Chamar is not a low caste as is believed commonly in India. In reality, they are the protector of Sanatan Dharma who endured the oppression of the Mughals but never renounced own Hindu religion.
You may be surprised to know that the caste which is called Chamar in India is Kshatriya caste of Chawarvansh. Not only this, but this dynasty is also mentioned in the “Discipline festival” of Mahabharata. The Hindus, who made the Hindu Varna system cruel and discriminatory, were the work of foreign invaders!
When Turks ruled India, this Chanwar dynasty ruled in the western part of India in that century, at that time their ruler was Chanwar Sen. The royal family had marital relations with the regime of Bappa Rawal. Rana Sanga and his wife Jhali Rani met Sant Raidasji, who belonged to the Chanwar dynasty, got him installed as the Rajguru of Mewar. He used to pray in the fort of Chittod. Thus in today’s society, those who are called Chamars are not mentioned anywhere in history. Sikander Lodi first used the word chamar to degrade them.
That was the time when the miracles of Hindu Saint Ravidas started growing, and he got popular day by day, and that made Mughal ruler nervous. Ruler of India, Sikandar Lodi sent Sadna Butcher to convert Saint Ravidas to Muslim. He believed that if Saint Ravidas accepted Islam, a large number of Hindus in India would accept Islam.
His plan failed, as Sadna butcher himself lost in debate and could not answer. He got influenced by the devotion and the spirituality of Saint Ravidas. Sadna became his devotee, i.e. Vaishnav (Hindu) and got renamed as Ramdas. Together, both the saints started promoting Hinduism. As a result, Sikander Lodi was angry and used the word “Chamar” for the first time to humiliate their followers.
Sikander Lodi imprisoned Saint Ravidas and punished him in prison. He was made to remove the animal skin to make leather shoes. Different kinds of tortures were inflicted to convert him to accept Islam but Ravidas said, “Vedic Dharma is the greatest, unique and full of true knowledge, then why should I leave it, and read the Quran lies.” I will not quit Vedic Dharma, try a thousand times, even if you remove my body parts using the sword.”
Even after much suffering and torture, Ravidass remained steadfast in Vedic religion, and that prevented his followers from being heretics. Such was great Saints Ravidas who devoted his whole life for the protection of religion and country. Soon the masses of the Chanvar dynasty surrounded Delhi and Sikandar Lodi had to free Saint Ravidas.
Sant Ravidas passed away in Chittor on the day of Chaitra Shukla Chaturdashi Vikram Samvat 1584 on Sunday. He is not amongst us today, but his memory still inspires us to follow his ideals, even today, his life is relevant to society.
We have to keep in mind that the Chamar caste did not exist six hundred years ago. Even after suffering so much. The Hindus of this dynasty did not renounce religion and national interest. In general, Indians rely more on the writings of the Left and the British than their own; they just keep fighting among themselves due to foreigners writings thurst on them. Foreign writers distorted the truth of the Indian way of beliefs and religion. Hindu society should rise above whatever got presented by these historians who licked shoes of powers that be.
The truth is that if Hindu society is living today, it is because of great sacrifice for the heroes of this Chawarvansh( Chamar) dynasty. They who accepted to work lowly, and doing menial work, but did not adopt Islam. At that time, the rule was: one could choose Islam, or embrace death or flee one’s district/state, or one could agree to do what other people did not want to do.
