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Chamar

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This article is about the Indian caste. For the mountain in Nepal, see Chamar (mountain).

Chamar
Leather-bottle makers. - Tashrih al-aqvam (1825), f.360v - BL Add. 27255.jpg
Leather-bottle makers (Presumably members of the ‘Chamaar’ caste), Tashrih al-aqvam (1825)
Regions with significant populations
India • Pakistan
Languages
Hindi • Punjabi
Religion
Hinduism • Islam • Sikhism • Ravidassia religion • Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Jatav • Chambar • Dhusia • Julaha Chamar • Kabirpanthi Julaha • Ahirwar

Chamar is a Dalit community classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's system of affirmative action. Historically subject to untouchability, they were traditionally outside the Hindu ritual ranking system of castes known as varna. They are found throughout the Indian subcontinent, mainly in the northern states of India and in Pakistan and Nepal.

History

Ramnarayan Rawat posits that the association of the Chamar community with a traditional occupation of tanning was constructed, and that the Chamars were instead historically agriculturists.[1]

The term chamar is used as a pejorative word for dalits in general.[2][3] It has been described as a casteist slur by the Supreme Court of India and the use of the term to address a person as a violation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.[4] Chamars have remained one of the most discriminated community within Hinduism. In a study conducted in some villages of Bihar, it was found that it was obligatory for the women of Chamar and Dusadh community to have sexual contacts with their Rajput landlords. In order to keep their men in submissive position, these "Upper Caste" landlords raped these Dalit women and often implicate the male members of later's family in false cases, when they refused sexual contacts with them. The other form of oppression which was inflicted on them was disallowing them to walk on the pathways and draw water from the wells, which belonged to Rajputs. The "pinching of breast" by the upper caste landlords and the undignified teasings were also common form of oppression. In 1970s, the activism of peasant organizations like "Kisan Samiti" is said to have brought an end to these practices and subsequently the dignity was restored to the women of lower castes. The oppression however was not fully stopped as the friction between "Upper Caste" landlords and the tillers continued. There are reports which indicates that the "Upper Caste" landlords often took the help of Police in order to beat the women of Chamar caste and draw them out of their villages on the question of parity in wages.[5]

With the emergence of BSP in Uttar Pradesh, a collective solidarity and uniform Dalit identity was framed, which led to coming together of various antagonistic Dalit communities. In the past, Chamar had shared bitter relationship with the Pasis, another Dalit caste. The root cause of this bitter relationship was their roles in feudal society. The Pasis worked as lathail or stick weilders for the "Upper Caste" landlords and the later had compelled them in past to beat Chamars many a times. Under the unification drive of BSP, these rival castes came together for the cause of unity of Dalits under same political umbrella.[6]

Dhusia

Dhusia is a caste in India, sometimes associated with Chamars, Ghusiya, Jhusia or Jatav.[7][8] They are found in Uttar Pradesh,[9] and elsewhere.

Most of the Dhusia in Punjab and Haryana migrated from Pakistan after partition of India. In Punjab, they are mainly found in Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar and Jalandhar cities. They are inspired by B. R. Ambedkar to adopt the surname Rao[10] and Jatav.

Occupations

Chamars who have adopted the weaving profession and abandoned tanning and leathercraft, identify themselves as Julaha Chamar. R. K. Pruthi suggests this is in the hope that they might in future be considered as Julaha by other communities. They believe that leatherwork is "degrading" when compared to weaving.[11]

Chamar Regiment

The 1st Chamar Regiment was an infantry regiment formed by the British during World War II. Officially, it was created on 1 March 1943, as the 27th Battalion 2nd Punjab Regiment. It was converted to the 1st Battalion and later disbanded shortly after World War II ended.[12] The Regiment, with one year of service, received three Military Crosses and three Military Medals[13] It fought in the Battle of Kohima.[14] In 2011, several politicians demanded that it be revived.[15]

Demographics

According to the 2001 census of India, the Chamars comprise around 14 per cent of the population in the state of Uttar Pradesh[16] and 12 percent of that in Punjab.[17]

Chamar population in India by State, 2001
State Population State Population % Notes
West Bengal[18] 999,756 1.25%
Bihar[19] 4,090,070 5%
Delhi[20] 893,384 6.45%
Chandigarh[21] 48,159 5.3%
Chhattisgarh[22] 1,659,303 8%
Gujarat[23] 1,032,128 1.7%

In Gujarat also known as Bhambi, Asodi, Chamadia, Harali, Khalpa, Mochi, Nalia, Madar, Ranigar, Ravidas, Rohidas, Rohit, Samgar.[23] Gujarat's government has made an effort to change their name from 'Chamar' to 'Rohit' and to change the name of their villages and towns from 'Chamarvas' to 'Rohitvas'.[24]

Haryana[25] 2,079,132 9.84% Known as Jatav
Himachal Pradesh[26] 414,669 6.8%
Jammu & Kashmir[27] 488,257 4.82%
Jharkhand[28] 837,333 3.1%
Madhya Pradesh[29] 837,333 9.3% Chamars are primarily concentrated in Sagar, Morena, Rewa,

Bhind and Chhatarpur districts. Chamars work in land measurement are described as Balahi.[30] Balahi have major concentration in Ujjain, Khargone and Dewas districts.

Maharashtra[31] 1,234,874 1.28%
Punjab[32] 2,800,000 11.9% The Chamar caste cluster (34.93%) consists of two castes of Chamars and Ad-dharmis. Chamar—an umbrella caste category—includes Chamars, Jatia Chamars, Rehgars, Raigars, Ramdasias, and Ravidassias.[33]
Rajasthan[34] 6,100,236 10.8% Chamars in Rajasthan can only be identified in the districts adjoining to the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The districts of Bikaner, Shriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Alwar, Bharatpur and Dhaulpur are inhabited by Chamars. In the districts of Bharatpur, Dhaulpur and parts of Alwar (adjoining to Bharatpur) they are known as Meghwal[35][page needed] Raigar (leather tanners) and Mochi (shoe makers) are other two castes related to the leather profession.[citation needed]In Bikaner region, they are known as Balai.[36]
Uttar Pradesh[37] 19,803,106 14%
Uttaranchal[38] 444,535 5%

The 2011 Census of India for Uttar Pradesh combined the Chamar, Dhusia, Jhusia, Jatava Scheduled Caste communities and returned a population of 22,496,047.[39]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ Yadav, Bhupendra (21 February 2012). "Aspirations of Chamars in North India". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  2. ^ Malu, Preksha (21 July 2018). "Caste-igated: How Indians use casteist slurs to dehumanise each other". Sabrang Communications. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Twitter Calls out Netflix's 'Jamtara' for Using Casteist Slur". The Quint. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  4. ^ Singh, Sanjay L. (20 August 2008). "Calling an SC 'chamar' offensive, punishable, says apex court". The Economic Times. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  5. ^ Case Studies on Strengthening Co-ordination Between Non-governmental Organizations and Government Agencies in Promoting Social Development. United Nations (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). 1989. p. 72,73,74,75. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  6. ^ Badri Narayan (2012). Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics. SAGE. p. 89-90. ISBN 9780761935377.
  7. ^ "Lokniti" (PDF).
  8. ^ "The Inhabitants". sultanpur.nic.in. Archived from the original on 30 March 2009.
  9. ^ "Social Justice" (PDF).
  10. ^ Verma, A. K. (December 2001). "UP: BJP's Caste Card". Economic and Political Weekly. 36 (48): 4452–4455. JSTOR 4411406.
  11. ^ Pruthi, R. K. (2004). Indian caste system. Discovery. p. 189. ISBN 9788171418473. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  12. ^ Sharma1990 2020, p. 28.
  13. ^ Gautam Sharma. Valour and Sacrifice: Famous Regiments of the Indian Army. Allied Publishers; 1990. ISBN 978-81-7023-140-0. p. 26–.
  14. ^ "The Battle of Kohima" (PDF).
  15. ^ "RJD man Raghuvansh calls for reviving Chamar Regiment". indianexpress.com. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  16. ^ "Uttar Pradesh data highlights: the Scheduled Castes, Census of India 2001" (PDF).
  17. ^ "Uttar Pradesh data highlights: the Scheduled Castes" (PDF).
  18. ^ "West Bengal — DATA HIGHLIGHTS: THE SCHEDULED CASTES — Census of India 2001" (PDF). Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  19. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  20. ^ "Microsoft Word - Delhi comments.doc" (PDF). Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  21. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  22. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  23. ^ a b "State and district-wise Scheduled Castes population for each caste separately, 2011 - GUJARAT".
  24. ^ Dave, Nayan (8 October 2016). "'Rohits' to replace Chamars in Gujarat". Gandhinagar: The Pioneer.
  25. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  26. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  27. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  28. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  29. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  30. ^ Kapoor, Subodh (21 July 2018). Indian Encyclopaedia. Cosmo Publications. ISBN 9788177552577 – via Google Books.
  31. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  32. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  33. ^ Ram, Ronki (21 January 2017). "Internal Caste Cleavages among Dalits in Punjab". Economic & Political Weekly. 52 (3).
  34. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  35. ^ Rawat, Shyam (2010). Studies in Social Protest. VEDAMS. ISBN 978-8131603314.
  36. ^ Gupta, R. K.; Bakshi, S. R. (2008). Balai: Chamars in Bikaner region are known as Balai. ISBN 9788176258418.
  37. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  38. ^ "Census table" (PDF). www.censusindia.gov.in.
  39. ^ "A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  40. ^ Roy, Kaushik (2016). "Indian society and the soldier: will the twain ever meet?". In Pant, Harsh V. (ed.). Handbook of Indian Defence Policy: Themes, structures and doctrines. Routledge. p. 67. ISBN 978-1138939608. Retrieved 12 July 2020. In 1970, when Babu Jagjivan Ram (himself, a chamar) became the defence minister, he attempted to raise the chamar regiment.
  41. ^ "I will be the best PM and Mayawati is my chosen heir". Indian Express. 2 May 2003. ...I am a chamar from Punjab...
  42. ^ "Mayawati talks of a secret successor". India Today. Indo-Asian News Service. 9 August 2008. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.

Further reading

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