Essay on Comparative Views on Sanskritisation and Westernisation – Sanskritisation and Westernisation help us as conceptual tools in understanding the nature of social and cultural changes that have been taking place in the Indian society. Both have their own strengths and limitations. In some respects there are conflicts between the two also.
While Sanskritisation (more precisely here Brahminisation) puts a taboo on meat-eating and consumption of alcohol, Westernisation promoted meat-eating and consumption of alcohol. The highly Westernised Brahmins of Kashmir, Bengal and South Kerala (who consume meat and first) for example, shed their inhibitions about these two tabooes.
As B. Kuppu Swamy has pointed out there is conflict between the two processes with respect to marriage and divorce. “Among the ‘lower’ castes there is no taboo against widowhood, divorce, and remarriage, nor does custom enjoin on the wife to look upon her husband as a ‘deity’. These customs are in line with Westernisation but were all tabooed by the Brahmins.
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The conflict among these groups between these two sets of processes has been removed after Independence by the promotion of equality of sexes and legislation providing for divorce, and remarriage”.
Further, while Sanskritisation process promoted the “sacred” outlook, Westernisation process promoted the ‘secular’ outlook. Here also the conflict has been removed by the constitution which is secular in outlook and emphasis.
“The Brahmins looked up to the British, and rest of the people looked up to both the Brahmins and the British. The fact that some of the values and customs of the British were opposed to some Brahminical values made the situation confusing” — (Srinivas-62). But in spite of these contradictions between Brahminism and Westernism, a section of the Brahmins adopted Westernism because of the prestige that it entailed.
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But the main task of the lower castes was to catch up with the Westernised Brahmins who were well educated and enjoyed prestige in society. They soon realised that “mere Sankritisation was not enough” for it could only help them to improve their status in the “immutable” varna system. Hence they decided to adopt Westernism which would help them to move up in the social scale without the limitation of the Jati or Varna.
They thus decided to obtain Western education which would fetch them the fruit which they wanted. This awareness among the lower castes; and the high caste dominance in education and in new occupations provided a strong basis for the backward class’s movement. The lower castes, thus, chose Westernisation, that is, education through English medium, rather than Sankritisation, as the means to enable them to move up in status in the society.