View source for Untouchability

{{other uses|Untouchable (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Outcaste|other uses of "outcast"|Outcast (disambiguation)}}
{{Short description|Discriminatory practices against certain social groups}}

{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
'''Untouchability''' is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimination are found all over the world, untouchability involving the [[Caste system in India|caste system]] is largely unique to [[South Asia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of untouchability {{!}} Dictionary.com |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/untouchability |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128033833/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/untouchability |archive-date=28 November 2020 |access-date=28 February 2021 |website=www.dictionary.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shah |first1=Ghanshyam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IFjDwAAQBAJ |title=Untouchability in Rural India |last2=Mander |first2=Harsh |last3=Thorat |first3=Sukhadeo |last4=Deshpande |first4=Satish |last5=Baviskar |first5=Amita |date=7 August 2006 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications|SAGE Publishing India]] |isbn=978-93-5280-564-8 |pages=19 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Teltumbde |first=Anand |title=MAHAD the making of the first dalit revolt. |date=2022 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-000-78061-1 |location=[S.l.] |pages=15 |oclc=1334333041}}</ref>

The term is most commonly associated with treatment of the [[Dalit]] communities in the [[Indian subcontinent]] who were considered "polluting". The term has also been used to refer to other groups, including the ''[[Burakumin]]'' of Japan, the [[Baekjeong]] of Korea, and the [[Social class in Tibet#Ragyabpa|Ragyabpa]] of Tibet, as well as the [[Romani people]] and [[Cagot]] in Europe, and the [[Al-Akhdam]] in [[Yemen]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Herbert |last=Passin |title=Untouchability in the Far East |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |date=1955 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=247–267 |doi=10.2307/2382914 |jstor=2382914}}</ref><ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Sean |date=28 July 2008 |title=The Last Untouchable in Europe |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-last-untouchable-in-europe-878705.html |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |access-date=28 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112024608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/last-untouchable-europe-878705.html |archive-date=12 January 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Traditionally, the groups characterized as untouchable were those whose occupations and habits of life involved ritually "polluting" activities, such as pursuing a career based on killing (e.g. fishermen) or engaging in common contact with others' feces or sweat (e.g. [[Manual scavenging|manual scavengers]], sweepers and washermen).<ref>{{cite web |title=Untouchable – Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/untouchable}}</ref>

According to Patrick Olivelle’s interpretation of some of the religious [[Hindus|Hindu]] texts, untouchables were not considered a part of the [[varna in Hinduism|varna]] system. Therefore, they were not treated like the [[Varna (Hinduism)|savarna]]s ([[Brahmin]]s, [[Kshatriya]]s, [[Vaishya]]s and [[Shudra]]s).<ref name="Olivelle" />

Due to many caste-based discriminations in [[Nepal]], the government of Nepal legally abolished the [[Caste system in Nepal|caste-system]] and criminalized any caste-based discrimination, including "untouchability", in 1963.<ref>{{cite news |first=Lekhanath Pandey |last=Kathmandu |work=[[Deutsche Welle]] |title=Nepal: Deadly caste-based attacks spur outcry over social discrimination |date=16 June 2020 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/nepal-deadly-caste-based-attacks-spur-outcry-over-social-discrimination/a-53827719 |access-date=28 February 2021 |language=en-GB |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430170145/https://www.dw.com/en/nepal-deadly-caste-based-attacks-spur-outcry-over-social-discrimination/a-53827719 |archive-date=30 April 2023}}</ref> 

Untouchability has been outlawed in India, Nepal and Pakistan. However, "untouchability" has not been legally defined.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} The origin of untouchability and its historicity are still debated. A 2020 study of a sample of households in India concludes that "Notwithstanding the likelihood of under-reporting of the practice of untouchability, 70 percent of the population reported not indulging in this practice. This is an encouraging sign."<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Continuing Practice of Untouchability in India: Patterns and Mitigating Influences |url=https://socy.umd.edu/sites/socy.umd.edu/files/pubs/Thorat%20and%20Joshi%202019_The%20Continuning%20Practice%20of%20Untouchability%20in%20India.pdf |journal=Economic & Political Weekly |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=37 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610192808/https://socy.umd.edu/sites/socy.umd.edu/files/pubs/Thorat%20and%20Joshi%202019_The%20Continuning%20Practice%20of%20Untouchability%20in%20India.pdf |archive-date=10 June 2024}}</ref>

== Origin ==
[[File:Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in a group photograph with the leaders and activists of the &#039;All India Untouchable Women&#039;s Conference&#039; held at Nagpur in 1942.jpg|thumb|[[B. R. Ambedkar]] with the leaders and activists of the All India Untouchable Women Conference held at Nagpur in 1942]]

[[B. R. Ambedkar]], an Indian social reformer and politician who came from a social group that was considered untouchable, theorized that untouchability originated because of the deliberate policy of the [[Brahmins]]. According to him, the Brahmanas despised the people who gave up the [[Vedic Brahmanism|Brahmanism]] in favour of [[Buddhism]]. Later scholars such as Vivekanand Jha have refuted this theory.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=218}}

Nripendra Kumar Dutt, a professor of history, theorized that the concept of untouchability originated from the "[[outcast (person)|pariah]]"-like treatment accorded to the [[adivasi|indigenous people]] of India by the early [[Dravidian people|Dravidians]], and that the concept was borrowed by the [[Indo-Aryans]] from the Dravidians. Scholars such as [[Ram Sharan Sharma|R. S. Sharma]] have rejected this theory, arguing that there is no evidence that Dravidians practised untouchability before coming into contact with the Indo-Aryans.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=218}}

Austrian ethnologist [[Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf]] theorized that untouchability originated as [[class stratification]] in urban areas of the [[Indus Valley civilisation]]. According to this theory, the poorer workers involved in 'unclean' occupations such as [[street sweeper|sweeping]] or [[leather work]] were historically segregated and banished outside the city limits. Over time, personal cleanliness came to be identified with "purity", and the concept of untouchability eventually spread to rural areas as well. After the decline of the Indus Valley towns, these untouchables probably spread to other parts of India.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=219}} Scholars such as [[Suvira Jaiswal]] reject this theory, arguing that it lacks evidence, and does not explain why the concept of untouchability is more pronounced in rural areas.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|pp=219–220}}

American scholar [[George L. Hart]], based on his interpretation of [[Old Tamil language|Old Tamil]] texts such as ''[[Purananuru]]'', traced the origin of untouchability to ancient [[Tamilakam|Tamil]] society. According to him, in this society, certain occupational groups were thought to be involved in controlling the malevolent supernatural forces; as an example, Hart mentions the [[Paraiyar]]s, who played the drums during battles and solemn events such as births and deaths. People from these occupational groups came to be avoided by others, who believed that they were "dangerous and had the power to pollute the others".{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=220}} Jaiswal dismisses the evidence produced by Hart as "extremely weak" and contradictory. Jaiswal points out that the authors of the ancient Tamil texts included several Brahmanas (a fact accepted by Hart); thus, the society described in these texts was already under [[Brahmin|Brahmanical]] influence, and could have borrowed the concept of untouchability from them.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|pp=221–222}}

British anthropologist [[John Henry Hutton]] traced the origin of untouchability to the taboo on accepting food cooked by a person from a different caste. This taboo presumably originated because of cleanliness concerns, and ultimately, led to other prejudices such as the taboo on marrying outside one's caste. Jaiswal argues that this theory cannot explain how various social groups were isolated as untouchable or accorded a social rank.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=223}} Jaiswal also notes that several passages from the ancient Vedic texts indicate that there was no taboo against accepting food from people belonging to a different [[varna in Hinduism|varna]] or [[Rigvedic tribes|tribe]]. For example, some [[Śrauta#Śrauta Sutras|Shrauta Sutras]] mandate that a performer of the Vishvajit [[yajna|sacrifice]] must live with the [[Nishada]]s (a tribe regarded as untouchable in later period) for three days, in their village, and eat their food.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=224}}

Scholars such as Suvira Jaiswal, R. S. Sharma, and Vivekanand Jha characterize untouchability as a relatively later development after the establishment of the varna and caste system.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|pp=225–227}} Jha notes that the earliest Vedic text ''[[Rigveda]]'' makes no mention of untouchability, and even the later Vedic texts, which revile certain groups such as the [[Chandala]]s, do not suggest that untouchability existed in the contemporary society. According to Jha, in the later period, several groups began to be characterized as untouchable, a development which reached its peak during 600–1200 AD. Sharma theorizes that institution of untouchability arose when the aboriginal tribes with "low material culture" and "uncertain means of livelihood" came to be regarded as impure by the privileged classes who despised manual labour, and regarded associated impurity with "certain material objects".{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=226}} According to Jaiswal, when the members of aboriginal groups were assimilated into the Brahmanical society, the privileged among them may have tried to assert their higher status by disassociating themselves from their lower-status counterparts, who were gradually branded as untouchables.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=227}}

According to the [[Dharmashastras]] which are ancient legal codes from various kingdoms in ancient India, certain peoples grouped either by ethnicity or profession were not considered a part of the [[varna in Hinduism|varna]] based society. Therefore, they were not treated like the [[Varna (Hinduism)|savarna]]s ([[Brahmin]]s, [[Kshatriya]]s, [[Vaishya]]s and [[Shudra]]s).<ref name="Olivelle">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dharmasutrasthelawcodesofancientindiapatrickolivelleoup_202003_809_K |title=Dharmasutras The Law Codes Of Ancient India |first=Patrick |last=Olivelle |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |via=archive.org |language=en |access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
[[File:The races of man, figure 126 Group of Paniyan men and children of Malabar (IA deniofmanoutlinraces00rich).png|thumb|350px|People regarded as "untouchables" in [[Malabar (Northern Kerala)|Malabar]], [[Kerala]] (1906 [[Anno Domini|A.D.]])]]
According to [[Sarah Pinto]], an anthropologist, modern untouchability in India applies to people whose work relates to "meat, and bodily fluids".<ref>{{cite book |title=Where There Is No Midwife: Birth and Loss in Rural India |first=Sarah |last=Pinto |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-85745-448-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5V-_NssEMSsC&pg=PA47 |page=47}}</ref> Based on the punishments prescribed in The Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955 the following practices could be understood to have been associated with Untouchability in India:
*Prohibition from eating with other members
*Provision of separate cups in village tea stalls
*Separate seating arrangements and utensils in restaurants
*Segregation in seating and food arrangements at village functions and festivals
*Prohibition from entering places of public worship
*Prohibition from wearing sandals or holding umbrellas in front of higher caste members
*Prohibition from entering other caste homes
*Prohibition from using common village paths
*Separate burial/cremation grounds
*Prohibition from accessing common/public properties and resources (wells, ponds, temples, etc.)
*Segregation (separate seating area) of children in schools
*[[Bonded labour]]
*Social boycotts by other castes for refusing to perform their "duties"<ref>https://www.indiacelebrating.com/social-issues/untouchability-in-india</ref>

==Government action in India==
{{Politics of India}} 
India is home to over 200 million [[Dalit]]s.<ref>{{cite news |title=India top court recalls controversial caste order |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49889815 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116032435/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-49889815 |archive-date=16 January 2023}}</ref> At the time of Indian independence, Dalit activists began calling for [[Reserved political positions in India|separate electorates]] for untouchables in India to allow fair representation. Officially labeled the Minorities Act, it would guarantee representation for [[Sikhs]], [[Muslims]], [[Christians]], and Untouchables in the newly formed Indian government. The Act was supported by British representatives such as [[Ramsay MacDonald]]. According to the textbook ''Religions in the Modern World'', [[B. R. Ambedkar]], who was also a supporter of the Act, was considered to be the "untouchable leader" who made great efforts to eliminate caste system privileges that included participation in public festivals, access to temples, and wedding rituals. In 1932, Ambedkar proposed that the untouchables create a separate electorate that ultimately led [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]] to fast until it was rejected.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=David |date=2016 |editor1-last=Woodhead |editor1-first=Linda |editor2-last=Partridge |editor2-first=Christopher |editor3-last=Kawanami |editor3-first=Hiroko |title=Hinduism |location=New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=38–40}}</ref>

A separation within [[Hindu]] society was opposed by national leaders at the time such as Gandhi, although he took no exception to the demands of the other minorities. He began a [[hunger strike]], citing that such a separation would create an unhealthy divide within the religion. At the [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Round Table Conferences]], he provided this explanation for his reasoning:<blockquote>I don't mind untouchables if they so desire, being converted to Islam or Christianity. I should tolerate that, but I cannot possibly tolerate what is in store for Hinduism if there are two divisions set forth in the villages. Those who speak of the political rights of the untouchables don't know their India, don't know how Indian society is today constituted and therefore I want to say with all the emphasis that I can command that if I was the only person to resist this thing that I would resist it with my life.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Ravinder |title=Gandhi, Ambedkar and the Poona pact, 1932 |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |volume=8 |number=1–2 |date=1985 |pages=87–101|doi=10.1080/00856408508723068 }}</ref></blockquote>Gandhi achieved some success through his hunger strike however Dalit activists faced pressure from the Hindu population at large to end his protest at the risk of his ailing health. The two sides eventually came to a compromise where the number of guaranteed seats for Untouchables would be increased at both central and provincial levels, but there would be a common electorate.

The 1950 national [[constitution of India]] legally abolished the practice of untouchability and provided measures for [[affirmative action]] in both educational institutions and public services for Dalits and other social groups who lie within the caste system. These are supplemented by official bodies such as the [[Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes|National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes]]. Despite this, prejudice, discrimination, segregation, and violence, based on untouchability, is still prevalent across India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 June 2019 |title=What is India's caste system? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616 |website=[[BBC]]}}</ref>

== Instances ==
* '''Brittany''': [[Caquins of Brittany|Caquins]]
* '''China''': [[Tanka people]]
* '''Europe''': [[Romani people]]
* '''France''' and '''Spain''': [[Cagot]]s were historically untouchable groups of [[France]] and [[Spain]].<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>
* '''India''': [[Dalit|Dalits]]
* '''Japan''': [[Burakumin]]
* '''Korea''': [[Baekjeong]] in Korea were an "untouchable" group of Korea who traditionally performed jobs of executioner and butcher.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/252782 |title=Untouchables of Korea or: How to Discriminate the Illusive Paekjong? |first=Ruthie |last=Kotek |website=www.academia.edu}}</ref>
* '''Nigeria''': [[Ohuhu people|Ohuhu]] and [[Osu caste system|Osu]]
* '''Somalia''': [[Somali clans#Clans and sub-clans|lower class Somali clans]]
* '''Tibet''': [[Social class in Tibet#Ragyabpa|Ragyabpa]]
* '''Yemen''': [[Al-Akhdam]]

== See also ==
* [[Affirmative action]]
* [[Caste system in India]]
* [[Discrimination]]
* ''[[Homo sacer]]''
* [[Outcast (person)]]
* [[Prejudice]]
* [[Shudra]]
* [[Slavery]]
* [[Underclass]]
* [[Varna (Hinduism)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{ref begin}}
* Paik, Shailaja. "The rise of new Dalit women in Indian historiography." ''History Compass'' 16.10 (2018): e12491. [https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hic3.12491 online]
* {{cite journal |author=Suvira Jaiswal |author-link=Suvira Jaiswal |title=Some Recent Theories of the Origin of Untouchability; A Historiographical Assessment |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=39 |number=I |year=1978 |pages=218–229 |jstor=44139355}}
{{ref end}}

{{Social class}}
{{Conformity}}
{{Discrimination}}

[[Category:Persecution]]
[[Category:Caste]]
[[Category:Caste system in India]]