Soham, meaning 'Thou are That' was adopted by the Ravidasia Adi Dharam movement of the early 1920s in the Panjab to indicate their equality with other groups in the Panjab. Report of the Ad Dharam Mandal 1926-1931 pages 11 1.d and 14 para 15 respectively read:
"Our sacred word is Soham".
"We are not Hindus. We strongly request the government not to list as such. Our faith is not Hindu but Ad Dharam. We are not part of Hinduism and Hindus are not part of us".
Source: Religion as Social Vision by Mark Jurgensmeyer, University of California Press 1982 pages 299-301.
In the 1970's and 1980's, the word Soham was very popular amongst the Ravidasis both within Indian and overseas. Even Dalits in the pay of upper castes were describing
Guru Ravidas as the first socialist in India and writing essays on the meaning of the word Soham. Posters were produced with a burning torch logo with the letters making up the word put on the edges of a circle. Everyone knew what the word Soham stood for (for the very young please refer to the end of this article for an explanation of the word Soham).
The last 10-15 years have seen a dramatic change. Word has it that a decision was taken (when, where and by whom?) to register the word Hari as the logo for the Ravidasi community. Quietly the word Hari crept in without it being noticed. We are told by some Ravdasias that this is what Ravidasi community should be following without questions. We are not told why the word Soham has been quietly dropped or why its use has been minimised. We are not told why we should be using the word Hari.
There are a number of Ravidasis who would wish to challenge it but they do not wish to upset anyone or create disturbance. Could not that matter be left at peace?
On the surface, it appears that this is purely nit picking. After all, almost all
Sikh Gurus,
Dalit Gurus and others have used the word Hari for God used by the Hindus to describe their God. This word Hari has been used widely in the anti-caste scriptures.
There are a number of problems with this explanation. We may also point out that the sacred book of the Sikhs also use the word Allah to describe God. The most frequently used word for God iin spoken Panjabi is Rab and Rab is an Arabic word for God. But the Sikhs have not opted for these names for God originating with their ex prosecutors.
In medieval times both high caste Muslims and the high caste Hindus had formed an alliance to keep the plebs down. This alliance frequently manifested itself in the fatwas of the Muslim Mullahs and the complaints of the Hindu Brahmins to the higher ups that the anti-caste Gurus were preaching against Islam, or against God himself, in the case of Hindu Brahmins. Guru Ravidas was highly philosophical in his attack on the Hindu caste system. Kabir and Nanak observed no such niceties. They attacked caste and the Mullah Brahmin alliance more directly. Neither Hindu nor Muslim but human was their battle cry. Kabir was so direct in his attacks that at least one world famous author of the
Bhakti movement has described Kabir as atheist at times!
On their parts Brahmins and Mullahs did not stay still but did their best to persecute the anti-caste Gurus. For example Guru Namdev was thrown in front of a drunk elephant on the orders of the local ruler but he survived.
The teaching of the anti-caste Gurus was highly subversive. By Hari they did not mean Rama the hero of Ramayana and the defender of the caste system but the ultimate reality of Godhead. In their story telling the young boy Parhlad worhipping Hari and for doing that, suffering from the hands of his demon father Hirnakshayap, was an allusion to the suffering of the poor, the meek and the oppressed of the day. The Gurus had to make use of these mythological symbolism to preach their message. Anti-caste Gurus were forced to use the names of Ram and Rahim in their scriptures to mean God. That was the need of the day then. So why use Hari as a symbol for the community now? Why have some people gone to all that trouble to oppose Soham and bring in Hari?
Guru Ravidas as the first socialist in India and writing essays on the meaning of the word Soham. Posters were produced with a burning torch logo with the letters making up the word put on the edges of a circle. Everyone knew what the word Soham stood for (for the very young please refer to the end of this article for an explanation of the word Soham).The last 10-15 years have seen a dramatic change. Word has it that a decision was taken (when, where and by whom?) to register the word Hari as the logo for the Ravidasi community. Quietly the word Hari crept in without it being noticed. We are told by some Ravdasias that this is what Ravidasi community should be following without questions. We are not told why the word Soham has been quietly dropped or why its use has been minimised. We are not told why we should be using the word Hari.
There are a number of Ravidasis who would wish to challenge it but they do not wish to upset anyone or create disturbance. Could not that matter be left at peace?
On the surface, it appears that this is purely nit picking. After all, almost all
Sikh Gurus,
Dalit Gurus and others have used the word Hari for God used by the Hindus to describe their God. This word Hari has been used widely in the anti-caste scriptures.There are a number of problems with this explanation. We may also point out that the sacred book of the Sikhs also use the word Allah to describe God. The most frequently used word for God iin spoken Panjabi is Rab and Rab is an Arabic word for God. But the Sikhs have not opted for these names for God originating with their ex prosecutors.
In medieval times both high caste Muslims and the high caste Hindus had formed an alliance to keep the plebs down. This alliance frequently manifested itself in the fatwas of the Muslim Mullahs and the complaints of the Hindu Brahmins to the higher ups that the anti-caste Gurus were preaching against Islam, or against God himself, in the case of Hindu Brahmins. Guru Ravidas was highly philosophical in his attack on the Hindu caste system. Kabir and Nanak observed no such niceties. They attacked caste and the Mullah Brahmin alliance more directly. Neither Hindu nor Muslim but human was their battle cry. Kabir was so direct in his attacks that at least one world famous author of the
Bhakti movement has described Kabir as atheist at times! On their parts Brahmins and Mullahs did not stay still but did their best to persecute the anti-caste Gurus. For example Guru Namdev was thrown in front of a drunk elephant on the orders of the local ruler but he survived.
The teaching of the anti-caste Gurus was highly subversive. By Hari they did not mean Rama the hero of Ramayana and the defender of the caste system but the ultimate reality of Godhead. In their story telling the young boy Parhlad worhipping Hari and for doing that, suffering from the hands of his demon father Hirnakshayap, was an allusion to the suffering of the poor, the meek and the oppressed of the day. The Gurus had to make use of these mythological symbolism to preach their message. Anti-caste Gurus were forced to use the names of Ram and Rahim in their scriptures to mean God. That was the need of the day then. So why use Hari as a symbol for the community now? Why have some people gone to all that trouble to oppose Soham and bring in Hari?
Unless you are trying to give the hymns of anti-caste Gurus a Brahminic character which was never intended in the first place.
The clue lies in the USA where the upper castes in the VHP tried to have the school textbooks in California changed to portray Hinduism in more liberal colours by taking out the references to the oppressive aspects of Hinduism. They upper caste Hindus were opposed very strongly, including by the more liberal Hindus and the VHP and their allies met with failure. They learnt their lessons well and applied these to the UK. By keeping low profile and working behind the scenes they succeeded in UK. They also played party politics with Dalits in the Panjab and these politics were imported into the UK. Again by keeping a very low profile they succeeded again in getting some misguided Dalit self styled 'leader' to register 'Hari' as a symbol for Ravidasis.
Dalits in the Diaspora need to be aware of these historical issues in order to bring some rational discussion to these controversies.
Anyone who would like to defend the change from Soham to Hari is welcome to send his or her argument to us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will print it on this website.
Dalits in the Diaspora need to be aware of these historical issues in order to bring some rational discussion to these controversies.
Anyone who would like to defend the change from Soham to Hari is welcome to send his or her argument to us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will print it on this website.
An explanation of the word Soham: Soham is made up of two words 'So' and 'ham' the meaning of which is 'I am It'. At the time of Upnishads it had a meaning of 'Thou are that' meaning that you are Brahaman. or that you are part of the ultimate reality. It has been interpreted to mean the basic unity of man and the cosmos but only if you were an upper caste. Upnishads were secret doctrine which were only available to the two upper castes, the Brahmin priests and the warriors and frequently it were the warrior caste which taught this philosophy to the Brahmins. In medieval times the great Sankracharaya taught that everything was Brahman or ultimate reality but (wait for it), at philosophical level ONLY. The different castes stayed different on the earthly plane. Guru Ravidas turned this upside down by saying 'Tohi Mohi Mohi Tohi antar kaisa' meaning that there was no difference between man and God and thereby between Man and Man.
