A seminar Paper on Dalit and Violence

Submitted to: Dr. M Stephen Submitted by: Joseph JJ

1. Introduction:
The Dalits and Tribals in India share a common history of oppression. They were enslaved and kept
as an appendix to the high caste people to serve their selfish ends. In modern India, they continue to suffer
humiliation, subjugation and oppression in the hands of the rich and the powerful. The dalits and tribals are
poor and powerless and are often deprived of justice and their rights. These people face a lot of problems
from the society. In this seminar paper we will focus on some issues faced by them in common and the
responses made by them towards such problems.
2. Who are Dalits?
Dalit, also called Harijan, is a self-designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as of
lower class and unsuitable for making personal relationships. Dalits are a mixed population of numerous
caste groups all over South Asia, and speak various languages
3. The Census Facts
According to the Census Report of 1991, there are approximately 138.3 million Dalits in India,
constituting 16.8 % of the population. The majority of them i.e. 81.2 % live in the rural areas.1
4. A Historical Survey
The term ‘Dalit’ is of a recent origin. In the beginning they were called Chandals, Outcastes,
Achhuts etc. Later caste Hindus called them Panchamas meaning thereby belonging to the fifth class. As
Dalits claimed that they were the aborigines of the land and also outside caste system, during the close of
19th century and beginning of 20th century they adopted the title, ‘Adi Hindu, Adi Dravida’ etc., While the
missionaries and social reformers used the title ‘Depressed Classes’. Slowly this title crept into Government
records.
Later Ambedkar, who himself was the member of Mahar caste, opposed the use of the title
‘Depressed Class’ and suggested five alternatives – non caste Hindus, Protestant Hindus, Non conformist
Hindus, Excluded Hindus & Exterior castes.
In the beginning of the 1930’s the title ‘Harijan’ was used. It was originally used by a Gujarati poet
saint Narsinha Mehta and later popularized by Mahatma Gandhi. 2 But the educated of the Dalit community
negatively reacted to this usage as they wondered how merely change of name would solve their problems.
In recent years this title has lost support among the larger sections of Dalits. Indian Constitution uses the
term ‘Scheduled Castes’ (S. C.) to refer to this particular group. Literally it refers castes that are put under a
Schedule. It does not contain any clear definition. Article 341 gives the power to the President to include or
exclude any caste, race, tribe or group from or to the list of S.C. after consultation with the Governor of
particular state.3 It gave definite, distinct identity to the castes so clubbed without necessitating any
interference with social structures of Hindu society. It was in 1970 that a new identity was propagated with
the usage of the term ‘Dalit’. Even though Marathi social reformer Jyotirao Phule initially used this term yet
the followers of Dalit Panthers Movement in Maharashtra popularized it.4
5. Issues of Dalits:
Dalits have witnessed a long history of subjugation by the dominant forces. The dominant forces
have always tried to stop their progress and to keep them at the bottom of the society. Religiously they have
been placed at the lowest level and even out of the fourfold caste hierarchy. The religious scriptures are used
as a tool to keep them alienated from the main line of society. But at the same time there are many factors
existing within themselves, which have emerged as hurdles from time to time.
According to A. M. Abraham Ayrookuzhiel , “Territorially they have been scattered people all over
India, and linguistically they have been assimilated by the dominant cultural groups under whose sway they
have come as a subordinate people..”5 Dalit Community itself is fragmented into various subgroups based on
language & culture. Not only has this there do existed many sub castes, which among themselves maintain
hierarchy. They maintain occupational differences.
6. Their Responses

1
Dionysius Rasquinha, “ A Critical reflection on the meaning of Dalit Christian Theology ” Vidhya Jyoti 66/4 ( April , 2002 ) , 251.
2
Ibid., 51.
3
Ibid., 52.
4
James Massey, “Historical Roots”, Indigenous People : Dalits, edited by James Massey ( Delhi : ISPCK,1994),6.
5
Nirmal Minz, “Dalit-Tribal: A search for common Ideology”, A Strugggle…op.cit.,136.
 Dalits have sharply reacted to the attacks upon their issues, through diverse means. According to
Ambulgekar Kailash, Dalit Society has been struggling for their basic fundamental rights since many years
and this is the identity of Dalit community. 6 In Ambedkar, Dalit community saw a strong visionary who
gave rise to a new momentum in the struggle for Dalit issues. According to him the ultimate weapon of Dalit
empowerment is through three devices Educate, Agitate & Organize.
We will look at some areas where their responses are visible:
a. Social Organization:
Formation of organization is a sociological process. Through this process members of the
society come together for their own purposes. Dalits have organized themselves at various levels in
the forms of different groups, providing a common platform for them. These organizations study
Dalit society and run some programs for Dalits and indirectly help to define issues of Dalit people in
society.7 All India SC- ST Federation, Dalit Students Association is some of the popular
organizations.
b. Political Participation:
Dalits too have realized the power of politics in popularizing ones ideology. The formation of
political parties by people belonging to Dalit community has been a potential tool in solving the dalit
issues. E.g. the formation of B.S.P.(Bahujan Samajwadi Party) in order to struggle for their rights. It
was on 14th April 1984, that Kanshi Ram in U.P formed BSP. To concretize the new name ‘Bahujan’
he popularized Aryan Invasion theory and claimed that 85 % of Indian population is Bahujan. As a
result for the first time in Indian civilization, a Dalit woman Mayawati became the C.M. of any
Indian state in 1995. Dalits have been able to display their presence in other major parties like
Congress (e.g. Ajit Jogi ) B.J.P. ( Kalyan Singh) . These parties do raise Major dalit issues from time
to time.
c. Dalit Literature:
With the spread of education among Dalits, the need for Dalit literature became prominent.
The need was felt to put into paper their beliefs, myths, history etc. It resulted in the publication of
literatures on Dalit issues both from Dalits writers as well as other writers. Kailash Ambulgekar
views Dalit Literature as a literature to solve doubt and respond to Dalit needs. According to him,
Rebellion is the climax of Dalit literature.8
d. :Religion
Dalits who were oppressed by the caste structure of Hinduism have often looked to other
religions, which they felt free from caste hierarchy as an alternative. This has led to wide spread
conversions to religions like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism etc. At the same time various reform
movements took place within Hinduism from time to time. The Bhakti movement, Neo Vedantic
movement & Sanskritisation can be seen as examples. The Hindutva forces are active under Sangh
pariwar to popularize internal reforms to check the flow of Dalits to other religions. The ‘Home
Coming’ program has been a well calculated activity of VHP to reconvert those earlier converted to
other non Hindu religions.
7. Mission and Dalit Issues:
“The Dalit issue concerns the millions of victim due to the unique system of class and cast
oppression. The word Dalit in Sanskrit is led to the Hebrew word 'dal'. Dalit means broken scattered cursed
and open. The OLD TESTAMENT Hebrew words the translated in English as poor. It is a general term
which includes the helpless the needy, hungry, oppressed and humiliate. The Old Testament Dalit means
physical frailty (gen 4:19), Military frailty (Judge 3:15), Social frailty( Pro 19:14 ).
‘Dal’ doesn’t merely depict a condition but it describes a prosses of being made weak or frail. The
word ‘dal’ has been used with othere Hebrew root words like ‘ebion’ have been used over 40 times with
‘anc’ to describes with whole range of domination including physical and social opperession, sexual
violation, economic exploitationand political manipulation.9
The prophet Amos and Isaiah use the word as a formula of denouncing the exercise of oppressive
power and exploitative greed ( Is 3:14-15;Amos 2:6,4,1 ). The Bible also tells that the God is the strong hold
for the Dal and ‘ebion’(Ps 32:13; Is 25:4). God is on the side of the frame and the needy. He is on the side of

6
Ambulgekar Kailash G., “Varna & Oppression”, A Struggle …, op.cit., 35.
7
Ibid.
8
Ambulgekar Kailash G., “Varna and Oppression”, A Struggle …op.cit., 35.
9
Christoph Von Furer-Haimendorf, Tribes of India: The struggle for survival (Delhi : Oxford University Press, 1982).,33.
oppressed and the affected. God’s character gives the oppressed and the broken their hearts. God’s character
empowers them to struggle for justice and to achieve their liberation (PS 9:12-18; 10:2-9,2; 22:24; 38:11-
14). In Exodus God moved in history for redemptive act. In Ps 82:1-4 God's demand that justice’s mean
given to the weak destitute and the needy. Righteousness and justices are the foundation of God’s throne. If
mission is to preach the Good News of God’s rule then it mean to establish, justice, righteousness and peace.
It calls to work with the oppressed and broken victims to set them free from the structure of injustice and
inequality.
In the Indian context the Dalit issue is not primary about the poor and oppressed due to the poverty.
They represent specific communities with concrete history experience aspiration and struggle. The advices
and Dalit constitute the core people who face this oppression. This oppression is built on religio-cultural and
social ideology of the cast system.
The Hindu Brahminical Varnashrama Dharma or cast ideology differentiates people between
polluted and pure. In this hierarchical social order Brahmins came at the top, then Kshathriya, Vaisya and
Sudras came last. The Brahmins were associated with scholarly and priestly function. The Kshathriya’s were
associated with the trade and financial matters. The Sudras were for cultivation and for serving the other
three. The Dalit and the tribes even do not belong to this chathurvarna hierarchy. They are considered
panchamas or fifth caste. It was Gandiji who popularize the term Harijan to refer to the untouchable. But
today the word Dalit embodies a sense of being oppressed. It has become a terms of assertive pride and
resistance to the oppression, of caste and class. It was “Dalit Panders” into popularized this lesson in early
70. For Dalit meant change and revolution not the caste. It includes all poor broken and oppressed.10
8. Conclusion:
The life of Dalits is in close connection with the nature, they are in close contact with the forests and
its resources. They were never too greedy to exploit these resources. They play a greater role in maintaining
the eco-balance. The Dalits are the producers of food and conservers of the natural resources. Even though
the world was developing and modern technologies contribute much to the comfort of human beings, yet the
condition of dalits is worse. A number of poor people have been displaced by the wide variety of
developmental projects. The inevitable question to be raised is all these destruction and devastation, for
whose development and whose cost? From whose perspective is it beneficial and who are the victims? We
need to out rightly deny the destructive development at the cost of the dalits, who form the major chunk of
the victims. According to their faith they do not own the land/earth rather the earth owns them.
There is a living organic relationship between human beings, trees, animals, insects, water, air and
soil of the earth. The Adivasi/Tribal/Indigenous people have been holding these views from time
immemorial and they have also understood human beings as an integral part of this macro-organism.
Dalits have a desire to live happily in the society as well as in the forest. They have very strong faith
in the presence of God in nature. Dalits work for the society, but their tears are their only wages. They were
exploited by the society. So, as a Christian we should have the sense of unity and identity to the Dalits. The
Church and other organizations should strive hard to conscientize the masses about the consequence of
ecological problem. This can induce them to work for creating the ecologically oriented environment. In
conclusion the paper claims that the eco-centered worldview of the dalits will help all people in promoting
conservation and eco-balance with honour and dignity.
Bibliography:
Furer-Haimendorf, Christoph Von. Tribes of India: The struggle for survival. Delhi : Oxford University
Press, 1982.
Massey, James. “Historical Roots”, Indigenous People : Dalits, edited by James Massey. Delhi :
ISPCK,1994.
Minz, Nirmal. “Crisis in Indigenous peoples life in India”, Ecology : A theological response, edited by
Andrews Nehring. Madras: Gurukul, 1994.
Rasquinha, Dionysius. “ A Critical reflection on the meaning of Dalit Christian Theology ” Vidhya Jyoti
66/4 ( April , 2002 ) .

10
Nirmal Minz, “ Crisis in Indigenous peoples life in India”, Ecology : A theological response, edited by Andrews Nehring ( Madras: Gurukul, 1994),76.