Ramu and his family belongs to a service caste and goes to the city to find work. Once there, they begin performing upper-caste rituals, stops eating meat, and adopts new dress styles to gain status. This is an example of:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Sanskritisation
Option (1) Secularisation — Incorrect. Secularisation is the decline in the influence of religion. Ramu’s family takes up more rituals, not fewer, so the case runs the other way.
Option (2) Westernisation — Incorrect. Westernisation is the change brought about in Indian society and culture by over 150 years of British rule, in technology, institutions, ideology and values. The family’s new dress style goes with upper-caste rituals and giving up meat: their model is a high caste, not the West.
Option (3) Sanskritisation — Correct. Sanskritisation is the process by which a ‘low’ caste or other group takes over the customs, ritual, beliefs and style of life of a high caste. People do this to improve their status by adopting the names and customs of culturally high-placed groups, as Ramu’s family does with upper-caste rituals, a meatless diet and new dress.
Option (4) Urbanisation — Incorrect. Urbanisation is the growth of towns and cities, with a larger share of people living in them. The family’s move to the city is only the setting; what they do to gain status is copy a higher caste.
NCERT (2025-26): “Sanskritisation The term sanskritisation was coined by M.N. Srinivas. It may be briefly defined as the process by which a ‘low’ caste or tribe or other group takes over the customs, ritual, beliefs, ideology and style of life of a high and, in particular, a ‘twice-born (dwija) caste’.…” “Sanskritisation … Sanskritisation suggests a process whereby people want to improve their status through adoption of names and customs of culturally high-placed groups. The ‘reference model’ is usually financially better of. In both, the aspiration or desire to be like the higher placed group occurs only when people become wealthier.…” |