In India, there are many castes and each one of them has its own culture. Being different in the culture they also have differences in status and respect. At this point, the concept of Sanskritization comes into light.
The Concept of Sanskritization was first introduced by Professor M.N. Srinivas, a famous Indian sociologist. In his book “Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India” he described cultural mobility in India.
While studying the Coorgs of Mysore, Srinivas found that the lower caste people were trying to raise their status in the cultural hierarchy by imitating the higher caste culture, particularly The Brahmins.
He named this process Brahmanization as Brahmins were the core of it but later on he called it Sanskritization as it is a broader concept.
Purpose:
The caste system is a very important part of Indian Hindu society. Here, people feel inferior to the higher castes which are the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas.
The lower caste people try to imitate them by adopting their values and virtues. The main purpose to do this is to get respect and a place in society which they normally don’t.
Characteristic:
1) Sanskritization is defined by M.N. Srinivas as, “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.”
2) In some society the people not only follow the customs of Brahmins but also of Kshatriyas and Vaishya.
3) Sanskritization is not only confined to Hindu people but is also practiced by the castes in tribal society.
Sanskritization based on different aspects:
1) Cultural aspect:
Different castes have their different kind of culture. In Hindu society, people are judged by the culture that they have like the Brahmins wear a sacred thread whereas the Kshatriyas is a warrior class.
Also, the Brahmins have the culture of not consuming liquor and prohibition of widow remarriage.
The people of this caste worship their gods according to the written way in their sacred texts. The lower caste people try to follow this culture and imitate the way of life of the upper class to get recognition in society.
2) Income aspect:
In every country, some people are considered more respectable than others based on their economic power. Here the lower-income group tries to imitate the lifestyle of the rich to feel and act like one of them.
They can be also called the dominant class of people as they influence other income groups.
3) Varna aspect:
In Hindu Varna society the highest status is given to the Brahmins.
The Kshatriyas try to imitate the values of Brahmins, the Vaishyas imitate the Kshatriyas, the Sudras imitate the vaishyas. Everyone wants to be recognized to a level higher than them. Only the Antyaj copy the Sudras.
Some remarkable points in Sanskritization:
1) The society has allotted honor to Brahmins, power to Kshatriyas, and skills to Sudras. The lower caste has been deprived of all this so they have an urge to imitate them and increase their status.
2) The Upward mobility should be of a group and not of a person or a family.
3) The emphasis is given to vertical mobility rather than horizontal mobility.
4) There is no fixed time in which a group can attain the status they want. In other words, they have to wait for an indefinite time to gain recognition.
5) The process also depends on the structure of the society. If the society is flexible and welcomes changes then for the people the process will become easy.
6) In modern times there are instances of some of the higher castes imitating the behavioral pattern of lower castes. This process is known as de-Sanskritization.
We can say Sanskritization is a part of India’s past as well as present, but many people also think that the concept does not consider non-Sanskritic traditions. This thing depends upon the flexibility of the people and society’s mindset.
Written by: Bhavish Doshi
Edited by: Gourav Chowdhury
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