A HISTORY of UNTOUCHABILITY: ANCIENT INDIA - Ambedkar is Alive - EP4

Описание: How 240 Million Indians Became ‘Untouchable': The Story You Were Never Told.

The Real Origins of Untouchability: What Archaeology & Scriptures Reveal.

The Dark Secret Behind India’s Caste System.

In this video, we investigate the true historical origins of untouchability based on archaeology, ancient law books (Dharmashastras, Smritis), and early social history.

Excavations from Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Kalibangan, and Dholavira show no evidence of untouchability in the Indus Valley Civilisation. So where did it come from?

We examine how the arrival and victories of Aryan tribes over the original inhabitants of the subcontinent reshaped society. Those defeated and enslaved were categorized as Shudras.

Across centuries, Shudra groups performing “polluting” occupations—handling corpses, tanning hides, executing criminals, cleaning waste—were pushed outside villages and gradually labeled untouchable.

This exposé connects archaeology, ancient texts, and social processes to explain how one-sixth of India’s population came to be treated as untouchable—not by choice, but by systemic force.

Keywords:

origin of untouchability, caste system India, shudra history, dalit history, indus valley civilisation caste, dharmashastra caste rules, untouchability explained, India ancient history, aryans and dravidians, caste discrimination history, smriti texts caste, social hierarchy India, ancient Indian society, dalit origins, caste origins.
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ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
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ARUN SINHA is a journalist, writer and filmmaker. He broke new ground in investigative journalism with his exposure of the blinding of crime suspects by policemen in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India. He was a recipient of the Fellowship of the Reuter Foundation at Oxford. He is the author of 'Against the Few: Struggles of India's Rural Poor', 'Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar', 'Battle for Bihar,' and 'Goa Indica' and the editor of the book 'Freedom's Midnight: Dissent in Exile in Modi's India.' He worked as assistant director to filmmaker Shyam Benegal and has made documentaries. He is based in Faridabad, Haryana, India.

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THANKS

to the following creators whose images or video clips we used in this video.

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Human Rights Watch
UNESCO/NHK
Flaneur of Time

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