Caṇḍāla
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caṇḍāla · Caṇḍālas · outcaste · Cāṇḍālas · caṇḍālas · outcastes · Candala · Cāṇḍāla · Cāṇḍāla (चाण्डाल) · Dhātudagdhā
spoken of as
2 expressionsCāṇḍālas1 mention
Nāradasmṛti (Sanskrit)
In villages, the search should be conducted by Cāṇḍālas, executioners, and others.
the five primary outcastes“caṇḍāla”1 mention
Vratisasana (Kawi)
[VS_11s-cd] *and the metal-burner—these five are declared to be the outcastes.
in the texts
Manusmṛti
An outcaste group treated as a source of severe ritual pollution
One should not intentionally step on anointing powder, water from a bath, urine and feces, blood, phlegm, spittle, or vomit.
238[228M] // A Caṇḍāla, a pig, a rooster, and also a dog, a menstruating woman, and a eunuch must not see the twice-born as they eat.
84[83M] // Having touched a Caṇḍāla, a menstruating woman, an outcaste, a woman who has just given birth, a corpse, or one who has touched a corpse, one is purified by bathing.
Āṅgirasa Smṛti
The outcaste class/status invoked repeatedly as the degraded state one falls into through ritual transgressions.
Such an act is declared to be like that of a *caṇḍāla* (outcaste).
If children are born to her, he should place them among the *caṇḍālas*.
By not performing them, he would immediately fall to the level of a *caṇḍāla*.
Nāradasmṛti
The most stigmatized mixed caste, born of a Brāhmaṇa woman and a Śūdra man in the reverse (pratiloma) order.
From a Brāhmaṇa woman are born a Cāṇḍāla (चाण्डाल), a Sūta (सूत), and a Vaidehaka (वैदेहक).
The most sinful in the mixed castes (`saṃkara` (संकर)) is born with two classes in between in the reverse order (`prātilomyena` (प्रातिलोम्येन)):
In villages, the search should be conducted by Cāṇḍālas, executioners, and others.
Parāśara Smṛti
The lowest-status outcaste group (caṇḍāla) whose contact, speech, touch, or proximity triggers detailed purification rules throughout the passage.
On the first day, she is a *caṇḍālī* (an outcaste woman);
Upon touching a *caṇḍāla*, one must bathe with one's clothes on.
One who sleeps with *caṇḍālas* should be made to fast for three nights.
Slokantara
The lowest social class, comprising eight named occupations, and a status one falls into by abandoning caste duty.
They are ordered to join the eight *Cāṇḍāla*s.
Those who are called the eight *Cāṇḍāla*s in the world are:
[Slo_30s-ab] > *Those who have strayed from their own duties and live by the duties of others,* [Slo_30s-cd] > *And who disdain the status of the twice-born—them one should treat like a Śūdra.
Viṣṇu Smṛti
A mixed caste born of a Brahmani mother and Shudra father, assigned the occupation of executing criminals and required to live outside the village
Execution of criminals is the occupation of the *caṇḍālas*.
For *caṇḍālas*, residence outside the village and wearing the clothes of the dead are special rules.
And the *caṇḍāla*, the *vaidehaka*, and the *sūta* are the sons of a Brāhmaṇī by a Śūdra, a Vaiśya, and a Kṣatriya respectively. // Vi_16.6 //
Yājñavalkya Smṛti
A degraded outcaste group produced by the most inverted (pratiloma) union or by ritual transgression.
from a Śūdra is born a Caṇḍāla, who is excluded from all `*dharma*`.
One becomes a Caṇḍāla by performing a sacrifice with wealth begged from a Śūdra.
One who has intercourse with a widow who acts of her own accord, one who does not run to help when a cry is raised, one who cries out without cause, and a Caṇḍāla who touches a man of a higher `*varṇa*`;
Sāṃkhyatattvavivecana
The lowest human caste, named as the lower end of the human category in the creation of beings.
] And the human is of one kind, [ranging] from the brāhmaṇa down to the caṇḍāla.
Vratisasana
A group of five stigmatized professions (liquor-seller, trapper/insect-burner, butcher, potter, goldsmith) whose premises a viku must avoid.
[VS_11s-cd] *and the metal-burner—these five are declared to be the outcastes.
[VS_11s-ab] *The liquor-seller, the insect-burner, the life-taker, the potter,*
[VS_11j§1] And furthermore, concerning the primary outcastes, they are five in number.
Yama Smṛti
An outcaste group considered a source of ritual impurity, subject to and instrumental in various purity and punishment rules.
Caṇḍālas and Mushtikas, and likewise those of mixed-caste birth;
The king should banish from the kingdom the violent man who breaks into houses, steals property, and makes it his own, / having him cast out by a Caṇḍāla.
Having unknowingly eaten the food of an outcaste, or by chance the food of a Caṇḍāla, / one is purified in ten nights by a diet of barley gruel mixed with cow's urine.