Editing Untouchability (section)

== Origin ==
[[File:Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in a group photograph with the leaders and activists of the &#039;All India Untouchable Women&#039;s Conference&#039; held at Nagpur in 1942.jpg|thumb|[[B. R. Ambedkar]] with the leaders and activists of the All India Untouchable Women Conference held at Nagpur in 1942]]

[[B. R. Ambedkar]], an Indian social reformer and politician who came from a social group that was considered untouchable, theorized that untouchability originated because of the deliberate policy of the [[Brahmins]]. According to him, the Brahmanas despised the people who gave up the [[Vedic Brahmanism|Brahmanism]] in favour of [[Buddhism]]. Later scholars such as Vivekanand Jha have refuted this theory.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=218}}

Nripendra Kumar Dutt, a professor of history, theorized that the concept of untouchability originated from the "[[outcast (person)|pariah]]"-like treatment accorded to the [[adivasi|indigenous people]] of India by the early [[Dravidian people|Dravidians]], and that the concept was borrowed by the [[Indo-Aryans]] from the Dravidians. Scholars such as [[Ram Sharan Sharma|R. S. Sharma]] have rejected this theory, arguing that there is no evidence that Dravidians practised untouchability before coming into contact with the Indo-Aryans.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=218}}

Austrian ethnologist [[Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf]] theorized that untouchability originated as [[class stratification]] in urban areas of the [[Indus Valley civilisation]]. According to this theory, the poorer workers involved in 'unclean' occupations such as [[street sweeper|sweeping]] or [[leather work]] were historically segregated and banished outside the city limits. Over time, personal cleanliness came to be identified with "purity", and the concept of untouchability eventually spread to rural areas as well. After the decline of the Indus Valley towns, these untouchables probably spread to other parts of India.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=219}} Scholars such as [[Suvira Jaiswal]] reject this theory, arguing that it lacks evidence, and does not explain why the concept of untouchability is more pronounced in rural areas.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|pp=219–220}}

American scholar [[George L. Hart]], based on his interpretation of [[Old Tamil language|Old Tamil]] texts such as ''[[Purananuru]]'', traced the origin of untouchability to ancient [[Tamilakam|Tamil]] society. According to him, in this society, certain occupational groups were thought to be involved in controlling the malevolent supernatural forces; as an example, Hart mentions the [[Paraiyar]]s, who played the drums during battles and solemn events such as births and deaths. People from these occupational groups came to be avoided by others, who believed that they were "dangerous and had the power to pollute the others".{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=220}} Jaiswal dismisses the evidence produced by Hart as "extremely weak" and contradictory. Jaiswal points out that the authors of the ancient Tamil texts included several Brahmanas (a fact accepted by Hart); thus, the society described in these texts was already under [[Brahmin|Brahmanical]] influence, and could have borrowed the concept of untouchability from them.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|pp=221–222}}

British anthropologist [[John Henry Hutton]] traced the origin of untouchability to the taboo on accepting food cooked by a person from a different caste. This taboo presumably originated because of cleanliness concerns, and ultimately, led to other prejudices such as the taboo on marrying outside one's caste. Jaiswal argues that this theory cannot explain how various social groups were isolated as untouchable or accorded a social rank.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=223}} Jaiswal also notes that several passages from the ancient Vedic texts indicate that there was no taboo against accepting food from people belonging to a different [[varna in Hinduism|varna]] or [[Rigvedic tribes|tribe]]. For example, some [[Śrauta#Śrauta Sutras|Shrauta Sutras]] mandate that a performer of the Vishvajit [[yajna|sacrifice]] must live with the [[Nishada]]s (a tribe regarded as untouchable in later period) for three days, in their village, and eat their food.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=224}}

Scholars such as Suvira Jaiswal, R. S. Sharma, and Vivekanand Jha characterize untouchability as a relatively later development after the establishment of the varna and caste system.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|pp=225–227}} Jha notes that the earliest Vedic text ''[[Rigveda]]'' makes no mention of untouchability, and even the later Vedic texts, which revile certain groups such as the [[Chandala]]s, do not suggest that untouchability existed in the contemporary society. According to Jha, in the later period, several groups began to be characterized as untouchable, a development which reached its peak during 600–1200 AD. Sharma theorizes that institution of untouchability arose when the aboriginal tribes with "low material culture" and "uncertain means of livelihood" came to be regarded as impure by the privileged classes who despised manual labour, and regarded associated impurity with "certain material objects".{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=226}} According to Jaiswal, when the members of aboriginal groups were assimilated into the Brahmanical society, the privileged among them may have tried to assert their higher status by disassociating themselves from their lower-status counterparts, who were gradually branded as untouchables.{{sfn|Suvira Jaiswal|1978|p=227}}

According to the [[Dharmashastras]] which are ancient legal codes from various kingdoms in ancient India, certain peoples grouped either by ethnicity or profession were not considered a part of the [[varna in Hinduism|varna]] based society. Therefore, they were not treated like the [[Varna (Hinduism)|savarna]]s ([[Brahmin]]s, [[Kshatriya]]s, [[Vaishya]]s and [[Shudra]]s).<ref name="Olivelle">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dharmasutrasthelawcodesofancientindiapatrickolivelleoup_202003_809_K |title=Dharmasutras The Law Codes Of Ancient India |first=Patrick |last=Olivelle |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |via=archive.org |language=en |access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref>