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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2016/Paper II/Village India, Urbanisation & Social Change
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper II 2016 15 Marks Model Answer Available

Little and Great Traditions in the Context of Globalization — 2016 Paper II

Question · 2016 · Paper II · 15 Marks

Examine the nature of interplay of little and great traditions in the context of globalization.

Model Answer

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Approach

Demand of Question: Use Redfield-Singer-Marriott concepts to explain two-way interaction between local and civilizational traditions, then show how globalization adds media, migration, markets and transnational religious networks that intensify rather than simply erase this interplay.

Structuring the Response: Define little/great traditions -> classical mechanisms of universalization/parochialization -> globalization as new transmission infrastructure -> examples -> tensions/commodification -> conclusion.

Key Dimensions to Cover: Robert Redfield; Milton Singer and McKim Marriott; universalization/parochialization; Sanskritization; media, pilgrimage, tourism, diaspora, digital platforms; glocalization; local deities, festivals, Ayurveda/yoga and vernacular religious forms.

Model Answer

Introduction

Robert Redfield distinguished the literate, reflective ‘great tradition’ of civilization from locally transmitted ‘little traditions’. In India, Milton Singer and McKim Marriott showed that the relationship is not one-way: local and pan-Indian traditions continually reinterpret one another.

Body

Classical interplay: Marriott’s concepts of universalization and parochialization capture reciprocal movement. A village deity or local ritual may be connected to a pan-Indian deity and acquire Sanskritic meanings; conversely, an epic, pilgrimage or high-textual ritual may be localized through vernacular stories, caste customs and regional performance. Sanskritization is one pathway, but exchange also occurs through fairs, pilgrimage networks, sects and markets.

Globalization expands the channels: Television, cinema, migration, tourism, smartphones and diasporic networks accelerate the circulation of symbols. Local festivals can become nationally broadcast spectacles; regional goddesses gain online publics; yoga and Ayurveda move into global wellness markets; tribal and folk art enter international commodity circuits. Great traditions themselves are repackaged through mass media and consumer culture.

Glocalization rather than homogenization: Global forms are selectively localized. Religious organizations use global media but translate messages into vernacular idioms; communities reinterpret ‘heritage’ for tourism and identity politics. At the same time, local practices can be standardized, commodified or detached from older ritual contexts.

Power and inequality: The classical model underplayed state, market and media power. Global platforms privilege some traditions while marginalizing minority languages and small ritual systems. Cultural revival may therefore coexist with loss of everyday transmission.

Conclusion

Globalization does not end the little-great tradition relationship; it multiplies its scale and speed. The contemporary process is best seen as selective circulation in which local traditions globalize, great traditions localize, and both are reshaped by markets, media and identity politics.

2026 Critically examine the salience of F. G. Bailey's study on Bisipara village of Odisha. 2025 "The village was not merely a place where people lived; it had a design in which were reflected the basic values of Indian civilization." Who said this? Elaborate. 2024 Digitisation of rural economy 2024 Compare and contrast the approaches of M.N. Srinivas and L.P. Vidyarthi to social change in village India.

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