ABSTRACT
Although the phenomenon of purity and impurity, including the related one of untouchability, was studied in Indian sociology and social anthropology since the beginning of the discipline around 1920, its modern systematic analysis may be said to have begun with M.N. Srinivas’s work on religion among the Coorgs of south India (1952; see also Dumont and Pocock’s 1959 review article on it). Since then, a large body of work has grown, and we have now a fair understanding of the phenomenon. I propose to discuss in this essay some aspects of it, focussing on changes taking place in the modern times. I am aware of the enormous complexity of the phenomenon and its regional diversities, and of the necessity to be extremely careful in making general statements about it. The issue of untouchability in particular is highly emotive and politically explosive. However, the phenomenon poses important problems for both social theory and policy, and social scientists would be failing in their duty if they do not deal with them in a cool and calm manner.
