A student reads a well-known study written by an Indian scholar after long fieldwork in a Karnataka village. In it, members of a potter caste gave up eating meat, began wearing the sacred thread and copied the rituals of the priestly caste, hoping to be seen as higher in rank. At the same time, a numerous peasant caste, which had gained land rights after Independence, controlled the village panchayat and the local economy.
Which pair of concepts best names the potter caste's effort and the peasant caste's position, in that order?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Sanskritisation and dominant caste
Option (1) Westernisation and secularisation — Incorrect. Westernisation means taking up western ways of life, dress or language, and the potters copied the rituals of a higher caste. Secularisation means religion losing its hold, which fails to describe the peasant caste's control over land and the panchayat.
Option (2) Westernisation and dominant caste — Incorrect. The second term fits the peasant caste. The first fails, because the potters copied the priestly caste's rituals, and westernisation means copying western ways.
Option (3) Sanskritisation and secularisation — Incorrect. The first term fits the potters. The second fails, because the peasant caste's position comes from its numbers and land rights, and secularisation is about religion losing its hold.
Option (4) Sanskritisation and dominant caste — Correct. Sanskritisation is a lower or middle caste raising its status by adopting the practices of a higher caste, as the potters did. A dominant caste is a numerous caste that gained land rights through the land reforms, like the peasant caste here.
NCERT (2026-27): “Caste in the Present … “‘Dominant caste’ is a term used to refer to those castes which had a large population and were granted landrights by the partial land reforms effected after Independence. …” |