Peshwa rule codified elaborate pollution rules against Untouchables

Evidence

Under the rule of the Peshwas in the Maratha country, the Untouchable was not allowed to use the public streets if a Hindu was coming along, lest he should pollute the Hindu by his shadow. The Untouchable was required to have a black thread either on his wrist or around his neck, as a sign or a mark to prevent the Hindus from getting themselves polluted by his touch by mistake. In Poona, the capital of the Peshwa, the Untouchable was required to carry, strung from his waist, a broom to sweep away from behind himself the dust he trod on, lest a Hindu walking on the same dust should be polluted. In Poona, the Untouchable was required to carry an earthen pot hung around his neck wherever he went—for holding his spit, lest his spit falling on the earth should pollute a Hindu who might unknowingly happen to tread on it. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 821

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Concrete instantiation of Brahminical purity-pollution ideology discussed in caste theory generally.
• SEED: Writerly angle: the physical burden of caste — spit-pot, broom, black thread — as lived materiality rather than abstract ideology.

Related

• Peshwa rule forced Untouchables to carry brooms and spittoons to avoid polluting Hindus. (similarity 0.91)
• Caste exclusion stemmed from refusal to grant equality, not literal pollution (similarity 0.80)
• Ambedkar’s safeguards for Untouchables were diluted by privileged-caste committee members. (similarity 0.79)
• Caste pollution beliefs determined which jobs Untouchables held inside Bombay mills (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Caste pollution beliefs bounded Untouchables to low-paid mill spinning jobs that communists ignored #corroborates (0.60) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 336
• Caste Hindus sought to deny Untouchables the choice that choice confers power. #corroborates (0.50) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 387
• Savarna Hindus grounded their inhuman treatment of Untouchables in scriptural authority. #corroborates (0.50)
• Caste Hindus violently attacked Untouchables who drank from the Mahad tank #exemplifies (0.45) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 324
• Caste exclusion stemmed from refusal to grant equality, not literal pollution #qualifies (0.40) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 327