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This article is about the Indian social group. For the Treasury agent team led by Eliot Ness, see The Untouchables.In India's caste system, an untouchable, dalit, or achuta is a person outside of the four castes, and considered below them. Untouchables include such people as leather-workers. There are various subcastes or jati within untouchable, the lowest ranking generally considered to be the Bhangis.
Harijan was the polite form for untouchable coined by Mahatma Gandhi which means "Children of God" ( Hari is another name for Vishnu, a Hindu God). Untouchables generally consider this term to be condescending and prefer the name dalit, variously translated as "crushed", "stepped on" or "oppressed". The term scheduled castes is also used in the Indian legal system to refer to this group along with other non-caste tribes.
1 See also
- B. R. Ambedkar
- Neo-Buddhism
- Dalit theology
- Varnas
- Jati
- Brahmin
- KshatriyaA Kshatriya is a member of the military or reigning order, according to the law-code of Manu the second ranking caste of the Indian varna system of four castes, the first being the Brahmin or priestly caste, the third the Vaishya or peasant caste and the
- VaishyaIn the Hindu caste system , a Vaishya ( Sanskrit vaiśya female vaiśyā is a member of the third of the four major castes of the varna system of traditional Indian society, comprising farmers, herders, merchants, and businessmen. Etymologic
- ShudraShudra or Sudra is the lowest ranking caste, or varna, in the traditional four-caste division among Indian castes. Shudra caste often had traditional roles providing menial labor, which was not necessarily unclean. These four castes are Brahmin (priestly
- Aryan invasion theoryThe Aryan invasion theory is a historical theory first put forth by the German Indologist Friedrich Max Muller and others in the mid nineteenth century in order to provide a historical explanation for the existence of Indo-European languages in India.
2 Further reading
- Mari Marcel Thekaekara. 1999. Endless Filth: The Saga of the Bhangis. London: Zed Books. BooksEnthsiast.com.
- Subrata K. Mitra and V.B. Singh. 1999. Democracy and Social Change in India: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the National Electorate. New Delhi: Sage Publications. BooksEnthsiast.com (India HB) BooksEnthsiast.com (U.S. HB).
3 External links
Caste
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