Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how Ravidasis counter social exclusion in Sikhism while representing themselves as a distinct 'dharmik' cult, and how their new identity helps them maintain the essence (belongingness) of Sikhism while denouncing the latter's cultural and religious dominance.

Paper long abstract:

Religion is a vehicle of social change in India. It is even a potential means to the people of lower classes to counter social exclusion while establishing their own dharmik (religious) identity. The religions they adopted failed to treat them as equals due to the element of caste hierarchy in those converted faiths. As a result, the lower castes began to construct the religious models of their own cultural belonging. The Chamars (ex-untouchables) have become a distinct dharmik community by adopting their own saint, Ravidas and his caste-free social vision. The assertion of Ravidas, a medieval poet and reformer, is instrumental in establishing 'Ravidasia' as a dharmik identity. This new religious alternative allows the community in fashioning its own social norms, rules and rituals while countering the dominant social and ritual practices of Sikhism. However, the alternative religiosity though aimed at countering social exclusion in Sikhism, it does not intend to discard the founding principles of Sikhism. While claiming to be Ravidasis, the community also finds an expression of 'belongingness' to Sikhism because of the latter's doctrinal foundation that reflects Ravidas' egalitarian vision. The creation of new religious model while at the same time desiring to 'belong' to another cult is a complex feature of the diaspora Ravidasis. Based on my ethnographic field work amongst the Ravidasis and Sikhs in the UK, this paper explores the socio-religious tension between the two communities and the way the idea of 'belongingness' counters social exclusion and caste inequality in everyday life.