Dalit Studies: New Perspectives on Indian History and Society Notes

Historical Humiliation and the Emergence of Indian Nationalism

• The Narrative of Mata Prasad: In his 2002 autobiography, Jhompri se Rajbhavan, Mata Prasad provides a critical re-reading of Indian nationalism. He argues that the emergence of nationalist consciousness among the English-educated Indian elite (such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and Lala Lajpat Rai) was fundamentally rooted in their personal experiences of everyday humiliation and loss of dignity (apaman) under British colonial rule.

• The Nature of Elite Humiliation: Elite Indians studying in England or traveling abroad experienced humiliation such as:

  • Being unable to travel by first class despite possessing first-class tickets.

  • Exclusion from certain hotels.

  • Being subjected to the derogatory term "Indian dog."

• The Contrast with Dalit Humiliation: Prasad highlights a historical irony: while the Indian elite were enraged by colonial humiliation, they were often oblivious to the far worse forms of humiliation suffered by Dalits within India for centuries at the hands of caste Hindus.

• Gandhi's Formative Experience (1893): Prasad cites Mahatma Gandhi's eviction from a first-class train compartment in South Africa in the year $1893$ as a prime example. Despite Gandhi’s English attire, education as a lawyer, and legal right to the seat, he was humiliated solely due to racial exclusion. Prasad uses this to draw parallels between the racism experienced by Indians abroad and the casteism experienced by Dalits at home.

• The Dalit Historiographical Project: Following Charles Taylor’s ideas on the "politics of recognition," Dalit authors like Prasad and Gopal Guru argue that their work is not just political but also historiographical. They seek to locate the origins of nationalism in social and cultural exclusion rather than just economic inequity.

The Contemporary Context and the Rise of Dalit Studies

• Defining "Dalit":

  • Today, the term is widely used to describe India’s former untouchables.

  • The term acquired a radical, oppositional consciousness in the $1970s$ with the Dalit Panthers’ movement.

  • This contrasts with Gandhi’s term "Harijan" (children of god), which many organizations still use but which Dalit activists often reject in favor of the self-identified "Dalit."

• The 1990s Transition: A major shift occurred after $1989-90$. Partha Chatterjee notes that this period marked the rise of autonomous Dalit politics and regional formations which replaced the Congress Party as the central active political force.

• Five Trends Facilitating Dalit Studies:

  1. The Mandal Commission Controversy (1990): The government decision to implement the $1980$ Mandal Commission report (named after B.P. Mandal) expanded reservations in public education and employment for "lower-caste" Hindu groups (Other Backward Classes).

  2. New Dalit Activism in South India: The emergence of movements in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka in response to mass killings of Dalits and the failure of parliamentary/Marxist parties.

  3. Electoral Success of the BSP: The Bahujan Samaj Party, founded in $1984$ by Kanshi Ram, saw significant success in Northern India, particularly Uttar Pradesh.

  4. Rise of Dalit Feminism: The formation of the National Federation of Dalit Women in $1995$ and the critique of mainstream feminism as "Brahmanical."

  5. Global Discourse on Caste: International engagement, such as the $2001$ World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which linked caste to racial discrimination and human rights.

Key Drivers: The Mandal Commission and Political Mobilization

• Urban Visibility of Caste: Before the $1990s$, caste was often considered a rural phenomenon. The anti-Mandal student protests in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad made caste extremely visible in urban, modern centers.

• Intelligentsia Reaction: Commentators like K. Balagopal and Gail Omvedt observed that the majority of the Indian caste Hindu intelligentsia opposed the Mandal recommendations, fearing it would tear the "national fabric."

• Shift in Political Category: Caste changed from being viewed as a "primordial, backward" remnant of the past to a "modern and living" legitimate political category.

• BSP's Strategic Alliances: The BSP achieved a major political milestone in $1993$ by forming a coalition with the Samajwadi Party to win the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections. In $2006$, the BSP won a majority in Uttar Pradesh by building an alliance of Dalits, poor backward communities, Muslims, and Brahmins.

• Legislative Specifics of Reservations:

  • The Indian Constitution of $1950$ provided Scheduled Castes (SC) with $15 \text{ percent}$ and Scheduled Tribes (ST) with $7 \text{ percent}$ reservation.

  • The Mandal Commission recommended an additional $27 \text{ percent}$ for Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The Emergence of Dalit Feminism

• Critique of Mainstream Feminism: Dalit women identified mainstream Indian feminism as "Brahmanical" because it failed to recognize caste as a fundamental element shaping norms, including intimate and sexual domains.

• Three Modes of Subjugation: Dalit women articulate their struggle against:

  1. Patriarchy: Male domination within the family and within Dalit political organizations.

  2. Caste Inequities: Exclusion by both caste Hindu men and women.

  3. Sexual Violence: Specifically the use of rape and violence by caste Hindu men to enforce communal domination.

• Gopal Guru's 1995 Intervention: In "Dalit Women Talk Differently," Guru argued that the humiliation and violation of Dalit women’s bodies cannot be explained solely by frameworks of patriarchy or class.

• Anti-Mandal Arrogance: During the Mandal protests, some upper-caste women displayed placards expressing anxiety about finding "good" upper-caste husbands, which Dalit feminists viewed as a public display of caste arrogance.

Deconstructing Dominant Academic Paradigms

• The Gandhian "Harijan" Framework:

  • This framework represents the Dalit through the physical trope of the "Bhangi" (scavenger), a stigmatized victim in need of reform from above.

  • Gandhi idealized the scavenger, suggesting an "ideal Bhangi" should have a scientific education to understand the quality of night soil.

  • Ambedkar criticized this in his $1945$ book What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables, arguing it would fix Dalits as "eternal scavengers."

• The Colonialism vs. Nationalism Binary:

  • Traditional historiography (Marxist and Nationalist) views the colonial state solely as an instrument of exploitation.

  • Because Dalit movements often utilized colonial legal systems to fight caste oppression, they were historically dismissed as "sectarian" or "anti-national."

• The Sanskritization Model:

  • Proposed by M.N. Srinivas, this model suggests Dalits merely imitate upper-caste rituals for social mobility.

  • This model is criticized for denying Dalits autonomous agency and consciousness.

• The Nehruvian Model:

  • Postulated the Indian nation as a space of casteless, secular citizens.

  • Critics argue this allowed the upper-caste elite to hide their "ascriptive markers" (caste) behind a modernist idiom of secular national development.

Limitations of Subaltern Studies and Sociology

• Subaltern Studies Critique: Though Ranajit Guha and Partha Chatterjee recognized subaltern radicalism, the category of "subaltern" was often restricted to the "peasantry."

  • This ignored the fact that many "subaltern peasants" (lower-castes) were themselves exploiters of Dalit laborers.

  • Dalits were often the "subaltern of the subaltern."

• Colonial Sociology:

  • Early works (1890s–1930s) by administrators like Edgar Thurston and William Crooke documented castes like the Chamars, Pasis, Malas, and Madigas.

  • However, they primarily defined these groups through "impure" occupations defined by Brahmanical texts like the Manusmriti.

Recovering Dalit Agency and Alternative Histories

• New Historiographical Actors: Scholars now focus on early Dalit intellectuals like Swami Achhutanand (United Provinces), Bhagya Reddy Varma (Hyderabad), Iyothee Thass (Tamil Nadu), and Mangoo Ram (Punjab).

• Iyothee Thass (1890-1914): Argued that Buddhism was the original religion of Tamil Dalits long before the Dravidian movement of the $1930s$.

• Ayyankali (Kerala): Founded the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham in $1898$ to demand access to public roads and schools, creating a "modern social space."

• Bhagya Reddy Varma: Established the Central Adi-Hindu Social Service League in $1922$ in Hyderabad.

• Religious Transitions:

  • In Punjab, the transition of Adi-Dharamis (primarily Chamars) to Ravi Dasi communities centered around the teachings of Sant Ravi Das.

  • Dalit Christian movements in Kerala (led by figures like Poikayil Yohannan) sought to distinguish themselves from Syrian Christians by focusing on a "Dalit Messiah."

• Sikhism and Caste: Raj Kumar Hans highlights that despite Sikhism's theological claim of equality, Jatt Sikh dominance has led to the continued persistence of untouchability, prompting Dalits to establish their own deras (places of worship).

Spatial and Economic Exclusion

• Spatial Exclusion: Dalit autobiographies by authors like Omprakash Valmiki (Joothan) and Vasant Moon emphasize that Dalits were forced to live in separate quarters at a distance from the main village.

• Colonial Land Policies: In many provinces, colonial tenancy laws barred Dalits from owning agricultural land because stereotypes defined them as "nonagriculturalist" castes, favoring "lower-caste" and upper-caste groups instead.

• Labor and Gender: While caste Hindu women were often restricted from field labor, Dalit and lower-caste women were forced into it, highlighting how caste attitudes to work and space are gendered.

The Qualitative Transformation of Academia

• The Post-1990s Generation: A new generation of scholars has entered academia. Unlike the traditional elite, these scholars often:

  • Do not come from landed or bureaucratic families.

  • Did not attend elite colleges like St. Stephen’s or Presidency.

  • Do not have PhDs from Oxford or Cambridge.

  • Learned English as a second language in college.

• The Role of Vernacular Media: The explosion of the internet and vernacular print media has allowed Dalit intellectuals to gain public attention outside the state framework.

• Global Comparative Analysis: Dalit Studies now compares the Indian experience with:

  • The African American Civil Rights movement in the US.

  • Burakumin protests in Japan.

  • Anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa.

• Institutional Changes: The University Grants Commission (UGC) established centers for the study of "Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy" in several Indian universities to examine these systemic barriers.