Beyond politics, the Bihar caste survey is a revolutionary document.
A public document, the first ever after 1931, allowing for people to stand up and be counted.
We go down to the wire, on what each of the numbers unveiled mean.
Who are the people referred to by percentages in the survey?
Today we look at Dabgar (7,756 people).
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In the Indian society, occupations have been assigned names of castes. In other words, the ruling classes of this society created castes to suit the kind of service they required. The system has been designed and concocted step by step. For example, the ‘untouchable’ castes currently referred to as Scheduled Castes in the constitution were required to provide services which have been considered extremely repulsive.
And yet, are some caste groups in this grouping who are not involved in activities considered disgusting, and yet they had been categorised as ‘untouchable’. One such caste is Dabgar.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Dabgars have a minuscule population in Bihar. According to the Caste Based Census Report 2022 released by the Bihar government, their number is only 7,756 and they are ranked ninth in the list of Scheduled Castes. According to a socio economic report of caste-based enumeration presented by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the Bihar legislative assembly on October 7, 2023, the people of Dabgar caste are the richest among all the 22 castes included in the Scheduled Castes.
In the state government’s report, families whose monthly income is Rs 6,000 or less have been categorised as ‘poor’. On this basis, the state government has found that the poorest of the poor among the Scheduled Castes of the state are the people of Musahar caste, of whom, 54.46% families have a monthly income of less than Rs 6,000. Next are the people of Bhuiyan caste, who are equivalent to the Musahar caste at the social level. According to the report, 53.55% Bhuiyan families are poor. Meanwhile, the percentage of poor families of the Dabgar caste group is less than the percentage of poor families of Pasi caste (38.14%).
Interestingly, Dabgar is not a caste native to Bihar. Its people originally hailed from Rajasthan and made special kind of vessels to be used as spoons and ladles. They used wood and iron to make the utensils. Since spoons are pressed to give them a sunken shape, their makers were called dabgar.
Women of this caste used to make earthen stoves, or chulhas, in the houses of people of other castes, while men made flasks, ladles and other types of spoons. Due to the nature of their work, this caste group came to be regarded differently from other Scheduled Castes. However, even the necessity of chulha-making did not ensure that the women of this caste could enter the houses of the ‘upper’ castes. They made stoves outside their homes and when the stove was ready, they were handed grains, etc. as wages. Once the chulha was ready, a purification ritual was carried out after which the stoves made by the Dabgars were taken inside the house and placed in the kitchen.
At present, the people of Dabgar caste are engaged in making neither spoons nor stoves, except during the Chhath festival. Because they made funnels, they also came in touch with people of the Teli caste. The people of the Dabgar caste eventually took to farming and other occupations.
The fact is that the progress of any caste depends on the nature of its relationship with prosperous castes. For example, the biggest reason behind the poor condition of Musahar families is that they have been kept distant from the affluent castes. The people of the Dom caste only cross paths with the people of affluent castes at cremation grounds or while cleaning dirty drains. In Bihar, 53.10% Dom families live on an income of less than Rs 6,000 per month.
Moreover, for a caste whose total population is less than 8,000, individual affluence does not matter much. The truth is that this caste is included among the castes on the verge of extinction. Had the cause of extinction been the eradication of the concept of caste, it would be a different matter, but that is not the case. Most of the people of this caste have now stopped calling themselves Dabgar and have merged themselves with other castes.
Perhaps it is only due to caste reservation that 7,756 people in Bihar still believe that they belong to the Dabgar caste.
Translated from Hindi by Naushin Rehman. Read the Hindi original here.
Read earlier parts of the series on the following communities by clicking on their names: Ghasi | Santrash | Madaria | Koeri/Kushwaha | Chaupal | Nai/Hajjaam | Pasi | Rangrez | Chamar | Gorkan | Jutt | Yadav | Kamar | Chik | Bari and Bauri | Dhuniya | Donwar | Sinduria Baniya | Bhathiyara.
