The transition can be seen even among the dalits in India, who occupy the lowest level of the caste system. Making up nearly a quarter of the population, they were denied an education and given the worst and the dirtiest jobs, cleaning toilets, flaying and tanning skins, and handling the dead. Since this exposed them to filth and germs, it became taboo for others even to be close to them, and so they became known as ‘untouchables’. They were forced to live in ghettoes and could not even enter temples, but had to pray from outside.
