Untouchability:
(i) Those caster who were placed at the bottom (in social structure in the traditional caste system are called schedulated castes.
(ii) Usually the people of scheduled castes used to perform unclean occupations. (e.g. to carry night soil and dead animals, cleaning urinals and cattle shed, washing dirty clothes, and performing certain duties at places of cremation etc.). So, they were treated as polluted or impure.
(iii) The concept of pollution attached to them had made them untouchable. Various names appear for them in literature dealing with Scheduled Castes-Shudras, Das, Chandal, Melezhha, Untouchables and Harijans. (शुद्र, दास, चांडाल, मलेच्छ, अछूत एवं हरिजन).
(iv) There are more than 700 scheduled castes in our country. The schedulated castes now identify themselves as Dalit.
(v) We can understand the problem of untouchability (pollution) under the following description:
Before 26th January 1950 the problem of untouchability (or pollution) was one of the most common social problems related with the Dalits.
The Scheduled Castes had to perform such unclean occupation such as carrying night soil and dead animals, cleaning urinals and cattle shed, washing clothes and performing certain duties at places of cremation. These occupations were treated as polluted or impure. So, people performing these occupations were 'treated as untouchables. On account of the practice of untouchability traditionally the Scheduled Castes had to suffer from the following types of disabilities.
1. No physical contact: The persons belonging to untouchable Scheduled Castes did not participate in village meetings and worship. They lived in a separate hamlet. Their children did not attend school and play with children of higher castes. They had to play drums to pass through village streets.
2. Ban on the use of common wells and tanks: The members belonging to Scheduled Castes were not allowed to use common village wells and tanks for fetching water. They had separate wells and ponds or depend on the courtesy of some to pour water in their kitchens.
3. Prohibited from entering the Temple: The Scheduled Caste persons were not allowed to enter the temple for offering worship. They were not supposed to hear religious discourses, offer prayer, and study religious texts.
4. Did not receive service from other occupational castes: Priests, artisan castes, dhobi (washer man) and dom (death ritual performer) did not render their services to the persons of untouchable castes Scheduled Castes.
5. Non-acceptance of cooked food: The food cooked by so called (Shudras) Scheduled Castes was not accepted by higher castes. Water from the hands of Scheduled Castes was also not acceptable.
6. Status incongruence and dependence proneness: Persistence of stigma of untouchability and the Constitutional status of scheduled castes were not congruent. They were dependent upon others for livelihood and survival.
