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Book No. – 19 (Sociology)
Book Name – Social Background of Indian Nationalism (A.R. Desai)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. Untouchability, Inhuman Institution of Hindu Society
2. Depressed Classes, their strength
3. Movements to Ameliorate their Conditions
4. “Neutrality” Policy of Britain, its Criticism
5. Impact of New Economic Forces
6. Impact of Modern Education
7. Impact of Nationalist Movement
8. Prerequisites of Abolishing Untouchability
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Crusade Against Untouchability
Chapter – 15
Table of Contents
Untouchability, Inhuman Institution of Hindu Society
- The social organization of Hindus inherited from the pre-British period had many oppressive and undemocraticfeatures.
- The untouchables were segregated, denied basic rights like entry to public temples or the use of public wells and tanks.
- The untouchable’s touch was considered to contaminate higher castes, constituting a highly inhumane form of oppression.
- Untouchables were the outcastes of Hindu society, despite being part of it, and were the proscribed section of society.
- Untouchability originated from the Aryan conquest of India, with the most backward and despised indigenous people becoming the hereditary caste of untouchables.
- Untouchability persisted for centuries, with reform movements by figures like Buddha, Ramanuja, Ramanand, Chaitanya, Kabir, Guru Nanak, and Tukaram hardly affecting it.
- Untouchability was sanctioned by religion and tradition, making it a deeply entrenched institution.
- Hindu society had one of the most hierarchically graded societies, with extreme inequalities of rights and social privileges.
- The untouchables were assigned low-status functions such as scavengers, removers of dead cattle, and were legally barred from other professions.
- Draconian laws punished untouchables who resisted their conditions, including banning them from studying, entering temples, or using public resources.
- An untouchable was punished more severely than a caste Hindu for the same crime.
- The social oppression of untouchables had religious sanction, which entrenched the practice.
- Untouchability humiliated and crushed human dignity to the highest degree.
- The elimination of untouchability became a key issue for all social reform movements in India.
- Various reformers, despite differing motives, recognized untouchability as an institution to be destroyed.
- Despite strong opposition from the orthodox Hindu community, the tendency was towards the increasing elimination of untouchability.