“SANSKRITISATION”

Submitted by:

YOGANAND,

B.A. L.L.B (Hons.)

Roll:1986, Semseter: 3rd

Submitted to:

Dr. SHAKEEL AHMED

Assistant Professor of Sociology

A research proposal submitted in the partial fulfillment of the course

SOCIOLOGY for attaining the Degree Of B.A.L.L.B. (Hons.) during
the Academic Session 2019-2020.

September, 2019.

Chanakya National Law University, Patna

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
“SANSKRITISATION” ....................................................................................................................................1
TABLE OF CONTENT .......................................................................................................................................2
DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE ..................................................................................................................3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................................5
MEANING OF SANSKRITIZATION ................................................................................................................6
CONCEPT OF SANSKRITISATION .................................................................................................................7
FEATURES OF SANSKRITISATION ...............................................................................................................8
SOCIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF SANSKRITISATION ON INDIA ..................................................................9
MODES OF SANSKRITISATION ...................................................................................................................10
IMPACT OF SANSKRITISATION ON INDIAN SOCIETY ..........................................................................11
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................12
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................................................13

S
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 DECLARATION BY CANDIDATE

I, hereby, declare that the work reported in the B.A. L.L.B (Hons.) Project Report titled
“SANSKRITISATION” submitted at CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,
PATNA is an authentic record of my work carried out under the supervision of Dr.SHAKEEL
AHMED. I have not submitted this work elsewhere for any other degree or diploma. I am fully
responsible for the contents of my Project Report.

(Signature of the Candidate)

YOGANAND (1986)

B.A. L.L.B., 2nd year

SEMESTER -3rd

CNLU, Patna

Dated :

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to show my gratitude towards my guide Dr. SHAKEEL AHMED , faculty of
sociology , under whose guidance, I structured my project.

I owe the present accomplishment of my project to our CNLU librarians, who helped me
immensely with materials throughout the project and without whom I couldn’t have completed it
in the present way.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my friends and all those unseen hands that helped me
out at every stage of my project.

THANK YOU,

YOGANAND

SEMESTER -3rd
CNLU, PATNA

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 INTRODUCTION

Sanskritisation is a particular form of social change found in India. It denotes the process by
which caste or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek upward mobility by emulating
the rituals and practices of the upper or dominant castes. It is a process similar
to passing in sociological terms. This term was made popular by Indian sociologist M. N.
Srinivas in the 1950s. According to Christophe Jaffrelot a similar heuristic is described in Castes
in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development by B. R. Ambedkar. Jaffrelot goes on to
say, "While the term was coined by Srinivas, the process itself had been described by colonial
administrators such as E. T. Atkinson in his Himalayan Gazetteer and Alfred Lyall, in whose
works Ambedkar might well have encountered it.
M. N. Srinivas defined sanskritisation as a process by which "a low or middle Hindu caste, or
tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual ideology, and way of life in the direction of a
high and frequently twice-born caste. Generally such changes are followed by a claim to a higher
position in the caste hierarchy than that traditionally conceded to the claimant class by the local
community1.
One clear example of sanskritisation is the adoption, in emulation of the practice of twice-born
castes, of vegetarianism by people belonging to the so-called "low castes" who are traditionally
not averse to non-vegetarian food. Vishwakarma Caste claim to Brahmin status is not generally
accepted outside the community, despite their assumption of some high-caste traits, such as
wearing the sacred thread, and the Brahminisation of their rituals. For example, the sociologist
M. N. Srinivas, who developed the concept of sanskritisation, juxtaposed the success of the
Lingayat caste in achieving advancement within Karnataka society by such means with the
failure of the Vishwakarma to achieve the same.
According to M. N. Srinivas, Sanskritisation is not just the adoption of new customs and habits,
but also includes exposure to new ideas and values appearing in Sanskrit literature. He says the
words Karma, dharma, paap, maya, samsara and moksha are the most common Sanskritic
theological ideas which become common in the talk of people who are sanskritised.

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 MEANING OF SANSKRITIZATION

The concept ‘Sanskritization’ was first introduced by Prof. M.N. Srinivas the famous Indian
sociologist. He explained the concept of sanskritization in his book “Religion and society among
the coorgs of South India” to describe the cultural mobility in the traditional caste structure of
Indian society. In his study of the coorgs of Mysore, he came to know that the lower castes were
trying to raise their status in their caste hierarchy by adopting some cultural ideals of the
Brahmins. As a result they left some of their ideals which are considered to be impure by the
Brahmins. To explain this process of mobility, Srinivas used the term ‘Brahminization’. Later on
he called it ‘Sanskritization’ in a broad sense.
Defining Sanskritization Srinivas writes, “Sanskritization is a process by which a lower caste or
tribe or any other group changes its customs, rituals, ideology and way of life in the direction of
a higher or more often twice-born caste.
Sanskritization is a process of imitation in Indian society, the social status of an individual is
fixed on the basis of caste hierarchy. There are many lower castes who suffer from economic,
religious or social disabilities. So in order to improve the status, the lower castes people imitate
the life style of the upper caste people2.
Sanskritization is a process of cultural change towards twice-born castes. Sanskritization is a
process in which the lower castes adopt the cultural patterns of the higher castes, to raise their
status in the caste hierarchical order. In some societies the lower caste people followed not only
the customs of the Brahmins but also the customs of the locally dominant castes like Kshatriyas
and Vaisyas to raise their status.
Sanskritization process is not only confined to the caste people of Hindu society, it is also found
among the tribal society.
The concept of Sanskritization has also given rise to De-sanskritization. There are some
instances in modern times, some of the higher castes are imitating the behaviour pattern of lower
caste, and for example Brahmins have started taking meat and liquor. This process is called De-
sanskritization.

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 CONCEPT OF SANSKRITISATION

The concepts of sanskritisation and westernisation were developed by M.N. Srinivas in 1952.
Srinivas had defined ‘sanskritisation’ as a process by which low castes take over the beliefs,
rituals, lifestyle, and other cul•tural traits of those of the upper castes, especially the Brahmins.
In fact, Srinivas had broadened his definition of sanskritisation from time to time. Initially, he
had described it as “the process of mobility of lower castes by adopting vegetarianism and
teetotalism to move in the caste hi•erarchy in a generation or two. Later on, he redefined it as “a
process by which a low caste or a tribe or other groups change their cus•toms, rituals, ideology,
and way of life in the direction of a high twice-born caste”.
The second connotation of sanskritisation is thus much broader because first Srinivas talked of
imitation of mere food habits, rituals and religious practices but later on he talked of imitation of
ideologies too (which include ideas of karma, dharma, pap, punya, moksha, etc.)
In the process of imitation of customs and habits of high castes or Brahmins by the low castes,
sometimes even when the low castes fol•lowed some such practices which according to the
present rational standards are considered to be good and functional, they discard such cus•toms
and in their place adopt those ideas and values of Brahmins which according to the present
standards are considered degrading and dysfunc•tiona3l.
Srinivas has given some such examples from his study in Mysore. Low castes are liberal in the
spheres of marriage, sex, and attitudes to•wards women. They permit divorce, widow remarriage
and insist on post-puberty marriage. But Brahmins practise pre-puberty marriage, re•gard
marriage indissoluble, prevent widow from remarrying and expect her to shave her head and
shed all jewellery and ostentation in clothes.
They prefer virginity in brides, chastity in wives, and continence and self- restraint in widows.
But as a low caste rises in hierarchy and its ways become more sanskritised, it adopts the sex and
marriage code of Brah•mins. Sanskritisation results in harshness towards women.

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 FEATURES OF SANSKRITISATION
(1) The concept of sanskritisation4 has been integrated with economic and political domination,
that is, the role of local ‘dominant caste’ in the process of cultural transmission has been stressed.
Though for some time, the lower castes imitated Brahmins but soon the local dominant caste
came to be imitated. And the locally dominant caste was often .i non-Brahmin caste.
(2)Sanskritisation occurred sooner or later in those castes which enjoyed political and economic
power but were not rated high in ritual rank•ing, that is, there was a gap between their ritual and
politico- economic positions.
(3) Economic betterment is not a necessary pre-condition to sanskritisa•tion, nor must economic
development necessarily lead to sanskritisation. However, sometimes a group (caste, tribe) may
start by acquiring political power and this may lead to economic better•ment and sanskritisation.
(5) Unit of mobility is group and not individual or family.
(4) Sanskritisation is a two-way process. Not only a caste ‘took’ from the caste higher to it but in
turn it ‘gave’ something to the caste. We find Brahmins worshipping local deities which preside
over epidemics, cattle, children’s lives, and crops, besides the great gods of all India Hinduism.
(6) The British rule provided impetus to the process of sanskritisation but political independence
has weakened the trend towards this change. The emphasis is now on vertical mobility and not
on hori•zontal mobility.
(7) Describing social change in India in terms of sanskritisation and west•ernisation is to describe
it primarily in cultural and not in structural terms. Srinivas himself has conceded that
sanskritisation in-volves ‘positional change’ in the caste system without any structural change.
(8) Sanskritisation does not automatically result in the achievement of a higher status for the
group. The group must be content to wait for an indefinite period and during this period it must
maintain continuous pressure regarding its claim. A generation or two must pass usually before a
claim begins to be accepted. In many cases, the claim of the caste may not be accepted even after
a long time. Further, it is likely that a claim which may not succeed in a particular area or period
of time may succeed in another.

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 SOCIOLOGICAL IMPACT OF SANSKRITISATION ON INDIA

Caste was something that you were born with if you were a Hindu but it was not something laid
out in an official document; there was also no way you knew what percentage of the population
you belonged to. As with the relations between Hindus and Muslims the tensions between the
castes exacerbated only during the colonial era. The British did not ‘invent’ the caste system but
what they did do was to make it the primary basis of social classification. When the British
started taking the census, from 1882 onwards, caste was the basic unit of organizing society that
they considered. When caste is your identity then you have an incentive in figuring out ‘how
many’ people belong to your caste and when you organize politically or economically you do so
along these lines5.
For the British officers under the East India Company and even later under the Crown the caste
system was an ideal way to control society. If there were certain segments of society, the
Brahmins or the rajas (kshatriyas) whom everyone was supposed to obey then this was a very
efficient way to maintain order. The other side of this dual-headed coin was that as long as
people thought of themselves along caste lines there was very little chance of their uniting to
fight the external enemy, the British. According to some sociologists the British aided the
process of Sanskritization during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as it served their
interests. To some extent Sanskritization continued even during the early years of Independence
when there was no political or economic incentive to belonging to a lower caste. Things changed
in the 1990s with the rise of caste-based politics and religion based politics.
The implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations led to a massive fall out. This
article is not going to go into the pros or cons of the Mandal report but rather the impact of the
same. The Hindu right wing parties tried to prevent what they feared was a ‘split’ in the so-called
‘Hindu vote bank’ by using the ‘mandir-masjid’ and other issues. The rath yatra and the 1992
Babri masjid demolition were an unfortunate consequence.
There was a rise of caste-based parties which claimed to speak on behalf of one or all backward
castes. Even the non-caste based parties found it convenient to appeal along these lines. The
result was ‘de-Sanskritization’: it was no longer beneficial to be an upper caste and so attempts
were made to re-claim any lower or backward caste roots.

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 MODES OF SANSKRITISATION

Sanskritization also needed a medium to transmit in the society. There were mainly three modes
in which it took place in the society. The four modes are as follows:-

(1)Cultural Model
(2)Varna Model
(3)Local Model
Harold Gould, a famous sociologist remarkably answered the causes of Sanskritization that is it
is not practiced only for a noble position in the society. Instead, it can be termed as the challenge
taken by lower caste people who have always been deprived of socio-economic facilities6.

Sanskritization has an influential effect on society in many ways. For example, they adopted
other castes living patterns which gave them liberty to sit and stand before other castes. For
example, lower caste people were not keen to keep a clean atmosphere but due to
Sanskritization, they started maintaining hygiene. The small changes led to vast things in future.
Now the situation is that the untouchable practice is almost abolished from the society.

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 IMPACT OF SANSKRITISATION ON INDIAN SOCIETY

Prof. M.N. Srinivas for the first time used the term ‘Sanskritisation’ in his writing ‘Religion and
Society among the Coorgs of South India’.
The term refers to a ‘Process by which low Hindu caste or tribe or other group, changes its
customs, rituals, ideologies and ways of life in the direction of a high twice born caste to acquire
higher status’. At first Prof. Srinivas used the term ‘Brahminisation’ for this process as he
thought that the lower caste people must be trying to reach at the place of Brahmins. But later on
he found that not only they are following Brahmins but also other caste groups. So, he replaced
Brahminisation by Sanskritisation.

Sanskritisation is a process of adaptation of the rituals and life styles of higher castes by a lower
caste. It also refers to the process in which the other groups who fall outside the Hindu caste
structure like tribal groups enter into the Hindu fold.

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 CONCLUSION

Prof M.N Srinivas introduced the term sanskritization to Indian Sociology. The term refers to a
process whereby people of lower castes collectively try to adopt upper caste practices and beliefs
to acquire higher status. It indicates a process of cultural mobility that is taking place in the
traditional social system of India.M.N Srinivas in his study of the Coorg in Karnataka found that
lower castes in order to raise their position in the caste hierarchy adopted some customs and
practices of the Brahmins and gave up some of their own which were considered to be impure by
the higher castes. For example they gave up meat eating, drinking liquor and animal sacrifice to
their deities. They imitiated Brahmins in matters of dress, food and rituals. By this they could
claim higher positions in the hierarchy of castes within a generation. The reference group in this
process is not always Brahmins but may be the dominant caste of the locality.Sanskritization has
occurred usually in groups who have enjoyed political and economic power but were not ranked
high in ritual ranking. According to Yogendra Singh the process of sanskritization is an
endogenous source of social change .Mackim Marriot observes that sanskritic rites are often
added on to non-sanskritic rites without replacing them. Harold Gould writes, often the motive
force behind sanskritisation is not of cultural imitation per se but an expression of challenge and
revolt against the socioeconomic deprivations.

M.N Srinivas (1962) pioneer of sociology in India has used the term ‘westernisation’ to
indicate the change, which took place in India during the British rule in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries.Westernisation implies changes in dress, style of eating, manners etc. The
change in the medium of instruction. Westernisation started having its impact on the elite
because they studied secular subjects with English as medium of instruction.The Brahmins and
other castes with tradition of learning and traditions of science in the courts readily took to
secular education with English as a medium of education. Another big change introduced in the
Indian society by the new system of education is that the schools were thrown open all types in
contrast to the traditional schools which were restricted to upper-caste children and which
transmitted mostly traditional knowledge.In as much as modernisation in India has come about
due to westernisation, therefore, the above-mentioned changes of Modernisation can be taken to
be result of westernisation.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS-:
 Caste in modern India by- M.N.SRINIVAS
 Indian society and social institution by -: N. Jayapalan

WEBSITES-:
 https://www.researchgate.net
 https://www.epw.in › system
 https://www.sociologyignou.com
 https://www.sociologygroup.com
 https://www.jstor.org

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