Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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Rangretas.32 This means that the Rangretas were co-sharers of political
power right up to the period of the Missals. How they came to lose
this position of vantage is a subject which has not been fully
investigated. All that we can say is that there was, even at a late period
in the British Raj, a feeling among the Chuhras and Chamars, when
there could be no political pressure of the Sikhs drawn from higher
castes on them, that they could improve their social standing by joining
the Sikh ranks.
The Mazhbis (the Chuhras who become Sikhs) 'refuse to touch
night soil.'33 A very considerable number of Chamars have embraced
the Sikh religion. These men are called Ramdasia after Guru Ravi
Das. 'Many, perhaps most of the Ramdasia Chamars have abandoned
leather-work for the loom; they do not eat carrion, and they occupy a
much higher position than the Hindu Chamars, though they are not
admitted to religious equality by the other Sikhs.'34
I.P. Singh conducted a sociological study (1959, 1961) of two
Sikh villages, Daleka in Amritsar district and Nalli in Ludhiana district.
According to him, though Mazhbis (Sikh converts from Chuhras who
are the out-castes per-excellence of the Punjab) live in a separate hem
let and have a separate well, 'yet no miasma of touch pollution is
attribted to them.' They sit among others in the temple. All Sikh jatis,
excepting the Mazhbis, interdine. One of the granthis, the religious
functionaries, of the village Daleka is a Mazhbi and is given the same
respected position as is given to other granthis in the village. Though
marriage is generally within the Jati, women may be brought in from
lower jatis. They face little disadvantage on that account and their
children suffer none. Complete abolition of jati division among Sikhs
is still urged by itinerant preachers. On one such occasion, a Mazhbi
rose to ask whether anyone in the audience would receive his daughters
into their families in marriage. "Practically everybody in the audience,
consisting of all castes, raised his hand". But when he asked who
would give girls in marriage to his sons, no one volunteered.34a
We have been stressing the point that the contribution made by
a movement towards social progress should be judged in the
environmental context it operates and not by absolute standards.
Where else in the caste society the Jats have been able to shed