Begumpura
Begumpura
Begumpura
The Framers of the Constitution knew that free speech is the friend of change and revolution. But they also knew that it is always the deadliest enemy of tyranny . Hugo Black
BEGUMPURA
The regal realm with the sorrowless name: they call it Begumpura, a place with no pain, No taxes or cares, nor own property there, no wrongdoing, worry, terror or torture. Oh my brother, I have come to take it as my own, my distant home, where everything is right. That imperial kingdom is rich and secure, where none are third or second - all are one; Its food and drink are famous, and those who live there dwell in satisfaction and in wealth. They do this or that, they walk where they wish, they stroll through fabled places unchallenged. Oh, says Ravidas, a tanner now set free, those who walk beside me are my friends.
Hindus and Sikhs. However, in order to do that they chose a caste-based religious identity: Chamar = Ad Dharmi = Ravi Dasi. Choice of Ravi Das appeared to be an obvious one for the Ad Dharmis as a religious symbol for the community The fact . that his writings were included in the Sikh holy book, Adi Granth, which had been compiled in Punjab and was written in the local language, made Ravi Das even more effective and acceptable. Thus the Ad Dharm movement played a very important role in developing an autonomous political identity and consciousness among the Chamar dalits of Punjab and its renaming itself as a religious body Ravi Das Mandal in 1946, was an , important turning point in the history of dalit movements of Punjab. However, it is
important to mention here that the Ravi Dasi religious identity had already begun to take shape, independently of the Ad Dharm movement in the region. In fact, some of the Ravi Dasi deras had, in fact, played an active role in the late 1920 when Mangoo Ram was campaigning for separate religious status for Ad Dharmis. Mangoo Ram often visited the Ravi Dasi deras during his campaign. Interestingly even when the community , reconciled itself to the idea of being clubbed with Hindu SCs for census enumerations, the identity of being Ad Dharmis continued to be important for them. As many as 14.9% (5,32,129) of the 70,28,723 SCs of Punjab were listed as Ad Dharmis in the 2001 Census, substantially more than those who registered themselves as belonging to the Ad Dharmi qaum in 1931. In religious terms, as many as 59.9% of the Punjab SCs enumerated themselves as Sikhs and 39.6% Hindus. Only 0.5% declared their religion as Buddhism. However, notwithstanding this official classification of all SCs into the mainstream religions of the region, everyday religious life of the Punjab dalits is marked by enormous diversity and plurality Apart . from the popular syncretic religious traditions that have been in existence for a long time in the region, the dalits of Punjab, and elsewhere in India, have also developed an urge for autonomous faith identities, particularly for getting out of Hinduism. They view Hinduism as the source of their humiliating social position in the caste system. This urge became much stronger with the emergence of a nascent educated middle class among them during the later phase of British colonial rule. The Ad Dharm movement of 1920s (discussed above) was a clear example of this. Historically dalits have chosen two differ, ent paths to this move away from Hinduism. The first of these was conversion to other religions such as Christianity Islam or , Sikhism, which do not theologically support caste-based inequalities and divisions. The second path has been to look for indigenous egalitarian faith traditions that emerged in opposition to the system of caste hierarchy . The Ravi Dasi movement can be seen as an example of this path.