Mazhabi Sikh
Mazhabi Sikh, also known as Rangreta Sikhs, are a community from Northern India, especially Punjab region, who follow Sikhism. Mazhabi are part of wider category of Sikhs, who are of a Chuhra caste background. The word Mazhabi is derived from the Arabic term Mazhab, and can be translated as the faithful. They live mainly in Indian Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. The Mazhabi Sikhs and other Dalit Sikhs are often marginalized today by dominant Sikh castes, such as the Jats.
Terminology
There are various terms to refer to this caste grouping based on religion, with them being known as Chuhras by Hindus, as Musalli or Kutana by Muslims, and as Mazhabis or Rangretas by Sikhs. Other terms are Bhangi or Mehta.When Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru, was executed by the Mughals in Delhi, it is believed that a Mazhabi Sikh, named Bhai Jaita, recovered his dismembered body from a Muslim crowd and brought it back to his son, Guru Gobind Singh. In recognition of their act, he admitted the untouchables into the Khalsa, giving them the name Mazhabi.
History
Origin
Mazhabis/Rangretas originate from Chuhra converts to Sikhism. Chuhras were the sweeping and scavenger caste in historical times. When they converted to Sikhism, they became known by new terms and often changed occupations. The Chuhras of Punjab were concentrated mostly in the eastern part of the Punjab Plains, especially in the Majha region, with their numbers being few west of Lahore, with notable exceptions being Rawalpindi, Multan, and Peshawar.As per oral traditions, the Chuhras began converting to Sikhism more earnestly no later than during the period of the tenth Sikh guru, Guru Gobind Singh. One early account is of the tenth guru honouring a Chuhra Sikh, though in other accounts it was two brothers, who brought the head of Guru Tegh Bahadur to Anandpur from Delhi after much hardship. The conversion process of a Chuhra becoming a Sikh was simple, with them merely having "to assume the motto of Nanak Shah". The conversion process for Chuhras joining the Sikh religion involved a secret mantra, a communal feast of members of the same caste, and a prayer conducted by the sponsor for the candidate. Whilst some Chuhra Sikhs underwent the pahul baptismal ceremony to the Khalsa, there were varying degrees of adherence to established or ordained Sikh beliefs and practices, evolving over time, with some Chuhra Sikhs forgoing keeping kesh and participating in smoking, whilst others more strictly adhered to keeping kesh, wearing a kara, having a kanga, or keeping other articles of the Sikh faith. Some Chuhras outside of Punjab, such as in Poona and Benaras were also influenced by Sikhism. Aside from Hindu Chuhras and Sikh Chuhras, there were also Muslim Chuhras, with those whose ancestor originally converting at an earlier historical period being known as Sekras or Sheikh Halalkhors, with those whose ancestor converted at a latter time in history being known as Musalli, Kutana, or Dindar. Historically, conversions to Islam was usually a community-wide event, with entire caste-groups converting together, rather than on an individual basis.
Garja Singh, the companion of the 18th century martyr Bota Singh who was martyred alongside him, was a Rangreta Sikh.
Colonial period
During the colonial-era, the syncretic nature of the religious beliefs and practices of the Chuhras and their tendency to worship saints, was noted. Many Chuhras were originally followers of the cult of Lal Beg, known as the Lal Begi tradition. The colonial-era writers had a negative attitude to religious traditions they deemed as "syncretic", seeing them as impurities of organized religions and therefore not legitimate, instead of realizing that all religious traditions are ultimately syncretic fundamentally. Richard C. Temple stated the following on their religious customs:Hervey DeWitt Griswold noted that Chuhras serving Muslim landlords tended to adopt Muslim customs whilst those serving Sikh landlords adopted Sikh ones. This concept was referred to as jaisā rājā vaisī prajā by some Chuhras in the Sitapur area. The religious traditions of the Chuhras involved:
- veneration of chthonic goddesses, Muslim pirs, and divinized heroes, such as Zahir Pir, Ghazi Miyan, and Khandoba
- animal-sacrifice, with the executioner usually having a more Islamic-identity
- connection with a loosely-connected network of peripatetic mendicants, some of whom were Udasis, Nanakpanthi, or educated in the Sikh religion, thus being formally-identifiable as Sikh.
During the colonial-period, a substantial amount of Mazhabi Sikhs in Punjab and the western part of the United Provinces converted to Christianity. The process of conversion is noted as initially being instigated by the Chuhras themselves rather than by the missionaries, as it was the Chuhras who approached the missionaries first. The missionaries were initially targetting the privileged castes for conversion but began to focus on converting the lower-castes due to the numbers of Chuhras entering the Christian religion in this period. The conversion of Mazhabi Sikhs to Christianity started in western U.P. in 1859 and in Punjab from 1873 onwards. It was primarily the Presbyterian Mission was successful at converting Mazhabis to Christianity, although other Christian denominations also saw converts into their fold. Eventually, the majority of native Christians were those from the labour castes, with the term "sweeper" and "Christian" becoming synonymous for one another in Western U.P. by the year 1900 and in post-partition Pakistani Punjab after 1947. By 1931, nearly a quarter of all the Chuhras in Punjab had become Christians, with them being especially prevalented in western Punjab, in areas that would later become Pakistani Punjab. However, many of the Chuhras that became Christian did not discard all of their previous beliefs and practices, known as pahchān. The Christian churches referred to the Chuhra masses converting to their religion as "Mass Movement Christians" or "village Christians" due to them being subaltern converts, and noted their laxity in following Christian tenets. Due to this, Chuhra Christians became a sub-class of Christians who were usually not deemed as fit to partake in the communion. Many other native Christians also opposed the Chuhras joining their church, such as in Amritsar. Non-Dalit native Christians termed the Dalit Christian converts as "neo-Christians" and casteism de facto continued amongst the Indian Christian community, with Dalit Christians continuing to marry amongst themselves, their separate Dalit identity continuing, and preserving their Dalit diction. In some cases, the Dalit Christians were segregated within the churches, being allotted separate seats.
Many Chuhra converts continued to practice their ancestral religious practices and folk religion, such as the cult of Lal Beg. Thus, a sign that a Chuhra community who all became Christian truly adhered to their new faith was by them destroying their old shrine dedicated to Lal Beg as a test to validate that they truly had become Christians, although their Christian-ness was still doubted even if they had done so. Conversion to Christianity was also marked by a discarding of the traditional occupations that characterized their caste and an aspiration for owning land and achieving educational-attainment. Mazhabis who converted to Christianity altered their work activities to "perform only the least offensive parts of their traditional duties". Due to Mazhabis and other Chuhras becoming Christians, there were less people carrying out the scavenger roles in many areas, which led to tensions, as this was an occupational rebellion by the newly converted. As a result, some landlords attempted to limit any interactions between Chuhras and missionaries in their area or punish the Chuhras who had become Christians, such as by exiling them and appropriating their plots of land. Other tactics used to prevent Chuhras converting to Christianity were intimidation tactics, beatings, and kidnapping of family-members.
Many Chuhras also became Muslims, with the proportion of Muslim Chuhras rising from 20% in 1891 to 31% by 1911 as per the censuses. However, Muslim organizations did not actively seek out Chuhra converts until the Shuddhi controversy in the 1920s. During this period, the Chuhras of Punjab also experienced hostility from the Ahmadiyya movement, with Mirza Ghulam Ahmad rejecting the notion that any Chuhras were amongst his followers.
Mazhabis were recruited into the British Indian Army, with some regiments being dedicated to them.
Post-independence
Between 30,000 and 40,000 Mazhabi Sikhs were reported to be congregated at Govindghar in an attempt to reach India during the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. This was one of many examples of the mass migrations that took place across the border in both directions as communities found themselves in the midst of violence driven by religious differences.Due to the discrimination faced by Mazhabi Sikhs in mainstream Sikh organizations and spaces, many of them have sought acceptance by joining various sant mat movements or dera organizations, such the Radha Soamis or Dera Sacha Sauda, and also Sikh sects, such as Namdharis and Nirankaris. During the Punjab insurgency, there was a Mazhabi outfit referred to as the Rangreta Dal, founded by Buta Singh. Today, the caste system amongst Sikhs operates differently from the rest of India. While notions of purity/impurity regarding touch, contact, and sharing food are not prevalent amongst Sikhs, other aspects of the caste-system continues amongst the Sikhs, chiefly regarding hierarchies between sub-groups and communities based upon occupation and land-ownership continues. Furthermore, gurdwara are often segregated based upon caste lineages, kin networks, and region due to the prevalence of endogamy amongst Sikh groups. The Mazhabis/Rangretas and other Dalit Sikh groups, such as the Valmikis, Ad-Dharmis, and Ramdasias/Ravidassias, are therefore stigmatized as they usually landless, disenfranchised, and excluded from many aspects of the Sikh community in the subcontinent and the diaspora, which is dominated chiefly by the Jats. In recent-decades, many Mazhabi Sikhs in Indian Punjab have converted to Christianity due to the influence of independent pastors/churches. Dalit Christians are not entitled to reservations in jobs and educational institutions.