‘We are Indians, firstly and lastly’: How Dalit Buddhists in Mumbai are resisting caste hierarchy

I conducted 12 months’ ethnographic fieldwork in the BDD Chawls neighbourhood in Lower Parel in 2017. On my initial walks around the neighbourhood in January, I would often notice men wearing t-shirts with an image of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on the front, and the statement “We are Indians, firstly and lastly” on the back.

What, I wondered at the time, was the significance of this message? And why would a picture of Ambedkar be associated with such an apparently jingoistic statement? The first hint at an answer came a few months later when, walking around the BDD Chawls one afternoon, I came across a large group of Dalit Buddhist acquaintances outside the police station. Sayaji, hands flying and face in a characteristic grimace of frustration, was in the middle of an angry exchange with a police officer. I did not linger, but over the next few days I pieced together the following story.

The space between Chawl M, a building dominated by members of the Maratha community, and the more mixed Chawl N building was historically used as a ground for playing kabaddi. At the back is the Buddha Vihar (temple), a shed-like structure with a tin roof, owned and managed by a committee of...

Read more