Disease and the Untouchable: Insights from Vernacular Histories of North India

Abstract

This article delves into the connections between disease, contagion, caste, gender and religion in colonial North India. It looks at the ‘Untouchable’ not just as a figure or a category but as a concept that is utilised by dominant sections to deal with disease, contact zones and social distancing in society. The article focuses on select perceptions in popular Hindi print culture of the early twentieth century, which normalised exclusionary terms to reaffirm the nation’s well-being. Through representations of four figures—the Dalit (with a specific focus on Dalit women), the servant, the sex worker and the Muslim male—all considered ‘Untouchable’ in different senses, the article highlights how these figures embody the ‘Other’ through idioms of stigma and hygiene.