Scheduled castes in Punjab, or Dalits in Punjab, are the officially designated groups in Punjab state in India and Punjab province in Pakistan which are most disadvantaged due to the caste system. They were placed in the lowest ranks of the caste system, because of which they suffered and are still suffering from social, political, economic and personal discrimination. In present-day Punjab, India, the scheduled caste population is proportionally higher than most other Indian states.
Terminology These groups were historically known as Dalits but in 1935, the term "Scheduled Castes" came to replace this term in official terminology with the passing of the Government of India Act, 1935. The British termed certain nomadic tribes of the region as "vagrant and criminal tribes", with this term being replaced by "ex-criminal tribes" after 1947, which was itself changed to "de-notified tribes".
Manifestation of caste in Punjab Whilst the caste system is seen as being an ancient, pan-Indian custom of the subcontinent that did not alter much until the arrival of the British colonists, in-reality the caste system functioned differently based upon region and was also practiced by members of many religions, despite being associated with Hinduism. In different regions, relations between the varying caste groupings differed, with there not being as much focus on notions of purity and pollution in some places despite common conceptions, with this also being the case in Punjab. Satish Saberwal (1976) stated that the lowest castes of Punjab did not suffer from the same level of ritual purity notions as seen elsewhere in India.
The caste system in Punjab was not as strong of an influence on interpersonal and communal relations when compared to other regions of the subcontinent, particularly amongst the Sikhs. Historically as a result, the lower castes of Punjab suffered from politico-economic handicaps rather than engrained socio-cultural religious norms, such as untouchability, as had been the case elsewhere in the subcontinent, with this distinction also being recognized by contemporary writers of the British colonial-period, with the lack of high-status attached to the Brahmin caste being seen in Punjab. Thus, the British-era writers compared the caste system in Punjab as being more akin to the class-system of Europe or even that it is an exception to the caste-system seen elsewhere in the subcontinent.
According to Joyce Pettigrew (1975), the caste-system of rural Punjab differs from "Hindu India" due to the influence of Sikhism, with there being more focus on family-units and its associated values related to pride, reputation, honour, shame, insult, and equality, rather than ritual purity and pollution. Thus, social and political bonds in Punjab centered around familial-units rather than caste. Paul Hershman (1981) disagrees with the former views and instead claims ritual pollution and purity were prevalent in Punjabi society and that Punjabi castes did not function as classes, as had been suggested by earlier, colonial observers. Regardless, caste divisions are still observed amongst the Sikhs and Surinder Singh Jodhka claims concepts of ritual purity, pollution, and exclusion also exist in Punjab (albeit at a diminished level) amongst Hindus and Sikhs, despite the caste hierarchies of the region being differently structured from the rest of India. I. P. Singh notes that the Sikhs were more readily able to accept caste equality due to them feeling that caste-based discrimination was not religiously sanctioned by their religion's tenets. One notable quirk found in Punjab is the lack of higher-status accorded to Brahmins, which is also reflected in the local language, as the word Bahman (Brahmin) in Punjabi carries a pejorative association, with the word Pandat (Pandit) being used instead to refer to a Brahmin respectfully. Thus, the Punjabi caste system lacks the strict varna hierarchies seen in other regions due to the weaker influence of Brahminism.
In rural-life, inhabitants of a village were divided into two clusters: Sardars (upper castes, consisting of Jats, Kambohs, Tarkhans, Kumhars, Sunars, and Nais), with the Jats viewing themselves as the highest-group, and "Mazhabis" (lower castes). Upper castes of the village would interact freely with one another whilst the "Mazhabis" would reside in a walled-off section of the village, with their treatment by the upper caste members varying by individual although they were communally secluded at social events and in-regards to water resources. The Jats were the landowners and the Mazhabis would work the land, with the Jat being viewed as the patron, including during visits to a Mazhabi's house. However, not all of the upper castes would treat the lower castes in a discriminatory manner, some individuals treated them equally, especially in religious settings.
Despite the seemingly less-engrained caste system in Punjab, the Scheduled Castes of the state have not improved their socio-economic indicators when compared to the rest of the population, even when compared to other Indian states.
History
Early history The caste system in Punjab has been influenced by Islam (especially Sufism) and Sikhism. Sikhism influenced the nature of the caste system's operation in the Punjab region, where the religion was founded, as Guru Nanak had rejected the Brahminical orthodoxy and structured social-hierarchies that had been prevalent, instead seeing all humans as equal to the Divine, despite their caste-background. Guru Nanak opposed caste-linked beliefs and practices regarding birth and death, rituals, asceticism, idolatry, and hermitage, instead advocating for involvement in society rather than shunning it. The Sikh practices of Langar (communal kitchen) and Kirtan (communal singing) helped to erode caste seclusions prevalent in society. Sanskrit was not given preference over the prevailing language of the commonfolk, with Gurmukhi being adopted as a script for Punjabi. The Ād Granth was compiled by the fifth guru, which features works composed by members of Shudra-designated caste-groupings, such as Kabir (weaver), Dhanna (Jat), and Namdev (tailor), and untouchables, namely Ravidas (cobbler), Sadhna (butcher), and Sain (barber), and Muslim saints, namely Farid and Bhikan. The inaugural quintent of the Panj Piare institution in 1699 also consisted of four Shudras.
Colonial period Before 1857, even though Dalits served as leather workers, sweepers and scavengers, butchers and performed menial duties in the British cantonments and under the British army, they were not recruited as soldiers. But after the 1857 war of independence, this began to change. Due to the shortage of soldiers from the so-called 'upper castes', British began to recruit Dalits as soldiers. They raised a regiment of Mazhabis and Ramdasias in Punjab. After some training, they sent them to fight against rebel soldiers in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. They had also raised Dalit regiments (Mehtar Regiment) in Hindi speaking areas, which were disbanded after the war, but the Mazhabi-Ramdasia regiment was allowed to continue.
In 1900, the Punjab Land Alienation Act was passed, which had the unintended consequence of depriving Dalits the right to own land, because they were officially not considered an 'agricultural caste' by the British government.'Ravidass, Dera Sachkhand Ballan and the Question of Dalit Identity in Punjab', by Ronki Ram, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Page 2, Paragraph 4, Line 7, https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit.ucsb.edu.gisp.d7_sp/files/sitefiles/journals/volume16/no1/1-Ronki%20Ram16.1.pdf
Views toward caste in Punjab have changed throughout the 20th century, with a main reason being the various social movements of the era. Christian missionaries began converting the lower-castes of Punjab to Christianity beginning in the 1870s, with the first untouchable named Ditt becoming a Christian in 1873 at Sialkot. Hundreds of thousands of Punjabis would convert to Christianity in the coming years, mostly rural Chuhras, with the Christian Punjabi population increasing from 10,171 in 1890 to over 300,000 by 1921. Rather than the missionaries specifically targeting the lower castes, the lower castes sought out the missionaries and converted on their own volition in their aspirations for higher social mobility, with the churches being apprehensive about the growing ranks of native lower caste Christians and worrying that it may damage their reputation, preferring high caste converts. The increasing rate of conversion to Christianity would spark inter-religious rivalries between the main religions of Punjab, especially after a controversial article published in The Tribune on 19 October 1892 which suggested that Punjab would become a Christian region due to the conversion rate. This led to the organizations trying to win-over the untouchables allegiance to their particular religion. The Arya Samaj had become active in Punjab by the late 19th century and was against untouchability and Brahminical superiority, with them adopting the Shuddhi ceremony in-order to ritually purify lower castes so they could become ritually pure Hindus, equivalent to a dwija. The Shuddhi ceremony saw numeric success with many lower castes undergoing the ritual, however it did not ultimately affect the long-term socio-economic status of the lower castes. Instead, it consolidated the strength of the Punjabi Hindu elite by retaining the masses of lower castes under the Hindu identity, which improved their political power. The only difference was now the untouchables who underwent the Shuddhi could wear a sacred thread and recite from the Vedas. Jodhka attributes the failure of the Arya Samaj's Shuddhi campaign being due to it not completely rejecting the concept of Varna, instead it underhandedly affirmed it by still working off the notions of ritual purity in the attempt to ritually purify the untouchables in a ceremony, which still places ritual purity at an elevated position. The Arya Samaj campaigned against the Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs of Punjab, with the group also performing Shuddhi for Sikhs to "re-convert" them back to the Hindu identity. Sikh leadership was concerned about the demographic threat this posed and began to promote the idea that Sikhism is a distinct religion from Hinduism and that observation of caste amongst the Sikhs was due to the influence of Hinduism, which pushed the Sikh organizations to campaign against untouchability and other caste-related malpractices within their own ranks. The Singh Sabha and Akali movements in the early 20th century, particularly the 1920s, pushed for reforms, such as removing the mahant custodians from their positions of management over Sikh shrines on the premise that they had been discriminating against the entry of lower-castes to the sites. Another change made the role of the Brahmin priest redundant amongst the Sikhs for marital purposes with the introduction of the Anand Karaj ceremony, being replaced by a Sikh priest who could be a lower caste, with the position of priesthood amongst the Sikhs being achieved rather than ascribed, as in the case of the Brahmin priests. The Khalsa Diwan also enacted its own movements for the untouchable sections in-order to appeal to them.