Changing Institutions and Values in Modern India · tives, while the law bans dowry. Again, a groom may be expected to take dowry partly in order to de monstrate to his relatives

ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1962

M N Srinivas

What Independent India is doing is a continuation of what was began during British ride. But only an Indian Government can bring about successfully the economic, political and social revolution which was begun, perhaps not deliberately, during British rule.

Independence was necessary to release the dormant energies of the people, and it is likely thai tie are only witnessing the beginning of the release of a tremendous amount of creative national energy.

For the first time in their history, educated Indians arc beginning to realise that the poverty of the Indian people is not inevitable and that, given the determination it can be wiped out.

It implies a clear break with India's intellectual past which is inevitably associated with human help­

lessness before epidemics' disease and mass poverty.

The changes which social institutions and values are undergoing will affect everyone and especially the Hindus as Hinduism is dependent on institutions which are changing in important ways.

This ought to be a matter for concern because it is necessary to provide the younger generation with a sense of purpose and of values.

If the bulk of the people derive their values from their religion, and if this religion is very largely dependent upon caste, joint family and village community which are changing, what will be the conse­quences for the people and their country?

I do not t h i n k anyone wou ld seriously contend that modern

Ind ia is stat ic. M a n y changes are indeed occur r ing in Ind ia today and a perusal of our newspapers ought to convince one of th is fac t . B u t there can be — and are — impor t ­ant differences in the in te rp re ta t ion of the changes wh ich are occur r ing . W h a t is the exact mean ing of th is change? T w o in terpreta t ions are possible of i t . On the one hand there is the view that the changed wh i ch are tak ing place at present in Ind ia are essential ly super f ic ia l , and that they do not invo lve any funda­menta l change hi the values of the people. On the other hand is the view that the I n d i a n people are changing rad ica l ly and that there is 'not sufficient awareness of this fact among the i r rulers. Those who ho ld the second view argue that i f the country does not set before i tself the goal of a socialist society and and take r a p i d steps towards achiev­i n g the goal there w i l l be v io lent revo lu t ion .

Last 150 Years Continuum

The in te rp re ta t ion o f change w i l l also v a r y according to the k i n d of perspect ive one br ings to i t . A few years ago an except ional ly we l l - i n ­fo rmed edi tor f r i end o f mine was shocked when I suggested that the changes wh ich were occur r ing in I nd ia today were in a sense a con­t inuat ion of what had been happen­

ing du r ing the last 150 years and that they could not be understood w i thout a study of the la t ter . I was qui te unprepared fo r the editor's rep ly wh ich was to cal l me a "crust­ed reac t ionary" . I t was then brought home to me that v iewing social events in a h istor ical perspec­t ive in not ent i re ly a safe occupat ion. An analysis of a s i tuat ion by a socio­logist is more l ike ly to be viewed as p r o v i d i n g a clue to his po l i t ica l views than as an honest effort at object ive analysis.

Impo r tan t changes occurred dur­i ng Br i t i sh ru le , changes which were qua l i ta t i ve ly d i f ferent f rom those wh ich had occurred previously in I nd ian history. Under ly ing the changes wh ich Br i t i sh rule brought in its wake was the Indust r ia l Re­vo lu t ion of the West, and ind i rect ly , the scienti f ic sp i r i t wh ich gave rise to i t . The in t roduct ion of ra i lways, steamships, te legraph, p r i n t i ng and superior armaments enabled B r i t a in to integrate the country pol i t ica l ly as never before in its h is tory.

Modern knowledge was also in­t roduced in to India by the Br i t i sh , and the use of the Engl ish language gave the Ind ian el i te access, among other th ings. to that knowledge. The use of the English language also had the effect of res t r i c t ing the new knowledge to the elite and this, apar t f r o m the cu l tu ra l and ideo­log ica l bar r iers i t erected between

the elite and the masses, made the task of disseminat ion of scienti f ic knowledge among the lat ter , extre­mely diff icult. The masses need to have a certain amount of scienti f ic knowledge i f indus t r ia l develop' merit has to occur in a b ig way. F inal ly , the in t roduct ion of Br i t i sh law and jud ic ia l processes brought in new legal and po l i t i ca l values hav ing potent ia l i t ies of p ro found change in the Ind ian social structure.

Beginnings of a Clean Break

The Br i t i sh period in Ind ian historv d i f fered f rom the previous periods in that dur ing it a process was set in mot ion which was to undermine eventual ly the founda­tions of t rad i t iona l Ind ian society. To put i t br ief ly . Br i t ish rule meant the beginning of a clean break w i th the past of a new type of society. In this sense. what Independent India is do ing is a cont inuat ion of what was begun du r i ng Br i t ish rule. But it is also clear that on ly an Ind ian Govenment can br ing about successfully the economic, pol i t ical and social resolut ion which was begun. perhaps not del iberately, dur ing B r i t i sh rule No alien Gov-ernment. however power fu l and efficient, could have done what the Indian Government has done in the relat ively br ie f space of four­teen years. The dissolution of over 650 pr incedoms. the in t roduct ion of adult franchise, the reform of

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land tenures, the Five Year Plans, Panchayati Raj , the ' abo l i t ion ' of Untouchabi l i ty and the introduc­t ion of many welfare measures, are achievements of which any Govern­ment can be p roud and wh ich could not have been undertaken by an alien Government.

Above a l l . Independence was necessary to release the dormant energies of the people, and it is l ike ly that we are only witnessing the beginning of the' release of a tremendous amount of creative na t ional energy. For the first t ime in their his tory educated Indians are beginning to realize that the poverty of the Indian people is not inevitable and that given the neces­sary determination, discipline and effort it can be wiped out.

Th i s view again is revolut ionary, and it would have been unwarranted before the Industr ial Revolut ion made possible a much more thorough exploi tat ion of the earth's resources than in the past.

It implies a clear break w i t h India 's intellectual past which is inevitably associated w i th the wide­spread poverty of the masses, w i t h the need for chari ty on the part of the r ich , and w i th human helpless­ness before epidemics, disease and mass ma lnu t r i t i on .

Activism and This-Worldliness

This is perhaps the r ight place to refer to a sea-change which has come about in the minds of Indian intellectuals as far as act ivi ty in th i s w o r l d is concerned. A certain lack of fa i th in the ab i l i ty of human effort to relieve human suffering seems to have characterized Indian intellectuals in pre-Br i t i sh times. There was so much ignorance. poverty and suffering that nothing cou ld be done to reduce it substan­t i a l l y . The idea of maya and the stress on the need to achieve one's o w n salvat ion are related to this collective helplessness. Prolonged contact w i t h the West, however, resulted in the Ind ian elite's becom­i n g act ivis t and this-worldly. I t is a mat ter of common knowledge that Lokamanya T i l a k spent the eight years of his incarceration in the Manda lav j a i l w r i t i n g the Gita Rahasya in w h i c h he gave it an act ivist i n t e rp re t a t i on . I t i s signi­ficant tha t he should have sought sanction fo r ac t ion in the wor ld

f rom the Gita. Mahatma Gandhi was a great activist and he regarded poli t ics as appl ied r e l i g ion . In Pandit Nehru, ac t iv ism exists d i ­vorced f rom re l ig ion .

It is evident that as a result of Br i t i sh ru le for over a hundred years the Ind ian elite has become activist and th i s -wor ld ly , and this is indeed a fundamental change. I n d i a n nat ional ism and the desire for bu i ld ing a s t rong, prosperous, egal i tar ian, science-minded and freedom-loving I n d i a are in the last analysis expressions of this ac t iv ism and this-worldliness. At the i n d i v i ­dual level th is is seen in the drop­p ing out of the last two ashramas— sanyasa and vanaprastha. T h a t is, if they ever were widespread even among the " t w i c e - b o r n " castes. Klder iv Indians today dread retire­ment and hang on to jobs as long as they can.

A tangible expression of I n d i a n this-worldliness is seen in the modern craze fo r gadgetry. This characterizes the elite in whose homes one sees transistors, tape-recorders, cameras refrigerators, electronic dolls, and what not. The desire for gadgetry is fast becoming a feature of all sections of I nd i an society inc lud ing the poor in ru ra l areas. The radio is a popular gad­get the possession of which has some status-connotation among the poorer sections. In villages youths like to possess wr is t watches, torches and founta in pens, and their owner­ship frequently has more a symbolic and prestige value than a u t i l i t a r i an one. There exists a vast goods—and gadget-hungry popula t ion in Ind ia , and there is no doubt that market research w i l l become a popular and remunerative occupation in the near future. The analysis of the pre­ferences of the people for certain goods, and changing these prefer­ences, through advertisement are al­ready being done in a small way in Ind ia .

Legislation As an Instrument

It is relevant here to draw a dis­t inct ion between changes which are ini t ia ted by the Government. Un ion or State, and changes which have come wi thou t Government sponsor' ship, and usually, over a long per iod of t ime. The Const i tut ional aboli­t ion of Un touchab i l i t y . and the passage of the Prevention of Un-

touchabil i ty Offences Act, 1955 ; are examples of Government-induced change. Since Independence, there has been a spate of legislat ion affecting the lives of citizens.

A legislative measure may be effective as, for instance, the abol i ­t i on of Z a m i n d a r i , and another may not be so effective, as, for instance, legislat ion imposing a cei l ing on land. I t is we l l -known tha t a legis­lative measure may have qui te dif­ferent effects f rom that wh ich the rulers in tend i t to have. Thus the in t roduc t ion of p r o h i b i t i o n , instead of prevent ing the ru ra l poor f r o m d r i n k i n g , m igh t give rise to an i l l i ­c i t l iquor indus t ry in the ru r a l areas. The banning of the pract ice of U n ­touchabi l i ty , again in the short r u n , migh t on ly lead to clashes between the conservative h igh castes and assertive Har i jana . Such clashes have occurred in many parts of Ind ia .

Weakening of Rural Hierarchy

Att i tudes and values refer to processes which occur in the minds of men and women, and they may be referred to as the inner side of social inst i tut ions. I t is obvious that where legislat ion is ahead of publ ic op in ion , the law cannot be said to m i r r o r the sentiments of the people. The best that can be said in such a case is that the law w i l l eventualIy come to reflect pub­lic op in ion . In India today law is being used freely as an inst rument of social change and there is there­fore a hiatus between publ ic o p i n i o n and the changes int roduced by law. It may even be said that in such cases the moral rules actually re­cognized by the people require a course of conduct opposed to the law. Thus, social prestige and fami ly honour requi re the payment of money and the g i v i n g of costly gif ts to the b r idegroom and his rela­tives, whi le the law bans d o w r y . Aga in , a groom may be expected to take dowry pa r t l y in order to de­monstrate to his relatives and friends the fact that he is a valuable acqui­s i t i on . If he does not ask for a dowry , the g i r l ' s people, may con­clude that something is w r o n g w i t h h i m !

The effects of some legislative measures are seen in a relat ively short space of t ime . L a n d reforms in several States benefited the actual

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cul t iva tors at the expense of the land owner, The tenancy re fo rm acts have assured the t i l lers freedom f r o m evict ion and a fa i r share of the produce except where loopholes in the laws have been taken advan­tage of by the owners to push the t i l le rs out . Such legislation has cer ta in ly made a dent in the ru ra l hierarchical pat tern . D u r i n g the last fourteen years, there has' been a weakening of this hierarchical s t ructure . Legis la t ion m a k i n g the practice of Un touchab i l i t y an offence has also cont r ibuted to this weakening, "for. it must be remem­bered here that Har i j ans are usually labourers and tenants and only rare ly small land owners.

The preference given to Har i jans in the matter of admission to edu­cational inst i tut ions, in the g ran t ing of free studentships and scholar-ships, and in appointment to Gov­ernment posted has' enabled them to move up, and this fact is resented by the higher castes. These H a r i ­jans w i l l have qui te different values and attitudes f rom thei r parents. Tha t is why the upper castes com­pla in of the aggressiveness of the Har i jan? . The H a r i j a n c la im to equal i ty is regarded as aggression, and i t is. of course, aggression if the t r ad i t iona l s t ructure is regarded as the n o r m . A new sense of self-respect is visible among Har i j ans and this leads them to refuse to pe r fo rm the tasks which they per­formed before. T h i s sometimes raises the w r a t h of the upper castes who resort to violence. In the ru r a l areas there are occasional attempts by the higher castes to use physical violence against Har i j ans who t r y to assert the r ights given to them by the Cons t i tu t ion .

Adul t Franchise

The Const i tu t ional decision to give franchise to al l adults has had far-reaching effects on our social and p o l i t i c a l l i f e . For the f i rs t t ime in the i r h is tory , the t r ad i t i ona l l y under-pr iv i leged sections of our society, have a say in the choice of the i r rulers. People who used to get ordered about by the upper castes, have now to be approached f o r their votes. Th i s has given them a new sense of the i r importance though even now in the rura l areas, t r a d i t i o n a l patron-client relations are s t i l l somewhat effective in the

matter of vo t ing . Tha t is to say. a ru ra l pa t ron, who is usually a b i g landlord has in his power a num­ber of people who are obliged to h i m in a var ie ty of ways — they may be his servants, tenants, debtors and followers. The pa t ron expects his clients to vote the way he wants them to, and many of his clients obey h i m . Th is is w h y I have called ru ra l patrons " V o t e Banks" and ur­ban pol i t ic ians have to cult ivate these "Vote Banks" i f they wish to stay in power. But the ins t i tu t ion of the secret bal lot ensures that vo t ing does not ent i re ly go along the lines of patron-client ties, and i t w o u l d be safe to predic t that vo t ing w i l l be increasingly free. When I rev i ­sited my f ie ld-vi l lage of Rampura in the summer of 1952 I found that the candidate who had the powerful support of the village Headman had been defeated and the latter sus­pected that his H a r i j a n clients had "double-crossed" h i m and voted for the r i v a l .

A d u l t franchise has also meant that a new field has been provided for caste ac t iv i ty . Given widespread i l l i t e racy and ignorance, it is to be expected that vo t ing w i l l be to some extent along caste lines. It has been recently argued that thanks to the ins t i tu t ion of caste, the i l l i t e ra te and po l i t i ca l ly ignorant masses of Ind ia are able to par t ic ipa te in the m o d e m democratic process. The communica t ion of ideas is s trong w i t h i n a caste and even the most backward members are included in th is communicat ion network. This also means that generally the mem­bers of a caste share the same views as regards pol i t ica l parties, policies and indiv iduals . This view is per­haps jus t i f ied at the lowest levels of the caste hierarchy where there is a considerable amount of occupa­t iona l , economic and cul tura l homo­geneity but not at the higher levels.

Caste Consciousness Strengthened

V o t i n g therefore, has strengthen­ed caste consciousness. The success­fu l candidate is expected to champ­ion the interests of his caste. I f for instance, his caste had been classi­fied sometime ago as a backward caste, the candidate is expected to f ight fo r the continuance of i ts backward status for, backwardness entitles i t to certain privileges and concessions, In fact, in many parts

of the country the benefits of back­wardness are being collared by castes which are no longer backward and any at tempt to remove them f r o m the l ist of backward castes is strongly resisted. The Kerala Gov­ernment introduced the pr inc ip le of "sub-rota t ion" to safeguard the in­terests of the more backward castes bu t they found that i t d id not suc­ceed in g i v i n g them the necessary protect ion. The Mysore Government has sp l i t the "Backward" castes i n ­to " B a c k w a r d " and " M o r e Back­w a r d " w i t h a view to safeguarding the interests of the latter. The Madras Government has split the "Backward ' ' castes into "Backward" and "Mos t Backward ' ' '

A reference to dominant castes is here necessary. In many parts of Ind i a there exist numerical ly strong, land-owning castes and they occupy the middle , if not the higher regions of the t r ad i t iona l hierarchy. L a n d owner-ship has given them economic power in ru ra l areas and their numerical strength has given them pol i t ica l power. Many members of these castes have received universi ty education and they occupy impor t ­ant positions in the adminis t ra t ion and are enter ing the l ibera l profes­sions if not already well represented in them. Every State Cabinet has one or more members f rom each dominant caste. The dominant castes are well represented in al l the po l i t i ca l parties and. especially in the Congress.

In brief , the dominant castes have captured power at the State level and even more generally, at lower levels. A minister f rom a dominant caste is expected to be a spokesman for his caste and to a less extent for his region. If be does not act as he is expected to. he is in danger of losing his follow­ing . This is why caste and regional pressures are so strong in modern Ind ia . Every caste wants to grab as it can and the struggle for 'back­wardness' is part of the struggle for power, pel f and pr ivi lege.

Regional Aspirations

Simi l a r l y , regionalism means thai the members l iv ing in a l imi ted geographical area have become suddenly aware of i t ' backwardness as compared w i t h other regions. Regionalism is commonly deplored, but there is not enough realization

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of the fact tha t i t is often a symbol of the desire for development. When the desire for development comes to a people, it comes al l along the l ine , and not merely at the t o p . V i l l age caste, region, sect, r e l ig ion , language-group and State are a l l affected by i t , and the smaller or narrower s t ructura l entities are more immediate to the o rd ina ry man in the vil lage than the highest or apical loya l ty . The "cure" for this type of s i tuat ion is to see that regional aspirations are to some ex­tent satisfied in f o r m u l a t i n g the national plan. It should he clearly realized by the planners that in a democracy w i t h 70 per cent or more of illiterates, the only way of edu­cat ing people about the necessity of planning; is to give them tangible benefits such as i r r iga ted water or a school or a hospital or a road or a br idge. There is much talk about p lann ing by the people but in the last analysis what we have is plan­n ing for the people by a few back room boys. Every village or talak should be encouraged to plan for its needs w i t h i n a budgetary l i m i t . The planners should study carefully the local pr ior i t ies and implement them as far as possible.

In fact, in a democracy such as we have, only a par t of p lanning can afford to be " r a t i o n a l " . Tha t is, the core of the p lan should be such as to give the economy a leap fo rward wh i l e the rest should be p l a i n l y calculated to satisfy regional aspirations. Th i s is necessary in order to rouse the people's enthusiasm and make them pu t fo rward their ut­most. The enthusiasm of the people is a most impor t an t asset, far more so in a democracy than in a to t a l i ­t a r ian society, and special efforts must be made to rouse i t . So far no systematic, effort has been made to rouse the enthusiasm of the people and canalise i t fo r develop­ment.

Dominant Carte ' and Rura l Mass To come back to dominant castes.

The leaders of the local ly dominant castes arc po l i t i c a l l y powerfu l and they use their po l i t i ca l power to strengthen themselves in every way. Power feeds upon i tself . These leaders are ambi t ious , able and shrewd men, and they are not the best exemplars of the vir tues of a socialist society. They are out to acquire as much as they can, and

to leave as m u c h of it as possible to the i r descendants. These people d i d wel l out of the war , and the post-war years have added more power to their elbow. Bus and l o r r y lines, rice and flour mi l l s , chair­manship of panchayats, Govern­ment contracts, Government jobs, seats in engineering and medical colleges, and legislative assemblies and even ministerships have gone to them and the members of their families.

It is a matter of common know ' ledge that the benefits of the Com­m u n i t y Development Programme have gone, by large, to the ru r a l elite and at the expense of the ru r a l poor. Where the r u r a l el i te belong to the locally dominant caste they are better able to exploi t the r u r a l poor than when they do not. The leader ' of the dominant caste have a vei led interest in keeping the masses down and it is t ime that there was better apprecia t ion of this fact especially by those in power. The ru ra l elite are being used as the medium of contact w i t h the masses by administrators. F r o m the Vi l l age Level W o r k e r to the Block Development Officer and the Collector, every administ­rator first contacts the leaders of the dominant caste in the vi l lage. The i r a im is to get things done and they choose the easiest way of do­ing i t . Targets have to be achieved ami it is more i m p o r t a n t to achieve them than to bother about the means of achieving them. It does not matter i f in achieving them the posi t ion of the local leader is streng­thened. But not inf requent ly there is a conflict between the interests of the leader and the r u r a l poor. N o t enough thought is given to the pro­blem of reaching the ru ra l poor wi thou t having to go th rough the ru ra l eli te. Given the present d r i f t , the conflict between the r u r a l e l i te and the rural poor is bound to grow acute as the la t ter become increas­ing ly conscious of the fact that they are not benefiting as much as they should f rom the various develop­ment programmes.

Rural Explosion

I have already said that tensions between the upper castes and the Har i j ans are l i k e l y to increase in the near future . Th i s conflict w i l l overlap to some extent w i t h the tensions brought about by develop­

ment. A l l in a l l I fear tha t we are in fo r a per iod of increasing unrest in our villages. This fear has been given an edge by the in t roduct ion of Panchayati Raj in some of the States. I t has placed much power in the hands of the dominant castes, and there is no guarantee that they w i l l not use i t to oppress those who have t rad i t iona l ly obeyed them but are now beginning to assert their independence. Apar t f rom this, i t w i l l introduce a bit ter , and perhaps violent, scramble for power in the ru ra l areas.

I hope I have said enough to indicate that changes of a far-reach­i n g character are occurr ing among the peasantry. I t is probable that the urban elite w i l l not notice these changes t i l l they have developed to an explosive poin t . But sociologists who spend f a i r l y long periods in a single vil lage or a few villages get an in t imate view of the changes which are s t i r r i n g in r u r a l areas even though they are unable to say how general are the processes which they have found to be active in p a r t i ­cular villages. A sure index of the change that has. come over the country is the sudden and sharp rise in the demand for education at all levels. Parents in urban areas are poignant ly aware of the diffi­culty of gett ing their sons and daughters admit ted to schools and colleges. W h a t is even more strik­i n g is the greatly increased demand fo r p r i m a r y education. The plan­ners have been taken by surprise at this sudden and steep rise in the demand for p r i m a r y education. " I t is now officially estimated that 85 per cent of the chi ldren in the 6-11 age-group w i l l be in school by 1965 as against 76.4 per cent assumed in the p lan . In absolute terms, p r i ­mary school enrolment is expected to increase by 20 m i l l i o n instead of by 15.3 m i l l i o n d u r i n g the next f ive years". Th i s is going to cost the country an addi t ional Rs 60 crores What is pa r t i cu la r ly significant, is that the bu lk of this increase is in the ru ra l areas'. "Th i s has resulted in an acute shortage of teachers, and the teacher-pupil ratio has deteri­orated to 1 : 65 if not worse". (The Times of India. November 1. 1961)

The sharp rise in the demand for education is a symptom of the changing values and attitudes of the people, and over a per iod of t ime,

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i t i s l i k e l y to produce impor t an t changes in the society. An indus t r i a l society requires more " r a t i o n a l i t y " , punc tua l i ty and discipl ine than an ag r i cu l tu ra l society and the educa­t i on of the masses is essential to effect the t rans i t ion . Mass educa­t ion , it should not be forgot ten, is a factor in economic development.

Lower Groups Getting Sanskritized

The cul ture of the I n d i a n people is undergoing a r ap id change, and the change is not in a single direc­t ion . In the f i rs t place, the way of l i fe , values and at t i tudes of the lower groups are being Sanskritized. The " lower ' ' castes are t ak ing over Sanskri t ic r i t ua l on occasions such as b i r t h , marr iage and death. Employ ing a B r a h m i n priest is be ' coming increasingly popula r except in a few parts of the count ry . The festivals of the village deities and among those who never employed or were debarred f rom employing one before the calendrical festivals, are both being increasingly San­skr i t ized. Harikathas, Yagnas, Ya-gas and festivals are celebrated w i t h much ostentation in Ind ian towns and cit ies. Religious figures, whether in ochre robes or not, p ro­mis ing salvation or more concrete th ings to the people, continue to appear on the I n d i a n scene, In fact, they enjoy an audience which they could not have dreamt of be­fore newspapers, the microphone and the radio became popular. Every­one of them can be regarded as a Sanskr i t iz ing agent. Ind ian f i lms frequently make use of rel igious themes taken f rom the epies and puranas The ava i l ab i l i ty of low-pr iced books has enabled people to become acquainted w i t h H i n d u re l i ­gious l i terature in a way Not possi­ble previously.

Sanskri t izat ion refers to a cul tu­r a l process but it is essential to rea­lize that it is usually a concomitant of the acquis i t ion of pol i t ica l or economic power by a caste. Roth are parts of the process of social m o b i l i t y . I t is necessary to realize tha t the caste system, even t radi­t iona l ly , permi t ted of a certain amount of m o b i l i t y and that this has increased considerably in the last few decades. An intcrestine cont rad ic t ion is seen here: " l ower" castes w h i c h have become prospe­rous or power fu l or educated l ike to assert the i r c la im to a higher place in the h ie ra rchy by t ak ing on a new

name and by Sanskr i t iz ing their r i t u a l . On the other hand, they struggle fiercely to re ta in their "backward" status for t a k i n g advan­tage of educational concessions and Government jobs.

Modern Ind ia i s f u l l o f contradic­t ions, however, Sanskr i t izat ion co­exists w i t h i ts opposite, Westerniza­t i o n , W h i l e in a sense the ent ire country is undergo ing Westerniza­t i on , the educated and urbanized sections are becoming more Wester­nized than the others. Another contradic t ion is tha t the pace of Westernizat ion seems to have i n ­creased after the wi thdrawa l of the B r i t i s h f rom I n d i a . D u r i n g B r i t i s h rule, the Ind ian elite had only the B r i t i s h model before them for West­erniz ing, whi le , w i t h the achieve­ment of Independence, there are also other models, i nc lud ing the Ame­rican and the Russian. I t is l ike ly that the latter two w i l l be more popula r than the B r i t i s h model as the years go by. Westernization is associated w i t h English education, w i t h urbanizat ion and industrial iza­t ion , w i t h scientific method and ra t iona l i ty . It is also associated w i t h secularization. Sanskrit ization. on the other hand, is associated w i th a religious world-view, t r ad i ­t ional education and r i tua l i sm. Co­existence is the order of the day-and h igh ly Westernized Indians re­ta in elements of Sanskr i t izat ion and Sanskritized indiv iduals make use of Western technology to fur ther a Sanskrit ic end. B u t u l t imate ly a conflict w i l l have to be postulated between the Sanskritiuc world-view and the Western world-view, bet­ween the rel igious world-view and the scientific or ra t ional world-view.

A Personal Philosophy It is t rue that I am here equating

the Western world-view w i t h the scientific or ra t iona l world-view and this is not qu i te legi t imate. The Western wor ld-v iew is clearly more than the scientific or ra t iona l wor ld-view, and technologicaly advanced Western countries, excluding Rus­sia have not given up re l ig ion. My point here is that in the West there has been a continuous debate for over a hundred years or more on the relat ion between re l ig ion and science, and there seems to be a greater awareness of the difficulties involved in reconci l ing a scientific wor ld-v iew w i t h a religious w o r l d -

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view than there i s in Ind ia . C h r i ­s t iani ty has developed a k i n d of structure and inst i tut ions w h i c h Hinduism does not possess. It has a church, t ra ined priests, and a body of doctrine which has to face attacks f rom science. It is t rue that H indu i sm has undergone a certain amount of change in the last hundred years or more. The A r y a Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj and the Ramakrishna-Vive-kananda Movement represent at­tempts on the pa r t of Hindu i sm to respond to m o d e m f o r c e s . B u t this does not alter the fact that H indu i sm does not have ins t i tu t iona l mecha­nisms which ensure that i t responds to new intellectual and social forces. In short, it is difficult to see how Hindu i sm can withstand the impact of new ideas such as equality and ra t ional i sm. H indu i sm has been much too dependent on inst i tut ions such as caste, j o i n t family and the village communi ty for its survival . A l l these three c r i t i ca l inst i tut ions are undergoing change due to the operation of a var ie ty of forces, social and economic. Apar t from this, the first two inst i tut ions have been under attack for some times f rom European and Ind ian intel­lectuals a l ike .

Social inst i tut ions and values are undergoing change in Ind ia . This w i l l affect everyone and especially the Hindus as Hindu ism is depen­dent for its perpetuation on ins t i tu ­tions which are changing in impor t -ant ways. This ought to be a matter for concern because it is necessary to provide the younger generation w i t h a sense of purpose and of values. Nat ional ism may provide the former for the people, but i t w i l l not provide the latter. Even in ternat ional ism wi l l not be enough. What w i l l be necessary is a personal philosophy of l i fe , a Weltenschaaung. Where is this to come f rom ? If the bulk of the people derive their Weltenschaaung f rom their re l ig ion , and if this reli­gion is very largely dependent upon a t r i ad of social institutions viz caste, j o in t f ami ly and village com­mun i ty , which are changing in im­portant respects, what will be the consequences for the people con­cerned and their country I am afraid I do not have an answer, but what worries me even more is that there is not widespread awareness of the existence of this problem.

ANNUAL NUMBER .FEBRUARY 1962 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

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