This week’s faculty seminar will feature a presentation by Dr. Chandrabhan P. Yadav, Assistant Professor at NLSIU, on ‘Chandala–Brahmin Pair and the History of Untouchability.’

Abstract

The paper critically engages with the canonical works of Vivekanand Jha on the early history of untouchability. The frames used by Jha are limiting, and relegate the study of untouchability to silos of single caste. Jha fails to capture the dialectical-structural relationship of untouchability historically. This kind of scholarship has an effect in the present where untouchability remains a ‘problem’ of/for dalits and the top twice-born is free from the historical burden of caste. Contrary to that scholarship, Dr. Yadav argues for the presence of a ‘pair’ relationship in both brahmanical and non-brahmanical sources which needs to be highlighted and explored, to see experiences of caste and their counter-hegemonic articulations in the past.