Harijans: The Sons of God
They pick up the garbage, sweep the streets, clean the gutters, load and unload the garbage trucks. They are achuta, or the untouchable; members of a particular caste that linger at the very bottom of traditional Hindu community. In India, Mahatma Gandhi gave the name ‘Harijan’ or ‘the son of God’ to this community of untouchable people who work as sweepers and cleaners to the public place of the cities and towns.
In 1853, after the Great Indian Peninsula Rail Company established the first railway system through Indian continent, the British colonial authority lured these untouchables of having better job and facilities in railway stations and provincial government offices in all over the continent. But eventually they were made to do same thing as before as sweeping garbage. Many converted to other religion but still to date the Harijan can be found at large at India, Nepal, Bangladesh and some other countries.
In Bangladesh, the untouchable people have been engaged in cleaning profession by birth. Even as Bangladesh is a Muslim dominated country but the Harijan are not treated with respect. Though, despise their profession, most of them have no other way except being a sweeper as are politically, socially, economically and mentally isolated from the mainstream community. For instance, they cannot eat in restaurants, which are for general people, nor perform rituals with rest of the society and their children are neglected and harassed in school.
Yet this special group of people finds themselves fortune because they believe the isolation helps them to preserve their culture and religion. Their lives are hugely dominated by their religion and they prefer to live in the boundary of their community.
