Killing caste by conversion

By Dipankar Gupta

There is no reason why a single Dalit should still remain a Hindu. What has Hinduism done for them except to cripple and handicap them in every conceivable way?

WHEN MR. RAM RAJ took the Buddhist vows and became Udit Raj amidst great fanfare on November 4, the question that cropped up naturally was: what took him so long to leave the Hindu fold? It is not as if the caste system unbeknownst to the Dalits suddenly sneaked up on them. Nor is it that they only very recently realised that prejudices against Dalits abound in our country. Then why did Mr. Udit Raj and those who followed him in taking the 22 Buddhist vows on that fateful Sunday wait for so many years?

Today, when the Dharamsastra is practically unusable, particularly in urban settings, it is surprising that many Dalits still consider themselves Hindus. Many more should have joined the ranks of Buddhists, and Christians. In fact, there is no reason why a single Dalit should still remain a Hindu. What has Hinduism done for them except to cripple and handicap them in every conceivable way? Some Dalit leaders complain that Hinduism is unacceptable to them for it does not allow Dalits to become priests. This can hardly be sustained, for by that token, every non-Brahman should be deserting Hinduism. The truth is that no self-respecting Kshatriya or Rajput would ever want to be a priest. No Jat or Gujjar has even the remotest ambition of attaining priesthood.

The reason why a majority of Hindus, Dalits included, remain Hindus is because in a very essential way they all ascribe to the belief that Hindus of different castes are made up of different natural substances. Thus while each caste would admit to being different from the other, there is no agreement among them on whose substances are better, or more worthy. Castes such as Rajputs, Jats, Gujjars, etc., believe they have the best substances. Those from the Vaishya communities make a similar claim. Likewise, the many castes together called the Dalits today reject the view that they are made of inferior substances. Their individual jati puranas, or origin tales, speak of an exalted past lost on account of chicanery, wars and treachery.

Brahmans are not always emulated - in fact, they are losing their brand value by the day. Interestingly, a Brahman who performs priestly functions in a temple is considered lower than a domestic priest, and together they are seen as being lower than Brahmans who are landlords and do not perform any priestly functions. A landed Brahman would never give his daughter in marriage to a priest. The first thing Brahmans do when they come into wealth is give up priestly activities. Only then can they legitimately claim to be on top of the heap. The name of the game in caste ordering is power and wealth.

There is little unanimity across the board on how different castes should be ranked. Each caste believes its members have superior substances and would not like to merge with any other caste. There are so many different kinds of Brahmans - each rigidly upholding his caste boundaries. It is not at all true that only the more privileged castes are punctilious about caste identity and caste rituals. All castes, including the Dalits, are fiercely patriotic in this respect.

The numerous castes which make up the Dalit community have not merged their identities either. They do not inter-marry with other Dalits, nor would they want to marry non-Dalits. They would like to preserve their caste identity and work towards elevating their status in the eyes of other castes. In this sense Dalits, in the main, remain Hindus. While they may protest their lowly position according to the current hierarchical dispensation, they continue to believe that they actually have high caste origins - they were either warriors, or Brahmans, or children of Shiva and Parvati (no less).

Even where Dalits have been converted to Buddhism, as in Maharashtra, Hindu beliefs, rites and customs still prevail. This only demonstrates that all castes believe in the fundaments of caste ideology. This makes it very difficult for them to abandon Hinduism. More often than not, it is not the idea of caste that the subaltern castes find offensive, but their positioning in the hierarchical order. On the question of untouchability there is a curious ambivalence among several members of the Scheduled Castes. While many subjugated castes resent their position in the caste system, they were not always against untouchability. They do not wish to have this stigma attached to them, but consider it justified in the case of the other so-called ``untouchables''. This is what prompted the famous sociologist, I.P.Desai, to comment that there exists ``untouchability amongst untouchables''.

To a large extent the anger among Dalits that they cannot be priests reflects their buy-in to the caste system and caste values. It is almost as if all would be forgiven and forgotten if Dalits were allowed to wear the sacred thread. Caste prejudices and exploitation will not disappear into thin air if the ranks of Brahmans are enlarged. In fact, there are Brahmans and Brahmans, and, as we said earlier, there is no unanimity among them. There is the ghoulish Mahabrahman who presides over funerary ceremonies, and then there is the Chamarwa Brahman too who officiates at ceremonies for many Dalits. Further, one does not have to be a Brahman to be exploitative. Thevars, Jats, Ahirs, Rajputs, are a whole lot worse than most Brahmans when it comes to subjugating those under them in the name of caste.

It is often commented, somewhat derisively, that Dr. Ambedkar took a really hard-nosed decision in opting for Buddhism. He nearly went over to the side of Sikhism, prompted by the Hindu Mahasabha. He thought about Christianity too, but perhaps because of the memory of British colonialism, turned it down. Interestingly, he never thought of converting to Islam. When he chose Buddhism, it was probably because it was a religion with some eschatological affinities with Hinduism, and yet did not valorise caste. The point, however, is that converting from Hinduism does not always mean abandonment of the caste system.

Mahars who now declare their allegiance with Buddhism are still caste conscious when it comes to marriage. Nor do they follow Buddhist vows closely in other matters either. In a brilliant paper, ``Buddhism, Conversion and Identity'', Neera Burra demonstrates how Buddhists in Marathwada still observe many Hindu customs, and even worship Hindu gods. We do know there is a great degree of old fashioned casteism among Christians. For example, Syrian Christians will not marry Latin Christians, or Neo- Christians. Even Muslims in India are bound by caste norms. I found that Muslim Jats (or Muley Jats) of Uttar Pradesh were one with Hindu Jats when it came to their abhorrence for Harijans and Dalits. In Punjab today there is an open confrontation between Jat Sikhs and Dalit Sikhs. In many villages there are two Gurdwaras - one for Jat Sikhs and the other for Dalit Sikhs.

It is interesting in this context that the All-India Christian Council and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India should come out in open support of Mr. Udit Raj and the conversion of Dalits to Buddhism. I suppose their reasoning is that as long as the principle behind conversions is being energised, it does not really matter who is converting to what. This is probably why the All-India Christian Council even sponsored 300 Dalits to the recent conference against racism in Durban. Perhaps, these Christian bodies should expend greater energy in abolishing casteism among their ranks. Today, in the South, it is rare for a Dalit Christian to be appointed Bishop of an important Church.

If Mr. Udit Raj and the spokespersons of the All-India Confederation of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Organisations are to be believed there will be more conversions in Bodh Gaya on November 17. More power to such people and to their quest in thumbing their nose at Hinduism. But their fight would really be more comprehensive if they thought a little more deeply about combating caste among Dalits, rather than in wanting to be priests in a new religious order.

(The writer is Professor of Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.)

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