The Distortion of Ziran: A Comparative Study of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims Against State-Enforced Hierarchies

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines the paradoxical condition of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in India, who face a unique form of structural violence that this study conceptualizes as the "distortion of ziran"-a term borrowed from classical Daoist philosophy denoting spontaneous, authentic selfhood. Drawing on constitutional analysis, judicial rulings, empirical data from the Pew Research Centre (2021), and ethnographic evidence, the article argues that the Presidential Order of 1950 creates a juridical paradox wherein religious conversion to Christianity or Islam results in the simultaneous retention of caste-based social discrimination and the loss of constitutional protections against it. Through comparative analysis of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims, the study demonstrates how state-enforced hierarchies operate through the intersection of religion and caste, producing a condition of "doubled marginalization" for converts. The findings indicate that both communities experience significant caste-based discrimination within their religious communities, including separate places of worship, prohibition of inter-caste marriage, and segregated burial grounds, yet remain excluded from Scheduled Caste benefits. The article concludes by arguing for the decoupling of constitutional protection from religious identity, proposing a framework of "secular caste recognition" that would extend affirmative action benefits to all Dalits regardless of religious affiliation, thereby restoring the authentic selfhood (ziran) that state-enforced hierarchies systematically distort..