Since the abolition of slavery and serfdom in 1958, Bhutanese society has been characterised by three social strata: big, medium and small people. Purity beliefs and practices are one of the crucial factors in this reconfigured stratification, which is entwined with the hierarchy of the well-ordered pantheon in relation to vulnerability to uncleanness. The big people feel threatened by the wrath of the gods/spirits of the low-level pantheon who are more vulnerable to pollution than their high-level counterparts. Indeed, the purity/impurity beliefs are only relevant because of their roles in offending these beings, thereby revealing two types of defilement: direct and indirect pollution. The effects of pollution beliefs in class-based Buddhist Bhutan are indirect, while they are direct in caste-based Hindu India. The big status is perpetuated by purity beliefs which are, in turn, embedded in ‘reincarnisation’—a process of upward social mobility.

自1958年废除了奴隶制和农奴制以来，不丹社会的特征是三个社会阶层：大，中，小人民。纯度的信念和实践是这种重新配置的分层中的关键因素之一，这种分层与秩序良好的万神殿在不洁易感性方面的层次结构交织在一起。大人们感到低级神殿的神灵之怒的威胁，而后者比高等神灵更容易受到污染。的确，纯净/杂质信仰仅因其在侵害这些生物中的作用而具有相关性，从而揭示了两种类型的污染：直接污染和间接污染。班级佛教徒不丹的污染信念的影响是间接的，而在基于种姓的印度教印度中则是直接的。