Imapact of Sanskritization and Westernization on

India

Introduction:
Sanskritisation  is a particular form of  social change found in India. It denotes the process by
which castes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek upward mobility by emulating
the rituals and practices of the upper or dominant castes. It is a process similar
to passing in anthropological terms. This term was made popular by Indian sociologist M. N.
Srinivas in the 1950s . In his book “Religion and Society Among the Coorgs pof Southern
India”, he used the term of “Sanskritization”. 1 This ambitious concept  is again revolving
back with the time in contemporary Indian society after the caste based policies , result was
‘de-Sanskritization’ it was no longer beneficial to be an upper caste and so attempts were
made to re-claim any lower or backward caste roots.  

Westernization is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such
matters as industry, technology, law, politics, lifestyle, diet, language, religion, philosophy,
and/or values. Westernization has been a pervasive and accelerating influence across the
world in the last few centuries. It is usually a two-sided process, in which Western influences
and interests themselves are joined by a wish of at least parts of the affected society to change
towards a more Westernized society, in  the hope of attaining Western life or some aspects of
it. The main purpose behind this paper is to analyze the impact of the “westernization” and
“sanskritization” in the present modern Indian society.
 

 
 

Sanskritization:

1
Sociology,Dr. S.R Myneni,428.
Indian society has been divided into various classes and caste system is very prevalent in
India since starting of the society till date. Dr. M.N. Srinivas defined sanskritisation as a
process by which "a low or middle Hindu caste, or tribal or other group, changes its customs,
ritual ideology, and way of life in the direction of a high and frequently twice-born caste.
Generally such changes are followed by a claim to a higher position in the caste hierarchy
than that traditionally conceded to the claimant class by the local community and according
to him, Sanskritization is not just the adoption of new customs and habits, but also includes
exposure to new ideas and values appearing in Sanskrit literature. He says the
words Karma, dharma, papa, maya, samsara and moksha are the most common Sanskritic
theological ideas which become common in the talk of people who are sanskritized.
 

The caste system is far from a rigid system in which the position of each component caste is
fixed for all time. Movement has always been possible, and especially in the middle regions
of the hierarchy. A caste was able, in a generation or two, to rise to a higher position in the
hierarchy by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism, and by Sanskritizing its ritual and
pantheon. In short, it took over, as far as possible, the customs, rites, and beliefs of the
Brahmins, and adoption of the Brahminic way of life by a low caste seems to have been
frequent, though theoretically forbidden.

This process has been called 'Sanskritization' in this book, in preference to 'Brahminization',
as certain Vedic rites are confined to the Brahmins and the two other 'twice-born' castes.The
book of Shrinivasans challenged the then prevalent idea that caste was a rigid and unchanging
institution. The concept of sanskritization addressed the actual complexity and fluidity of
caste relations. It brought into academic focus the dynamics of the renegotiation of status by
various castes and communities in India. Sanskritization is a term coined by the famous
Sociologist, Dr M.N. Srinivas. It refers to the process by which castes lower in the hierarchy
emulate the rituals and practices of upper castes, thereby seeking upward mobility. The basic
premise of Dr Srinivas was to show that the caste system was not rigid but rather very fluid.
 
An example of this is the Nadars, formerly called the Shanars. The Shanars belonged to the
caste of toddy-tappers in the region around Madras and Travancore. Their position in the
caste hierarchy was just above that of the Untouchables. In the nineteenth century
via education and a move towards a more respectable occupation, that of merchants, the
Nadars (as the Shanars now referred to themselves) gained both economic and social status.

 
Sociological impact of sanskritization on India:

Caste was something that you were born with if you were a Hindu but it was not something
laid out in an official document; there was also no way you knew what percentage of
the population you belonged to. As with the relations between Hindus and Muslims the
tensions between the castes exacerbated only during the colonial era. The British did not
‘invent’ the caste system but what they did do was to make it the primary basis of social
classification. When the British started taking the census, from 1882 onwards, caste was the
basic unit of organizing society that they considered. When caste is your identity then you
have an incentive in figuring out ‘how many’ people belong to your caste and when you
organize politically or economically you do so along these lines.
 
For the British officers under the East India Company and even later under the Crown the
caste system was an ideal way to control society. If there were certain segments of society,
the Brahmins or the rajas (kshatriyas) whom everyone was supposed to obey then this was a
very efficient way to maintain order. The other side of this dual-headed coin was that as long
as people thought of themselves along caste lines there was very little chance of their uniting
to fight the external enemy, the British. According to some sociologists the British aided the
process of Sanskritization during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as it served their
interests. To some extent Sanskritization continued even during the early years of
Independence when there was no political or economic incentive to belonging to a lower
caste. Things changed in the 1990s with the rise of caste-based politics and religion based
politics.
 
The implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations led to a massive fall out.
This article is not going to go into the pros or cons of the Mandal report but rather the impact
of the same. The Hindu right wing parties tried to prevent what they feared was a ‘split’ in
the so-called ‘Hindu vote bank’ by using the ‘mandir-masjid’ and other issues. The rath yatra
and the 1992 Babri masjid demolition were an unfortunate consequence.
 
There was a rise of caste-based parties which claimed to speak on behalf of one or all
backward castes. Even the non-caste based parties found it convenient to appeal along these
lines. The result was ‘de-Sanskritization’: it was no longer beneficial to be an upper caste and
so attempts were made to re-claim any lower or backward caste roots. The aim of the article
is not to question whether or not caste-based reservations should have been implemented
in India. Rather it is to point out that the notion that our caste is our main and major
social identity can be traced back not to 3000 years but rather to a much nearer time – the
colonial era  As an impact of ‘de – sanskritization

Westernization:

The "west" was originally defined as Western World. Ancient Romans distinguished between
Oriental (Eastern) cultures that inhabited present-day Egypt and Occidental cultures that lived
in the West. A thousand years later, the East-West Schism separated the Catholic Church
from the Eastern Orthodox Church. The definition of Western changed as the West was
influenced by and spread to other nations. Islamic and Byzantine scholars added to the
Western canon when their stores of Greek and Roman literature jump-started the
Renaissance. The West expanded to include Russia when Peter the Great brought back ideas
from Holland. Today, most modern uses of the term refer to the societies of Western and
Central Europe and their close genealogical, linguistic, and philosophical descendants,
typically included are those countries whose ethnic identity and dominant culture are derived
from European culture.
 
Further, as a result tradition was in touch and people were in accordance with the Indian
tradition. As the time passed by one and India got independence, the scenario started
changing slowly and India is considered to be one of the oldest nations in terms of culture
and tradition. Epics like ‘Mahabharata’ and ‘Ramayana’ are the real evidences that depict the
strong Indian culture. Since ages, it has been a land of sages, saints and various renowned
people. Thousands of pious temples built in different parts of the nation reveal that people
have been worshiping God and following their culture and tradition since time immemorial. It
was the same going on till few decades back. Most of the people were farmers and survived
on their pieces of land. They were satisfied with their earning and hardly had any time to
think gradually.
 
Westernization started attracting the Indian citizens towards it like a magnet. Call it an easy
way to earn money or to compete with the rest of the world or to imitate the other nations or
for other purposes, but anywhere it was taking us away from our culture at a slow pace. The
intoxication of westernization was so strong that people started carrying away with it. The
things were new, appealing, attractive and something to try upon, but forgetting that these
things might become their habit some day and deviating them from their actual goods and
culture.

Role of Britishers:
India was known as the ‘Golden Bird’ one time. It was known for its abundance in gold,
silver, diamonds and various other precious pearls. ‘Kohinoor’ one of the most expensive
pearl in the world was mined from Golconda mines. Kings and rulers in India owned these
precious things. Scintillations of such commodities attracted the British people towards India
and they placed their feet on our motherland in the early 16th century. Initially their echo
chamber behavior pleased everyone without knowing the hidden motives behind it. It was
due to such shrewd techniques that they were able to take away tones of wealth in ships to
their places. Eventually they took the authority in their own hands and India became the slave
of these English people. It was during this time that they introduced many things in India
which the general people were not at all aware of. Guns, cars, cinema, foreign clothes,
cigarettes etc. were used by them and hence came into existence. Though we cannot
completely say that all the things were bad, most of us were a boon for us, but the extra
influence of all these things has hampered our Indian culture. As the years passed by more
and more western commodities came into the Indian market and people became aware of
them. Thus taking them away from their own things.

Mahatama Gandhi, known as the ‘Father of the Nation’ tried to bring back the public from
eye catching western things. He started a ‘Swadeshi Movement’, emphasizing on the use of
commodities manufactured in the nation itself with its own raw material. He asked people to
make use of ‘Khadi clothes’ so that British cloth does not stand in market. It will serve as a
boon for the Indian manufacturing unit and will provide more employment. Though it was a
great move initiated by Gandhi, but seeds of westernization were so deep sown that after the
death of Gandhi the Indian scenario totally changed. India got freedom, and elite group from
India started following British trends and implementing them in the nation as well. As a result
general public also started following it. Thus drifting the Indian people slowly towards
westernization.
 
Present State of westernization:
If we look into the present state of India, we will find westernization has made a place in each
and everything. We cannot even think of running the nation now avoiding these things. These
things have now become a necessity. Though culture, tradition, religion is still there and have
many followers but its percentage as compared to earlier days as fallen by a big amount. We
can have a look at various examples where westernization can be seen at its culmination:

1. Cinema:
Westernization has shown its major effect in the ‘Bollywood’ industry. Starting from the
early 40 movies till 2009 the concept, dresses, fashion and script has totally changed. Earlier
main focus was made on the India culture, Indian problems depicting an ordinary man. There
was decency in dresses; story of the movie had some moral to the viewers. Actors used to
have good theatre experience. Money earning was not the sole concern that time. These days
the idea has totally changed. Vulgarity and obscenity is displayed every now and then. It is
not our culture but a western impact. Stories of the movies are copied or idea is taken from
western movies. The main aim is always to compete with ‘Hollywood’. Cinema is influences
the youngsters and even the elders a lot. As a result they also start imitating their movie role
models. Hence  westernization is spreading one or the other way

2. Opting foreign Countries for Profession:

Why there is a desire in a young Indian to go abroad after studies and continue there with the
profession? Why cannot we work for the country that imparted us with such a magnificent
education? The only reason is that western countries have mesmerized us. We are going for
momentary things and forgetting the real rich source is with us that is our nation.

3. Food and Cloth Items:

Trendy clothes are in vogue these days. But none could find a new fashion based on Indian
work. Jeans, shoes, shirts, jackets and every other accessory is foreign made. Adidas, Reebok,
Wrangler, Woodland, Van Heusen all these are foreign brands and we make use of them. It is
not bad but at the same time completely forgetting our tradition and culture is also not good
though. One can find very few ‘Khadi’ showrooms throughout the country. Also various junk
food items have also made the hegemony over our traditional food items like rice, pulses,
chapattis etc. Younger generation is more affected by it.It becomes the duty of the parents to
guide them.

4. Globalisation
Westernization as globalisation is seen by many as progress, as democracy and free trade
spread gradually throughout the world. Others view Westernization as a disadvantage. Some
have protested that Asian cultures that have traditionally existed on a primarily plant-based
diet might lose this healthy lifestyle as more people in Asia switch to a Western-style diet that
is rich in animal-based foods.
 
It is a rousing call to the people of the nation which has rich culture, religion and heritage.
People must get aware that they are going far from their basic system. It is high time to put a
halt to the westernization and give an edge to our culture.
 
CONCLUSION:
Prof M.N Srinivas introduced the term sanskritization to Indian Sociology. The term refers to
a process whereby people of lower castes collectively try to adopt upper caste practices and
beliefs to acquire higher status. It indicates a process of cultural mobility that is taking place
in the traditional social system of India.M.N Srinivas in his study of the Coorg in Karnataka
found that lower castes in order to raise their position in the caste hierarchy adopted some
customs and practices of the Brahmins and gave up some of their own which were considered
to be impure by the higher castes. For example they gave up meat eating, drinking liquor and
animal sacrifice to their deities. They imitiated Brahmins in matters of dress, food and rituals.
By this they could claim higher positions in the hierarchy of castes within a generation. The
reference group in this process is not always Brahmins but may be the dominant caste of the
locality.Sanskritization has occurred usually in groups who have enjoyed political and
economic power but were not ranked high in ritual ranking. According to Yogendra Singh the
process of sanskritization is an endogenous source of social change .Mackim Marriot
observes that sanskritic rites are often added on to non-sanskritic rites without replacing
them. Harold Gould writes, often the motive force behind sanskritisation is not of cultural
imitation per se but an expression of challenge and revolt against the socioeconomic
deprivations.
 
M.N Srinivas (1962)  pioneer of sociology in India has  used the term ‘westernisation’ to
indicate the change, which took place in India during the British rule in the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries.Westernisation implies changes in dress, style of eating, manners
etc. The change in the medium of instruction. Westernisation started having its impact on the
elite because they studied secular subjects with English as medium of instruction.The
Brahmins and other castes with tradition of learning and traditions of science in the courts
readily took to secular education with English as a medium of education. Another big change
introduced in the Indian society by the new system of education is that the schools were
thrown open all types in contrast to the traditional schools which were restricted to upper-
caste children and which transmitted mostly traditional knowledge.In as much as
modernisation in India has come about due to westernisation, therefore, the above-mentioned
changes of Modernisation can be taken to be result of westernisation. 
 

 
 
BOOKS
·        Caste in Modern India and other essays (1962), Asia Publishing House
·        The Remembered Village (1976)
·        Indian Society through Personal Writings (1998)
·        Village, Caste, Gender and Method (1998)
·        Social Change in Modern India
·        The Dominant Caste and Other Essays (ed.)