Imagine a world where people believe that all people are unequal. Imagine a land where you are discriminated against because you belong to the lower class. Well, who are these people? In a world like this, I wonder what life would be like for these people. How do they cope every day? India is a country that once had such beliefs. Indeed, to some extent these values are still evident in today's era. Over the years, a cultural trend in the caste system has allowed untouchables to have greater access to human rights in society; however, traditional values deeply rooted in Hindu culture still cannot eliminate the caste system. Have you ever heard of the untouchables? If yes, it is very likely that you have heard about how the upper class mistreats them. Growing up in India, I heard stories of people being inferior to the upper class. I have heard many conversations about servants who only work outside the house and are not allowed to enter. I have seen homeowners separate utensils like plates, spoons, glasses and things like that just for people who come to work as house cleaners or to help around the house. In fact, no one else uses or touches these tools. I always wondered why this was so. It took me years to understand that these people are the untouchables of society. Almost everyone in society treats untouchables as if they are less than a human being. Anthropologist Siddharth Dube states that “untouchables are the lowest caste in India's immutable caste system” (1998, back cover). Robert Deliège, in his book The Untouchables of India defines the untouchables as "economically dependent, exploited parts of society, victims of various discriminations... to understand the different levels in the caste system and the myth associated with the different levels.Rambachan, A. (2008), Tikkun, 23(1), 290(1689), 186-. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. This source was very useful because it was from the perspective of a Hindu author. Since it is part of the Hindu religion, explained that those in power created the caste system and ultimately took religious validation the other sources I looked at were from researchers looking at the caste system from the Western perspective because the Hindu religion seems to be the cause of the problem. Since Rambachan is a Hindu, he provides a different perspective at the same time he might have a biased point of view to defend his religion. Nonetheless, his point of view seems convincing.
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