What do you mean by evolution of untouchability?
Answers
noun Hinduism. the quality or condition of being an untouchable, ascribed in the Vedic tradition to persons of low caste or to persons excluded from the caste system.
When Aryan influence spread to the South, the Varna system and the “untouchability” came into existence. Thus, the Dalits were among the original tribes of South India, who became isolated from the rest of the world and so were looked down upon by others.
More than 160 million people in India are considered "Untouchable"—people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems them impure, less than human. Human rights abuses against these people, known as Dalits, are legion
There are mainly three causes i.e., racial, religious and social ones to explain the persistence of untouchability in Hindu society.
Racial Factors: One of the fundamental causes of untouchability is the racial consideration. ...
Religious Factors: ...
Social Factors:
Untouchability, in its literal sense, is the practice of ostracising a minority group by segregating them from the mainstream by social custom or legal mandate. The term is most commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit communities in the Indian subcontinent who were considered "polluting", but the term has also been loosely used to refer to other groups, such as the Cagots in Europe, and the Al-Akhdam in Yemen.
Traditionally, the groups characterized as untouchable were those whose occupations and habits of life involved ritually polluting activities, such as fishermen, manual scavengers, sweepers and washermen.
Untouchability has been outlawed in India, Nepal and Pakistan. However, "untouchability" has not been legally defined.[citation needed] The origin of untouchability and its historicity are still debated, but it is believed to have existed at least as far back as 400 CE. A recent study of a sample of households in India concludes that "Notwithstanding the likelihood of under-reporting of the practice of untouchability, 70 percent of the population reported not indulging in this practice. This is an encouraging sign.