I was born in a Shudra community to a family of peasants in Western India.
When I was a child, I started going to our small farm where my family grew vegetables and fruits with utmost care. “Kanda, Mula, Bhaji, Avaghi Vithai Mazi,” my grandfather used to sing melodiously while farming. This abhang
or a “sacred poem” was composed by a Hindu peasant saint named Savta
Mali. It means, ‘there is divinity within everything, even plants and
vegetables.’ The poem has left an everlasting imprint on my heart—to me,
it encapsulates the most essential teachings of Hinduism from the time
of the Vedas, in the simplest of terms.
Today, my three children
face an unusual challenge as California public school students—to their
right to learn with accuracy their own cultural and spiritual heritage.
A group of academicians calling themselves the ‘South Asia Faculty Group’ (SAFG)
is, under the pretext of protecting my children’s heritage, seeking to
objectify and thereby obliterate us all together and erase Indian
civilisation and Hinduism from the textbooks. These academicians and
their allied groups, like the South Asian Histories For All (SAHFA),
believe that my children’s ancestors, saints and sages hailing from
peasant communities (often categorised as Shudras or sometimes even outside the varna
system), should be removed from the curriculum. It is like someone
telling my grandfather, as he toiled on the farm, that he could not let
his heart sing the words of Savta Mali because that didn’t fit their
theory about Hinduism and caste. It is a complete silencing of who we
are, and how we see our heritage.
Hinduism, since Vedic times, has
evolved with contributions from diverse communities within. I feel proud
that communities like the one I belong to have greatly contributed to
Hinduism. It may be ancient Vedic sages such as Valmiki and Vyasa who
were born into non-Brahmin families, or one of numerous later day
spiritual figures such as Janabai, Ravidas, Sajan Kasai, Tukaram, Gora
Kumbhar, Chokha Mela, and Nirmala Mahar—women and men who came from
Dalit and “lower caste” communities like my own— who have helped
Hinduism grow, rejuvenate and reform. They have been role models for
Hindus of all social backgrounds. These are the kind of people that come
to my mind when I think of Hinduism and its history.
Social
inequities have existed in all societies across the world regarding
differences in class, race, gender and so on. India is no exception. And
as an advocate for social justice, I do not shy away from the need to
question, fight, correct and overcome the social ills that have accrued
in society over time due to stagnation, decay, invasions and
colonialism. But the force to fight for social justice is not some gift
given to us by the colonial British or the Western world. We have found
the inspiration for our struggle within Hinduism and its traditions—from
the Vedas that see divinity in all human beings, the Bhakti traditions
which see no distinction of caste or class, the innumerable later day
social reformer saints like Narayan Guru and Swami Vivekananda, who
questioned social ills and helped reform Hindu society.
SAFG and its allies, while claiming to champion the cause of “lower
castes” has not only failed to capture any of our contributions but has
sought the erasure of whatever little exists about our heritage in the
textbooks. For example, the group has callously advocated the removal of
the mention in textbooks that great sages Vyasa and Valmiki were not
born to Brahmin families. Take also the case where the Hindu community
had requested that Sant Ravidas and Alvars
be added as examples of Bhakti saints. Sant Ravidas came from the most
underprivileged of backgrounds and went on to become one of the most
admired spiritual leaders in Hinduism. This suggested inclusion was
apparently rejected by the writing team of the Department of Education,
as it “conflict[ed] with another submission”—that of the SAFG, which did
not even care to mention any of such saints, preventing their spiritual
teachings and contributions from being mentioned in the textbooks.
An
impression is also being created that demanding a fair and equitable
portrayal of Indian Civilisation and Hinduism in California school
textbooks is unjust or runs contrary to the interests of underprivileged
sections of the Indian society as if these communities are not Hindu or
Indian! This view essentialises Hinduism into “Brahminism,” eliminates
the contributions of diverse communities within Hinduism and forces
these communities into conflict with their own civilisation.
In 1931, at the peak of British colonisation of India, Winston Churchill had argued that “To abandon India to the rule of the Brahmins would be an act of cruel and wicked negligence.”
The British characterised the call for Indian Independence by Mahatma
Gandhi and other leaders as merely a “Brahminical” concern, and
presented themselves as saviours of the so called “lower castes”. This
trademark “Divide and Rule” policy was used by colonialists to
legitimise colonial rule while perpetrating the most gruesome of horrors on the very Indian people.
It is indeed a tragic irony that similar arguments are being used
today by the SAFG to justify the erasure of Indian civilisation, as well
as the heritage and contributions of communities such as mine.
As
someone rooted in Indian heritage, I have been actively participating
in the K-12 History-Social Sciences Framework update that has been
ongoing for the last two years. I have faced many struggles and debates
over this issue, but what has been most shocking is the very motivated
attempt by SAFG to use me and people sharing my heritage, as mere
objects in their attempt to erase, belittle and demean Indian
civilisation. I reject their claim entirely.
My children deserve
to be told the truth about their ancestors, and not lies about them
being mere nobodies and victims who did not contribute to the building
of Indian Civilisation.
Hinduism and Indian Civilisation belongs to Dalits and “lower castes” as much as it belongs to any other community. In fact, it belongs to us even more. If you erase Indian Civilisation and Hinduism, you erase us too.
By: Sandeep Dedage
Sandeep Dedage is
Director, Hindu Education Foundation USA and has been actively working
on curriculum reforms in California textbooks.
Courtesy: Swarajya
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