Opening temple doors to all
A new year resolution for Hindusism
Published: 24 Jan 2010
A recent report of a study conducted across 1,655 villages in the
Indian state of Gujarat, representing 98,000 Dalits, revealed the
shocking fact that 97 per cent of them feel that they are unwelcome at
Hindu temples, religious gatherings and public discourses on
scripture. Researchers did not find a single village that was free
from the practice of untouchability. ("No temple entry for Dalits in
Gujarat," Times of India, December 7, 2009). Such exclusion is neither
infrequent nor limited to Gujarat. The BBC News ("Fury over south
India temple ban," October 15, 2009) reported an incident of stone
throwing to protest Dalits entering a temple near Vedaranyam in the
state of Tamil Nadu.
Last month the High Court of Chennai issued an order, against the
wishes of temple trustees, that a temple procession pass through a
Dalit community in the Villipuram District. Dalit (oppressed) is the
name preferred by those who have been relegated to the lowest rungs of
the caste ladder and regarded as untouchable by members of upper
castes. Dalits constitute around 20 per cent of the Indian population.
Although the exclusion of Dalits from places of Hindu worship ought to
be a matter of deep concern and distress, there is hardly a ripple of
protest in the sea of Hindu complacency. Shutting the doors of Hindu
temples to Dalits stands in bewildering contrast to the anxiety in
other religious traditions about dwindling numbers and the expenditure
of considerable resources to attract the faithful. It should not
surprise that those debarred from Hindu sanctums enter, in significant
numbers, the open and inviting doors of others.
Those in India and outside who are vociferous opponents of religious
conversion must understand and acknowledge the Dalit experience of the
Hindu tradition as oppressive and negating their dignity and
self-worth.
Conversion is a challenge for Hindus to consider the relationship
between religious practice and systemic oppression. Exclusion from
temples is only one manifestation of such oppression. It troubles
deeply also that, with notable exceptions, the principal voices of
protest over exclusion are not those of Hindu leaders. In the case of
anti-Dalit violence in the town of Vedaranyam, referred to above, the
protests were led by supporters of the Communist Party of
India–Marxist. In other cases, secular-minded human rights activists
are at the forefront of the agitation on behalf of the Dalits. Earlier
this year, Navin Pillay, UN Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned
caste as negating the human rights principles of equality and
non-discrimination and called for a UN convention to outlaw
discrimination based on caste.
The response of silence from Hindus may be interpreted as support for
barring Dalits from places of worship. Even more importantly,
indifference gives validation to the wrong impression that the Hindu
tradition has no theological ground or core for challenging the human
inequality that is at the root of the Dalit ostracisation and
oppression. The assumptions of human inequality that explain the
continuing persistence of untouchability need an urgent, vigorous and
unambiguous theological repudiation originating from the
non-negotiable heart of the Hindu tradition. Although Hinduism is
admittedly diverse, its major traditions are unanimous in affirming
the equal existence of God in every being. "God," the Bhagavadgita
proclaims, "lives in the heart of all beings." This core theological
teaching must become the basis for the assertion of the equal dignity
and worth of every human being and the motivation for challenging and
transforming the oppressive structures of caste that, in reality, deny
and violate the luminous presence of God in all.
Although every unjust expression of caste needs to be denounced, the
shutting of temple doors to people pleading for the opportunity to
worship challenges, in a special way, the meaning and legitimacy of
Hinduism as a religious tradition. For this reason, Hindus must commit
themselves with tireless determination to the work of welcoming Dalits
into every Hindu place of worship. Such work must be seen as
fundamental to Hindu identity and the meaning of belonging to the
community of Hindus. While we must commend and support Hindu leaders
and movements working already for the wellbeing of Dalits and their
equality and dignity, we must recognise also that many Hindu leaders
may not be at the forefront of such a religiously inspired movement.
They are the beneficiaries of the privileges of caste and immune to
the pain of those who live at the margins. All Hindus who understand
the contradiction between teachings centred on God's embodiment in
every human being and the exclusion of people from places of worship
must embrace this cause.
Hindus settled outside of India who enjoy the privileges of living in
free societies and the protection of the law against unequal and
unjust treatment, have special obligations in this matter. They need
to lift their voices in protest against practices in the name of
Hinduism that denigrate human beings. They must ensure that Hindu
leaders, and especially those who travel often to the West and who are
the recipients of their donations and reverence, hear their voices.
They must make clear the unacceptability of religious discrimination
and demand that leaders renounce silence and indifference and become
active advocates for change. Every Hindu leader must be challenged to
take a stand in this matter. The Constitution of India specifies: "The
State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth." Constitutional and legal
measures, as necessary as these are, have not and will not eliminate
all forms of discrimination based on caste inequality.
Legal measures can never cause the joyous embrace of all that follows
from awakening to God's presence in each heart. Religious vision and
wisdom can be the source of such transformed relationships. Hinduism
needs an unequivocal theological proclamation that complements
constitutional law by repudiating caste injustice and that commits
Hindus to the equal worth of all human beings. Opening the doors of
all Hindu temples to Dalits is an important step, an urgent religious
matter and an opportunity for the Hindu tradition, in our time, to
define itself. Let this be our collective Hindu resolution in 2010.
Prof Anantanand Rambachan
Professor and Chair
Religion Department
Saint Olaf College
rambacha@stolaf.edu
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