What are the important Consequences of Untouchability in India?

As a result of untouchability the castes that are known as Harijans suffers from different social religious, economic and political disabilities. It is thus disabilities that make these people different from the normal members of the society. The disabilities from which they suffer may be studied under the following heads:

1) Social Disabilities:

The people who are called as untouchables or who are said to belong to the caste of Harijans suffers from various social disabilities. These social disabilities particularly in Rural India are extremely abhorring and annoying. They take the following forms:

a) Prevention from the use of public places:

These Harijans were prohibited from walking on the roads that were meant for the use of the member of the higher castes. This is more to be seen in South than in North. People who claimed themselves of the higher castes would shun the shadows of the Harijans. They would wear dhoti in a manner that it would not touch the earth which might have been touched by Harijans.

These Harijans were prohibited from and would not be allowed to use the public places meant for taking water, bathing etc, and the wells that were meant for the use of the people of higher castes were not allowed to be used by the Harijans. They could not go to a place where higher castes were present. In other words they were prohibited from making use of the public places. These things made their life extremely miserable.

b) Prevention from him use of public educational facilities:

The Harijans children could not use the schools that were meant for the children of the members of the higher castes. It was considered that if a Harijans sat by the side of a boy of the higher caste, the member of the higher caste got defied. Because of this factor they remained uneducated. While they were deprived of the use of the public schools there were no special schools for the Harijans. This made their life all the more miserable.

In fact according to the customs and the tradition, a Harijan boy could not get education various religious texts were cited in support of that the Harijans boys could not go in far education.

c) Other social restriction:

Harijans were not only subjected to the humiliations enumerated above, they were also subjected to other humiliations. For example a Harijan bride or a bridegroom could not sit in a palanquin as the bride and bridegroom of the upper classes sit. Similarly, they cold not sit on the horse.

These Harijans were even prohibited from putting on clothes like those of the members of the upper castes. The barber would not shave them and similarly other persons would not wash their clothes. In certain communities the system was so derogatory that the newly wed brides were first sent to the use of the Zamidar and then only allowed to meet their husbands.

In short, these Harijans suffered from a large number of disabilities in society which really speaking made their life miserable. This humiliation differed from village to village. In the villages the landlords were so tyrannical that they would not allow the Harijans even bare minimum facilities. In such villages their life became all the more miserable.

2) Religious Disabilities:

Harijans who form the bulk of Hindus were subjected to all sorts of humiliation and disabilities in the religious field. They were not only prohibited from entering temples or offering worship but even prohibited from using the cremation grounds meant for the members of the upper class. It was thought that any places of religious sanctity if touched by Harijan became polluted.

It was thought that God would get defied if any Harijan approached the place. In fact these religious disabilities were so appalling that one would shudder to think of them. In the field of religion they were not even considered as respectable human beings. This was the most miserable state of affairs.

3) Economic Disabilities:

Economic factors, govern so many factors of life particularly social and religious etc, these Harijans were not only subjected to humiliations in religious and social field but they were also subjected to a good deal of humiliation in the economic field. They had their occupations determined since ages and they could not go beyond the limits of those occupations.

They could not think of taking to any profession or occupation that was meant for the people of the upper castes. In fact, the occupation that were determined for them were determined according to the convenience of the members of the upper castes.

Since they were deprived of education and proper social status, they could not do anything except their age old profession. This age old profession could hardly bring them necessary means of livelihood. Because of death of resources of livelihood they lived in semi starvation conditions, their houses were unhygienic slums and therefore they caught several diseases. They were constantly under heavy debts.

This made their life all the more miserable. In fact they were treated as sub human brings, which was a big blot on the Indian Societies. These things were more to be seen in the villages. It does not mean that in urban society there was absence of untouchability. But the only thing was that there it was less prominent.