Adi Dharm (aka ‘Adi Dharma’ and ‘Adi Dharam’) is the religion of the Adi Brahmo Samaj, the

first
development of Brahmaism. It is an organized casteless movement in India, founded by Ram Mohan Roy,
Debendranath Tagore, and Prasanna Coomar Tagore in the early 19th century. The adherents, termed as
“Adi-Dharmi”s worship the ancient formless indivisible one God called Brahma or the Parambrahma. The
Adi Dharm religion repudiates all distinctions between people and stands for the foundation of a modern
educated Dharmic world order under the timeless and formless indivisible one God called Brahma or the
Parambrahma.It is the first organized casteless movement in British India and spread rapidly across
Hindustan.The adherents of Adi Dharma worship the ancient formless indivisible god. Adi Dharma is not
an anti-caste movement but stands for the repudiation of all distinctions between people

Adi-Dharam differs from Brahmanical Hinduism in terms of core doctrinal beliefs

Adi-Dharm opposes polytheism and idolatry, denounces “man-worship” or “God-men,” and upholds
equality among all men, denouncing distinctions like caste, race, creed, color, gender, and
nationality.Adi-Dharm considers work as the way of existence, and there is no salvation or way to
achieve it.

In Adi Dharma there is no scripture, revelation, creation, prophet, priest, or teacher to be revered.
Worship consists of revering the “inner light within,” i.e., enlightened conscience.The religion opposes
distinctions between people and rejects the need for priests, places of worship, long sermons, etc.Adi-
Dharma was started by those Brahmins of Bengal who were excommunicated from the Hindu faith for
opposing social and priestly evils of the time.These mobile scholars of priestly Brahmin clans were in
contact with foreign rulers, which led to their ostracization by their “fixed” priestly Hindu clan peers.

From the 1920s there was a rise of dalit movements in various parts of the country. The Montagu
Chelmsford reforms and massive economic and political upheavals of the post-World War I period,
provided the background for most of their organisations. Their common theme was adi, or a definition of
themselves as the original inhabitants of the country, a claim that their own inherent traditions were
those of equality and unity, and a total rejection of castes as the imposition of the conquering Aryans
who used this to subjugate and divide the natives. Of these, the most important were the Adi Dravida
movement in Tamil Nadu; the Adi Andhra movement in Andhra, Adi Karnataka movement; the
organization of Purayas and Cherumans in Kerala; and the Adi Hindu movement, mainly centred around
Kanpur in U.P.

In Punjab, the Adi Dharma movement claimed that untouchables formed a distinct religious community
like Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs and that this had existed even before the arrival of the Hindus. Later on
this movement was absorbed into Ambedkar’s Scheduled Caste Federation, which by the 1940s was
providing an all-India umbrella to such dalits movements.