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| Dalit Movement in India — A representative image. |
File Information
| Document Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Dalit Movement in India |
| Article Credit | International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology, ISSN: 2395-6011, Vol.: 7, Issue: 5, Year: 2020, (Pubd in: Academia.edu) |
| Author | Dr. Deepak Kumar (Assistant Professor, History (Guest Faculty/Part Time), L. S. College, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India) |
| Subject | A study of the historical development of Dalit resistance in India, with attention to caste oppression, Brahmanical ideology, and the role of religious and social protest. |
| Category | Academic article |
| Institution | International Journal of Scientific Research in Science and Technology |
| Main Topics | Dalit movement, Caste oppression, Brahmanical ideology, Anti-caste resistance, Religious conversion, Untouchability, Colonial and post-independence context |
| Number of Pages | 3 |
| Language | English |
| File Type | |
| File Size | 112.8 KB |
Summary Note of this Document
Dalit Movement in India
Dalit Movement in India analyses the historical formation of Dalit resistance against caste oppression and Brahmanical ideology. The article argues that the contemporary Dalit movement cannot be understood only as a modern political current, but as part of a longer struggle by oppressed castes against the structure of caste society. It traces this resistance through colonial and wider historical contexts, stressing that caste hierarchy, ritual exclusion, and social stratification shaped both the possibilities and limits of collective action. The discussion highlights the religious dimension of anti-caste protest, showing how opposition to Brahmanism often took the form of conversion, sect formation, or spiritual dissent. Examples cited include movements associated with the Chamar, Nadar, Ezhava, and Dalit traditions, as well as the symbolic importance of Dr. Ambedkar’s turn to Buddhism. The article’s central focus is on how oppressed communities sought dignity, identity, and liberation through anti-caste mobilisation, while also suggesting that the movement’s later development was constrained by the very conditions that produced it. It combines historical overview, ideological interpretation, and a critique of the movement’s limited transformation in post-independence India.
Core Themes
- Historical continuity of anti-caste resistance
- Caste hierarchy and social stratification
- Brahmanical domination and untouchability
- Religious protest and conversion
- Dalit identity and liberation
- Colonial and post-independence change
Keywords
About Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 as the fourteenth and youngest child of an army Subedar in Mhow. Born into the Mahar caste, which was considered untouchable, Bhimrao faced many hardships at school. He had to sit on a gunny sack that he brought from home. He was not allowed to touch the water vessel or cup, so he could drink water only when the school peon was present to pour it for him. He later described this experience with the words, “No peon, no water.” His mother died when he was very young, and he had a difficult childhood. However, he was the only one of his siblings to pass his examinations and continue to high school, becoming the first person from his community to attend Elphinstone College. With a scholarship from the Maharaja of Baroda, he went on to study at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He earned doctorates in economics and trained as a barrister at Gray’s Inn. According to the account supplied for this biography, his books were lost when his ship was torpedoed during the First World War.
Despite his education, Ambedkar continued to face prejudice. When he returned to India, he was required to work in Baroda but had to leave the position because of discrimination. His business providing investment consultancy failed when clients learned that he belonged to a community considered untouchable. While working as a professor in Mumbai, his colleagues objected to the idea of him sharing a water jug with his students. These experiences helped spur his activism. He established newspapers to give a voice to marginalized people. He led the Mahad Satyagraha, asserting Dalits’ right to collect water from a public tank, and publicly burned the Manusmriti in 1927. In 1932, he negotiated the Poona Pact with Mahatma Gandhi. Although it involved a difficult compromise, the pact provided reserved seats in legislatures for the Depressed Classes. Ambedkar was outspoken in public life but private by nature. His wife Ramabai died in 1935, and he filled his home in Bombay with a large personal library reported to contain more than 50,000 books. He declared, “I am born a Hindu, but I will not die as one.”
During the period of Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to become India’s first Law Minister. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee that prepared the Constitution of India, which abolished the practice of untouchability and established civil liberties and constitutional safeguards, including reservations for historically oppressed communities. He acknowledged the contribution of other constitutional experts, including B. N. Rau, who had prepared an earlier draft. Because of his poor health, including diabetes, Ambedkar married Savita, a doctor who cared for him. In October 1956, he converted to Buddhism in Nagpur along with a vast gathering of followers, commonly estimated at around half a million. He died in his sleep just weeks later, shortly after completing his final major work, The Buddha and His Dhamma. He was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1990. His message, “Educate, agitate, organise,” continues to inspire people seeking equality and social justice.
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