SANSKRITIZATION

Sanskritization is a process by which a “low” Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs, ritual, ideology, and way of life in the direction of a high, and frequently, a “twice” born caste. It is followed by a claim to a higher position in the caste hierarchy than traditionally concealed to the claimant caste by the local community. Such claims are made over a period of time, sometime a generation or two before they are conceded

(Srinivas, 1966).

The concept of Sanskritization is given by M. N. Srinivas. According to him, Sanskritization had been occurring throughout the Indian history. It may be viewed as the model of social mobility in India. To understand this concept it is important to distinguish between two related concepts of Varna and caste. Varna is an all-India framework and in this framework human society is divided into four hierarchical groups (Varnas). They are Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Shudra. Untouchables are outside the Varna system. On the other hand caste refers to hereditary, endogamous groups which form a hierarchy, each having a traditional association with one or two occupations. Castes groups maintained relations in terms of purity and pollution. There were many castes which were only regional in character. Regarding hierarchy, in each region there are certain castes which are considered to be at the top and certain other castes are considered to be at the bottom. An interesting aspect of the caste system has been that the claims to position are contested and there is no general agreement regarding hierarchy, at least at the middle level.

Further, through Sanskritization, i.e., by changing customs, rituals, ideology and way of life towards upper castes people belonging to a particular caste claim a superior status on the caste hierarchy. This may or may not be granted by others and sometimes the matter reached the king who gave the final verdict. At times castes would fight violently till a status claimed by them is granted to them. Srinivas maintained that Sanskritization, however, led only to positional change but not structural change. This means that the perceived positions of different castes may change but it would not affect the Hindu belief in caste hierarchy. To be Hindu is to belong to a caste with a relative place in the hierarchical division.

Srinivas agrees that Sanskritization was only one source of mobility in Hindu society. Initially, he observed that Sanskritization means emulating the life styles of Brahmins. In his later works, however, he maintained that Indian culture being highly varied and the beliefs about status of a Varna being dependent on local culture, there were several models of Sanskritization:

Brahmin model, Kshatriya model, Vaisya model; and Shudra model. 

Thus Brahmin model was only one of them. The concept of dominant caste supplemented the concept of Sanskritization in some way. At some places if the tribal groups were dominant, the other groups followed the tribal customs and thus one can also speak of a tribal model of Sanskritization.

The following example shows the process.
Imagine that an outsider or an untouchable group decides to enter the caste society. By accumulating power they can enter the caste hierarchy at the level of Kshatriyas. Then the people belonging to caste of genealogists and bards create genealogical links and myths about them. Subsequently the outside or untouchable groups acquire the high Kshatriya status. Secular power influences ritual ranking. For a long time Sanskritization may have worked.

The major factors in Sanskritization were:

· Fluidity of political system with bardic caste having the special privilege of legitimization of the origin of different castes and Varnas
· Position of the dominant caste
· Pilgrimage
· Migration of values and beliefs from great tradition to little tradition
· Secular factors in determining the position of caste (in addition to pollution and purity)
· Migration to new areas
· Bhakti movement that established the idea of equality before God and thus the idea of
equality among different groups and castes
After independence of the country, the issue of social mobility became more complex and cases of Sanskritization, de-Sanskritization as well as re-Sanskritization (Singh, 1974) were observed. Due to the policy of positive discrimination adopted by Indian government now an increasing number of groups laid claim to backward status rather than high status. Some of them claim a backward status in state matters and a forward status in society.

Source: Open sources