KALIALI DISTRICT, NEPAL – Rame Bhul is 79 years old. He says he will never forget the deep sound of the Panchebaja, traditional Nepali music, playing in the background as his father gave him his first order to carry a heavy load. Most than seven decades ago, Bhul learned that he was a member of the Dalit, or “untouchable” caste and his was to be a life of bonded labor, servitude and torture.
“I carried a bag,” he recalls now of his first assignment. “Father, uncle and [my] brothers were carrying the Doli,” he says. A Doli is a large, wooden palanquin used to carry a bride and groom. “I did not know what was inside.”
Bhul, who was 9 years old at the time, says he did not know that the simple act of carrying that bag was his father’s way of teaching him about his future profession. For the rest of his life, Bhul carried the Doli, without pay, in every wedding and cultural ceremony for the upper caste people of his village who ruled his fate. "After undergoing training for nearly two years, I was declared fit to shoulder the ancestral profession of carrying the Doli," says Bhul, who lives in the Kaliali district, more than 400 miles from Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu.
By age 12, Bhul carried the Doli full time. At first, he says he was proud to take on the family profession. But eventually he realized that he did not have a choice and the Doli tradition was a form of bonded labor.
In the western districts of Nepal, carrying Doli is a traditional profession that has been imposed on lower caste minority people by upper caste communities for centuries. To outsiders, the system resembles slavery, as the men who carry Doli, called the dole, receive no pay and have no say in whether or not they do the work. Doles are forced to continue the work even if they want to go to school or take up another craft. To refuse is to risk assault or torture.
Here, members of the Dalit caste, widely known in Nepal and India as the “untouchable” caste, are forced to carry the Doli in all nine districts of the far western region, often against their will. While the government of Nepal and local nongovernmental organizations have not kept data on the number of Dalits forced to carry Doli, the Dalit community keeps its own statistics of sorts – there are many locally recorded and repeated stories of those who have suffered physical assault and long term torture for refusing to carry on the Doli tradition. But still, many in the Dalit community say the Doli is a tradition and gift from their ancestors. They don’t see a need for change. But anti-slavery advocates say the tradition violates an individual’s right to choose their own profession and earn a living wage. Caste-based slavery was abolished here in 1947, yet the practice has continued. The Quit Doli movement has stalled in recent years, but slowly, local advocates say people here are beginning to see the Doli tradition as one of injustice and servitude.
Physical Assault is Common For Refusing to Carry
Rabindra Gahatraj, 58, of the Baitadi district in western Nepal, is the sole breadwinner of his family. He has four children. When he refused to carry the Doli one day in favor of taking paid work, he was threatened.
"An upper caste youth came to my home early in the morning last year and told me to come on the day of his brother's marriage to carry the Doli. When I told him that I had to plough the field rather than carry the Doli, he threatened to evict my family from the village."
For Balbir Koli the consequences of refusing to the carry the Doli were worse. He was beaten so severely for refusing to carry the Doli at an upper caste family’s wedding that he was bed ridden for a month. His case was registered with the Baitadi District Administration Office and has re-energized the Quit Doli Movement.
Gagane Kami lives in the neighboring district of Doti. Like Koli, he was beaten when he refused to carry the Doli in order to take paying work. Kami says he believes a lack of education is to blame for the fact that this odd tradition continues. He says there are more than 40 houses of Dalit people in his village and not a single one has passed grade five. “They do not know where they have to go to seek justice if they are beaten for refusing to carry Doli,” he says. Kami says the upper caste people in Doti have threatened to close down some of the small businesses where Dalits work in order to ensure they are always available to carry the Doli and assist with their celebrations.
“They threaten to close [our business] if we refuse. How to survive if they do so?” he asks.
Several members of the upper caste community refused to comment for this article.
But the violence often associated with a Dalit refusing to carry the Doli is not new. "I was severely beaten many times for refusing to carry Doli during my time,” said Bhul, whose grey and wrinkled face wrinkles more as he describes how he always hated the job.
Origins of the Doli System
The origins of the Doli tradition remain a mystery here, even to the people who have served it for their entire lives. The tradition exists based on an entirely unwritten rule of community law that forces lower caste people to serve members deemed to hold higher social status. While Juddha Shumsher, the prime minister of Nepal in 1947, declared an end to all caste-based slavery, the practice has continued unmitigated by any legal action.
The strange system that forces men to carry members of higher castes around during celebrations is actually a part of a much larger, more complicated system.
A man comes to carry the Doli in one of three ways. It is widely believed that the land tilled by some Dalits today was given to their families generations ago in exchange for the promise of servitude from future generations. A practice known as baalighar has long forced Dalits to repair shoes and clothes and leather, perform blacksmith work and weave baskets for no pay. Rather, members of the upper caste pay for these services by “paying” in small portions of rice or wheat. Carrying the Doli is a similar unpaid task. Dalits in Nepal have followed the baalighar system since the 13th century when King Jayasthiti Malla formalized the caste system.
Januka Bista, 60, of Kirtipur, employs baalighares to sew her clothes. "Giving grains is the rule of baalighar tradition. We have been giving grains since the time of our forefathers. So we do not give money. I don't feel there is anything wrong in it, " she says.
A Dalit may also come to carry the Doli if a family member was sent away as a part of a wedding dowry. The Brahmin and Chhetri castes often send children of local Dalits to their future in-laws as part of a wedding dowry when marrying off their daughters. It has become a part of the tradition that the same people sent with the dowry have relatives who carry the Doli during the wedding ceremony.
Finally, carrying the Doli can be the result of bonded labor. As most Dalits in the far western districts of Nepal live far below the poverty line, many families take loans from members of the higher castes. In return they are forced to carry the Doli and perform other tasks. In some cases, the debt being worked off belonged to parents or grandparents.
Despite the human rights injustices of the Doli tradition, many Dalits here say it is their duty and responsibility to carry the Doli.
Darpan Tamata says he respects Doli as though it were a god. “Doli is our god. God will punish us if we don’t carry it,” says Tamata, 43. “It has been our profession since generations. We have to continue it. God gets angry if we refuse to carry Doli.”
These beliefs are remnant of a feudal system, says Purna Dayal, a leader in the Quit Doli Movement. “Dalits are being exploited in its name,” she says. But despite her passion, the Quit Doli movement has come in fits and starts here as education and awareness regarding the human rights violations associated with Doli remain unknown to many.
Quit Doli Movement is Stalled, Tradition Continues
Madan Bahadur Chand, assistant professor of political science at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, says the Doli system is a social evil. “This is the remnant of the slavery age. It is the utmost exploitation of human beings.”
A group of Dalits first came together with the goal of ending the Doli tradition in 1979. Dayal says they went from village to village and urged Dalits to unite against the Doli system.
“When we launched the movement some of us were beaten,” says Prem Ram BK of the Baitadi district. “When the Dalits intensified the movement, the system gradually declined.”
But in 2001, Ram says the movement was overshadowed by the heightened violence between Maoists and the then-Royal Nepalese Army, which raged through the western districts. In the years since, the movement has stalled as the Doli tradition thrives.
The new government installed here after the king was ousted in 2008 has asked people not to “practice Doli,” but Nepal has no legal provision to punish the people who force Dalits into any kind of servitude. While the Interim Constitution considers slavery a crime, there are no laws or enforcement measure in place at the national or district levels.
“The government has not enacted any legal provision to punish those who force the poor people to carry Doli,” says Chand, the attorney and professor. "There should be clear legal provisions to abolish this practice."
The National Dalit Network, an organization working to improve the rights of lower caste people in Nepal, is advocating for a new law to abolish all forms of slavery. “The government should make strong law for the abolition of the slavery system. There should be strong legal action against those who force people to practice this system,” says Ganesh BK, chairman of National Dalit Network.
But, as is the case in many nations where forms of modern slavery thrive, laws alone are not enough to abolish slavery. Ganesh BK says most of the country’s Dalit people are illiterate and believe it is their duty to perform acts of service for no pay. He says until local education improves and people find other ways to feed their families, the traditions will remain rooted, regardless of the human rights violation.
Dayal of Quit Doli says she is confident that their movement will find its legs again. “I am sure we will flourish further,” she says.
But as many weddings take place during this time of year, the Doles have been in high demand.
For Bhul, who says he is grateful that he is now too old to carry the Doli, he is not focused on his past hardships, but on eradicating the practice so his grandchildren can be free, get an education and pursue greater opportunities. “I don't care much about the difficulties I faced. My concern is toward my grandchildren. I wish they do not have to carry Doli,” he says. “I am leaving this world soon. Before I die I want to see to it [that] no Dalit people carry Doli in the name of upholding the old tradition imposed by upper caste people."
