Reading the Bible from Feminist, Dalit, Tribal and Adivasi Perspectives

(Course Code: BC 107)

Potentialities and possibilities of a Dalit Perspectival Reading of Scripture
Topic: Jesus and the ritually and racially unclean people: The Woman with the issue of blood, the
Samaritan women, the Canaanite women and others
Submitted by: Stanley Goala
Roll No. 16
B.D. IV(N)

INTRODUCTION:
Dalits are people in the real sense of the term: poor, oppressed, exploited and suffering people
ethnic groups (speaking many languages and practicing many religions) forming the majority of the
oppressed within the nation1. The term Dalit in Sanskrit is both noun and an adjective. It has been derived
from the root 'Dal', which means to crack, open, split and so on. When used as a noun or adjective, it
means burst, split, broken or torn, asunder, downtrodden, crushed, destroyed.2
This paper is focused on Christ identification with the Dalits and attempt have been made to explicate the
relevance of Christ in the context of Dalit reality, in the light of Jesus encounter with the ritually and
racially unclean people in the New Testament, so that a better and more acceptable dalit perspective
reading of the scripture can be possible.
DALIT REALITY:
1. Outcaste:
No social system in the world has reduced human to the levels of less than animals as the caste
system in India has. The impact of caste system upon the Dalits is to create a consciousness of numbness
because of the Karma theory which maintains that people only get the fruits of their deeds in their the
previous birth. Karma theory legitimizes oppression against Dalits and makes Dalits to accept without
resistance.3
The term Dalit today is specially used for those who, on the basis of caste distinction, have been considered
outcaste. They were outcaste because they were not according to the architects of the system fit to be
included in the fourfold4 graded caste structure of Indian society. On the basis of this status they were made
to bear extreme kinds of disabilities in the form of oppression for centuries, which made them almost lose
their humanness.
The outcaste or the fifth group of people who are not included in the caste hierarchy, this group has been
kept outside the Hindu society, and they are called polluting, untouchable, subhuman, and outcaste.5
2. Untouchable:
1 M.F. Prabhakar, ed., Towards a Dalit Theology (New Delhi: ISPCK, 1988), 43.
2 James Massey, Dalits in India: Religion as a Source of Bondage or Liberation with Special Reference to Christians (New
Delhi: Manohar, 1995), 15.

3 V. Devasahayam, ed., Frontiers of Dalit Theology (Madras: ISPCK/GURUKUL, 1997), 61-62.

4 The four fold caste structure included the Priestly(Brahman), Warrior(Ksatriya), Traders(Vaisya) and
Serving Caste(Sudras) [James Massey, Dalits in India:Religion as a source of Bondage, 16.]
5 James Massey, Dalits in India: Religion as a source of Bondage, 17.
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The Dalits are considered as untouchable because of the nature of their work dictated by the caste
Hindus. They have been forced to continue their occupations as leather workers, disposers of dead animals,
or manual scavengers and to perform other tasks deemed to be ritually polluting for upper castes.6
3. No Sharing in the authority of the Scripture:
For centuries, Dalits have been and continue to be involved in a struggle for Canonical control of
the Hindu Scriptures, which sanctified and justified the hierarchical and discriminative system of caste. By
being denied education they were hindered from access to traditional knowledge. Lack of access to
Scripture, has hindered them from making a contribution to the interpretation of Scripture.7
It is worth noting that no other religion in the world other than Hinduism prevented a majority of its
adherents entering the temples and made the reading and hearing of scriptures a punishable offence. This
condition has not much changed for the Dalits even today.8
4. Economic Discrimination:
The economic life of the Dalits is depressing. This is so because the Dalits are economically
exploited, deprived and are subjugated to the oppressive structures of organized inequality. Job
opportunities for them are restricted because the education opportunities are systematically denied and the
competition is always with the high caste people who have enormous access to knowledge and expertise.
The dalits are disproportionately agricultural laborers, form generations, who do not have land of their
own. They almost always are employed to do hard and hazardous jobs, but they are paid low wages and are
assigned to low status.
5. Dalit Women: The thrice alienated:
Dalit woman have been referred to as the Dalits among the Dalits. They are thrice alienated from
the resources of society owing to her gender, caste and class. 9 She is untouchable and impure because of
her caste, her gender subordinates her to men & She is doubly impure during her menstrual cycles, at
widowhood and because of the polluting occupations she is assigned to carry out.
6. The Dalit Christian: The thrice alienated:
The Dalit Christians are thrice alienated, by the upper castes in Indian society, by the upper castes in
Indian church and Indian Government.10 Dalit Christians, who make up more than half of all the Christians
in the country, continue in many parts of India to be treated by their fellow upper-caste Christians as
outcaste. They are forced to live in segregated colonies, even in Christian villages. They are seated in
separate, less conspicuous parts of the Church; are given no role in church services; have no place in the
6 James Massey and Samson Prabhakar, eds., Frontiers in Dalit Hermeneutics (Bangalore & Delhi:
BTESSC/SATHRI &CDSS, 2005), 19-20.
7 James Massey and Samson Prabhakar, eds., Frontiers in Dalit Hermeneutics, 50.
8 V. Devasahayam, ed., Frontiers of Dalit Theology, 21.
9 By virtue of her gender, she is subordinated to the men in family and society, discriminated against for
jobs, paid less and targeted for sexual and physical abuse. By virtue of her caste, she is considered an
untouchable, her mobility restricted, considered polluting and unclean, denied jobs, legal aid, education and
an easy object of violence. Her economic status is low, poor and hence she is illiterate, unskilled,
unorganized, dependent and easily exploited and abused. [James Massey and Samson Prabhakar, eds.,
Frontiers in Dalit Hermeneutics, 5.]
10 K.J.Kameswara Rao, Suffering of Gods People: Theological Perspective of Dalit Liberation, Gurukul
Journal of Theological Studies, 16/1 & 2 (January & July, 2005): 66.
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decision making bodies of the community. And, since caste proves stronger than death, they may even be
buried in separate cemeteries.11
7. Dalit the Wounded Psyche:
The term wounded psyche is one that has been used by several Dalit theologians over the years to
denote the deep psychological wound that has affected the Dalits after years of oppression. This wounded
psyche results in external behaviour as well as internal attitudes and emotions. It results in feelings of
fatalism and frustration, in feelings of powerlessness and loss of control over ones own life. The centuries
of oppression and the years of socialization have resulted in hatred towards oneself and a loss of self-worth
and self esteem. Sometimes wounded psyche exhibits itself in alcoholism and in acts of aggression such as
wife beating and domestic violence.12
JESUS AND THE RITUALLY AND RACIALLY UNCLEAN PEOPLE:
Ritually and Racially unclean people: In the Hebrew Bible people may contract impurity by contact
with a corpse, certain dead animals, and the involuntary flow of fluids from the sexual organs, a disease, or
the eating of prohibited foods.13
1.Jesus and the women with an issue of blood:
Jesus heals a woman who had a flow of blood. According to the Levitical cleanliness law a woman
with a flow is regarded as unclean and whoever touches her or touched by her be it living or non-living
such as bed, her seat will also become unclean, so that they need to be washed away of their uncleanness
contaminated be her(Lev. 15: 19-30). In this story we find that this woman touched Jesus which implies
according to the Law that Jesus became unclean and had to wash himself. But, Jesus does not keep this
secret; he deliberately called attention to the fact that she had touched him which would make him unclean.
The result of her touching is powerful, she was healed.
The Dalit Perspective:
The climax of the story is in the instant healing of the women with the flow of blood in Mark 5:3034. The significance of this story can be understood only when read empathetically with the
condition of the bleeding women. Her condition was characterized wholesale oppression: Physical,
psychological, economic, religious, and social. Her suffering was both internal and external.14
By remedying the womans menstrual irregularity Jesus removed her from the category of
unclean and restored her to full membership in the community and unhindered participation in the
community efforts to make sense out of life.15
11 George M. Soares-Prabhu, S.J. Theology of Liberation: An Indian Biblical Perspective, edited by
Francis X.DSa,S.J. (Pune:Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, 2001), 209.
12 James Massey and Shimreingam Shimray, eds., Dalit-Tribal Theological Interface, Current Trends in
Subaltern Theologies (New Delhi and Assam: TSC/WSC and CDS, 2007), 142.
13 Paul J. Achtemier, The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary- Samaritans (Bangalore: TPI, 2009), 963-964.
14 Sathianathan Clarke, Deenabandhu Manchala and Philip Vinod Peacock, eds. Dalit Theology in the
Twenty-first Century: Discordant Voices, Discerning Pathways (New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2010), 271.
15 Carroll Stuhlmueller, editor, Healing, The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology
(Minnesota, The Liturgical Book Trust, 1996), 418.
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 When Jesus addressed her as Daughter, did he not give her a new identity ? Jesus invites her into
his household by calling her daughter. A branded untouchable sick women becomes a daughter
when the power of Jesus is shared.16
Jesus refuses publicly that he became defiled by the touch of an impure woman. He did not even
care to ritually cleanse himself after having been touched by the women but instead, goes on in his
mission to raise Jairus daughter.
Therefore, Jesus, wanting to establish justice, mercy and faith, rejected the practice of
untouchability and worked towards establishing equality among the Jews.17 He claimed that he had not
come to abolish the laws but to fulfil them. His way of fulfilling the law was by refusing to be bound
blindly to them, but interpreting them according to the signs of the times. Interpreting laws this way is a
freedom and responsibility given to all by Jesus. 18 Jesus shook the foundations of the division of human
beings into the pure and the impure. He is against those very people who divided people into the pure
and the polluting. Such persons should be avoided to protect oneself from the poison of their dirty
morality. Thus, talking of the Pharisees, Jesus could say that they were a polluting lot.
2. Jesus and the Samaritan19 woman:
It is not usual for a Jew to have conversation with Samaritan. Here the disciples were amazed not so much
because Jesus talked with a Samaritan but because he talked with a woman. To be a Samaritan and a
woman was enough to be despised, but this woman was also a prostitute. Jesus met her and asked her for
drinking water. This asking of water is due course brings the two into theological conversation of living
water. The living water discussion resulted in a discussion on the condition of women. The moment Jesus
asked her to call her husband and revealed to her husband, she began to suspect Messiah to tell her
everything. At this, Jesus revealed to her that he is the Messiah. Jesus changed this woman completely and
she became a new person.
The Dalit Perspective:
Unlike other Jews, Jesus has always open and positive attitude to the poor women despised by the
people. He has a particular mission to fulfill and in carrying out his ministry he goes beyond Jewish
bonds and fetters.

16 Sathianathan Clarke, Deenabandhu Manchala and Philip Vinod Peacock, eds. Dalit Theology in the Twenty-first, 273.

17 M.R. Arulraja, Jesus the Dalit: Liberation Theology by victims of untouchability, an Indian version of
apartheid (Hyderabad: M.R. Volunteer Centre, 1996), 89.
18 M.R. Arulraja, Jesus the Dalit: Liberation Theology by victims of untouchability, 88.
19 The term is used exclusively for the members of a particular ethno-religious community based in the
area, living for the most part around Mt. Gerizim but residing also in their own villages throughout the
region. Although the Jews and the Samaritans shared a common heritage(our father Jacob, John 4:12)
but differed from one another radically in regard to the relative sancitity of Jerusalem and Mt. Gerizim
(John 4:20). They also had different legal traditions regarding the cleanliness of vessels and, in general,
they avoided contact with one another (John 4:7-10).The negative attitude of the Jews toward the
Samaritans is reflected in Jesus statement in Matthew 10:5, in which Samaritan are linked with Gentiles in
contrast to the house of Israel.[Paul J. Achtemier, Samaritans The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary
(Bangalore: TPI, 2009), 963-964.]
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 He touched all the untouchable women and the significant result is that they all experience a new
life and understand anew the meaning of their existence.
In asking the Samaritan woman for water, and engaging her in dialogue about her life and religious
faith Jesus has broken down barriers of race/caste, religion, and gender. A Samaritan woman is a
thrice-alienated woman on the basis of her race, gender and immorality. 20
The disciples of Jesus marveled at him because he talked to a woman which was contrary to the
Rabbinic precepts. He had special regard for the Samaritan woman, because she was a human
being, a woman, an outcast, a sinner. 21
Jesus broke the barriers between Jews and Samaritans (Racial discrimination) for the sake of the
Gospel. Salvation is not a matter of a specific race, but salvation is offered to all peoples!
3. The Canaanite22 Women (Mat. 15)
The Canaanite women in Matthew 15:21-28 is the mother of a daughter possessed by a demon who will be
the beneficiary of Jesus healing ministry. Matthew gives special significance to the women and her
interventions. By the specific reference to the place as Tyre and Sidon (Gentile territories) and the
designation of the women as Canaanite (indigenous people of Canaan an ancient enemies of Israel),
Matthew Presents the women as a political enemy of, and a religious outsider for the Jews. She encounters
Jesus in a public place the domain of men. In Matthews version, the woman is presented as a social critic
who transcends the traditional norms and conventions concerning the role of women in public, which
appreciated the surrender and submissiveness of this women pleading for the fallen crumbs. The true
image that emerges from the text is that of a bold and courageous women who takes the initiative to come
out on her own and make her request to Jesus by showing : Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David
(Matthew 15:22).
The Dalit Perspective:
Although she accepts the priority of the Jews in Salvation History, she challenges Jesus to include
Gentiles as an integral part of the Salvific community brought about by Jesus. She wins in this
theological dispute concerning the boundaries of Jesus mission and gets her daughter healed. She
seems to have opened the way for Jesus (and the churchs) mission beyond the Jewish community.
The divine power is for all.
Jesus would not test the faith of any Jew before curing him/her. Never once he gave as cruel a test
as the one mentioned here: Calling the Canaanite woman a dog in public! But Jesus cured a Jewish
untouchable: a leper, without any faith test (Matt. 8:2-3). The Canaanite woman had faith without
the aid of the law and the prophets. And this faith shook Jesus and made him see the relative
unimportance of the law and the prophets for one to have deep faith. Besides, instead of helping
Jews to grow in faith, the Mosiac law had only made them feel superior to others and oblivious of
their deep faith life. After his encounter with the Canaanite woman, Jesus could easily liberate
himself from the Mosiac law. Therefore, faith was open to one and all; not to Jews alone.23
20 R.L.Hnuni, Vision for Women in India: Perspective from the Bible, Church and Society (Bangalore:
ATC, 2009), 282.
21 Lalrinawmi Ralte, Women Re-Shaping Theology: Introducing Womens Studies in Theological
Education in India (Delhi: UTC & ISPCK, 1998), 106.
22 Indigenous people of Canaan an ancient enemies of Israel.
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 This story is both a challenge and a hope for Dalits who have embraced Christianity with the hope
of being accepted as living human beings, the children of God, and not as dogs. Jesus reconsiders
her request.
REREADING THE BIBLE FROM DALIT PERSPECTIVE MUST BE:
Contextual Reading: First, the reading the Bible spiritually and doctrinally must be transcended and it
must be read in the contexts of peoples struggle, experience and movements. Our re-reading must relate
our culture, social, politics and economics. We cannot simply start with the text and impose them to the
context. But we have to start with the context, and read the Bible in the context of the context.24
Liberative Reading: The Bible can be use as canon for recovering universal human values as well as for
subverting subjugation and alienation. Therefore, the Bible will be read liberatively. When we read the
Bible we have to unravel the Biblical text with clarity and creatively distil the implications of the message
of the passage for common human living.25
Transformative Reading: Dalit reading of the Bible must strive for transformation rather than
understanding. The purpose is to gain enlightenment on existential problems and to solve them through
transformative action in order to enhance life. The Bible is a book of transformation; it is full of Gods
involvement in the transformation of human as individual and society. The Bible is the power of God to
save the world. It aims at transforming the whole world towards the Kingdom of God. The Bible is not
primarily meant for dogmatic or pietistic or moralistic interpretation but oriented towards performing
transformation. This must be our aim in reading the Bible.26
Written Text for unlettered Dalits: Dalits Interpretation would not be possible if majority of them are
illiterates. The cultural realm of the Dalits is not predominantly text-bound or logocentric. Rather it
functions, by and large, on the plane of oral discourses. And hence, the meaningfulness evoked by the Bible
should be carefully uncoded from the written text and re-encoded in the form of oral Dalit discourses.27
Performative Axis: While modern biblical criticism was largely concerned with referential
axis(informative i.e., saying), the post-modern criticism primarily concerns itself with performative axis
(Pragmatic, i.e., doing). The dalit reading of the Bible falls in line with the latter. The raw realities of the
day-to-day life with its joys and sorrows, the physical performances in the actual, the ritual and the
symbolic world and the essential needs for a dignified life are the very stuff religiosity is made of. Hence,
Dalit hermeneutics is basically of the performative order.28
CONCLUSION:

23 M.R. Arulraja, Jesus the Dalit: Liberation Theology by victims of untouchability, 108-109.
24 James Massey and Samson Prabhakar, eds., Frontiers in Dalit Hermeneutics, 101.
25 James Massey and Samson Prabhakar, eds., Frontiers in Dalit Hermeneutics, 102.
26 Rosiamliana Tochhawng, Re-Reading the Bible from Subaltern Perspectives, Papers Presented on
SCMI NE India Region Annual Camp, 2007, AICS, Aizawl.
27 V. Devasahayam, Frontiers of Dalit Theology, 336.
28 V. Devasahayam, Frontiers of Dalit Theology, 338.
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Besides the above mentioned narratives there are also other instances where Jesus challenged the
exclusive and negative views of the Jews on the non-Jews and the untouchables, viz., Jesus encounter with
the Centurion (Lk. 7:6-9), Jesus and the Leper (Mt. 8:1-4), Jesus and the Paralytic man (Mt. 9: 1-8), etc.
The dalit liberation derives its praxis mainly from the liberation theology and the exodus narrative
is imperative for us to see the actions of Jesus in the light of his preaching, teaching and work. Nazareth
manifesto provides us with the thrust. Beyond that we are to relook and reread the Bible from the
perspective of the dalits aiming transformation not only understanding. That calls for liberative and contextual
reading. However it need to be borne in mind that Jesus work on the cross itself is a liberative action in as
much as Jesus died, out side the city of Golgotha, like a dalit, he was broken, torn and crushed, on the
cross.
Therefore, the vision and goal of Jesus is to free the people from all the bondages that lead to stress.
In the sight of God, there is no caste/class distinction, no untouchability, no gender distinction, all are
equal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Arulraja, M.R. Jesus the Dalit: Liberation Theology by victims of untouchability, an Indian version of
apartheid. Hyderabad: M.R. Volunteer Centre, 1996.
Achtemier, Paul J. Samaritans. The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary. Bangalore: TPI, 2009.
Clarke, Sathianathan Deenabandhu Manchala and Philip Vinod Peacock, eds. Dalit Theology in the
Twenty-first Century: Discordant Voices, Discerning Pathways. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 2010.
Devasahayam, V. ed. Frontiers of Dalit Theology. Madras: ISPCK/GURUKUL, 1997.
Hnuni, R.L. Vision for Women in India: Perspective from the Bible, Church and Society.
Bangalore: ATC, 2009.
Massey, James. Dalits in India: Religion as a Source of Bondage or Liberation with Special Reference to
Christians. New Delhi: Manohar, 1995.
Massey, James and Samson Prabhakar, eds. Frontiers in Dalit Hermeneutics. Bangalore & Delhi:
BTESSC/SATHRI &CDSS, 2005.
Massey, James and Shimreingam Shimray, eds. Dalit-Tribal Theological Interface, Current Trends in
Subaltern Theologies. New Delhi and Assam: TSC/WSC and CDS, 2007.
Prabhakar, M.F. ed. Towards a Dalit Theology .New Delhi: ISPCK, 1988.
Rao, K.J.Kameswara. "Suffering of Gods People: Theological Perspective of Dalit Liberation. Gurukul
Journal of Theological Studies, 16/1 & 2 (January & July, 2005): 66.
7

Ralte, Lalrinawmi. Women Re-Shaping Theology: Introducing Womens Studies in Theological Education
in India. Delhi: UTC & ISPCK, 1998.
Tochhawng, Rosiamliana. Re-Reading the Bible from Subaltern Perspectives. Papers Presented on SCMI
NE India Region Annual Camp, 2007, AICS, Aizawl.
Stuhlmueller, Carroll editor. Healing. The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology.
Minnesota, The Liturgical Book Trust, 1996.
Soares-Prabhu, George M. S.J. Theology of Liberation: An Indian Biblical Perspective, edited by Francis
X.DSa,S.J. Pune:Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, 2001.