Talk:Chamar

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**Please do not use the word "Low" caste. Use the word Dalit or Scheduled castes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.182.80.222 (talk) 16:50, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Is this page reserved for chamars from Punjab only?

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To the person who stated that Chandragupta Maurya was of the Chamar caste, please could you specify a reference to prove this statement true. Thank you.

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I saw this in a book. I will try to locate that book.

Contents 1 Reservation topic 2 VALMIKI 3 CHAMAR IS NOT A CASTE 4 B.R. Ambedkar...

[edit] Reservation topic

To state that chamar have taken advantage of reservation is a bit offensive(like chamar's have over exploited it).this is a not a fact and shouldbe changed.Many others such as Marasi's,Nai etc have used reservation too so pls change these lines.

Yes Maurya is one more name of Madiga or Chamar. It is well known fact Chamar collected animal skins. They also collected Peacock feathers and feathers of other birds. A group of chamar who collect this peacock feathers are known as Maurya ( those who collect peacock feather). Hence Chandra Guptha belonged to this group. Chanakya who was against Kshtriya found these group strong enough to fight kshtriya. Simillar thing was done by Shivaji maharaj. He used local dalit to build Maharashtra. It is said that one of the main reason Ashok Maurya was not accepted as Emperor by Kalinga was Kalinga Kshtriya could not tolerate Dalit being their emporer. There still set of Maurya people in north. This caste conflict is one main reason for Chandra Gupta Maurya to convert to Jain and Ashok Maurya to convert to Buddhism

[edit] VALMIKI

Oi lembher is not a chamar, he is 100% Valmiki! YOU NEED TO GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT!!!!!!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.8.139.100 (talk) 00:57, 23 December 2006 (UTC). GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT KAILSH KHER IS A BRAHMIN AND HANS RAJ HANS IS A VALMIKI !!!

Part of original text Chamars are mainly labourers and peasants, some of them are traditionally engaged in professions such as Leatherworking. However, many Chamars living in rural areas have branched out into other occupations such as Weaving. Because of their Dalit status, which was considered to be the lowest in the Indian Caste System, over the centuries, the Chamars have been subjected to discrimination, as a result of which many of them remain poor and backward to this day. Many Chamar families share the same names as families from other castes, this is because they had belonged to those other castes in the past but had fallen down the hierarchy due to poverty or exclusion from the family.

Most of the Chamars in states like Haryana have given up their traditional leather working profession and have now changed their profession to small business, govt. service, medical and engineering services, defence services, and excellence in all walks of life. It is one of the most hard working, honest and progressive caste group.

One example of discrimination against Chamars is cited in an Amar Chitra Katha book concerning Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. According to this source, Vidyasagar and several assistants of his, offered food and provisions to victims of a famine in Bengal. Vidyasagar asked his assistants to distribute oil to Chamar victims with parched skin. However, he noticed that one assistant did his bidding only from a distance. When asked why he could not move closer to the Chamars, the assistant replied, "How can I touch a Chamar?" (Vidyasagar then touched one Chamar and said, "What makes you think you can't?")

Today in India, Chamars are politically organised for their status in the society and these changes really helped them to improve their status. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states of India are examples where this caste is very much more conscious.

CHAMARS IN states like HARYANA, U.P, Rajasthan etc.

Chamars have diffrent gotras at diffrent places. Almost all gotras of chamars in states like Haryana are same to those of Rajputs, Gujjars etc.

Chamars seems to belong to original Kshatriya class which was reduced to lowest status with ill impact of Kaliyuga. As per one theory Chamars belong to the same race as that of Telgu Brahmanas/kshatriyas who established very good empires in ancient India. The leather and weaving busines, however, seems to have attracted a number of people in pursuit of a livelihood.

CHAMARS are spiritually better than most of others. Saint Ravidass (one of famous chamar guru) proved relative superiority of a noble hearted Chamar to that of a Brahmin. The teachings of Saint Ravidass attracted many Rajput Kings, Jats and others who become disciple of His Holiness. Famous Meera Bai is also stated to be the disciple of Chamar Saint Guru Ravidass.

LEATHER BUSINESS AND CHAMARS

The lucrative leather business attracted many people toward it. This probably made the leather industry one of the most important industry alongside cotton textile industry. Chamars were very good experts in making beutiful designs of shoes and cotton cloth. They were known as julaha, chamar-julaha, raigar, jatia etc. etc. Chamars are very good at farming as well as weaving, shoemaking etc. etc. Chamars are one of the most intelligent castes in India but they are not given due importance becouse of their poverty and low social status. Chamars rarely kill any living animal despite being engaged in skinning of dead animals. Chamars can never resort to begging due to which they find it very difficult to demand even their own legitimate wages for their labour in most of the cases. Chamar has never been understood by anyone due to which this talented caste has always been neglected and subjected to a number of prejudices and discriminations. But this only in India, but in countries like France A person like LUIS PASTEUR, who's father was also engaged in leather dyeing job, could become a good researcher.

Of the four varnas, (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra), the Chamars belong to the last category - the Shudras.

They are not Vaishya as stated in the article at present.

[edit] CHAMAR IS NOT A CASTE

chamar is not a caste, its totally related to profession. like farmer is not a caste but a profession there are many kshatriya,brahmin,baniyia doing farming. they are not of same caste and called as farmer caste . so same as this case they are called as different name as jatav,ramdassia,ravidassia etc. so we people have to stop mentioning calling chamar as caste. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.178.69.198 (talk) 10:05, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] B.R. Ambedkar...

...as far as I know, was not a Chamar. Didn't he belong to another community/caste called the Mahars? --Kuaichik (talk) 02:24, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm taking the liberty of removing that claim. It has no reliable sources and was inserted by someone who seems to have done this deliberately. Or am I assuming bad faith due to the edits I've been trying to deal with lately?! Geez, I hope not! --Kuaichik (talk) 02:41, 16 May 2008 (UTC)