‘The untouchable caste’: Dalits in India stand up for their rights through song, and take pride in their identity
- A new generation of Dalits – marginalised castes in India – is using music and art to assert themselves and call for an end to discrimination
- Artists such as rapper Sumeet Samos sing of being no longer ashamed of who they are. They take inspiration from the framer of India’s constitution, a Dalit
Indian rapper Sumeet Samos, who goes by the street name Da-Lit Boy, has just released a new song on YouTube.
In the video for Kichhi Koriki Ja (Keep Going Ahead), he strides through the parched countryside, spitting out bilingual lyrics in his own language, Odiya, and English.
“Here if you come from the untouchable, lower caste and margins of this society / You must learn to be self-reliant and stand on your feet / Otherwise there is no other way,” he raps.
Samos is part of a new generation of Dalits in India who are going through a cultural reawakening and expressing a need for change. Speaking the language of assertion and human rights, they want an end to atrocities against Dalits and other marginalised people in India.
The term Dalit comes from a Sanskrit word meaning divided, broken or scattered, and denotes members of a caste regarded by ancient Hindu law as “untouchables”. Officially known as Scheduled Castes, Dalits are from ethnic and socio-economic groups that have faced centuries of discrimination in all walks of life.
Since India achieved independence from British rule in 1947, the Dalits have enjoyed equal rights on paper – but the reality is very different. In recent years, there has been a worsening cycle of mob violence against them.