INTRODUCTION
The emergence of dalit theology in India can be considered as a significant event in the history of Indian Christian thinking as it is very much related to the historical experiences of an oppressed and down trodden people. So the sources and process of Dalit Theology lay in the agony and sufferings of Dalits in their search for self identity, equality and their search for meaningful life in the community. Dalit theology emerges out of the attempt in their seeking a new identity for themselves based on their past religions and cultures which had been suppressed or destroyed by dominant communities. So, this paper will discuss about the detailed of Dalit theology.
DALITS.
They are known as the people who are most degraded, downtrodden, exploited and the least educated in our society. They have been socially and culturally, economically and politically subjugated and marginalized through three thousand years of our history. However, Dalits in India are believed to be the ancient Dravidian race, original people of India. We can say that they only introduced culture in India. They were the owners of all property. According to James Massey, the term “Dall” is perhaps, one of the most ancient terms which has not only survived till date, but is also shared by a few of world’s oldest languages, namely, Hebrew and Sanskrit. Though they differ in their grammatical and lexicographical connotations, both these languages share the term “Dalit” in the Indian context has been used from ancient times, but not very much. Actually the present usage of this term started since nineteenth century. The term “Dalit” in the Indian context has used form ancient times, but not very much. In sort, the basic meaning of the term Dalit is not poor or outcast, it really denotes the state to which a certain section of the people have been reduced through systematic religious process and how they are forced to continue to live in that predicament. They are outcast and poor, because they are according to the architect of the system cannot be fit to be included in the fourfold graded caste structure of our society. On the basis of this status, they wre made to ear the extreme kinds of disabilities in the form of oppression for centuries, which made them almost lose their humanness and finally they reached the state of being a “no-people”[1]
WHAT IS DALIT THEOLOGY?
It is a theology about Dalits or theological reflection upon the Christians responsibility tothedepressed classes. Secondly, it is theology for the depressed classes or the message addressed to the dalits to which they seem to be responding. Thirdly, it is a theology from the depressed classes, that is, theology they would like to expound. Araivind P. Nirmal, who himself is adalit believes that the authentic dalit theology will be based on their own dalit experiences and their own sufferings, their own aspirations and their own hopes. It will be the story of their pathos and their protest against the socio-economic injustices they have been subjugated to through out the history.
Abraham Ayrookuzhiel talks of Dalit theology a counter culture in relation to the brahmanical culture that continues to serve the interests of the priviledged sections in the society. He believes that dalit theology is a spiritual movement for meaning in life, self fulfilment and freedom. In other words, Dalit theology is the result of the reflection o fDalit Christians upon the gospel in the light of their own circumstances. From the perspective of a local theology it is “a way of recovering a world-view or way of life that has been blocked by false consciousness on a lrge scale”, especially by the Brahmanic culture.[2]
DALIT THEOLOGY.
The Indian Christian theology in the past has tried to work out its theological systems in terms of either Advaita Vedanta or Vishista Advaita. Most of the contributions to Indian Christian theology in the past came from caste converts to Christianity. [3]
Until seventies, the situation did not change. And another live of thought in Indian theological thinking came since 1970 concerned itself with the notion of development, poverty or the poor, liberation and the like. It was then the Indian theologians began totake up question of socio-economic justice seriously. As a result, the Indian theological scene then changed considerably and there emerged what is known as Third world theology. The Third World theology with its allegiance to liberation theology seemed relevant to the situation of India, where the majority of the Indian people face the problem of poverty.
The socio-economic realities of India, however are of different nature. Latin American Liberation theologians have laid more stress on socio-economic and political oppression using Marxist tools of social analysis to uncober the forms of oppression. This, they have done almost totheextent of excluding of all forms of oppression like, race, gender, culture or religion. Hence the use of Marxist analysis of socio-economic realitires of the liberation theology is found to be inadequate in India since itneglects the caste factor, which adds complexity to the Indian socio-economic realities. Treatment of Dalits, in the context of thecaste based society is inhuman, despite India’s proud heritage of spirituality and the richness of its ancient culture. That is why, saral K.Chatterja, while speaking about the rationle for a Dalit theology says, “the idea and ideology of casted as well as its morphological aspects, the nature of oppression, and the inherited inequalities perpetuated by itand its persistence through theinteraction of social, cultural, religious and economic factors remained neglected in Marxian analysis.”
To sum up then, the Indian Christian theology, whether it is the traditional one or the recent Third World theology has failed to see suffering and the ongoing struggle of Indian Dalits for liberation as a subject matter appropriate for doing theology in India. What is surprising here is the reality that fifty to eighty percent of Christians are of Dalits in origin. That means, the Christian population numbering over 25 million, about 20 millions are from the Dalit background. In other words trhe Indian theologians have virtually ignored the social reality of Indian church. To put it in another way, the concern for subaltern identiry which should hav been the major area of theological reflaection was not at all pursued in Indian Theological thinking.[4]
