Shudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order down to circa A.D. 600 c10.484

c10.484

Against the background of a very low material culture of the aborigines, the increasing contempt for manual work, combined with primitive ideas of taboo and impurity associated with certain materials, produced the unique social phenomenon of untouchability. This was particularly true of the work of the caṇḍālas who dealt with corpses, with which were linked primitive ideas of impurity and horror. Consequently it was felt necessary to avoid contact with such persons. In later times the idea of untouchability was extended not only to the niṣādas and pukkusas but also to craftsmen such as the leather workers and the weavers. For during this period although the crafts of the cammakāras and pesakāras were considered contemptible, they themselves were not regarded as untouchables.