--- layout: default title: "Full Text: Dalit Theology: A Movement of Counter-Culture" description: "Complete verbatim text of A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel's essay 'Dalit Theology: A Movement of Counter-Culture', reproduced from Towards a Dalit Theology (1988)." permalink: /amaa/dalit-theology-movement-counter-culture-full-text/ categories: [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel, Full text] date: 1988 created: 2026-06-10 --- The **full text of the [Dalit Theology: A Movement of Counter-Culture](/amaa/dalit-theology-movement-counter-culture/)** is reproduced here verbatim from the original paper by [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel](/amaa/). This essay appeared as Paper No. 7 (pp. 83–103) in *Towards a Dalit Theology*, edited by M. E. Prabhakar and published jointly by the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS), Bangalore, and the Christian Dalit Liberation Movement (CDLM) in 1988. This version preserves the original wording, structure, and formatting as presented in the source document. ## Contents 1. [Introduction](#introduction) 2. [I. Nature of the Dalit Problem](#dalit-problem) - [Material Dependency](#material-dependency) - [Education and the Dalits](#education) - [Dependency in the Religio-Cultural Sphere](#religio-cultural) - [Legal Situation](#legal) - [A Weak Self-Image](#self-image) 3. [II. Nature of the Dalit Counter-Culture](#counter-culture) 4. [III. Dalit Theology in Historical Perspective](#historical-perspective) 5. [Conclusion](#conclusion) 6. [Notes](#notes) ## Introduction {#introduction} Dalit theology, from a cultural point of view, stands for the sum of dalit meanings, expectations and understandings in relation to their experience of social reality and their perception of what it is to lead an authentic human existence. How does such a theology stand with respect to Indian civilization? The thesis put forward in this paper is that dalit search for values of human equality, justice, freedom and utopia runs counter to the Brahmanical culture and religion which had evolved in the semi-feudal economic and political structure, based on the ideology of purity and pollution expressing hierarchy, inequality and sacred-profane dichotomy in human experience. Dalit theology runs counter to this alienating cultural experience both at the level of meaning and social structure. Dalit theology has to look for a genuine value order outside the Brahmanical perspective.1 Dalit theology, however, finds a genuine cultural placement within the deeper Indic spiritual resources as Brahmanical religion never fully succeeded in shaping and containing our culture, though it is definitely the dominant stream in our civilization. It is therefore argued that dalit theology is historically rooted in the autochthonous traditions of dalit myths, songs, proverbs and cult forms which do reflect elements of a counter-culture in relation to the dominant Brahmanical culture, though the composite character of dalit culture exposes the problem of internalisation of the Brahmanical values. The autochthonous counter-cultural stream in our civilization has spiritual affinities with the historic movements centred around great sages like Buddha, Tiruvalluvar and later around the Siddhars,2 Nagarjuna, Sarapada, Kabir, Ravidas and a host of other medieval (low caste or untouchable) ascetics, reformers and thinkers.3 This movement was further strengthened by the presence of Islam and Sikhism. This counter-cultural stream was joined by Christian religious ideas and politically supported by the western democratic ethos, laws and education that finally gave rise to a number of dalit and Hindu reform movements in the 19th and early part of this century culminating in the rejection of the Brahmanical stranglehold on our civilization, and paving the way for the dalits' entry into the cultural life of the country as historical actors in the second half of this century. The dalit march to a fuller political, economic and religious life in the country has now become a historic necessity. As the Brahmanical system continues to serve the interests of the dominant groups a spiritual struggle capable of effecting a major restructuring of the Brahmanical system, its values and cult forms is still imperative for dalits to realise their aspirations. I believe this spiritual movement is dalit theology. Dalit search for meaning in life, for self-fulfilment, for freedom and utopia is what we called here dalit theology. In relation to the dominant cultural stream we characterise this movement as counter-culture, because it was dominant cultural values which made the dalit dependent, inferior and powerless. Since this sets the context of dalit theology the first part of this paper will explain the basic nature of dalit experience within the framework of the dominant culture. The second part will explain the nature of dalit response to their situation in our times, namely the nature of the counter-culture movement or dalit theology. The third part will briefly outline the historical perspective of this counter-culture movement, or dalit theology. ## I. Nature of the Dalit Problem {#dalit-problem} The dalit experience in one word can be described as dependency or powerlessness. Self-reliance in any sphere of their life such as economical, political, educational, legal, religio-cultural is impossible for them. Therefore, we say that theologically their problem is living in a framework of meaning, experiencing dependency in all walks of life. A dependent people are not free people. It means moral individuation is difficult for them.4 Spiritual and cultural growth is possible only when a people are proprietors of themselves, which is not the experience of dalits. We sketch below briefly the nature of the traditional dependency of dalits. ### Material Dependency {#material-dependency} The basis of an autonomous creative life is material independence. According to the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (July--March 1979) the majority of the people below the poverty line belonged to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The commission reports that there is progressive deterioration in the economic condition of the dalits. For instance in 1971, 82.3% and 93% Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe workers respectively were engaged in the primary sector of economy (which includes workers engaged as cultivators, landless labourers and in mining, quarrying, livestock, forestry, hunting and plantations, orchards and allied activities), 8.1% and 2.5% respectively were in the secondary sector (which includes workers engaged in household industry, manufacturing other than household industry and constructions), and 9.4% and 3.9% respectively in the tertiary sector (which includes workers engaged in trade and commerce, transport, storage and communications and other services). It is significant that during 1961--71 there had been a decline in the contribution of the secondary and tertiary sectors. The growth in the primary sector has actually resulted in an increase in the population of the landless labourers and a decline in the proportions of cultivators and no significant mobility from the primary sector to other sectors of the economy.5 The 1971 Census found that 52 per cent of the untouchable work force had become landless agricultural labourers, up from 34 per cent in 1961. The latest Rural Labour Enquiry (for 1974–75) found 71 per cent of all dalit agricultural labourers were in debt, mostly to moneylenders, shopkeepers and landlords. A 1976 national survey by the Gandhi Peace Foundation estimated 2,600,000 cases of bonded labour in agriculture alone of which 62 per cent were dalits.6 Their number is on the increase according to the report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (1978–79). Generally speaking, they are ignorant of laws regarding land reforms, tenancy and development schemes of governments. Even when they know, caste people in the villages prevent their getting these benefits.7 Sociological study and development schemes go to show that the developmental process either did not reach them or reinforced rather than mitigated structural and social inequalities. The Commission for Scheduled Castes and Tribes observes: "The experience had been that the Scheduled Castes were invariably bypassed in the normal and routine implementation of programmes (3.124)". It had been noticed that so far as supply of credit facilities was concerned the middle and bigger farmers managed to get away with the bulk of the institutional credit either in the form of cooperative or commercial bank credit (3.127). A study of rural housing to weaker sections points out that with the major implementors coming from the rural elite, the schemes were used as free patronage to further social control over the dalits.8 ### Education and the Dalits {#education} Our educational system perpetuates the spirit of dependency of dalits. Dalits suffer from two types of handicaps in the field of education. In the first place their literacy is very low. The 1981 Census gives their literacy rate as 21.4 per cent. According to the Fourth All-India Educational Survey (1978) the enrolment in primary level education is only 11 per cent, much below even their proportion of 15 per cent in the population. It reaches a low figure of 8 per cent in the middle school. The report further adds that they do not yet have adequate access to quality/prestigious institutions and courses and consequently to highly paid jobs. The second problem is that they are "the invisible people" with no representation in the curriculum.9 When an exception to this general situation occurs, it gives a picture of social reality which is feudal and hierarchical, (e.g. story of Ekalavya in the language text-books). In these lessons dalits appear as people with slavish minds or as objects of charity. Krishna Kumar who made a special study of the prevailing curriculum and the methods of teaching concludes that dalit children are forced to internalise symbols of backward behaviour as their appropriate historical heritage which further damages their identity. In other words the curricula serve the interests of the dominant castes and their culture. The syllabi and textbooks do not reflect Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe life, rights and remedies, so that a deeper and more just cultural process appears in the campuses in the place of caste consciousness as at present.10 This is an additional reason for the failure or the high percentage of dropouts among the dalit students even in institutions of higher learning, as there is nothing in the curricula to strengthen their identity. ### Dependency in the Religio-Cultural Sphere {#religio-cultural} Nearly 90 per cent of the dalits live in villages,11 but segregated in sectors known as *colony*, *cheri*, *palli* in opposition to the main village inhabited by the caste Hindus. A recent sample survey by the semi-official Harijan Sevak Sangh found 53 per cent of the sampled villages still barred anyone from hereditary untouchable castes from using common village wells, and 71 per cent of the villages barred them from local Hindu temples.12 Dalits converted to Christianity also do not find their situation different as they are discriminated against in some villages in regard to seats in the church, burial ground and other services. They are also divided against each other as sub-castes among themselves, like Malas and Madigas. Dalit gods, rituals and occupations are considered "low", "inferior" and "unclean" by caste Hindus. All the rich and propertied temples either belong to or are administered by caste Hindus.13 Hindu Jagadgurus and Mathadhipatis have religious objections to using temple wealth for developmental work. Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham told a press conference in Madras opposing the Government proposal to deposit the temple funds of Tirupathi in A.P: "It is improper on the part of a government which professed belief in Rama Rajya to have issued such an order which amounted to utilising the temple funds for secular purposes. The temple funds represent the offerings made by devotees from all over the country and are intended to be used for activities connected with the temple and for the propagation of godliness in the country".14 The dalit shrines are at the base of trees, rocks, or are lowly huts. The dalits are either excluded or they do not observe festivals of the Sanskritic tradition. Where festivals are observed in common by the villagers, they express hierarchy and feudal relationships in their symbols and rituals with regard to dalits.15 The dalits continue to play subordinate roles by performing special tasks like digging burial pits, removing dead animals and beating drums in many villages. Institutions of arts, crafts and sports are controlled by caste Hindus very often with no access to dalits. As for Christian dalits, we find in the 19th and early part of this century, missionaries as individuals and in groups, siding with the dalits in several parts of India, initiating a mass movement from among them. Dr. G.A. Oddie, in his book *Social Protest in India*, deals with some of these movements in the second half of the 19th century. However, we find as the Church became an established social institution it adapted itself to the emerging capitalist and traditional semi-feudal structure of our society neutralising all its forces as a counter-cultural stream. Some are even inclined to think that in such a social situation the Church teaching of sin and salvation played a rather ambiguous role as Dr. Wilson argues in his book *Twice Alienated*. Moreover, there was very little change in certain areas in subordinate roles and other social discrimination against the Christian dalits. Even the churches which were hundred per cent dalit adapted themselves to the capitalistic, semi-feudal social structure of the society and used their churches for individual power and gain, forgetting the aspiration of the mass of the dalits. ### Legal Situation {#legal} "Justice in words and injustice in deeds for the depressed people" is the experience of the dalits as stated by V.R. Krishna Iyer, one of the most influential judges in recent times in the Supreme Court of India. This living contradiction is the result of real contradiction in life where the dalits are equal before law but unequal in everything else, like economic power, bureaucratic position, educational, social and religious status. The result is that atrocities against the dalits like murder, rape, arson, assault resulting in grievous physical injury is on the increase. The report of the Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (April 1979--March 1980) says: "It would be seen from this statement that the number of cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes in the country increased by 38.52 per cent in 1978 against the year 1977, from 10,879 cases in 1977 to 15,070 cases in 1978". In 1979 the total number of cases is 13,861 less than the previous year but more than 1977. The trend continues. The latest official document on crimes against SCs and STs tabled in the Rajya Sabha by the government gives a figure of 3200 people murdered, 4400 women raped in the past four and a half years by non-SCs and STs.16 According to the report, Uttar Pradesh heads the list with 1652 murders and 1813 rapes, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 972 murders and 1661 rape cases. These crimes as well as violations of various laws in land reform, bonded labour and others go unpunished because of the class-caste bias of the judges.17 There are several studies which suggest justice is a myth when the conflict is between contending parties of unequal power. This is much more true in the case of the dalits who are powerless and ignorant. ### A Weak Self-Image {#self-image} The experience of powerlessness in the field of economy, politics, law, religion and culture go to produce in the dalit a self-image which is colourless, devoid of power and self-confidence. A survey in Andhra Pradesh conducted by the Jyotirmai Society quotes them as saying, "We are weak, and not capable of opposing higher castes, we don't have courage to ask for higher wages, we cannot refuse work because we don't have anything, we don't have land, we never had it, our lives are doomed this way for ever, our troubles will never end."18 This spiritual apathy makes them believe that they cannot conquer and transform the social reality around them. This loss of self-respect drives them to drink and other social evils. There are groups among the dalits, like the Musahar in Rajasthan, who believe that they should not do anything except catch rats, or Narikuravas in Tamil Nadu and Andhra who believe that they should not change any of their daily habits and cultural traditions. The Backward Classes Commission, commenting on this general cultural trait of the dalits says, "the real triumph of the caste system lies not in upholding the supremacy of the Brahmins, but in conditioning the consciousness of the lower castes in accepting their inferior status in the ritual hierarchy as a part of the natural order of things".19 They are incapable of knowing their real past, interpreting the present and planning for the future. They accept the present as a continuation of the past and accommodate. Man in a non-self-reliant situation explains all the existential problems and their causalities as lying in the supernatural powers, inclines to give and accept mythical explanations and magical solutions. He explains evil by means of religious categories. This existential situation of the dalits is exploited by Brahmin and other caste Hindu astrologers and religious functionaries for socially controlling them.20 In short the poor dalits are usually and conveniently silent. To use a biblical phrase, they are a "no people". ## II. Nature of the Dalit Counter-Culture {#counter-culture} The situation of complete dependence of the dalits described in the first part is the product of economic and social forces in history. However, the history of our country, of our cultural heritage, does not tell this story because it is written by the dominant caste.21 For example, we know for certain that the dalits of today by and large belong to different tribes of the proto-australoid and negrito races. At a stage in their development, when these people did not look at land as private property but considered it as territory, like air, sunlight and rain, a large section of them were enslaved by people who were superior in their knowledge of seasons, agricultural operations and of the use of tools.22 According to Prof. A.L. Basham, the non-violent sentiment of some of these tribes is the reason why they became outcastes. Those of the dalits who migrated to the less fertile areas in fear of the powerful people were later thrown out of their territory by brute force, by power of law, deceit or by paying a little money, a sari or drink, a process which continued until very recent times. Even now the process continues in subtle ways. In the place of this historic knowledge, which has to be built up on anthropological, archaeological and other material evidence, we have explanations in the form of myths, stories and formulas, invented by the priestly class. The myth of the divine origin of caste in Rig Veda 10.90, the reference to dalits as Dasyas, Chandalas, Panchamas, stories like Shambuka in Valmiki's Ramayana, Ekalavya in Mahabharata, hide political facts and contexts of history under religious cover. The various provisions of the Dharmasastras, Kautilya's Arthasastra, the teaching of Bhagavadgita on the four-fold order of caste, philosophical concepts like Karma and rebirth show that they were written by dominant castes to perpetuate their hold on society. The dalits are now becoming increasingly aware of the true nature of our culture with regard to their interests. A dalit poet therefore sings:
I reject your culture I reject your Parmeshwar centred traditions I reject your religion-based literature.23
Another poet denounces Manu and his heirs this way:
O heirs of Manu For millennia we have watched Our own naked evening In half a dozen huts on the village boundary. Our countless bodies have been burning Set afire by your feeble thoughts.24
In his study of ideology and self-identity of the Chamars of Lucknow, R.S. Khare writes that "The Chamar ascetic (who inspires and guides the community) distrusts the Hindu notions of hierarchy, ritual purity and sin and interprets them as instruments of social dominance. A Chamar ideologist distinguishes them as products of 'the scheming Brahmanic mind' meant mostly for the 'easily deluded caste Hindu followers'".25 Khare speaks about four radical and protesting ascetics who had replaced the Brahmin priests and eschewed Brahmanic ritualism from within Hindu philosophy and spiritualism, and replaced it with Buddhist ideas.26 Songs and plays creating awareness in the dalits on their exploitation and teaching them ways to fight oppression are composed by dalit writers. There is a cultural ferment among them which perceives "dalit" as a symbol of change and evaluation. It rejects the Brahmanical value system. On the other hand they insist on rediscovering the true heritage of the untouchables as the Adi-Hindus (Mool Bharatis,27 Adi-Dravida, etc). In the emerging culture one could see the beginning of a coming together of old rivals like Malas and Madigas among the dalits. For the first time in history dalits are setting up their own cultural institutions in the form of schools, colleges, universities, art associations, clubs all over the country. They have small newspapers and journals to sustain their movements.28 They have now discovered that ideologies like Marxism and religions like Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, renascent Hinduism, though helpful up to a point, ultimately prove sterile for three reasons. First, caste people have dominated movements and blunted their cutting edges as alternative value systems. Secondly, even when dalits were the sole members of such organisations as in the case of some Christian denominations, dalit authorities who had become educated and rich adapted their institutions to the needs of the capitalist and semi-feudal larger society rather than that of the poor dalits. Thirdly, these ideologies and religions divided the dalits into many groups, often with conflicting interests and objectives. Dalits have now discovered that unless dalitism becomes the dominant note of their identity no movement or ideology can liberate them. The emphasis on dalitism helps the dalits belonging to different language groups, ideologies, religions to come together forgetting their differences. The process has already started in history and there are attempts though feeble at the all-India level. Dalits are now celebrating their cultural identity with their folk arts, rejecting the Sanskritic cultural captivity. They are now aware that education does not mean joining school and colleges nor ability to read and write but knowledge of the forces which keep them in their material and spiritual slavery. With the rediscovery of their true identity they are also aware that it has to be integrated with worldly gains made under contemporary circumstances. Dalits are also organising themselves politically. If the Republican party, therefore, which had its origin in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is losing its vigour and dynamism, new leaders and parties like Bahujan Samaj Party, Labour Party, are coming up on the scene. Dalit leadership is being increasingly accepted by dalit masses in many states. There are a number of local and village level organisations all over the country concentrating on building up awareness among the dalits through non-formal education and other cultural activities. Dalits have decided in many villages not to perform their traditional roles like beating drums, removing carcasses, scavenging. There are also places where dalits abstain completely from intoxicating drinks. These are some aspects of the cultural ferment which is taking place among the dalits. The culturally silent people, or in biblical phrase the "no people" are on the way to become "the people of God". ## III. Dalit Theology in Historical Perspective {#historical-perspective} We have seen in the first part that it is impossible for the dalits to strengthen their identity within the dominant cultural framework. In the second part we outlined how awakened dalits attempt to create an alternative cultural space to realise their aspirations. In this third part we sketch an historical perspective in terms of past resources for a dalit theological movement. Dalit theology has its seminal roots in the autochthonous traditions of the dalits. The first thing we should remember about this autochthonous tradition of the dalits is that it is a living tradition surviving from ancient times though dependent and powerless. It appears in the form of myths, proverbs, songs, festivals and rituals. They tell the story of dalit origin and their enslavement under religious symbolism. Protests and the search for justice and equality are often explicitly expressed in songs, rituals and festivals. J.T. Appavoo, who made a special study of folklore in Tamilnadu, brings out a number of stories and rituals which protest against the Manu Dharma (Brahmanical) traditions, against land alienation, against oppression of women, against degradation of widows, against slavery, against the caste system, against humiliation of their heroes; some of these stories and rituals proclaim equality.29 He concludes that "folklore of the past was used to protest against injustice".30 We should also remember that some of these myths, songs and rituals are interpreted and celebrated by the dominant tradition to serve its own interests and dalits are often unaware of the true character of the myth or ritual. Indian Christian theological reflections generally accept the dominant versions and interpretation of Hindu religious myths without questioning whose purpose and identity they serve. We go by their content as given in the dominant tradition without considering the folk context and purpose of their creation, thereby ignoring some of the elements in the folk tradition as of no consequence. I give here a recent example. The well-known Christian artist, Jyoti Sahi, commenting on the trivikrama or three steps spoken of in the Indian myth concerning the Vamana Avatara paints Mahabali as a tyrant on earth and Vamana Avatara as the liberator. As an artist interested in the symbolism, he comments, "Mahabali is the ego, the shamkara, who tyrannises, whereas Vamana Avatara is the atman, the indwelling Lord".31 I have seen this myth celebrated as Onam festival and interpreted in the above style in the Christian institutions like the United Theological College, Bangalore and dialogue centres. Jyoti Sahi is aware of a folk tradition of this myth. In a footnote he adds: > In Kerala another version of this myth is believed in. There it is felt that King Mahabali was an ancient tribal ruler, under whose sway there was a primitive and egalitarian society. Vamana, it is suggested, was symbolic of the new Brahmanical order which "tricked" the good tribal king into surrendering his whole kingdom to a new Sanskrit dominant culture. > > In the same way there is a South Indian reduction of the great Ramayana myth, which extols Ravana (the demon of the northern version) who is king of Sri Lanka. Romila Thapar, in her essay "Exile and Kingdom" (Mythic Society, Bangalore, 1978, p. 19), argues that Ravana and other rakshasas probably represent pre-Aryan oligarchic societies, linked to ancient chalcolithic cultures of the second and early first millenium B.C. These societies were probably prior to plough agriculture and primitive city culture. The same conclusions probably could also be applied to the social structures implied by the figure of Mahabali.32 I would like to bring a few more facts from the folk tradition. Firstly, there is a folk song commemorating a golden era which every child in Kerala even today knows by heart. It says: when Maveli was ruling the land all the people were equals. There was no falsehood. There was no false measure. Secondly, the annual visit of Mahabali, the beloved king, to every home is ritually symbolised or acted out as folk play. In the play the king is accompanied by another person called Pākkanar. He wears tinkling bells on his legs, carries a bow and arrow known as *onavil*. The image of his head is that of a mother goddess, indicating pre-aryan matriarchal society. Who is this Pākkanar? There is a Pākkannar song considered to be the song of the untouchables. Pākkanar is believed to be the great ancestor of the untouchables, Pulayas and Parayas. The song narrates the story of how the two groups of Pulayas and Parayas became untouchable. It also describes Pākkanar's role in Onam festival. Thirdly, the festival Onam which celebrates the annual return of Mahabali according to the belief of people is most popular among the untouchables, and Brahmins do not celebrate it. The strength of the popular emotion to old king Mahabali is clear from the fact that the Government of Kerala named its special fair price shops as Maveli Stores. If we take all these into consideration, we find that the folk tradition of Mahabali as a just king is the ancient memory of the people, and if the feast is celebrated according to the dominant interpretation it strengthens the identity of the dominant castes. On the other hand, if the emphasis is on Mahabali as a just king and Pākkanar as the great ancestor it strengthens the identity of the dalits. Dalit theology should therefore take seriously dalit interpretations of the myths and not bypass them under footnotes. Dalit groups all over India have similar myths of their origin. For example the Madigas in Andhra Pradesh believe that their great ancestor is Jambavant. According to one story, Madigas are the first descendants from Jambavant's perspiration Adi Sakti created by Brahma through Chapala while Brahmins are the last to appear on earth through Parasuram. Another version says they are from the blood of Gava Muni whom Brahma killed. The third account says that Chinnayya born from Parvati's menstrual cloth kills Kamadhenu. Nobody not even the gods could remove the dead body and Siva thought of Jambavant who was practising penance, and called out to him "Mahadigaru" (lit. a great one come down). Jambavant, who thus obtained the name of Mahadiga or Madiga, appeared at Siva's call, lifted the dead body, and cut it into pieces. Siva ordered Chinnayya to cook the beef and invited all the gods to a feast. But Chinnayya, unfortunately, while trying to blow down an effervescence, spat into the cooking pot and the gods, observing this left the dining hall. Siva in anger cursed both Chinnayya and Jambavant for their negligence and degraded them to the lowest caste. Chinnayya's descendants are called Malas, while Jambavant became the ancestor of the Madigas.33 Even in the written traditions of the Hindus glorifying the exploits of their gods or rather their victory over the native population, Jambavant appears as the king of an aboriginal tribe. In Ramayana he assists Rama in his invasion of Lanka. He travelled over the earth twenty-one times at the request of the gods to gather the herbs from which ambrosia (amrita) was made. In Vishnu Purana he is engaged in a fearful fight with Krishna lasting twenty-one days over a precious jewel. Jambavant is finally defeated. He gave up the jewel and presented his daughter, Jambavati, to Krishna in marriage.34 These myths point to cultural and value conflict between two groups. Though the vanquished present their stories in terms of dominant values as it is the only symbol system available, there are enough elements in the stories to reconstruct some of their lost identity. But Christian theology has so far ignored them as folk tales. Dalit theology should start from these folk tales, songs and rituals. The counter-cultural stream in Indian civilization remained as local stories, songs and proverbs, until Gautama Buddha came on the scene. He questioned the Brahmanical philosophy of hierarchy and status by birth:
Not by birth does one become an outcaste not by birth does one become a Brahmana, by deeds one becomes an outcaste by deeds one becomes a Brahmana.35
While Brahmanical religion denied the natives access to their temples and rites, Buddhist monks preached to them and the more enlightened wandering ascetics would give them instruction.36 There is indisputable historic evidence of the all-India spread of Buddhism and dalits presence in it, even in many parts of South India. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's embrace of Buddhism was an attempt to revive this counter-cultural stream. The pre-Aryan religion of equality is revived through another cultural ferment in the form of supreme devotion to Siva by the Siddhars and Lingayats in medieval India. G.U. Pope wrote in his introduction to his translation of the Tiruvasagam of Manickavasagar that the Saiva Siddhanta philosophical system was undoubtedly the most intrinsically valuable of all the religions of India, essentially existing from pre-Aryan times. The movement was essentially non-Brahmin though there were individual Brahmin poets and sages in it. Tirumular, a Siddhar who lived in the seventh century A.D., wrote, "There is but one community and one god".37 Another Siddhar saint, Sivavakkiyar, ridiculed the recitation of Sanskrit couplets from the sastras and advocated the necessity to abandon belief in the primacy of the Vedas and Brahmanas as articulated by Sanskrit books. He spoke disparagingly of those who emphasised caste divisions:
Who is an untouchable woman and who is a Brahman woman? Is there any mark put on their flesh, skin or bone? Is the sexual desire of the untouchable different from that of a Brahman woman? The difference between an untouchable woman and a Brahman woman is only in your mind.38
Basava and Kabir, Ramanand and Ravidas, and the Maratha saints were other equalitarian religious reformers of the late Middle Ages who tried to abolish caste among their followers.39 The egalitarian Muslim faith and the outspoken sentiments of Sikh Gurus against caste and their ritual meal in common belong to this counter-cultural stream in our civilization. Christian missionaries joined this counter-cultural stream by advocating equality, status by achievement, monotheism, anti-Brahmanism and puritanism.40 We have already referred to the comments of G.U. Pope who popularised the ideas of Tirukural, of Tiruvalluvar and Tiruvasagam of Mānikka Vasagar. The western education and the political perceptions of the British Government helped this cultural transformation.41 The modern phase of this cultural ferment was made up of a number of movements across the country led largely by leaders, poets and saints of the backward castes and dalits. Sri Narayan Guru, Poyykayil Appachen, Subbanandha Swami, Ayyankali, P.K. Karuppan in Kerala; Subramania Bharati, Ramalinga Swami, Ramaswami Naickar, C.A. Ayyamuthu, Bharati Dasan, Muthu Kutti Ayya in Tamilnad, Yogi Pothuluri Vira Brahman, Joshua in Andhra Pradesh, Shyam Sunder and Bhimsena movement in Hyderabad-Karnataka, the movement under Jyotirao Phule and B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra; Adi-Dharm movement in the Punjab, the Namashudra movement in Bengal; the Messianic Movement among the Pankas of Raipur District, the Satnami uprising of the Chamars in Chattisgarh District, Achchutananda and Jigvasu in Lucknow-Kanpur region are some of the most important cultural forces which paved the way for dalit entry into the religio-cultural life of the country. ## Conclusion {#conclusion} The aim of dalit theology from a cultural point of view is to build up dalit identity. Identity of a people results from the dialectics between structural and cultural systems. We also know that a correct perception of oneself and others, nature, society and divine power, a meaningful relationship with them and building up of oneself and of community at large is possible only in a social system of equality, freedom and solidarity. We have seen that the identity which results from the dialectics between existing structural and cultural systems produces a dependent identity in the case of the dalits. Dalit theology should therefore play the cultural role of liberating the dalits from the sinful situation of social reality that surrounds them. It should not appear to reconcile their present wretched state at the level of theological thought, as it is playing an alienating role. Dalit theology therefore is not mere reflection on doctrine about God or Church. It is a transforming praxis of social reality, through which they realise themselves and God. We have seen that two cultural streams are present in our civilization. A dominant stream which dehumanises the dalits, a weaker stream which has the potential for their liberation. Much of the existing Indian Christian theology tries to relate to the dominant stream. The spiritual resources in the dominant tradition, its renaissance in recent times in interaction with other modernising forces in which Christianity played a major role make the Christian theologians ignore the negative social impact of the dominant cultural stream on the dalits. The total ignorance of the traditions and values of the dalits, absence of social analysis of how the dominant tradition works in reality, caste-class background of the Christian theologians, are some of the reasons for this approach.42 But this approach does not take into account the value problem dalits face in the dominant religious system, the structural problems in terms of material and political resources to take part in it and the historical discontinuity of their traditions with the dominant system. If dalit theology has to grow as the cultural process of the dalits acquiring their material and spiritual identity, the present theology has to come out of its Latin and Sanskritic captivity. But the theological process of this sort will eventually bring about a cross fertilization of both cultural process and theological activity in our country. ## Notes {#notes}
  1. The conflict between value systems of Brahmins and the dalits is brought out clearly by R.S. Khare, The Untouchable as Himself: Ideology, Identity and Pragmatism among the Lucknow Chamars, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984. ↩
  2. Eugene F. Irschick, Tamil Revivalism in the 1930s, Cre-A, Madras, pp. 14, 84. ↩
  3. R.S. Khare, op. cit., p. 27. ↩
  4. 'On Moral Individuation in relation to the Untouchable', see R.S. Khare, op. cit., pp. 51–69. ↩
  5. "Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes through Official Documents", Indian Social Institute, Documentation Centre, Bangalore. ↩
  6. Barbara R. Joshi, Untouchable: Voice of the Dalit Liberation Movement, Select Book Service Syndicate, New Delhi, 1986. ↩
  7. Building up the Church in Andhra Pradesh, An Inter Disciplinary Study Report submitted to the General body of Andhra Pradesh Jyotirmai Society, Secunderabad, 1983. ↩
  8. Mira Bakru, Distribution of Welfare, People's Housing Scheme in Karnataka, Economic and Political Weekly, March 10, 1984 pp. 427–436, March 17, 1984, pp. 473–483. ↩
  9. Krishna Kumar, "Educational Experience of Scheduled Castes and Tribes", Economic and Political Weekly, Sept. 3–10, 1983. ↩
  10. V.R. Krishna Iyer, Justice in Words and Injustice in Deeds for the Depressed Classes, Pamphlet, 4014, Indian Social Institute, Delhi, 1984. ↩
  11. Barbara Joshi, op. cit., p. 3; Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 1978–79 (RCSC ST). ↩
  12. Backward Classes Commission, 1980, quoted by Barbara Joshi, op. cit., p. 3. ↩
  13. A.M.A. Ayrookuzhiel, "Religion a way of Salvation or An Ideology of Oppression", Religion and Society, March 1985. ↩
  14. India Today, March 31, 1983. ↩
  15. A.M.A. Ayrookuzhiel, see note 13. ↩
  16. Deccan Herald, Bangalore, 9th Dec. 1986. ↩
  17. V.R. Krishna Iyer, Justice in Words and Injustice in Deeds for the Depressed Classes, Pamphlet No. 14, Pub. I.S.I. Delhi; A.M.A. Ayrookuzhiel, Swami Anand Thirth, Untouchability: Gandhian Solution on Trial. ↩
  18. Building up the Church in Andhra Pradesh, An Interdisciplinary Study, report submitted to the general body of Andhra Pradesh Jyotirmai Society, Secunderabad, 1983. ↩
  19. Report of the Backward Classes Commission, First part, Vol. I, ch. 4, 1980. ↩
  20. A.M.A. Ayrookuzhiel, ibid. ↩
  21. A.L. Basham, The Wonder that was India, 3rd revised edition, Sidwig & Jackson, London, p. 146. ↩
  22. A.L. Basham, op. cit., p. 146. ↩
  23. V.L. Kalekar, quoted in Barbara Joshi, op. cit., p. 83. ↩
  24. A Dalit poet, quoted in Barbara Joshi, op. cit., p. 83. ↩
  25. R.S. Khare, op. cit., p. 74. ↩
  26. R.S. Khare, op. cit., p. 80. ↩
  27. Shyam Sunder, They Burn, Publ. by Dalit Sahitya Akadami, p. 24. ↩
  28. Dalit Mitra, Gujarat; Dalit Voice, Bangalore; Dalit Azhaham, Madras; Dalithakam, Kozhikode; Voice of the Weak, Delhi, etc. A number of small weekly and other publications are run by dalits all over the country. ↩
  29. J.T. Appavoo, Folklore for Change, T.T.S. Publication, Arasaradi, Madurai-10, Ch. 3. ↩
  30. Ibid., p. 83. ↩
  31. Jyoti Sahi, Stepping Stones: Reflections on the Theology of Indian Christian Culture, Asia Trading Corporation, Bangalore, p. 54. ↩
  32. Ibid., p. 209. ↩
  33. Syed Siraj-ul-Hassan, The Caste and Tribes of H.E.H. Nizam's Dominion, Vol. I, Bombay (1920) pp. 409–420 as extracted in Census of India 1961, Vol. II, "Andhra Pradesh", Part V.B. (12) Appendix VII on Madiga. ↩
  34. Vishnu Purana IV. 12 as quoted by Margaret and James Stutley, A Dictionary of Hinduism, Allied Publishers Ltd., Bombay, p. 125. ↩
  35. Vasalasutta 21. ↩
  36. A.L. Basham, op. cit., p. 146. ↩
  37. Tirumular, Tirumala Nayanar Arulicceyto Tirumantiram Muvayiram, edited with notes by Pa. Iramaneta Pillai and A. Citamparanar (Tirunelveli: South Indian Saiva Siddhanta Book Publishers, 1962–63), v. 2 7.2066, p. 823 as quoted by Eugene F. Irschick, Tamil Revivalism in the 1930s, Cre-A, Madras. ↩
  38. Ta. Koventan, Cittar Patalkal (Siddhar Songs) Madras: Pumpahar Prasuram, 1976, p. 4, verse 10 as quoted by Eugene F. Irschick, op. cit., p. 14. ↩
  39. A.L. Basham, op. cit., p. 152. ↩
  40. Eugene F. Irschick, op. cit., p. 14. ↩
  41. Eugene F. Irschick, op. cit., pp. 3–36. ↩
  42. Hans Staffner, S.J., The Significance of Jesus Christ in Asia, Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, Anand; M.M. Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of Hinduism, CLS, Madras. ↩
{% include navbox-amaa.html %}