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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2020/Paper II/Village India, Urbanisation & Social Change
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper II 2020 10 Marks Model Answer Available

Concept of Sanskritisation — 2020 Paper II

Question · 2020 · Paper II · 10 Marks

Concept of Sanskritisation

Model Answer

VAID ICS

Approach

  • Demand of Question: Explain Sanskritisation as a process of social and cultural mobility within the Indian caste system.
  • Structuring the Response: Define Srinivas’s concept, explain its mechanism and examples, and briefly assess its significance and limitations.

Model Answer

Introduction

M.N. Srinivas developed the concept of Sanskritisation while studying the Coorgs and later elaborated it in Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India (1952). It refers to the process by which a lower caste, tribal or other group adopts the customs, rituals and lifestyle of a socially higher caste to claim improved status.

Major features

A Sanskritising group may adopt:

  • vegetarianism;
  • teetotalism;
  • worship of Sanskritic deities;
  • performance of higher-caste rituals;
  • avoidance of occupations considered ritually degrading;
  • claims to higher genealogical or caste status.

Thus:

Cultural emulation → Status claim → Social mobility

Nature of the process

Srinivas later clarified that the reference group need not always be Brahmins. A locally dominant caste may provide the model for emulation.

Sanskritisation therefore represents positional mobility within caste hierarchy rather than destruction of the hierarchy itself.

Significance

The concept showed that caste was not completely static and that groups could collectively negotiate status.

Limitations

  • It overemphasizes ritual mobility.
  • It does not adequately explain economic and political mobility.
  • It may understate resistance and Dalit/tribal identity assertion.
  • Mobility of one group does not necessarily alter the structural hierarchy.

Conclusion

Sanskritisation remains important for understanding cultural mobility and status competition, though contemporary caste change also involves education, politics, markets and identity movements.

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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UPSC Anthropology Optional 2020 — Paper II

28 questions

1(e) 'Khap' Panchayat

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 5.1 Indian Village > Traditional village institutions
2020Paper IIVillage India, Urbanisation & Social ChangeModel answer available

5(b) 'Narmada' Man

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 1.2 Palaeo-anthropological evidences from India > Narmada Man
2020Paper IIPrehistoric ArchaeologyModel answer available

5(c) Concept of 'Dominant' caste

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 3.2 Caste system in India > Dominant caste
2020Paper IIIndian Society, Caste & CivilizationAnswer coming soon

5(e) Concept of Ethnicity

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 7.3 The concept of ethnicity
2020Paper IIEthnicity, Tribal Movements & Social ChangeModel answer available

5(a) Concept of Sanskritisation

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 5.3 Indigenous and exogenous processes of socio-cultural change > Sanskritization
2020Paper IIVillage India, Urbanisation & Social ChangeModel answer available

1(b) Debates on 'Aryan' invasion

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 1.1 Evolution of Indian Culture and Civilization > Post-Harappan cultures > Aryan debate
2020Paper IIPrehistoric ArchaeologyModel answer available

1(d) Dravidian languages

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 2. Demographic profile of India > Linguistic elements > Dravidian family
2020Paper IIIndian Society, Caste & CivilizationModel answer available

5(d) Linguistic minorities in India

10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper II > 5.2 Linguistic and religious minorities and their social, political and economic status
2020Paper IIIndian Society, Caste & CivilizationModel answer available