The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Caste and purity: A study in the language of the Dharma literature
Abstract
The caste system, according to the currently prevalent view, is based on purity, each caste being located on a hierarchical gradation of purity, a thesis laid out most compellingly by Louis Dumont. It has generally bern assumed that purity is the basis of hierarchy in ancient India. This paper examines the ancient texts on Dharma relating to purity and social hierarchy and finds that the texts establish no link between the two and that they rarely, if ever, refer to purity as an abstract condition or state. The language of purity itself is multifaceted, containing numerous terms with significant differences in meaning, and it makes a clear distinction between persons and things. With respect to persons, the vocabulary clearly indicates that the focus is not on any permanent, or even transitory, condition of purity but rather on the transition from impurity to purity, on the recovery of lost purity; the dynamic meaning dominates the use of the major Sanskrit terms for pure.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The concern with impurity relates to a concern with the integrity of boundaries.
“I do agree, however, that the concern with impurity relates to a concern with the integrity of boundaries.”
From Disgusting Bodies, Disgusting Religion: The Biology of Tantra (2011) · cites this paper as Olivelle 1998: 211
It is very likely that it would be hard for an Indian audience not to see in this scene the request by one person for another to turn particularly nice food and drink into ucchista, leftovers, making them impure and highly polluting.
“On top of all this it is very likely that it would be hard for an Indian audience not to see in this scene the request by one person for another to turn ''particularly nice food and drink'' into ucchi s : t : a , ''leftovers,'' making them impure and highly polluting.”
From The Learned Monk as a Comic Figure: On Reading a Buddhist Vinaya as Indian Literature (2007) · cites this paper as Olivelle (1998)
Citations
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 34
- Āpastamba Dharmasūtra. Ed. G. Bühler (3rd edn). Bombay Sanskrit Series Nos. 44, 50. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 1932. Tr. G. Bühler. Sacred Books of the East, vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879.
- Berreman, G.D., 1971, Contributions to Indian sociology
- Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra. Ed. E. Hultzsch (2nd edn).: Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 16. Leipzig: 1922 . Tr. G. Bühler. Sacred Books of the East, vol. 14. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.
- F.A. Marglin, 1985, Auspiciousness and purity
- Das, Veena, 1971, Contributions to Indian sociology
- Deshpande, Madhav., 1993, Sanskrit and prakrit: Sociolinguistic issues
- Dirks, Nicholas B. 1990. The original caste: Power, history and hierarchy in south Asia. In McKim Marriott, ed. India through Hindu categories, pp. 59-77. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
- Douglas, Mary., 1984, Purity and danger: An analysis of the concepts of pollution and taboo
- Dumont, Louis., 1980, [1966]. Homo hierarchicus: The caste system and its implications. Rev. edn. (trans. M. Sainsbury, L. Dumont and B. Gulati)
- Dundes, A., 1997, Two tales of crow and sparrow: A Freudien folkloristic essay on caste and untouchability
- Fürer-Haimendorf, C. Von., 1971, Contributions to Indian sociology
- A.F. Stenzler., 1876, Gautama Dharmasūtra
- Kane, P.V., 1968, History of Dharmaśāstra
- Khare, R.S., 1992, The eternal food: Gastronomic ideas and experiences of Hindus and Buddhists. Albany, NT
- 10.1080/21674086.1937.11925331 · DOI
- Leach, E., 1971, Contributions to Indian sociology, 5, 13, 10.1177/006996677100500103 · DOI
- Madan, T.N., 1971, Contributions to Indian sociology
- 1988, Non-renunciation: Themes and interpretations of Hindu culture
- Madan, T.N. 1989. Caste and the ordering of Hindu society. In, The Cambridge encyclopedia of India, pp. 364-66. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
- Malamoud, C., 1972, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kune Südasiens, 16, 5
- J. Jolly., 1887, Manu Smrti
- Marriot, Mckim, 1990, India through Hindu categories
- Mines, D.P. 1990. Hindu periods of death 'impurity'. In McKim Marriott, ed. India through Hindu categories , pp. 103-30. New Delhi: Sage Publications. · DOI
- Nārada Smrti., 1989, University of Pennsylvania Studies on South Asia
- 10.1007/BF01463136 · DOI
- 10.1525/aa.1970.72.6.02a00090 · DOI
- Ramanujan, A.K. 1990. Is there an Indian way of thinking? An informal essay . In McKim Marriot. ed., India through Hindu categories , pp. 41-58. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
- Quigley, D., 1993, The interpretation of caste
- 10.1093/jaarel/LVIII.2.177 · DOI
- Tambiah, S.J. 1973. From vama to caste through mixed unions. In J. Goody, ed. The character of kinship, pp. 191-229. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. · DOI
- W. Caland., 1927, Vaikhānasa Dharmasūtra
- Vasistha Dharmasūtra. Ed. A.A. Führer. Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, 23. Poona Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1930. Tr. G. Bühler. Sacred Books of the East, vol. 14. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.
- V. Krishnamacharya., 1964, Visnu Smrti
- U.C. Pandey., 1967, Yājñavalkya Smrti
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Learned Monk as a Comic Figure: On Reading a Buddhist Vinaya as Indian Literature
Schopen, G. (2007) · Journal of Indian Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10781-007-9019-3 · Cited by 41
Disgusting Bodies, Disgusting Religion: The Biology of Tantra
Ellis, T. B. (2011) · Journal of the American Academy of Religion · doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfr077 · Cited by 13
Metadata
- Authors
- Olivelle, P.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Corresponding author
- Olivelle, Patrick
- Venue
- Contributions to Indian Sociology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1998-11
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 189-216
- ISSN
- 0069-9659 (ISSN-L)
- 0973-0648
- OpenAlex
- W2013818424
- Cited by
- 84
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 89.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Contributions to Indian Sociology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › South Asian Studies and Diaspora
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Keywords
- caste system, purity, Sanskrit terminology, social hierarchy, Louis Dumont, impurities, ancient Indian texts
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
