Chuhra

Chuhra, also known as, Bhangi and Balmiki, [1] is a caste in India and Pakistan and[2] mainly populated in the regions include the Punjab.[3]

For the Islamic principle, see Shura.

Their traditional occupation is manual scavengering and sweeping and considered as an untouchables in the caste system of the diaspora.[4]

Churas in Indian Punjab are the largely followers of Sikhism.[5] and a minority practice Valmikism,[5] an offshoot form of mainstream Hinduism.[6] In Pakistan 90-95% of Christian population in the Punjab region from the Chura caste.[3]

In Christianity

A wave of Chuhra conversions into Christianity came between the 1870-1930s. The censuses of British India became increasingly confused regarding the religious beliefs of Chuhra because the respondents were allowed to choose their designation.

Jeffrey Cox says that in the 1920s and 1930s they described themselves variously as

Chuhra, "Hindu" Chuhra, Musali (Muslim Chuhra), Mazhabi (Sikh Chuhra), Ad-Dharmi, Christian Chuhra, or simply Christian ... It is certain that a large majority of the 391,270 Indian Christians enumerated in Punjab were Chuhras - that is, the most stigmatized minority in the province.[7]

In current Pakistan, the conversions to Christianity and consequent invention of a new identity were largely responsible for the name Chuhra becoming archaic. It was often considered pejorative and applied to almost all of the Christians in the country, whom John O'Brien describes as "descended from one tribe-caste of oppressed and excluded people".[8]

In Islam
Main article: Caste system among South Asian Muslims

Despite placing great emphasis on social equality and brotherhood among all Muslims, the South Asian Muslims didn't address the problem of untouchability for the Chuhras or Bhangis. As a result, a very few members from this community ever embraced Islam, most converting to Christianity.

"Chuhras adopted the externals of Islam by keeping Muslim names, observing Ramadan and burial of the dead. However they never underwent circumcision. Only a few cases of circumcision have ever been recorded for Chuhras and these were only them who lived very near Jama Masjid. Even they did not accept Mohammed as their prophet and also continued to observe the traditional Hindu festivals, such as Diwali, Rakhi and Holi and even occupations just like their Hindu brethren."

In India, the caste system was fully observed among the Muslims. Untouchability was fully accepted and justified by the Muslims in India and the caste system was fully observed by Muslim society. In the same way that Hindu Chuhras who were barred from the entrance of the temples in historical times, Muslim Chuhras are still today barred from entrance of the mosques and never allowed to go past the outs steps to Muslim religious places. The Untouchability even extended after death; Chuhras were to bury their dead in separate graveyards away from other Muslims.[9]

See also

References
  1. Hunt, Sarah Beth (2014). Hindi Dalit Literature and the Politics of Representation. Routledge. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-31755-952-8.
  2. Sharma, Rana (1995). Bhangi, Scavenger in Indian Society: Marginality, Identity, and Politicization of the Community. M.D. Publications. p. 17. ISBN 978-8-18588-070-9.
  3. Phan, P.C. (2011). Christianities in Asia. John Wiley & Sons. p. 25. ISBN 1405160896.
  4. Bodley, J. H. (2011). Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System (5th ed.). Rowman Altamira. p. 315.
  5. "Census" (PDF).
  6. Leslie, J. (2003). Authority and Meaning in Indian Religions: Hinduism and the Case of Valmiki. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0754634302.
  7. Cox, Jeffrey (2002). Imperial Fault Lines: Christianity and Colonial Power in India, 1818-1940. Stanford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-80474-318-1.
  8. O'Brien, John (2008). "The Quest for Pakistani Christian Identity: A Narrative of Religious Other as Liberative Comparative Ecclesiology". In Mannion, Gerard (ed.). Church and Religious 'Other'. A & C Black. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-0-56703-286-7.
  9. Sharma, Rana (1995). Bhangi, Scavenger in Indian Society: Marginality, Identity, and Politicization of the Community. M.D. Publications. p. 128. ISBN 978-8-18588-070-9.

Further reading
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