UNTOUCHABLES are members of certain Indian castes which, though reckoned as Hindus, are excluded from the ordi nary social and religious privileges of Hinduism. How they came to be pushed out of, or never admitted within, the pale is ob scure. Probably in the main they represent Dravidians of the lower orders, relegated to menial or unsavoury occupations; they must not be confused with the non-Hindu animists, the wander ing and criminal tribes, and the pre-Dravidians of the hills and forests. A mistaken aggregation with these latter sometimes leads to their numbers being taken at 6o millions. The popula tion of Untouchables proper seems nearer 4o millions. They are best defined as Hindus who are not allowed to enter ordi nary Hindu temples, and who cause pollution to ordinary Hindus either by touch or by proximity. The Brahman will not officiate at the events in life at which, in the case of other castes, his attendance is essential. The Untouchables are compelled to live, either in hamlets or wards of their own, or in separate quarters, generally the insanitary outskirts, of the villages. They may not
use the common village well, and there is always opposition to their children attending the village school. The indignities they suffer vary in different parts of India, being worst in the South, where a fantastic code regulates the distance an Untouchable must maintain from a high-caste Hindu on the public. roads and the warning he must give of his approach.
Recently, under the designation of the "depressed classes," they have been actively claiming political representation. A sec tion of Hindu reformers favours some abatement of their disa bilities but their degradation is regarded by the orthodox Hindu as the penalty, with which it would be impious to interfere, for evil-doing in a former existence. Large numbers of Untouchables have adopted Islam or Christianity. (Me.)