Bible studies
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By Rev. Dr Anupama Hial*
Text:
“Come all you who are thirsty, come to the water, and you who have no money. Come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1)
Reflection
As we enter the period of Lent, I would like to lead and connect the message of first verse of the 55th chapter of Isaiah to the situation of people who thirst for water justice with special reference to Indian Dalit women.
India has been recognized as one of the most vulnerable developing countries, particularly with regard to risks related to climate change. Indigenous people and marginalized populations are exposed and are sensitive to climate change impacts due to their resource-based livelihoods and the location of their homes in vulnerable environments. Seventy-five percent of the population depends on agriculture(1), and the agriculture-based seasonal nature of employment in rural areas in India means that communities may not have year-round livelihood options.(2) Accessibility to water has always been a great challenge for the marginalized communities. Most particularly, women are at greater risk mainly because they are the key participants in farming. Two in three women works in an agricultural field.(3) Water plays an essential and substantial role in all aspects of life, especially in environment, agriculture, food production, and food security.
I as a Dalit(4) woman raised up under the mountains, am connected, and deeply rooted with jal, jangle, and zameen, or water, forest, and land). Our lives, livelihood, and rights come from nature. Consequently, climate justice and Indigenous rights very much belong together. As a Dalit woman, I also grew up facing and witnessing lot of instances of untouchability(5) in our neighboring community practiced by the dominant caste people. Although, I lived in a “mission compound” setting, where all the Dalit Christians lived, I remember we had one well in the middle of the compound. That was the only source of water for around 33 families. Every day, women of the family went to fetch water for washing clothes and dishes, and for taking a bath. In the rainy season, the water used to be very muddy and in summer it was not sufficient for all people, because it used to dry out. For much of the year, we faced water scarcity. During such situations, the women from the mission compound would move out with their pots to fetch water from the neighborhood bore well, which would be few meters away. The dominant caste people who lived around the bore well would strongly oppose the women having access to this bore well. One could witness very often verbal fights and altercations and finally through the intervention of some village elderly people—after waiting for hours—we would get some water for our daily needs. After years of voicing the right to have clean drinking water, the government has now initiated the project of having tap water available in every house from a common public water tank. But still there is always the problem of access to water and safe drinking water. And it is women who suffer the most, because household work and raising children require nourishment and sanitation.
B.R.Ambedkar fought for water rights and led the “Mahad Satyagraha” (nonviolent resistance in Mahad, India) in 1927 to allow untouchables to access water in a public tank.(6) Protests by Ambedkar marked a major step concerning social justice and basic rights of Dalit community.(7) The battle of Dalit community remains and movement as such must continue to empower the Dalits to access to basic rights such as the right to water.
Globally, women take most of the responsibilities of the family.(8) In rural India, Dalit women shoulder the burden of collecting water from remote and isolated areas because they are not granted access to the village water resources by the upper caste communities. They must walk long distances to fetch water, which causes many health risks, and many are exposed to physical and sexual violence. Moreover, women and girls are vulnerable to diseases like diarrhea, hepatitis, and bacterial infection by consuming polluted water. It is very common for girls in the rural India to drop out of school mainly because of lack of private toilets and access tp safe water during menstruation. In urban areas, however, some schools have toilet facilities, but the Dalit girls are not allowed to use the toilets and water. In addition,, they are forced to clean the toilet after the school sessions, as the Indian caste system makes Dalits the default sanitation workers. (9) Water is a free gift from God and a basic right but unfortunately it is accessible only to a few categories of people, hence people from many parts of the world thirst for water justice. Yet, the biblical and theological approaches lead us to act for justice.
Isaiah 55 is known as the fourth and final “servant song” and has been a very important invitation from God for those who are in need of water, wine and bread. Isaiah records that God is calling the people of Judah, who needs mercy, and this mercy comes only from God. In other words, it is an invitation to people who are in need of physical and spiritual need. The previous chapters convey the prophetic message of Isaiah. It foreshadows the sacrifice of God’s son Jesus Christ who would give His life on the cross for the world. The same Jesus who was also thirsty and in need of water on the Cross, is in solidarity with people in need of water and food. He identifies with the marginalized people who thirst for justice. It is significant to see God’s emotions in this word of invitation that expresses the full encompass of its emotional connection. Eventually, God feels the emotion, pain, and sorrow over the conditions of disregarded people such as the dalits.
Isaiah 55 has the connotation with the world of people who are thirsty and hungry for justice. In this passage one can see a loud call: “Everyone who thirsts, come to the water.” Thirst is a common human need. Every human being on this earth experiences the desire to quench their physical thirst. Jesus went to the Samaritan woman asking for water. He uses the metaphor of water to point, that leads to eternal life (John 4:14). One needs money to drink and to eat, but for the water that Christ offers, all are welcome to come and drink without money, without cost.
Everyone has a right to water which is a free gift. The United Nations calls to achieve the universal access to water and sanitation for all without any discrimination. Therefore, the water must be available, accessible, affordable, safe, and acceptable to all.(10) In Isaiah and throughout the Bible, God is depicted as the living water. The invitation is to come to this water and find life. The ethical and theological responsibility of the church is to advocate for those who don’t have access to water and help protect water as a life-sustaining resource.
In conclusion, I would like to say that creation is a gift from God (Psalm 19:1-6). It is crucial to decolonize the dominant attitude towards creation and to construct rights-based Indigenous theology which promotes care for creation and motivates people to fight for their rights.
Lent invites us to acknowledge the struggles of Dalit women for water rights and help us to proclaim the true understanding of Jesus’s suffering on the cross, and how he is in union with people denied of their basic rights. This creates the ground of hope for the Dalits and all marginalized in the society. In identifying with the suffering humanity who thirst for justice, one can experience the Cross in our lives and enter into the resurrection- a new life with all its fullness.
Dalit means crushed, broken, downtrodden. Dalits are not part of the fourfold caste system in Indian society. Therefore, they are out caste and socially discriminated community. Dalit women are three times discriminated because of their caste, class, and gender. Dalit women’s experience mostly related to access of water are shaped by their caste and gender.
The word “untouchability” is a term used to describe the evil practices of discrimination which Dalit communities experience daily, because this community is considered as unclean or polluted. Therefore, Dalit people are not allowed to enter Hindu temples or use the same water sources in the village, and are not even allowed in some parts of Hindu houses, like the kitchen and worship rooms.
* Rev. Dr Anupama Hial is a Lutheran pastor from India, currently working as an ecumenical pastor in the Center for Ecumenical Relations-North Church-Worldwide, Germany. She has been working for women’s rights and human rights for a long time.
(1) Zafar Imarn, Climate Change in Indian Farmer’s Protest, New Security Beat: Feb 4, 2021.
(2) Climate change, Migration and social protectionhttps://reliefweb.int/report/india/connecting-dots
(3) https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/cgiar-celebrates-international-womens-day-2021/
(4) Dalit means crushed, broken, downtrodden. Dalits are not part of the fourfold caste system in Indian society. Therefore, they are out caste and socially discriminated community. Dalit women are three times discriminated because of their caste, class, and gender. Dalit women’s experience mostly related to access of water are shaped by their caste and gender.
(5) The word „Untouchability „is a term used to describe the evil practices of discrimination which Dalit community experience daily. Because this community is considered as unclean or polluted. Therefore, Dalit people are not allowed to enter Hindu temples or use same water sources in the village, even not allowed in some parts of Hindu houses, like kitchen and worship rooms.
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahad_Satyagraha#:~:text=Mahad%20Satyagraha%20or%20Chavdar%20Tale,Social%20Empowerment%20day%20in%20India
(7) https://main.sci.gov.in/AMB/mahadsatyagraha.php
(8) Gaelle Ferrant,Luca Maria Pesando, Keiko Nowacka, OECD Development Centre 2024, https://www.oecd.org/dev/development-gender/Unpaid_care_work.pdf
(9) https://www.indiatoday.in/india/karnataka/story/karnataka-school-shivamogga-sc-st-dalit-students-made-to-clean-toilets-principal-suspended-2481616-2023-12-28
(10) https://www.ohchr.org/en/water-and-sanitation
