http://www.cnn.
India's 'untouchables' declare own religion
By Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN
February 3, 2010 12:04 p.m. EST
New Delhi, India (CNN) -- In an event considered rare, one of India's
low-caste communities has declared its own distinct religion.
Followers of a 14-century spiritual figure, Guru Ravidass, will now
have their own holy scriptures, a flag and a greeting, sect officials
said.
The new holy book compiles Guru Ravidass' writings, which until now
were predominantly found in sacred Sikh scriptures that the sect
placed in its houses of worship.
The declaration was made by a key Ravidass monastery whose priest's
killing in May last year in Vienna, Austria sparked furious protests
in the Sikh heartland of Punjab.
Thousands of protesters from the low-caste communities -- called the
Dalits, meaning the suppressed -- attacked road and rail
transportation in the wake of the murder blamed on Sikh hardliners.
C.R. Suman, the manager of the Sachkhand Ballan monastery in Punjab
state, told CNN that the announcement of a new Ravidassia faith was
made on Saturday to a large congregation at the birthplace of the
revered leader in Uttar Pradesh state.
Experts say the move was a response to social discrimination against
low castes in Punjab, where close to 30 percent of the population is
Dalit, the highest in any Indian state.
"The Ravidassias and other Dalits remain marginalized in Punjab,
politically, religiously and economically,
Madhopuri, who has written several books on the Hindu caste system.
Analysts say the declaration of a new faith is likely to be a
psychological boost for Dalits in India. "They appear to have asserted
themselves in a strategy that will give them a greater bargaining
strength in their home state where power has centered around specific
castes," said columnist Jaspal Singh Sidhu. "Outside of Punjab, it is
likely to give a big psychological boost to other Dalit communities.
There are estimated about five million Ravidassias from Punjab now
spread across the world, said Madhopuri.
Madhopuri, however, believes the new sacred text may not attract other
Dalit communities because it only contains Ravidass verses.
"Yet, this announcement of a distinct religion is a symbol of Dalit
assertion," he said.
According to Madhopuri, the last time the Dalits came together as a
faith was in 1925 when the British ruled India. In the 1931 census,
more than 450,000 registered themselves as members of the new Dalit
faith called Ad Dharam, or Original Religion.
But the faith vanished after India's independence mainly because of
what Madhopuri explained were lures of government jobs reserved for
low-caste Hindus and Sikhs.
In India, Hindus make up more than 80 percent of its billion-plus
population. Muslims constitute the second-largest religious group.
Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and other faiths together form about 6 percent
of remaining Indians.
After independence from the British in 1947, India outlawed what was
an age-old practice of untouchability of low-caste Hindus by those
seen as superior by birth.
Still, the communities are believed to be facing bias despite having
being given quotas for government jobs.
India's crime statistics show that police registered more than 133,000
cases from 2004 to 2008 under the country's stringent laws to protect
Dalits against atrocities.
The birth of a new religion in Punjab has had Sikhs worried the most,
as it emerged in their state where the monotheistic faith was founded
in the 15th century to break caste and religious distinctions.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the top Sikh
religious administration, termed the Ravidassia declaration
unfortunate.
It disagrees that the practical Sikh response to the downtrodden did
not match the Sikh faith's core beliefs of equality.
"It's unfortunate that this has happened. Sikh thought is against any
kind of prejudice," said SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur.
"I would appeal to them (the Ravidassias) to revisit their decision."
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