Defining Untouchability in Relation to the Body

Author(s): K V CYBIL
Source: Economic and Political Weekly , DECEMBER 19-25, 2009, Vol. 44, No. 51
(DECEMBER 19-25, 2009), pp. 82-83
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

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forgotten pillar of holding up caste/ism (and
rac/ism, the other two pillars being power
and prejudice).
One comes across the claim from many
caste Hindus that they are not prejudiced
(i e, they consciously and publicly disavow
caste-based thinking, feeling, doing), and
that they consciously abjure from (repro
ducing power relations of caste in their in
terpersonal transactions in everyday life.
Apart from the fact of mistaking systemic
power for interpersonal power, the key
issue of privilege as "unearned assets" (see
classic statement by Peggy Mcintosh in the
on the basis of always being bearers of group REFERENCES
identity in casteist society. In this sense, caste
Chakravarty, Uma (2003): "Gendering Caste through
stigma is like an existential stigma, always part of a Feminist Lens", Stree.
the being of an (out)casted individual.
Douglas, Mary (1966): Purity and Danger: An Analysis
4 From his "Who Are the Shudras" essay. As pointedof the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, Routledge.
out by some scholars, Ambedkar did not always
use the term hatred. Farmer, Paul (2003): Pathologies of Power: Health,
Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor, Uni
5 See Uma Chakravarty (2003), Claude Meillassouxversity of California Press.
(1981) for now classical statements on this issue.
Goffman, Ervin (1963): Stigma: Notes on the Manage
6 This allows us to distinguish the illness of brahmanment of Spoiled Identity, Prentice-Hall.
ism from others such as paralysis which physically
Guru, Gopal (ed.) (2009): Humiliation: Claims and
forces people to lose their sense of touch but allows
Context (Delhi: Oxford University Press).
them to retain their sense of morality and thus view
- (2009): "Archaeology of Untouchability", Economic
this as a disability that can be overcome in other
ways; for the Subjects practising untouchability this
& Political Weekly, 12 September, pp 49-56.
Lamb, Sarah (2005): "The Politics of Dirt and Gender:
is not even viewed as a problem and this is the prob
Body Techniques in Bengali India", Adeline Masque
lem. One could go further and note that practitioners
of untouchability in many ways are "walking carrion" lier (ed.), Dirt, Undress and Difference (Blooming
since they have suffered this self-imposed death of ton: Indiana University Press), pp 350-83.
Mcintosh, Peggy (1988): "White Privilege and Male
sense of touch which is death of human personhood
due to death of basic mode of experiencing sociality. Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Cor

context of race in United States) is left un 7 In a personal communication, Anand Teltumbde respondences through Work in Women's Studies",
wryly noted that one could "lose class but notWellesley College Centre for Research on Women.
recognised. A primary form of caste privi Meillassoux, Claude 1981 [1975]: Maidens, Meal,
caste". This prompted me to think of limits again.
The de-brahminised Naranappa in Ananta Money: Capitalism and the Domestic Community,
lege (a group property adhering to indi
murthy's Samskara comes to mind here, although Cambridge University Press.
viduals) is the privilege of living in a social he too was sought to be cremated as a brahminSarukkai,
by Sundar (2009): "Phenomenology of
the (almost) ideal Praneshacharya, at least until Untouchability", Economic & Political Weekly,
environment where one's inability is the realities of being outcaste took over. 12 September, pp 39-48.
viewed as ability and other's socially
imposed disability is viewed as inherent in
ability. This translates into social power
and recognised authority to impose restric
tions, discriminations, exclusions, limita
Defining Untouchability in
tions. And of course, perform violations.
Annihilating caste then necessarily means
Relation to the Body
annihilating privileges born of caste and
this, in turn, means initiating a politics of K V CYBIL_
dis-placement from the caste social order
of separateness in addition to the ethics ofSundar Sarukkai's article on un in the meanwhile extracts the notion out of a

touch. For an ethical "living together" touchability is an innovative ap philosophical domain. It is further interest
(pace Derrida) always requires what Jean proach to understand the philoso ing to note that in establishing untouchabili
Luc-Nancy has called "being-in common" phy that works behind a social practice. It ty as the relation that binds the brahmin and
which forces the inter (or spatial gap) to be locates such practice within an ideology of the untouchable (not the non-brahmin) he
taken seriously. brahminism that uses two sources mainly circumvents the role of the two other varnas

of alienation (he calls it outsourcing) and - kshatriya and vaisya - who while equally
NOTES supplementation. It is in marking the un sharing with the brahmins the monopoly of
1 In this essay, my usage of the term "brahmin"touchables as the objective bearers of this the knowledge of the scriptures contribute
refers to brahmins and their social equivalents in no less a manner for the continuance of
including everyone who considers themselvessign, i e, of untouchabilty that the brahmin
self-identified as or are sociologically identified raises
as his own social position to the tall the practice of untouchability. To conclude,
non-untouchable; in short, all those who are brah
est. So what follows is that when untouch Sarukkai in a vein of constructive criticism of
manical in this sense of performing socially
ability
equivalent roles vis-a-vis practices of caste and is a positive virtue for a brahmin, the Indian philosophical tradition on the as
untouchability. Towards the end of this essay I
speculate on what it means for "brahmins" to
for an untouchable it is a negative fact.
not
pect of touch his phenomenological inquiry
be one, anymore. This, in short, is what his phenomenologi gives insights on the perspectives on the
2 Also see Sarah Lamb (2005). Interestingly, Gandhi Ambedkarite call to annihilate caste.
cal
too spoke about the end of caste in his later writ
understanding tries to convey in the
ings using the idiom of dirt. He wished for only process
one also informing us that the practice Gopal Guru in a response to this article
caste to exist - all humans being of the Bhangi
of
caste. It is also useful to think then of untouchables untouchability by itself does not give writes that the philosophical exposition of
the
as not only viewed as dir-ty (as unclean, a property religious definition of excluding the matter in the Indian tradition like air,
adhering to the person), but actually as dirt (bodies
impure. It works beyond the objects of im water, fire, etc, has been always to the ex
out of place, hence out-casted) that are therefore
held in disgust or despicable due to the breakingpurity
of and into a state of being not parti clusion of the lower castes and so it has
the cognitive order of things.
cularly religious. He therefore leaves the continued to this day. He stresses the need
3 From Ervin Goffman (1963), we get the idea of
stigma as a special gap between what he calledground
as open to a discursive realm more for understanding the role of latent struc
virtual identity (based on social normative expec
encompassing than Hinduism.
tations derived from social classification of indi tures in consciousness by means of what
viduals into stereotyped categories) and actual For example, according to Dumont, the he calls an archaeological method to un
social identity. However, with caste, stigma is en
rituals of pollution were all situated within ravel the truth of caste concealed by the
tirely based on virtual social identity since groups
the extremes of purity and impurity. Sarukkai
carry this burden and individuals accrue it only practice of untouchability.

82 December 19, 2009 vol xliv no 51 BJE3 Economic & Political weekly

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 I find it interesting to note that both to touch and avoidance of it. Is it not from me the lived experiences of the untiring
their ideas converge on the metaphysics of this parody of cruelty that the untoucha struggles of the poor and their fight to keep
body as a useful bulwark to raise new ques bles sought to secure for themselves under life pushing at its frontiers. I exist in telling
tions about the "discourse of disability". the rubric of the dalit? their stories which I make into strong and
Needless to say that there have been sturdy ropes."2
A Few Questions instances of subversion that have always In south India at least the coupling of
This is where I intend to raise a few ques encountered strict codes of punishment in the avoidance of touch with sight had led
tions which I deem of contemporary rele to the most shocking results that led to
the form of justice that have fragmented a
vance in that the practice of untouchabili composite notion of the body with the use someone like Swami Vivekananda to ob
ty that we seek to study being that of an of diverse methods of torture and pain. serve that this form of society is akin to
egalitarian and democratic society, in Since historic times such acts were also in madness (of Travancore). The transforma
what way do we rephrase the parameters? the line of challenges raised to the caste hi tions of the body within this crude form of
For a society that practised a norm of cru erarchy. One look at Buchanan's travel writ symbolism originally pointed to the weight
elty and cultured a system of terror espe ings in Kerala will show the many practices of realisation about notions of cruelty and
cially in imparting punishment to trans of torture used in killing individual threats exigency of reform with which the 20th
gressions to the taboo of untouchability it to caste hierarchy usually couched as theft, century dawned in Kerala. These were in
has been the challenge of adjusting itself lying, promiscuity or murder in accusing fact organised protests towards the brah
to the more egalitarian and democratic the victim.1 So this space also has not per manical orthodoxy that later came to be
ways of justice that has offered a perenni haps vanished with more egalitarian and interpreted as reform, for example, like in
al problem. We never tire of hearing about democratic ways. At the level of practice, it the case of the Sree Narayana Guru move
the number of atrocities against untouch always comes down to rest on the shoul ment. Even at the height of the Communist
ables to this very day from various sources. ders of the outcaste where it flourishes as a movement the making of a new identity re
It cannot be left to surmise that a modern glorifying culture though of terror. mained rooted in glorious themes of a
sensitivity built around a fragile notion of Today once detached from the notion of golden past (Balakrishnan op cit). In other
humanity helps foster this idea of the un justice this is the area that untouchability words with all the "underground" move
touchables as a vulnerable and helpless wanders into, that of the outlaw. Once its ments and life among the lower castes the
agglomerate of the country's population. practice has been declared a crime (be majority of the upper caste Communist
That questions of justice related to in cause the Indian Constitution explicitly leadership never felt the dire need to justify
stances of crime against the untouchables says so) we have to agree in principle that this crossing of the boundaries and instead
have been settled outside the court room the practice of untouchability we all talk took them for granted.
as we know is the main reason it has about is that which is situated in the realm If Kerala be just one example, I can say
always revolted our consciousness. The of transgressions. An attempt to configure it is valid for most other parts of India. In
example of the number of khap panchay the body in such a state will also be unre the continuing trail of social processes of
ats and the train of honour killings in warding because it is a movement of nega the new nation of which every single indi
north India may be observed in this light. tion and continous dissembling into a mul vidual is being integrated as different
So the issue on which I rejoin the debate of titude. Most untouchable deities in particu parts it is the daunting task of fulfilling
Sarukkai and Gopal Guru is that of defining lar evince this characteristic. Chathan a the deviance, of embracing the taboo
untouchability in relation to the body. most popular avarna deity is not counted every moment of which has to be justified
Sarukkai maintains that untouchability is a in ones or twos but in hundreds. by making it speakable, discursive. This is
matter of heredity and not one of impurity, This is to indicate the disseminated form also where I see the social impact of the
whereas Gopal Guru sees a kind of ontologi of the untouchable body, a derivation of discursivity of a term such as dalit meets
cal equality in an inversion of the same by which concept therefore has to be exhumed the broken bodies of the untouchables.
saying that human body being a source of from a pile of corpses that have been dis
impurities can be considered the critical pensed with as faceless millions in the K V Cybil (cybilkv@sociology.du.ac.in) is at the
Department of Sociology, University of Delhi.
starting point for evaluating all social prac march of egalitarianism and democracy.
tices related to untouchability. There is waiting a million or perhaps more
NOTES
If this conception of the body is concrete new texts to be written on these or, in other
1 Cited in Balakrishnan, P K (1984): Jati Vyavas
and wholesome in particular reference to words, there is a dire need to justify cross tithiyum Kerala Caritravum.
the hierarchy of social relations that the ing the boundaries of the touch and avoid 2 Cited in Jhatav, Kishore (2000): NilyaAkashtil Lai
Tara (Pune: Dignag Prakashan).
caste system propagates then my question ance of it. Anna Bhau Sathe, acclaimed
is where is that body of the outcaste, dalit writer and dramatist, put it better in
REFERENCES
excommunicated by the modern, multi perspective than anyone else as observed
Guru, Gopal (2009): "Archaeology of Untouchability",
culturalist and sovereign state which in the preface to his novel Chitra "I am not Economic & Political Weekly, 12 September,
through a multiple accumulation of impu bound to the knots of tradition, nor do I PP 49-56.

rities outweighed the symbolic unity of seek to tie or untie them. I am not a Sarukkai, Sundar (2009): "Phenomenology of
Untouchability", Economic & Political Weekly,
the body held together in practices related priest...! am born a mang. I have within 12 September, pp 39-48.

Economic & Political weekly HS29 December 19, 2009 vol xliv no 51 83

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