmic beings. Let
Dalit women lead from the front such integration of all human beings into the cos-
mic order.

M C Raj
Founder
Rural Education for Development Society
Shanthinagar
Tumkur 572 102
KARNATAKA – INDIA

Ph: ++91-816-2277026;
Fax: ++91-816-2272515
Email: jothiraj12 @rediffmail.com
Website: www. Dalitreds.in