Untouchables

Upon examination of India's religious culture one finds an immensely complex web of fundamentals, social ideologies, and long standing traditions. To the Dalits or Untouchables of India there can only be seen a life of oppression. This life gives way to a life of ridicule and strife. Poverty becomes inescapable, if the Dalits choose to remain within the religious circle of Hinduism. As it was 2,500 years ago, much is still the same today. The Dalits seek to improve their existence. Since it seems impossible to do so through

traditional Hindu beliefs, they must resort to another ideology, convert to another belief.

In 6th century B.C. India faced monumental changes, a pretext to the formation of an empire. The people faced many challenges including broader wars and conflicts. Of course to escape this reality, religious beliefs developed. However a good percentage of the population took on the label of being the lowest caste under Hindu beliefs. Disenchanted by this oppression and how other viewed them, certain figures arose from the Dalits to inspire a new religion. The purposes of this new religion, Buddhism, were twofold. The first was to spite the ruling caste of Brahmins, to react against all for which this priestly caste had developed in the way of Hindu ritualization. They rejected the caste system and rebelled against the priests. Secondly, the contemporary founders of Buddhism wanted to develop a belief that could be attained through

meditation without the help of outside interference. They stressed equality among all the population bringing about the necessary means to which to escape a life of oppression. They sought to change fundamentally the society in which they lived, in order to improve their own life. However the Brahmins held tremendous power and the spiritual revolution did not grow, as the Untouchables may have wanted. The struggle continues remains today.

Viewing the first article the same cries for a break to the eternal practice of the caste system echo loudly even today. It seems for the Untouchables not much has changed in the way of Hinduism. Of course India's constitution bars the discrimination of a person based on caste. Of course enforcement of the law continues to evade Indian society when set against thousands of years of tradition. Hence the cycle of looking for a way out starts again. Due to the exclusion of their plight during the world conference on racism, many of the Untouchables converted to Buddhism in protest against the successful lobbying of India's government to not be categorized as a racist country. Several Buddhist monks flew into South Africa. They came from all corners of Asia in an effort to make their view known to the global public. This same effort held the