In Mulk Raj Anand's novel Untouchable, originally published in the year 1935, the main character is a young man named Bakha who is considered an untouchable or "outcaste" in India's caste system.

While Bakha works all day long, sweeping and cleaning latrines, he still has to go around to others' houses to beg for food every day in order to feed himself and his family. His younger brother, Rakha, goes begging for food as well. Because he is an outcaste, Bakha is not allowed to go up to people's kitchen doors, because his presence there would "insult the sanctity" of their houses. Rather, he must stand near the bottom of the stairs leading up to those doors, blindly hoping that someone will hear him, and cry out begging for someone to share some food, saying:

Bread for the sweeper, mother. Bread for the sweeper.