Caste in Punjab :Looking for Regional Specificities

Ronki Ram (Dr.)
Department of Political Science, Panjab University Chandigarh

The paper aims at mapping the complex nature of caste hierarchy and Dalit identity in different regions in the state of Punjab , which it suggests is an apt case for such a study. Thinking of Punjab as a geographic entity, one is reminded of the processes of reteritorrialization it has undergone in the recent past. Undivided Punjab in colonial India occupied a vast territory lying between the two rivers namely Sindh (now in Pakistan ) and Yamuna ( India ). The truncated Punjab that an independent India inherited in 1947 was much smaller in terms of territory and people than the one that became a part of Pakistan .

The communal bloodbath that followed the partition witnessed the emergence of two separate and artificially carved territorial regional states with hostile boundaries. The partition was not merely a geographic event; it deeply transformed the ethnic posture of the newly created regions on the both sides of the border. The Indian Punjab underwent further reterritorialization as Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were carved out as separate linguist regional states.

It was in the reorganized post-1966 PunjabiSuba that the Sikhs found themselves in majority for the first time in the history of India . The Scheduled castes (both Sikhs and Hindus), popularly known as Dalits, became the second largest group in the state with a highest percentage of the total population of Punjab in comparison to their counterpart in the rest of the states in the country. Ironically, the reorganized and truncated Punjab failed to emerge as a unified socio-cultural and linguistic region. Indian Punjab as of now is divided into three distinct cultural regions: Majha, Malwa and Doaba (for electoral politics pattern in these regions see: Kumar 2007: 269-70). The rivers mark the boundaries of these three distinct regions. Over time, each region has come to acquire a specific social set-up, economic structure and cultural pattern that turn Punjab study into a most complex as well as an interesting case for the critical exploration of the phenomenon of caste hierarchy and Dalit identity.

It is in this context that caste hierarchies and Dalit identity in Punjab assume critical importance. While Dalits in Punjab constitute almost one third of the total population of the state, largest proportion of the Scheduled Castes population in the regional states of India (28.85 percent, Census of India 2001), ironically they are left with the lowest share in the agricultural land in the state in the country (2.5 percent). Less than five percent of them are cultivators. Why they have been so severely deprived of land in the state with an agrarian economy? How does it affect the patterns of caste hierarchies in Punjab ? Which avenues are available to the Dalits in the state to assert for their human rights? These are some of the research questions that this paper intends to lake up. The enormous gap between their numerical strength and the meager share in the land of the state assumes further importance in the wake of the ensuing significant sudden increase in their population as Mahatam, Rai Sikh – another downtrodden community – has recently been included in the Scheduled Castes list of the Indian constitution (Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order (Amendment) Act, 2007, No 31 dated 29 th August, 2007 (Punjab Government Gazette, Regd. No. CHD/0092/2006-2008, No. 45, November 9, 2007 ).

For a correct understanding of the phenomenon of caste and untouchability, an understanding of the specificities of a region is of critical importance. Though caste is prevalent throughout the country, it has never been monolithic and unilinear in its practice. Every region has its specific and unique characteristics that closely impact its socio-political and economic structures. In this section, an attempt is made to explore the regional specificities of the north Indian state of Punjab and their impact upon the phenomenon of caste and untouchability in the region.

T he phenomenon of untouchability was never considered so strong in Punjab as in many other parts of the country (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:15). Punjab has generally been known as a “notable exception” to the dominant view of caste and untouchability in India . But it does not mean that untouchability is alien to this part of the country. Dalits were never spared of social oppression and economic deprivations in Punjab . The repeated references to and loud condemnations of caste based discriminations in the teachings of the Sufi Sants and the Sikh Gurus in the region is a case in point. The social reform movements led by the Arya Samaj, Singh Sabha and Chief Khalsa Dewan further vindicated the presence of the institution of caste in the social set up of Punjab. Moreover, the roots of caste hierarchy were so well entrenched in the society that the reformatory measures undertaken by various social reforms movements failed to weed them out. However, what distinguished it from the other parts of India is the material factor of the caste based discriminations in Punjab as against the over all-dominating pattern of purity-pollution syndrome.

Another feature that distinguished Punjab from the rest of the regions in the country was the phenomenon of widespread landlessness among the Dalits and the absolute monopoly of the Jats (a dominant peasant caste) on the agricultural land in the state. The Punjab Land Alienation Act (1901) favoured the agricultural communities (mainly Jats) against the non -agricultural castes as it deprived the latter including dalits the right to purchase land. Since Punjab happened to be primarily an agricultural state, the ownership of land assumed significant importance in determining social status. Nowhere in India , are Dalits so extensively deprived of agricultural land as in the case of Punjab . Despite their highest proportion in the country, less than 5 percent of them were cultivators (lowest in India , 1991 census). They shared only 4.82 percent of the number of operational holdings and 2.34 percent of the total area under cultivation (1991 census). Consequently, till recently the landlessness rendered a large majority of them (60 percent, 1991 census) into agricultural laborers and made them subservient to the landowners, who invariably happen to be Sikh Jats. However, a significant change has taken place over the last few decades. Dalits have entered into a number of professions, which were traditionally considered as the mainstay of the artisan castes (Ram 2004a: 5-6). This has led to a sharp decline in the share of Dalits in the agricultural work force in the state, which in itself has come down from 24 per cent in 1991 to 16 percent in 2001 (Singh 2005:3).

The hold of the Jats on the land was so strong that the lower castes were even denied the access to village common land (shamlaat). In fact, Dalits were never considered a part of villages, as their residences were located outside the main premises of the villages. So much so that the land on which the Dalit houses were built also considered to be belonged to the Jats (Virdi 2003: 2 &11). This kept the Dalits always afraid lest the Jat landowners ordered them to vacate the land. The abysmally low share of the Dalits in the land seems to be the major cause of their hardships and social exclusion. It is also an indication of the historical denial of political and economic rights to them (Thorat 2006:2432). The slightest sign of protest by the Dalits for the betterment of their living conditions has often provoked the Jats to impose social boycott on them.

The patterns of domination by the Jats and that of the subordination of the Dalits also distinguish Punjab from rest of the country in a significant way. In Punjab the scale of social measurement differs from that of the other parts of the country. The social measurement scale in Punjab is not based on the purity/pollution principle of Brahminical orthodoxy. Instead, it is based on the hold of land, martial strength, and allegiance to Sikhism, a comparatively new religion that openly challenged the rituals and dogmatic traditions of Hinduism and Islam. Unlike the system of caste hierarchy in rest of the country, the top down rank grading of Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (soldier), Vaishya (trader) and Shudra (menian worker) carries no meaning in Punjab. In Punjab Brahmin is not placed on the top of the caste hierarchy. The Sikh Jats, who otherwise have been Shudra as per the Varna system, have considered themselves socially superior to the Brahmins (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:2; and Saberwal 1976:10; Tandon 1961: 77). In fact, Jats in the contemporary Punjab have replaced Brahmins in terms of domination. The ideological undercurrents of social domination based on the principles of purity/pollution, and wisdom failed to hold ground in Punjab due to various historical reasons (Ibbetson1883, rpt. 1970:1-87; Puri 2004a: 1). Interestingly, the phenomenon of the domination of Jat Sikhs in Punjab is a combined outcome of their numerical, economic, and religious as well as political preponderance. Jats significantly hold multiple identities, as they are Jats by caste, Sikhs by religion, and landowners by their hold on cultivation. All these different identities reinforce each other and thus strengthen the position of the Jat community in the state.

Historically, the factor that has strengthened the domination of the Jats in the state of Punjab has been their numerical preponderance in the Sikh religion. Their large-scale entry into Sikh religion not only rescued them from the labyrinth of their lower status in the Hindu society; it also turned them into a powerful community within Sikhism. According to the records of 1881 Census, 66 percent of those who converted to Sikhism were Jats. The second largest community within Sikhism was that of the Tarkhans/Ramgarhias (the carpenter caste) who just constituted 6.5 percent of the total Sikh population in Punjab . Next to the Ramgarhias were the Chamars/Ramdasias with 5.6 percent, followed by the Chuhras/Mazhabis who were 2.6 percent. If clubbed together these two outcaste groups (Ramdasias and Mazhabis) becomes the second largest group (8.2 percent) of Sikhs within Sikhism. Thus the numerical dominance of the Jats within Sikhism combined with their martial and self-willed nature, and monopoly on the land ‘elevated them well above their humble origins’.

Such a combination and reinforcement of multiple identities and their concentration in the community as is with the case of the Jats is, however, conspicuous by its absence among the Dalits. Dalits in Punjab have been categorized into 39 castes (Punjab Government Gazette, Regd. No. CHD/0092/2006-2008, No. 45, November 9, 2007 ). Out of these 39 castes more than 80 percent of the total Scheduled Castes population belongs to two major caste groupings of Chamars (leather working castes) and Chuhra (sweepers). These two caste groups consist of four castes – Mazhabi (30.7%), Chamar (25.8%), Ad-Dharmi (15.9%), and Balmiki (11.1%). The Chamar caste group includes: Ad-Dharmi, Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasias, and Ravidasias. The Chuhra caste group clubs together Balmiki, Bhangi and Mazhabi castes. The Chamar caste group is largely confined to the Doaba sub-region of the Punjab (comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, and Nawan Shahr districts lying between two rivers, Beas and Sutlej ). And the Chuhra caste group is mainly concentrated in the smaller Majha region and the much bigger Malwa region of the state. At the district level, Mazhabis are largely concentrated in Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar , Faridkot, Mansa, and Bhatinda districts of Punjab . Apart from their heavy concentration in the Doaba sub-region of Punjab , Chamars are also numerically strong in Gurdaspur, Rupnagar, Ludhiana , Patiala and Sangrur districts. Among the Chamar caste group, Ad-Dharmis far outnumber other SCs in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts in rural as well as urban settings. Mazhabis in the Chuhra caste group outnumber other SCs in Faridkot and Ferozepur districts (for more details see Gosal 2004: 26-39). Though, traditionally they have been condemned as polluted and impure because of their occupational contact with animal carcass and hides, Chamars are basically chandravanshi by clan and are also considered as the highest caste among the SCs in Punjab (Deep 2001:7). Thus Dalits in Punjab are scattered in multi-identities that weaken their collective strength and unity. Under the influence of Sikhism, while Jats of Punjab have enhanced their social status and achieved spiritual coherence, the same could not happen in the case of Dalits who remained divided within different religious orders. Dalits are found in almost all the popular religions in Punjab . Their presence in Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity not only proves the presence of the institution of caste in all these religions, but also weaken the chances of solidarity among them.

The subjugation of the Dalits got further deepened during the course of capital-intensive green revolution that ushered in post-1966 Punjab . The process of green revolution transformed the traditional subsistence character of the agriculture into commercial and mechanical farming. The market oriented agriculture pattern favoured the landowners, which further marginalized the landless dalits and widened the already existing divisions between them and the dominant peasant caste in Punjab . Interestingly, it was also during this phase of market-oriented agriculture that a new middle class of educated Dalits emerged in Punjab being the beneficiary of the affrmative policies of the government. The advent of this new class among the Dalits coupled with the rise of the Ambedkarite movement in the region led to the formation of Dalit consciousness in the state.

The emergence of the Dalit consciousness induced the Dalit agricultural labourers to ask for higher wages in the rural settings of Punjab , especially in its Doaba sub-region. The Dalit struggle for higher wages often employed pressure tactics of refusal to work unless the landowners increased the wages. In fact, it was during this very phase of transition in the agrarian economy of Punjab that the process of Dalit immigration to Europe , North America , and the Gulf got streamlined. The process of Dalit immigration from Punjab also coincided with the phenomenon of the influx of migrant labour from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh into Punjab that further sharpened the contradiction between the dominant peasant castes and the landless Dalits. The migrant labour was much cheaper and was vulnerable to explotation. Moreover, the changed cropping system under the green revolution patterns of agriculture squeezed the extant of farm labour to a few peak periods – paddy transplantation, paddy harvesting-cum-threshing, and wheat harvesting. The traditional agriculture system, capable of providing almost round the year regular work, was changed into a commercial agriculture set-up that did not offer more than 75 days work annually (Singh 2001:5). So now they had to perforce seek employment in other sectors for the rest of the year.

It was inevitable under the circumstances that Dalit labourers, sandwitched between the influxes of cheap migrant labour on the one hand and mechanized farming on the other, would begin to look for job in different sectors other than the agriculture. The alternative job opportunities reduced the dependence of the Dalits on landowners. The social mobility of the new middle class Dalits, coupled with their relative emancipation from the economic dependence on the landowners led to the emergence of Dalit assertion in Punjab . The sustainability of this assertion drew strength from the politicization of caste on the one hand and from the failure of the asymmetrical caste structures to accommodate Dalits into its social space as equal citizen, on the other (Judge 2006:11). This new form of Dalit assertion and its recent exhibition in the form of Jat-Dalit clashes in the villages of Punjab is of critical importance for the understanding of the emergent political sociology and economy of recent Punjab .

Yet another feature that has distinguished the Dalits of Punjab from their counterparts in other parts of the country is their community wise heavy concentration in some regions of the state. The Ad Dharmi and Chamar of the Chamar caste group are not only numerically preponderent in the Doaba region of Punjab , they also happen to be the most resourceful caste in comparison to the all other castes among the SCs of Punjab. ‘Ad Dharmi Chamars are on the top of virtually every parameter – education, urbanisation, jobs, occupational change, cultural advancement, political mobilization’ (Puri 2004:4). The famous Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s also emerged in this very region of Punjab . In the early 1930s, some of Ad Dharmi Chamars established a prosperous leather-business town (Boota Mandi) in the outskirts of Jalandhar city. Ad Dharmi Chamars of the Boota Mandi were among the early supporters of the Ad Dharm movement. Seth Kishen Dass, a leather business tycoon of the Boota Mandi, who won the 1937 Assembly election from Jalandhar constituency in Punjab , financed the headquarters building of the Ad Dharm Mandal in Jalandhar city (Ram 2004). Nowadays, this building houses Guru Ravidass High school and Sewing Centre. It is again from this caste group of the sub-region that maximum emigration took place to Europe , North America , and the Middle East . The Ad Dharmis abroad have not only excelled in business and skilled labour professions, they also established a strong networking of social organizations, International Dalit Conferences, Ravidass Sabhas and Ravidass Gurdwaras throughout Europe and North America .

Caste discrimination in Punjab is unique in comparison to its observance in other parts of the country. The Brahminical tradition of social stratification, as discussed above, has never been so effective there. The word Brahmin did not carry a sacerdotal connotation in Punjab . It was used, rather, derogatorily. Though the down play of the Brahminism in Punjab, earlier by Islam and latter on by the hegemonic hold of the dominant caste’s cultural patterns, might have diminished the purity-pollution practices of Hinduism to the benefits of Dalits (Saberwal 1973:256), but it failed to improve the socio-economic conditioned of the Dalits in the state. The centre of power in Punjab revolves around the axle of land. Much of the land is owned by the Sikh Jats. Although Scheduled Castes in Punjab constitute high proportion of the population in comparison to the all India average of 16.3 per cent their share in ownership of land is negligible. Their being landless forced them to depend on the land-owning castes in the absence of alternative jobs in the agrarian economy of rural Punjab in the pre green revolution phase. Since cultivation required the services of the Dalits in its various operations, it was not feasible to strictly follow the system of untouchability based on the principle of purity-pollution. It does not mean that the Dalits were not discriminated in Punjab . They were very much discriminated. However, the context of their discrimination was different from that of the many other parts of India . The practice of untouchability in Punjab was based the scheme of keeping the Dalits bereft of land ownership and political power in the state. Dalits were forced to confine to their lowest status in the villages of Punjab , lest they dare to ask for a share in the power structures (Puri 2003: 2698). In other words, despite the absence of the purity-pollution syndrome, the presence of the deep asymmetrical structure of power in the agrarian village economy of Punjab has subordinated the Dalits to the land-owning upper castes (Jodhka 2002: 1815).

The rural Punjab like the rest of the country is divided into upper caste and Dalit settlements. Dalit settlements are located, invariably, on the side towards which the dirt of the village flowed. Dalits were not allowed to build pucca (concrete) houses because the land on which they lived did not belong to them. In the villages, Dalits were often involved in what has been traditionally considered unclean occupations – carrying and skinning dead animals, scavenging and working as attached labourer-Siris. Such type of work is now performed on non-jajmani basis. In Malwa region, there are many dalits who still have been working as Siris. According to a latest study of 26 villages in Malwa region, 21 had dalits working as Siris (Jodhka 2002: 1816). Another study found six Jats working as Siris with other Jats in a village in the district of Sangrur (Singh 2001:3). The situation, however, is entirely different in the Doaba region of Punjab where the majority of the Dalits have dissociated themselves from such types of menial works. Although Dalit had interactions with Jat-Sikhs, being agricultural labourers and siris, they used to keep their own tumblers and plates to take meals or tea or water from the upper caste Sikhs. As Manjit Singh has observed: ‘the upper castes Sikhs are a separate identity and like the upper caste Hindus they also follow the ideology of a graded human society…The Sikhs may take food with the dalit-Sikhs in Gurdwaras, but they have no bond of fraternity with them’ (2002:333). To quote Singh again, “the impact of Hinduism and caste is visible on the adherents of Guru Nanak and they monopolised Sikhism and could not accord an equal social status to the lower caste Sikhs in Punjab ” (Ibid.). Dalit Sikhs in Punjab are cremated on separate cremation grounds along with their counterparts in the Hindu religion. Even in some villages the land meant for the cremation grounds in the Shamlat (common land under the control of Panchayats) have been grabbed by the upper castes. In recent case some persons belonging to the dominant caste in village Todder Majra of the Mohali district of Punjab grabbed the cremation ground land of the Dalits in the village (Desh Sevak, 2 January 2005 ). This shows that the social position of the Dalit Sikhs in Punjab is no better than their counterparts elsewhere within Hinduism in the country.

Dalits Sikhs did not get equal treatment in the Gurudwaras of the upper caste Sikhs. “Mazhabis were forbidden to enter the Golden Temple for worship; their offering of karah prasad was not accepted and the Sikhs denied them access to public well and other utilities” (Singh 1933: 146-47, 156-57 cited in Puri 2003: 2697). Dalit Sikhs were not allowed to go beyond the fourth step in the Golden Temple and the members of the four-fold varnas were instructed not to mix with them. Evidence of untouchability against the dalit Sikhs is vividly reflected in a number of Gurmatas (resolutions) adopted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee from 1926-1933. Although removal of untouchability figured in the Singh Sabha movement, no strenuous effort was made in that direction, which can be attributed to the fact that the Jats, who composed 70 per cent of the Akalis, and other high castes, were not inclined to remove untouchability. The continuation of caste-based discrimination has forced the dalit Sikhs to establish separate Gurdwaras, which in turn has further led to the strengthening of the already existing caste divisions among the Sikhs (Oberoi: 2700; Jodhka 2002: 1818; Muktsar 1999 and 2003). The observance of caste prejudices against the dalit Sikhs moreover has compelled them to ‘search for alternative cultural spaces’ in a large number of deras, sects, and dargahs of Muslim Pirs and other saints (Puri 2003: 2700). Dalits constitute a very large majority of the follwers of the various Dears in Punjab .

The rapid mobilization of Dalits evidenced in the form of mushrooming growth of divergent Deras in Punjab clearly reflects on the prevalence of the assymetrical social structure in the state. The pressure of assymetrical social structures was so intense that even conversion from Hinduism to other maintream religions in the state failed to rescue the Dalits from the curse of untouchability. It is at this juncture that Deras of various nomenclatures cropped up in Punjab to offer a new space free from the constraints of caste hierarchy and oppression. Moreover, another factor that made these Deras more accessible to Dalits was the absense of the constraint to change their religion. One can be follower of a Dera without compromising with his religion. The deras essentially expect a follower to observe rather strictly certain moral and ethical codes devoid of any sort of ritual paraphernalia. In fact these Deras have emerged as a source of right remedy to cure the wounded psyche of Dalits (Rajshekar 2004:3).In geographical terms Deras in Punjab defy regional disparities. Each region in Punjab is thickly spotted with Deras of various nomenclatures. Since these Deras are organised around pristine tradtions of syncretic religion in the state, they provide respectable space to Dalits who are not subjected to social exclusion neither within the precincts of the Deras nor among the community life of their followers. Whether the egalitarian life patterns within these Deras across the regions in Punjab or the emerging communitarian social behaviour among their large following would facilitate in the emergence of a viable unity among the various Dalit castes in the state could be raised only as a hypothetical question.

References

Deep, Dalip Singh (2001). Sadhan Main Ravidass Sant: Jiwan Ate Vichar (Sant Ravidass among the Saints: Life and Thought). Patiala : Punjabi University .

Gosal, R. P. S. (2004). “Distribution and Relative Concentration of Scheduled Caste Population in Punjab ”, in Harish. K. Puri (ed.), Dalits in Regional Context. New Delhi : Rawat.

Grewal, J. S. (1994). The Sikhs of Punjab . New Cambridge University of India.New Delhi : Foundation Books.

Habib, Irfan. (1996). “Jatts of Punjab and Sind ”, in Harbans Singh and N. Hindu ( Madras ), National Daily.

Ibbetson, Sir Denzil. (1970, rpt. 1883). Punjab Castes . Punjab : Languages Department Punjab .

Jaffrelot, Christophe. (2003). India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Low Castes in North India. Delhi : Permanent Black.

Jodhka, Surinder S. (2006). “The Problem”, Seminar567 (Re-Imagining Punjab), November, pp.12-16.

——————— (2002). “Caste and Untouchability in Rural Punjab ”. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 37, No. 19, May 11-17, pp. 1813-1823.

______________. (2003). “Caste, Occupation divide gets sharper in Punjab : Agrarian Technology has Reshaped Social Relations”, The Tribune, July 18. ___________ and Louis Prakash. (2003). “Caste Tensions in Punjab : Talhan and Beyond”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 38, No. 28, July 12-18, pp. 2923-26.

Judge, P. S. (2006). “Dalit Assertion in Punjab: Examining New Trends and Emerging Dilemmas”, paper presented in a seminar Conditions of Marginal Groups in India organized by the Centre for Social Studies, Surat, 5-6 July.

Juergensmeyer, Mark. (1988). Religious Rebels in the Punjab : The Social Vision of Untouchables. Delhi : Ajanta .

Kumar, Ashutosh. 2007. “The 2007 Punjab Election: Exploring the Verdict”. Journal of Punjab Studies , Vol. 14, No. 2.

Mcleod, W.H. (1996). The Evolution of Sikh Community.Delhi: Oxford University Press.

_________. (1986). Punjabis in New Zealand : A History of Punjab Migration 1890-1940. Amritsar : Guru Nanak Dev University .

Muktsar, Gurnam Singh. (1999). “Every Jati has separate Gurdwara Even as Sikhs are Busy with Khalsa Fete”, Dalit Voice, June 16-30. _______________. (2003). “Sikhs Divided into 3 Warring Camps: Upper Castes, Jats and Dalits”, Dalit Voice, August 1-15, pp. 21-22.

Pettigrew, Joyce. (1978). Robber Noblemen: A Study of the Political System of the Sikh Jats. New Delhi : Ambika Publications.

Puri, Harish K. (2003). “Scheduled Castes in Sikh Community: A Historical Perspective”. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.38, No. 26, June 28-July 4, pp. 2693-2701.

………….(2004). “Introduction”, in his Dalits in Regional Context. Jaipur: New Delhi .

………… (2004a). “Dalits of Punjab”, International Newsletter ( Waterford , CT. ), Vol.9, No. 1, February, pp.1&9-11.

Rajshekar, V. T. (2004). “A Silent Socio-cultural Revolution Sweeps Punjab: Ravidass Saints Gain Millions of Followers”, Dalit Voice ( Bangalore ), Vol. 23, No. 13, July 1-15, pp.3-5.

Ram, Ronki (2004). “Untouchability, Dalit Consciousness, and the Ad Dharm Movement in Punjab ”, Contributions to Indian Sociology ( NS ), Vol. 38, No. 3, September-December, pp. 323-49. ……… (2004a). “The Dalit Sikhs”, Dalit International Newsletter , Vol. 9, No. 3, October, pp.5-7.

Saberwal, Satish. (1976). Mobile Men: Limits to Social Change in Urban Punjab . New Delhi : Vikas.

______. (1973). “Receding Pollution: Intercaste Relations in Urban Punjab ”, Sociological Bulletin. Vol. 22, No.3, September, pp. 234-59.

Singh, Balwant. (2002). The Suffering People. Saharanpur : Ambedkar Mission Publication.

Singh, Gurdev [ed.]. (1986). Perspectives on the Sikh Tradition. Patiala : Siddharth Publications.

Singh, Jagjit. (1985). Perspectives on Sikh Studies. New Delhi : Guru Nanak Foundation.

Singh, Khushwant. (1953). The Sikhs. London : George Allen Unwin.

Singh, Inder Pal Singh. (1977). “Caste in a Sikh Village ”, in Harjinder Singh (ed.), Caste among Non-Hindus in India . Delhi : National Publishing House.

Singh, Manjit. (2001). “Economic Change and Dalit Identity in Rural Punjab: A Note”, Paper presented at the Seminar on Liberalisation,Dalits and the State, organized by the Department of Sociology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, May 3-4.

………(2005), “Introductory Remarks”, Circulated at the National Seminar on Future of Rural Development in the North West India, organized by the Department of Sociology, Panjab University Chandigarh, February 24-25.

Tandon, P. (1961). Punjabi Century(1857-1947). New York : Harcourt, Brace and World.

Thorat, Sukhadeo. (2006). “Paying the Social Debt”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLI, No. 24, June 17-23, pp.2432-2435.

Virdi, S. L. (2003). “Bharat De Dalitan Di Asseem Dastan Da Dastavej” (Punjabi), Begum Pura Shaher, August 11. pp. 2-11.

Dalits is a “politically correct” nomenclature for the ex-untouchables who traditionally have been placed at the lowest rung of the Hindu caste hierarchy and were contemptuously called by different names like Shudras, Atishudras, Achhuts, Antyajas, Chandalas Pariahs, Dheds, Panchamas, Avarnas, Namashudras, Adi-Dravida, Ad Dharmis, Mazhabis, Harijans, Depressed Classes and Scheduled Castes.It is a broad term that incorporates the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Backward Castes. However, in the current political discourse, it is mainly confined to the Scheduled Castes and covers only those Dalits who are classified as Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists but excludes Muslim and Christian Dalits.

However, the main concern of these movements was to transform the attitudes of the individuals rather than striking hard on the asymmetrical structures of the society (Grewal 1994: 116). The socio-religious movements had never taken up the issue of disproportionate landholdings that has been the crucial cause of social inequalities and economic deprivations of the Dalits in the state. Whatever small impact the saints and the socio-religious movements were able to bring in the minds of the people faded away with the passage of time.

Social boycott, a form of social exclusion, involves a ban on the entry of the Dalits in the fields /agricultural lands of the Jats. Social boycott involves severe deprivations of the landless Dalits who are dependent on the lands of the Jats for fuel, fodder and even to answer the call of the nature. The Jat landowners used to employ social boycott, during the wheat harvesting seasons in the early 1970s, as a weapon of suppression against the landless agricultural labourers who demanded hike in their wages. Nowadays, it is being used in the villages of Punjab by the Jats against the agitating Dalits who ask for equal participation in the formal and informal institutions of power at the local level. In the words of Judge, “It is the means to remind them that despite their improved conditions, they continue to be low caste” (Judge 2006:12).

The rise of militancy in Sikhism in the sixteenth century was generally attributed to the martial nature of the Jats (Habib 1996:100; see also Mcleod 1996:12) The ranks and leadership of the Khalsa from this period onwards were deeply predominated by the Jats so much so that the history of the Sikh religion that follows came to be known as “the history of the Jat section of the Sikh community” (Pettigrew 1978:26). For counter arguments on this theme see: Singh (ed.) 1986, especially the sixth part; and Singh 1985). In the rural areas of Punjab , one often heard a Jat saying that he would survive even if cut half when suggested to take medicine in case of sickness.

Dalits have separate Gurdwaras in about 10,000 villages out of a total of 12, 780 villages in Punjab (Dalit Voice, Vol. 22, No. 17 September 1-15, 2003, p. 20). A survey of 116 villages in one Tehsil of Amritsar district showed that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in 68 villages (Puri 2003: 2700). Yet another field-study of 51 villages selected from the three sub-regions of Punjab found that dalits had separate Gurdwaras in as many as 41 villages (Jodhka 2002:1818) ; see also Muktsar 1999; and Muktsar 2003: 21-22.

One of such Deras is situated at village Ballan in the Jalandhar district of Doaba Punjab. This Dera of Sant Sarwan Dass, popularly known as Dera Ballan, has become a paragon of Ravidass movement in Northwest India . It has been playing a leading role in promoting cultural transformation and generating social consciousness among the Dalit of the region. The dera has a library on its premises, publishes a tri-lingual weekly (Begumpura Shaher), distributes free Dalit literature, honours Dalit scholars, runs a model school, and a hospital for the service and uplift of the downtrodden. It has played a pivotal role in constituting and disseminating new religious and ritual practices for Dalits in Punjab . The saints of Ballan have developed their own religious symbols, flags, prayers, dress, salutations and rituals of worship. Of all the major contributions that the Dera Ballan made, the construction of a mammoth Temple of Shri Guru Ravidass ’s Birthplace at Seer Goverdhanpur in the vicinity of holy city of Varanasi is significant. The temple has acquired, perhaps, the same importance for the Dalits as the Golden Temple for the Sikhs.

Posted on May 07, 2009