Untouchability- Forms and Perspectives | Sociology Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Untouchability: Forms and Perspectives

• The evil practice of untouchability has been a universal phenomenon throughout Indian society. There has been no period after Aryan arrival which has not experienced this evil. Social rules and regulations concerning this practice also vary from one region to another which prohibits the formulation of a comprehensive and logical definition. Untouchability and perpetual segregation has been the product of the traditional Hindu organisation of our society. The traditional Hindu social order was divided into four Varnas. Each Varna was divided into several castes and sub castes or jatis. The composition of the Hindu population into Brahmi ns, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudras was based on valuational and existential inequality. Thus, the Brahmins were not only ritually superior to the Shudras but also in the spheres of existential conditions such as distribution of power and property relations . They enjoyed much more power and economic security than the Shudras.
• In this hierarchical  arrangement however,  the untouchables  or the scheduled castes were the most degraded bottom layer. They were considered as out-castes insofar as they were out of the traditional fourfold Varna system. It was so despite the fact that the untouchables have always been an inseparable part of our society both in terms of ritualistic (value based) and existential functioning of the system itself. It is a matter of fact that almost all ritual functions of a Hindu family require service of the untouchable castes. Services of the untouchables are essential at the time of the birth of a child, in marriages and in the rites de passage. Similarly, in the organization of agricultural production the scheduled castes still constitute the largest section of the working population in rural India. That is why M.N. Srinivas considers them as constituting the fifth order in the traditional Hindu social organization. This contradiction has resulted in the perpetual segregation of the scheduled castes from the rest of the Hindu population both in the spheres of value and existential conditions of life. But before embarking upon a discussion of such types of segregation, a broad outline about the untouchables must be given.
• The untouchables had because of their low social and ritual status, been subject to a variety of disabilities under the traditional system. Many terms have been used for this category in the earlier literature such as antyaja, panchama and chandala. The word Harijan (children of God) was given currency by Mahatma Gandhi. The expressions, depressed classes and exterior castes were commonly used before 1930. But since the passage of the Government of India Act of 1935, they have been referred to as scheduled castes. The many untouchable castes in different parts of the country were listed in a separate schedule in the Act and this practice was continued in the Constitution of India, 1950. The list of scheduled castes can be altered only by the President of India.
• The untouchables comprise an aggregate of many castes which differ widely, from each other. A few of these, such as Chamars, are greater in terms of population than the others. In all, the untouchables constitute almost fifteen per cent of the total Indian population. They are not concentrated in any particular geographical region, but are found in every state and almost all districts. However, each region has its characteristics component of Harijan castes which are generally different from those of other regions. The better known untouchable castes include Palla, Paraiya (Tamil Nadu), Mala, Madiga (Andhra Pradesh), Mahar (Maharashtra), Chamar, Bhangi (Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar), Cheruman, Pulayan ( Kerala), Holiya (Mysore) and Bagdi (West Bengal). The untouchables reside more in the rural areas. Only 10.7 per cent of the population resides in the urban centres.

Untouchability and Cultural Segregation

• At one point of time, it was believed that the cleavages between the untouchables and the rest-of-the Hindu population had a clear racial basis. But anthropometric investigations have shown that there is very little substance in this belief. The fact of the matter is that such differences existed largely owing to cultural, religious or valuational matters along with material disparities.
• As emphasized in the beginning the caste system provided the organizational basis of traditional Hindu society. Despite many recent changes the caste system still plays an important role in contemporary India. Each caste or sub caste has been associated with one or more traditional occupations and related to the others by means of an elaborate division of labour. Each caste pursues within limits its own style of life with distinct customs in the matter of dress, diet, rituals etc. In traditional Hindu society there were legal and ritual sanctions which prevented lower castes from imitating the styles of life of the upper castes.
  
  Upper caste children refused to eat midday meal cooked by a Dalit in 2017
• Differences in styles of life were most sharply drawn between Brahmins and the untouchables. Similarly, sanctions against the imitation of the style of life of the upper castes have been applied most forcefully to the untouchables. According to Beteille, in South India until recently, Harijans were prevented from living in brick and tile houses and wearing upper garment or garments made of silk. Such rules appear to have been less elaborate in nature and less strictly enforced in North India.
• The social identity of the untouchables is marked further by the fact that they generally reside at a distance from the main village settlement. In-the opinion of Beteille, this segregation also is more marked in the case-of South instead of North India. In Tamil Nadu, Harijan settlement is known as cheri. It is generally found among paddy fields and situated at a distance of around half a mile or a mile away from the main village settlement. The cheri is considered as being ritually polluting.
• Therefore, no orthodox Brahmin would enter it. Residential segregation, however, is less strictly enforced in the urban areas. But in the case of urban centres too, the untouchables tend to reside together.
• The untouchables have traditionally been engaged in manual work-in the rural areas they still constitute the larger section of working force. Many sections of these Harijan workers are associated with different types of specialized traditional works. These are scavenging leather-work (flaying and tanning), making shoes, etc. In the popular mind, much of the stigma attached to the untouchables (and untouchability) is associated with the very nature of the work they perform. Sometimes even serious scholarly investigations related the polluting ritual status of the untouchables with the so called polluting work they have traditionally been engaged in. The French sociologist Louis Dumont (1970) has emphatically highlighted this relationship in his well known work Homo Hierarchicus.
• Apart from occupation, there are some other elements in the life style of the untouchables which are considered polluting in the traditional Hindu cultural value system. Foremost among these are the ones which are related to their diet. In Sanskritic Hinduism, various items of food and drink are graded in terms of pollution and purity. The status of a caste is closely related to the food habits of its members. Generally, meat eating is ranked rather low. The untouchables not only consume meat but particular kinds of meat which are considered unclean. Among untouchables, those  who eat beef are assigned the lowest social rank. It is primarily because of the fact that cow slaughter is tabooed in the Hindu religion. Eating beef really amounts to eating carrion and even if an untouchable caste abandons beef eating, it rarely succeeds in freeing itself completely from its traditional stigma.
• Lastly, the religious practices of the untouchables are markedly different from those of the upper caste Hindus. In the religious system of the untouchables, Sanskritic elements occupy a minor position. This is largely became of the fact that the untouchables have traditionally not be admitted to the Hindu temples and have been denied the services of the Brahmin priests. That is why their worship centres largely around local deities, and demons are propitiated by sacrifice and non Sanskritic rites. Having briefly gone over the innings of untouchability, it is now time to consider the various measures to eradicate this practice.
• Despite all governmental efforts and various programmes started by government-to bring the untouchables in the mainstream of society, the Harijans continue to be economically and educationally backward. A large proportion of them are agricultural labourers. And as for those among them who own land, it is well known that the bulk of them have such small holdings that their condition is hardly better than that of agricultural labour. Policy makers, planners and social workers in India are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that substantial improvements in the living conditions  of the scheduled castes can hardly  be brought by legislative and executive action alone. Constitutional and other guarantees will have very little meaning so long as these untouchables remain segregated and poor, illiterate and unorganized. In spite of the protective policies of the government, the advance of the untouchables is often blocked by stubborn social forces, which are firmly entrenched in the economic and political systems of the country. Also a long tradition of oppression and servitude makes it difficult for untouchables to develop in a short time the confidence which they require to respond positively to governmental programmes.

Social Reform Movements against Untouchability

Social reform movements to eradicate untouchability can be classified into two kinds:

• Reformative Movements
• Alternative Movements

Reformative Movements try to reform the caste system to solve the problem of untouchability. The alternative movements attempt to create an alternative socio cultural structure by conversion to some other religion or by acquiring education, improving economic  status and political power. Both types of movement use political means to attain their objectives.
The reformative movements can be further divided into: 

1. Sanskritisation
2. Bhakti movement
3. Neo-Vedantic movement.
   • Sanskritisation is an integral part of the reformative movements. This process involves the adoption of norms and values of the upper level of the hierarchical caste structure. The underlying rationale of these imitative movements was that if untouchables accepted the norms and values of upper castes, their status, would improve. The motivation for change was status mobility. Such movements often appealed to the scheduled castes and tribes to abstain from consumption of meat and liquor, to abolish idol worship, etc. Some of these movements aimed to create new myths and symbols to establish their superior origin.
   • This channel of social mobility had two constraints. Firstly, the upper strata had to permit or at least tolerate these groups imitating their names and values, and secondly, the untouchables had to be psychologically prepared to attempt the transformation as well as to suffer penalties for their behaviour change. In short, the Sanskritisation process tried to justify low caste claim to a higher social status in the caste hierarchy by inventing suitable mythologies.
   • All untouchable jatis, however, have not succeeded in removing civic disabilities traditionally imposed upon them. Thus, given the hierarchical nature of the system, the clean castes invariably resisted the attempt by scheduled castes to sanskritise. Sanskritisation led to group mobility; fission and fusions based on new identities leading to formation of new castes and sects occurred simultaneously. Admittedly the change which took place was reformist rather than structural in character.
   • The other reformist movement like Bhakti and neo-Vedantic movement were also not confined to scheduled castes. They were initiated by Hindu religious and social reformers. These movements attempted to remove untouchability by taking the untouchables into the fold of the caste system. According to the pioneers of these movements, untouchability was not an essential part of Hinduism and for that matter, of the caste system. What must be noted is that none of these reformist movements actually challenged the caste system; rather they tried to make it more humane. Untouchability was considered an evil, but no questions were posed regarding the validity of the caste system itself.

Alternative movements

 These can be further divided into:
1. Conversion movement
2. Secular movement.

• Conversion Movements aim to create a counter-culture to dominant Hinduism and to improve the social and economic conditions of the converts. As in the case of Sanskritisation, conversion was also often a group phenomenon and the converts came to assume the attributes of a Jati. The proportion of the scheduled castes converted to other faiths,  seems to be negligible except in some parts of the country. Given the policy of protective discrimination, the statutory status of the scheduled castes is a significant factor in their socio-economic development and political representation.
  This situation dissuades this category form embracing non Hindu faiths. But this is not to deny that occasional instances of conversion have taken place especially in the case of conversion to Buddhism. In the early fifties, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who felt that Buddhism was appropriate as an alternative religion for the untouchables encouraged thousands of Mahars (an untouchable community of Maharashtra) to undergo mass conversion.
  Dr. B.R. Ambedkar preferred  Buddhism primarily because it is an indigenous Indian religion of equality, a religion which was anti -caste and anti-Brahmin. Ambedkar had earlier tried to improve the lot of the untouchables within the Hindu fold itself. The resistance to his attempts made him so disgusted, that he preferred to reject the Hindu religion altogether and embrace a more humane alternative.
• Secular Movement refers to attempts made by untouchables to claim a better status for themselves by acquiring education, improving their standard of living and trying to carve a niche for themselves in the political structure.
  The work of Dr. Ambedkar must once again be cited in this connection. As you probably know, Ambedkar was one of the first untouchables who acquired a higher education. He did his M.A. and PhD in America and England and became a Barrister in law. He made sure fellow untouchables could also avail of education and improve their life chances. He urged them to give up practices like eating carrion which branded them as unclean. With the passage of time, a number of untouchables were to improve their status in the secular aspects of life. They also became politically awakened and demanded their rights as citizens.
  

State Action

• This refers to legislative and administrative measures undertaken for the betterment of these categories. The Constitution of India provides for a number of protective measures for the welfare of the scheduled castes. Prominent aspects of state measures are:
  (i) representation in the parliament and. state legislatures,
  (ii) representation in the central and state services,
  (iii) special provisions for social, educational and economic development,
  (iv) banning of traffic in human being s and forced labour,
  (v) abolition of the practice of untouchability,
  (vi) the development of the scheduled castes and tribal areas, and
  (vii) appointment of a special officer to investigate all matters relating the safeguards provided for the scheduled castes and so forth.
• Reservation in legislative bodies: one major aspect of state action was reservation in legislative bodies. Given the uneven development of the different categories of the population and given the competitive nature of politics, it is necessary to make special provisions for the representation of the weaker sections. This is articulated in the form of reservations of seats in the parliament for the weaker sections.
• With the introduction of Panchayati Raj (local self government institutions), systematic efforts have been made to give representation to the scheduled castes and tribes in all statutory bodies at the local level: village panchayats, Panchayat samitis etc. It is difficult to say, however, how effective these inductions are in the light of whether they really enable there groups to participate in the decision making process, particularly at the local level. In systems characterized by considerable disparity in wealth and status, dispersal of power through constitutional provisions is not likely to make the expected dent. However, it is an important beginning.

Political Action

• Another important source of change among the scheduled castes is political action, initiated by political parties through the process of mobilization. India has a multiparty system and  it is legitimate to expect some amount of dispersal of politicians belonging to Scheduled Castes into the different parties. There are several parties which are exclusively concerned with scheduled castes etc. only.
  

  BSP's Mayawati has used evocative slogans to connect with the Dalit masses.
  Such as 'Chamari hu, Kunwari hu, Tumhari hu !' and 'Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar; Inko maro jute char !'

• Ambedkar formed the Independent Labour Party and Scheduled Castes Federation, and there are a number of scheduled castes’ organizations at regional level. Republican Party of India emanated from Ambedkar's All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1957. It accepts the basic tenets of the India Constitution, and aims to pursue these objectives through parliamentary democracy only. The other party which  is more militant  than  RPI is Dalit  Panthers. It  grew out  of a literary movement led by radical and young scheduled caste writers, depicting the life and conditions of these groups which developed in Maharashtra. The Dalit Panthers recognized that conversion to another religion and voluntary disengagement from Hinduism will not assure them a higher status in a caste ridden society. They continue to draw inspiration from Ambedkar, though part of their ideology is drawn from Marxism, which give them a broader orientation.
• The  most   successful  political  experiment   of  the  scheduled  castes  since independence has been the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). BSP was founded on the birth anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (i.e. 14 April 1984) by Kanshi Ram. The party is inspired by the philosophy of Gautama Buddha, B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Narayana Guru, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj.
• The BSP's primary focus is on the uplifting of the nation's underprivileged groups. Its ideology is “Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation” of the Bahujan Samaj. The Bahujan Samaj includes the downtrodden groups in India like the SCs, the STs and the OBCs. It also includes religious minorities like Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists. BSP sees these groups as having been victims of the Manuwadi system for millennia, a system which benefited upper-caste Hindus only. BSP believes in egalitarianism and lays a strong emphasis on social justice.
• Lesser known figures from the Indian Rebellion of 1857, such as Chetram Jatav ( a Dalit), have been used as Dalit icons by the BSP. The social scientist Badri Narayan Tiwari has noted that “Dalit intellectuals supported by BSP, which is trying to mobilise grassroots Dalits using local heroes, histories, myths and legends found a wealth of resources in the oral history of the regions of Uttar Pradesh centering around the 1857 rebellion.
• The political strategy of the party is to tell and retell the stories of these heroes, build memorials and organize celebrations around their stories repeatedly to build a collective memory in the psyche of the people. The stories are narrated in such a manner that the Dalits imagine the story of the making of this nation in which they played a significant role.”
• BSP leader Mayawati became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh four times, including based on absolute majority of her party from 2007 to 2012. BSP was the third most voted-for party in the 2014 general elections but still failed to win any seats in the 16th Lok Sabha. In 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, BSP was second largest party in terms of vote share with over 22% votes.