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 Dhobi (1,505,954 people).
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Occupations should not have a religion. A doctor should not care about the religion or caste of a patient while offering medical treatment. Similarly, a cobbler also should not care about whose shoes he is mending. And yet, professions have been associated with religion in the Indian social system. However, we do have washerfolk of both Hindu and Muslim backgrounds.
According to the caste-based census report 2022 released by the Bihar government, the population of Hindu Dhobis in the state is 1,096,158 while the population of Muslim Dhobis is 409,796. Together, the population adds to 1,505,954. This number is almost double the total population of Kayasthas which is 785,771.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
But having a bigger share in the population does not imply power.
In case of the Dhobi caste group, we find that despite having almost twice the population of Kayasthas, the participation of this caste in the governance and administration of Bihar is minimal. A lone name that emerges when you think of Dhobi politicians is Shyam Rajak.
Let’s leave politics aside and talk about the job of the Dhobi caste. They have washed and ironed people’s dirty clothes. They have maintained this occupation despite the fact that their work is used to insult them.
Many say they have are credited with discovering a natural detergent in the form of clay soil found in village fields. This had acidic properties.
However, how a large population got involved in this occupation is not known. A theory is that since indigo was cultivated extensively in Mohenjodaro, people of this caste group perhaps plied their trade then.
While Brahmin people comfortably wear clothes washed by Dhobis, they consider the members of this caste untouchable.
This caste has another major contribution in the development of human civilisation – that of better coordination between men and women. This is a profession where a husband works alongside his wife.
There is a mention of a Dhobi in the Ramayana. A Dhobi washes Ram and his family’s clothing. It is also said that a Dhobi’s comment led Ram to abandon a pregnant Sita.
The Brahmin class of the south connects the Dhobi caste with one of their mythological deities, Virabhadra. According to their belief, Shankar had ordered Virabhadra to wash the clothes of all the people as a punishment. His fault was that he had burnt people alive in the sacrificial fire, Prajapati Daksh.
The vehicle assigned to Virabhadra is a donkey.
The Dhobi caste group is known by various names in different states – Rajak, Shinde and Madiwala. In the south, they are a more prosperous community whose job is not restricted to washing clothes. There, they own agricultural fields and coconut orchards. In Maharashtra too they have other jobs besides washing clothes which remains their primary occupation. But they are not untouchable in Maharashtra. They are categorised as a backward class, whereas in Bihar they are categorised as Scheduled Caste.
Neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka also have similar caste groups. They are not considered untouchable in Sri Lanka but in Nepal, like in India, they are discriminated against as such. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, there are Muslim Dhobis and just like India, they are treated as a downtrodden caste.
The people of this caste group revere Sant Baba Gadge Ji Maharaj who was a contemporary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and brought about several social reforms.
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 | Dabgar | Kumhar | Amaat.
