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 Indian caste system is not absolutely rigid and static has led progressive- ly to various attempts to explain in systematic terms the manner in which change occurs within it. Per- haps the earliest such altenipt was the observation that a caste may sometimes pay large dowries to give its daughters in marriage to men of some slightly higher caste.' This is the process known as hvper- gamy/" ft has been described and discussed by all of the well-known ethnographers of India who wrote during the last century and the first-part of this century. It forms a major preoccupation of J H Hut- ton's work (1946). Implicit in this concept of hyper- gamy is the fact that cash's who for any reason are able to become upwardly mobile do so by making themselves ritualIy and occupa- lionaily as much like the higher castes as possible and then ratify- ing this achievement by applying their newly-found resources to the contracting of up-marriages. Once intermarried with another caste group, yon are inconleslahly equal to it. This has always been the final criterion of status parity in traditional Indian society. Sanskritization — the Concept However, upward mobility, even in the caste system, is a broader, more pervasive process than is symbolized by the practice of hy- pergamy. The latter may. as a matter of fact, lie seen more as a kind of end-product of the overall process, an aspect of the whole phenomenon and nothing more. It in the great utility of M N Srinivas's (1056) concept of Sanskritization that it automatically puts hyper- gamy in its appropriate place within an overall process of inter- caste mobility which encompasses not only this act of final ratifica- tion but also all of the intermediate steps and, indeed, other channels and manifestations of mobility as well which do not necessarily cul- minate in hypergamy at all. Srinivas's concept rests ultimate- ly ou the notion that the caste sys- tem, like all status hierarchies, causes the low to invidiously com- pare themselves with the high and to try in every way they can to soften, modify, reduce, and even eliminate altogether the basis for these status differences. This is not unique to the Indian caste system. What is unique is the manner in which this process must work itself out in India, given the empirical nature of the status system that prevails there. It is this with which Sanskriti/ation comes to grips. Sanskritization also, it seems to me. deals wiih something a little different than McKim Marriotts (1955) universalization— parochia- lization' dichotomy. The former subsumes, essentially the same phe- nomena as the latter but uses them for different analytical ends. Mar- riott's notion is more particularly useful for dealing with data of this kind when it is being viewed from the standpoint of a folk-urban di- mension where one may be concern- ed with the process of intermingling between elite, urban-centered, and local, villager-entered cultural tra- ditions, quite aside from the ques- tion of the status implications of this per se Srinivas's concept is rooted primarily in a concern for the latter. But Srinivas also speaks of a parallel process, which he terms westernization. Concerning 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 farther with this notion of Sri- nivas" s ami thereby deepen our understanding of the mobility pro- cess in Indian society today. For it seems: probable that at least in some instances, under some circum- stances the relationship between Sanskritization and westernization is a more dynamic one than even Srinivas makes apparent in his writings. Let us realize at the outlet that the caste system is one of the most elaborate attempts at hierarchiza- fion of society ever undertaken by matt. It has left its mark every- where on Indian life, but especial- ly it has imbued Indians in general with a finely tuned consciousness of hierarchy per se which does not seem to be disappearing with any particular haste even among the most modernized, westernized of Indians. Among the latter. this sense of hierarchy merely changes its contours slightly so that it can operate effectively even under con- ditions of so-called democratic so- ciety. Attention to seniority and petty permutations of authority are admitted by all to be unusually ela- borated even in the most ' rational' and 'progressive" Indian bureaucra- cies The academic world, where one might expect the most moder- nise thinking to be applied in such matters is notoriously hierar- chized not only with respect to the official university structures hut with respect as well to the informal Sanskritization and Westernization A Dynamic View June 24, 1961 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY Harold A Gould
Sanskritization and Westernization
Mar 18, 2023
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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 Indian caste system is not absolutely
r i g i d and static has l e d progressive ly to various attempts to explain in systematic terms the manner in which change occurs w i t h i 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 marriage to men of some slightly higher caste.' This is the process known as hvper- gamy/" ft has been described and discussed by a l l of the wel l -known ethnographers of India who wrote d u r i n g the last century and the first-part of this century. It forms a major preoccupation of J H Hut- ton's work ( 1 9 4 6 ) .
Imp l i c i t in this concept of hyper- gamy is the fact that cash's who for any reason are able to become upward ly mobile do so by making themselves r i tualIy and occupa- l iona i ly as much like the higher castes as possible and then ratify ing this achievement by app ly ing their newly-found resources to the contract ing of up-marriages. Once in te rmar r ied w i t h another caste group, yon are inconleslahly equal to i t . Th i s has always been the f inal c r i t e r ion of status par i ty in t radi t ional Ind ian society.
Sanskritization — the Concept
However, upward m o b i l i t y , even in the caste system, is a broader, more pervasive process than is symbolized by the practice of hy- pergamy. The latter may. as a matter of fact, lie seen more as a k i n d of end-product of the overall process, an aspect of the whole phenomenon and nothing more. It in the great u t i l i t y of M N Srinivas's (1056) concept of Sanskrit ization that it automatically puts hyper- gamy in its appropr ia te place w i t h i n an overall process of inter-
caste m o b i l i t y which encompasses not only this act of final rat if ica tion but also all of the intermediate steps and, indeed, other channels and manifestations of mobi l i ty as well which do not necessarily cul minate in hypergamy at a l l .
Srinivas's concept rests ultimate ly ou the notion that the caste sys tem, like all status hierarchies, causes the low to invidiously com pare themselves w i t h the high and to try in every way they can to soften, modify, reduce, and even el iminate altogether the basis for these status differences. This is not unique to the Indian caste system. What is unique is the manner in which this process must work itself out in India, given the empi r i ca l nature of the status system that prevails there. It is this w i t h which Sanskr i t i /a t ion comes to gr ips .
Sanskrit ization also, it seems to me. deals w i i h something a l i t t le different than M c K i m M a r r i o t t s
(1955) universalization— parochia- lization' dichotomy. The former subsumes, essentially the same phe nomena as the latter but uses them for different analytical ends. Mar riott 's notion is more par t icular ly useful for dealing wi th data of this k i n d when it is being viewed f rom the standpoint of a folk-urban d i mension where one may be concern ed w i t h the process of in t e rming l ing between elite, urban-centered, and local , vil lager-entered cul tura l tra dit ions, quite aside from the ques tion of the status implicat ions of this per se Srinivas's concept is rooted p r i m a r i l y in a concern for the latter.
But Srinivas also speaks of a paral lel process, which he terms westernization. Concerning 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
farther w i th this notion of Sr i nivas" s ami thereby deepen our understanding of the mobi l i ty pro cess in Ind ian society today. For it seems: probable that at least in some instances, under some circum stances the relat ionship between Sanskrit ization and westernization is a more dynamic one than even Srinivas makes apparent in his wr i t ings .
Let us realize at the outlet that the caste system is one of the most elaborate attempts at hierarchiza- fion of society ever undertaken by matt. It has left its mark every where on Ind i an l i fe , but especial ly it has imbued Indians in general w i t h a finely tuned consciousness of hierarchy per se wh ich does not seem to be disappearing w i t h any pa r t i cu la r haste even among the most modernized, westernized of Indians. Among the latter. this sense of hierarchy merely changes its contours s l ight ly so that it can operate effectively even under con di t ions of so-called democratic so ciety. At tent ion to senior i ty and petty permutations of au thor i ty are admit ted by a l l to be unusually ela- borated even in the most ' ra t ional ' and 'progressive" I n d i a n bureaucra cies The academic w o r l d , where one migh t expect the most moder n i s e t h i n k i n g to be appl ied in such matters is notoriously hierar- chized not only w i t h respect to the official univers i ty structures hut w i t h respect as wel l to the in fo rma l
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 maintained by students and faculty alike. The charge of "casteism on the campus is so loud and frequent in India that its very persistence and uni versality makes it almost inaudible.
It is w i th in this setting of perva sive hierarchical t h ink ing and feeling that the interdependency of Sanskritization and westernization may he appreciated. Srinivas has looked at these twin processes to an important degree from the stand point of the desire of the lower castes to move upward by trans fo rming their r i tual and social structure un t i l it conforms more nearly to that of the Brahmana and/or whatever other caste hap pens to be dominant and, therefore, represents elite status wi th in their experiential ken. Westernizatin, then, is seen p r i m a r i l y as an ' i rony ' by .which the very clean castes whom the lower castes arc aping are g iv ing up the very Sanskritic traits by which the lower castes im pl ici t ly acknowledge (by t ry ing to adopt them) their super ior i ty .
Westernization — a Necessity It is my suspicion that this hitter
is more than an irony and actually a new and necessary manifestation for the high castes of the age-old preoccupation of people in general and Indians in par t icular w i th hierarchy. This point is to he ap- preciated when we view Sansjkrili- zation and westernization f rom the standpoint of those who are at the top of the scab the Brahmans and certain others — rather than f rom the standpoint of those locat ed at its bottom or somewhere in its middle reaches.
i f you are t rad i t iona l ly Brahman and you are at the apex of the r i tual hierarchy prevalent in a v i l l age, or in a region wherein the approximate order ing of the vari ous castes is reasonably compre hended by most and acknowledged more or less as the basis of social interaction, then Sanskritization for you means watching the lower cas tes rising up and up beneath you. As they "o so, by which I mean, as and to the extent that they are able to actually force recognition of and thereby ra t i fy new status pretensions, the social distance bet ween them and you is diminished.
Years ago, when I first came to Sherupur4 this seemed to be the p l igh t and the compla in t of both
the Rajput and the Brahman mem bers of the community . Democrati zation of Ind ian society, part icular ly since Independence, has opened up opportunities heretofore incon ceivable for A h i r . M u r a u , K u r m i , K o r i and even Chamar castes to Sanskritize themselves; ( i e , to pur i fy their r i tuals, diet, etc) and in general to approach and fraternize w i t h I he h igh castes. Understandab ly, these long-suppressed and vary- ingly humil ia ted groups have been busy doing just that. In fact, I suggest that one of the pr ime motive-forces behind San.skritiza- l ion is this factor of repressed hostility which manifests itself not in the fo rm of rejecting the caste system but in the form of its vic tims t r y i n g to seize control of it and thereby expiate their frustra tions on the same battlefield where they acquired them. Only 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 y i n g to master it they would be left wi th a hollow sense of nn- ful f i l lment , a sense that they never successfully attacked and conquered the th ing in terms of which their ideals, their aspirations, their frus trations, in fact their whole percep tion of l ife, were formed. Besides this, it is doubtful that they could structure their hostilities and aspi rations in any other way as yet because of the very fact thai they have remained throughout recorded Indian history il l i terate, cowed p r i soners of the caste system. Thei r perception of alternative forms must by definit ion he d im 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 te r ly about the fust-approaching * rule of the lower orders ' ' In the presence of lower caste persons they would declare that in the 'o ld days' a lower caste man would never dare come as close to a Rajput 's or Brahman's charpai as in fact his listeners were coming at the present moment! T o d a y , respect (izzat) for the h igh caste man has ended,' my informants would loudly pro cla im. When some K o r i s obtained funds f rom a nearby Communi ty Projact t r a in ing block to .construct
946
a new wel l , the Rajputs regularly stood a t o m f l inging taunts at them for placing their trust in outside agencies (un i fo rmly labelled 'Gov ernment ' ) who, they averred, wou ld ul t imately betray them and make fools of them—in contradistinction 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 their old power and authori ty melt ing away before t l u i r eyes and being prevented from do ing much about i t , as indeed they could in the 'old days,' by the i m par t ia l hand, of secular govern ment ". Or looked at f rom the point of view of the thesis being enun ciated here, these h igh castes were watching anxiously whi le the floor of the status system rose under neath them with the consequence that the old forms of social distance by winch they bail always differen tiated themselves f rom their fellow- Hindus were evaporating. 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 po l i t i cal and to some extent their econo mic power" through which for centuries they had successfully en- forced the t radi t ional hierarchical order ing of the castes and the r i tua l distinctions upon which this was based. In fact, the pol i t ica l coup de grace was delivered in February labour on part-t ime basis or fa- of 1961 when for the first t ime secret-ballot elections were held for the office of village pradhan. W i t h the election nf an A h i r , the peren nial control maintained by the Rajputs, and acquiesced in by the Brahmans, 7 was decisively shatter ed. The middle and lower castes were jub i lan t , their attitude being v i v i d l y i l lustrated by the comment of a K o r i f r iend, who said w i t h real emotion in his voice, 'The lower castes are coming up now. ' For they saw in this pol i t ical victo ry the possibili ty of a widened scope for the eventual attainment of status par i ty wi th the Brahmans and Rajputs — a par i ty which my experience w i t h these villagers has demonstrated to me is associated, as
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY June 24, 1961
srinivas says, w i t h the desire to become ever more orthodox and 'clean' in the r i t u a l , commensal, and connubial senses.
Where Westernization Comes in
But even though the Brahmans and Rajputs are clearly losing ground in the status struggle taking place w i t h i n the t rad i t ional caste hierarchy, they are not taking things l y ing down by any means. Th i s is where westernization enters the p ic ture in a manner which is dynamical ly inter-related wi th the events taking place under the rub ric of Sanskrit ization. For I believe that in p ropor t ion as the Brahmans
• and Rajputs are losing ground in the old caste hierarchy, they are reaching out in a di rect ion we can best call westernization (or perhaps to-day the term 'modernizat ion ' would be somewhat more appro priate) in order to obtain new sources of status and power which effectively continue to give them the feeling that they are maintain ing suitable social distance bet ween themselves and those whom th ry have t rad i t iona l ly defined as low.
Al though not the sole factor res ponsible, it seems l ikely that this process helps account for the. by now wide ly observed fact that mo b i l i ty in the direct ion of urban and modern employment is more pre ponderant, in relative terms, among the high than among the low cas tes. Edwin Eames (1951) refers to it w i t h some surprise in a village ( M a d h o p u r ) which he studied in
Ut tar 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 Lewis (1955) found the same th ing in a Jat v i l l age near Delhi and his comments on the phenomenon are h ighly pertinent 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 real i ty ap pears to be at wide variance w i t h 'classical1 expectations concerning m o b i l i t y in modernizing societies, where it is hold that the landless and the impoverished are compell ed to move towards the city in search of cash employment whi le the landed and the well-off are eon- tent to remain proport ionately longer in their rura l habitat.
False Dichotomies
Granted, this latter phenomenon is also occurr ing on a major scale in India today and promises to be come even more intensified should the rate of industr ia l izat ion materi ally increase du r ing the next twenty-five…
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 Indian caste system is not absolutely
r i g i d and static has l e d progressive ly to various attempts to explain in systematic terms the manner in which change occurs w i t h i 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 marriage to men of some slightly higher caste.' This is the process known as hvper- gamy/" ft has been described and discussed by a l l of the wel l -known ethnographers of India who wrote d u r i n g the last century and the first-part of this century. It forms a major preoccupation of J H Hut- ton's work ( 1 9 4 6 ) .
Imp l i c i t in this concept of hyper- gamy is the fact that cash's who for any reason are able to become upward ly mobile do so by making themselves r i tualIy and occupa- l iona i ly as much like the higher castes as possible and then ratify ing this achievement by app ly ing their newly-found resources to the contract ing of up-marriages. Once in te rmar r ied w i t h another caste group, yon are inconleslahly equal to i t . Th i s has always been the f inal c r i t e r ion of status par i ty in t radi t ional Ind ian society.
Sanskritization — the Concept
However, upward m o b i l i t y , even in the caste system, is a broader, more pervasive process than is symbolized by the practice of hy- pergamy. The latter may. as a matter of fact, lie seen more as a k i n d of end-product of the overall process, an aspect of the whole phenomenon and nothing more. It in the great u t i l i t y of M N Srinivas's (1056) concept of Sanskrit ization that it automatically puts hyper- gamy in its appropr ia te place w i t h i n an overall process of inter-
caste m o b i l i t y which encompasses not only this act of final rat if ica tion but also all of the intermediate steps and, indeed, other channels and manifestations of mobi l i ty as well which do not necessarily cul minate in hypergamy at a l l .
Srinivas's concept rests ultimate ly ou the notion that the caste sys tem, like all status hierarchies, causes the low to invidiously com pare themselves w i t h the high and to try in every way they can to soften, modify, reduce, and even el iminate altogether the basis for these status differences. This is not unique to the Indian caste system. What is unique is the manner in which this process must work itself out in India, given the empi r i ca l nature of the status system that prevails there. It is this w i t h which Sanskr i t i /a t ion comes to gr ips .
Sanskrit ization also, it seems to me. deals w i i h something a l i t t le different than M c K i m M a r r i o t t s
(1955) universalization— parochia- lization' dichotomy. The former subsumes, essentially the same phe nomena as the latter but uses them for different analytical ends. Mar riott 's notion is more par t icular ly useful for dealing wi th data of this k i n d when it is being viewed f rom the standpoint of a folk-urban d i mension where one may be concern ed w i t h the process of in t e rming l ing between elite, urban-centered, and local , vil lager-entered cul tura l tra dit ions, quite aside from the ques tion of the status implicat ions of this per se Srinivas's concept is rooted p r i m a r i l y in a concern for the latter.
But Srinivas also speaks of a paral lel process, which he terms westernization. Concerning 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
farther w i th this notion of Sr i nivas" s ami thereby deepen our understanding of the mobi l i ty pro cess in Ind ian society today. For it seems: probable that at least in some instances, under some circum stances the relat ionship between Sanskrit ization and westernization is a more dynamic one than even Srinivas makes apparent in his wr i t ings .
Let us realize at the outlet that the caste system is one of the most elaborate attempts at hierarchiza- fion of society ever undertaken by matt. It has left its mark every where on Ind i an l i fe , but especial ly it has imbued Indians in general w i t h a finely tuned consciousness of hierarchy per se wh ich does not seem to be disappearing w i t h any pa r t i cu la r haste even among the most modernized, westernized of Indians. Among the latter. this sense of hierarchy merely changes its contours s l ight ly so that it can operate effectively even under con di t ions of so-called democratic so ciety. At tent ion to senior i ty and petty permutations of au thor i ty are admit ted by a l l to be unusually ela- borated even in the most ' ra t ional ' and 'progressive" I n d i a n bureaucra cies The academic w o r l d , where one migh t expect the most moder n i s e t h i n k i n g to be appl ied in such matters is notoriously hierar- chized not only w i t h respect to the official univers i ty structures hut w i t h respect as wel l to the in fo rma l
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 maintained by students and faculty alike. The charge of "casteism on the campus is so loud and frequent in India that its very persistence and uni versality makes it almost inaudible.
It is w i th in this setting of perva sive hierarchical t h ink ing and feeling that the interdependency of Sanskritization and westernization may he appreciated. Srinivas has looked at these twin processes to an important degree from the stand point of the desire of the lower castes to move upward by trans fo rming their r i tual and social structure un t i l it conforms more nearly to that of the Brahmana and/or whatever other caste hap pens to be dominant and, therefore, represents elite status wi th in their experiential ken. Westernizatin, then, is seen p r i m a r i l y as an ' i rony ' by .which the very clean castes whom the lower castes arc aping are g iv ing up the very Sanskritic traits by which the lower castes im pl ici t ly acknowledge (by t ry ing to adopt them) their super ior i ty .
Westernization — a Necessity It is my suspicion that this hitter
is more than an irony and actually a new and necessary manifestation for the high castes of the age-old preoccupation of people in general and Indians in par t icular w i th hierarchy. This point is to he ap- preciated when we view Sansjkrili- zation and westernization f rom the standpoint of those who are at the top of the scab the Brahmans and certain others — rather than f rom the standpoint of those locat ed at its bottom or somewhere in its middle reaches.
i f you are t rad i t iona l ly Brahman and you are at the apex of the r i tual hierarchy prevalent in a v i l l age, or in a region wherein the approximate order ing of the vari ous castes is reasonably compre hended by most and acknowledged more or less as the basis of social interaction, then Sanskritization for you means watching the lower cas tes rising up and up beneath you. As they "o so, by which I mean, as and to the extent that they are able to actually force recognition of and thereby ra t i fy new status pretensions, the social distance bet ween them and you is diminished.
Years ago, when I first came to Sherupur4 this seemed to be the p l igh t and the compla in t of both
the Rajput and the Brahman mem bers of the community . Democrati zation of Ind ian society, part icular ly since Independence, has opened up opportunities heretofore incon ceivable for A h i r . M u r a u , K u r m i , K o r i and even Chamar castes to Sanskritize themselves; ( i e , to pur i fy their r i tuals, diet, etc) and in general to approach and fraternize w i t h I he h igh castes. Understandab ly, these long-suppressed and vary- ingly humil ia ted groups have been busy doing just that. In fact, I suggest that one of the pr ime motive-forces behind San.skritiza- l ion is this factor of repressed hostility which manifests itself not in the fo rm of rejecting the caste system but in the form of its vic tims t r y i n g to seize control of it and thereby expiate their frustra tions on the same battlefield where they acquired them. Only 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 y i n g to master it they would be left wi th a hollow sense of nn- ful f i l lment , a sense that they never successfully attacked and conquered the th ing in terms of which their ideals, their aspirations, their frus trations, in fact their whole percep tion of l ife, were formed. Besides this, it is doubtful that they could structure their hostilities and aspi rations in any other way as yet because of the very fact thai they have remained throughout recorded Indian history il l i terate, cowed p r i soners of the caste system. Thei r perception of alternative forms must by definit ion he d im 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 te r ly about the fust-approaching * rule of the lower orders ' ' In the presence of lower caste persons they would declare that in the 'o ld days' a lower caste man would never dare come as close to a Rajput 's or Brahman's charpai as in fact his listeners were coming at the present moment! T o d a y , respect (izzat) for the h igh caste man has ended,' my informants would loudly pro cla im. When some K o r i s obtained funds f rom a nearby Communi ty Projact t r a in ing block to .construct
946
a new wel l , the Rajputs regularly stood a t o m f l inging taunts at them for placing their trust in outside agencies (un i fo rmly labelled 'Gov ernment ' ) who, they averred, wou ld ul t imately betray them and make fools of them—in contradistinction 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 their old power and authori ty melt ing away before t l u i r eyes and being prevented from do ing much about i t , as indeed they could in the 'old days,' by the i m par t ia l hand, of secular govern ment ". Or looked at f rom the point of view of the thesis being enun ciated here, these h igh castes were watching anxiously whi le the floor of the status system rose under neath them with the consequence that the old forms of social distance by winch they bail always differen tiated themselves f rom their fellow- Hindus were evaporating. 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 po l i t i cal and to some extent their econo mic power" through which for centuries they had successfully en- forced the t radi t ional hierarchical order ing of the castes and the r i tua l distinctions upon which this was based. In fact, the pol i t ica l coup de grace was delivered in February labour on part-t ime basis or fa- of 1961 when for the first t ime secret-ballot elections were held for the office of village pradhan. W i t h the election nf an A h i r , the peren nial control maintained by the Rajputs, and acquiesced in by the Brahmans, 7 was decisively shatter ed. The middle and lower castes were jub i lan t , their attitude being v i v i d l y i l lustrated by the comment of a K o r i f r iend, who said w i t h real emotion in his voice, 'The lower castes are coming up now. ' For they saw in this pol i t ical victo ry the possibili ty of a widened scope for the eventual attainment of status par i ty wi th the Brahmans and Rajputs — a par i ty which my experience w i t h these villagers has demonstrated to me is associated, as
THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY June 24, 1961
srinivas says, w i t h the desire to become ever more orthodox and 'clean' in the r i t u a l , commensal, and connubial senses.
Where Westernization Comes in
But even though the Brahmans and Rajputs are clearly losing ground in the status struggle taking place w i t h i n the t rad i t ional caste hierarchy, they are not taking things l y ing down by any means. Th i s is where westernization enters the p ic ture in a manner which is dynamical ly inter-related wi th the events taking place under the rub ric of Sanskrit ization. For I believe that in p ropor t ion as the Brahmans
• and Rajputs are losing ground in the old caste hierarchy, they are reaching out in a di rect ion we can best call westernization (or perhaps to-day the term 'modernizat ion ' would be somewhat more appro priate) in order to obtain new sources of status and power which effectively continue to give them the feeling that they are maintain ing suitable social distance bet ween themselves and those whom th ry have t rad i t iona l ly defined as low.
Al though not the sole factor res ponsible, it seems l ikely that this process helps account for the. by now wide ly observed fact that mo b i l i ty in the direct ion of urban and modern employment is more pre ponderant, in relative terms, among the high than among the low cas tes. Edwin Eames (1951) refers to it w i t h some surprise in a village ( M a d h o p u r ) which he studied in
Ut tar 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 Lewis (1955) found the same th ing in a Jat v i l l age near Delhi and his comments on the phenomenon are h ighly pertinent 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 real i ty ap pears to be at wide variance w i t h 'classical1 expectations concerning m o b i l i t y in modernizing societies, where it is hold that the landless and the impoverished are compell ed to move towards the city in search of cash employment whi le the landed and the well-off are eon- tent to remain proport ionately longer in their rura l habitat.
False Dichotomies
Granted, this latter phenomenon is also occurr ing on a major scale in India today and promises to be come even more intensified should the rate of industr ia l izat ion materi ally increase du r ing the next twenty-five…
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