How Dalits Practise Untouchability

In his 350 BCE book Metaphysics, Aristotle said, "Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom."

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Self-reflection is, of course, actively promoted by most religious texts, including the Vedas and Buddhist writings. Social movements must seriously self-reflect and amend the activists' beliefs and practices when necessary. Otherwise, their effort to transform society wouldn't yield any results.

The above assertion is true for most social movements in any country, especially among Dalits. I strongly advise Dalits – leaders, intellectuals and activists, in particular – to carefully look into a mirror and see how much their belief systems and practices have promoted caste separation and exclusion.

As an anthropologist and social activist, I see many self-harming issues in the mainstream Dalit cultures and customs. French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep first used the term rites de passage in 1909.

As many other scholars have subsequently shown, lifecycle rituals play a vital role in most societies, transforming an individual's social position and role through different stages of life, including birth, marriage and death.