In Bombay a Mahar might not spit on the ground lest a Hindu should be polluted by touching it with his foot, but had to hang an earthen pot round his neck to hold his spittle.

He was made to drag a thorny branch with him to brush out his footsteps, and when a Brahman came by had to lie at a distance on his face lest his shadow might fall on the Brahman.

[77] Even if the shadow of a Mahar or Mang fell on a Brahman he was polluted and dare not taste food and water until he had bathed and washed the impurity away.

In Madras a Paraiyan or Pariah pollutes a high-caste Hindu by approaching within a distance of 64 feet of him.

[78] The debased and servile position of the impure castes corresponds to that which, as already seen, attached to the Sudras of the classical period.