Role of Indigenous Indian Religions in Shaping Dalit Identity

For centuries, millions of Dalits – those placed outside and below the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy – have searched for a religious home that treats them as human beings of equal worth. Indigenous Indian religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all emerged, in varying ways, as challenges to the social order established by Vedic Brahmanism. Each offered a vision of equality. Each attracted Dalit followers. And each, to different degrees, still struggles with the very discrimination it set out to abolish. Understanding how these religions shaped – and continue to shape – Dalit identity requires looking honestly at both their radical promises and their complicated realities.

The caste system and the search for alternatives 🔗

The caste system, rooted in the varna framework of Vedic tradition, organized Indian society into four hierarchical categories – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras – with Dalits placed entirely outside this structure. As Wikipedia’s entry on Dalits notes, they were excluded from the fourfold varna and seen as forming a fifth category, relegated to the most dangerous and demeaning occupations. This stigma persisted regardless of personal achievement and survived even legal prohibitions, including the constitutional abolition of untouchability after Indian independence.

Global Ministries summarizes the stakes plainly: at various times, groups of Dalits converted to non-Hindu religions – Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam, and Jainism – driven in part by the hope of reaching equality and human dignity. Yet in practice, they often remained “Dalits” regardless of religion. The stigma of caste followed them across faith boundaries. This persistence of caste across religions is the central challenge that any discussion of Dalit religious identity must confront.

Buddhism: the most significant refuge 🔗

Of all the indigenous Indian religions, Buddhism has had the deepest and most transformative impact on Dalit identity. Founded in the 6th century BCE as part of the Shramana movement, Buddhism directly challenged the authority of the Vedas and rejected the caste system’s claim to divine sanction. The Buddha’s teachings emphasized that spiritual liberation was available to all, regardless of birth.

Yet the most decisive moment in the relationship between Dalits and Buddhism came in the 20th century. On 14 October 1956, B. R. Ambedkar – lawyer, constitutional architect, and India’s foremost Dalit leader – publicly converted to Buddhism at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, along with approximately 365,000 of his followers. This was not simply a private act of faith. It was a political and philosophical declaration: that Dalits would seek dignity outside Hinduism.

Ambedkar did not convert to any existing branch of Buddhism. He reinterpreted the tradition entirely, creating what he called Navayana – literally, “new vehicle.” Navayana rejected core elements of traditional Buddhism such as monasticism, rebirth, and the Four Noble Truths in their conventional form, and reframed the Dhamma as a guide to social justice and rational conscience. Ambedkar’s book The Buddha and His Dhamma, published posthumously in 1957, became the scripture of this new movement. In his view, Buddhism was not about individual spiritual escape – it was about collective liberation from caste oppression.

Why Buddhism specifically? Ambedkar argued that of all religions, only Buddhism advocates equality of all human beings as a fundamental principle – and that since Buddhism is an indigenous Indian religion, Dalits converting to it could not be accused of adopting a “foreign” faith. This also mattered practically: according to Pew Research, 89% of Buddhists in India today identify as Dalits, making Buddhism in India essentially a Dalit faith. The movement sparked by Ambedkar’s conversion continues to shape Dalit political consciousness and identity, though the Buddhist movement was somewhat slowed by Ambedkar’s death just weeks after his conversion.

Caste and the limits of conversion 🔗

Despite Buddhism’s egalitarian foundations, caste hierarchies gradually resurfaced after the religion’s decline in medieval India. As academic sources on Dalit philosophy note, indigenous Indian religions – including Buddhism – were all in some sense “revolt religions” against caste, but caste culture proved so deeply embedded in Indian society that it permeated even reformist faiths over time. Conversion, as the experience of Dalit Buddhists showed, could not by itself undo centuries of social marginalization.

Jainism: egalitarian in principle, limited in reach 🔗

Jainism, which also emerged from the Shramana movement alongside Buddhism in the 6th century BCE, shares Buddhism’s rejection of caste based on birth. The Adi Purana, an 8th-century Jain text, states that there is only one human caste (manusyajati), and that divisions arise only from differences in profession and conduct – not from lineage. Jainism’s central philosophy of ahimsa (non-violence) and its emphasis on individual moral effort offer a framework for living without causing harm to others, which resonated with Dalit thinkers and activists seeking an ethical alternative to caste hierarchy.

However, Jainism’s appeal to Dalits has been significantly narrower than Buddhism’s. Jainism did not challenge the caste system as directly or as thoroughly as Buddhism, and its religious practice – with its rigorous ascetic demands – was less accessible to the poorest and most marginalized communities. The result is a striking demographic contrast: while Buddhism in India is overwhelmingly Dalit, about 76% of Jains in India identify as belonging to General Category castes – that is, upper-caste communities – making Jainism one of the least Dalit-associated of the indigenous Indian religions.

There have been notable exceptions. In 1958, a Sthanakvasi Jain monk named Muni Sameer Muni made contact with members of the Khatik community in Udaipur and guided their conversion to Jainism. In 1984, some members of the Bhangi community in Jodhpur converted under Acharya Shri Tulsi’s influence. These cases illustrate that Jainism has occasionally reached Dalit communities – but these conversions remain historically marginal compared to the Dalit-Buddhist movement. The practical barriers of Jainism’s demanding code of conduct, combined with the religion’s historical concentration among merchant castes, meant it never became a mass vehicle of Dalit resistance.

Sikhism: radical equality and its contradictions 🔗

Of the three indigenous religions, Sikhism presented perhaps the most explicit and institutionally embedded challenge to caste discrimination. Founded in the late 15th century by Guru Nanak in the Punjab region, Sikhism was built on the principle that all people are equal in the sight of God, regardless of caste or social status – a genuinely radical position in one of the subcontinent’s most stratified societies.

This was not merely doctrinal. The institution of langar – the community kitchen of a gurdwara, where meals are served free of charge to all people regardless of religion, caste, or economic status – was established by the third Guru, Guru Amar Das, who required all visitors to dine together without distinction of caste. This communal eating practice was a direct affront to caste norms, where sharing food across caste lines was strictly forbidden. The Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism’s holy scripture, incorporated verses from Bhakti saints like Kabir and Ravidas – themselves from lower castes – signaling that wisdom and spiritual authority were not the monopoly of Brahmin learning.

Sikh men and women were also given the surnames Singh and Kaur respectively, partly to obscure caste identities, and the faith rejected the idea that caste determined one’s spiritual worth or social standing. For Dalits in Punjab, Sikhism held genuine appeal – a religion of their own region, accessible in their own language, with institutions designed to break caste barriers.

The persistence of caste within Sikhism 🔗

Despite these powerful egalitarian foundations, caste has proven remarkably durable within Sikh communities. Punjab has the highest proportion of Scheduled Caste population of any Indian state – 32% according to the 2011 Census – and yet the emergence of dominant landowning Jat Sikhs created a stark internal hierarchy that contradicted the Gurus’ teachings.

Caste discrimination is widespread in Punjab even though Sikhism preaches equality: in many villages, Dalits have separate places of worship and separate cremation grounds. While Dalits may enter gurdwaras used by Jat Sikhs to offer prayers, they are often barred from cooking or serving langar, and are forbidden from touching vessels used in religious ceremonies. The gap between scripture and practice could hardly be starker. The very institution meant to abolish caste distinctions – the communal kitchen – has itself become a site of caste exclusion.

The desperation of Dalit Sikhs for autonomous religious space has led to the proliferation of separate Dalit gurdwaras and Deras across Punjab, where communities gather outside the structures controlled by dominant-caste Sikhs. In 1953, the Indian government, responding to demands from Sikh leaders, included converted Sikh untouchables on the list of Scheduled Castes – a recognition that Dalit status did not end with conversion to Sikhism. In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages Sikh gurdwaras, 20 of 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs – an acknowledgment within official Sikh institutions that caste inequality requires structural redress.

Conversion as resistance: what these religions offered and what they could not deliver 🔗

Across Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, a consistent pattern emerges. Each religion offered Dalits something the caste Hindu order could not: the formal recognition of their spiritual equality. Each became, to varying degrees, a vehicle of resistance – a way of saying that one’s birth into an “untouchable” community did not determine one’s worth. The hope embedded in these conversions was partly realized – Dalits found community, identity, and moral affirmation outside Hinduism. But in practice, they remained Dalits regardless of religion, and the stigma of untouchability followed them across faith boundaries.

Buddhism, through Ambedkar’s Navayana movement, came closest to translating religious conversion into a genuine reshaping of Dalit identity – because Ambedkar understood that religion alone was insufficient. Ambedkar’s conversion was not simply opposition to caste society’s power structure but also an attempt to overthrow the false ideals that had historically distorted and degraded the Dalit self. Navayana was simultaneously a spiritual, philosophical, and political project. Jainism, for structural and historical reasons, never mobilized Dalits at scale. Sikhism offered the most institutionally sophisticated anti-caste theology, yet saw caste reproduce itself most visibly within its own community structures.

In India, caste has been so deeply interwoven with religion that it permeates all aspects of life – including the very religious traditions that arose to oppose it. The story of Dalits and indigenous Indian religions is not one of simple liberation or simple failure. It is a story of ongoing negotiation between powerful egalitarian ideals and the stubborn weight of social history.

The relevance of these struggles today 🔗

The relationship between Dalit communities and indigenous Indian religions remains very much alive. Mass conversions to Buddhism continue in India, driven by caste-based discrimination and the enduring appeal of Ambedkar’s legacy. A substantial share of Brahmins say they would not be willing to accept a Scheduled Caste person as a neighbor, and caste segregation remains prevalent in Indian society – inside and outside religious institutions. Dalit Sikh communities in Punjab and in the diaspora are increasingly organizing to assert their autonomy, building their own gurdwaras and cultural institutions. The questions raised by Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism about the legitimacy of caste have not been resolved – they are still being argued.

What these indigenous religions gave Dalit communities, above all, was a language and a platform for claiming dignity. Whether through the Buddha’s rejection of birth-based hierarchy, Mahavira’s insistence on a single human caste, or Guru Nanak’s declaration that all are equal before God, these traditions provided ideological resources that Dalit movements have drawn on – and transformed – for their own purposes. The tension between those ideals and social reality is not a contradiction to be explained away. It is the engine of an ongoing struggle.

What do you think? If indigenous Indian religions formally rejected caste hierarchy from their very beginnings, why has caste discrimination proven so persistent even within these traditions – and what does that tell us about the relationship between religious ideals and social change? Is religious conversion a meaningful path to social liberation, or does lasting equality require transformation of economic and political structures alongside spiritual ones?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit
2. https://www.globalministries.org/resource/caste-and-the-dalits-an-introduction/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_religions
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit_Buddhist_movement
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navayana
6. https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2002-06/still-untouchable
7. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/06/29/religion-in-india-tolerance-and-segregation/
8. https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/35264/1/Unit-3.pdf
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India
10. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/06/29/attitudes-about-caste/
11. https://religionunplugged.com/news/2023/5/1/the-broken-dalit-sikhs-fight-back-in-punjab
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langar_(Sikhism)
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism_and_caste
14. https://www.impriindia.com/insights/dalit-sikh-caste/
15. https://scroll.in/article/959164/in-this-punjab-village-sikhs-are-shedding-their-caste-biases-during-the-covid-19-crisis
16. https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/7749