For us trees do not bear fruits
For us flowers do not bloom
For us there is no Spring
For us there is no Revolution
– Lal Singh Dil
These are lines from the last poem of Lal Singh Dil, hailed as the foremost revolutionary poet of Punjab. He passed away in 2007. The despondent note of the poem is both surprising and telling, for a poet who had once declared that the song and dance in his heart would not die, no matter how dire the circumstance. It took Dil a lifetime to discover this sad yet provocative truth, against the backdrop of the complexities of caste in Punjab. Yet centuries before Dil's birth, the same frustration with caste was intricately linked to the emergence of the Sikh religion.
When Sikhism came into being during the 15th century, it was primarily as a protest against the caste system, in the same manner that leftist and other progressive movements came into being in reaction to a similar malaise of the modern times. In this context, the road to the Dalit identity has been a long one in Punjab, largely because such an identification was submerged in the Sikh identity, with much pride and celebration in the earliest known Dalit writings of the 17th century. The celebratory mood was one of overcoming the ills of caste-ridden society. In time, however, the tone saddened, as a religion that had started out to reform Hinduism fell prey to the same ills of caste-ridden social hierarchy.
An important point to take away from this historical evolution is that the contribution of those from the 'low' castes has never been wanting, as far as struggle and movements for social justice go. The story that was the turning point for the lower castes in Punjab was that of Jaita, a follower of Guru Gobind Singh. Jaita played a significant role in bringing the severed head of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth guru of Sikhism, back to Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, after he was executed by Aurangzeb in Delhi in 1675. Seeing this act of bravery and sentiment, Guru Gobind Singh adopted Jaita as his son. As such, a popular rhyme in Punjab goes, "Ranghreta guru da beta; The scavenger is son of the guru", as Jaita belonged to the community of ranghrets, scavengers, who had converted to Sikhism. Bhai Jaita, who died fighting the last battle for the guru in 1705, was the first known Dalit poet of Punjab. As Raj Kumar Hans, a professor of history, has pointed out: