The experience of ‘Untouchability'

Different terms were used during British rule in India to identify those sections of society which suffered certain ‘disabilities’: ‘depressed classes’, ‘exterior classes’, ‘outcastes’ and ‘backward classes’, being the most common. The English term ‘Untouchable’, which came into use around 1909, ⁷⁶ forced its way through political events. ⁷⁷ Many reformers had been interested, from the early years of the nineteenth century, in the social uplift of the so-called ‘depressed classes’, but ‘after 1901, fear of diminished Hindu majorities and proposal for special legislative representation for these classes propelled “Untouchability” from the realm of philanthropy into the political arena …’ (Galanter 1984: 122). In spite of the fact that Ambedkar and R. Srinivasan proposed alternative names such as ‘Non-Caste Hindus’, ‘Protestant Hindus’, or ‘Non-conformist Hindus’, ⁷⁸ to substitute for the ‘degrading and contemptuous term “Depressed Classes’”, ⁷⁹ the latter remained the official term until 1935, when the Government of India Act, ‘denoted those who would enjoy the special electoral arrangements for Untouchables as “Scheduled Castes”, a term destined to remain the official designation for Untouchables down to the present’ (Galanter 1984: 34). The term ‘Harijan’ [literally ‘the sons of Hari — the God’] used by Gandhi, became popular for some time, but was disliked by ‘Untouchable’ leaders. ⁸⁰ Apart from ‘the political opposition by Ambedkar and his followers to Gandhi’s approach to solve the problem of untouchability’ (Kananaikil 1986: 91), the name was not accepted by the educated ‘ex-Untouchables’, who classified it as ‘a bad word introduced by Mahatma Gandhi’. ⁸¹