ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses traditions in respect of Untouchability in Indian society. It is generally believed that it is the Hindu social order that is mainly responsible for the creation and promotion of this unjust and immoral practice of untouchability. It is argued here that the rigidity of Hinduism and fossilization of the concept of pollution and purity is a much later phenomenon which can be attributed to the onslaught of Islam in the 15th and 16th centuries and subsequent defensive response of Hinduism by adopting orthodoxy and rigidity which was a characteristic of Dharmashashtra literature. It was during the colonial period that this was perpetuated as an institutionalized form of social stratification.
It explains that the structure of Indian tradition – Vedic or non-Vedic (Lokayata) – throughout succeeded in projecting an image of unity in value-structures, ritual styles and system of beliefs. It also contributed to the growth of a unified world view of Indian civilization, in spite of the fact that it contained innumerable substrata of cultural beliefs and practices. It concludes that the ideal typical attributes of the Indian tradition are bereft of the concept of untouchability.
