Writings on Hinduism have been remarkably expanded in the past decade by anthropological research which focuses on the real nature of religious practices, including the underlying philosophy, and examines the setting or environment as well as the written literature. Edward Harper, in his article Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion (1964), vividly showed that the hierarchical relationship of the concepts of 'purity' and 'pollution', which are the foundational elements of caste, is based on a paradigm of society wherein different groups are brought together by the common pursuit of religion or rituals for the gods. The Hindu notion of purity is largely focused on ritual purity. Mary Douglas, in her work Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (1966), supports Harper's idea that ritual purity can be attained through physical cleanliness, yet these are two concepts that have different meanings.
For the Hindus, pollution is synonymous to ritual impurity. Pollution can happen in different ways. A death of a family member carries the entire family into a ritual pollution for several days, and nobody is permitted to physically interact or make contact with them. Ritual pollution could also occur after childbirth, wherein the mother and her infant are isolated from the rest. A woman is believed to be physically impure throughout her menstruation, and she is prohibited from having physical contact with others until her period ends. These guidelines about temporary ritual impurity were perhaps created to avoid one's contamination through contact with the impure. It is only after the ritual bath, which is performed after the stated duration of ritual impurity, that an impure individual is completely cleansed from his/her impurity. These ideas of ritual pollution determine the status of individuals whose task or role requires any of the ways whih bring about pollution. For instance, midwives in folk communities are regarded of low caste, for they are in constant physical contact with women who are giving birth.
Moreover, ritual pollution occurs when one comes into physical contact with impure items such as alcohol, funeral objects, human waste, and animal carcasses. Those who handle or eat fish or meat are also considered ritually polluted. This form of pollution, which is tied to an individual's work or profession, is persistent and thus permanent. This form of ritual impurity cannot be cleansed with bathing or wearing of clean clothes. Such ritual pollution can be transmitted through physical contact and through food and water from an individual of low caste to a person of upper caste. On the other hand, Hindus hold the belief that a brahmin-- occupies the uppermost Hindu caste, composed of priests and teachers or academics of Vedic literature- cannot be ritually polluted in any way. They will remain ritually pure for eternity. Even though they come into contact with impure people or things, they remain pure because of their perfect divine or spiritual status. The extent of ritual pollution goes up as a person goes down the caste ladder. People of low caste are always ritually polluted or impure.
In The Abominations of Leviticus, Douglas thoroughly examined the biblical dietary laws, which are, basically, connected to Hinduism. Her objective is to gain an accurate understanding of the ideas of pollution and impurity in non-Western cultures and to establish the rational value and purpose of indigenous ritual. Douglas asserts that the concept of ritual pollution must be seen as a violation of an established, organized system of relations. It is within this perspective that Douglas presents her analysis of the biblical dietary laws. Earlier interpretations of these dietary laws are shown to be inappropriate views of primitive ideas of pollution. The prohibition against certain animals and, in essence, against 'impure' objects and events (e.g. menstruation, childbirth, death) was either treated with a logical medical principle, with skillful efforts to present a scientific basis of the laws, or was interpreted as an unreasonable, unscientific divine rule. On the other hand, Douglas's analysis of the dietary laws is concise and is simply intended to demonstrate the value of treating the laws as a logical, ordered, and meaningful system.
Douglas situates the dietary laws within the perspective of the priestly doctrine of spiritual purity. Spiritual purity, such as the one expressed by the brahmin, implies both divergence and wholeness. Wholeness is seen as physical purity-- ritual offerings must not be tarnished and people with bodily discharges are prohibited from entering the place of worship until they are cleansed from their impurities. The value assigned to wholeness is also manifested in the prohibition of hybrids, interbreeding, and other ambiguities. Beastliness or savagery is forbidden, as well as wearing clothes with assorted threads, plowing a farm with mixed crops, and cross-breeding a variety of animals. Spiritual purity is perfection, a state of wholeness, and “requires that individuals shall conform to the class to which they belong” (Douglas 53). Within the Hindu perspective, this implies that ritual purity is 'completeness' that demands compliance with one's caste. According to the brahmanic belief, this caste system is founded on creation.
Initiation rituals that are performed during one's passage from one social position or form to another is the most decisive proof of the primitive dynamics of the human mind. In his work Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites of Passage (1964), Turner clearly explains the widely common, persistent, and primitive features of rites de passage. The inherent tendencies of the human mind to function and behave in specific ways, irrespective of racial or cultural attributes, are certainly manifested in the kinds of ritual behavior or practice he quite ingeniously portrays. Using Turner's ideas, it becomes clear that the traditions of ritual pollution and caste in Hinduism hold great cultural and social value or, more specifically, as a way of self-discipline and tribal continuity. Turner views initiation as an internal and personal individuation and growth process. Turner focused on the liminal-- middle or threshold-- stage of the process. He explained that throughout the rite of passage, the person transitions from a position of structure during the stage of separation to anti-structure in the liminal stage, and returns to structure all through the stage of re-integration. This process corresponds to the process of ritual pollution in Hinduism-- a person becomes ritually polluted or impure for a certain period of time (separation stage), then becomes a deviant or an anomaly (anti-structure stage), and goes back to normality after the performance of the ritual bath (re-integration stage). This concept of 'structure' was adopted by Turner to denote social structure.
The concept of anti-structure does not imply resistance to or contradiction of structure. Instead, it defines the emancipation of human capabilities of creativity, free will, emotion, intellect, and so on from the prevailing restraints accompanied by a hierarchy of social positions. This could result in an overturning of social norms, which could strengthen the present state of affairs or status quo, but could also become an act of resistance to the deep-rooted social order such as the caste system. Meanwhile, Turner's notion of life-crisis rituals bears resemblance to the Hindu idea of ritual pollution. Life-crisis rituals define that hierarchy of rituals which signal the transition from one stage in the growth of an individual to another stage. These stages are crucial points in the social or physical growth of the ritual participant, such as birth or death.
Harper is an anthropologist conducting most of his ethnographic works in South India. His ethnography on the Hindu concepts of ritual pollution and caste adopts the structural-functionalist approach. Structural functionalism refers to how the individual components or units of a society work to ensure that it functions as an integrated, whole body. Harper explained that the caste system is a social differentiation rooted in family ancestry and occupation. The Hindu caste is composed of four separate divisions or classes among individuals founded on long-established norms and implemented through a strict code of conduct based on the books of law of the Vedic era. The notions of ritual purity were profoundly entrenched in the ancient history of India, and which served as a way of enforcing the caste system. The upper caste preventing any contact with the so-called 'impure' caste is functional in a culture that was tied up to the notion of mental and physical purity. This, according to Harper, ensures social order.
The belief in religion, superstition, and traditional practices all fulfill a valuable function in the caste system. A person's caste is determined by birth or inheritance, and thus marrying a person outside of one's caste is prohibited. The Hindu notion of ritual pollution and purity, even though somewhat wide-ranging, is quite multifaceted. It has been in existence for numerous centuries and has been integral to the economic order and religious structure of India. One major precept inherent to the caste system is based on the contradiction between ritual pollution and purity. The Brahmans are believed to be the highest caste because of their ritual perfection and purity, while the low caste-- Untouchables-- is viewed as the most ritually impure, whereas the castes in the middle are in part grouped based on their conditional purity.
In most Hindu communities, everybody is aware of the social statuses of each provincially designated caste, and the treatment and behavior of people toward one another is continuously influenced by this principle. The Hindu doctrine of pollution and purity forbid making sexual interaction and eating between people of different castes. This caste system, in other words, are the interrelated units that ensure the efficient functioning of the entire Indian society.
All cultures assume that they are unique and superior. Nevertheless, from the point of view of sociology and Harper, no culture is unique. Hindu is exceptional in several ways but a lot of its distinctive attributes are not pleasing, and this is what Harper is trying to prove in his abovementioned essay. Although doctors in developed societies usually claim to perform a kind of medical tradition independent of politics and religion, in truth their practices are convolutely linked to these social life domains. Harper defies and satirically analyzes the ethnocentric perspective of Hindu by illustrating, metaphorically, that Hindu cultural practices are as bizarre as those of rudimentary preindustrial cultures.
Sociologists describe rituals as what people practice regularly, performed repeatedly over time; given roles; collective values and beliefs; and that which unify people in a society. Emile Durkheim, a proponent of the structural-functional theory, argued that rituals reinforce and maintain social order, values, and roles. Because rituals promote or strengthen these values and roles, they encourage social unity or solidarity. Nevertheless, the key idea is that in order to appreciate other cultures, one should think outside Hindu’s tradition of understanding or interpreting things. There are proofs that Hindu is not able to resolves its biggest problems or issues, which put its ethnocentric assumptions into question.
Hindu culture is multifaceted and conflicting. Harper illustrates the risky rituals that the Hindu people practice, the emphasis of which is the obsession with the human body. It highlights the point that what they are doing is merely to enhance their appearances which are in fact needless. He also mentions other features of Hindu culture, such as chauvinism or gender discrimination in medicine; his focus on individualism; hierarchies among the social functions of medical authorities; and social classes. But the major argument of Harper is that Hindus are predisposed to overemphasize or venerate Hindu culture and to place its origin and power outside human control. To view it in an objective and unbiased manner requires applying the interactionist, the conflict, and the functionalist theories.
Works Cited
Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966.
Harper, Edward. Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion. Journal of Asian Studies 23 (1964): 151-97.
Murthy, U.R. Anantha. Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Turner, Victor. Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1964.
