Mr. Raghavan, a retired bank officer in Chennai, goes to his club in trousers, a blazer and polished leather shoes. Yet every morning he paints his family's sect mark on his forehead, and for temple visits he wears a veshti draped just as his grandfather did. His grandson, writing a school project on social change, feels that one man's wardrobe holds two worlds at once. His teacher points him to a well-known account by a poet and scholar about his own father's dress.
In that well-known account, the son writes that his father's clothes represented:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → his inner life very well
Option (1) his standing as an English-educated official — Incorrect. The father did wear English items such as ties and serge jackets. The son does not link the clothes to an official post or English education.
Option (2) his inner life very well — Correct. A.K. Ramanujan writes that his father's clothes represented his inner life very well. The mix of turban, caste mark and English jacket showed a man who lived in two worlds at once.
Option (3) his loyalty to his caste's old ways — Incorrect. The turban, caste mark and draped dhoti are traditional. But the father also wore Tootal ties and English jackets, so the dress shows a mix of both worlds.
Option (4) his family's rise in the local hierarchy — Incorrect. A rise in the local hierarchy belongs to the idea of Sanskritisation. The account is about one man's dress and gives no hint of his family's rank changing.
NCERT (2026-27): “Sanskritisation … |