The term ‘Dalit' has roots in Sanskrit where the root 'dal' means 'to split, crack, open'. ( This Indo-European root appears in German and English in the form of 'dal' or 'tal', meaning  'cut'. In English, 'dale' is a valley, a cut in the ground; in German, 'thal': a tailor is one who cuts;  'to tell a tale'  is the same as  'to cut a tally', the cut-marks made by the shepherd on his staff when counting sheep.

'Dalit' has come to mean things or persons who are cut, split, broken or torn asunder, scattered or crushed and destroyed. By coincidence, there is in  Hebrew a root 'dal' meaning low, weak, poor.  In the Bible, different forms of this term have been used to describe people who have been reduced to nothingness or helplessness.The present usage of the term Dalit goes back to the nineteenth century, when a Marathi social reformer and revolutionary , Mahatma Jyotirao Phule (1826-1890), used it to describe the Outcastes and Untouchables as the oppressed and the broken victims of our caste-ridden society. Under the charismatic leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), this term gained greater importance and popularity.  During the 1970s, the followers of the Dalit Panther Movement of Maharastra gave currency to the term 'Dalit' as a constant reminder of their age-old oppression, denoting both their state of deprivation and the people who are oppressed. This term for them is not a mere name or title: for them it has become an expression of hope, the hope of recovering their past self-identity. The term has gained a new connotation with a more positive meaning.            It must be remembered that Dalit does not mean Caste or low-Caste  or poor ; it refers to the deplorable state or condition to which a large group of people has been reduced by social convention and in which they are now living.

Names of the Dalits

The Dalits are called by different names in different parts of the country. These names were given by the Caste people as expressions of contempt. They include: Dasa, Dasysa, Raksasa, Asura, Avarna, Nisada, Panchama, Chandala,  Harijan, Untouchable. Each of these names has a history and background. Besides these names, there are a number of other titles or names which have been given to them at the level of the regional language. For example, Chura in Punjab (North West India), Bhangi or Lal Beghi in Hindi (North India), Mahar in Marathi (Central India), Mala in Telugu, Paraiya in Tamil and Pulayan in Malayalam (South India). These names carry within them the two-term contrast of   "we-the pure" and "you-the impure". In response to these insulting labels, the Untouchables have chosen to give  themselves a name and this  is 'Dalit',  which refers to the hardship of their  condition of life. This name is a constant reminder of the age-old oppression.  The term is also an expression of their hope to recover their past self-identity. If today the Dalits are reduced to a life of abject poverty and treated as polluted human beings, it is the non-dalit that must be seen as the agent of their dehumanisation. By the British, the Dalits were named 'the Depressed Classes' and  'the Scheduled Castes', in the Scheduled Caste  Act of India, 1935.   Mahatma Gandhi named them  'Harijans'  which means 'children of God' :  but this term was not welcomed  by the Dalits because it did not adequately describe their condition.

Dalit does not mean low caste. Dalit does not mean any religion. Dalit refers to some unique people with distinct culture and traditions.

But how did they lose their identity and their uniqueness?

"Every hour - two dalits are assaulted, every day three - dalit women are raped and two dalits are murdered ....two dalit houses are burnt."  (Human Rights Education Movement in India)

A Dalit is not only forbidden to enter the home of a Brahmin but he must also not draw water from the same well, not eat from the same pot or place. He must not glance at or allow his shadow to fall on the Brahmin. All these acts will pollute the "pure Brahmin."

ORIGIN OF THE CASTE

Division of the Caste

India, a country with a lot of traditions, culture and beauty, has a unwanted, ugly and inhuman structure called ' CASTE SYSTEM .' One cannot but feel ashamed of the caste system in India. The caste system discriminates the human persons and stratifies them into different groups. According to Manu Dharma , the Hindu religious code of conduct, divides human persons into four Varnas (Varna means color, the Caste).

In Hindu society, caste is still the most powerful factor in determining a person's dignity. The caste system is the result of the Hindu belief in 'Reincarnation and Karma'. The four castes eventually developed into a social mosaic of 3000 sub-castes, with the Untouchables at the bottom of the list and actually outside the list.  Such a rigid caste system is not found anywhere in the world outside India. A person is born into a caste. Once born in that caste, his status is predetermined and immutable. Birth decides one's status and this cannot be altered by any talent the person may develop or wealth the person may accumulate. Similarly, the caste in which a person is born predetermines what vocation the person will pursue. One has no choice. Birth decides the occupation of the person in question. Here are the four major castes:

1.BRAHMINS (the Priestly Class)
2.KSHATRIYAS (the Warrior Class)
3.VAISYAS (the Trading Class)
4.SUDRAS (the Servants)

MYTH AND ORIGIN OF THE CASTE SYSTEM

Other sub-castes are more than 3000 in number, with the "Untouchables"  or  "Dalits" at the bottom and outside. They are the slaves of the above groups and they are absolutely forbidden to learn and teach.

REALITY OF DALITS

The Dalits are deprived of: 1) Education 2) Right to possess assets 3) Right to posses weapons to protect themselves. Therefore they are owned as the property of the caste people. The code of conduct that deprives them of these rights was written three thousand years back. One may wonder why this is still in practice. The tragedy is that although untouchablity was abolished by law 1950 in India, yet the dalits experience the agony of untouchability very deeply in all walks of life: Social, Economical and Political. One cannot understand the pain of being a dalit unless he experiences it.

DALITS, THE UNTOUCHABLES

There is also other category of people who don't come under any of these above caste groups, since they are not considered as human beings. They are called the "the Outcaste or the "Untouchables," or the Unseeables. There are hundreds of codes of conduct written for them. Now these people call themselves as ' DALITS.' The word ' Dalit' means  'broken, torn, scattered and crushed.' M.Gandhi called them as ' Harijans' which means God' s Children. But the word ' Harijans' does not describe their condition adequately. Therefore, the Outcaste preferred to call themselves as ' Dalits.' The word ' Dalit' is an expression of hope to recover their self-identity.

DALITS AS INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

As we have already seen,  Dalit means 'broken, scattered and oppressed'.  So the Dalits are the broken and scattered people,  the oppressed masses. This implies that they were of one community before they were broken; they were together before they were scattered; they were free people before they were oppressed. It also implies that there must have been an agent and an instrument by whom and by which this free people were subjugated and oppressed. So the starting point of  Dalit history is the moment when  this 'breaking', 'scattering' and  'oppression' of the Dalits began, when exactly the Dalits began to be treated as degraded human beings  and when exactly the Dalits lost their identity. To understand the Dalits as an indigenous people, we need to go to their historical roots.

Archaeological Evidence

Prehistoric India was inhabited first by the Negritos.  The second group that migrated in was the Australoids.  The Santals and Bhils belong to the Australoids.  The third group that inhabited India was the Mongoloid family.   To the present time the Mongoloid have maintained their distinct cultural, racial and religious identities.

The fourth and   largest group that inhabited ancient India was the Dravidian. Most scholars agree that the Dravidians came into India from the Eastern Mediterranean in the third millennium B.C.   By 1400 B.C., the Dravidian civilisation in India extended across the entire land.

Munshi says : "The Early Dravidians, who arrived in India prior to 2000 B.C., possessed a highly developed material culture as would appear from their early speech forms and the findings in Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Lothal".   Goetz speaks of the Indus Valley Civilization as ranging from Lothal to Mohenjo-daro and from 3000 to 1400 B.C.,  and having cultural connections with Sumer, the earliest known cradle of human civilisation.

The Indo-Aryans in the 2nd millennium B.C. migrated from their homeland of Eranvej (the present Russian Turkestan) via Afghanistan into India. Thus the Aryans moved eastwards, fighting the indigenous Dravidians whom they exterminated or enslaved. They overran the open country, stormed the fortified towns (pur) of the Indus Valley  and slowly migrated eastwards, conquering the whole of Northern India around 1400-1000 B.C.

Mishra, the archaeologist endorses this view. This coincides with the records of Wheeler, the original authority on the Indus Valley civilisation. These conquests are described in numerous verses of the Rig Veda.

In the Rig Veda, the natives are described  as dark-skinned,  snub-nosed enemies  of alien language and religion. Marshall and Cunningham who did the original archaeological excavation on Indus civilisation,  Yuria Knorozov who did the deciphering of the Indus pictographic writings and authorities such as Madho Sarup Vats,  Dikshit, N.C. Majumdar, Rapson, Wheeler, R.D. Banerjee, B.B. Lal point to the fact that the native black Dravidians   were largely exterminated by the light-coloured Aryan invaders, their 'Puram'  (meaning fort or town) civilisation  was destroyed and those who were not killed were made slaves.

When the Aryans began to spread eastward and southward from  Punjab,  they spread too thin. Therefore the policy of total annihilation of the Dasyus was found unnecessary as well as impossible. Instead the Dravidians were made domestic and village slaves.   In earlier civilisations, slavery or extermination were the only two methods used  by most of the conquering races.

Therefore the Dasyus (slaves, now known to us as the Scheduled caste) of the Rig Veda were the Dravidians living north of the Vindhya Satpura range and now enslaved  by the invading Aryans.  The distinguished indologist Basham says: "In the reduction to bondage of the many dasas captured in the battle, we find the origin of Indian slavery."

Literary Evidence

Here are a few of the earliest literary sources available to us. In all these sources, we find the Dalits,  Das, Chandala, Avarna, Panchama  were reduced by their oppressors to a non-human  level, with no  identity or dignity.

(a)  Rigvedas : (1500-1000 B.C. ) The earliest available literary source is the Rigveda.    Its Purusa sukta hymn talks about the origin of the four Varnas, Brahmanas, Kashartries, Vaisias and Sutras. The Dalits find no place in it under this name : they are referred as Avarna, Dasa and Dasyus. (6th and 10th Mandala)

(b) Upanishads : (800-600 B.C)  By the time the Upanishad  texts came into existence, the problem of the Dalits was becoming deeper and clearer.  For example,  the famous Chandogys  Upanishad not only refers to the first three upper castes, but also compares Chandala (Outcaste) with a dog and a  swine. (ref. Chandogya Upanisad.   Khanda 10, verse 7)

(c) Ramayana : In the time of Lord Rama's rule, only the  upper three castes were allowed to do 'tapasya' (penance and meditation).  Now it so happened that one of low caste, a Sudhra,  undertook penance in order to attain divinity (dignity). As soon as Lord Rama heard this, he killed the Sudhra for such presumption.  If this happened to a Sudhra, we can imagine what would have happend to a Dalit , so much lower in status.

(d) Mahabharata : It describes the  degraded state of the Dalits. It is the story of Ekalabya, an indigenous boy, who has to lose the thumb of his right hand  because he has learnt archery and has come to be no less skilled than Arjuna in this art.

Survival of the Caste System

The caste system survived for centuries because the religious leaders transmitted  the Hindu Scriptures to the common people and attributed the caste system to divine ordinance.  Any breaking of this system,  individually or collectively, was tantamount to breaking the divine law. Painstakingly, every dimension of the divine ordinance of caste was included in the Scriptures.  We see this, for example, in the  Bhagavad Gita, which is regarded as the noblest of all the Scriptures.  The caste system having  thus become sanctioned  by Scripture, it came to be accepted even by the outcastes themselves. 

In the words of Dr. Ambedkar, another ploy to make caste acceptable to all was the strategy of introducing an extensive system of  'graded inferiority', providing everyone with an inferior grade immediately beneath him.       Thus, so long as   the Brahmin was at the top, with no other caste above him, his superiority over all was secured. Below him the Brahmin had the Kshathriya  -  and below him was the Vaisya and below him the Sudra  -  and the Sudras had the untouchables beneath them. Thus each caste had at least one group beneath them.  This  compensated  for the humiliation of having someone above them.   This   'graded inferiority'  made the entire system tolerable.

" THE WORLD OWES A DUTY TO THE UNTOUCHABLES AS IT DOES TO ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE TO BREAK THEIR SHAKLES, AND TO SET THEM FREE "

India’s caste system is perhaps the world’s longest surviving social hierarchy. A defining feature of Hinduism, caste encompasses a complex ordering of social groups on the basis of ritual purity. A person is considered a member of the caste into which he or she is born and remains within that caste until death, although the particular ranking of that caste may vary among regions and over time. Differences in status are traditionally justified by the religious doctrine of karma, a belief that one’s place in life is determined by one’s deeds in previous lifetimes. Traditional scholarship has described this more than 2,000-year-old system within the context of the four principal varnas, or large caste categories.

In order of precedence these are the Brahmins (priests and teachers), the Ksyatriyas (rulers and soldiers), the Vaisyas (merchants and traders), and the Shudras (laborers and artisans). A fifth category falls outside the varna system and consists of those known as "untouchables" or Dalits; they are often assigned tasks too ritually polluting to merit inclusion within the traditional varna system. Within the four principal castes, there are thousands of sub-castes, also called jatis, endogamous groups that are further divided along occupational, sectarian, regional and linguistic lines. Collectively all of these are sometimes referred to as "caste Hindus" or those falling within the caste system. 

The Dalits are described as varna-sankara: they are "outside the system"—so inferior to other castes that they are deemed polluting and therefore "untouchable." Even as outcasts, they themselves are divided into further sub-castes. Although "untouchability" was abolished under Article 17 of the Indian constitution, the practice continues to determine the socio-economic and religious standing of those at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. Whereas the first four varnas are free to choose and change their occupation, Dalits have generally been confined to the occupational structures into which they are born.

DALIT DISABILITIES

Social Discrimination against Dalit Christians

Overwhelmingly, the mistreatment comes from   Hindu society - in our village, in our working place, from our landlord,  at our village school , the village well,  and the village shop.    85% of the Dalit Christians continue to live in the same segregated place, the same "CHERI"  or COLONY or SLUM, even two generations after becoming Christians.   A DALIT IS NOT GIVEN THE LUXURY OF A NEW ENVIRONMENT. A Dalit works in the same village, for the same wages, for the same masters,  enduring the same tyranny and abuse, beatings and killings.  His wife and daughter face the same molestation, rape and burning of huts and killing of children.  Except for the (wrong) records in the revenue offices, he or she remains a Dalit in every sense of the word  -    ethnically, linearly, racially, socially, economically, culturally, vocationally, geographically, relationally, contextually and emotionally.   When Irulappan becomes Arulappan,  his DNA does not change.  (Irulappan is a Hindu-sounding name : Arulappan sounds Christian.)

Actually, he encounters more torture and persecution now because he is a CHRISTIAN . The masters of the Dalit slave do not relish the idea of a Dalit rising into anything that can point to an end of the eternal slavery.

The slaughter, rape or burnings of Veerambal (1955), Chundur (1993), Neerukonda Saukarankularn (G.O.1 402, July 76) Villupuram (11 Dec. 1980), Karamchedu (March 88), Kodiangulam (Oct. 95) and hundreds of other Dalit villages where almost all victims were CHRISTIAN DALITS is  irrefutable evidence to the   fact of atrocity.

Through this traditional practice of untouchability, the Dalit Christians suffer social, educational and economic disabilities on a  par with Dalits of other religions. . The change of religion does not change the social, educational and economical status.

These facts have been unmistakably established by observations carried out by the various Commissions on the Backward Classes   appointed by the Government of India and by judgements rendered in  the High Courts and in the Supreme Court.

Denial of justice on the basis of religion negates the secular nature of the State.

"……. to deny them (Scheduled Castes) the Constitutional protection of reservation solely by reason of change of faith or religion is to endanger the very concept of Secularism and the raison d' ^etre of reservations. (Art. 271 of the Mandal Case Judgment. Cf. Page No: 367, Vol. 6, No: 9, November 30, 1992, Judgment Today)

Caste cuts across barriers of Religions

So sadly and oppressively deep-rooted is caste in our country that it has cut across even the barriers of religions...  The caste system has penetrated other religions and dissenting Hindu sects to whom the practice of caste should be anathema.  Today we find that Hindu dissentients and practitioners of other religious faiths are sometimes just as rigid in adherence to the system of caste as the conservative Hindus. We find Christian Dalit, Christian Nadars, Christian Reddys, Christian Kammas, and Mujbi Sikhs .(Art. 469 Mandal Case Judgments, Page 450, Vol. 6, No: 9, November 30,1992, Judgments Today.  Here, slightly edited.) Centuries-long caste oppression would not disappear by a mere change of religion Even among the other religious groups in this country, the division of society between the high and the low castes is only be expected. Almost all followers of the non-Hindu religions, apart from those of the Zoroastrians, are converts from the Hindu religion.  Into the new religion they have carried with them their caste.  It is hardly to be expected that the social prejudices and biases , the notions and feelings of superiority and inferiority, nurtured for centuries on end,  would disappear by a mere change of religion (Cf. Art. 478 Mandal case Judgment, Vol. C, November 30,1992, Judgment Today.   Here, slightly edited.) Castes not confined  to Hindus alone.

"….The concept of "Caste" in this behalf (reservation) is not confined to castes among Hindus. It extends to castes wherever they obtain as a fact, irrespective of religious sanction for such practice...") Art. 798, Mandal Case Judgment Vol. 6, November 30,1992, Judgment Today). Casteism is the bane of the entire Indian Society

"...The Change of religion did not always succeed in eliminating castes. The converts carried with them their castes and occupations to the new religions. The result has been that even among Sikhs, Muslims and Christians,  casteism prevails in varying degrees in practice, their preachings not withstanding. Casteism has thus been the bane of entire Indian society, the difference in its rigidity being of a degree varying from religion to religion". (Art. 400, Mandal Case Judgment, Vol. 6, No:9, November 30,1992, Judgment Today). Christianity does not preach the caste system, but casteism is practised among Christians

"Though Christianity also does not recognize caste system, there are upper and lower caste among Christians. In Goa, for example, there are upper caste Catholic Brahmins who do not marry Christians belonging to the lower castes. In many churches, the low caste Christians have to sit apart from the high caste Christians. In Andhra Pradesh, there are Christian Dalit, Christian Malas, Christian Reddys, Christian Kammas, etc. In Tamil Nadu, converts to Christianity form Scheduled Castes - Latin Catholics, Christian Shanars, and Christian Gramani are in the list of Scheduled Castes. Such instances are many and vary from region to region. (Art. 477, Mandal Case Judgment, Vol. 6, No:9, November 30, 1992, Judgment Today).

APPEALS FROM CBCI,
THE SUPREME BODY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA

The CBCI has declared that discrimination on the basis of caste is a sin against God and humanity and the caste system will be removed from the Christian community totally as part of our preparation for Yesu Krist Jayanti 2000. The Catholic Bishops of India have been making such statements since 1982 in Trichy CBCI meeting. It was for the first time  that the  bishops have openly condemned the caste discrimination within the church. " We state categorically that caste, with its consequent effects of discrimination and "caste mentality", has no place in Christianity. It is, in fact, a denial of Christianity because it is inhuman. It violates the God-given dignity and equality of the human person." ...Catholics, in particular, are called to reflect on whether they can meaningfully participate in the Eucharist without repudiating and seriously striving to root out caste prejudices and similar traditions and sentiments both within the Church and outside.

Again at Kottayam, 1988, Pune 1992, Varanasi 1998 and now in Chennai (Madras) 2000, the Bishops are reminding their own upper caste Christians to give up the caste identity and accept the Christian identity.
 "The prevalence of the caste system, not only in society but also in some parts of the Church in India even at the close of the 20th century, is a matter of shame and disgrace to all of us. It is a cause of sorrow and expression of our inability to live our Christian faith adequately. It is not only a denial of human dignity and equality but also against the fundamental teaching of Christ who was a friend of the outcasts of His time, and freely mixed with them. ... If our Christian communities are divided and discriminated on the basis of caste we cannot affirm in truthfulness that the Gospel has touched our life, and that we are the disciples of Christ even if we celebrate our worship devoutly and proclaim our faith correctly. What India needs is precisely this witness of Christian love.

The Bishops have been making statements on Dalit issues since 1982. In spite of condemnation by CBCI and the repeated appeals by the individual Bishops, the Dalit Christians who form the majority of believers in India are discriminated against, humiliated, and even victimised. 

APPEALS FROM  SC/ST/BC COMMISSION FOR CBCI

Like the Bishops, the Commission has been forwarding many appeals to the Indian Catholic communities to accept the teachings of the church in implementing equality and justice to all Christians. They have appealed to the upper caste Christians, upper caste priests and religious to teach their communities to treat their fellow Christians humanly. 

Rt. Rev. Chinnappa, a dalit bishop and  the Chairman for SC/ST/BC, declared that  "Practice of discrimination in any form in the place of worship, graveyard and in the community should be abolished with time-bound action. The celebration of Jubilee  2000 may   be 'postponed' until   true brotherhood and equality is practiced by all the faithful of a parish."

These appeals do not come from their hearts. They issue these statements just to appease the anger of dalit movements. They issue them due to the pressure that they receive from the society. 

What do you think of these statements?

They are merely humbug and hypocrisy. They are not truoly serious in what they say. They are not different from the Indian politicians who make empty promises with sweet-coated words to win the votes of the poor people. 

The bishops who are mostly the upper caste orgin will never and ever take a stand to take disciplinary action against their own upper caste men and women in the catholic church. These bishops, who always receive royal treatment from the simple dalit christians in the church will never  know what it means to be humiliated or discriminated in a society. 

That is why, the problem at Thatchoor continues upto today. The problem at Eraiyur is never solved by the Pond cherry bishop. 

Thatchoor, parochial feast never allowed the participation of the dalits

K.K.Pudur

R.N.Kandigai

When the Indian government introduced Property Tax, the whole catholic institutions fought.....

Whenever it affects the interests of the upper caste and dominate caste people, the church authorities always react immediately.....

When it is concerned about the poor people, they do not bother,

It is really a tragedy that they could take stand. The bishops must issue sanction against people who discriminate in the church. For example: they bishops must work for time bound action.