What is a Pariah?
A pariah is a social outcast. Originally, the word was used to refer to people in hereditary positions of low class or social status; the term is also used today to describe outcasts in general, hereditary or not. Generally speaking, the position of a pariah is undesirable, since it is accompanied with a lack or respect, authority, and access to society at large. The term comes from the Pariah caste, a caste in some parts of India and Sri Lanaka which is akin to the Untouchables, the lowest caste in India’s traditionally very rigid caste system. The term is derived from the Tamil paraiyan, which means “drummer,” with the implication that this position is hereditary and traditionally despised; paraiyan itself comes from parai, a type of drum used at Indian festivals. Use of the word “pariah” was first recorded in English in 1613, and the term was clearly brought to Europe by British colonists. Europeans used the term incorrectly for all people of low caste in regions with caste systems,
