In his 350 BCE book Metaphysics, Aristotle said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Self-reflection is, of course, actively promoted by most religious texts, including the Vedas and Buddhist writings. Social movements must seriously self-reflect and amend the activists’ beliefs and practices when necessary. Otherwise, their effort to transform society wouldn’t yield any results.

The above assertion is true for most social movements in any country, especially among Dalits. I strongly advise Dalits—leaders, intellectuals and activists, in particular—to carefully look into a mirror and see how much their belief systems and practices have promoted caste separation and exclusion. As an anthropologist and social activist, I see many self-harming issues in the mainstream Dalit cultures and customs.

Dalit lifecycle rituals

French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep first used the term rites de passage in 1909. As many other scholars have subsequently shown, lifecycle rituals play a vital role in most societies, transforming an individual’s social position and role through different stages of life, including birth, marriage and death.

Robert Levy and Kedar Raj Rajopadhyaya’s 1992 book Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organisation of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal is a notable scholarly work that demonstrates the central role of religious rituals, including the rites de passage, for individuals and communities among the Hindus of this country.

A great majority of Nepali Dalits consider themselves bona fide Hindus, notwithstanding their perceived ritual pollution and exclusion from mainstream Hindu society. Brahmin priests rarely perform Dalits’ lifecycle and other rituals, yet the underdog somehow imitates the rituals even in the absence of properly trained pundits and sacred Vedic mantras.

In doing so, Dalits follow the same principles of caste separation and exclusion, as well as the notion of ritual purity and pollution, as upper castes. Rituals may be incomplete, but the practice of untouchability is complete! Thus, counterintuitively, Dalits have been approving of and practising the untouchability they never tire of condemning.

Dalits segregate the mother and her infant right after childbirth for a certain period. They can’t enter the kitchen and touch places and materials of worship. Nor can they have physical contact with any person. Both are purified through a ritual to render them touchable.

The practice of untouchability is most visible during the cremation. Again, no pundit would perform the funeral and read Garuda Purana. Yet Dalits themselves perform the rituals and don’t allow the dead body to be touched by other castes, particularly Dalit castes considered lower than them.

For instance, in the hills, the body of a Kami may not be touched by any other Dalit castes; the Badi and Gandarva should not touch the body of a Damai. In the Tarai, most Dalit castes cannot touch the body of a Pashwan, and a Dom cannot touch the body of a Chamar.

The daughters-in-law from different castes may also be prevented from touching the dead body of the family members and kin.

Like other Hindus, the chief mourners are segregated for a certain period. They shouldn’t come into direct contact with anyone and must prepare their own food. When they go to the toilet, the mourners are accompanied by some family members or relatives to avoid touching cats and dogs. If these animals touch them, the spirit of the deceased cannot ascend into heaven.

Fear of kul devta

Similar to other Hindus, Dalits have faith in their lineage deities (kul devta). This god is worshipped periodically by members of a kinship circle. It is believed that doing so brings the extended family and kin together.

As among the upper castes, the shrines of the kul devta are strictly out of bounds for people of other castes and subcastes. For example, a married daughter doesn’t worship this god because she now belongs to a different subgroup within the caste. She may not even be permitted to eat the sacred offerings, including the meat of sacrificial goats and chicken.

Dalits also live in fear of their kul devta. They believe that disrespecting the traditional rules of caste separation and ritual pollution can offend the deity, and its wrath can be dangerous over generations. They feel that the progress and prosperity of the individuals, families and patrilineal groups depend on the grace of the kul devta.

This strong belief in one’s kul devta has played a central role, I would argue, in the reproduction of untouchability and the recreation of caste hierarchy, amongst Dalits.

Inter-dalit discrimination

Such beliefs and practices explain why ritual and moral hierarchy based on caste has remained strong amongst Dalits. Ironically, Dalits criticise the upper or “cleaner castes” for dominating and excluding the lower castes while they actively practise the same. However, caste discrimination among Dalits may vary in different places. Sometimes, the question of whose status is higher also becomes confusing and controversial.

One notable controversy has long existed between the blacksmiths (Kami) and shoemakers (Sarki). In some places, the Kami consider themselves above the Sarki and exclude them from their domestic and communal circles. However, the Sarki are considered higher and dominate the Kami in other areas. Both would generally treat the Damai, Badi and Gandarva as lower.

To date, there have been few cases of intermarriage within the Dalit community. In some cases of inter-caste marriages, the higher-caste Dalits have refused to accept the bride from the lower Dalit castes.

Interestingly, inter-Dalit assimilation has been difficult even amongst Christian converts, notwithstanding the fact that their religious texts and practices do not propagate caste discrimination. Caste is no longer sacred among the Christian Dalits (as among the wider Christian community in Nepal and perhaps in South Asia generally), but it does continue to divide the Dalit community.

Start at home

What's more, many Dalit ministers, members of Parliament, activists and intellectuals also have a deep faith in the notion of ritual purity and pollution. Fearful of their kul devta, they follow casteist rituals and customs and rarely bring the issue of untouchability within the Dalit community to the forefront.

It is about time we critically examined our beliefs, practices, customs and cultures and directly confronted this issue. We must start by cleaning up our own families and kinship networks if we are serious about realising the dream of Nepal as an “untouchability-free nation,” as the Parliament officially declared on June 4, 2006.