Sikh Identity by Takhar Opinderjit Kaur

Author:Takhar, Opinderjit Kaur
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

The Ad Dharm Movement

The Ad Dharm movement, which began to flourish in the 1920s, is responsible for the social and religious uplifting of the Scheduled Classes, in particular, the Ravidāsīs. The term Ad Dharm in translation, means ‘original religion’, and is reminiscent of the idea that the Scheduled Classes are the original inhabitants of India. The founder of the Ad Dharm movement was Mangoo Rām, an educated Dalit who worked as a secondary school teacher.35 Education, however, did not offer Mangoo Rām the social status of which he was deserving. Since he was born a Dalit he continued to be discriminated against by Hindu classes. Mangoo Rām had already spent a period of his life in the United States from where he accumulated considerable influence to be able to begin a movement for the uplifting of the lower castes.

The identity being sought for the followers of the Ad Dharm was that of a qaum, a distinct religious community of people. They were no longer going to be content with just remaining on the lowest strata of Hindu, and Sikh, society in which they were refused equal rights.36 Since they were already being treated as separate from higher-class Sikhs and, indeed, as separate from the followers of Hinduism, then it was feasible that they should think in terms of forming a distinct identity and religion. Importantly, although the Ad Dharmis rejected the caste system, the persistence towards establishing their own qaum was, however, based on zāt, since it predominantly comprised of members from the chamār caste. The qaumik identity of the Scheduled Classes, therefore, consisted of their self-constituted superiority over the Aryans. This was reinforced by the suggested origin of the Scheduled Classes as the original inhabitants of India, their status as a separate community, and the accumulation of their own unique traditions.37 The Ad Dharm movement was thus regarded as the main medium for the raising of the status of the Scheduled Classes. Its first meeting took place at Jullunder, Punjab in 1925.

It was among the Ravidāsīs, rather than the Vālmīkis that the Ad Dharm movement mainly gained acceptance. Many new traditions and customs were introduced, with a special emphasis on the colour red:38 traditionally the ādivāsīs were banned from wearing red due to its exclusive association with the Aryans. Ad Dharmis encouraged the Scheduled Classes to wear bright red turbans and clothing in order to assert their new identity of equality. The particular emblem and mantra of the Ad Dharm was Soham which is taken from the Upaniṣads and means ‘I am That’ – thus again promoting egalitarianism.

The Ad Dharm movement was as political as much as it was originally religious. In addition to establishing a new religious identity for the lower classes it also aimed at establishing the Ad Dharmis as a political nation, having as much say in the politics of its country as other groups. It was as a result of the British government’s involvement in India that the Ad Dharmi leaders seized the opportunity, based

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.