UNTOUCHABILITY IN INDIA
UNTOUCHABILITY IN INDIA
Untouchability is not unique to India; it was practised in parts of Europe until a few centuries ago, and Japan still has a large number of 'untouchables', called the burakumin. But it is in the Indian sub-continent that this system survives, closely bound with culture, religion, history and contemporary politics. Today over 170 million men, women and children in the India are considered untouchable, and improvement in their lot has been slow despite legal safeguards and government programs
THE INDIAN CASTE SYSTEM
There are four castes in Hindu society and each caste has assigned duties, responsibilities and privileges. The Brahmins are the learned, the Kshatriyas are the warriors, the Vaishyas are the traders, and the Sudras perform menial tasks and physical labour. Brahmins are on the highest rung of the social hierarchy, and Sudras are on the lowest. For thousands of years the relations amongst the castes and their sub-castes have been governed by religious and moral laws - the most influential of them is a compilation called Manu Dharma Sastra or the Manu Smriti, believed to have been written around the beginning of the Common Era.
The Manu Smriti says that the first part of a Brahmin's name should denote something auspicious, that a Kshatriya's name should be connected with power, and that a Vaishya's name should denote wealth. The first part of a Sudra's name should express something contemptible and the second part should denote service and humility, because of the Sudra's low origin. According to Hindu practice, only the upper castes have the right to study the Vedas. The upper castes alone have the right to the thread ceremony which is performed as a rite of passage, allowing them to be termed twice-born.
'If the Sudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the Veda, then his ears should be filled with molten lead and lac; if he utters the Veda, then his tongue should be cut off, if he has mastered the Veda his
Untouchability is not unique to India; it was practised in parts of Europe until a few centuries ago, and Japan still has a large number of 'untouchables', called the burakumin. But it is in the Indian sub-continent that this system survives, closely bound with culture, religion, history and contemporary politics. Today over 170 million men, women and children in the India are considered untouchable, and improvement in their lot has been slow despite legal safeguards and government programs
THE INDIAN CASTE SYSTEM
There are four castes in Hindu society and each caste has assigned duties, responsibilities and privileges. The Brahmins are the learned, the Kshatriyas are the warriors, the Vaishyas are the traders, and the Sudras perform menial tasks and physical labour. Brahmins are on the highest rung of the social hierarchy, and Sudras are on the lowest. For thousands of years the relations amongst the castes and their sub-castes have been governed by religious and moral laws - the most influential of them is a compilation called Manu Dharma Sastra or the Manu Smriti, believed to have been written around the beginning of the Common Era.
The Manu Smriti says that the first part of a Brahmin's name should denote something auspicious, that a Kshatriya's name should be connected with power, and that a Vaishya's name should denote wealth. The first part of a Sudra's name should express something contemptible and the second part should denote service and humility, because of the Sudra's low origin. According to Hindu practice, only the upper castes have the right to study the Vedas. The upper castes alone have the right to the thread ceremony which is performed as a rite of passage, allowing them to be termed twice-born.
'If the Sudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the Veda, then his ears should be filled with molten lead and lac; if he utters the Veda, then his tongue should be cut off, if he has mastered the Veda his