And.

'All alike are tangled up in the deception of caste and community, all of humanity has been afflicted by the disease of *jati ¯* . O Ravidas! Don't ask about ¯ *jati ¯* , what is *jati ¯* or community. Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra, all are only one *jati ¯* .'

Kab¯ır also spoke about this.

'Only one breath, only one essence, only one flame in existence. All beings are made from only one substance, by only one Creator.'

Ravidas said. ¯

'There are *jatis ¯* in *jatis ¯* , like leaves within leaves in a banana plant. O Ravidas! Men cannot be united, ¯ as long as there is *jati ¯* and community.'

Kabir also expressed similar sentiments.

'Don't ask a sadhu his *jati ¯* , ask about his wisdom. Learn the value of the sword, don't pay attention to the scabbard.'

No Sant gave any importance to *jati ¯* . Namdev also said. ¯

'I came to your door laughing and playing, Practicing devotion "Namdev" was lifted up. ¯ My birth was in a low *jati ¯* , what does it matter if I was born a calico printer?' (Ram 1986, pp. 72–73)

Jagjivan Ram pointed out that the Sants had argued against discrimination based on religion. The term he used for "respecting all religions" (*sarva dharma sambhava*) had been coined by Gandhi, showing Jagjivan Ram's debt to Gandhian thought. However, Jagjivan Ram also pointed to a lack at the heart of formal religions, as he spoke about how there was "hollowness" (*khoklepan*) at their heart, but that the hollowness found in Islam and Hinduism was not found in Ravidas's teachings: ¯

Ravidas also couldn't keep silent about respecting all religions, ¯

or their hollowness.

'O Ravidas! He who is my Ram, ¯ He is also Rehman. The Kaba and K ¯ a´¯s¯ı, know this about them, they are both the same.'

And also:

'There is nothing distasteful in a Mosque, and nothing lovely in a temple. Neither Allah nor Ram dwells in either, says Ravidas the Chamar.' ¯

In an era when the importance of recognizing Hindu-Muslim unity was not recognized he [Ravidas] also revealed his humanitarian character. ¯

'Be a friend to Muslims, have affection for Hindus. O Ravidas! The light of Ram shines in all, all our friends.' ¯ 'Both paths are based on practice, this is the strange drama the Creator established. Hindus and Turks are one and the same, brother! Ravidas declares this truth.' ¯ 'O Ravidas! There is no di ¯ fference! Between gold and a golden bracelet, Just as there is no difference between Hindus and Turks.'

Jagjivan Ram then continued and said that "Ravidas believed in the religious tradition which had ¯ been developed by the original inhabitants of this land before the arising of Vedic religion and which contained truths which, when the Aryans encountered them, led to them creating their six philosophies and *Upanishads*." (Ram 1986, p. 74).

Finally, he cited one of Ravidas's most well-known verses, which was found in the Sikh sacred ¯ text the *Adi Granth* and in manuscripts from Rajasthan and UP and in print editions from around 1900 onwards. The version Jagjivan Ram cited is not exactly the same as any that I have seen in any print edition of Ravidas's works but is substantially the same as the version found in the ¯ *Adi Granth*. This verse had become central to the followers of Ravidas in the twentieth century as the key vision ¯ in Ravidas's works of the social, as well as a spiritual, revolutionary message taught by Ravid ¯ as. ¯ My translation of this passage is as follows:

The practice of the original inhabitants of here [India] was based on unbiased egalitarianism. The Sants were the fosterers of that tradition. They wanted to re-establish the religion and society which had been current in this land before the arrival of the Aryans. It was because of this that Ravidas proclaimed. ¯

'Now I have found a home in my true homeland. O brothers! There is always peace in that land. That town is called "The Sorrowless City"! There is no care or anxiety there. No levies, no taxes, no duties. No fear of failure or dread of loss. The sovereignty there is fixed and stable. None are second or third, all are as one. It is forever flourishing and eternally renowned. The dwellers in that town are always wealthy. They wander around wherever they please. None stop them from entering any of the palaces there. Ravidas, the liberated Chamar says, ¯ Whoever is my fellow citizen of that city, They are my friend'. (Ram 1986, p. 74)

This verse contains a reference to a city called, *begumpura*, which became a kind of motto, or slogan, for the ideal that was hoped could be attained by the followers of Ravidas. The Hindi word ¯ *begumpura* could be understood as meaning different things depending on whether the word *begum* was taken to mean either "queen" or "sorrowless". Due to this, the city can be imagined as being called "The Sorrowless City" or "The Queen's City", or perhaps it could simply be understood as meaning "The city free from suffering". During the twentieth century, this verse came to be seen over time as representing Ravidas's ideal for how society should be structured. The key features read as being implicit in this ¯ verse were the creation of a society with no discrimination against anybody, with economic stability and good fortune and with the freedom for even a "liberated" Chamar to enter the public spaces in the world. This imagery, it should also be noted, was also found in Siv N ´ ar ¯ aya ¯ n . 's vision of the "Land

of the Sants" (*sant des*) and was a common image in Sant teachings. Due to this, it would have been familiar to Dalits from diverse communities as a commonly held vision for the possibility of, not just spiritual, but actual, liberation in this life.

Jagjivan Ram's conclusion was that the depressed classes (*dalit samuday¯* ) were now searching for their identity in contemporary India. Furthermore, in their search for humanitarian values and egalitarian traditions, it was essential for them to first explore their own history—a history that had been e ffaced and distorted by conquerors. He concluded as follows:

[I]n the lines of history written by the conquerors our history can also be seen, and even in the texts which advocate the caste system, such as Manusmr.iti, the rebellion against the system can be seen as a proof of the indomitable spirit of its opponents. (Ram 1986, p. 74)

The Sant tradition, he concluded, was a witness to the struggle of the countless masses who had been deprived of their human rights as embodiments of the divine. From amongs<sup>t</sup> all the Sants, Ravidas¯ also stood out as having been a shining pillar of light in their tradition that stood for the following:

[H]armony, peace, critical intellect, stability, resistance, unwaveringness, humanity, equality, and the living presence of the gem of the divine dwelling within humanity (Ram 1986, p. 74)

Jagjivan Ram's essay from 1986 presented the clearest picture of any of Jagjivan Ram's writings about how his vision of Ravidas's thought related to his vision of the world. It also, in almost every way, ¯ aligns with the teachings that I sugges<sup>t</sup> could be found to have influenced Jagjivan Ram through his family's Siv N ´ ar¯ aya ¯ n.¯ı background, but now focused on Ravidas, rather than ¯ Siv N ´ ar¯ aya ¯ n. , as a symbol for how liberation was possible in life, in both the spiritual and mundane realms of the world itself.

### **11. Conclusions: Jagjivan Ram as a Ravidas¯ ¯ı Politician**

In this paper, I have considered the relationship between peace, politics, and religion in Jagjivan Ram's life. His life presents an important example of how religion and politics can contribute to peaceful approaches to conflict resolution. Confronted by the problems inherent in being Dalit in the twentieth century, a lack of critical power in society, he adopted non-confrontational strategies that avoided any sense of being "exclusive accounts of the nature of reality" (Kurtz 1995, p. 238). Instead, he argued that his own community's spiritual and religious teachings were distinct from Hinduism, as imagined by supporters of *Hindutva*. In his writings in Hindi, he spoke of a continuity between Ravidas's teachings and those of Hinduism as a broad and diverse religious tradition. All of this ¯ then formed the basis for his political struggles for liberation for not just Dalits but all economically deprived people in India.

In order to understand the relationship between religion and politics in the life of Jagjivan Ram, it is essential to consider the particular circumstances of his religious background growing up in a Siv ´ Nar¯ aya ¯ n.¯ı family. This is because the characteristics of the Siv N ´ ar¯ aya ¯ n.¯ı movement as a religious and social reform movement also shaped Jagjivan Ram's political career.

Seen from this perspective, his actions were both religious and political. This led him to emphasize the importance of spirituality in life as linked to economic and social development for all including the depressed classes. It also led to his patronage of the Ravidas¯ ¯ı community through its sacred sites, festivals, sacred literature, and places of pilgrimage, as all were central to what he saw as the foundations of religious and political life. When considering the relationship between religion and politics in India today, it is essential to acknowledge how the immense diversity of religious cultures in India has contributed to its current political life.

My conclusion is that to understand political leaders such as Jagjivan Ram, it is essential to acknowledge the diversity present within Hindu traditions and explore how a nuanced approach must be taken to unpack the forms of Hinduism espoused by leaders such as Jagjivan Ram. If this is not done, there is a danger that views based on *Hindutva* ideologies, which reject cultural diversity, may result in a negative impression of the relationship between the Hindu religion and politics in India. Perceptions

of Jagjivan Ram as essentially a secular Dalit leader or a Hindu Dalit who supported *Hindutva* are both misleading. Jagjivan Ram's life and politics were shaped by his Dalit spiritual heritage and led to him becoming a champion for spiritual and political rights for all depressed classes and all Dalits.

**Funding:** This research received no specific external funding but was undertaken as a part of my regular research activities as an academic at the Australian National University.

**Acknowledgments:** I would like to express my gratitude to all the members of the Ravidas¯ ¯ı community and other communities who helped me learn about Ravidas and Dalit struggles for liberation and Amarjit Singh ¯ for his insights into the tradition and for introducing me to the Punjab Research Group in the UK. I would also like to express my gratitude to the late Professor Shukdeo Singh of BHU, Ramlakhan and the Sants I met at the Rajghat Ravidas temple. In addition, I would like to acknowledge my teachers including the late Krishna Mohan ¯ Singh of Harish Chandra Teaching Training College Varanasi, Ramdas Gupta, Rupert Snell and Simon Weightman of the School of Oriental and African Studies London University and Winand Callewaert of the University of Leuven. Finally, I would like to thank Je ffrey Haynes of the London Metropolitan University for his longstanding dedication to supporting scholarship on the relationship between religion and politics.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
