Sikhism and the caste question: Dalits and their politics in contemporary Punjab

Abstract

Caste has invariably been seen in unitary terms, as a pan-Indian reality without any significant variations in its structure or ideology. While it was sanctioned through some Hindu scriptural sources, other Indian religious communities, 100, were believed to support the idea of hierarchy and practice caste in everyday life, albeit to a lesser degree. Despite scholarly criticisms of such theories and the many changes that caste has undergone over time, this view of caste has largely prevailed. This happens partly because the idea of caste has become embedded in the idea of India as a nation: caste is taken as proof of India's cultural continuity and a stable past . Taking a cue from a recent case of conflict between Ad-Dharmis and Jats in a village of Punjab over the question of representation in the management of a religious shrine, the article looks at caste in relation to Sikhism and in the regional context of contemporary Indian Punjab. I have tried to argue that, as in the case of other structures of social relations, caste identities too undergo change, and that they have never functioned as 'pure ideological systems'. For a region-specific understanding of caste, we need to 'disentangle it from Hinduism and look at caste from an historical perspective. It is within such a framework that we can possibly understand the question of caste today. I conclude by arguing that while caste is nearly dead in contemporary Punjab, as an ideology, it survives and thrives as a source of identity.

‘Home is Never Fully Achieved … Even When We Are In it’: Migration, Belonging and Social Exclusion within Punjabi Transnational Mobility

“…Jat Sikhs are the most economically powerful, politically/socially influential and occupationally privileged group within Punjab and the 'dominant caste' (Jodhka 2002;Puri 2003), owning over eighty percent of available agricultural land (Jodhka 2004;Ram 2012). The Punjabi Dalit population is greater in number, but their share of land ownership lower, than in any other Indian state, meaning that Jats and Dalits 'live in extreme contrast of affluence and deprivation' (Ram 2007: 4068).…”

Is Caste Destiny? Occupational Diversification among Dalits in Rural India

“…Thus, Mendelsohn notes that 'while the old jajmani system seems to persist, it has now diminished in intensity and is increasingly strained ' (1993, p. 824). Similarly, Jodhka (2004) finds that 'Dalit communities of rural Punjab … used the new spaces opened up by the process of economic development to re-negotiate their relationships with locally dominant castes and rural social structure, eventually leading to a near complete breakdown of jajmani relationships ' (2004, p. 182), consciously dissociating themselves from their 'traditional' polluting occupations. Mayer (1997) revisits a village in central India in 1992, which he first studied in 1954, and observes a considerable weakening of the correspondence between caste and occupation in the intervening 38 years, with an increasing number of jobs available in the village which are not casterestricted.…”

Is Caste Destiny? Occupational Diversification Among Dalits in Rural India

“…period were more pronounced in the villages that SC households resided in, which were located close to large towns or in agriculturally dynamic regions (such as Punjab) (Jodhka 2004). In contrast, the geographical isolation of the villages that ST households resided in along with the poor agricultural potential of these villages that limited the possibilities of mechanisation and commercialisation did not allow them to take part in these processes of rural change (von Fürer-Haimendorf 1982).…”