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"I am very happy to become a Christian. I feel liberated, a human being," says A. Sekar. His eyes turn moist and his voice chokes with deep emotion. "I feel I am born again." Sekar, 30, is a Dalit in Madurai, in India's southern Tamil Nadu state. Four members of his family of six have converted to Christianity in recent months.

Their Dalit neighbor, Ilaiyaraja, 28, has been going to the nearby Bethel Church to pray. "I've given notice to [the] church for baptism," Ilaiyaraja said. "Next month, I will be baptized. In Hinduism, you pray to a number of deities, while in Christianity there is only one God, which I feel is [the] original God. I find the Hindu caste system very inhuman and oppressive."

India's over 250 million Dalits are Hinduism's "untouchables," relegated by the high-caste Brahmans to an almost permanent underclass status. The caste system, though illegal in India, remains in force socially. Dalits are not allowed to enter upper-caste houses, fields, or temples. They cannot draw water from village wells or wear shoes while passing upper-caste areas. They remain landless and poor.

Human rights observers cite a growing pattern of persecution against Dalits. In October Hindus lynched five Dalits in Jhajjar, Haryana state, for transporting cowhide. (Within two weeks, more than 80 friends and family of the victims converted to Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity in protest.)

In September police and other officials in Uttar Pradesh state forcibly tried to evict a Dalit woman from her land. In another case, upper-caste Hindus hacked three Dalits to death. In Punjab state, assailants stripped a Dalit woman in a marketplace, in broad daylight. Several months ago, some Dalits in Madurai were forced to drink human urine.

Unable to reform Hinduism, Dalit leaders are encouraging Dalits to escape their misery by changing their religion. More than 50,000 Dalits converted to Buddhism in a single ceremony in New Delhi last year (CT, Jan. 7, p. 25), and many others are becoming Christians. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC), calls the Dalit conversion movement a "personal search for dignity."

Udit Raj (formerly Ram Raj), national chairman of the All-India Confederation of Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe Organizations, told Christianity Today, "All Dalits should quit Hinduism. The caste system is built into Hinduism."

Richard Howell of the Evangelical Fellowship of India says Christians are evangelizing Dalits despite the personal and political risks. "The meaning of being a Christian is to give witness," Howell said. "We preach Christ's message of love and equality. If you say it leads to conversions, yes, it does."

Dayal said the church is well positioned to reach out. "There is no future for Dalits in Hinduism," Dayal said. "With the strengthening nexus of [right-wing] forces and political leadership, Dalits would have to fight their way out of Hinduism. What religion they take is up to them. Comparatively, we offer a better model of equilibrium, equality, and development."

Indeed, fully two-thirds of India's 30 million Christians come from Dalit backgrounds. Raj, though a Buddhist convert himself, said he would be happy if more Dalits became Christians.

"We are going to make conversions a national phenomenon," Raj said. "I have a lot of appreciation for the Christians. They changed the lives of Dalits. Christians were the first to open [an] education system for Dalits, giving us a chance to be free and grow. People are converting to Christianity. Dalits have the right to choose any religion they want."

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December 9 2002, Vol. 46, No. 13