Dalit Theology

Week 5
27th August 2021
Rev. John Jebaseelan

Great reformers
Ø There were some men who did extraordinary work during their times to liberate men
and women from caste system.
Ø Jotirao Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar are few worth mentioning
Ø These men were advanced in their thinking for their times. They thought about the
caste reality in a new way and created movements to counter discrimination based on
caste.

Jotirao Phule

Ø Jotirao Phule (also called as Jyotirao Govindrao Phule or Jotiba Phule or Mahatma
Phule) was born in 1827 and died in 1890.
Ø He was a social reformer who strived to eradicate untouchability and to empower
women. His wife, Savitri Bai Phule, was the first woman teacher of Indian and worked
for emancipation of women.
Ø Jotirao was the one who encouraged Savitri to read and write. It is in her honour Pune
University is named.
Ø He was also a successful businessman and later became municipal commissioner of
Pune.
Ø Jotirao and Savitri were the first Indians to open school for girls in Pune in 1848. Later
started schools for untouchable children.
Ø He opposed the child marriage and supported the widow remarriage. He was also the
first Hindu to start orphanage for children.
Ø Long before Gandhi was called as Mahatma, Jotirao was given that title.
Ø He was the one who used the word ‘Dalit’ to refer to the outcastes.
Ø While the other renaissance leaders were attempting to refine Hinduism from within
the sacred Hindu fold, he opposed it completely.
Ø He attacked both the concept of dharma and caste which was the base of Brahminical
supremacy.
Ø He also conducted marriages without Brahmin priests and got approval from Bombay
High Court to legally do it.
Ø He considered education as the tool to uplift Dalits and women as it will empower them
with knowledge and also allow them to pursue career other than what was defined by
caste system and patriarchy. His vision was to secure social justice through education.
Ø Through these substantial work, he became a pioneer who showed the way for further
reform by Ambedkar and Gandhi. Ambedkar considered him as guru.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Ø B.R. Ambedkar, born in 1891, was a scholar, lawyer, social reformer and the first Law
minister of Independent India.

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 Ø He was the architect of the Indian constitution which abolished all kinds of
discrimination of any person based on caste, religion, gender etc.
Ø As a Dalit, Ambedkar had the first-hand experience of untouchability. Despite his
academic achievements, he was despised by higher caste Hindus.
Ø As a lawyer in Bombay High Court, he actively involved in public movements against
untouchability. He organized marches to allow everyone to use public water resources.
Ø He also fought for the rights to enter Temples. In 1930, he organized a procession of
15,000 volunteers to march towards Kalaram Temple in Nashik.
Ø He wrote a book called Who were the Shudras? in which he outlines his belief about the
origin of caste system. He rejects Aryan invasion theory and considers shudras as Aryans
of Kshatriya caste who were degraded later.
Ø In 1956, Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with 5,00,000 of his supporters in
Nagpur. He wrote some books on Buddhism and inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement.
Ø Ultimately, through his work, Ambedkar empowered the Dalits politically and made
provisions for them to avail chances to climb the social ladder in the independent India.

E.V. Ramasamy (Periyar)

Ø Periyar was a social activist, rationalist and the founder of Self-Respect Movement in
Tamil Nadu who rebelled against the Brahminical dominance.
Ø He was born in 1879 and in his twenties undertook a pilgrimage to Varanasi (kaasi)
where he was forced out of an inn and denied food as he was not a Brahmin. Learning
that the inn was donated by a Dravidian but allowed only Brahmin, he started thinking
about unjust practice of Brahmin dominance.
Ø He became a member of Congress party. But he felt that congress is dominated by
Brahmins, he left it and joined Justice Party.
Ø While many leaders were fighting for political independence, Periyar and his followers
fought for social equality for oppressed class by abolishing untouchability and manual
scavenging system.
Ø He wanted to instil a sense of pride among the non-Brahmins based on their Dravidian
identity.
Ø His aim was “to allow people to live a life of freedom from slavery to anything against
reason and self-respect; to do away with needless customs, meaningless ceremonies,
and blind superstitious beliefs in society; to put an end to the present social system in
which caste, religion, community and traditional occupations based on the accident of
birth, have chained the mass of the people and created ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ classes.”
Ø As a rationalist, he strived to make the oppressed think about the absurdity of
superstition and ceremonialism which chains them to servitude. He insisted that when
irrational animals and birds did not create caste distinction, rational people should not
do it.
Ø He was part of vaikom Satyagraha in which a movement was launched to gain temple
access for the lower caste people.
Ø He differed with Gandhi on upliftment of Dalits. He advocated total annihilation of
Hinduism which Gandhi opposed.