08-08-2006, 11:55 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> fine... but answer the question someone - who are the dalits actually?? descendants of slaves the muslims brought... who ofcourse werent allowed to enter the caste system?? or by "edited" theory??
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This is a more difficult question to answer. Please note that this is my opinion only:
Let us leave the word Dalit out of the picture, it is too loaded.
From a upper caste person's point of view, they were castes whose occupations and food habits makes them taboo to the touch; some were toddy tappers (taboo: alcohol), carriers of night soil, butchers (taboo: beef), makers of leather, etc.
This probably means that you could not enter your house if you touched them, unless you took a bath.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->how come there were no dalits in the beginning of the hindu caste system... or were there??<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Again, this is almost beyond my competence to answer. So, here I go!
Many of these occupations probably did not exist at the time. Imagine how sparsely populated India was 3500-5000 year ago. Occupational specialization came about as the density of the population increased. So, those families and communities who began to specialize in taboo occupations, eventually became untouchable to everybody else.
In fact, I think the reason for even the existing caste system is this:
As the population density increased, not only were these castes (Dalit/Harijan) specializing <b>in</b> these occupations, other castes were specializing <b>out</b> of them. So, eventually the latter became "pure"/non-polluting castes who graduated up the ladder even as the former ended up going down the ladder.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is a more difficult question to answer. Please note that this is my opinion only:
Let us leave the word Dalit out of the picture, it is too loaded.
From a upper caste person's point of view, they were castes whose occupations and food habits makes them taboo to the touch; some were toddy tappers (taboo: alcohol), carriers of night soil, butchers (taboo: beef), makers of leather, etc.
This probably means that you could not enter your house if you touched them, unless you took a bath.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->how come there were no dalits in the beginning of the hindu caste system... or were there??<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Again, this is almost beyond my competence to answer. So, here I go!
Many of these occupations probably did not exist at the time. Imagine how sparsely populated India was 3500-5000 year ago. Occupational specialization came about as the density of the population increased. So, those families and communities who began to specialize in taboo occupations, eventually became untouchable to everybody else.
In fact, I think the reason for even the existing caste system is this:
As the population density increased, not only were these castes (Dalit/Harijan) specializing <b>in</b> these occupations, other castes were specializing <b>out</b> of them. So, eventually the latter became "pure"/non-polluting castes who graduated up the ladder even as the former ended up going down the ladder.