Dalits: The Untouchables

The lowest caste of India's hereditary based caste system, those born with the title of 'Dalit' belongs to a caste which is so low that it isn't even considered a class, unlike the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, etc. Those who are Dalits technically do not belong to the caste system, as in Hindu texts, there is no mention of the class of Dalit. Though technically everyone now under Indian law is equal - regardless of caste - Dalits across rural India continue to face persecution despite 'progress' made by the Indian government.

Dalits, who have been long forbidden from education or moving up a caste, have been entirely excluded from Hindu life. Neither allowed to go to public events or to go to temple, they have been the brunt of opression for centuries. If a Dalit was to walk in the shadow or make eye contact with a Brahmin or Kshatriya, the two highest castes, they would make that Brahmin impure and would thus be put to death. Like most castes in India, Dalits are not a single race of people but rather exist in all parts of India and the Hindu world. They number around 130 million or 16% of India's total population.

The word 'Dalit' means 'oppressed'. Other terms used to describe Hindus who were of this impure caste have been called 'Harijan' or 'Children of God' (a term created by Mohandas Gandhi) and scheduled castes and tribes. Dalits to this day work the most uncleanly of all jobs such as being mid-wives, cleaning sewers by hand, and collecting/taking out garbage. Because their jobs made them, according to the Brahmins, spiritually impure, Dalits were not allowed to ride horses, buses, cars, and had to drink from a different well than everyone else in villages across India. Many Dalits sought to escape from their 'caste' and have done a number of things to escape oppression.

One way Dalits sought to escape oppression to was to move to the city, where the caste system doesn't play much importance. However, most Dalits owe huge sums of money to upper-caste Hindus that was borrowed several past generations ago. Therefore, they can not leave their slave-like conditions as life-long servants. Though the government reserves a set amount of seats in parliament and government jobs for Dalits, and indeed some Dalits have gone on to become major politicians, most Dalits continue to live as they did hundreds of years, poor and exploited as ever. A more controversial way some Dalits have used to escape the unfairness of the caste system is by converting to another religion.

Millions of Dalits are thought to have converted to casteless Buddhism. By converting to Buddhism in India, an individual gains minority rights, though loses the privileges one would normally have if they were a 'Dalit'. One of the major reasons Dalits convert to Buddhism and not other major religions such as Islam and Christianity is because Buddhism not only completely rejects the caste system - unlike Christianity - but also has it's roots in India. However, to end the mass conversions, Hindu groups have fought to reclassify Buddhism as a branch of Hinduism rather than a completely separate religion so as to discourage conversion. It is thought that a millennia ago, to escape caste-based discrimination, many millions of Dalits converted to Islam when Islam first arrived in India. Islam also completely rejects caste-based discrimination and considers all people equal.

Though Christianity also teaches love for all, caste-based discrimination still exists within the Christian communities of India. Many Dalit Christians still face day-to-day discrimination like other Dalit Hindus. Dalits are sometimes even forced to sit separately from the rest of their Christian brethren during Church sermons and are buried in separate parts of Christian cemeteries. Christian rights groups contend that because Dalit converts still face discrimination, they should be given the same privileges as Hindu Dalits. However, they are still denied these rights.

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