Untouchability

Untouchability is the low status of certain social groups confined to menial and despised jobs. It is usually associated with the Hindu caste system, but similar groups exist outside Hinduism, for example the Burakumin in Japan, Blacks in South Africa, and Hutu and Twa of Rwanda. At the beginning of the twenty-first century there were over 160 million untouchables on the Indian subcontinent.

Origins

The earliest of the Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda (10.90.11-12), describes a society divided into four varnas ("colors" or castes): Brahman (poet-priest), Kshatriya (warrior-chief), Vaishya (traders), and Shudras (menials, servants). The four basic divisions of society had their roots in the Vedic era (1500-800 BCE) and assumed definitive form by the sixth century BCE. The idea is further developed in the Laws of Manu (200 BCE-200 CE). The first three varnas are known as the twice-born, all of whom undergo a ceremony in their youth admitting them into high status.

The varna caste division excluded the Untouchables, who were and are below the Shudras in any ranking, despised because they engaged in occupations that were considered unclean and polluting. Untouchable castes became a category as avarnas, without varna, probably sometime after the fourth century CE. The untouchables (ćaṇḍālas) are mentioned in the Upanishads and early Buddhist literature, as a "fifth caste" resulting from the polluting contact of Shudra males and Brahmana females.