>Ekdalian at 12:44, 21 September 2021

2021-09-21T12:44:09Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2015}}
{{about||the town in Bangladesh|Chandal, Bangladesh||Chandal (disambiguation){{!}}Chandal}}

'''Chandala''' (Skt. ''caṇḍāla'') is a [[Sanskrit]] word for someone who deals with disposal of [[Cadaver|corpses]], and is a [[Hindu]] lower [[caste]],<ref name="Pariah">{{cite book |first=Rupa |last=Viswanath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EP4YBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA268 |title=The Pariah Problem: Caste, Religion, and the Social in Modern India |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2014 |page=268 |isbn=978-0-23116-306-4}}</ref> traditionally considered to be [[untouchability|untouchable]].<ref name="Ethnicity">{{cite book|title=Ethnicity and Mobility|author=Chandrashekhar Bhat|publisher = Concept publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qer2LrGuP44C&pg=PA3|pages=2–3|year=1984}}</ref><ref name="Michael1999">{{cite book|title=Untouchable: Dalits in Modern India|author=S. M. Michael|publisher = Lynne Rienner Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ur3mgfASI7AC&pg=PA3|pages=3–4|year=1999|isbn=9781555876975}}</ref>

A female member of this caste is known as a ''Caṇḍālī''.

== History ==
[[Varna (Hinduism)|Varna]] was a hierarchical social order in ancient India, based on the [[Vedas]]. Since the Vedic corpus constitute the earliest literary source, it came to be seen as the origin of caste society. In this view of caste, ''varṇa''s were created on a particular occasion and have remained virtually unchanged. In this ordering of society, notions of purity and pollution were central, and activities were delineated in this context. ''Varṇa'' divides the society into four groups ordered in a hierarchy; beyond these, outside the system, lies a fifth group known as the ''untouchables'', of which the Chandala became a constituent part.<ref>{{cite book |title=Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 |first=Romila |last=Thapar |authorlink=Romila Thapar |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-52024-225-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5irrXX0apQC&pg=PA63 |pages=63, 511}}</ref>

The first mention of the fourfold varna division is found in the later ''Rigveda''. Vedic literature also mentions some groups such as Ayogava, Chandala, Nishada, and Paulkasa which were outside the four-''varṇa'' classification. They were referred to as belonging to the ''''panchama varṇa'''' or ''panchamas'', meaning fifth. The ''Yajur-veda'' mentions their degradation from the ''varṇa'' classes, mentioning the Chandala group in particular, who were said to be the untouchable class of people born of the union between a Shudra male and a Brahmin female.<ref name="Ethnicity"/>

There are frequent references to the forest-dwellers in the post-Rigvedic literature; the Chandalas were one of these primitive people, who belonged to the fringes of the society.

In India, except [[West Bengal|Bengal]], ''Chandal'' is also used as a pejorative reference to a mean or low person.<ref name="Pariah"/><ref>{{cite book |first=A. K. |last=Biswas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z15uAAAAMAAJ|title=The Namasudras of Bengal: profile of a persecuted people |publisher=Blumoon Books |year=2000 |page=viii |isbn=9788187190431 |quotation=Though he is physically almost practically unknown, save and except in Bengal, calling someone a Chandal is the ultimate insult and humiliation of a Hindu anywhere under the sun.}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Tschandala]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Anna Dallapiccola, ''Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend'', {{ISBN|0-500-51088-1}}

[[Category:Social groups of Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Social groups of Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Social groups of India]]

Chandala - Revision history

>Ekdalian at 12:44, 21 September 2021