The Reformation of the Matua Movement as a Stepping Stone for the Upliftment of the Dalits in Bengal: A Study

Abstract

One of the most distinctive characteristic of India is its social system. It has been driven by casteism. It has partially been believed by the high caste Brahmins that casteism has saved Hinduism from disintegration. Therefore they have preached the proletarian and subaltern that they are specially created by Brahma to rule over them. Due to this they have divided the whole social system with four sections -Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. But their inhuman treatment over the marginalized and dalits has left no mark of identity for them. Therefore, they have been searching their identity with the periods of time either by embracing other faiths or by revolting against them. In this context, Matua Mahasangha or MMS is a religious reformative movement which was an initiative step for the Namashudra, a Scheduled Caste group to acknowledge their pangs and pathos in the Brahmin centric division and motivate them to revolt against the untouchabilities they have been faced since decades. This paper attempts at analyzing how the reformation of the Matua movement becomes a stepping stone for the upliftment of the Dalits in Bengal.