I happened upon this review of a documentary called 'Lesser humans' that explores the plight of India's dalits, also known as the untouchables, or the bhangis.
Photograph by
William Albert Allard
At age nine Kariamma was dedicated by her family to become a devadasi, or "servant of God." At puberty, like most devadasis in India, she was offered sexually to upper caste patrons. Now, at age 30, Kariamma has given birth to five children, uncertain of whom the fathers are. Unable to marry, many devadasis, most of them Untouchables, are auctioned off to urban brothels. Commenting on the hypocrisy of the caste system, an activist working with devadasis in the southern state of Karnataka exclaimed, "These women are Untouchable by day, but touchable by night. "
[Source:
The national geograpic magazine]
National geograpic has links to part of the documentary, which forms a part of their report on the status of the untouchables in India today.
The gut-wrenching crueltyof the caste system, which moves these people to doubt their very own humanity was deeply painfull. In the excerpt, an 'untouchable' is asked why she doesnt fall ill handling feces and human excrement all day, she replies "we dont. we're animals, but they poor things, are human.".
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0306/feature1/multimedia/ft1_vi_01_hr.ram