An attempt has been made fie re to show that there may be a dynamic interplay between the processes

of Sanskritization and westernization which may help us to account for such seeming anachronisms as the
high castes, who have had the greatest shake in the old order, revealing a stronger urge for westernization
and modernisation than the tower castes, who have had the least stake in the old order,
This is just the opposite of what we have been led to expect on the basis of 'classical' accounts of
modernisation.
The process of westernization need not be regarded as an ' irony' but is an important dimension of
the total process of mobility and change in Indian society.
THE observation that the I ndi an
caste system is not absolutely
r i gi d and static has l e d progressive-
ly to vari ous attempts to expl ai n in
systematic terms the manner in
whi ch change occurs wi t hi n i t . Per-
haps the earliest such altenipt was
the observation that a caste may
sometimes pay large dowries to
give its daughters in marri age to
men of some sl i ght l y hi gher caste.'
Thi s is the process known as hvper-
gamy/" ft has been described and
discussed by al l of the wel l - known
ethnographers of I ndi a who wrot e
dur i ng the last cent ury and the
first-part of this century. It forms
a maj or preoccupat i on of J H Hut-
ton' s wor k ( 1946) .
I mpl i ci t in this concept of hyper-
gamy is the fact that cash's who
for any reason are able to become
upwar dl y mobi l e do so by maki ng
themselves r i t ual I y and occupa-
l i onai l y as much like the higher
castes as possible and then rat i fy-
i ng this achievement by appl yi ng
t hei r newl y-found resources to the
cont ract i ng of up-marri ages. Once
i nt er mar r i ed wi t h another caste
gr oup, yon are i nconl esl ahl y equal
to i t . Thi s has always been the
fi nal cr i t er i on of status par i t y i n
t r adi t i onal I ndi an society.
Sanskritization the Concept
However, upwar d mobi l i t y, even
in the caste system, is a broader,
mor e pervasive process than is
symbol i zed by the practice of hy-
pergamy. The latter may. as a
matter of fact, lie seen more as a
ki nd of end-product of the overall
process, an aspect of the whol e
phenomenon and not hi ng more. It
in the great ut i l i t y of M N Srinivas' s
( 1056) concept of Sanskri t i zat i on
that i t aut omat i cal l y puts hyper-
gamy i n its appr opr i at e place
wi t hi n an overal l process of inter-
caste mobi l i t y whi ch encompasses
not only this act of final rat i fi ca-
t i on but also all of the intermediate
steps and, indeed, other channels
and manifestations of mobi l i t y as
well whi ch do not necessarily cul -
mi nat e in hypergamy at al l .
Srinivas' s concept rests ultimate-
ly ou the notion that the caste sys-
tem, l i ke al l status hierarchies,
causes the low to i nvi di ousl y com-
pare themselves wi t h the hi gh and
to try in every way they can to
soften, modi fy, reduce, and even
el i mi nat e altogether the basis for
these status differences. Thi s is not
uni que to the I ndi an caste system.
What is uni que is the manner in
whi ch this process must work itself
out in Indi a, gi ven the empi r i cal
nature of the status system that
prevails there. It is t hi s wi t h whi ch
Sanskr i t i / at i on comes to gri ps.
Sanskri t i zat i on also, it seems to
me. deals wi i h something a l i t t l e
different than Mc Ki m Ma r r i ot t s
(1955) uni versal i zat i on parochi a-
l i zat i on' di chot omy. The former
subsumes, essentially the same phe-
nomena as the latter but uses them
for different anal yt i cal ends. Mar -
ri ot t ' s notion is more par t i cul ar l y
useful for deal i ng wi t h data of this
ki nd when it is being viewed f r om
the standpoint of a fol k-urban d i -
mension where one may be concern-
ed wi t h the process of i nt er mi ngl i ng
between elite, urban-centered, and
l ocal , vi l l ager-ent ered cul t ur al tra-
di t i ons, qui t e aside from the ques-
t i on of the status i mpl i cat i ons of
this per se Srinivas' s concept is
rooted pr i mar i l y in a concern f or
the latter.
But Sri ni vas also speaks of a
paral l el process, whi ch he terms
westernization. Concerni ng this be
observes :
One of the many interesting contra-
dictions of modern Hindu social life
945
is that while the Brahmans are be-
coming: more and more westernized,
the other castes are becoming more
and more Sanskritized. In the lower
reaches of the hierarchy, castes are
faking up customs which the Hrah-
nians are busy discarding. As far us
these castes are concerned, it looks as
though Sanskritization is an essential
preliminary to westernization.
Dynamic Relationship
However. I believe we can go
fart her wi t h this not i on of Sr i -
nivas" s ami thereby deepen our
underst andi ng of the mobi l i t y pr o-
cess in I ndi an society today. For
it seems: probabl e that at least in
some instances, under some ci rcum-
stances the rel at i onshi p between
Sanskri t i zat i on and westernization
is a more dynami c one than even
Sri ni vas makes apparent in his
wr i t i ngs.
Let us realize at the outlet that
the caste system is one of the most
elaborate attempts at hi erarchi za-
fi on of society ever undert aken by
matt. It has left its mark every-
where on I ndi an l i f e, but especial-
ly it has i mbued Indi ans in general
wi t h a finely tuned consciousness of
hi er ar chy per se whi ch does not
seem to be di sappeari ng wi t h any
par t i cul ar haste even among the
most moderni zed, westernized of
Indi ans. Among the l at t er. this
sense of hi er ar chy merely changes
its contours sl i ght l y so that it can
operate effectively even under con-
di t i ons of so-called democrat i c so-
ci et y. At t ent i on t o seni or i t y and
petty permut at i ons of aut hor i t y are
admi t t ed by al l to be unusually ela-
borated even in the most ' r at i onal '
and ' progressive" I ndi an bureaucra-
ci es The academic wor l d, where
one mi ght expect the most moder-
n i s e t hi nki ng t o be appl i ed i n
such matters is not ori ousl y hierar-
chized not onl y wi t h respect to the
official uni ver si t y structures hut
wi t h respect as wel l to the i nf or mal
Sanskritization and Westernization
A Dynamic View
June 24, 1961
T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y
Harold A Gould
June 24 1961
T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y
social structures mai nt ai ned by
students and faculty alike. The
charge of "casteism on the campus
is so loud and frequent in Indi a
that its very persistence and uni -
versality makes it almost i naudi bl e.
It is wi t hi n this setting of perva-
sive hi erarchi cal t hi nki ng and
feeling that the interdependency of
Sanskri t i zat i on and westernization
may he appreciated. Sri ni vas has
looked at these t wi n processes to an
i mport ant degree from the stand-
point of the desire of the l ower
castes to move upwar d by trans-
f or mi ng their ri t ual and social
structure unt i l it conforms more
nearly to that of the Brahmana
and/ or whatever other caste hap-
pens to be domi nant and, therefore,
represents elite status wi t hi n t hei r
experi ent i al ken. West erni zat i n,
then, is seen pr i ma r i l y as an ' i r ony'
by . whi ch the very clean castes
whom the lower castes arc api ng
are gi vi ng up the very Sanskritic
traits by whi ch the lower castes i m-
pl i ci t l y acknowledge ( by t r yi ng t o
adopt them) their super i or i t y.
Westernization a Necessity
It is my suspicion that this hitter
is more than an i rony and act ual l y
a new and necessary manifestation
for the hi gh castes of the age-old
preoccupation of people in general
and Indians i n par t i cul ar wi t h
hi erarchy. Thi s poi nt is to he ap-
preciated when we view Sansjkrili-
zation and westernization f r om the
standpoint of those who are at the
top of the scab the Brahmans
and certain others rather than
f r om the standpoint of those locat-
ed at its bot t om or somewhere in
its mi ddl e reaches.
i f you are t r adi t i onal l y Brahman
and you are at the apex of the r i -
t ual hi erarchy prevalent i n a v i l l -
age, or in a regi on wherein the
approxi mat e or der i ng of the vari -
ous castes is reasonably compre-
hended by most and acknowledged
more or less as the basis of social
i nt eract i on, then Sanskri t i zat i on for
you means wat chi ng the lower cas-
tes rising up and up beneath you.
As they "o so, by whi ch I mean,
as and to the extent that they are
able to actually force recogni t i on
of and thereby r at i f y new status
pretensions, the social distance bet-
ween them and you is di mi ni shed.
Years ago, when I first came to
Sherupur
4
t hi s seemed to be the
pl i ght and the compl ai nt of both
the Raj put and the Br ahman mem-
bers of the communi t y. Democrat i -
zation of I ndi an society, part i cul ar-
ly since Independence, has opened
up opport uni t i es heretofore incon-
ceivable for Ahi r . Mur au, Ku r mi ,
Kor i and even Chamar castes to
Sanskritize themselves; ( i e , t o pur i -
fy their ri t ual s, diet, etc) and in
general to approach and fraternize
wi t h I he hi gh castes. Understandab-
l y, these long-suppressed and vary-
i ngl y humi l i at ed groups have been
busy doi ng just that. In fact, I
suggest that one of the pr i me
motive-forces behind San.skritiza-
l i on is this factor of repressed
host i l i t y whi ch manifests itself not
in the f or m of rejecting the caste
system but in the form of its vic-
t i ms t r yi ng to seize cont r ol of it
and thereby expiate t hei r frustra-
tions on the same battlefield where
they acqui red them. Onl y then
can there he a sense of satisfaction
in something achieved that is tangi-
ble, concrete, and relevant to past
experience. If the lower castes re-
jected the caste system out of band
before acting out their hostilities to
it by t r yi ng to master it they woul d
be left wi t h a hollow sense of nn-
f ul f i l l ment , a sense that they never
successfully attacked and conquered
the t hi ng i n terms of whi ch t hei r
ideals, their aspirations, their frus-
trations, in fact their whole percep-
tion of l i fe, were f or med. Besides
this, it is doubt ful that they coul d
structure t hei r hostilities and aspi-
rat i ons in any other way as yet
because of the very fact thai they
have remained throughout recorded
Indi an history i l l i t erat e, cowed pr i -
soners of the caste system. Thei r
perception of alternative forms
must by defi ni t i on he di m and i n-
decisive.
Old Bases of Power Crumble
Thus, at any rate in 1954, the
Brahmans and Rajputs of Sherupur
were, speaking to me bi t t er l y about
the fust-approaching * rul e of the
lower orders' ' In the presence of
lower caste persons they woul d
declare that in the ' ol d days' a
lower caste man woul d never dare
come as close to a Raj put ' s or
Brahman' s charpai as in fact his
listeners were comi ng at the present
moment ! Today, respect (izzat)
for the hi gh caste man has ended,'
my i nformant s woul d l oudl y pro-
cl ai m. When some Kor i s obtained
funds f r om a nearby Communi t y
Projact t r ai ni ng bl ock to . construct
946
a new wel l , the Raj put s regul arl y
stood a t o m f l i ngi ng taunts at t hem
for pl aci ng t hei r t rust i n outside
agencies ( uni f or ml y labelled ' Gov-
ernment ' ) who, they averred, woul d
ul t i mat el y betray them and make
fools of t hemi n cont radi st i nct i on
to the Rajputs, of course, who, they
assured me, had always scrupu-
lously looked after the interests of
their lower caste bretheren.
For the Brahmans and Rajputs,
it was clearly a matter of seeing
the bases of t hei r ol d power and
aut hor i t y mel t i ng away before t l u i r
eyes and being prevented from do-
i ng much about i t , as indeed they
could in the ' ol d days,' by the i m-
par t i al hand, of secular govern-
ment ". Or looked at f r om the poi nt
of view of the thesis bei ng enun-
ciated here, these hi gh castes were
wat chi ng anxi ousl y whi l e the floor
of the status system rose under-
neath them wi t h the consequence
that the old forms of social distance
by wi nch they bai l always differen-
tiated themselves f r om their fellow-
Hi ndus were evaporat i ng. As Sr i -
nivas puts it :
The three main axes of power in
the caste system fire die ritual, the
economic, and the political ones, and
the possession of power in any one
sphere usually leads to power in the
other two.
The Brahmans and Rajputs of
Sherupur were losing their pol i t i -
cal and to some extent their econo-
mi c power " t hrough whi ch for
centuries they had successfully en-
forced the t r adi t i onal hi erarchi cal
or der i ng of the castes and the r i t ual
distinctions upon whi ch this was
based. In fact, the pol i t i cal coup
de grace was delivered in February
l abour on part -t i me basis or fa-
of 1961 when for the first t i me
secret-ballot elections were hel d for
the office of village pradhan. Wi t h
the election nf an Ahi r , the peren-
ni al cont rol mai nt ai ned by the
Rajputs, and acquiesced in by the
Brahmans,
7
was decisively shatter-
ed. The mi ddl e and lower castes
were j ubi l ant , their attitude bei ng
vi vi dl y i l l ust rat ed by the comment
of a Ko r i f r i end, who said wi t h
real emot i on in his voice, ' The
l ower castes are comi ng up now. '
For they saw in this pol i t i cal vi ct o-
ry the possi bi l i t y of a widened
scope for the eventual at t ai nment
of status par i t y wi t h the Brahmans
and Raj put s a par i t y whi ch my
experience wi t h these vi l l agers has
demonstrated to me is associated, as
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY June 24, 1961
srinivas says, wi t h the desire to
become ever more ort hodox and
' clean' i n the r i t ua l , commensal,
and connubi al senses.
Where Westernization Comes in
But even t hough the Brahmans
and Raj put s are cl earl y losing
gr ound in the status struggle t aki ng
place wi t hi n the t r adi t i onal caste
hi erarchy, they are not t aki ng
things l yi ng down by any means.
Thi s is where westernization enters
the pi ct ur e in a manner whi ch is
dynami cal l y i nt er-rel at ed wi t h the
events t aki ng place under the rub-
ri c of Sanskri t i zat i on. For I believe
that in pr opor t i on as the Brahmans
and Rajputs are losing ground in
the ol d caste hi erarchy, they are
reaching out in a di r ect i on we can
best call westernization (or perhaps
to-day the t er m ' moderni zat i on'
woul d be somewhat more appro-
pri at e) in order to obt ai n new
sources of status and power whi ch
effectively cont i nue to give them
the feel i ng that they are mai nt ai n-
i ng suitable social distance bet-
ween themselves and those whom
t hr y have t r adi t i onal l y defined as
l ow.
Al t hough not the sole factor res-
ponsi bl e, it seems l i kel y that this
process helps account for the. by
now wi del y observed fact that mo-
bi l i t y i n the di rect i on of urban and
modern empl oyment is more pre-
ponderant , i n relative terms, among
the hi gh than among the low cas-
tes. Edwi n Eames (1951) refers to
it wi t h some surprise in a village
( Ma d h o p u r ) whi ch he studied i n
Ut t ar Pradesh. He says :
It was assumed . . . that the great-
est amount of migration In urban
centres would he by members of these
castes which had lost their functions
in village life . . . and those who
were in the weakest economic position
in the village . , . However, the
largest group going outside the village
are Thakurs . . . who are the second
largest population group in Madhopur.
They are in the top economic position
of the village and the owners of the
, land, (pp 13-14)
Oscar Lewi s ( 1955) found the
same t hi ng in a Jat vi l l age near
Del hi and his comments on the
phenomenon are hi ghl y pert i nent to
this discussion :
. . . it is the higher caste Jats and
Brahmans at Rampar who have taken
the greatest initiative in getting out-
side work, who have the best-paid jobs
and the greatest number of them . . .
If such conditions are prevalent in
other Indian villages, it might mean
that the inequalities of the caste sys-
tem will be perpetuated, for the mem-
bers of the higher castes would be the
ones to benefit most in an industria-
lized India. (pp 301-302)
In all instances, the r eal i t y ap-
pears to be at wide variance wi t h
' classical
1
expectations concerni ng
mobi l i t y i n moderni zi ng societies,
where it is hold that the landless
and the i mpoveri shed are compell-
ed to move towards the city in
search of cash empl oyment whi l e
the landed and the well-off are eon-
tent to remai n pr opor t i onat el y
longer i n their r ur al habi t at .
False Dichotomies
Grant ed, this latter phenomenon
is also occur r i ng on a maj or scale
in I ndi a today and promises to be-
come even more intensified should
the rate of i ndust ri al i zat i on mat eri -
al l y increase dur i ng the next
twenty-five to fifty years. It is not
necessarv f or us to make any choi-
ces between false dichotomies in
this matter. What is at issue here
Is only the surpri si ngl y hi gh preva-
lence of elite mobi l i t y and the
correspondi ngl y sur pr i si ngl y low
prevalence of low caste mobi l i t y
by comparision with the former. It
is thiw whi ch is "unclassicar by con-
trast wi t h the West.
It suggests that the higher castes
arc for some reason if nest i ng a
large an ion ni of deliberate energy
i n westernization. pr opor t i onat el y
much more than the l ower castes
(at least in villages of the size and
si t uat i on of Sherupur and those
studied by Karnes and Lewi s ) .
whi l e the low castes are investing
a large amount of deliberate ener-
gy in Sanskri t i zat i on, pr opor -
tionately much more than the
hi gher castes, or so it woul d seem.
Thi s makes sense if we recognize
the pervasiveness of hi erarchi cal
t hi nki ng and feeling i n I ndi a and
consequently realize that the Brah-
mana and Rajputs have l i t t l e choice
left to them than to t ur n to wester-
ni zat i on as a means of mai nt ai ni ng
the social distance between t hem-
selves and the lower castes whi ch is
no longer possible wi t hi n lite ol d
order in the face of the Iatters'
current abi l i t y to Sanskritize them-
selves. If yon are already Sanskri-
l i zed. as are the Brahmans and the
Rajputs (al t hough I do not wish to
i mpl y that the two are f ul l y equi -
valent r i t nal l y or in any other way,
because they are not ) , then you
can' t go any hi gher up in the t r adi -
t i onal st rat i fi cat i on order. If you
947
can' t mai nt ai n t hi ngs as they are
t hr ough the appl i cat i on of pol i t i cal
and economic power then you can
onl y go down or accept the not i on of
equal i t y whi ch, i n effect, means
accepting the nul l i t y of the caste
system itself and hi erarchi cal rela-
tionships in general. Thi s is patent-
ly impossible for the hi gh castes,
wi t h their deeply embedded con-
ception of their inherent super i or i -
t y, and so they must move outside
the caste system wi nch spawned
them in order to preserve t hei r
pretensions to paramount status in
I ndi an .society.
New Bases of Superiority
Thi s is done in Sherupur and
elsewhere by convert i ng t hei r t radi -
t i onal intellectual skills, economic
advantages, and nepotic connections
into opport uni t i es for obt ai ni ng
modern education and what is com-
monl y called ' service' by whi ch'
is meant a j ob hi Government
(either pr ovi nci al or central) or i n
modern i ndust ry. To the extent
that they succeed in this endeavour,
Brahmans and Rajputs preserve a
measure of superi ori t y over t hei r
lower caste compat ri ot s in their
local communi t y (where not more
wi del y) whi ch mere Sanskri t i zat i on
is incapable of mat chi ng. For the
lower castes are wi t hout education
or any t r adi t i on of l earni ng, they
are wi t hout much economic power,
and they lack welI-elaborated ki n-
ship structures whi ch can be ave-
nues of connection and mobi l i t y
outside the local mi l i eu. Wi t hout
these assets, they cannot, hope to
at t ai n very much modern educat i on,
much less opport uni t i es f or "ser-
vice". And even in these rare i n-
stances where a low caste f ami l y
does acquire the means they fre-
quently t ur n t hei r resources to the
bui l di ng up of t hei r t r adi t i onal
status. In the village adj oi ni ng
Sherupur there is a Kor i who has
made considerable money out of
the bui l di ng construction business.
He has symbol i zed his new-found
opulence not by becoming a ' mo-
dern mai f but by bui l di ng a resi-
dence in the village which outsides
the hi gh castes in its t r adi t i onal
archi t ect ural style. Furt hermore,
he is compl et i ng const ruct i on of
the largest and most ornate
dhuratmluda (a rest house for rel i -
gious pi l grj ms) in the area, one
whi ch eclipses by far the numerous
comparable structures thereabout
associated wi t h hi gh caste benefac-
June 24, 1961
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
948
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY June 24, 1961
tora. The Br ahman f ami l y whi ch
resides in the same haml et st i l l re-
fuses to interact wi t h t hi s Kor i ' s
f ami l y and the head of this Brah-
man household is an official in the
Sugar Cane Depart ment of the
Government of Ut t ar Pradesh!
Sanskritization not Distinctive
Enough
We may see this same pheno-
menon from the st andpoi nt of the
hi gh cables themselves. Those
fami l i es among the Brahmans and
Rajputs in Sherupur who have
bee unsuccessful i n convert i ng
their t r adi t i onal assets i nt o oppor-
tunities for sons to get a good
educat i on and "service" are depre-
cated even by their own caste fel -
l ows on this account. Where Sans-
kr i t i zat i on is t hei r only cl ai m to
status, they are insufficiently dis-
tinct f r om the lower castes, espe-
ci al l y from the mi ddl e groups l i ke
Ahi r and Kurmi who got modest
amounts of land out of Zami ndar i
abol i t i on. As a result. there is
much anxiely and f r el l i ng on this
score wi t hi n the ranks of the Brah-
mans and Rajputs. Many a father
f r om these castas has approached
me in the hope that I might he
able to intervene somewhere wi t h
a business executive or govern-
ment official on behalf of a son
whom he wants to get placed in
"service". Onl y one lower caslc
person has over so approached
me and this represents a very un-
usual case from many stand-
points.
8
St ri ct l y economic grounds are
insufficient to expl ai n what is
happeni ng and the fact that in
Sherupur all outside "while collar"
jobs las wel l as an over whel mi ng
preponderance of all outside jobs)
are hel d by ' he castes who rank
highest in the t r adi t i onal hierar-
chy. Tor these hi gh castes have
pract i cal l y al l the land i n the v i l -
lage and are in every mat eri al
respect i nfi ni t el y better off than
t hei r low caste bret hren. In fact.
I have encountered instances where
a hi gh caste f ami l y has urged its
son or sons out into the modern
j ob market even where havi ng
done so has left the vi l l age farm
short-handed and has entailed real
economic hardshi p f or the rest of
the f ami l y. They woul d rather have
a greater pr opor t i on of the agri -
cul t ur al work done by the landless
castes than is cust omary, and ac-
cept whatever other hardshi p that
may be i nvol ved, i f that wi l l as-
sure them the abi l i t y to count
among the accoutrements of t hei r
cont emporary status the fact that
one or more of t hei r sons are per-
f or mi ng prestigious wor k some-
where in the modern society beyond
the vi l l age. For then they do not
have to depend for t hei r hi gh posi-
t i on upon the ri cket y scale of Sans-
kr i t i zal i on alone, a cr i t er i on that
becomes meaningless to the Hrah-
inans and Raj put s in precisely the
degree to whi ch the castes beneath
them acqui re more and more Sans-
kr i t i zat i on i n t hei r own r i ght .
Mirage of Equality
Meanwhi l e, the low castes expend
a maj or share of their energy on
Sanskritrizatlion. In other words,
they are sal vi ng their wounded
collective ego born of past ages of
degradat i on and expl oi t at i on by
pur sui ng the mi rage of equal i t y
wi t h t he Brahmans and other hi gh
castes. By the time they reach
their destination, however, they wi l l
discovery that the Brahman has hi m-
self vacated the spot and moved on
to the hi gher hi l l of West erni zat i on
where he st i l l gazes contemptuous-
ly down upon them from an elevat-
ed porch. In fact, the motive-
power for the latter' s I nni ng done
so wi l l have been suppl i ed by the
process of Sanskri t i zat i on itself
whi ch, as its very success- caused
it to be coveted by and sought by
others, caused the hi gh castes to
abandon it in favour of new realms
of status. No doubt it wi l l be at
tins point that the lower castes also
commence abandoning t hei r craze
for Sanskri t i zat i on and then the
book wi l l have to close on this con-
cept, as the resultant new I ndi an
society comes to gri ps wi t h the pr o-
blem of hi rerarehy i n radi cal l y di f-
ferent and at this j unct ur e hardl y
forseeable terms.
It is not intended thai this, analy-
sis be const rued as an attempt to
provi de the expl anat i on of change
and mobi l i t y in I ndi an society to-
day. It is not even intended thai
this analysis be taken as appl i cabl e
in al l situations where issues of
change and mobi l i t y arise. Indi a is
too complex a society, and indus-
t ri al i zat i on and moderni zat i on loo
complex processes, for a single
general concept to be able to ac-
count for al l facets of the transfor-
mat i on that is bei ng brought about,
All that has been attempted here is
to show that, there may be an i m-
949
port ant dynami c i nt er pl ay between'
the processes of Sansknt i zat i on and
westernization
9
whi ch helps us ac-
count for such seeming anachr oni -
sms as the hi gh castes ( who
obvi ousl y have had the highest
stake in the ol d or der ) revealing
stronger urges t oward westerniza-
t i on and moderni zat i on, as symbo-
lized by occupat i onal mobi l i t y pat-
terns, than the l ower castes ( who
have had the least stake in the ol d
or der ) . Thi s is the opposite of
what we have been led to expect
on the basis of ' classical' accounts
of moderni zat i on deri ved f r om
Western data. In short, it is hoped
that it wi l l be seen that Srinivas' s
notion of westernization need not
be regarded merely as an ' i r ony'
l ul l as a necessary component of a
t horough comprehension of at least
one i mpor t ant di mensi on of the
total process of mobi l i t y and
change in Indi an society.
NOTES
1
By 'earliest' I have in mind the
'scientific past.' which for Anthropo-
logy commences little more than a
century ago.
2
- Hypergamy may be a comparatively
late manifestation in India if Srini-
vas- (1956) is correct . He says:
Over seventy years ago, the institu-
tion of bride-price seems to have
provaited among some sections of
Mysore Brahmans, But with wes-
ternisation, and the demand it
created tor educated boys who had
iiood jobs, dowry became popular.
The better educated a hoy, the
larger the dowry ids parents de-
manded for him. The ape at which
girls married shot up . . . Nowa-
days, urban ami middle-class Brah-
mans are rarely able to get their
girls married before they are eigh-
teen , . . ChiId widows are rare.,
and shaving the heads of widows is
practically a thing of the past.
(p 490).
Cf, William Crooke (1896) R V
Russell (1916) Herbert Risely
(1891). E Thurstone (1909)
1
Sherupur is a pseudonym hir a vill-
age in District Faizabad of Uttar
Pradesh, winch I studied first in
1954-55 under a Fulbright Student
Grant and which I further studied
from 1959 to 1961 under post-doctoral
fellowships from the National Science
Foundation and the National Insti-
tute of Mental Health respectively.
At that, time, a story was common
knowledge of how the head man of
a neighbouring village, a Rajput, had
come to suspect two Koris of
committing an act of theft in his
house. In traditional high caste
fashion, the old Rajput summoned
the two koris before him, adminis-
tered a beatiAV to them with a luthi
(a bamboo stick), and then locked
them in an out building and told
them he would keep them there un-
t i l they 'confessed.' Finally, in order
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY
to gain release, the two Korin 'con-
fessed.' The old Rajput released
them, whereupon the) sped immedia-
tely to the local police station and
tiled a com plaint against him. At the
ensuing trial, the Rajput was found
guilty, fined Rs 500, and given three
months imprisonment. Since then,
there have been no further reports of
high castes administering summitry
punishment to low caste persons. The
Government has seen to it that those
days are ended for good. And in
this, we see one of the ways in which
the previous political power of the
upper castes has waned.
The leader of the Brahmans in Sheru
midable, the Brahmans and Rajputs
lost some of their lands to lower
castes due to the redistribution which
followed dissolution of the Zamindari
system of land control. This occurr-
ed in 1951 in Uttar Pradesh.
The leader of the Brahmans in Shem-
pur told me that in the years since
Independence, but prior to 1961
when the secret ballot was introduced
in the election of village headman,
he had come to verbal agreement
wiih the perennial Rujput headman
llial he won Id not oppose him as
long as he did nothing to harm the
interests ni die Brahmans in the:
community. In the 1961 elections,
however, this Brahman decided to
oppose the Rajput pradhan because,
he claimed, the latter had gone back
on his word. However, in this elec-
tion, all the high caste candidates
were defeated.
The son in question is an unusually
intelligent young Kori who is now
studying for his B A Final. Roth
parents of this boy aie also ni ex-
tiut.rdiuarily high intelligence (a fact
I have determined through the ad-
ministration of psychological tests
plus direct observation) and ate in
innumerable ways distinct trotu their
average caste-mates.
I am aware that all I have said here
depends upon one's assumption that
tire notion of Sanskritization is a va-
l i d one in the hist place. Many
social scientists both in bulla and
abroad have opposed the concept. So
have many who regard themselves- as
Classicists or linguists. Without go-
ing into the substance of these argu-
ments, here, I do nevertheless want
to state clearly that I do regard
Sanskritization as a useful, meaning-
ful, empirically defensible concept
oner, it is understood in the sense
that Srinivas has used it. In his
own words ( 1956 b) :
I have used the word Sanskriti-
zation to characterize a particular
process. I am not myself sure
whether by using it i have succeed-
ed in conveying what I want to.
1 should point out here, before
anybody else does it, that I my-
self do not like that ward. It is
extremely awkward. Rut I am not
able to find a substitute. The
only alternative word that suggests
itself to me is Brahmanization,
which is not any the less awkward.
This idea of Sanskritization has
been found useful by other work-
ers in the Indian hel d. . . By die
term Sanskritization, I mean the
process by which a low caste gives
up its own rites, customs, and be-
liefs, and takes tip, instead, the
customs, rites, and beliefs of a
higher caste. It is a much wider
term, than, and somewhat different
from, the term Brahmanization . . .
One of the funny things about
Sanskriti/ation is that, not infre-
quently, the agents of Sanskriti/a-
tion are not Bruhmaus. In fact,
they ate occasionally anti-Brah-
manical. They have Sanskritized
their way of life, and they spread
Sanskritization in the society as a
whole, and this goes with an anta-
gonism to the caste, whose ways
they have taken over, (pp 90-91)
In fact, it is possible to say that a
condition of Sanskriti/ation may be the
feeling of antagonism to 'the caste
whose ways' have been taken over! If
the issue were seen in this manner, the
bulk oi the objections to Sanskritization
as a concept should fade away. One
cannot help suspecting that some of the
objections arc trivialities and deliberate
misreadings which are motivated not so
much by the desire to clarify and am-
plify as by the desire to make rather
vain displays of "erudition."
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June 24, 1961