Caste-ing Out the Scapegoats—Caste Discrimination in Premodern Bengal, Japan, and Germany

Scapegoating, discrimination and exclusion are the ultimate consequences of caste hierarchies across complex premodern and, arguably, modern societies. In this chapter, we link the discrimination against Pirali Brahmins, or ‘polluted Brahmins’, in early modern Bengal to the eta-hinin castes of Japan, or precursors to the burakumin, as well as to the skinners and executioners in early modern Germany. Ideas of pollution, death, and foreignness were employed by elites as tools to push certain occupational or caste groups to the margins. These groups were targeted in different societies due to their work with death or their interactions with cultures perceived as foreign. The underlying logic of discrimination, which regrettably persists in societies such as South Asia, is examined in this chapter. It also examines how caste structures operated within these societies.