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Dalit Origins
Dalits
are out-casts, which means that they do not belong to any of the
four main castes of Hindu society, created several millennia ago.
When the Aryans (Indo-Europeans) invaded India about 1500 years BC
from the Northwest, they found there an original dark-skinned
people. The newcomers organized their society according to a
hierarchical system of four castes or varnas ("colours"): that of
the Brahmins or priests, the Kshatryas or warriors/rulers, the
Vaisyas or farmers/artisans, and the Shudras who were to serve the
other castes. This caste system was an intricate part of the Aryan
religion, Hinduism, in that higher castes possessed a religious
cleanliness which the lower castes lacked. In fact, contact with
lower caste people would make a higher caste person unclean. Since
the aboriginal people of India fell outside of this system, they
became out-casts or untouchables and unwelcome carriers of
pollution. They had to live outside the villages, could not use the
common well, and were ordered to perform the duties no one else
would do, such as removing excrement or washing clothes. And even in
modern democratic India, Dalits are discriminated in every area of
life. They often lack adequate food, health care and housing, are
shunned in public places such as hospitals and temples, roads and
buses, and discriminated with regards to education, employment and
ownership of land.
The Dalit Movement: Anti-Hindu
sentiments among the Dalit population have been building up for
years. In fact, Dalit movements have been fighting "untouchability",
casteism and economic exploitation since the 1920's. Gandhi renamed
the Dalits Haryans ("Children of God")and fought for their right to
enter the temples, though in general he defended the caste system
itself. When, in 1948,
India became an independent nation and
chose democracy as its principle of government, the voice of Dalits
was increasingly heard to appeal for equal rights, and several laws
have actually been passed to secure them quota of government jobs
and university seats.
But day-to-day life has hardly
changed, deeply rooted as it is in three thousand years of religion.
What is worse, oppression has increased whenever Dalits ask for
their rights. Every month there are reports of villages burned down,
or families shot dead by bandits in the pay of the ruler castes.
Some landowners rule as in European feudal times, making their
workers ever more dependent until they literally own them, even
claiming "first rights" with brides on their wedding night. For many
of the Dalits in rural
India, it is fear that rules daily
life, not democracy.
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