Landless is a 2018 Punjabi documentary film by

Randeep Maddoke Randeep Maddoke is a Punjab-based concept photographer and documentary filmmaker, born and raised in the village Maddoke, Moga (Punjab). Randeep, an activist turned photographer, is known for his focus on the pains of the marginalised sectio ...

, a photographer and photojournalist from Punjab, India. This documentary film accounts the problems faced by

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

s and caste-based discrimination in their daily life. It recounts the story of the people who have faced abomination like social boycott, communal attacks by

Jatts The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralism, pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval time ...

( upper caste) in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. The project records the recent disturbances in the state.

Background

The documentary analysis about the caste and class system in Punjab, India. According to the ancient Hindu law book ''

Manusmriti The ''Manusmṛiti'' ( sa, मनुस्मृति), also known as the ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitution among the many ' of Hinduism. In ancient India, the sages often wrote their ...

'', society is divided into four Varnas;

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

Kshatriya Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four Varna (Hinduism), varnas of the Hinduism, Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of caste hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly ...

s and

Shudra Shudra or ''Shoodra'' (Sanskrit: ') is one of the four '' varnas'' of the Hindu caste system and social order in ancient India. Various sources translate it into English as a caste, or alternatively as a social class. Theoretically, class ser ...

s and there are people who don't belongs to these Varnas, they known as Avarnas ( Untouchables). They are considered as sub-humans and are set to do the jobs considered foul and disregarded in a society, like, manual scavenging. They were not allowed get education, to enter the religious buildings, and they were not permitted to use the public spaces as Varnas. The documentary talks about Punjab, where the caste-dynamics is unlike the rest of India due to the establishment of

Sikh religion Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...

in this state in the mid-1500s. The Sikh religion had no space for caste-discrimination in theory, the Gurus preached egalitarianism across all the classes and caste groups and sought for the upliftment of the classes and groups marginalised by Hinduism. This attracted the disregarded groups to Sikhism.

References

{{reflist Indian documentaries Punjabi-language Indian films