Sanskritisation and Westernization

In one line

Sanskritisation is a low-ranking group rising by copying a higher one within the Indian hierarchy; Westernization is Indian society changing under the influence of the West.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: Sanskritisation, a term coined by M. N. Srinivas in Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India (1952), is the process by which a low or middle-ranking Hindu caste, or a tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology and way of life in the direction of a high and frequently twice-born caste, and claims a higher position in the hierarchy than that traditionally conceded to it by the local community. Westernization is Srinivas's paired concept for the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of contact with the West, covering changes at the levels of technology, institutions, ideology and values.

MU's syllabus prints the first as "Sankritisation". It is the same process.

Sanskritisation

How the process works

A group adopts the practices associated with a higher caste: vegetarianism, teetotalism, the wearing of the sacred thread, the employment of Brahmin priests, restrictions on the remarriage of widows, and the adoption of a higher-sounding caste name and a corresponding origin story. The claim to higher rank is then advanced, and over a generation or two it may be conceded locally.

The claim must be supported by something. Srinivas's own observation was that Sanskritisation is usually preceded or accompanied by an improvement in the group's economic or political position, most often the acquisition of land. A group with no such improvement rarely succeeds in the claim; the ritual change follows the material change rather than substituting for it.

Its characteristics

1. It is a process of mobility for a GROUP, not for an individual. A person cannot change caste; a caste can change its position.
2. It is positional, not structural. This is Srinivas's own crucial qualification and the most examinable thing in the chapter. The group moves up the ladder; the ladder itself is untouched. The hierarchy, the ranking by ritual purity and the idea that some ways of life are superior are all confirmed by the process, because the group's claim depends on them.
3. The reference group is a higher caste, and the concept was later broadened by Srinivas himself: the model is not always Brahmin but may be the locally dominant caste, whether Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra in ritual terms.
4. It is slow, taking one or two generations to be conceded.
5. It requires a material basis, usually land, numbers or political office.
6. It is not confined to Hindu castes: tribal groups have Sanskritised in claiming a place within the caste order, and similar processes are reported in other communities.