Cultural Change

The term 'sanskritisation' was given by M.N. Srinivas, he defined it as a process in which the customs, rituals, beliefs, ideology and life style of upper castes (especially twice-born caste) are taken over by a low caste or tribe.

Sanskritisation has multi-fold impact. It influences language, literature, music, dance, drama, life style and rituals.

According to Srinivas -

a) Sanskritisation improves the position of a group in local caste hierarchy.

b) It predicts improvement in economic or political position of the concerned group or the higher group gets conscious about its tradition.

c) However, in Indian society it’s not easy to take over the customs of higher castes by the lower castes.

d) Primarily it was visible in Hindus but it is practiced in other castes and religions also.

Sanskritisation has been criticised at different levels due to following reasons -

a) It gives a scope to lower castes to move up on the social ladder or caste hierarchy

b) It leads to positional change only not structural change

c) It gives acceptance that there exits caste hierarchy in which some castes occupy a higher position than the other.

d) It justifies a model that rests on inequality and exclusion.

According to M N Srinivas, westernisation is the changes brought in Indian society and culture as a result of British rule of more than 150 years. It includes the changes at different levels in technology, institution, ideology and values.

Westernisation was of different kinds

a) Emergence of westernised subcultural pattern

b) A small sector of India came into contact with western culture at first and not only adopted its cognitive patterns but also supported its expansion.

c) The characteristics of western culture have also been general spread and the people started using new technology, dressing style, food habits, etc.

d) However there were some people who imitated the western culture but could not develop the westernise thought. So it does not mean that the people also adopted the modern values of democracy and equality.

e) The westernisation among middle class created generation gap and made it more complex.

Modernisation is about improvement in technology and production process it is a wider than westernization.

Therefore, most of the time westernisation is just about adoption of western attire and life style and not about western thoughts or about modernisation.

•Rites and secularisation –

i) Rites means the rituals related to a particular caste or religion.

ii) Secularisation is a set of modern ideas.

iii) Modernisation and secularisation are linked with each other.

iv) Our society is a mixture of tradition and modernity though these terms have fixed entities.

v) We claim to be modern and secular but still the religious beliefs continue to dominate our lives.

vi) In the modern west secularisation is a process of decline in religious influence. The theorists of modernization assume that the modern societies are becoming secular, but this is not an absolute fact for Indian society.

vii) Rituals have secular dimensions as distinct from secular goals.

viii) Considerable part of virtual in India has direct reference to the pursuit of secular ends.

•Caste and secularisation –

i) In traditional India, caste system operated within a religious framework. The belief system of purity and pollution among caste system was very common in practice.

ii) Indian society has seen the formation of caste associations and caste based political parties which press their demand upon the State. This change role of caste is described as secularisation of caste.

iii) The traditional social system of India was organised around the caste structure and caste identities and in establishing relationship between caste and politics the doctrine of modernization fails.

iv) The politicians mobilise caste groupings and identities in such manner that they could organise their power.

v) In name of secularization the caste system is used by politicians to gain power.

•Gender and sanskritisation – Sanskritisation offered different rules for men and women.

i) It supports that women should lead traditional life style whereas men can be modernised and westernised.

ii) The education system for men and women vary. Girls were not allowed to go for convent schools.

iii) During ancient period the women were not allowed to go for higher education like people of lower caste.

iv) Sanskritisation prefers that the women should play the role of wife, mother, sister, daughter with a great honour and should stay at home.

v) They should marry with the consent of parents and family.

vi) Different type of dressing style and food habits is preferred for women than men.