Ad Dharm 's thought

In the beginning, when nature created human beings, there was no discrimination. There were no differences and no quarrels. In particular, there were no such concepts as high or low caste.

AD DHARAM COMMANDMENT

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IT IS NOT GOOD TO CRY AND BEAT ONESELF AT A DEATH OR FUNERAL.
TO DO SO IS TO ANGER GURU DEV.

AD DHARAM COMMANDMENT
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JAN. 14, 1886----APRIL 22, 1980





 






THE GREAT REVOLUTIONARY

BABU MANGOO RAM MUGOWALIA


Dr. Ronki Ram

I congratulate you and highly appreciate your concerted efforts for celebrating the Birth anniversary of Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia, the Prophet of Dalit Struggle in Punjab in the early 1920s. He was one of the very few Dalit visionaries who correctly realized that the real salvation of the downtroddenlies in theirtotal social and cultural transformation.For that only liberation from the colonial masters would no besufficient. He was of the firm opinion that unless and until a systematic and all embracing struggleagainst the Brahmanical orthodoxy based on the Hindu Shashtric principle of purity/pollution is launched, the national struggle against the British rule would not serve the real interest of the millions of the Dalits, who had been subjected to all kids of marginalities and oppression for centuries. In fact, Dalits were the double victims: of the British rule as well as of the Upper castes of their own country. It was this thinking that looks him to organize the Ad-Dharm Movement in Punjab at a time when Mahatma Gandhi was also getting actively involved in the national liberation struggle in India. Babu Ji gave his people a new religion (Ad-Dharm) to believe in, Gurus (Rishi Valmiki, Guru Ravi Dass, Maharaj Kabir, and Bhagwan Sat Guru Nam Dev) to worship, a symbol (Soham) to display, and a slogan (Jai Guru Dev) to greet each other. He and his movement inculcated a sense of dignity and confidence among the Dalits of Punjab who since have been actively pursuing the cause of Dalit liberation both within the country and abroad wherever they havesettled. I once again congratulate you and the entire <ambedkartimes.com> tribe for celebrating this GreatDalit Revolutionary of the20th century.


 


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Photo by P. K. Chumber

S. Satnam Singh Chahal, Chief Editor, (Panjab News Weekly) USA

with Shri Akal Takhat's Jathedar Singh Sahib Jathedar Joginder Singh Vaidantii & other Singh Sahibs is giving them brief history about Great Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia before releasing

PANJAB NEWS WEEKLY'S SPECIAL ISSUE ON GHADDRI BABA BABU MANGU RAM MUGOWALIA

 on April 20th, 2006 at the Panjab News Weekly's office. Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber was editor of that special issue & he was also present at that time .


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Photo by P. K. Chumber

Shri Akal Takhat's Jathedar Singh Sahib Jathedar Joginder Singh Vaidanti Ji

with other Singh Sahibs releasing

PANJAB NEWS WEEKLY'S SPECIAL ISSUE ON GHADDRI BABA BABU MANGU RAM MUGOWALIA

on April 20th, 2006 at the office of Panjab News Weekly. Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber was editor of that special issue & he was also present at that time . 


 

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Photo by P.K. Chumber's Camera

Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber with Shri Akal Takhat's Jathedar Singh Sahib Joginder Singh Vaidanti Jiwith other Jathedars & Pnajab News's Board of Directors S. Kuldip Singh Grewal, S. Ajit Singh Grewal with others.



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H. R. Kajla, P. K. Chumber, T. Kazla, Kewal Bolina & S. K. Ralh  (Photo by P.K. Chumber's Camera)

Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber is presenting a Picture of Great Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia to Mr.Kewal Bolina (President of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Sacramento, California, USA), Mr. Hans Raj Kajla (Secretary), Mr. Tawinder Kazla (Vice Chairman) & Mr. Satish Kumar Ralh (Ex Stage Secretary) at Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple, Rio Linda (California) on Sahib Shri Guru Ravi Dass's 629th Gururpurb day, March 12, 2006. 


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Photo by P.K. Chumber's Camera

Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber is presenting a Picture of Great Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia to S Gurbachan Singh, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Selma, California (USA) in the presence of sangat on April 02, 2006. Standing sangat: Rajinder Singh Gangar, Bhai Harjinder Singh Rassia, Sukwinder Suman,  Dev Raj Singh (present President of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Selma) Mrs. Gurbachan Singh, Narender Chumber, Takshila Chumber & others.


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Photo P.K. Chumber's Camera by Kabir Chumber

Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber is presenting a Picture of Great Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia to Mr. Lahori Ram, Economic Development Commissioner, California in the presence of sangat at the Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple, Pittsburg, California (USA) on  Sunday (May    , 2006)  .Standing Sangat: K. D. Paul (Presidemt, IBO California), Daswinder Paul (President, Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Pittsburg, California), Ajay Kataria (present, President Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Pittsburg, California), Balvir Mall (Chairman, Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Pittsburg, California), Sewak Dass, Satpaul Surila,  Jagat Jaggi, Ram Ralh, Kundan Pall, Salinder Bhatia, George Bhatia,  Giani Harblas Singh, Kamaljeet Surila,  Jaila Jaggi, Giani Ball Singh and Jarnail Dugh & others


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Photo P.K. Chumber's Camera by Kabir Chumber

Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber is presenting a Picture of Great Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia to Mr. Vinod Kumar Chumber (President of  Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha, Bay Area, Califormia, USA) in the presence of  sangat on May 21, 2006. Standing Sangat: Amrik Chand Lakha (President of Dr. Ambedkar Educational Aid Society Fremont, California, USA), Sucha Ram Bharta, Balbir Singh Shinmar  (General Secretary of  Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha, Bay Area, Califormia, USA) & others community members.

 

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Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber  presented a book Religious rebels in the Punjab (written by Prof. (Dr.) Mark Juergensmeyer) to Mr. Bansi Lal Bangar, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California (USA) on Sunday, Feb.11th, 2007, the 630th birth day celebration of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Ji. Standing Left to Right: Baldev Suman, Chairman Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Bay Area, San Francisco California, Vinod  Chumber, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Bay Area, San Francisco California, Des Raj Bangar, Secretary of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California , Sonu Ambedkar (K.K.Saroya) Vice President I.B.O. California, Kewal Bolina, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Sacramento (California), Balbir Mall, Chairman Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Pittsburg (California), Piara Singh Virdi, Assistant Secretary of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California , Bhai Avtar Singh Maheru Head Garanthi of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple (C.V.) Fresno, California, Karam Singh Bangar, Chairman of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California, Parmod Loi Gen. Secretary of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California.
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COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES IN YUBA CITY (CALIFORNIA)



Photos by Kabir Chumber

(1) Prem Kumar Chumber is presenting a photo of Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangoo Ram Muggowalia to Shingara Singh Ralh (President Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple, Yuba City) & standing: Left to right Mohan Gill, (Behind Davinder Ralh), Sukhveer Heer, Charan Singh, Gurbachan Chopra & Parshotam Sood.(2) Ghaddri Baba Babu Mangoo Ram Muggowalia (3) After we hung the picture of Mugowalia: Charan Singh, Davinder Ralh, Mohan Gill, P.K. Chumber,Shingara Singh Ralh & Sukhveer Heer (4) Prem Kumar Chumber is presinting a book "Religious Rebels in the Punjab" (Written by Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer) to Parshotam Sood (Chairman Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple, Yuba City) standing: L. to R. Gurbachan Chopra, Gurdial Nar, Mohan Gill, Davinder Ralh, Charan Singh & Sukhveer Heer.
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(Photo-1) Prem Kumar Chumber is presenting a book Religious rebels in the Punjab (written by Prof. (Dr.) Mark Juergensmeyer) to Mr. Rajinder Gangar, a active member of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Selma (California) at Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple Selma (California) in the presence of sangat on March 25th, 2007. Standing: Sewa Singh (Head Garanthi, C), Devraj Singh Madara (President G. R. D. Temple, Selma), Sukhvir Heer, Buta Singh Dhami, Joginder Dadra, Shanti Dadra, Manjit Kaur, Santokh Simk, Rekha Dadra and children Prabhjit Gangar, Amanpreet Gangar, Manjot Kaur, Amit Dadra, Jashon Dadra.



Ad-Dharma in Dr.Ambedkar’s Writings 

Intention to leave a religious sect born of disgust with current practices or injustice does not server one’s connection with the religion which he is nominally believe to profess.

            “Surely, not all the present day Christians are true Christians. What about the Sunday parades in Europe where people who do not believe in Christianity or are indifferent or are rationalists demonstrate in front of Churches on Sunday morning? They, too, are nevertheless Christians in the eyes of the state.”

            “You may call me a statutory Hindu if you like,” said Dr.Ambedkar humorously, “but I will insist on my political rights irrespective of the depth of my religious fervor.”

            To support his contention Dr.Ambedkar cites two instances from the Punjab, where two sections of depressed classes have been classified as “Schedule Castes” in spite of the proved fact that they are not Hindus. The instances mentioned are those of Ad Dharmis and Ramdasis. The first of these have gone out of their way formally to intimate to Government that they are not Hindus, and yet they have been classed under “Scheduled Castes” in the general constituency.

            “The Punjab Census Report of 1931 says:

            “The most notable feature of the present census from the stand-point of return of religion has been the adoption of the term ‘Ad-Dharmi’ by numerous Chamars and Chuhras and other untouchables. A new instruction to the religion was given this year, namely, ‘Persons returning themselves as Ad-Dharmis should be recorded as such.

            “The Punjab Ad Dharm Mandal had-petitioned the Punjab Government before census operations started in 1930, representing that the Depressed Classes should be permitted to return in Ad Dharm as their religion at the time of the census, as they were the aborigines of India and while the Hindus kept them at a respectable distance, they did not believe in the Hindu religion. The president of Punjab Ad Dharm Mandal was informed that a clause was being provided in the census code requiring that persons returning to their religion as Ad Dharm would be recorded as such. Ad Dharm literally means original or ancient religion.

            According to Dr.Ambedkar, the dispute over the Ad Dharmi agitation became so serious that several murders were committed. However that may be, the Ad Dharmis have been classified as “Scheduled Castes” in the general constituency, not withstanding their unequivocal declaration that they are not Hindus.

            In the case of himself and his followers, Dr.Ambedkar points out; the attitude is negative in respect of Hinduism and not yet positive adherence to any other faith.

            Similarly, the Ramdasis are Sikhs by religion, but they have been classified under “Schedule Castes” in the general constituency, all of which, according to Dr.Ambedkar, goes to show that religion has nothing to do with electoral classifications have gone exactly contrary to the religious grouping.

            Thus, while Dr.Ambedkar does not recognize the Hindus’ right to complain or challenge the Depressed the Classes’ privileges by virtue of the Poona Pact, he affirms that his community’s political right are unaffected by intended or even impending renunciation of Hinduism.

 

(Source Material on Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar and the Movement of untouchable’s vol. 1 Page 145-146) Courtesy: Souvenir, 1985 Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary by Mr. C. L. Chumber.


AD-DHARM MOVEMENT

AND DALIT CONSCIOUSNESS IN PUNJAB 

Dr. Ronki Ram

Department of Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh

E-mail: ronkiram@yahoo.co.in

Punjab has been a site of invasions, conflicts, agitations and martyrdoms. It has also been a boiling cauldron for various social and political movements. Its history is rich with innumerable instances of people’s upsurge against the tyrant systems. However, what makes the case of Punjab, a unique, is that its tirades against the system of oppression and violence remained always progressive and secular. They were not against a particular caste or community but against systems of tyranny and oppression.

It is interesting to note that in all of the struggles and movements, the contribution of the lower castes and the untouchables was second to none. The share of these deprived sections of the society was equally tremendous in the sphere of Bhakti movement. One can quickly count the names of Dhanna, Sadna, Sain and Ravidass who were among the prominent stars of the Bhakti movement.  Their share is equally remarkable in the struggles of the Khalsa against the then system of oppression and injustice. The popularity of the Rangrtas (scavengers converted to Sikhism) has been established by a rhyme Rangreta Guru Ka Beta (the Rangreta is the son of Guru). This rhyme is attributed to the Rangretas on account of the valorous act of bringing the severed head of Guru Teg Bahadur from Delhi to Anandpur Sahib, the seat of 9th and 10th Master of the Sikh faith by a Rangreta Sikh named Jeeta. 

Yet another movement which rose in the 1920s in the Doaba region of Punjab brought together all the Scheduled Castes (then known as Depressed classes) on a single platform to fight against the system of social oppression, economic deprivation and political indifference. Though this movement laid the foundation of dalit consciousness in Punjab, it could not succeed in getting the serious attention of scholarship. However, Mark Jurgensmeyer’s pioneer work (Juergensmeyer 1988) remained the only reference to the share of Punjab in the ‘Adi Movements’ in India. This movement is known as Ad Dharm movement. It draws its inspiration from the Bhakti movement, especially from Kabir, Ravidass and Namdev. It also assigns equal importance to the teachings of Valmiki. What makes this movement the most relevant case for study is its being a purely low caste character and its fight against social structures of domination. Ad Dharm was the only movement of its kind in the North-Western region of the country that aimed at securing a respectable place for the scheduled castes through cultural transformation and political assertion rather than seeking patronage from above. Another important feature of this movement was that it intended to bring social transformation and spiritual regeneration in the lives of the downtrodden. Although, this movement ceased to exist in its vehement form after the first general election in independent India, its emphasis on social transformation and political assertion against structures of social inequality and oppression continues to attract the Ad-Dharmis and other scheduled castes of Punjab. At present, the movement finds its sustenance in Punjab through the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Ambedkarite organizations.

Ad Dharm Movement: The Genesis

The beginning of the 20the century witnessed a series of political developments, which among others led to the formation of Adi movements in different parts of the colonial India. The main objective of these movements was to liberate the downtrodden, poverty-stricken-oppressed classes, contemptuously branded as untouchables, from the most oppressive and obnoxious practice of Untouchability meticulously observed by the Savarna Hindus, and to bring the former at par with the socio-cultural level of the twice born so that they could lead a life of dignity with a sense of equality. The Ad Dharm movement was one of them.

Although, the abolition of Untouchability was also on the agenda of the protagonists of social reform movements (Brahmo Samaj, Prarthana Samaj, Arya Samaj and Singh Sabha), they wanted to achieve it without changing the basic structure of caste system (Manuqu 2003:5). Since these movements were operating on the social reform front of the nationalist struggle, they could not totally devote themselves to the removal of Untouchability. The immediate goal of the nationalist movement was to liberate the country from the British imperialism. Hence,

[t]he ultimate result was that neither the Nehru Ian secularism nor Gandhi an ‘Ramraj’ could provide an Indian identity that was libratory for the dalit and low castes... (Omvedt 1994: 92; see also Suresh 1998: 364).

The most virulent opposition to the system of caste emanated from the lower caste movements. For these movements, the immediate important issue was caste domination, not Western hegemony; social emancipation, not political autonomy. The struggle against imperialism and other such issues were of secondary importance (Kothari 1998: 50-51). These anti-caste movements, of course, constitute an inseparable

...part of the broader revolutionary democratic movement in India, alongwith the national movement and communist-and socialist-led working class and peasant movements (Omvedt 1994: 13; see also Kshirsagar 1994: 2-3).

The main exponents of these   movements were, among others, Jyotiba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, Naraynaswami Guru in Kerla, Achutananda in U.P. and Mangoo Ram in Punjab.

The present paper confines to the Ad-Dharm movement in Punjab. It aims at exploring the social situations and political configurations in colonial Punjab during the 1920s which led to the rise of this movement. Another objective of the study is to document the present status of the movement in Punjab.

It would be appropriate to focus on certain aspects relating to the rise of this movement in 1926 and its so called demise in 19461. What were the circumstances in which the Ad Dharm movement was originated? Who were its protagonists? What objectives did they seek to achieve? What were the tactics and strategies they adopted for the realization of these objectives? Whether such objectives sharpened the struggle against social oppression or led to blunt the very struggle itself? Was it really a struggle against social oppression or only a ploy to gain some incremental change for meager benefits? To whom the Ad Dharm considered its sympathisers and also its adversaries? What status did such sympathisers and adversaries hold in the socio-economic and politico-administrative setting of the Indian society? What is its present status? What are its goals and objectives? And how it intended to realise them?

Ad Dharm: Socio-Political Settings

Ad-Dharm movement was born out of a volatile social and political background in the early 20the century. Although, the similar socio-political situations were prevalent throughout the length and breadth of the country, the presence of various communal organisations in Punjab makes the case of the latter a peculiar one. The communal organisations like Arya Samaj, Christian Church, Sikh Khalsa Diwan and the Ahmadiyya movements were active in their endeavors to promote their respective communal interests.

It was exactly during this period of socio-political uncertainties that the British government passed the Land Alienation Act of 1900, Indian Counsel Act of 1909 and The Government of India Act of 1919. These acts provided further impetus to the ongoing competition among the various communal organisations (Mohan 1992: 164-8). Although, the Land Alienation Act of 1900 was aimed at preventing the transfer of land from the hands of agriculturist castes into the non-agricultural money-lending castes, it has by its very nature debarred many castes to own land.

Untouchables, who were already kept deprived of land according to the Varna-Vivastha system of the Hindu caste hierarchy, were now legally debarred from land ownership (Puri 2003:2695). The system of separate electorates introduced in 1909 and 1919 further exacerbated the communal and separatists stance of politics (Tanwar 1999: 29).  It brought serious implications in the province of Punjab where Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs had their respective political organisation to strive for their vested interests (Malhotra 1976:74-88). Since Scheduled Castes did not have their own organisation to articulate and defend their interests, they became the center of attention of all the communal organisations. Each of these organisations was trying to woo them on its side to secure an edge over the others in terms of numbers. This was, perhaps, the first time in the history of the Scheduled Castes that their numerical strength became important in the calculation and formulation of social and political forces. The provision for separate electorate also raised their expectation to enter into political arena as an independent force rather than to be used, by the Arya-Samaj, Congress or Alkalis, as a pawn on the chessboard of electoral politics.

Moreover, the adoption of the removal of Untouchability by the Indian National congress as an integral part of its policies in 1917 provided a further impetus to the scheduled castes in their efforts to seek a respectable place in the Indian society. The California based Ghadar Movement was another important political development which  fascinated the youths of Punjab who were eager to bask in an egalitarian system free from discrimination and colonial tutelage.” These revolutionaries exhorted the people to rise” (Malhotra 1970:21) The Babbar Akali movement was yet another significant political development that catapulted Punjab into the vortex of revolt against injustice and foreign rule. In addition, another important social and political movement that swept the cities and countryside of Punjab was the loud appeals of Arya Samaj to restructure the Indian society on the basis of equality and social justice. Ghadar movement and the Babbar Akali movements were revolutionary and militant movements in comparison to the non-violent and passive postures of the Indian National Congress and Arya Samaj. 

Interestingly enough, the Ad Dharm movement, particularly, some of its key protagonists had close affiliation with the Arya Samaj before they became active in the movement. Obviously, the rise and growth of the Ad Dharm had to be deeply influenced by the Arya-Samaj.

The Arya Samaj had provided young untouchables with ideas of social equality not only by allowing them to attend its schools but also by creating service organizations such as the Dayanand Dalit Udhar at Hoshiarpur and Achhut Udhar at Lahore (Juergensmeyer 2000: 222).

The trio that initially conceived the idea of the Ad Dharm movement consisted of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudra Nand. They were also active in the Arya Samaj Movement.  Vasant Rai “had worked with the Arya Samaj as a teacher before taking up with the Samaj’s orthodox Hindu opposition, the Sanatan Dharm” (Juergensmeyer 1988:38).  Swami Shudra Nand was a missionary of the Samaj and Thakur Chand, though a dalit like Vasant Rai and Shudra Nand was called pundit because of his association with the Arya Samaj. They were either pracharaks (preachers) or Updeshaks (missionaries) of the Arya Samaj. Even after their absorption into the newly formed Ad Dharm movement Arya Samaj offered them important role in the movement to lure them back. Mention may be made here that they quit the Ad Dharm movement and returned to the Samaj.2

Mangoo Ram And Ad Dharm

Mangoo Ram literally took the movement to the doorsteps of the untouchables in the Doaba region and soon emerged as a cult figure of the dalits in Punjab. He was born at Mugowal, a village in the district of Hoshiarpur, on 14th January 1886.  His forefathers were practicing the occupation of tanning raw hides.  However, his father, Harnam Dass, had abandoned the traditional caste-based occupation of tanning and preparing hides, and taken up the profession of selling the tanned leather on commercial basis.  Since the leather trade required the knowledge of English language to read the sale orders, he was eager to have Mangoo Ram receive education to free him from the begar (forced labour) which he had to do in lieu of English orders read for him by the upper caste literates.  Initially, Mangoo Ram was taught by a village Sadhu (Saint), then after studying at different schools he joined a high school at Bajwara Kalan, a town few miles away from his home.3 being a Chamar, he had to sit separately from the other upper caste students.  In fact, he used to take a gunny bag from his home for sitting in a segregated place outside the classroom.  In 1905 Mangoo Ram left the high school to help his father in leather trade.   For three years he helped his father develop leather trade into a thriving business.  However, in 1909 he left for America to follow into the footsteps of his peer group in the Doaba region.

Interestingly enough even in America Mangoo Ram had to work on the farms of a Punjabi Zamindar4 who had settled in California.  In other words, even in America he had to experience the same relations of production as back home in India. How a Shudra immigrant worker, who works on the land of an Indian upper caste landlord settled abroad, feels and experiences work conditions and its resultant relations of production is an altogether a separate question.  However, while in California, Mangoo Ram came in close contact with the Ghadar Movement - a radical organisation aimed at liberating India from the British rule through armed insurrection.  In fact, he participated in the weapon smuggling mission of the organisation.  He was arrested and given the capital punishment but was saved from the death sentence by a chance as someone else in his name was executed (Ahir 1992:2).  The news of his supposed death reached his village.  According to the tradition of his community, his widow, named Piari married his elder brother.  Mangoo Ram, on reaching India, remarried and had four sons from his second wife named Bishno.5

After his return from abroad where he spent as many as sixteen years, Mangoo Ram did not find any change in Indian society which was still infested with the disease of Untouchability. He said

While living abroad I had forgotten about the hierarchy of high and low, and Untouchability; and under this very wrong impression returned home in December, 1925. The same misery of high and low, and Untouchability which I had left behind to go abroad started afflicting again. I wrote about all this to my leader Lala Hardyal Ji that until and unless this disease is cured Hindustan could not be liberated. In accordance with his orders, a program was formulated in 1926 for the awakening and upliftment of Achhut qaum (untouchable community) of India.6 

Having settled in his native village, he opened up a school for the lower caste children in the village.  Initially, the school was opened up, temporarily in the garden of Risaldar Dhanpat Rai, a landlord of his village.  Later on, Lamberdar Beeru Ram Sangha, another landlord of the same village, donated half-acre land for the purpose of formally opening up the school.  The school had five teachers including Mangoo Ram.7 Now-a-days, the school land has been declared as Shamlat (common land) and no remnants of the building exist except the old dilapidated structure of the well meant for drinking water in the school.  It was in that school that the first official meeting of the Ad Dharm movement was held on June 11-12, 1926. There is another version about the school which traced its origin to the support provided by the Arya Samaj (Juergensmeyer 2000: 224).  However, given his close association with the Ghadar movement in California, Mangoo Ram’s relationships with the Arya Samaj was not as close as that of Vasant Rai, Thakur Chand and Swami Shudra Nand.   Moreover, his personal experience of being treated as an equal in America, particularly by his fellow Ghadarites, inculcated in him an intense desire and inspiration for equality and social justice. This led him to lay the foundation of the Ad Dharm movement to streamline the struggle against Untouchability.  Soon he emerged as a folk-hero of the dalits who started rallying around him, particularly in the dalit concentrated areas of the Doaba region.  However, after a while the Ad Dharm organisation got factionalised resulting in a split in 1929 into two groups: one headed by Vasant Rai and the other by Mangoo Ram. There emerged two independent organisations: the Ad Dharm Mandal with its office in Jalandhar was headed by Mangoo Ram and the All Indian Ad Dharm Mandal with its headquarters in Lyalpur was headed by Vasant Rai.8

The Vasant Rai group of the Ad Dharm Mandal was thoroughly soaked into the ideology of the Arya Samaj.  In fact this group was lured back by the Arya Samaj. Although the Arya Samaj dominated section of Ad Dharm Mandal withdrew itself from the Mangoo Ram’s group in 1929, the latter played an active part in the politics of Punjab for a period of two decades from 1926 to 1952.9 

Mangoo Ram set a clear agenda for Ad Dharm movement.  The agenda was to create a new religion for the lower caste. Lower castes were treated shabbily by the Hindus who for political motives considered them as part of their religion. Arya Samaj was making frantic efforts to bring the Shudras back into the Hindu fold who had proselytised into Islam, Christianity and Sikh religion (Malhotra 1976: 74-88; Sharma 1985). Arya Samaj and the Christian church were not the only organisations which were trying to win over the lower castes. Sikhs and Muslims were equally interested in bringing them into their respective religions. Mangoo Ram thought it appropriate to intervene at this juncture to espouse the cause of Dalits by carving out a separate identity of their own.

In the poster10 announcing the first annual meeting of Ad Dharm Movement, Mangoo Ram11 devoted the entire space to the hardships faced by the untouchables at the hands of the caste Hindus. He also made an appeal to the Achhuts to come together to chalk out a program for their liberation and upliftment while addressing the Chamars, Chuhras, Sansis, Bhanjhras, Bhils etc. as brothers, he said,

We are the real inhabitants of this country and our religion is Ad Dharm. Hindu Qaum came from outside to deprive us of our country and enslave us. At one time we reigned over ‘Hind’. We are the progeny of kings; Hindus came down from Iran to Hind and destroyed our qaum. They deprived us of our property and rendered us nomadic. They razed down our forts and houses, and destroyed our history. We are seven Crores in numbers and are registered as Hindus in this country. Liberate the Adi race by separating these seven crores. They (Hindus) became lord and call us ‘others’. Our seven crore number enjoy no share at all. We reposed faith in Hindus and thus suffered a lot. Hindus turned out to be callous. Centuries ago, Hindus suppressed us, sever all ties with them. What justice we expect from those who are the butchers of Adi race. Time has come, be cautious, now the Government listens to appeals. With the support of sympathetic Government, come together to save the race. Send members to the Councils so that our qaum is strengthened again. British rule should remain forever. Make prayer before God. Except for this Government, no one is sympathetic towards us. Never consider ourselves as Hindus at all, remember that our religion is Ad Dharm.12

The way, the leaders of Ad Dharm chose to restore dignity and freedom to the untouchables was to completely detach them from Hinduism and to consolidate them into their own ancient religion - Ad Dharm - of which they had become oblivious during the age-old domination by the ‘alien Hindus’. In fact, the task of the revival of their ancient religion was not an easy one by virtue of the fact that during a long period of persecution at the hands of the Savarnas, the untouchables had forgotten their Gurus and other religious symbols. In fact they were never allowed to nurture an aspiration to have their own independent religion. They were condemned as profane and were declared unfit to have their own theology. Thus to revive Ad Dharm was tantamount to developing an altogether a new religion for the Achhuts. Mangoo Ram’s appeal that the dalits were the real inhabitants of this land made an enormous psychological impact on the untouchables who were treated as, even inferior to animals in Indian society. The appeal inspired them to come out of their slumber and fight for their freedom and liberty. The Ad Dharm provided a theological podium to sustain and reinforce the new dalit identity. For centuries, they were bereft of any identity and remained in the appendage of the hierarchically graded Hindu society. 

Before 1920’s, especially before the rise of Ad Dharm movement, the untouchables in Punjab hardly envisaged the idea of seeking a separate identity.  The growing communal politics and resultant unrest within Punjab in the 1920’s coupled with the emergence of dalit organisations in different parts of the country, offered them a good opportunity to carve out such an identity. In the pre-partition Punjab, untouchables constituted one-fourth of the total population. Since scheduled castes did not have their separate religion, they were being counted as Hindus. In a system of communal representation, Muslim leaders were thinking that the Achhuts, who were never considered as equal by the caste Hindus, should be separated from them and equally divided between the Hindus and Muslims.13

It was not only Muslims who alone had such an approach, even the Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus also wanted to absorb them into their respective religion for political benefits. In the absence of any other alternative open to them, a large number of the Achhuts of Punjab converted into Christianity (especially the Chuhras of Sialkot and Gurdaspur), Sikhism (in Sialkot and Gurdaspur), and Islam (Rawalpindi, Multan and Lahore division) (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d.:23).

Consequently, the Hindus in the province had been reduced from 43.8% in 1881 to 30.2% in 1931 while the Sikhs increased from 8.2% to 14.3% and the Muslims from 40.6% to about 52% and in the British territory the population of the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims in 1931 was 26.80%, 12.99% and 56.4% respectively (Census of India, 1931, Vol. xvii, Punjab Part i, p. 291 as quoted in Malhotra 1976: 75).

Obviously, it alarmed the Arya Samaj to put an end to the conversions of Achhuts lest it turned out as a political suicide for Hindus. Lala Lajpat Rai’s “Achhut Udhar Mandal” at Lahore, Swami Ganesh Dutt’s “Antyaj Udhar Mandal” at Lahore and Lala Devi Chand’s “Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal” at Hoshiarpur came up in response to these conversions.  As a matter of fact, the Arya Samaj started Shuddhi campaign to bring the converted Achhuts back into the Hindu-fold (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d.:23). This also brought the Arya Samaj into confrontation with the Sikhs and the Muslims. “In a famous incident in 1900, Sikhs rebelled at the Arya Samaj’s practice of publicly shaving lower caste Sikhs and offering them Shuddhi”(Juergensmeyer 1988: 27).

It was at this stage that Ad Dharm entered into the volatile territories of communal politics in Punjab. There was no one to welcome it (Virdi April 2001:10).  However, they received some support from the British government as it had helped in weakening the growing unity in the country (Chandra et al 1989: 290-291 and 408-410). Anyhow, “The Ad Dharmi pugnacity before independence, then, was both social and political; the latter would no doubt have brought at least to high-caste minds thoughts of imperialist ‘divide and rule’” (Saberwal 1976:71).

Dominant Castes, Violence and Ad Dharm  

The Ad Dharm faced stiff opposition and its followers fall victim to physical violence at the hands of both Hindus and Sikhs. In fact, the Ad-Dharmis were beaten up when they organised meetings. They were

[c]hased everywhere and hounded out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus and quite often they had to hold their meetings and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una (Pawar 1993:77).

They were also denied entry into meadows and common lands to fetch fodder for their cattle, access to the open fields to answer the call of nature, and were interned in their houses by the Sikhs and Hindus for no other fault than that of their being registered as Ad Dharmis in the census of 1931. In Ferozepur district, two Chamars were burnt alive because they registered themselves as Ad Dharmis (Chumber 1986: 51). In Lyalpur district, the innocent daughter of an Ad Dharmi was murdered. In Nankana Sahib, the Akalis threw ash into the langar (food prepared in bulk for free distribution) meant for those who came to attend the Ad Dharm meeting14. In Village Dakhiyan-da-Prah of the Ludhiana district, the Sikh boys abducted Shudra Nand from the dais of the Achhuts’ public meeting. In Baghapurana, many Achhuts were beaten up and their legs and arms were broken (Bakshi Ram Pandit n.d. 56-57). In many villages of Ludhiana, Ferozepur and Layalpur, the Achhuts were boycotted for two months. These Achhuts were living in villages where the Jat-Sikhs or Muslims were in a dominant position. The Jat-Sikhs had compelled the Achhuts to record themselves as Sikhs. However, despite repression and intimidation the Achhuts did not give in and recorded Ad Dharm as their religion (ibid.54-56).  In village Ghundrawan of the district Kangra, the Rajputs even smashed the pitchers of the Ad Dharmi women who were on their way to fetch water. When denied water from the village pond the Ad Dharmis had to travel for three miles to fetch water from the river. The ongoing torture at the hands of the Rajputs ultimately compelled them to leave the village to settle in Pathankot. It was only after the interference of Sir Fazal-i- Hussain, Chief Commissioner, on the request of Mangoo Ram that their grievance was looked into and eventually they were rehabilitated in their native village15. In face of opposition by the upper caste Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, the leaders of Ad Dharm had tough time at the Lothian Committee16 to prove that they were neither Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims nor Christians (Piplanwala 1986:10-15; and Ahir 1992:9-11). The Sikh representatives claimed that since many of the Achhuts believed in Guru Granth Sahib and solemnised their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Sikh customs half of their population should be added to the Sikh religion and the other half be merged with the Hindus. Likewise the Muslim representatives told the Lothian committee that since some of the Achhuts perform Namaz (offer prayers), keep rozas (long fast kept in a particular month ) and bury their corpses in cemeteries instead of burning them, they should be divided equally between Hindus and Muslims. Similarly, the Hindu representatives on the other hand stressed that since the Achhuts believed in Vedas and perform their marriage ceremonies in accordance with the Hindu customs no one except the Hindus have the right to seek their allegiance. Above all, Lala Ram Das of the “Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal” (Hoshiarpur) and Pandit Guru Dev of “Achhut Mandal” (Lahore) informed the franchise committee that there was no untouchable in Punjab.  According to them the untouchables were the backward class of Hindus who were made at par with the rest through the  performance of Shuddhi.  Hence, no separate treatment for the untouchables in Punjab.

Untouchables generally were being subjected to strong pressures by Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others, each community seeking to pull them into its own fold, at least for the day of the census: it was common then to seek to influence census results as a prelude to political claims (Saberwal 1976:52).

In addition, insinuations and condemnations were also hurled at the Ad Dharm Mandal by the various religious groups in a bid to scandalise the movement. The leaders of Ad Dharm were alleged to have hob-nobbed with the Muslims during the crucial time of communal representation where Hindus and Muslims were juxtaposed against each other. The Ad-Dharm’s political alliance with the Unionist Party during the Punjab Assembly elections, first in 1937 and then again in 1945-46 was an eye sore both for the congress and  the Hindu Sabha17. The Hindu leaders did not like the Ad Dharmis’ growing links or  association with the British government.  In fact, the Ad Dharmis were supported by the British secretly in the 1937 election who

... gave them cars for their campaign. In public meetings, they would attack the various aspects of Hindu society, and if this led to violence, the government used to protect them (Saberwal 1976:70-71).

As regards the Ad Dharm’s closeness to Muslims, it was more of political expediency rather than a blind alliance. It was, in fact, Mangoo Ram, who categorically said no to the mandarins of partition (Chumber 1986:52; Sain 1985:37). But on the issue of communal representation for the Achhuts, he showed keen interest in its implementation for the Achhuts.  When Gandhi sat on fast-unto-death at Poona against the separate electorate for untouchables, Mangoo Ram followed suit declaring “Gandhi if you are prepared to die for your Hindus, then I am prepared to die for these untouchables”. On this Mangoo Ram was accused of being a casteist.

The rift between the liberal Gandhian and radical untouchables was not healed, however, since each continued to perceive the other as an obstacle to achieving intercaste harmony. Gandhi thought the untouchables’ militant separatism was reinforcing the concept of caste and the untouchables thought Gandhi was trying to whitewash existing differences and to deny untouchables their legitimate base of power. Both the perceptions were to some extent correct (Juergensmeyer 2000:230).

Gandhi pleaded on behalf of the Shudras and tried to live like a Bhangi among them to experience what hardships they faced. But Mangoo Ram was one of them.  He was a Chamar who experienced the pangs of untouchability. Thus, his response to the epic fast against separate electorate was not merely pragmatic but also an existential one.  When Dr. Ambedkar compromised with Gandhi and the Poona Pact was signed, Mangoo Ram rang up Dr. Ambedkar in an angry mood and expressed his anguish as to why he agreed to the Pact. Dr. Ambedkar said that he had to sign the Poona Pact on human grounds to save the life of Gandhi (Moon 19991:88). The Ad Dharmis perceived that the scheduled castes had lost much more than what they gained in the Poona Pact (Chumber 1986: 51).  That is why Mangoo Ram continued his fast even after the Pact was signed.  He broke his fast only after the declaration was made by the government that eight seats were reserved for the untouchables in Punjab.  The fast undertaken by him continued for 28 days from 20th September to 17th October, 1932 until the Pact was received at Jalandhar. Mangoo Ram used to say “those people (Hindus) who had humiliated us for thousands of years how we could trust their promise” (Mugowalia 1986: 35). Thus the followers of Ad Dharm movement were put to severe hardships and violence for carving out an identity for them and asserting for their rights.  In spite of all types of pressures and hardships, the Ad Dharmis succeeded in registering ‘Ad Dharm’ as a separate religion for the lower castes in Punjab in the 1931 census.

 

Ad Dharm And Dalit Identity

A close study of the objectives set forth by the Ad Dharm founders and the methods adopted by them shows that they endeavored to establish a religious identity for the lower castes than building up the subaltern consciousness.  The Ad Dharmis wanted to remove the stigma of untouchability from the face of their community and secure equal rights and respect for the lower caste people.  However, the methods and ways adopted by the Ad Dharm leaders ended up with creating another religion. The Ad-Dharmis were asked to salute each other in the name of Jai Guru Dev (Victory to the divine guru) and in  response to that the reply was Dhan Guru Dev (blessed be the divine guru).  These greetings were meant to differentiate them (the untouchables) from the other religious communities having their own specific nomenclatures to accost each other within their own social circles.  For example, the Hindus address each other by ‘Namaste’, Sikhs by ‘Sat Sri Akal’ and Muslims by ‘Salaam’ (Juergensmeyer 1988: 53).  The salutation of Jai Guru Dev and Dhan Guru Dev as a response to that provided a separate identity to the Ad-Dharm, a new religion of Shudras.

Sant Ravidass was projected as a spiritual preceptor and Guru. Bhagwan Satguru Namdev, Maharaj Kabir and Rishi Valmiki were also included in the theology of Ad Dharm. The Sanskrit phrase sohang18 (I am that) was adopted as a mantra by the new religion, Ad Dharm. It is still being used in the wall calendars showing Guru Ravi Dass’s picture.  As far as the salutations are concerned, they have become memorabilia of the Ad Dharm movement. 

The protagonists of the Ad Dharm movement also strived to provide their new religion with a sacred book called Ad Prakash, the original light.  The purpose of such a move was to institutionalise the newly created religion.  Mangoo Ram expressed his will among his closest circle that on his death only the sacred couplets from the Ad Prakash should be chanted.  So after his death, only the Ad Prakash was recited on the death ceremony.  At that time only a hand written copy of the Ad Prakash was available. Subsequently, Sant Isher Dass of village Nandgarh of District Hoshiarpur compiled the holy book19. Thus the Ad Dharm movement provided a new sense of identity to the untouchables which they lacked earlier.  In fact, the Ad Dharm developed into a qaum (a community) similar to those of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. 

The Ad Dharm made substantial contribution to the social and political life of dalits in Punjab. It tried to generate awareness among the Dalits for bringing a cultural revolution in the society perforated with the evil of low and high caste dichotomy.  Although, a large number of social organisations had sprung up since the early twenties for the benefits of the untouchables, all of them were patronised by the upper castes and failed to bring any significant change as far  as the trajectories of varna system and caste configuration of the Indian society were concerned. Given the obnoxious contents of the social taboos and the anti-dalit social practices, it was adventurous for the untouchables to think about forming an organisation to fight for the cause of social liberation. Why Ad Dharm had to project Dalits as a separate qaum with an independent religion was not only a sociological issue but had deep political undercurrents in an in egalitarian social system where some people were excluded from the mainstream on the basis of their birth. Interestingly enough, their being untouchable was more pronounced in terms of denying them the benefits of facilities available in the civil society and less in terms of seeking their menial services.

However, with the introduction of the adult franchise the untouchables have no longer been ‘untouchable’ so far as their votes are concerned. But they are hardly encouraged to aspire for the seat of power. The game of numbers has made it imperative for the Hindus to have claim on the untouchables.  Even in the instruction guide for the 1931 census mention was made that

[A] ll Chuhras who are not Muslims or Christians, and who do not return any other religion, should be returned as Hindus. The same rule applies to members of other depressed classes who have no tribal religion (1931 Census, Punjab, Vol. 20, Chap. 11, p. 289, as quoted in Juergensmeyer 1988:73)

The emancipator project launched by Mangoo Ram inspired the lower castes to make efforts for their upliftment. The scope of the project, as vividly enunciated in the resolution passed in the first meeting of the Ad Dharm posited emphasis on the social equality of the Dalits and stressed on creating social and cultural awakening rather than merely seeking jobs and other benefits from the government.  The Ad Dharm Report20 listed ten basic principles and twelve duties of the Ad Dharm organisation and fifty-six commandments to be followed by the Ad Dharmis. The main emphasis of these commandments, principles and duties was on the cultural, social and religious aspects of the life.  The Report also includes twenty-five resolutions passed in the first Ad Dharm Conference in 1926.  The government was requested to provide special schools and scholarships for the untouchable children (resolutions 7, 10, 11); proper representation in elected bodies and government departments (resolution 17); to eliminate rayit-namma and not to apply the Land Alienation Act to the untouchables (resolution 13). The Ad Dharm Mandal led by Mangoo Ram was able to raise the religious and organisational status of the untouchables beyond imagination21. The new constitution of independent India , adopted on 26 January, 1950, incorporated special provisions for Dalits to raise their social status and to help them to come at par with the rest of the society. In fact, the voice for such special provisions were first raised by the Ad Dharm in 1926 and subsequently documented in its report in 1931. In 1950, Mangoo Ram requested his qaum to relieve him of active social service life and called upon young Ad Dharmis to come forward to take the flag of dalit liberation.22

However, for two decades, i.e. from 1950 to 1970, Ad Dharm movement remained dormant for reasons best known to its leaders. In fact, most of the Adi movements in different parts of the country ceased to play an active role in the post-colonial India until 1970. Some of their leaders either joined the Congress or, for some time, carried out their political struggle under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar. Some scholars believed that the Ad Dharm movement was eventually absorbed into Dr. Ambedkar’s Scheduled Castes federation and finally transformed into the Republican Party of India (Ahir 1992:5; and Saberwal 1976:68). It has also been said that in 1946 the Ad Dharm Mandal handed over the charge of political struggle to Dr. Ambedkar’s Scheduled Castes Federation and confined itself to the social and religious matters affecting the Scheduled castes (Juergensmeyer 1988:153). 

However, facts do not support such an analysis. After the 1937 Punjab Assembly elections, in which the Ad Dharm won all but one reserved seats, the low lying factionalism within its organisation came onto the surface. The main factional confrontation was between Seth Kishan Das and Master Gurbanta Singh. Seth Kishan Das was a rich man of the famous Boota Mandi, 23 whose financial support to the Ad Dharm Mandal was no secret. He was also in the good books of Mangoo Ram, President of the Mandal. Master Gurbanta Singh was an Arya-samaji turned congress sympathiser who had also served Ad Dharm at one time as a General Secretary. He projected himself as a real representative of the untouchables being one of them as a poor man. Whereas, Seth Kishan Das, a wealthy leather merchant, in his view, could not empathise with the poor untouchables. He contested 1937 Punjab Assembly election as a congress nominee from the Jalandhar reserved seat against Seth Kishan Das who was supported by the Ad Dharm Mandal. Master Gurbanta Singh was defeated by Seth Kishan Das with a big margin. This further widened the gulf between them. In the meantime, Seth Kishan Das formed the Achhut Federation, a Punjabi version of Dr. Ambedkar’s Scheduled Castes Federation. Mr. Gopal Singh Khalsa, an M.L.A. from the Ludhiana reserved seat, joined him as a Vice-President. Seth Kishan Das formed Achhut Federation without taking Mangoo Ram into confidence that, in turn, got enraged by his behaviour. Master Gurbanta Singh exploited this opportunity and stepped into the Ad Dharm Mandal. He managed to come closer to Mangoo Ram. However, Master Gurbanta Singh had also formed “Ravidass Naujawan Sabha” and carried out for some time ‘Ravidass Jaikara’, as the publication of the Sabha. Bhagat Singh Mal, Pritam Singh Bala, Karam Chand Shenmar were some of the prominent members of the Ravidass Naujawan Sabha. He, in fact, reportedly wanted to emulate Mangoo Ram by forming an organisation and a publication to match ‘Adi Danka’, the weekly newspaper of Ad Dharm24. In the 1946-47 Punjab Assembly election, Mangoo Ram put his weight behind Master Gurbanta Singh who was a congress nominee against Kishan Das of the “Achhut Federation”. This time, Master Gurbanta Singh defeated Seth Kishan Das.

However, by now the leadership of the Ad Dharm Mandal got scattered into different political segments, thanks to the allurement of political offices. Mangoo Ram himself got elected to the Assembly with the support of the Unionist Party from the Hoshiarpur constituency. The “Ad Dharm Mandal” building, which was constructed with the financial support of Seth Kishan Das, came under the control of Master Gurbanta Singh who eventually became the custodian of its property and Chairman of Ravidass High School.

A cursory glance at these developments in the Ad Dharm conjured up a pessimistic image about the Ad Dharm movement as if it had ceased to exist in the late forties. But what one needs to keep in mind while analysing the scope of the movement, is that movement is too big a phenomenon to be confined within the boundaries of a compact organisation or a political party. Political organisations and political parties may branch out from the domain of a movement. And the movement may for some time go into a gestation period to resurface again.

Hardly if ever, does a social movement sustain a uniform ally high level of mobilised action. It alternates between periods of intense activity and relative calm, during which period it may devote itself to organisational problems. Therefore, a period of relative calm need not apply its dissipation (Mukherji 1977:47)

The “Achhut Federation” and the emergence of an articulate dalit leadership which eventually joined the congress was, in fact, the product of the Ad Dharm movement. The coming up of the Achhut Federation and joining of the congress party by some of the Ad Dharmis should not be interpreted as the demise of the Ad Dharm movement. Even when the movement was in low ebb, Mangoo Ram and his associates like Sant Ram Azad and Chanan Lal Manak remained steadfast on the principles and sustenance of Ad-Dharm movement.

Rejuvenation

Even in 1970 when efforts were made by Mangu Ram Jaspal, another Ad Dharmi of the Doaba region who had returned from England to settle in Jalandhar, to revive the movement, the veteran Mangoo Ram promptly came forward to help resuscitate the movement. Some other distinguished Ad Dharmis, who remained loyal to the movement even during its gestation period, wrote series of articles in the Ravidass Patrika of the new Ad Dharm movement. The new Ad-Dharm movement got resurged and revamped on December 13, 1970 under the banner of “Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation”.

There were striking similarities between the “Ad Dharm Mandal” and the “Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation”. As a matter of fact, Mangoo Ram commented that “‘we’re back to where we were in 1925' “(Juergensmeyer 1988:263). Until the objective conditions or contradictions which initially propelled the movement were altered or resolved, the goals and ideology remained intact to reemerge at the slightest opportunity.

...[w]hen the existing structures in a society show certain inconsistencies with reference to the achievement of certain goals or when the goals themselves are inconsistent with the needs of the constituents of the system, objective conditions for their manifestation is (sic) prepared. When these conditions lead further to maturation collective mobilisation may take place in response to general discontent. ... Such mobilisation for collective action continue to persist until such times as when the objective conditions change in a direction so as to render the continuance of such a collective mobilisation redundant. Such a situation may arise when the collective mobilisation has achieved its major objective, or when the major objective of the movement itself becomes irrelevant (Mukherji 1977:42).

The main objectives of the Ad Dharm movement were to carve out an independent identity for the untouchables and to blot out the stigma of untouchability. Although, the Ad Dharm movement played an effective role in mobilising dalits on these vital issues, the shift in the then political arena, induced by the electoral system, forced the movement to adjust itself with the changed political scenario. As the majority of the Ad Dharm leadership got involved in the electoral process to gain political power25, it eventually diluted its emphasis on the goals of removal of untouchability and the construction of a separate identity. As a result the ‘objective conditions’ remained unchanged. In spite of legal provisions enshrined in the new constitution, the traditional authority structures of hierarchy resisted and stalled the process of transformation.  Mangoo Ram said: 

... our people in the government are still treated like slaves. They fear their superiors and high caste people.  (Juergensmeyer 1988: 258). In other words, the evil of untouchability has not been eradicated from the complex social structure of the society. “Physical untouchability has given way to the mental untouchability”26.

Moreover, the goal of constructing a communal identity for the untouchables by developing a separate religion, though partly achieved in the 1931 census, was rolled back in 1932 by the Poona Pact. Henceforth, from the status of a religion, Ad Dharm was reduced into a category of caste27. So, instead of elevating the status of the untouchables, it had a negative impact on the dalit mobilisation. A new caste was added to the already long list of Scheduled castes. Chamars were further categorised into Chamars and Ad Dharmis.

The new Ad Dharm movement in the seventies was organised against this background. It pledged to revive the spirit of social and cultural transformation, as ignited by Mangoo Ram in the 1920’s. Efforts were also made to keep away from the vicissitudes of power politics which had marred social and cultural stances of the original Ad Dharm movement.  The Ad-Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation reiterated on the importance of communal identity of the Ad Dharmis as a separate qaum.  In fact, the revived movement was more theological. Religion was employed as a rallying point for harnessing the allegiance of the untouchables. The construction of Ravidass Temple in Benares and highlighting the Ravidass temple (Dera Sach Khand) in village Ballan near Bhogpur town of Jalandhar was the focal point of the new Ad Dharm movement. The first conference of the revived movement was held at a religious place – Dera Sach Khand Ballan.  It focused on the renewal of the qaumi identity. However, in due course some material demands were also included. Land reforms and raising the income limit from Rs.3600 to 6000, for defining poverty, were among the most important demands in this regard (Juergensmeyer 1988: 261). 

The revived Ad Dharm movement attempted to widen the scope of Ad Dharm religion by including in its fold, the Chuhras (sweeper caste), Mazhbi Sikhs, Ramdasias, and the Ambedkar Buddhists. In order to enlist the support of the Chuhras, who got estranged from the Ad Dharm, (Saberwal 1976:68) Valmiki, the patron saint of the sweeper caste, was assigned special importance in the revived movement.

Although the “Ad Dharm Scheduled Castes Federation” adopted the well-tried-out formulae of dalit mobilisation, it could not succeed in eliciting the same level of response. The practice of untouchability, the most important ‘structural factor’ (Oommen 1977:16) in mobilising untouchables in 1920s, has been bridled to a significant extent. Moreover, the articulate leaders of the Scheduled castes were co-opted in the congress system which operated like an umbrella to incorporate various shades of political orientations and organisations. Moreover, what the Ad Dharm was aspiring for during the British regime, the congress delivered the same in the post colonial phase.  Even Mangoo Ram had acknowledged it and said

Dhanwad karna congress raj wala chotte waddhe da bhaid mitta ditta. Mahatama Gandhi ji bauhat upkar kitta girian kauman nu saath mila ditta. (Thanks to the congress regime for bridging the gap between the lower and the higher. Mahatama Gandhi ji did a lot of social service to bring the downtrodden at par with the other communities) 28.

However, before the revived Ad Dharm movement lost in the whirlpool of militant fundamentalism in Punjab in the 1980s, fresh efforts were made to keep the struggle alive by publishing souvenirs, journals, and weekly news bulletins to glorify the various aspects of the movement. In January 1985, the Mangoo Ram Mugowalia Souvenir Committee released a souvenir29 in commemoration of the 99th birth anniversary of Mangoo Ram. The purpose of the souvenir was to generate awareness among the scheduled castes about the protagonists and sympathisers of the Ad Dharm Mandal. Moreover, as a sequel to the Adi Danka of the 1920s and Ravidass Patrika of the 1970s, a Punjabi monthly named Kaumi Udarian was launched from Jalandhar in December 198530. It endeavored to give wide coverage to the different aspects of the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s and its contemporary relevance. In January 1986, a special issue of the Kaumi Udarian was published on the birth centenary of Babu Mangoo Ram. Likewise on 12 January 1997 the “Bahujan Samaj Bulletin” (a weekly newspaper of the Bahujan Samaj Party) also focused on various themes of the Ad Dharm movement. It was, in fact, through the columns of souvenirs, journals and news bulletins that many of the rare official documents of the “Ad Dharm Mandal” were made public. In addition, on 14 April 1986, the Ambedkar Mission Society, Punjab, posthumously honored Babu Mangoo Ram with the title of Kaumi Messiah (saviour of the community).  The important factor which distinguished the revival of the Ad Dharm movement in the 1980s, particularly under the BSP, was that it laid less emphasis on the appeal of religion to seek support for the movement. It is  politics which has now acquired the centre stage pushing religion into the background. No doubt the movement right from the very beginning had shown interest in gaining political power for purposes of bringing about the basic social transformation31 as witnessed during the Assembly elections in 1937 and 1946-47.  The Ad Dharmis found it convenient to use religion as a strategy to political power. However, the real objective of the Ad Dharm movement was to create an egalitarian social structure where Ad Dharmis would be proud of their community and feel free to aspire for equal opportunities.

With an aim of achieving the same objective, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has become active in Punjab since 1985. Of late the Party has claimed that “the ideology of Ad Dharm has become the spine, heart , brain, eyes, feet, and arms of the struggle of the BSP” (Bahujan Samaj Bulletin 12 January 1997:8). In 1996, it won three of the thirteen parliamentary seats and recorded leads in as many as seventeen assembly constituencies in Punjab (Verma 1999). Kanshi Ram, founder of the BSP, was elected to Lok Sabha (1996) from the Hoshiarpur constituency , wherefrom 50 years ago Babu Mangoo Ram, founder of the Ad Dharm movement, got elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1946. More interestingly, it was again in Hoshiarpur that the BSP celebrated 75th year of the AD Dharm movement on 28 February 2001. On this occasion, Kanshi Ram in his address exhorted the “Bahujan Samaj” to follow the principles of the Ad Dharm movement of which the BSP has, now, become the torch-bearer.

The pamphlet32, issued by the BSP, also emphasised that the Party had taken forward the mission of the Ad Dharm movement. It reiterated that although Dr. Ambedkar tried to give political freedom to the downtrodden by granting them the right to vote in the constitution, but in actual practice it could not be realised fully. Further, the Pamphlet stressed that the ‘Manuite regimes’ have conspired to deprive the dalits of their hard earned rights by proposing to amend the constitution. The BSP, which drew inspiration from Ad Dharm and Dr. Ambedkar, strongly condemned such moves and sought support in its tirade against the Manuite government.

Simultaneously, the efforts have also been made to revive the spirit of the Ad Dharm movement abroad. Begumpura Times Quarterly, a bilingual publication of the “Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl. Wolverhampton, U.K.” (Started in 1999) has carried a series of articles on various aspects of the Ad Dharm movement and the steps taken for its revival. The Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl. also celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of the Ad Dharm movement at Shri Guru Ravidass Community Centre, Wolverhampton, on 11 June 2000. Earlier, on 25 July 1976, it celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the Ad Dharm in U.K. where Babu Mangoo Ram was invited as the chief guest and also honored with a pension of Rs. 1000 per month (Sain, 1985:37).      

In India, the Platinum Jubilee function of the movement was organised at the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar on 11 June 2000.   On this occasion, Mr. Chumber released the report of “Ad Dharm Mandal” 1931 (in Punjabi and Hindi) 33 which included the names of 500 members and 55 missionaries of the Mandal. The purpose of publishing the names of the members and missionaries was to acknowledge their contributions to the upliftment of the dalit community and also to generate an active interest among the younger generation of their families.  The report also made a call to the scheduled castes to record Ad Dharm as their religion in the 2001 census as was done in the 1931 census.  A similar appeal was made by the Ad Dharm Brotherhood Intl., U.K.  Mention may be made here that the Ad Dharm movement of the 1920s had also received support from the immigrant Ad Dharmis settled in New Zealand, Fiji, Singapore, U.K. etc. (McLeod 1986:110: see also Manak 1985:8). As the ideology and principles of the Ad Dharm movement greatly influenced the dalits of the Doaba region, most of the immigrants who supported the movement from abroad also hailed from this very region. The present BSP, under the leadership of Kanshi Ram, which claims to fight for the rights of dalits in the framework of the Ad Dharm movement, has high hopes from the Doaba region. Moreover, given the significant number of Scheduled Castes in Punjab (28.31% as per 1991 census), there is a possibility of the emergence of alternative dalit politics.

The Impediments

What stumbled the dalits in Punjab to emerge as a political alternative despite their numerical strength is that they have not been able to consolidate themselves as a homogeneous group.  In fact, they form a conglomerate of thirty-seven distinct dalit castes34 with different sub identities and diverse religious affiliations.  The rules of the caste grammar treating one caste as superior to another are equally followed by the scheduled castes in the state.  A study based on the field work has found that 76.6 percent of the dalit respondents ranked Ad Dharmi at the top of the hierarchy of the scheduled castes in Punjab.  Being conscious of their superior status the Ad Dharmis practice endogamy to maintain their distinctness from the other dalit castes.  Further, the study reported that 91.6 percent of the Ad Dharmis had married within their own caste (Kamaljot 1996: 33-35).  Another empirical study reveals that among the Valmikis and the Ad Dharmis in Punjab there exists a substantial measure of active caste consciousness which further precluded them forging unity to fight out the socio-economic and political backwardness (Saberwal 1973: 256).

According to 1981 census, in terms of their numerical strength the Mazhabis, the Sikh counterparts of Valmikis also known as Chuhras, were 13,66,843; Chamars (also called Ramdasias, Ravidasies etc.) 12,21,145; Ad Dharmis 6,80,132; Valmikis 5,32,628; Dumnas 1,24,929; Bazigars 1,20,250; Meghs 78,405; Bawarias 62,624; Sansis 61,986; and Kabirpanthis 56,888 followed by rest of the scheduled castes in varied smaller denominations (Jodkha 2000: 400-401; see also his 2002).  Out of the thirty seven castes, the Punjab government declared thirteen as the ‘Depressed Scheduled Castes’.  Seven of these thirteen Depressed Scheduled Castes are identified by the Punjab government as the ‘De-notified Tribes‘ or the ‘Vimukta Jatis’ who were declared by the colonial administration as ‘Vagrant and Criminal tribes’.  These thirteen castes together constituted only 11 percent of the scheduled caste population (ibid : 394).  Chamars, Mazhabis, Ad Dharmis and Valmikis together constitute nearly three-fourth of the total scheduled castes population of Punjab.

Apart from above, the factor of economic inequalities among the dalits in the state is no less significant.  The Ad Dharmis of the Boota Mandi in Jalandhar who control the leather industry are the richest among the scheduled castes of Punjab.  Moreover, a group of scheduled castes has established its hold over the surgical tool manufacturing units in the Jalandhar town.  Likewise, a small number of scheduled castes households also own cultivable land (around 0.40 percent of the total holdings in Punjab) which makes them different from most other dalits whose mainstay of livelihood depends on the income as manual and landless labourers.  Similarly, some sections of the scheduled castes, particularly the Chamar and Ad Dharmis have acquired administrative positions in the state administration.

The above analysis shows that dalits of Punjab constitute a motley group of castes, economic strata and religious identities.  Besides, the dalits lack an all-Punjab leader to mobilize them across religious and regional variations.  It was precisely because of these intra-dalit cleavages that they could not emerge as a cohesive force to reckon with in the politics of Punjab. In the absence of a common platform, some of the dalits and their local elites seek their salvation through different political outfits including the Congress and the Akali Dal.

Conclusion

What we have tried to argue above is that the dalit consciousness is a consciousness of seeking justice and equality which was born in the early 20the century. Another aspect of dalit consciousness which needs to be underlined is that it has never been an exclusive domain of dalits only. Intermittently it continued to receive inputs from non-dalit quarters as well.  Be it a phase of Bhakti movement, Sufis, Indian renaissance or of national freedom movement, there is an ample proof of efforts being made by non-dalits in the direction of eradication of untouchability.  However, almost all of them thought it appropriate to take measures for the removal of untouchability without doing away with the in egalitarian social structure. This has led to a sharp division between the orientation of the dalits and the higher caste protagonists of social reform movements. The rise of Ad Dharm movement and Gandhi-Ambedkar dispute are testimonies to such polarization between the dalits and the twice-born.  This division in turn further strengthened the process of consolidation of dalit consciousness in a framework of ‘we’ and ‘others’. The issues of caste and untouchability instead of emerging as a common social problem with a unified response across the length and breadth of Indian sub-continent have taken on a path of confrontation and antagonism. Dalit consciousness grew along these fault lines.  Indian freedom struggle failed to provide an environment for the emergence of a politics based on consensus and common concerns. This was probably the main reason for the continuance of the ideology and principles of the  Ad Dharm movement in Punjab through the efforts of the BSP.

More curiously, dalits became victim of their own dalit consciousness, which instead of transcending caste and caste based hierarchies strengthened caste identities. Until very recently they (dalits) were condemned as untouchable because of their being low caste, now they have been given favours constitutionally, too because of their being low caste. Hence as far as the social status of dalits is concerned no significant change has really taken place.  The blatant untouchability of yesteryears got transformed into a subtle form.  Once a Scheduled Caste succeeded to raise his economic status by making use of reservation, he absolutely finds no avenues to concomitantly raise his social status also. He then desperately seeks new identities in borrowing religions and sometimes even borrowing respectable sub-caste titles.  Such borrowed identities haunt him incessantly because his new incarnation failed to get recognition in the hierarchical social set up. 

It is in this context that the contribution of the Ad Dharm movement becomes crucial. It helped the scheduled castes to seek social recognition through the process of cultural transformation on the one hand and spiritual regeneration on the other. It carved out a new identity for them. It gave them a new name: Ad Dharmi. The very title of Ad Dharmi instills in the minds of the scheduled castes a sense of pride. It reminds them of their pristine rich heritage. It also realised them as to how they were deprived of freedom and liberty and made subservient to the twice born. The Ad Dharm movement succeeded in raising the consciousness of the downtrodden people of the Doaba region of Punjab in particular and of the entire state in general. It gave them gurus to believe in, a qaum to belong to and a sense of history to relate with. It envisions them the possibility and potentiality of a social change whereby the scheduled castes could think and make efforts to improve their lot. The process of cultural transformation and spiritual regeneration started by the Ad Dharm movement under the leadership of Mangoo Ram continued to reverberate the cities and villages of Punjab into the 21st century through different platforms and political formations.

Notes

 

[I am grateful to Professor P.S. Verma for meticulously going through the various drafts of this paper.  His scholarly comments and incisive criticism helped in improving the arguments raised in the paper.  To late Chanan Lal Manak, I.D. Pawar, K.C. Shenmar, K.C. Sulekh, Chattar Sain, C.L. Chumber and Sant Baba Surinder Das I owe a special debt for helping me in locating and providing source material on the Ad Dharm movement. My thanks to Professors: H.K. Puri, Paramjit Singh Judge and Late Pradeep Kumar who provided critical inputs in preparation of the draft. My special thanks to Seema Goel for helping me in various ways in the preparation of the paper. However, for any fault or error, the responsibility lies entirely on the author].

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.           <!--[endif]-->Some of the close associates of the Ad Dharm movement, however, did not approve the closure of the movement in 1946. They were of the opinion that Ad Dharm continued to play an important role for the upliftment of the      untouchables even after 1946. In 1946 Mangoo Ram got elected to the Punjab Assembly and remained there to espouse the cause of the Ad Dharmis till the first general elections in independent India.  By that time, Mangoo Ram had grown fairly old. According to Chanan Lal Manak, a close associate of the movement, Ad Dharm could not produce any one of the caliber of Mangoo Ram to replace him.  The rank and file of Ad Dharm was more interested in their individual vested interests rather than in the upliftment of the Dalits as a community.  However, Mangoo Ram till his death did not surrender the Herculean task that he had taken on his shoulders for the dalit consciousness and their upliftment. Interviews with Ishwar Das Pawar, Chandigarh, April 23, 2001; Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 1, 2001; and Chattar Sain, son of Mangoo Ram, Garshankar (Distt. Hoshiarpur), April 27, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.           <!--[endif]--> Interviews: Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 1, 2001; K.C. Sulekh, Chandigarh, July 1, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.           <!--[endif]-->Interview with Chattar Sain, son of Mangoo Ram, Garshankar (Distt. Hoshiarpur) April 27, 2001; see also Ram 1971: 4).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.           <!--[endif]-->Sain, n.3.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.           <!--[endif]-->Ibid.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.           <!--[endif]-->A signed pamphlet by Mangoo Ram in the name of his qaum, entitled Panjab De Achhut panth Nu Vadhai: Meri Walon Sandesh (Congratulations to the Untouchable Brotherhood of Punjab: My Message ), reproduced as such in Monthly Kaumi Udarian(Punjabi), vol. 1, no. 2, January 1986,  pp. 23-24(Jalandhar, ed. C.L. Chumber).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.           <!--[endif]-->One of the teachers of the school was a Muslim, Walhi Mohammad and one was Brahmin, who was later on converted into a Shudra. The conversion ceremony comprised of an earthen pot (Douri) which contained water mingled with sugar balls (Patasha) and stirred with leather cutting tool (Rambi). Thus the prepared sweet water considered as holy was given to Brahmins to baptize them into Shudras (Sain, n.3).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.           <!--[endif]-->The All India Ad Dharm Mandal got disbanded and merged with the organisation led by Dr Ambedkar in 1933 and after some years the same fate fell on Ad Dharm of Mangoo Ram,  who closed the office of the Ad Dharm Mandal and changed its name to Ravidass Mandal (Juergensmeyer 2000: 232). However, close associates of the Ad Dharm movement contested this observation.  They said that Ad Dharm Mandal was not changed into Ravidass Mandal.  In fact, later on, Ravidass School was opened up in the premises of the Ad Dharm Mandal building.  So it was Ravidass School which merely came to occupy the space of the Ad Dharm Mandal building rather than its being taken over by Ravidass Mandal. Interviews with: late Chanan Lal Manak, Jalandhar, May 29, 2001; K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P) Pb.(retd.) Chandigarh, April 28, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.           <!--[endif]-->In 1952, Mangoo Ram was offered a ticket by the Congress to contest the assembly elections as its nominee.  As he refused to contest the election on the Congress ticket, it was given to Kartar Singh of village Ligari of Hoshiarpur District.  (Sain, n.3).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.        <!--[endif]-->Mugowal Zila Hoshiarpur De Ad Dharm Skool da Wadda Bhaari Diwan: Pehla Salana Jalsa  Muwarka 11-12 June Aittwar, Somwar 1927 Mutabak 30-31 Jeth 1984 (Mugowal, Hoshiarpur District, in the Ad Dharm School: First Annual Huge Public Meeting, 11-12 June, Sunday-Monday 1927, as per the  Local Calendar 30-31 of the first month of the Year 1984). However, in various writings about Ad Dharm the year 1926 is referred to as the year of the First Annual Meeting of the Ad Dharm. Reproduced as such in Monthly Kaumi Udarian (Punjabi), vol. 1, No. 2, January 1986, pp 21-22.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.        <!--[endif]-->Swami Shudra Nand and Babu Thakur Chand.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->12.        <!--[endif]-->The text is in the form of poetry (in Punjabi), translated by the author and Seema Goel.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->13.        <!--[endif]-->However, no record is available to substantiate this thesis (Juergensmeyer 1988:23).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->14.        <!--[endif]-->Manak, n.8.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->15.        <!--[endif]-->Ibid.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->16.        <!--[endif]-->The Lothian committee (Indian Franchise committee) was constituted in December 1931 under the Chairmanship of the Marquees of Lothian, C.H., and Parliamentary under Secretary of State for India. It consisted of 18 members. Dr. Ambedkar was one of them. The committee began its work, of hearing the views of the parties concerned and the provincial franchise committees constituted by the respective Provincial Legislatures, at Delhi on 1st February 1932. It conducted its enquires in Lahore on 31st March and 1st April, 1932. Ad Dharm Mandal and Dayanand Dalit Udhar Mandal represented the depressed classes of the Punjab before the committee. The Ad Dharm Mandal delegation consisted of eighteen members including Mangoo Ram (President) Hazara Ram Piplanwala (General Secretary), Hans Raj (Vice-President), Ram Chand Khera (Editor, Adi Danka), Pt. Hari Ram and Sant Ram Azad (Ahir 1992:8-9).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->17.        <!--[endif]--> In 1937 Assembly elections in Punjab eight seats were reserved for the scheduled castes. Ad Dharm contested on all seats with the help of Unionist Party. Ad Dharm candidates won seven seats. One seat (Hoshiarpur) went to Congress candidate, Moola Singh who defeated Hazara Ram Piplanwala of Ad Dharm with a margin of seven votes (Manak May 1971: No. 8).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->18.        <!--[endif]-->As spelt on the top of the letter pad of Ad Dharm Mandal. One such letter is in the possession of K.C. Shenmar I.G. (P.) Punjab (retd.) on which Mangoo Ram gave him testimonial. K.C. Shenmar has kindly passed on the photocopy of the testimonial to the author.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->19.        <!--[endif]-->Ad Prakash Granth contains 1248 pages which include hymns of Guru Ravidass, Maharishi Valmiki and Kabir, apart from many other Adi Gurus (Banta Ram, Joginder Bains, Shri Ad Prakash Granth Trust, Hoshiarpur; Sain, n.3).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->20.        <!--[endif]-->The report of the Ad Dharm Mandal, 1926-1931 was published on May 15, 1931 in Urdu.  Mark Juergensmeyer and Surjit Singh Goraya translated it into English (Juergensmeyer 1988).  C. L. Chumber translated it into Hindi and Punjabi (Chumber 11 June 2000).  The Hindi and Punjabi translation include the name of the five hundred members of the Ad Dharm Mandal and its fifty five missionaries which were not included in the English translation.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->21.        <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C. Shenmar, IG(P) Punjab (retd.), Chandigarh, April 28, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->22.        <!--[endif]-->Pamphlet, n.6

<!--[if !supportLists]-->23.        <!--[endif]-->Boota Mandi, also known as Ramdasspura, is situated on Nakodar road in Jalandhar. It has been inhabited by Ad Dharmis who had come from different villages to settle there for leather works and trade.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->24.        <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C. Shenmar, Chandigarh, July 9, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->25.        <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C. Sulekh, Chandigarh, July 12, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->26.        <!--[endif]-->Interview with K.C. Shenmar, Chandigarh, July 14, 2001.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->27.        <!--[endif]-->Ad Dharmi is one of the thirty seven castes listed as Scheduled Castes (Census of India 1991, section 17, Punjab).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->28.        <!--[endif]-->Pamphlet, n. 6, cf (Juergensmeyer 2000:232, fn. 21).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->29.        <!--[endif]-->Souvenir, 1985: Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary (41, Kundan Nagar, Delhi).

<!--[if !supportLists]-->30.        <!--[endif]-->Jalandhar was the head quarter of the Ad Dharm Mandal. Adi Danka and Ravidass Patrika were also published form there.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->31.        <!--[endif]-->n. 10, p. 22.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->32.        <!--[endif]-->The pamphlet was made available to the author by C.L. Chumber.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->33.        <!--[endif]-->The Report of the Ad Dharm Mandal 1926-1931, translated by C.L. Chumber in Hindi and Punjabi and circulated through Adi Dharm Weekly (Jalandhar), 11 June 2000.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->34.        <!--[endif]-->Thirty-seven Castes are: Ad-Dharmi, Valmiki (Chura, Bhangi), Bangali, Barar (Burar of Berar), Batwal, Bauria (Bawria), Bazigar, Bhnajra, Chamar (Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidassi), Chanal, Dagi, Darain, Deha (Dhaya, Dhea), Dhanak, Kabirpanthi (Julaha), Khatik, Kori- koli, Marija (Marecha), Mazhbi, Megh, Nat, Od, Pasi, Perna, Pheera, Sanhai, Sanhal,         Sansi (Bhedkut, Manesh), Sansoi, Dhogri (Dhangri, Siggi), Dumna (Mahasha, Doom), Gagra, Gandhila (Gandeil), Sapela, Sareta, Sikligar, Sirkiband, (Census of India 1991, Series 17-Punjab).      

 


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Dr. Ronki Ram
Department of Political SciencePanjab University, Chandigarh E.
mail:ronkiram@yahoo.com





 

Journalist Prem Kumar Chumber  presented a book Religious rebels in the Punjab (written by Prof. (Dr.) Mark Juergensmeyer) to Mr. Bansi Lal Bangar, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California (USA) on Sunday, Feb.11th, 2007, the 630th birth day celebration of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Ji. Standing Left to Right: Baldev Suman, Chairman Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Bay Area, San Francisco California, Vinod  Chumber, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Bay Area, San Francisco California, Des Raj Bangar, Secretary of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California , Sonu Ambedkar (K.K.Saroya) Vice President I.B.O. California, Kewal Bolina, the president of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Sacramento (California), Balbir Mall, Chairman Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha Pittsburg (California), Piara Singh Virdi, Assistant Secretary of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California , Bhai Avtar Singh Maheru Head Garanthi of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Temple (C.V.) Fresno, California, Karam Singh Bangar, Chairman of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California, Parmod Loi Gen. Secretary of Shri Guru Ravi Dass Sabha (C.V.) Fresno, California
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ISHWAR DAS PAWAR

PASSED AWAY

ON JUNE 11, 2007

   IN CHANDIGARH (INDIA)



AMBEDKARTIMES.COM

CONDOLENCES TO THE BEREAVED FAMILY

Ambedkartimes.com is distressed to know the sad demise of Ishwar Das Pawar, District and Session Judge (Retd.)Whose contribution to the upliftment of the community would be remembered for ever. He was the first Scheduled Caste gazetted officer in the Punjab. It was during his stint in the passport department, as a undersecretary, that the Scheduled Castes started getting passport to go abroad. He helped thousands of community fellows to go and settled abroad. Earlier it was really very difficult for the SCs to receive the passport from the upper caste officers. Pawar sahib was also very close to Babu Mangoo Ram Mugowalia, freedom fighter & founder of the Ad Dharm Movement. Mangoo Ram Mugowalia often used to come to Pawar Sahib with other members of the movement at Chandigarh. In 1970 he also became member of the Organizing Committee of the Ad Dharm Scheduled Caste Federation, a renewed wing of the Ad Dharm Mandal reorganized on 13 December 1970 during its first big conference held at Dera Sant Sarwan Dass, Ballan (Jalandhar).

 We all mourn the death of this Ad Dharm Surveer and offer our condolences to the bereaved family.

POSTED ON JUNE 15, 2007



BABU MANGU RAM MUGOWALIA
AND AD DHARM MOVEMENT


Ishwar Das Pawar,

District & Sessions Judge (Retd.)

While recalling the significance of the role of the Ad-Dharma movement launched by Babu Mangu Ram of Mugowal in the year 1926, for espousing the cause of the Untouchables of the pre-partition Punjab, we must remind ourselves of the circumstances prevailing in those times. For, since then tremendous changes have taken place in the social, political and administrative fields, and not many of the present times may have a precise idea of the harrowing conditions and environments in which our people found themselves.

Till about the mid-twenties there was no social and political awakening among the untouchables. People had been fed on the deceptive and demoralising Brahmanical philosophy that the Untouchables were born as such not by any coincidence but because of their accumulated bad deeds committed in the past lives. As a consequence, they were disentitled to get education, to own and possess property, to take to professions and avocations of their own liking and choice, and to a place of equality, honour and dignity in society. This was the divine dispensation. It was dinned into their ears day in and day our that this was not due either to their own fault in this life or to the fault of society that they were born in the lowest and wretched castes, and, therefore, they were made to suffer untold hardships and punishments under the edict of the Almighty for their past sins. Out of sheer ignorance these misguided and gullible people tacitly accepted their cursed fate foisted on them by the clever sort. For their woeful sufferings they would beat their foreheads in utter helplessness and say pathetically that it was due to their inevitable fate and destiny. It never occurred to them, and there was none to tell them, that they were being duped and cheated by the uppermost strata of society who were interested in keeping them under their feet. They could not understand why others who were leading most sinful lives before their very eyes were enjoying all comforts of life both good and bad. The good deeds of the ignorant and unsophisticated people of this life were of no consequence for them in this life; they were being stored and preserved for consideration in the life to come. It was a very cunning ruse played on the ignorant and deprived people.

There was none among the Untouchables to raise the banner of revolt against this aggression, oppression, tyranny, deception and exploitation of the poor and the ignorant committed behind the facade of religious philosophy. There, however, appeared on the scene an inspired soul in the person of Babu Mangu Ram of Mugowal, who came back from America after a decade's sojourn there. There he was a member of the Ghadar Party formed by the Indians living there to supplement the struggle of freedom launched by the nationalists here

On reaching home Babu Mangu Ram founded an organisation under the name Ad-Dharma Mandal. Soon a band of enthusiastic and devoted workers gathered around him. The message brought by Babu Mangu Ram was new inspiring. It was aimed at awakening the Un-touchable. The message called upon them to know and realise themselves as they had forgotten their true selves due to the hostile influences in which they had been living for thousands of years. It caught the imagination and hearts of the oppressed and down-trodden people and soon Babu Mangu Ram's name became a household word. He succeeded remarkably well in creating awareness and awakening the people. His path was beset with difficulties and he had to work against odds and trying circumstances. Financial difficulties apart, he and his co-workers were chased everywhere and hounded out of bound out of bounds of towns and villages by the Hindus, and quite often they had to hold their meeting and conferences in open fields. One such incident also took place at Una. A weekly "Adi-Danka" in Punjabi was also started to carry the message to every nook and corner of the province. This was the beginning of the struggle for getting back the human rights of which they had been deprived of for centuries. Wherever Babu Mangu Ram went, the people were eager to have a glimpse of their beloved leader and benefactor. He did the pioneering work to awaken the people. My own relations with him had been very close and cordial. From my college days I had been attending meetings of the Ad-Dharma Mandal and also occasionally contributing small articles to the Adi-Danka.

In the crucial days of the Round Table Conference held in London in the early thirties for the purpose of hammering out a new political set up for our country, Babu Mangu Ram worked enthusiastically shoulder with the greatest leader of the underdog, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who was representing the Untouchables of the County at the Conference, to strengthen his hands in his historic struggle for securing political rights for his people on the basis of their being a separate and distinct political entity. Babu Mangu Ram will be long remembers as the devoted pioneer in the crusade against social and political injustice. He fought relentlessly even in the face of crippling heavy odds for the achievements of the goal. Whatever rights we have been able to snatch so far is entirely due to these great men. There is needed to look back lest we should forget our benefactors-the brave soldiers who fought our battles.

                 Courtesy:     Souvenir, 1985 Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary, By Mr. C. L. Chumber

 BABU MANGU RAM MUGOWALIA

A PROFILE


Prof. G. S. BALL 

Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia combined in his personage the qualities of a fierce revolutionary, a staunch patriot, a devoted crusader against social evils and above all a true humanitarian through and through Born among the lowliest of the low, he crossed all social barriers dauntlessly and suffered all sorts of indignities of life and made his way to reach the pinnacle of gray.

Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia represents a rare example among the revolutionaries Ghadrite philosophy. In those dark days, it was rare for an untouchable to understand the essence of revolution against imperialism. But he rose to the occasion and proved his mettle. He joined the Ghadar Party when he went to California (U.S.A.) in 1909 A.D. as its active member, Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia; it appears desired an establishment of society which must be based on Equality. And he saw one being fought for by the Ghadarites as they had abolished all social distinctions among themselves first-which, perhaps, is not the practice with the modern community or who profess change of the sort. As Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia spoke of the Ghadar Party, "It was a new society; we were all treated as equals".

As a Ghadrite, he took part in the Organizational activities at first but in 1915 A.D., an occasion came when he volunteered to be one of the five Ghadarites in a dangerous mission involving smuggled weapons shipped from California to the Punjab. Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia was chosen by the leader of the Ghadar Party at that time. Mr. Sohan Singh Bhakna, the Secretary of Ghadar Party, whom Babu M.R. Mugowalia remembered as "Godha" sent the five to Los Angles, where they boarded an intermediary boat, after depositing all of their personal identifications with "Godha", for the rest of the journey's saga, Mangu Ram would be known by a Muslim pseudonym, "Nizamuddin."1 Putting his life into danger and traveling through Secrorro Islands and halting at Mexico, Caledonia Islands, and Manila, Singapore and again to Manila where he stayed for sometime and finally to India where he reached in 1925 A.D.

It is after 1925 that this career as a crusader against untouchability and casteism began. As he traveled from Ceylon to Punjab through Madurai, Madras, Bombay, Poona, Sitara, Nagpur and Delhi, he observed the condition of the untouchables on route and was dismayed to see these people being treated so badly. In Madurai, when Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia visited the Meenakshi Temple, he was told to be careful not to touch Achhut (Untouchables) since they assumed by his dress that he was of a decent caste. By the time Babu M.R. Mugowalia had reached the Punjab, he was convinced that there was need for social change.

Babu M.R. Mugowalia wrote to the Ghadar Party headquarters in San Fransisco about the difficult conditions of the Untouchables in India. He wrote them that their freedom was more important to him than Indian freedom. According to Babu Mugowalia, leaders of the Ghadar Party then disengaged him to work with Scheduled castes (Untouchables), and wrote him that they would support him in his tasks. Thus, in a new context, the old revolutionary from Fresno continued the Ghadar spirit. This clearly shows that even Ghadarites had realized the need to awaken these slaves of Indian Society - the then untouchables.

When he started his task of social reform i.e., establishing schools for untouchables poors, he began to look for an alternative which may provide a lever for the unity of the untouchable poors and then to demonstrate through that alternative the political presence of the untouchables in the politics of Punjab of those days. It must be remembered that Punjab was already witnessing political up haul and each class was trying to reap at political harvesting. Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia, along with other conscious men from his class, then founded on June 11-12, 1926 A.D. at his village Mugowal Ad-dharma as the alternative. Ad-Dharma's main aim was to create a feeling of identity among the untouchable class which numbered at that time about one fourth of the entire population of India.

Babu M.R. Mugowalia and the early leaders of the Ad-Dharma perceived their first task to be the creation of a new religion. In their initial meetings, even before they developed an organisational structure, they labored over a basic ideological theme upon which they could build a system of religious ideas & symbols. Its central motivation was novel: the idea that untouchables constitute a qaum, a distinct religions community similar to those of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs, and that the qaum had existed from time immoral. It was a myth of power addressed to the people without power. It was intended to communicate the sense of strength that Babu M.R. Mugowalia felt belonged to his Caste fellows by right. As he explained, partly stating a fact, partly expressing a hope, "The untouchables have their powers: communal pride (qaumiat), religion (Mazhab), and organisation (mazlis), "The hope was that / these powers could be fostered and spiltered through force of ideology.

Ad-Dharma was almost Babu M.R. Mugowalia's show. It inspired the lowliest of the low to fight for equality, economic, social and political in a converted way. The Ad-Dharma, under the dynamic leadership of a true revolutionary like Babu Mugowalia, was a aggressive and autonomous movement or compared to similar movements that took birth in other parts of the country. Within a short span of time, it jolted the "haves-not" through its rallies, publications, deputations and demonstrations to demand new government policies or to protest upper caste discriminations. The most influential political action of the movement that can be listed as one of its great achievements was to get Scheduled Castes registered as followers of new religion. In the 1931 A.D. Census, almost half a million of them registered as "Ad-Dharmi" rather than Hindus or Muslim or Sikh. Mr. Mark Juergensmeyer writes as "Later in the 1930, their political influence turned towards electoral politics, in alliance first with the predominantly Muslim Unionist Party and then with the congress"2 It was the logical consequence of the political awakening created among them by Ad-Dharma movement in Punjab, whose undisputable leader was Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia.

Thus through several means, then, the Ad-Dharma presented to its followers a vision of a world which both confirmed and transformed the rude experience of untouchables. And in doing so it implied that a different sort of world was coming into being, for the separate identity so defined signaled hope for a society in which social groups carried no inherent mark of judgment and in which the benefits of progress could be shared by all, Cultural & humanistic aspects of the personality of Babu M.R. Mugowalia were even more glaring. As a humanist his vision of the world was near to rationalist view of the universe (we can even say materialistic as well as through in rudimentary form), he believed in the inherent equality of all human-beings; he was against all sorts of exploitations of man against man; and he earnestly devoted his bodily energy and financial resources in founding a New Society based upon the gospel of equality. His ideas about the universe and equality of all men are echoed in the Ad-Dharma Mandal (1926 to 1931) report in the preparation of which Babu Mugowalia had played a big role. It reads as follows:

"Nature (Qudrat Ka Mela) created human beings from original source (Adi) at the time that it created all beings in the earth. The knowledge of moral behaviour (karm-dharm) was also given to them at that time by Nature. Nature made humans superior than animals, but among humans all were equal.

In the beginning, when Nature created human beings, there was no discrimination. There were no differences and no quarrels. In particulars, there were no such concepts as high a law caste. God (Ishwar) was mediating; all was in harmony. Everyone believed in one dharma which Nature had given then through intellect and knowledge." Babu M.R. Mugowalia did not mean by the world 'God' as something supernatural beings who is said  to have created the world and since then regulating it as is believed in theology. Mark Juergensmeyer makes quite clear in his work.

Religion as social vision, 1 thus; "Occasionally there is mention of God in a more formal sense": "God (Ishwar) was meditating; all was in harmony." And Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia made a practice of using the name Adi-Purkh for the divine-literally "the originator", Or the original Being." All these designations, although they are theistic terms, are impersonal in intent.4

He, all his life, stood like a rock against social evils such as untouchability, caste-system, women, women slavery, exploitation etc. etc His life in cultural side symbolized with the creation of new social virtues such as women's rights, the value of education, abstinence from alcohol and drugs - which were 'nothing less than a new concept of moral order,' Thus Babu M.R. Mugowalia, a Ghadrite revolutionary, social crusader, political activist and strategist and as an humanitarian fought for the establishment of an ideal society till he breathed last. The noble way of commemorating celebrating the 99th Birth Anniversary (for that matter every birth anniversary) of Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia - who desired his movement to coin-side with Ambedkarite movement to give the movement of depressed classes a country - wide statue, is to emulate him. Therefore, let us resolve to emulate. The great Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia - a patriot, social revolutionary, a successful strategist and, above all, a humanist.

                    Courtesy: Souvenir, 1985 Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia 99th Birth Anniversary, By Mr. C. L. Chumber

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