“Our entire future depends on politics and nothing else. Neither pilgrimages to Pandharpur, Trimbakeshwar, Kashi, Haridwar, etc., nor fasting such as Shani Mahatma, Shivalilamrut or Gurucharitra will save you. Your ancestors have been doing these for thousands of years. Yet, has your condition changed even a little? The old torn clothes on your body, the piece of a half-baked roti in your stomach, your house in a place dirtier than a cowshed, your helplessness which makes you succumb to diseases like chickens, why has such an unbearable situation not changed till now? If the disease is not cured by a medicine we take, should we not change the medicine? Should we not change the doctor?” - BR Ambedkar
The demand of Dalits and lowered caste communities to enter temples which are largely controlled by Brahmins is not new. The refusal to allow Kanakadasa to enter the Udupi Krishna Temple in the 16th century was part of this struggle. At the same time, Brahmins have taken control of the shrines of lowered caste people as part of the Brahminisation project. Ironically, even Shudra castes who accept Brahmin superiority have handed over their temples to the Vedic priests. In any case, Brahmins and Shudras have always denied Dalits entry into their temples due to the caste system and the abhorrent practice of ‘untouchability’. Even though India’s Constitution prohibits it, this inhuman practice continues to thrive because of discrimination built into the Hindu religion.
After the British made India its colony, some reforms had to be introduced. Efforts were made to end caste-based laws and restrictions. As democratic values spread worldwide and became part of people’s common sense, struggles began to be waged for the rights of the ‘untouchables’. As part of the 1919 Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, Indians were nominated to provincial governments. ‘Untouchables’ too were granted these rights.
In South India, leaders of the non-Brahmin movement, known for their social reform efforts, passed resolutions in the local bodies calling for ‘untouchables’ to have access to public places. However, such resolutions in the Bombay and Madras Assemblies could not get a majority, and were defeated.
In 1923, SK Bole, one of the leaders of the non-Brahmin movement, proposed a law in the Bombay Assembly to allow ‘untouchables’ access to public places. It was passed. It was to ensure the implementation of this law that BR Ambedkar led the Mahad Satyagraha in 1927.
Another similar legislation led to the Vaikom movement in Kerala. Although these two movements were only aimed at gaining access to a tank and a street, three to five years of protracted legal battles and public struggles on the streets won them a victory.
All these developments put together led to ‘untouchables’ joining the temple entry movement. The struggle to secure their religious rights can be considered in terms of three phases: movements demanding entry into Hindu temples, movement to set up separate temples, and conversion to other faiths.
Entry into Hindu Temples
The first phase of these struggles began in Maharashtra, with Ambedkar’s direct or indirect support. According to the academic Eleanor Zelliot, three temple entry movements took place in Maharashtra from 1927, the year the Mahad Satyagraha took place: the Ambadevi Temple movement in Amravati, the Parvati Temple movement in Pune and the Kalaram Temple movement in Nashik.
These movements were built by local Dalit leaders. Ambedkar was aware of these movements and was invited to the meetings. Though he was present, he did not assume any leadership in the early days. He did not oppose these movements at first, because these were the first struggles for temple entry in modern India. It is important to note that Gandhi did not participate in any of these three struggles. Initially, the Congress was content to mediate between high-caste Hindus and ‘untouchables’. But Hindu Sanatanis joined forces with caste Hindus to hinder their struggle.
Dr Punjab Rao Deshmukh of the non-Brahmin movement and Dalit leader GA Gawai led the Amravati Temple entry movement in 1927. Caste Hindus assaulted two elderly Dalits who tried to enter the temple and had them sent to jail. Despite months of negotiations with the temple authorities, Dalits were still denied entry. For two years, the struggle hung on by a thread before finally losing steam in the face of the caste Hindus’ refusal to relent. They refused to even allow for a Satyagraha.
In 1929, when the Parvati Temple entry struggle took place in Pune, the Dalits were better organised compared to the earlier protests. Senior Dalit leader Shivaram Janbya Kamble led the satyagraha which various non-Brahmin leaders and liberal Brahmins too joined.
Hundreds of Dalits gathered at the base of Parvati Hill at the top of which the Peshwas had built a temple. When 12 satyagrahis, including four women, started climbing the steps of the hill, high-caste Hindus assaulted them. Chambar leader PN Rajbhoj and several others were injured and had to be taken to the hospital. The police and collector who visited the spot closed the temple down. A group of five Dalits continued the satyagraha at the temple gates for four months before finally giving up the Satyagraha.
A Marathi lavani memorialises the satyagraha thus:
Come, brothers, let us go to the temple of Parvati.
Let us hold the banner of spreading truth and meet Shankara.
Sattvik Shankara Sadashiva will wait for his devotees.
He will treat the poor and the rich equally without any discrimination.
Let us go to Saamba to protect Satya.
Let us tell the sorrow of our mind to Mother Parvati.
Let us appease the mind of Ganapati with the strength of our resolve.
Let us tell the truth..
Let us tell the truth..
The biggest struggle demanding access to a temple was the Kalaram Temple movement in Nashik, which lasted five years between 1930 and 1934 and was led by Dalit leader Bhaurao Gaikwad. This movement coincided with the Round Table Conference in London (1930-21) and Ambedkar used media reports on the satyagraha to support his demand for a separate electorate for ‘untouchables’.
On March 4, 1930, Ambedkar said: “Your problems will not be solved by entering the temple. Politics, economy, education, religion – all are part of the problem. Today’s Satyagraha is a challenge to the Hindu mind. Today we are going to find out whether Hindus are ready to consider us as human beings or not… We know that the God in the temple is made of stone. Darshan and worship cannot solve our problems. However, we will try and start to bring about a change in the minds of Hindus.”
Ambedkar’s decision to participate in the temple entry movement was motivated by the desire to pose a question: Would Hindus accept ‘untouchables’ as human beings? He knew that devotion to god would not improve their lives in any manner.
A month after the satyagraha began, the Kalaram temple rathotsava was held. It was decided in a meeting with the temple authorities that Dalits too would be included among the pullers of the chariot. But on the day, Dalits were not even allowed near the temple. Dalits protested at the site and were assaulted by caste Hindus. For five years a small group of ‘untouchables’ sat in protest right in front of the temple. Siding with the caste Hindus, the British directed that the satyagraha be stopped. Ambedkar wrote an angry letter to the British government:
“I am going to tell them that we cannot stop. Just as we do not take our orders from orthodox Hindus, we should not take them from the government either. We have trusted the government long enough to get rid of ‘untouchability’. But the government has not lifted even a finger to do anything about it. So it has no right to ask us to stop (satyagraha). We must take this burden on our shoulders and do whatever we can to free ourselves from this curse, no matter what the cost. Even if the government cannot help us, it should not hinder us. There is no use telling us not to create bad feelings between different classes and communities. The government should appeal not only to us but to all communities. It should say this, especially to the communities that are doing wrong and committing sins in this matter.”
Even though the struggle continued for five years, the caste Hindus remained unmoved. Whether it was Gandhi, Congress leaders, or the Hindu Mahasabha’s Sanatanis, nobody was willing to pay heed to the demand of the ‘untouchables’. This being the situation, Ambedkar advised Gaikwad against continuing the movement when the latter sought his opinion in 1934.
“I am grateful to you for seeking my views on the appropriateness of the oppressed classes starting a Satyagraha at the Kalaram Temple in Nashik on the day of Ram Navami. I have no hesitation in saying that such a move is certainly undesirable and should not only be postponed but should be stopped altogether. It may seem strange and surprising that such words should be heard from one of the participants of this Satyagraha. But I am not afraid to announce this change in the vanguard. I started the temple entry movement because I believed the movement should enable the ‘untouchables’ to worship the idols that they were forbidden from worshipping, or that entering a temple would make them equal and integral members of Hindu society.
With regards to what has transpired so far, I would advise the Depressed Classes to examine Hindu society and Hindu Dharmashastras comprehensively and thoroughly before agreeing to become an integral part of Hindu society. I started the temple entry satyagraha because I thought it was the best way to empower the oppressed class and make them aware of their position. I believe I have achieved that. So I no longer have any use for temple entry. I want the oppressed class to focus their energy and resources on politics and education and I hope they will realise the importance of both.”
By 1935, temple entry movements had proved ineffective and Ambedkar did not participate in any such movement after that. The non-Brahmin leaders and liberal Brahmins who supported the ‘untouchables’ became the target of caste Hindus. There was talk about social boycotts and caste Hindus did boycott some people. The separate electorate for Dalits which was won at the Round Table Conference was lost due to Gandhi’s hunger strike and the Hindu Mahasabha’s opposition.
It was in this context that Ambedkar made his famous remark at the Yeola conference in 1935. The conference was held in Nashik, the very place where Dalits had been humiliated by the five-year-long refusal to allow them access to the Kalaram Temple. “I was born a Hindu. But I will not die a Hindu,” he said, announcing his intention to change his faith.
Until then, the Hindu Mahasabha, caste Hindus, Sanatanis, VD Savarkar and other right-wing thinkers, Gandhi and Congress leaders, who had not an iota of concern for Dalits, kept shedding crocodile tears for them.
“Savarkar lamented that the ‘untouchables’ who would go outside Hinduism would no longer be useful. Moreover, they will turn into easy tools that will break apart our house (Hinduism) and cause us enormous damage,” he said.
Gandhi and the Congress renamed the Depressed Classes League the Harijan Seva Sangha and began to call ‘untouchables’ ‘god’s children’. Talk about removing ‘untouchability’ gained traction. Advocates of Sanatana dharma - with whom Savarkar agreed - said that ‘untouchables’ should not be given any concessions and that they were ‘low-born’.
After Ambedkar announced his intention to convert in 1935, not only was there a rise in the number of people who tried to reach out to Dalits, many people also began to say that Ambedkar was not the leader of all Dalits. The Congress tried to prop Babu Jagjivan Ram while the Hindu Mahasabha backed MC Rajah against Ambedkar.
In 1932, the Hindu Mahasabha went to the extent of securing the Rajah-Moonje pact–a pact between the ‘untouchables’ and caste Hindus which proposed a joint electorate with reservations for the Depressed Classes.
The ‘untouchable’ castes failed to grasp the foresight that Ambedkar developed as a result of these developments and fell prey to the trap of Brahmin-Baniya politics. Even today, they remain trapped by that net of Brahmin-Baniya politics and demand entry into Hindu temples.
Changing their faith
‘Untouchable’ castes have also considered building their own temples. When Dalits set out to build a temple for Chokhamela, Ambedkar held them back–he was certain that ‘untouchables’ would remain so if they tried to adopt any practice from the Hindu fold.
Hence, he embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956, and returned to his original home*. While returning to his original faith, he vowed never to offer worship to any Hindu god and made neo-Buddhists take the vow too. He became modern India’s Bodhisattva.
Despite many constraints, the Mahars of Maharashtra walked Ambedkar’s path. They returned to Buddhism and have become neo-Buddhists. There are no politicians who try to reach out to them today with assurances of gods and temples–they know that the Mahar Dalits have no need for it. The Chambars of Maharashtra, who were far more forward than the Mahars in the 19th century, have fallen behind socially and economically today. One of the reasons for that is that they are stuck in the trap of the Hindu religion.
Even today, Dalits’ movements for temple entry are futile. Caste Hindus don’t think twice about beating even a Dalit child who wanders into a temple by chance. They will neither understand Dalits’ struggle for self-respect through gaining entry to a temple nor will they stand for it.
It is best that the Dalit community forgets these struggles. Ambedkar gave us Buddha’s ideas of consciousness, compassion and friendship in 1956. Wise Dalits and young people must ensure that we leave behind memories of the Buddha by establishing Buddha Viharas in every keri (the street where Dalits are forced to live in villages), no matter how small. We need to ensure that the future generation does not lose its way and venture into outdated struggles such as those for temple entry. We must fight for education, political and economic development.
There is a story about a Dalit Sangharsha Samiti activist who was denied entry to a temple. Turning towards the temple, he said, ‘Lord, you don’t have the good fortune of seeing us,’ and walked away without looking back. Such conduct should be our ideal. Dalits do not need the Hindu temples which kept Babasaheb outside and allowed Viceroy Mountbatten in, and purified the idol which Babu Jagjivanram inaugurated. It should stop with this generation. We must stop the struggles demanding entry into temples. Let the communists, the Dravida Kazhagam and Dalit organisations cease to organise temple entry movements that cause Dalits to suffer at the hands of Brahminical traps. From now on, let Dalits boycott Hindu temples.
(*Editor’s Note: In his book The Untouchables: Who were they? And Why They Became Untouchables, Ambedkar argues that two different groups of people were made “untouchable” by different historical and social processes. He calls one group the Broken People, the survivors of social groups which were defeated by other social groups; and the second group were Buddhists who resisted the varna system.)
Vikas Mourya is a Dalit activist in Karnataka.
This piece was translated by Anisha Sheth.