How the global story of caste activism began in Marathwada

Nanded, my hometown in Marathwada, has been home to one of the most radical forms of Dalit politics for over a hundred years.

- Suraj Milind Yengde

Nanded, my hometown in Marathwada, has been home to one of the most radical forms of Dalit politics for over a hundred years. The Arya Samaj, the Hindu reform movement, established one of its earliest centres in Marathwada. Fearing Muslim influence on the subaltern castes, the Arya Samaj started to reconvert the latter by offering janeu, the sacred thread. However, this was not looked upon favourably by non-Dalit villagers, who, by way of punishment, forcibly tattooed Dalit converts with hot iron rods. Marathwada has also seen a significant presence of Sikhs, Nanded being an important holy place for the Sikh religion. The radical message of mystics and spiritual teachers like Kabir, Raidas, Nanak and Gobind was carried by practitioners of the Sikh faith. In particular, the vision of society that Kabir and Raidas preached found especial resonance among the Dalits of Marathwada.

Following in this tradition, Marathwada Dalits carved out for themselves a political space, whose potential for mobilization and receptivity to radical ideas were noticed by B.R. Ambedkar. Issues around land, education and sovereignty were all highly politicized in Marathwada. Those who rejected their oppression as lower castes looked for ways of fighting back. To them, Ambedkar-led politics seemed like a promising avenue. In particular, Mahars (a caste of Dalits) in my region gave their allegiance to Ambedkar. Though Ambedkar was yet to visit them, they had heard about him and his voluminous writings. He came from their caste-community and had a national as well as international appeal. Dalit leaders from the wider Telugu-, Marathi- and Kannada-speaking regions, such as Bhagya Reddy Varma, B.S. Venkat Rao and B. Shyam Sundar, eventually joined Ambedkar and worked under his leadership.