Assignment: Dalit Philosophy

1. What do you understand by the idea of philosophizing from Dalit Perspectives? Give a
critical exposition of it.

Ans. Dalits have had a history of oppression in India. This goes back to many centuries. The turn
of events that has led to this oppression has also managed to permeate systems, beliefs,
institutions, jobs and so on. As a result of all this, Dalits have developed a unique way of being
which aims to fight for their dignity and an equal space in the society, while preserving their
beliefs, rituals and culture from centuries ago.

Philosophy is concerned with ideas, beliefs, assumptions, concepts, truth and interpretations.
Philosophizing from the Dalit perspective means taking into account Dalit accounts of truth, life,
knowledge, death, rituals, etc. These are to be taken with their struggles over the centuries, and
with the attempt to take the society towards more humanistic values. They emerge from the
particular human community, in our context from the community of Dalits, endeavoring to
become a better one amidst many conflicts. That is why the process of philosophizing gets itself
rooted in the ongoing power relations. This fertile conversation is sought to generate new
energies in transforming the present disorder into a new order in future. This process of doing
philosophy primarily addresses the question of transformation. It is the actual movement from
the present state of affairs towards consciously creating new alternatives for bettering historical
situations. This is at once a probe into the past, the query into the present, and the search into
the future. The transformation envisaged by the process of philosophizing is multidimensional at
once personal and communitarian, structural and collective, micro and macro. The ethical
commitment for such transformation is the predominant feature of doing philosophy. This
process of philosophizing does not pretend to be evolving the final product of the contents of
the truth. Its multiple phases could be spelt out as follows:

1. Immersion, insertion, experience, praxis, reflected involvement or involved reflection

2. Analytical probe into the forces and sources of conflicts operative in the lives of people
concerned (Dalits) affecting their cultural symbolic world and various power-structures.
3. Meaning-generating activities through the on-going dialogical interactions between
questions emerging from actual life situations and the life promoting meaning generating
resources from various cultural soils.
4. Alternative directions and orientations to be consciously traced by the people concerned
(Dalit) as actors in the proximate and distant future.

The technical language of elitist philosophical analysis too does not evoke much of appeal in the
minds of the people (Dalits) on whose problems philosophical questions are raised. The
alternative to this technical language is the symbolic dimension of popular culture. The need to
explore the symbolism, myths, dreams, and visions of the ordinary people has to be emphasized.
The operative world-views of the people concerned (Dalits) are to be identified in their ways of
conceptualizing realities and expressing them through proverbs, myths, rituals, performing arts.
The world-views at work in the very language as both structure and performance definitely lead
us into the foundations of the cultural world. Critical interpretation of the symbolic world may
lead us to comprehend the cognitive structures and their functioning process towards
production of various social effects.

2. Discuss and evaluate the basis for Dalit Eschatology.

 Ans. Eschatology refers to that part of theologist studies which is concerned with the final events
of history, or the ultimate end of humanity. It includes death, belief in ancestors and the role
they play in one’s life, judgement, heaven, hell, and so on. To understand the basis of Dalit
eschatology, one has to understand how historically Dalits ended up in such a marginalized
position. The group of people whom we now know as Dalits were the original inhabitants of
India in the pre Vedic period. They had their own system of beliefs, rituals, and way of life,
including eschatology. When the Aryans came, they had their own set of beliefs and religion,
which was in contrast to that of the original inhabitants. The aryans ended up marginalizing the
original inhabitants for their own gain. They never accepted their religion, their philosophy

and their social arrangement. Though most of the philosophical thoughts that the

original people of the land owned were destroyed purposely by the Aryan colonizers,

there are evidence of those philosophical treatises in some form or other very

scantily and sparsely. As a result of this, Dalit eschatology has developed the following features:

a. Matter is real: As opposed to the vedic philosophy, Dalits believe that only matter is real, and
only sense perceptions are the valid way of knowing. Inference is invalid, as it does not
involve sense perception.
b. There is no spirit: As mentioned in the last point, only matter is understood to be real. They
believe that consciousness exists but that is only because the body exists. If the body ceases
to exist, consciousness would cease to exist too. So, there is no such thing as spirit. (change
the language a bit from here on)
c. There is no external cause: Carvaka metaphysics are of the faith that there is no external
cause for the four elements coming together and obtaining the qualities of life and
consciousness. It is their inherent quality to come together and to have those qualities.
However, one cannot generalize on this process and establish a law that, whenever these
four elements come together in certain ratio, life and consciousness will emerge. The
elements may alter their nature anytime. One cannot, therefore, say that Nature comprises
some eternal laws. Every event is a probability, and if it develops into something, then it
develops according to its own peculiar nature.
d. God is non existent: According to Carvaka, there is no God who is said to
have created the universe. The universe came to be by natural phenomenon and
it has been there from time immemorial. Hence there is no God who is the cause of the
universe.
There is no pre existence or afterlife: Since there is no primal cause for the
existing world and all that is in it, there is also no pre-existence of life and also
there is no after-life. This two imply that there is a primal cause or the prime
mover of the universe. Since that has been rejected by the materialists, they also
21
don’t believe in the life before and life after.
There is no such thing as salvation (moksha); death itself is salvation:
Life of individuals comes to an end once they die. Everything starts with this world
and ends in this world itself. Hence there is no question of salvation or bondage.
Everything happens right on this earth. As such, death is the cessation of all
activities, animated or imagined. Everything stops with this world and with this life.
There is no moksha/eternal bliss/heaven or naraga/eternal condemnation/hell.
3a. Write an essay on the problem of evil from the Dalit perspective.

Ans. For any given culture or religion, good and evil forces, experiences, elements, etc. exist. They
may be spiritual and supernatural in nature, as is the case with most cultures. But, for Dalits, their
philosophy is rooted in materialism. So, the problem of evil is also structured within that paradigm.
Dalits have been a marginalized community for centuries now. They have undergone unspeakable
atrocities. The situation may be getting better, but they still suffer a lot on a day to day basis. They
have suffered from the following:

a. Their human dignity has been maligned with malpractices such as untouchability
b. They are wanted as menial executives but unwanted as people with equal footing.
c. They have to fight their inner desires to be treated equal with their immediate survival
which can only be possible if they conform to the society.
d. Their achieved status is ridiculed and camouflaged by attributed inferior status.
e. Normalization of the everyday violence and aggression by all agents of the society
f. The vicious cycle of behaviour due to depression or self hatred resulting in fear of alienation
and punishment.

Ever carrying the heavy burden of initiating the painful process of reconciliation,
at least for the short-term political alliances, with the anti-Dalit forces which
are just above in the social pyramid of caste hierarchy.
􀁺 When Dalit ethical sensibilities are thrown overboard as eccentric claims for
a. any regional, national or international discourse.

And so on. Given that Dalits go through all this suffering and more on a daily basis, the classical
approach of the problem of evil is proven inadequate.

b. Write an essay on the Gandhi Ambedkar debate.

Ans. One of the most fierce and long running debates in pre independence india was between
Gandhi and the leader of untouchables, Ambedkar. Gandhi and Ambedkar had opposing views
on the religious status of Dalits. Gandhi looked at Dalits as Hindus. He had hopes of a reformed
caste system within the Hindu paradigm. Dalits were to be a part of this reformed caste system
within Hinduism in Gandhi’s vision. Ambedkar, on the other hand, was adamant that Dalits
would find liberation outside the Hindu fold. Gandhi looked at untouchability as more of a social
issue. For Ambedkar, caste was a political issue. The Gandhi Ambedkar conflict was over how to
understand caste. Ambedkar insisted, for the first time in India’s modern history, that caste was
a political question, and couldn’t be addressed by social reforms only Another point of difference
was that Gandhi was suspicious of the state and wanted to protest non-violently. While
Ambedkar preferred a rights-based approach, Gandhi’s approach was through faith and
spirituality. Unlike Ambedkar, Gandhi felt that any exploitative relationship could be rectified
only when the exploiter had a change of heart. So he worked with upper castes to change their
mindset. Ambedkar wanted to look for the state’s help, and reform and transform the society
along with the state, not despite it. For Gandhi, the Congress Party represented all of India,
including the dalits. Ambedkar was not quite convinced. He distinguished between freedom and
power. Content to let the British pass on the power to the Congress, Ambedkar was convinced
that the dalits had to form a separate party to secure their freedom. With these differences, and
neither willing to budge, Gandhi sat on a fast unto death. Herein lay the crux of the painful
fallout of the Poona Pact of 1931.
 4a. Ritual affirmation and ritual inversion.

Ritual affirmation and ritual inversion have to do with the caste status of different groups of the
society. There are certain rituals and festivals at certain points in the seasonal cycle, wherein the
traditionally oppressed classes are given power over the higher classes. The oppressed classes
can exercise power and domination in these rituals. The dominant classes have to accept such
momentary inferior status in good will. Such practices are called ritual inversion. Such rituals are
described as rituals of status reversal. On the other hand, there exist rituals, wherein the higher
classes of the society are given respect and power as a part of the ritual. Their status is further
cemented by means of such rituals. For example, priestly feasts on various examples can be seen
all over the country. The priests are treated with a lot of respect. Their clothes, the gifts they
receive, the feast that is prepared for them, etc., all are indicators of the cementing of their
“high” status. That is why these rituals are called ritual affirmation.

b. Liminal means, a situation of license during which anything can take place, because

all norms of day to day life are relaxed. Dalit ritual celebrations in general are

liminal. Particularly in the theyyam celebrations several devices are used to relax

the social norms and to give the whole celebration an air of enchantment to shed

all inhibitions and controls. In the potten theyyam, potten, literally means, “idiot”,

“deaf and dumb”, or “loafer”. This entitles the theyyam to speak out whatever

comes to his mind, and in utter abusive language. The liminal situation is totally

absent in the Non-Dalit Culture ritual celebrations. Normlessness which is the

determining element of the liminal state during which anything can take the place

is absent in the celebration of Non-Dalit Culture rituals. The celebration of Eucharist

of the Christians, for example, is highly regimental leaving no space for normless

situation. Dalit philosophy, culture and rituals all point to the importance of lack of rigidity,
and the need for cathartic expressions every once in a while.

c. (change the language) The emergence of Dalit liberation movements and other Dalit
political parties and
NGOs working for the upliftment of Dalits have given a new impetus for the art
of drumming. Drumming for a social change is the new way of expressing their
art form in various festivals held in India .No more it is considered as funeral
music but music of liberation. The vibrations that it brings help them to arouse
their feelings of agitation and recording their expression through their cultural
resource. This folk drumming has the tremendous effect of crowd pulling at public
meetings and gatherings. Their singing, drumming, strumming and dancing are redefining
their perspective. On the other hand alternative communication like third
theatre, street theatre, puppet show, etc., is also widely spreading. Dalit’s search
for alternative media is in fact the search for a counter-culture that will stand as
a paradigm to protect human existence; re-write history and evolve a new culture
of love and caring. Let this be a historical milestone from where we reiterate our
march towards equality and justice, self-respect and harmony.

e. “Caste is a division of labourer, not a division of labour.” Explain.

Division of labour refers to a group of people, small or large, coming together to complete some
task, by dividing chores among themselves in an appropriate and convenient way. From households
to countries and everything in between, works on division of labour. However, if one argues that the
caste or the varna system is a division of labour, they would be wrong. Caste system does not only
assign certain kinds of tasks to a certain group of people. This is accompanied with discriminatory
behaviour and looking down upon the “lower castes”. Besides, division of labour has the element of
choice in it. The group of people involved can discuss among themselves and choose what chore or
job they would like to take up. The element of choice is completely absent in the case of caste. So,
caste does not lead to the division of labour. Rather, it leads to divisive practices within the society,
or, “division of labourer”. So, the statement given, “caste is a division of labourer, not a division of
labour”, is completely justified.

5B.

Paraiyattam, also known as thappattam, is one of the most striking and vibrant art form in
Tamil Nadu. Parai is a percussive instrument. The artists beat on the instrument, and dance
along with it. The unique aspect of this cultural art form is that the player and dancer are the
same person. The beats of the parai and the movements of the body are in rhythmic
synchrony. This cultural dance and music form has been used for many years in various
rituals and festivals. It is one of the cathartic means of expression of the Dalit population.
One example of the words that go with it is:

Let the parai sound loudly

For the freedom of the working people
Our parai shouts not for death
But for the life of the working people
By beating loudly
Let the veils of proud casteists be torn apart.

5c. The Dalit community that washes the clothes of the whole village is the only
community where women lead the creative humanitarian work and cultural process.
Professional cloth-washing involves washing all kinds of clothes. They
have a unique culture and a sense of service which could be termed as
chakalatwam. It is the social process of collecting dirty clothes from house to
house, carrying them to the dhobi ghat, washing and drying them up. They have
a social responsibility.
This ordinary soil soap is a specific soil that has light
brown colour and contains the chemical character of a detergent.
Mixing of
this soil with water and dissolving it completely, the dhobis dip the clothes in it
and heat up the water.

5d. (change language) “Shramana” means striving, and shramanas in around 1000BC
were people who had left their home, went wandering in the forests, wilds and cities also to
search for the truth about life and the universe. They included many groups, sects
and varieties of opinion. The most famous were the Buddhists, the Jains, and the
materialist “Lokayata” followers of Charvak. But they also included many groups
who have now disappeared but were important for centuries, for instance the
Ajivikas.
The period was one of immense economic, social and political turmoil.
(The Brahmans tended to identify with the
kingdoms, but the shramana tradition had perhaps even a stronger basis among
merchants and traders, who were interested in an open society).
The Brahmans – or at least a section of them—wanted a society based on the
laws of caste, or varnashrama dharma, that is a society in which Brahmans,
Ksatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras each did their duty and the proper sacrifices
were performed to the deities. They proclaimed the Vedas as the sacred texts,
and they proclaimed their own authority as interpreters.
This
would be a closed society, “harmonious” if all accepted their position and hoped
for change only in a next birth; stable; limited. In contrast, people of the shramana
tradition wanted an open society and denied the principles of varnashrama
dharma. They mocked the expensive sacrificial ceremonies and proclaimed a
religion of the mind and heart.

5h. (change language) The worship of Sakti is very ancient in India and very much
indigenous. The mother goddess seems to have been venerated in the Indus valley
civilization.
Female deities were worshipped on the popular level from earliest times. She is considered
as a consort of Siva.
Etymologically, Sakti is the power of
Existence, Knowledge and Bliss. She is the power of Maya, makes Siva
determinate, endowed with the attributes of knowledge, will and action. Sakti as
a name used to identify a number of local goddesses. Sakti worship is the deity’s
power in the form of his consort. This has taken various forms, from simply
representing the deity with his consort to singling her out as the chief object of
worship. The concept underlying worship of Sakti is that since the eternal Siva
is inactive Sakti is active. The creation of the world and the work of grace and
liberation are her functions. Hence Sakti becomes more important than Siva
himself, who is static and ineffective without his wife. Although erotic practices
might well be expected, not all Saktism is erotic.
The texts which describe the elaborate rites and theories connected with saktism
are called tantras.

5g. The siddha movement in south india was an anti-ritualistic movement calling for
a massive social change. It expressed blatant disregard and contempt for the unequal
and unfair social structure of the medieval Indian society.
i. Against temple worship. They were against temple worship to save people
from the exploitation at the hands of the priests. They believed that god
was to be realised inside the heart of oneself, rather than in temples
thorugh rituals and sacrifices.
ii. Against Vedas and mantras: Similarly, they deemed Vedas and mantras
useless in the quest of realising god.
iii. On idol worship: They did not believe that idol worship could lead to any
meaningful spiritual pursuit. God can’t be found in stones. Impurities from
the mind ought to be removed if one is to find god.
iv. Revolt against caste: the caste is vehemently condemned. The cruelties by
the upper caste are strongly opposed.