Beyond The Four Varnas: The Untouchables in India

Book Specification

Book Description

About the Book:

Much has been written and discussed about the untouchables in contemporary India but almost nothing about their emergence, visibility and eventual degradation in society. The present study undertakes the ardous task of finding out from hitherto unexplored bibliographical sources the relevant questions like, who were the most powerful people; when, why, and how could they bring others under their control?

It starts with the Rgveda, the earlier written materials regarding India and attempts to describe the emergence, crystallization and ultimate discrimination of untouchables in India. The study continues upto C. AD 200 when the exact Sanskrit word asprsya appeared for untouchables replacing other words like “unclean”, impure”, etc.

In this edition several topics have been discussed with more details. Comparison has also been made with similar phenomena in other countries to show that untouchability in India was not unusual. What however was unusual is that with untouchability becoming a taboo it became viable and therefore more difficult to eradicate from society.

About the Author:

PRABHATI MUKHERJEE (b. 1920) obtained the degree of D.Phil. from Humboldt-University, Berlin. She had the opportunity of studying and working under the late Professor Walter Ruben. He greatly influenced her in the study and interpretation of social history of ancient India, mainly from the Sanskrit texts.

Mukherjee has been interested in two areas of ancient India-the status of women and the marginal groups in society. Besides numerous academic papers published in India and abroad, her first book entitledHindu Women: Normative Models, was brought out by Orient Longman in 1978 and revised and enlarged in 1994.

CONTENTS

Click Here for More Books Published By Indian Institute of Advanced Study

Book Specification

Book Description

About the Book

`Who were the untouchables in India?’ and ‘why and when did they become so?’ are some of the questions the present study attempts to answer. As the saga proceeds, from the Rgveda onward, it unfolds various facets of the problem faced by these people. The main focus of the study is on the role of the ‘Aryans’ in India around ca. 400 B.C. to A.D. 200, when significant changes took place in society. From about this time the exact Sanskrit word for ‘untouchable’ began to appear in the sacred texts, replacing the words like ‘impure’, ‘unclean’, etc. This was the first identification of untouchables as a marginal group, living at the mercy of the predominant ‘Aryans’ and being used as and when necessary. This narrative of emergence of untouchability in India is profusely documented, and substantiates how Indology combined with anthropology and sociology can make a meaningful contribution to understanding social reality.

About the Author

PRABHATI MUKHERJEE, Research Associate of Fernand Braudel Center, SUNYBinghamton, U.S.A., since 1977, has recently completed her term as a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. Tranined by Walter Ruben of Humboldt-University, Berlin, from where she obtained the degree of D.Phil., Dr Mukherjee is mainly concerned with two areas of research in the social history of India from a critical examination of Sanskrit texts; the role of women and stratification in Indian society. Besides a number of papers, she has written a book entitled Hindu Women: Normative Models (1978).

**Contents and Sample Pages**