Renunciation and Untouchability in India : The Notional and the Empirical in the Caste Order

"This volume develops a historically informed phenomenology of caste and untouchability. It explores the idea of 'Brahmin' and the practice of untouchability by offering a scholarly reading of ancient and medieval texts. By going beyond the notions of purity and pollution, it presents a new framework of understanding relationships between social groups and social categories. An important intervention in the study of caste and untouchability, this book will be an essential read for the scholars and researchers of political studies, political philosophy, cultural studies, Dalit studies, Indology, sociology, social anthropology and Ambedkar studies"-- Provided by publisher This volume develops a historically informed phenomenology of caste and untouchability. It explores the idea of ‘Brahmin’ and the practice of untouchability by offering a scholarly reading of ancient and medieval texts. By going beyond the notions of purity and pollution, it presents a new framework of understanding relationships between social groups and social categories. An important intervention in the study of caste and untouchability, this book will be an essential read for the scholars and researchers of political studies, political philosophy, cultural studies, Dalit studies, Indology, sociology, social anthropology, and Ambedkar studies. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Foreword 10 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction: notional Brahmin and the idea of original 16 1 The ‘ideal’ Brahmin and the dead being 30 2 Physical body and social body 58 3 Brahmin householder as renouncer 78 4 Touch-un-ability and ‘ideal’ Brahmin 102 5 Translating touch-un-ability 124 Conclusion: the dead being is still alive 174 Bibliography 178 Index 184