Question

essay of untouchabilit is a social evil?

Answer 1

Untouchability is a very old concept. The problem of untouchability is a serious social malady in the Indian society. The notion of pollution, defilement and contamination has resulted in the worst evil of Hindu society termed as untouchability. Of course, the oppression and exploitation of the backward sections has always been a social phenomenon in all civilizations, except, perhaps, the communistic.

In ancient Egypt and Babylonia there were instances of slavery and it is believed that the great pyramids were built by the slave labour. In Rome, there were the plebeians. In Sparta, there were Helots and the Perioeci. But, the untouchables in India who remained in the state of total suppression and abject destitution, prior to the operation of the present Constitution, are unparalled, perhaps, in human history.

Ghurye believed that, prior to 800 B.C., the idea of ceremonial purity almost existed full-fledged and was operative in relation to not only the despised and degraded ‘chandals’ but also to the sudras who constituted the fourth order of Hindu society. But B.R. Ambedkar is of the opinion that while the impure as a class came into existence at the time of the Dharma sutras, the untouchables came into being much later than 400 A.D. He, however, said that the untouchables do not belong to a race different from the Aryan and the Dravidian. The Brahmins and the untouchables belong to the same race.

The Government of India prepared a list of 429 untouchable castes consisting of a population over 5 crores in 1935, for providing special facilities to them. In the list of castes, ‘Chandala’ figures in Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Rajasthan, ‘Holeya’ and ‘Madiga’ in Karnataka; ‘Namasudra’ in Assam and West Bengal; ‘Dom’ in Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, U.P and Bengal.