Many Dalit communities in South India rejected the caste system and adopted a distinct identity based on their regional and indigenous culture. What can this process be called?

De-Sanskritisation

The correct answer is Option (1) → De-Sanskritisation

This sociological term refers to the rejection of high-caste, Sanskritic traditions by lower-caste groups. Instead of emulating the rituals and lifestyle of dominant castes to gain social status, communities undergoing this process deliberately embrace and revive their own distinct, indigenous, and often non-Brahmanical cultural practices. It is a form of cultural and social assertion that challenges the very ideology of the caste system, rather than trying to gain a higher position within it.

In contrast, Sanskritisation is the process where a lower caste seeks upward mobility by adopting the customs of a higher caste, thereby accepting the caste system's hierarchy.