The socio-religious condition of Kerala during the later medieval period was more 
complex than in any other parts of the world. Feudalism widened the socio-economic 
gap among the people of Kerala. It did not change until the second half of the 19th
century. The social organizations of the Hindus from the pre-British period had many 
oppressive and undemocratic features. Almost all foreign travelers had described the 
mysterious social practices of Kerala, which was a direct impact of the Brahmin 
settlements of Kerala. The institution of caste was deep rooted in the social structure 
of Kerala. It completely segregated the society into a number of self-contained 
groups. Each group was obliged to safeguard its own exclusive characteristics, 
interests and positions. They had their own governance, customs, traditions and style 
of living. It also brings several social evils such as slavery, untouchability, 
unseeability, unapproachability, pollution etc.
Untouchability was a unique phenomenon of the Hindu society. The term 
untouchability meant teendal in Tamil and pula in Malayalam, which generally meant 
“pollution”. The untouchability was legitimized by the Dharmashastras, therefore the 
practice was followed by each and every member of the society in their day-to-day 
life. (Nisar and Kandasamy 2007: 270) Before the Vedic period, there existed a 
differentiation between the tribesmen and the “broken men’ from the alien tribes. Dr. 
B.R. Ambedkar explained the term ‘broken men” as the people of unsettled 
communities who lived as wanderers. They were primitive and virtually outside the 
social system of the settled communities. (Ram 2008: 44) When the settled 
communities began to start cultivation, they needed laborers  the cultivation.Therefore, the broken men became the mercenaries of the settlers and later they 
became untouchables.
The Vishnu Dharma Sutra compiled between the third and fourth century B.C., 
coined the term “untouchable” or asprsya for the first time, thereby legalizing the 
pariah status of a vast sections of sudra toilers. (Kane 1930: 381-382) The period 
between 600 BC and 200 B.C., untouchability became most popular in the society of 
India. (Webster 1976: 2) According to Vivekanand Jha, untouchability began to take a 
firm and definite shape with respect to a few groups up to 2nd century A.D. (Jha and 
Habib, 2004, 14-31) Jha describes four phases in the early history of the untouchables.
(Ram, 2008, 44) According to him, the first phase ending up to 600 B.C. with several
tabooed sections of society during the Vedic period. The second phase extending up 
to 2nd century A.D., and the third phase ending by 600 A.D., during which, the 
practice of untouchability was intensified, but it was also resisted by the untouchables 
themselves. The fourth phase extended up to 1200 A.D. and beyond during which the 
ranks of untouchables swelled by incorporating several other castes and 
untouchability reached at its peak. (Jha and Habib 2004: 31)
Untouchability is theoretically considered as a part of Varna system, which was 
closely associated with the Hindu social order. In different periods that untouchables 
were identified by various names. In the Vedic period, they were known as 
Chandalas and in the medieval period, they were known as ‘achhuta’. During the 
colonial period, the untouchables were named as the ‘exterior’ caste whereas in the 
present time, generally they were known as scheduled castes by the Constitution of 
India. Therefore, the term “untouchability” is commonly associated with the Dalit
communities of modern India. The simplest western image of untouchability is 
embodied in the term “outcaste”. According to this, the untouchables are beyond the 
Hindu culture and society and are generally characterized as cultureless.
After the Aryan settlements in India, the society was entirely divided into two 
categories – the Aryans and the non-Aryans. The Aryans were fair complexioned and 
claimed themselves as superior rank in the society. They were proud of their race, 
language and religion. The Aryans considered the non-Aryans as non-human or 
amanushya and also described them as Krishnavarna or dark-skinned. The dark-
skinned non-Aryans spoke softly and worshiped the phallus. They were socially and 
economically suppressed by the Aryans. The birth of the non-Aryans was treated as 
the birth of a dog, or a hog or a Chandala.
The origin of Chandala was explained first time in the Gautama Dharma Sutra. 
According to Gautama Sutra, Chandala is the offspring of a male sudra and a 
Brahmin woman and is the most reprehensible among those born in the indirect order 
or prathiloma. They were always excluded from the society and their personality and 
dignity was degraded. The Dharmashastras and Arthasastra of Kautilya described the 
chandalas as untouchables. The untouchables of the Indian society were deeply 
humiliated and crushed under the inhuman custom. Though there were many attempts 
at Sanskritization in those times, the chandalas or the untouchables could not achieve 
social mobility fully, because of their social barrier. (Pais 2004: 321) Their low 
economic, political and social conditionsAfter the establishment of the Varna system, a group of inhabitants of India 
incorporated with the Aryan culture and they claimed higher status in the social 
hierarchy. They also started the practice of untouchability to the people, those who 
were not incorporated into the Aryan culture. Majority of the early inhabitants of 
India did not mingle with the Aryans and they constituted the hereditary castes of 
untouchables.
The practice of untouchability was also legitimized by its claimed existence in 
South India even during the ancient period. In South India, untouchability prevailed in 
different forms of discrimination, exploitation and subjugation. The untouchables or 
the Dalits have a long history of their origin in South India. On the basis of 
Ambedkar’s thesis of the origin of untouchability, 4th century A.D. witnessed the 
evolution of untouchability in the South Indian society. It was institutionalized in 
Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India during the period of Raja Raja I (985 A.D 
to 1016 A.D.), the Chola ruler. (Karashima 1997: 21-30) In Kerala, the Pulayas, 
Parayas, Kuravas, Vedas, Nayadis were the important untouchable castes and they 
were denied all fundamental rights of the human beings. (Desai 1998: 263)
Untouchability is not simply a caste reflection or caste phenomenon but is one of 
the underlying socio-economic factors of semi feudal relations. The social oppression 
of the untouchables had religious sanctions. They have been the victims of brutal 
exploitation, local isolation, residential segregation, economic deprivation, political 
subjugation and cultural degradation. In the pre-Capital agriculture society, 
untouchability was used to maintain the exploitative relation between the feudal lords 
and the serfs, the tenants and the slaves, the croppers and the bonded laborers.
The concept of purity and pollution played a crucial role in maintaining the social 
distance between different castes. The pollution distance varied from caste to caste 
and from place to place. Louis Dumont holds the notion of purity and pollution 
interlinked with the caste system and untouchability. The hierarchy of caste was 
decided according to the degree of purity and pollution. In the social structure of 
India, Sudras were of the lowest rank in the social ladder and they were forced to 
render services to the other three varnas. The higher varnas—Brahmins, Kshatriyas 
and Vaisyas kept their ceremonial purity from the Sudras.
Dipankar Gupta observes the notion of purity and pollution as integrally linked 
with the institution of untouchability. But unlike untouchability, the notion of purity 
and pollution is also historical accretion. Over time this notion freed itself from its 
specific and original task of separating the untouchables from others. The idea that 
impurity can be transmitted by the mere shadow of an untouchable or by his 
approaching within a certain distance created pollution to the higher castes. (Ghurye
1963: 8) Because of the pollution, the untouchables were not allowed to enter public 
places.
Various forms of subordination of one class of human beings by another were 
swept away in India not by any revolutionary upheaval; on the contrary their 
characteristics accumulated and mutated sometimes under the impact of capitalism to 
produce an extraordinary amalgam of the modern and the archaic. (Patnaik and
Dingwany 1985: 1) While subordination and bondage were the characteristics of many 
aspects of social life, agresti