Dalit Christians in pre-independence era

Dalit Christians in pre-independence era

From  Fr Gurien Jacquier of Ghogargaon

 (Catholic Mission in Aurangabad diocese - 1892  onwards)

By Camil  Parkhe

published by SFS Publications, Bangalore 

            During the  last quarter of the 19th century and early 20^th century, many Dalit families from several villages in Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Nashik, Jalna and Amravati districts in Maharashtra embraced Christianity. Most of the families were from the Mahar and Mang castes which were then the untouchable communities. The upper caste people continued to regard them as untouchables even after the religious conversion and now called them  as  'Mahar Christians' or 'Mang Christians'. This practice continues even to this date in the rural areas of Maharashtra.

From the viewpoint of the upper caste community, the conversion of the untouchables to Christianity did not change their social status. Conversion did not allow them to move upward in the established social hierarchy. No one would touch them physically for fear of being defiled.  Even as members of the Hindu community, the untouchables were forbidden entry in Hindu temple. But at least now they could enter the church, their own temple. Nevertheless, there was no change in their daily plight as they continued their hereditary occupations like removal of cattle carcasses and begging for food in the village.

 In the pre-Independence days, one Iganti Salwe of Pune had written an article in Marathi monthly Niropya in which he had highlighted the sufferings of the untouchable Christian community and remarked that conversion had not brought any significant changes in the life of the Mahars.

            ‘Untouchability is not a religious but a social matter. However some people believe it has  religious sanction and treat the Mahars and other untouchables as slaves and force them to perform several dirty works. These untouchables are not allowed to know about their basic human rights. Hard labour works and even village night watchman duty were the only means to eke out a living.  Hindu religion practices such unjustified traditions.  In fact, it is a stain on humanity and such cruel practice was not justified by any other religious scriptures of the world.”

            Salwe further states; "By the grace of the Almighty, Christian political rulers have come to this country, followed by the Christian missionaries. Moved by the plight of the untouchables, they offered them a new religion, made them aware of their rights and tried to free them of their ancestral shackles of social slavery. To achieve this, they established many schools and other educational institutions for this community".

Under such circumstances, the lives of many Dalit Christians were dependent on the missionaries for a long time. Before the Independence, both Mahar and Mang Christians were victims of social injustice. The British rulers of that time, though Christians, did not contribute to the betterment of this underprivileged community. After the Independence, the Constitution of India made a provision for reservations or affirmative action to ensure upliftment of the Dalits. However the Dalit Christians continued to suffer  discrimination even in free India. While the reservations were made available to the Dalit Hindus, Dalit Buddhists and Dalit Sikhs, the Dalit Christians have been denied these facilities. ¹

Reference:

^{1) Camil Parkhe, ‘Dalit Christians: Right to reservations’, Published by Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (ISPCK), Post Box 1585, 1654 Madarasa Road, Kashmere Gate,  Delhi – 110 006 (2005)}